I got a pixel 3 primarily because of the camera. I'm the sort that used to lug around a dslr, then a Fuji x100 and eventually a Pixel. The Pixel 1 was the phone where for everyday applications, it was good enough and in such a small form factor it outweighed the better results of a heavier dedicated camera.
Having said that, both my Pixel 1 and 2 died within 6 months of purchase. Pixel 1 was purchased in Jan 2017. Had the infamous microphone stopped working bug in March 2017. Google replaced with a refurb which lasted 1 year until the microphone and headphone jack stopped working. Got a pixel 2 which also had quality control issues where several months later it was stuck on a perma startup booting loop. I made the mistake of buying the pixel 2 online so I couldn't get it covered under warranty.
And here we are with the Pixel 3. As amazing as night sight is, it annoys me to hell that my girlfriends iphone 6s is still going strong after years. Pixels really are not that durable which sucks because the best part of a pixel is still miles and leaps above the competition.
EDIT: The newer Iphone cameras are getting better. If the Pixel 3 also dies within a few months, then I'm going to Apple because I can't justify buying a flagship phone every year.
The Pixel 1 was the first time I'd ever sprung for a flagship phone, and it fell to the audio chip defect in under two years. It was effectively totaled (market value=$180, repair=$150+hours). Google Support was a complete waste of time. I replaced it with a second-hand iPhone 8 out of spite, even though I prefer Android to iOS.
Mostly you can swipe in from the left edge to go back. It’s not 100% consistent so can be frustrating when it doesn’t work, but I seem to remember similar with the back button in Android.
Every time I Use someone’s android phone and try to go “back” I swap and nothing happens or I end up in some weird state. Then it’s like “oh yeah back button” this is despite using android for a few years before going iphone. You just get used to it after a while.
> If the Pixel 3 also dies within a few months, then I'm going to Apple
build quality issues are not widespread to the whole android ecosystem. apple kind of get the crown as long term phones because software support and hardware warranties, but it's not as to say that there are no android phones that can match them in half life.
True though that may be, I think some people only want to buy the flagships because they can be assured of a certain level of quality (no shovelware, to start with) without having to go through hoops installing/uninstalling this or that, or potentially void the warranty with custom ROMs.
For those people, the alternative Android offerings just aren't on the radar.
I'm most definitely not an Apple fan, but the thing they have is every phone is quality. You don't need to wait six months after the device is released to see if the early adopters had major problems.
On the other hand, the apple ecosystem doesn't have fire sales like Android does, getting last year's hip kick-started flagship got $200-300 isn't so bad, even if you need to do it way more often. See Amazon fire phone, nextbit Robin, essential phone; these were all a great value when they went on sale, although the fire phone has no back button, so it was more terrible than the others, but also cheaper.
android manufacturers seem to skimp on component quality and testing in general. never have had an android phone last more than 3 years with my heavy usage, meanwhile comparatively heavy usage of an iphone only means you need to replace the battery after 2 years and then it's good as new
Yes my 22 month old 6s is showing 86% battery and when you take the bumper off it looks like the day I bought it. I run my life off it and it gets used for hours a day.
I suffered android for a number of years and you're right. Trash. Even the flagships. The worst bit is when they go wrong or have quality problems. My experience of service from Samsung and Motorola is sending it off, losing it for 4 weeks and it coming back with a ransom charge and a lie that I water damaged it which I didn't. The Motorola was the worst because it just went to sleep one day and never woke up again. This was 2 hours after I first powered it up.
My wife had a 6s with a light patch on the display, took it in Apple store and they swapped the screen out there and then. No charge.
Get the battery replaced on your 6S before Dec 31 for $30 and it will perform like new again. Mine was at 87% but it made a noticeable difference in everday usage.
Just did this on an SE, I was expecting to come back and pick it up in a couple of days (website says up to five business days when you make an appointment), but it took a bit over an hour instead. Having an Apple store is great.
My nexus 4 lasted 5 years and it's still alive. The battery goes down faster now, and navigation is a bit laggy. But I loved the format and the expense was justified!
