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Anon thinks about Google
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this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2024
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Pixel phones are a joke? They've been the best phones I've owned.
Yeah I like them the most as well and funnily enough they are the easiest phone to degoogle
GrapheneOS FTW
Literally the only reason to get a pixel!
You're wrong. CalyxOS >
So to name a few issues:
pixel 1: headphone jack issue so bad they needed to issue a recall, audio would just FULLY stop working, loud speaker as well.
pixels 2, 3 (and theorized 4 and 5): using cheap ram that literally just died within 3 years. They refused to issue a recall claiming that was "fine for the expected life span of the phone"
Pixels 1-4: if you let them discharge long enough, they don't charge anymore, ever!
Pixel 4/a and 5/a: lemon units. Bad ram, bad flash storage, things like that. Some would be very slow and others would be fine. My pixel 5a died in 7 months.
During this period of time from the 4 though 6 lines they were notorious for trying to deny your warranty replacement any way they could. It took me 5 months to get a new pixel 5a.
Pixel 6: buzzing coming from loud speakers (not sure if recall issued)
Pixel 6 and 7: first 2 tensor chips, known for draining battery too quickly and overheating.
Pixel 8: OLED issues, I think random lines showing up on the display. They have issued a recall tho.
So in sum:
In the older pixels there were some shitty cost cutting measures they used in order to recoup cost of development of the phones.
their warranty service around this time was also piss poor
QC issues with just about every pixel phone released.
Where we stand today:
their warranty replacements are much better I've heard.
There are significantly less glaring issue with the pixels, and they're still reasonably priced
So, back in the day, if you got lucky you got a decent phone for a good price, if you got unlucky you got a shit phone and they probably wouldn't replace it. Now, you'll probably get a good phone, with some semi useful AI features and a decent warranty.
I'm sorry but you could easily find facts like this about every phone company from the past as of now they are great phones but cannot comment on the AI tools because I remove those
The shitty ram thing is especially egregious and was not the industry standard at the time, especially for your flagship phone.
The weird audio issues on multiple devices is also out of the norm.
Current pixel phones are pretty good! But it's clear that for at least the first 4 gens they had some QC and quality of parts issues.
Edit: also to add, it's a basic thing that if your phone is dead dead then you should use wall power to power the circuit to charge the battery. But if you let it sit for a few months, your older pixels will not charge again unless you put in a new battery with some charge, that is definitely out of the norm and is also something that should have been rectified sooner.
Na I have a 2XL that I let sit for two years and it still charged fine.
Must be nice, I have a pixel 1, straight up won't turn on, I have a bunch of stuff that wasn't backed up on there. The flash chip is fine I just can't turn it on
As much as like to shit on Apple for many other reasons, they've had fairly few mishaps with their phones. Even counting bending phones, "you're holding it wrong" etc., their track record is still decent compared to the competition.
Yeah but they've got their own issues. They're so anti right to repair and their OS is so much more restrictive. That's how it is under capitalism, kind of just have to pick your poison :/
I like that Google supplies repair parts straight to iFixit back to the Pixel 2. It would be nice if it didn't require melting glue to get to half of the components, but hey, baby steps. And the latest models out finally have a decently long support period for security updates.
Skill issue
You have a visualizer, use your imagination for once come on
My 5a just shut off while I was using it and wouldn't turn back on one month after warranty period. Google was going to deny a replacement until I bitched that each previous pixel I had had died or became unusable and I was going to move to iphone. They gave me a "one time exception" and sent me a replacement. I traded it for a 7 but if this one dies I'm done.
I can't speak from experience outside my own issues with my 5a but supposedly they're better about that stuff now. One reason I'm interested in the 8 is the unlocked bootloader and their smallish form factor. I have a Zenfone 9 RN and I went to put lineageOS only to find out they locked the bootloader down six months after release 😭
Never heard of a single one of these, got some links to back up any of these? Recalls will be easy to prove.
Two pixels, and never seen these before either.
