[Google Pixel 2 Questions & Answers] cb474:
I always wanted front facing speakers and I'm even more impressed with them now that I have them. Perhaps also it's the fact that it's HTC who made these speakers, who after all invented the whole idea to begin with, and who tends to have the best audio in these types of speaker. (I've seen a number of people say the speakers on the Pixel 2 XL are good, but not like on the Pixel 2.)

I listen all the time to podcasts on my phone at home and the experience with the Pixel 2 is so far beyond any phone I've ever heard. It makes it seem like a normal audio experience. It's also the first phone I've ever used where speakerphone calls sound good and don't seem like a compromise. And having the speakers actually pointed at me makes far more sense than having them point downward and other oddball directions. Of course, watching video and getting a read stereo effect is also so much more immersive than with any other kind of phone.

So I'm very happy with the front facing speakers and don't mind the bezels. Sure, I could have a slightly taller screen, but I've played with the Galaxy S8 and Essential Phone, and it really doesn't make much of a functional difference with what I do with my phone. I'm only aware of the difference when the phones are side by side with the Pixel 2. But the front facing speakers I'm constantly aware of how far they are beyond anything else I've ever heard in a phone. If the bigger bezels are the price of having the superior HTC speakers, over the not as good LG speakers in the Pixel 2 XL, then I'm fine with that.

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I also think the super tall 18:9 screens that have become a sudden fad are ridiculous and not very functional. Everyone is obsessed with getting "full screen" mode for video on their Galaxy S8, iPhone X, Essential Phone, etc., and aren't aware that this is only accomplished either by either stretching the image (i.e. distorting it) or cropping the top and bottom off of the image. For a screen that's supposed to somehow enhance the video experience it is beyond dumb that it's actually distorting and/or cropping the original image, which by any reasonable definition is an inferior experience.

Further, super tall screens aren't that useable for maps or web pages. What I really miss is the 5:3 screen that my old Nexus 4 had. Few people took note of that, but it was a smart move by Google. A more square aspect ratio is much more useable for most web based, text based, and map based things one does on a phone. (Why do people think iPad's have even less wide 4:3 screens?) Also, the 5:3 screen in the Nexus 4 actually had more density independent pixels (what is actually what affects how much information a screen can display) than the 16:9 technically larger and higher resolution screen on the Nexus 5. But few people understand these things and fall for what are often gimmicks passed off as larger (but really only taller) screens.

Also, on a 5:3 screen you only have to very slightly letter box video (at top and bottom) to display 16:9 video without any of the distortions or croping done on 18:9 screens, but you still basically get a full screen effect.

So that's what I'd really like to see on a phone like the Pixel 2. 5:3 screen, 5", dual front facing speakers of the quality that HTC delivers.