My dongle failed within a month. None of my local stores sell the adapters that include a DAC which the Pixel requires, so I've now been stuck with getting it replaced through Google Support on three different occasions. You can imagine how that went?
I've given up on it now. They just do not last. Forked out $60 AUD for a Bluetooth dongle for my Shure SE215s which has served me well. Unfortunately the battery life leaves alot to be desired.
Pixel 3 is an expensive piece of crap. Call quality sucks, battery life is terrible. And the USB-C will for stretches fail to recognize the provided earphones as an audio device (it reports that it's charging them).
There are somehow 2 or 3 different news modes - and I cannot figure out how to get to the one I want. The Google assistant frequently enables accidentally and records me talking. The phone regularly harasses me and asks me to give reviews and answer questions for them. Many of the news suggestions it gives me are tweets and Reddit threads; I don't tweet or use Reddit. There are a bunch of apps which can't be uninstalled that I don't use or have any need for. No matter how often I turn off the wifi, it decides it wants to turn it back on.
I've got one and I like it very much. The camera is great and that's why I got one. I like that it's thin and narrow and fast (at least compared to my nexus 5x). The wireless charger is convenient.
I haven't experienced any of the problems that you mention (though the first thing I did was disable Google Assistant) but things I really do not like about it are: it's very slippery to the point that it would be suicidal not to use a case with it; I prefer the old UI; it's pretty heavy for the size.
You’re one of the few people I’ve ever heard praise a phone because of its thinness. How much thinner is it than your old phone? What do you do with that extra spare millimetre?
Well you're right it's actually not thinner than my previous phone, they are both the same at 7.9mm . It did "feel" thinner in that it's easier to use one handed which I guess is due to the Pixel3 being close to half a centimeter narrower and the edges being more rounded.
Somehow I perceived the narrowness as being thiness. In terms of weight though the Pixel3 is 12 grams heavier.
interesting. I have a pixel 3 and have experienced literally none of your issues and am really enjoying its lack of 3rd party software unlike my old samsung galaxy. In fact, this device has spurred me to fully embrace the google ecosystem
Ditto. I've the Pixel 3 XL, my first pixel phone and I love it. Fast, good battery, gorgeous display and monthly updates with none of the Samsung bloatware forcibly installed. I used to be an iPhone user years ago (owned 4 of them) and I'd never go back. In fact my wife has an XS and I wouldn't swap mine for hers.
Same here I love my pixel 3, my favorite feature is screencalling. I get a lot of telespam and it's really nice being able to screencalls before picking up my phone. I too had a samsung touchwiz phone, going pure stock android is so much nicer
Why is Twitter not a valid news source? Sometimes a Twitter thread is better than a major news site just writing a pointless article that embeds those same tweets. And I'm pretty sure you can push a button to tell it to stop showing tweets.
This remembers me of my Blackberry Passport, loved the format, loved the keys, loved the 1:1 screen but I couldn't make calls or be called. One brand new is lying around here somewhere.
Minor correction: In English, we have two different words around remembering:
- "remember": This is when you think of a memory all by yourself, like "I remember when I was a child" or "I remember that I have to buy some milk"
- "remind": This is when something else makes you think of a memory, like "this lullaby reminds me of when I was a child" or "my phone reminded me that I have to buy milk"
In this case you want "remind".
(Thought I'd let you know because I know in some languages, these are one word)
Thanks you're right. And I rather think this is a major mistake, not a minor one.
After reading the comment before posting I would probably have used 'reminds' but when I just write down my thoughts they often come out the wrong way and then I forget to read the comment again before posting (which I always should do!) :-)
It depends on how you define primary function. Speaking as the parent of two young children, the ability to call 911 in an emergency is the most critical functionality my phone has, even though I've never had to use it.
Except the Touch didn't have a data connection. 'Voice calls' isn't the killer feature of a contemporary smart phone, an always-on internet connection is.
Indeed. If iPod touches had cellular radios in them, I wouldn't need an iPhone — but then they'd probably also cost the same, so I'd just get an iPhone anyway.