Pixel 1 recall and class action in 2019: https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/14/18623077/google-pixel-faulty-mic-issues-lawsuit-payout-hairline-fracture
Ram issue mentioned in user forum with listed official response from google: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/113517096/pixel-3-xl-bricked-overnight-computer-recognizes-as-qusb-bulk-cid-likely-caused-by-security-update?hl=en
Some of these others are harder to pin down because there's no official response but I'll do my best
Here's some users experience charging issues: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/15lj11a/connected_not_charging_how_to_fix_this/
Pixel 8 lemon unit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/17sa4z9/got_a_lemon_should_i_try_again_or_go_different/
Pixel 4 lemon post: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/efhcvf/my_4_week_old_pixel_4_xl_died_yesterday/
Pixel 6 buzzing issue; https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/148605754/loud-buzzing-noise-from-speaker-during-call-on-my-pixel-6-pro?hl=en
Pixel 3 buzzing: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/9weskv/pixel_3_fix_for_buzzing_sound_from_speakers/
Pixel 2 buzzing: https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-2-xl-buzzing-rattling-speakers-825307/
Article on tensor chips overheating: https://techissuestoday.com/google-pixel-phone-overheating/#:~:text=Tensor%20brings%20the%20heat%2C%20literally!&text=While%20all%20the%20AI%20advancements,some%20reason%20or%20the%20other.
Pixel 8 screen issues customer has bad expires with Google support: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/1c3gcnz/pixel_8_green_screen_and_recall_terrible_customer/ (thought they were doing better these days, guess not)
Pixel 8 screen issues warranty extension: https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-extends-warranty-for-pixel-8-display-issues-how-to-check-if-your-handset-is-covered/ (thought this was a recall, guess not)
Issue is, almost ever issue you've labeled here is a random (mostly reddit) post. I could pretty much name any series of any devices and build the same type of list. It doesn't help make your comment look more valid. In fact, it kind of hurt it.
5 of the 7 issues I list have news articles, official responses from Google, or recalls/warranty replacements, but ok
And most of them of them were a repeat of a few problems that were literally fixed with a OTA patch, even to the point it was mentioned in the article you posted. Half of your "facts" were someone even mentioning they got a lemon by their own admission, and when a company makes over a million of the same device, a few lemons happen (it's why there is a term for it).
And the few that don't match these were speculation articles. Again, this could be said of so many companies and/or devices.
Should I post a links to iPhones and their problems? https://www.gizchina.com/2021/11/21/apple-recalls-the-iphone-12-iphone-12-pro-due-to-sound-issues/ https://www.macworld.com/article/675797/iphone-11-recalled-for-touchscreen-issues-how-to-get-a-replacement.html https://support.apple.com/iphone-6s-6s-plus-no-power-issues-program/other-countries https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/11/09/apple-activates-iphone-x-display-module-replacement-program-for-touch-issues https://9to5mac.com/2019/05/15/iphone-7-no-service-program/ https://www.pocket-lint.com/phones/news/apple/139529-apple-iphone-6-plus-touch-disease-flaw-here-s-how-to-get-it-fixed/
I'm not even into a half dozen Reddit/speculation articles yet.
Didn't say iPhones were better, I didn't even mention them, this isn't a competition
And I didn't say this was limited to iPhones. I mentioned that this could be said of any company when they make devices in the millions. Would you prefer Samsung next? Sony?
When your entire "proof" of lack of quality is mostly speculative articles and random Reddit articles, then it shows you pretty much have no proof. Yes, there was one or two real things, but that isn't enough to paint an entire brand and series as bad. If this was all anything took to prove something lacks quality, then everything lacks quality, is a disaster, etc....
K
Yeah, Nexus phones were great, but Pixel phones are also good. And Android is definitely not "getting worse".
Agree with the rest though.
Android is getting weird. It's not bad but some UI choices just don't make sense. They're making everything super large, and required so many swipes and clicks for certain settings. They've lost the plot a bit. Also, having used both iOS and Android, iOS gestures are leaps and bounds ahead of Android. Genuinely, it's no contest.
All this being said I prefer Android, I just wish they put more thought about ease of use and feature refinement rather than changing for changes sake. Like we are JUST NOW getting an update to the gesture controls. They've been basically unchanged since Android 11/12 they have had ample time to refine them a bit.
I hate the super large quick access buttons. Like why would I want to only have 4 accessible with one touch when I'm used to 8+
I've already mentioned it here, but OneUI kept the small buttons.
Could you elaborate on the gestures part?
I remember the opposite, having hated navigating my iPhone for work. I specifically remember swipe to go back not working reliably at all (many apps seemed to just ignore it, others I think configured other actions on that gesture - WTF), so I got into the habit of using that stupid little hard to reach, hard to hit, tiny back arrow that at least worked consistently when you managed to hit it.
I've been enjoying Android navigation gestures pretty much ever since I found out they existed.
It might have been a user issue in my case with iOS since I didn't use it as much, and therefore maybe was simply using it wrong/was unaware of better ways. But I don't see anything wrong/missing with gestures on Android.
