Google's new Pixel phones

[Steve]

They seem pretty damn good for the money: -

[Deft]

I did contemplate it, as they were giving away Bose headphones if you pre-ordered by yesterday. But I dunno, Pixel 4a fucked me off a bit and then the whole thing smashed when I dropped it. So Google went on my shit list.

[Steve]

I had a look at that Bose deal and on paper it was great - they sell for around £200 on eBay, so a nice discount on the phone if you don't want to keep the headphones - but, aside from for a short time when the Pixel 6 Pro first went on sale, none of the participating retailers had any stock, nor were they taking pre-orders, and now the offer has expired as you had to order by 11:59PM on the 27th.

[JHouse]

Google traditionally makes shit products, so you guys prolly dodged a bullet by missing their special offer.

[savwar]

These days I'm not bothered by having the most up to date phones. Currently on  Pixel 3a and I've loved it. Might get a 4a since they're insanely good value, but i'm in no rush to go for this. Maybe by 2023

[Steve]

One thing I definitely like about the new Pixels is that they are guaranteed to get at least 5 years of software upgrades. I think that's one area where Apple typically do well compared to manufacturers of Android phones, so it's nice to see Google stepping up in that regard.

Apparently my phone (OnePlus 7 Pro) will be getting Android 12 after all, but there was some doubt over it, even though the phone came out less than 2½ years ago and was their highest end phone at the time.

[Steve]

Vodafone in the UK are doing the regular Pixel 6 for £441 (reduced from £600) with a free Google Stadia Premiere Edition, although it's in-store only. It sounds like a pricing error to me, but there's more info here if you wanna check it out: -

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/save-ps158-on-google-pixel-6-128gb-free-google-stadia-worth-ps6999-ps441-at-vodafone-in-store-3816689

EDIT - Apparently the same deal is available on the Pro version for £703, which is a saving of nearly £150 plus the free Stadia on top.

[scottie(the)goonie]

On my second Pixel 3XL.  First one lasted 3.5 years before the battery started bulging.  Google sent me a new one a couple of months ago, so I basically have a new phone now?

Don't really feel like getting a new phone.  Android 12 is kind of nice on my 3XL.  If they do a nice price drop maybe I'll get the 6.

[Deft]

Bump.

My 4a screen is fucked and I'm feeling rich. What phone to get? Standard Pixel 6 is discounted at the mo. Can't face an Apple, Samsung or random Chinese phone. So.....?

[Steve]

Can you hang on for the Pixel 7? The only release date given is "Fall 2022", but I reckon it'll be out in October.

[Deft]

Yeah I weighed it up but went for last season's Pixel 6. It arrived today. Fucking massive as you might expect. Can't get excited about a phone anymore, it's nice to look at a non-smashed screen though!

[savwar]

I have a Pixel 6. I've had a few small issues with it, nothing crazy, but lots of people had been complaining about it. But supposedly all the bug issues and stability problems are sorted with the arrival of Android 13 last week. I'm just about to upgrade to it today. Don't think there's many new features but it sorts out the problems

 

 

[Deft]

Yeah I've never had a faultless experience with my Google phones, neither have any relatives. I don't have any other Apple gear I use otherwise I'd probably go for an iPhone.

[Steve]

I had very good experiences with the Nexus 5 and 6P, but I've not owned a Pixel yet. I am definitely considering getting a Pixel 7 if I can afford one though, assuming the reviews aren't bad.

[scottie(the)goonie]

My 3xl constantly pisses me off.  It has weird freezes, hangups, laggyness.

I think it's suffering from being older hardware now on newer software.  My biggest gripe is heat.  If I'm driving on the freeway and my phone is sitting in the sun it will shut down.  I've been stranded before because of that.

I'm sure the 7 will feel as good as the 3 did when it came out.  Hardware on these phones gets outdated quick.

[Steve]

I've got a Pixel 7 Pro now, and I love it.

The hardware is very solid, with great battery life and a really nice screen. The cameras are awesome; it's the second highest rated phone by DxOMark, with the #1 phone being $400 more expensive and only beating it by a couple of points. The fingerprint scanner is fast, plus it also has face unlock now; 2 things that the previous Pixels were criticised for.

The software is fast, slick and simple to use out of the box, but with all of the advanced customisation options that Android offers if that's what you want.

The only thing I miss from my OnePlus 7 Pro is the hardware switch to switch between regular, vibrate, and silent, which AFAIK is unique to OnePlus phones, but I found it really useful, especially as it vibrated a certain way depending on the switch position, so you could easily switch modes with the phone in your pocket.

I guess if I was nit-picking, the speakers are not super-loud, but they are good quality and you can crank the sound up the max without any distortion. Don't get me wrong; the speakers are plenty loud enough for listening to music/podcasts/videos or whatever, but if you're one of those bell ends that likes to play music in public via a phone, then A) fuck off, and B) there are louder phones out there.

I would like to see Google commit to supporting their phones for a year or two longer. They offer a minimum of 3 years of Android OS updates, and 5 years of security updates, which is certainly not bad at all, but it's not industry-leading.

[Jam Burglar]

I got a regular Pixel 7 (the pro was just too damn big).  About 1 week after it arrived the front camera died (black screen).  The whole app was bugging out.  Went through their nonsense to troubleshoot and they "escalated" my claim but then failed to follow up.  I ended up returning it and replacing it, which was dodgy because of my Pixel 4XL trade-in and waiting for the refund before returning.  I had to buy a new 7 transfer the data to the new one, then return the old one.  Without going into too much detail I had to game their system a bit to make the exchange work.  The whole experience soured me on Pixels even though l ended up getting the phone for cheaper than I originally anticipated.

My main gripe now is the line in for recording is far quieter than my 4XL.  Otherwise it's fine (I hope)

All-in-all I feel like each successive Pixel phone has had more issues.  Pixel 1 was rock solid for me.  The battery died and then I got the 4XL.  Unique features on the 4XL but mediocre battery life and it got really glitchy in the last 6 at months of ownership.  The 7 has been a really rocky start.

The main reason I haven't looked at Samsung is the bloatware.  The Pixel operating system is clean.  Honestly though, the Pixel 1 was the only one that was totally glitch free.

[JHouse]

QFT: "but if you're one of those bell ends that likes to play music in public via a phone, then A) fuck off"

[Steve]

After 2-3 months of owning my Pixel 7 Pro, my only gripe with it is how long it takes to install an OS update. One came out earlier that was only 34MB, so it downloaded in no time, but it's been installing now for 50 minutes and the progress bar is only about two thirds of the way done.

Apparently it's because of Google's "seamless update" feature, where the OS is installed on 2 partitions at the same time. The idea is that when you get the phone, it runs on partition 1, then when an update comes out, the OS on partition 2 is updated, you reboot the phone, then it reboots to partition 2 and so on. That prevents you having long reboot times where the phone is down for a few minutes while it's updating, and it means there's a recovery method there should an update fail, as it can just fall back to the other partition, but it's really fucking slow!

I guess it doesn't matter that much at the end of the day, as the phone is still on and fully useable while this is happening. It's just weird that it takes so long.

[neks]

I've had a 6 for about a year now, previously had a OnePlus 7T and the thing I miss the most to this day is the physical sound switch. I've got used to it now though.

I haven't issues with the updates but I think it's because mine only updates itself when I sleep. So all I see is a notification that I need to finish the install by rebooting the phone which never takes more than a few minutes.

The other thing that irritates me is that all the loopers (QSU, Scratch Nerds, Babu, D-Styles) I bought the last few years do not work with the latest version of Android. I saved some APKs in case someone has a fix one day...