HTC has registered what appears to be the Pixel 2 with the FCC, with model number G011A. A smartphone with model number G011A was spotted before, when it received its Wi-Fi certification, although at the time there was little to suggest that this was the Pixel 2.
What is different here though, is buried within the details. While FCC listings can provide lots or no information alluding to what an unannounced smartphone is, the ID label and location doc is usually where some information can be found.
On this occasion, the doc provides screenshots of some of the settings pages on the phone and it is here where elements appear that suggest this is the Pixel 2.
The first is that this phone comes running Android O, as well as running on the latest security patch (August 2017). However, what is of more interest, is that the current developer preview version (DP4) of Android O is based on Android 8.0.0. In contrast, this phone is running on Android 8.0.1. This reaffirms the suggestion that this is likely to be running an official version of Android O.
The screenshots also show that this phone comes equipped with HTC’s Edge Sensor features. This is another feature that has been associated with the upcoming Pixel, with the suggestion being that Pixel owners will be able to squeeze the frame of the phone to initiate certain functionality, in a similar way to the HTC U11.
The screenshots seems to indicate that users will be able to assign the Edge functionality to launch Google Assistant.
Another point worth noting is that the baseband version listed in the images makes reference to “8998” suggesting that the SoC powering this device is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 – which again marries well with the rumors surrounding the Google Pixel 2.
Unfortunately, that is largely the extent to the information provided in these filings, although the screenshots do seem to highlight that the phone will come loaded with 64GB internal storage.
