Tag: Google Pixel 2

After being leaked a couple of days ago along with a slew of other leaks, the Google trade-in program for the Google Pixel is now live at the Google Store.  The program allows you to trade in previous Google Nexus phones, LG, Samsung, and iPhones to get a credit towards the purchase of a new Google Pixel or Pixel XL.

With the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL only a few weeks away, it is a little surprising to see Google open this program up now.  The assumption was that it would start when the next generation phones were announced.

As for the value that you get, it largely depends on how new your phone is and its condition.  For example, if I wanted to trade in my Nexus 6P with 64GB of storage, I would get back $155 since it is in working condition and doesn’t have a broken screen.  If I trade in my wife’s iPhone SE 128GB, that would get me $87.

Late yesterday it was announced that Google had signed an agreement with HTC for staff and intellectual property for $1.1 Billion.  The agreement means that, essentially, the HTC staff that have worked on the Google Pixel phones will become Google employees and the Mountain View company will be able to license the Taiwanese company’s IP, non-exclusively.

This is slightly different than what was expected early yesterday when it was assumed that Google would be buying HTC outright.

With this agreement, a team of HTC talent will join Google as part of the hardware organization. These future fellow Googlers are amazing folks we’ve already been working with closely on the Pixel smartphone line, and we’re excited to see what we can do together as one team. The deal also includes a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property.

The deal means that HTC will remain in the smartphone business as a manufacture and is expected to release their own flagship early next year.  But as for work with the Mountain View company, it appears that work is over as it is now in-house for the search giant.

Thanks to a lot of happenings all at once, it is pretty much a lock that we are going to see Google’s new Pixel lineup on October 4th.  That will put the launch of the new Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 almost a year out from the current Pixel phones.

To start, there is now a new, albeit empty, website for the phones.  Literally, it’s empty.  It only asks the question “Thinking of changing phones?” and you can register your email address.  This is is very similar to what they did with the original Pixels last year.

Second, there were FCC approvals made for what is presumed to be the XL 2.  It is an LG build device and you can read all the gory details at the FCC site.  It’s not overly exciting but it confirms some of the rumors known about the phone.

It looks like everyone needs to go put a reminder in their Google Calendar for October 5th.  That day, according to a leak from Evan Blass, suggest that will be the day that we see the all new Google Pixel 2 and Google Pixel XL 2.

Google’s second-generation Pixel handsets, powered by Snapdragon 836 SoC’s, will be unveiled on October 5th.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) August 24, 2017

For those who may not know who Evan Blass is exactly, he’s a reporter for Venturebeat and has been one of the most reliable resources for inside leaks on upcoming device launch dates and details on those devices.  He’s pretty amazing actually and I recommend following him on Twitter.

Put it this way:  Those of you who are long time readers know I rarely post anything leak related.  But I will post something from Evan Blass because it is 98% likely to happen.