So apple has slowly added some of these swipe features and a lot of iPhone users were basically trained how to use them over time.
I'd honestly say swipe is a bit of a misnomer for them, it's more like eases. There's a specific way you to swipe for different things, it's nuanced. When I switched to iPhone for a year, I had to ask my gf a few questions to get the hang of it, but once you do it's super intuitive. On almost every app a swipe from the left is back and a swipe from the right is forward. And there was a different in finger action for a back swipe and a side menu. Once you get the hang of it it genuinely feels like second nature, I almost never missed my android buttons. When I switched back I tried androids swipe features and was immediately disappointed. Android's backswipe is really oversensitive, meaning that it's way too easy to swipe back when I'm not trying to. Also they're multitasking up swipe is less sensitive meaning it's harder to get to multitasking than on iphone. And of course the final nail in the coffin there is no forward swipe from the right, a swipe from the right is also just back on Android which was a real mind fuck. Currently I just use the Android old buttons, or I use the Android gestures where you have a home and back button and then you swipe for multitasking stuff. I can say that the multitasking swipe stuff seems to be better than the last time I tried it.
I would say the biggest difference is when you swipe on the iPhone it's like turning a page, a smoothe slide. Where as android it's just a flick. So when I accidentally swipe the screen, I'm going back on Android, but on iPhone I have to definitely be doing an intentional slide, and for me that slide was just short enough to not be annoying.
Thanks for responding, that makes a lot of sense.
I think generally what one gets used to has a big impact on preferences.
I'll say, an easily accessible, reliable gesture for side menu sounds nice. It feels like this was either abandoned on Android or left up to developers who mostly abandoned it. I remember struggling to get the side menu to trigger instead of back navigation and it not working near reliably enough. So I've been trained to always use the hamburger buttons that, ironically, are hard to reach in the top left corner in most apps. To be fair, I feel like I hardly use one menu interaction for every 100 back actions, so the latter being ergonomic is a lot more important to me.
On that point, swipe from left to go back seems quite annoying. I go back all the time, and having to move my thumb across the entire screen is a pain. I almost never need to go forward, so having that be the more accessible gesture seems weird. I'll concede that having a gesture for it at all is useful and Android should add the option.
I never felt like the swipe to go back is too sensitive, and if you accidentally trigger it, you can simply move your finger back towards the edge before letting go to cancel the action. You can also configure the sensitivity in the settings. The feedback that you're about to trigger the action is probably not as obvious as on iOS though, and likely less elegant.
I think both Android and iOS would do well to let users customize these interactions more to their own needs.
For Android you have to hold on the side for a second then side menus pop out, I hate it lol
As a mobile developer, tiny unhittable buttons drive me batshit. I used to get handed app design documents all the time that had these little buttons, along with image files for these buttons that were just large enough (width and height) for them. I would always do a trivial amount of extra work to make the actual tappable regions larger than the images to improve their usability, but when I mentioned this to the designers they would go apeshit and demand that I restore the original tiny tappable regions, usually with the bullshit rationale of that being what end-users expected and they didn't want to verify that what I'd done to my best judgement was OK. Management would go along with the designers, on the grounds that enlarging the tappable regions required more time and effort - even though I'd already done it and undoing it would require even more time and effort.
It eventually occurred to me to just do it without telling anyone and I had no further problems.
A fun little fact about iOS: the operating system includes a private method (which is something developers supposedly can't use without getting their app rejected) named _warpPoint. This hack was put in when they started supporting landscape, because the top toolbar and its tiny buttons became even tinier and virtually unusable in that mode. _warpPoint intercepts touches near the toolbar and changes the coordinates to the middle of the nearest button - basically doing the same thing I was doing by enlarging the tappable regions, just doing it at the global level. The irony is that they still don't really work very well, despite the very existence of this method proving that Apple knows it's a general problem.
my 6a has been nothing but shit. You cant charge it and run the GPS at the same time or it overheats. Thats just one of the many issues ive had with it.
They lost me right there, lol
Tbf a lot of Google is shite but i will never deny the pixel
Same here. Have had Nokia and Iphones before and have my Pixel 3a right now for about 4 years and still happy with it.
I enjoyed my pixel up until the day they put a backup button on photos that would pop up right when I'm swiping. So I had to go through my Google backup and delete/disable it (which can only be done from the computer) just so that I could use my Gmail again.
Now I'm considering switching manufacturers on my next upgrade.
Pixel 5, refusing to die.
I just cleaned out all storage and man it's still zippy
Yeah, I'm on a non pixel phone right now and I want to get back to pixel they're great