I got my Pixel 2 XL with a $400 discount. With that being said, I feel like I certainly got my money's worth. If I had paid full price, however, I would be disappointed. What's great about this phone is the camera and the sheer speed of the processor. It opens apps and jumps to web pages in an instant. It blows my old Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge away in that regard. I also love the Google assistant features. I can even ask Google to take a photo for me. Then, it will give me a 3 second countdown before it takes a photo. I'm having a blast with the augmented reality features on the camera. You put the camera in video mode, select the augmented reality options from the camera menu, and then shoot a video with Star Wars characters, Strangers Things, or dancing cartoon and food creatures. This is sort of the icing on the cake when it comes to this camera. This camera takes beautiful pictures without me having to adjust settings manually or use a filter. It's just a wonderful camera. There are manual options in there, but if you don't want to bother with those, you can still get great photos without worrying about them. I love the motion capability. If you leave it turned out, it gives you the ability to turn your still photos into gifs. I love the gboard keyboard that is pre-installed on the phone as well. It has a variety of stickers and emoticons that you can use across your various apps. I can't say enough about how much I've enjoyed these little extras. The keyboard also is easy to use whether you're a traditional typist or someone who prefers to swype through words. My calls have been clean and clear on both my end and the receiver's end. I like the two speaker's on the front of the phone. They are great for listening to video clips, podcasts, or audiobooks. If you're looking for speakers to listening to music with heavy bass, you're better off using headphones. These speakers are loud, but they won't give you the highs and lows that you could get with a good pair of headphones. The phone is heavy in my hands. That's something I didn't expect. I knew I found it a bit hard to hold when I got it, but I had trouble figuring out why. Finally, it occurred to me. This phone is heavy for me to hold. I do have some trouble with my hands from time to time so this weight may be bothersome for me at some point. For now, I'm just assuming that I'll get use to the weight. That being said, I might have been better off if I hadn't gotten the XL edition, however. I'm just use to having a larger phone. I know there have been some complaints about the screen on this device. Personally, I'm very pleased with the screen. One of the first things that I did when I got it was to boost the color of the display to saturated. Once I did that, this screen was much sharper to my eyes than my previous phone. I've tried a few games like Temple Run and they have all worked beautifully. That being said, I'm not big on playing graphic intensive games on my phone. This phone charges incredibly fast. I thought my old phone was fast, but this one leaves it in the dust. Now, here are the little things that I don't like. This phone is Google's idealized version of Android. That means they didn't incorporate lots of extra fun features into the phone. The good thing about that is that the phone runs so quickly. The downside is that you may miss those goofy little extra features that you'd find on something like a new Samsung phone. For example, I can't create folders in my app drawer. That blew my mind when I first got this phone. Now, I could install a launcher and get that capability back, but that would defeat the purpose of having a pure Android phone. Likewise, the background of the text messages is completely plain. I can't find a way to add colors or backgrounds there. (It's possible that I just haven't figured out a way to do that.) What I'm trying to say is that I miss those goofy little customization options. I'm just use to having them because my last two phones have been from Samsung. I'll adjust. If I don't, I'll install a launcher later. Problem solved. Those minor gripes aside, this is a wonderful device. I feel like I got a premium phone for a mid-range price. In all honesty, that is exactly what I wanted. I have no intentions of paying $800-$1,000 for a phone when I know that I'll want a new one in 2 years. I believe I paid $550 for this phone with a Verizon contract and 128 GB of memory. I didn't have to trade my old phone in either. I feel good about this purchase.