The 2 XL has reignited a long-running debate in the mobile world: is it better to have color-accurate screen, or an exaggerated but potentially more pleasing screen? They both have merits. Bold colors will make photos and videos pop, but accuracy is better if you want to be sure that your snapshots reflect what you really saw. There's a concern that some people are so used to punched-up colors that the 2 XL's more accurate display seems lifeless -- and without many options to tweak that display, prospective buyers either have to accept Google's current approach or find another phone.

As it is, any options won't completely address concerns about the P-OLED panel. It also produces a bluish tint when you look at the screen off-angle, and that's clearly due to hardware alone. While it's not going to wreck the experience (you do tend to look at a phone head-on while you're using it), you don't see this in many other OLED screens. Google and LG took a bit of a gamble on the larger Pixel's visuals, and it's not entirely clear that this bet paid off.