The iPod touches also have lower-quality displays, lower-capacity batteries, base units have less storage capacity, usually have older or slightly underpowered A chips, and lower-quality materials leading to a slightly inferior build quality compared to iPhone.
(Also, iPod touch hasn't been updated for three years)
I call about 2 hours a week and still manage to use my phone more than 20 hours a week. Is calling still the primary function of my "phone"?
We just call it phone because that's what we attached a computer to, but it's more like a pocket computer with LTE modem for most people. I'd call it Pocket PC if I could!
Microsoft's trademark on Pocket PC is most likely dead, as it hasn't been seen in commerce in a long time, so you can probably call whatever you like a Pocket PC
In many countries they're just called "mobiles" or something to that effect in the local language. Originally short for "mobile phone" but it shortens down nicely generic.
If I was forced to choose whether my device only had phone features or everything but phone features, I'd choose the phone features. Voice contact (without requiring that everybody I want to call has and pays attention to a particular voice chat app) is the most important thing to me by leaps and bounds. I realize that not everybody feels the same way, but I worry that it has become such a stark segregation that phone features are no longer given the attention they need to avoid these issues. It's frustrating, especially when some people are dismissive and snobbish about even the concept of calling people on the phone.
Wanting reliable and fully baked features is natural.
I interpret the parent comment not as diminishing the problem, but just reacting to that notion that calling is the main feature.
I genuinely think that ship has sailed since the iPhone, as every single aspect of pure voice calling got worse.
The first iPhone was so bad it was wise to keep it as a secundary device only. It got better with time, but there is still IMO no phone centric feature that is better than a decent dedicated feature phones.
I say that as someone who hates calling, and I’m still annoyed at how it’s half assed.
I've had issues regarding Bluetooth and my car since Android Oreo was released... I switched to the P beta and about the last two weeks before the P release, no issues... P released, issues returned.
Issue was present on Nexus 6P, Pixel 1 XL, Pixel 2 XL ... my next phone may just be an iThingy at this rate, after using Android since the original G1 was released. I can't help but feel that Google's software QC and testing is just much more limited than it should be.
Google Pixel 3 has serious customer service quality issues.
The problem here isn't the call quality, it is the customer service. This is typical Google. They might have many boffins working for them but they do not put the customer first and they don't appreciate the benefits of a customer first attitude. For a product that costs $$$ they should do it right, if they promptly dealt with customer service problems with real staff instead of outsourced 'ninjas' then they could turn customers with problems into their greatest brand ambassadors. In so doing they could convert a small army of people who prefer Apple but have ended up giving Android a spin into brand converts, spreading by word of mouth 'how much better Google is' and converting die-hard Apple fans into Google fans. But Google just don't get it. It is also cheaper to do customer service correctly than it is to have people left out there exasperated with the service they get.
Right now my sister is having trouble with their landline phone. They are cussing their broadband provider and blaming them. They have a retro 1980's phone that has 'always worked' but, after a house move and with a small child around, with unknown wiring in the new house it has to be the broadband provider that are to blame. Chances are that there is something wrong with the phone or the cabling inside their house. They are not willing to try a different handset (one with neat features like caller ID and no cord), they want to persist with the retro phone because it looks good, like the ones they grey up with. Sweet. They too have gone online and decided that the broadband provider are useless and that their services are off the mark. Yet there are many people with the same provider who have phones that work remarkably well, but, they have decided otherwise. Again, as per the Google problem here, there is a perceptual issue due to the poor quality of customer service.
