First few days with Pixel2

This is not a systematic review of Pixel2. Many of those exist, and in any case, interest in such a thing would be low because Pixel2 is not that new anymore. Instead, what follows is a bunch of impressions, in no particular order. Note that my previous phone was the first gen Moto G. While an excellent phone when I bought it, over time it grew many warts, making me spend a lot of energy in cursing (being able to curse in three languages was a boon here). Undoubtedly my impressions are tinged by that experience.

The first thing I noticed after opening the box is, it's light. Cross that, it is surprisingly light.

It charges fast, but also seems to discharge fast, especially when data network is in use.

The backside gets a bit warm with extensive use.

This was the first time I really used a voice interface, and I continue to be astounded by the accuracy of Google assistant. I find it quite uncanny too, e.g. the first time I asked it to play a song, it came up with ye jo des hai tera from Swades.

Much has been said about its camera, so I'll just mention that I have replaced an iPhone owner as the chief photographer at office birthdays.

I don't have a VR headset yet, but did use it once on a relative's Pixel2. The roller-coaster demo gave me a very real dizziness.

I had pretty much stopped trying new apps, and the ones I used formed a close-to-immutable set. Now I am (much more) likely to be found with my head buried in the phone. 

I restarted using Twitter, and (as evidenced by this post) am more likely to blog. I check Facebook more often, and the same applies (probably to a larger degree) to Quora, Stackoverflow, HN, LinkedIn, Medium, TechCrunch and more.  Which brings me to the next point.

Information overload was already a problem, and it grows worse with a better phone. Same goes for the distraction angle. Thankfully relief (so to speak) is not far away; the play store has a number of Meditation apps too :-) So Headspace joins my trusty Insight timer  (but I am yet to try it, being busy writing this post).

The EMI is pretty high (had to say it)! :-p