Getting back to the Pixel 3, I had a phone with some stupid wallet style phone case that made it so I couldn't be heard on the phone. I was able to work out that it was the case and not the phone (or an app) but I too was grumbling about the quality of the phone before I realised that the problem was quite simple and had everything to do with the case and not the phone.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Pixel 3 problems were due to obvious but not so obvious problems in the majority of the cases and not some fundamental quality problem with the device. However, Google don't pick up the phone and talk to customers, they leave them to gang together on forums and make all their problems Google's fault, which it is. When will Google learn that in hardware the customer comes first and that customer service has to be done properly? It is such a shame as Google do put the customer first with their search and other software services, plus their design principles do a good job of embodying that.
their google one initiative seems to have "dedicated customer support" whatever that means to google. maybe google knows about the issue and is just all fucked up due to competing PMs trying to create the perfect customer support service(which seems to be the case with all their products)
My wife had call quality issues. Google Fi deactivated her phone and we reactivated. It seems better with a few test calls, but we'll find out with weekday use.
it has similar issues with audio quality during video recording. i think they implemented some fancy noise cancelling/voice boosting in a chip thinking people would love it and now they can't fix it.
You never thought that some information needs to be received or conveyed in real time for efficiency?
I only check my email once an hour, maybe every couple of hours. If people need to get a hold of me instantly, they call… like normal people.
Even if I did check my mails more frequently, there's no guarantee that (A) I'm going to bother reading/responding to _every_ mail I receive, nor that (B) I will reply immediately.
Does everybody here really live in such a techno-bubble that they fail to see how the real world works?
> If people need to get a hold of me instantly, they call… like normal people.
Just as any communication mean phone calls are abused to no end. 95% of the calls I receive are spam, the rest are from VIP registered numbers (family, school etc.).
It’s anecdotal but I see more and more people just filtering all non VIP calls and checking every now and then voice mail or messages.
I’m not sure people heavily relying on phone are still “normal” people.
So are emails, but we don't say people have stopped using emails for certain types of communication.
> [...] I see more and more people just filtering all non VIP calls and checking every now and then voice mail or messages. I'm not sure people heavily relying on phone are still "normal" people.
Then I really think you need to look outside your usual circles, especially if there's a lot of technologically-inclined involved, because I'm not sure "normal" people even know what VIP numbers are, let alone know to filter them, nor that filtering is even possible.
Unless something is confidential, I don't use a phone. And luckily, I rarely need to be contacted instantly, as I don't like to be interrupted. I definitely never call my friends, we only speak to each other when we meet, and I read every email, but I never sign up for garbage emails.
Although I would still want my phone to have excellent call quality. My best experience is with Facetime Audio.
I'm generally of the same opinion, though I like being called when somebody needs something immediately rather than mucking about. I also enjoy a good call when I want to catch up quickly, not spend hours typing out what should amount to about 10 minutes' worth of spoken conversation.
But these sound like _personal_ preferences for _personal_ accounts.
In my work, and I'm sure most others, I don't have a great deal of choice of interaction methods, what I must be signed up to by email, etc.
Our own preferences are great and all, but I think that when we extrapolate those to the greater population and assume everybody is of the same mind, the blinkers to reality kick in. They're a huge problem that is endemic to the technologically-inclined because we falsely (and sometimes smugly) assume that our opinions and choices are universal.
Whether we might prefer or not prefer phone calls is irrelevant to whether or not people still do phone calls in the real world, and people have smartphones these days, so nobody should be surprised that smartphones are still used, especially in business, to place and receive phone calls.
Sure, mightn't be the top use case for a smartphone, but one would be foolish to imagine it isn't a big deal for a lot of people.
Having said that, both my Pixel 1 and 2 died within 6 months of purchase. Pixel 1 was purchased in Jan 2017. Had the infamous microphone stopped working bug in March 2017. Google replaced with a refurb which lasted 1 year until the microphone and headphone jack stopped working. Got a pixel 2 which also had quality control issues where several months later it was stuck on a perma startup booting loop. I made the mistake of buying the pixel 2 online so I couldn't get it covered under warranty.
And here we are with the Pixel 3. As amazing as night sight is, it annoys me to hell that my girlfriends iphone 6s is still going strong after years. Pixels really are not that durable which sucks because the best part of a pixel is still miles and leaps above the competition.
EDIT: The newer Iphone cameras are getting better. If the Pixel 3 also dies within a few months, then I'm going to Apple because I can't justify buying a flagship phone every year.