Google Pixel Phones....

They all suck. They all track your shit and sell it. They are all 1000 dollars over priced. But, it has become a necessary evil in the world that we live in.

 

My first "google" phone was a Nexus 6P and I even kept it long enough to run the battery down to almost not holding a charge before I tore it apart and put a new battery in. The about 1 1/2 years later I wiped it and sold it on Marketplace for like $75. I purchased a new Google Pixel 3a-XL when they first came out (early 2019 maybe) and I'm still using it. It was a true google phone without any of the bloatware and I just loaded on the apps that I wanted/needed and I've been very happy with it. It's a 4G phone with wifi calling and going to 5G isn't an issue for me because of where we live........we don't have it available here yet.

 

It's all smoke and mirrors. Apple is now even storing all your pictures, timestamps, GPS, etc., on their servers as part of their "stop child trafficking" campaign.

At least Google lets you access what they store and delete it, Apple will not let you have the ability to delete it since it's surveillance data.

 

No, read the article I linked earlier ...

Not true. You can delete some of it, mostly search and Assistant stuff... but you have no access to what Android allows Facebook to gather while you are using other apps. No access to what Spotify gathers, or anything else any other apps you have installed gather on you.

 

I had a Pixel 4 and it was my favorite phone. Set it up any way you want with almost no preloaded stuff. However, I am in a k-12 education Apple-based environment and there were 3 or 4 apps that google didn't support well. I may go back to a Pixel now that I have an iPhone work phone. I generally enjoyed doing the reviews and like the Google photo app.

A little warning about the car play stuff. It can be awkward when certain messages pop up when people are around you may not want to be tied into certain information. Same with that whole apple cross-platform stuff. Shit will pop up on your iPad from your phone when you are thousands of miles away. A combination of the above events led to a close friend getting divorced. Talk about awkward when I was using his iPad and a message from his wife to some random dude popped up. Fortunately, he already knew what she was up too but I did not. Helped him in the divorce when they showed her lawyer a couple of hundred text messages about her extracurricular activities. This was a couple of years ago so maybe it's different now.

Or a flip phone. Not sure why it has become such an issue for me the last few years but the amount of tracking, filtering of information, and the insane profits these phone/tech companies are making has really not settled well with me. I hate I am so tied to it all with what seems like limited options to not engage with these companies.

My contract is almost up on my iPhone 11 and seriously considering the Pixel 6.

 

I have a Pixel 4 phone that I just got. LG was my go to phone brand as they had minimal BS on their phones, but since they stopped making phones, back to Google. It's a great phone, lightweight in comparison to any iphone, and decent battery life. Perfect size screen.

 

BTW I always install Nova Launcher on my phones and customize it to my liking. There's almost no other app that makes a phone better

 

Buy a Pixel phone and install GrapheneOS on it. It's Android without all the google spyware. Actually installing it on the device may be a bit more than many here can or are willing to handle, but privacy for the win.

 

It allows you to change the way you interact with the phone. You can choose if you want your app drawer to swipe vertical or horizontal. Have different motions/gestures be a shortcut to open a app or do some function, change the name of apps, and other little things that just make using the phone more of your experience than something that is forced on you.

 

just spent an hour reading through that website. as soon as i get my next pixel, ill be installing that OS immediately. thanks!

 

Earlier this year I went from a Pixel2 to a Pixel5. Great, clean interface. Stable OS. Excellent battery life. Does calls on WiFi. I wish they would have kept the telephoto option from the 4. I don't care for wide angle, I'd rather be able to take pictures closer up of far away things(concerts, motorcycle trips, etc)

 

Confusing if someone says 'google dead pixel' you don't know if they are searching to learn why the laptop screen is going bad or their cellphone died

 

Went from Pixel 2xl to the 5a, no complaints so far. Battery lasts about 3 times as long .

 

These are all great comments to hear......looks like I'll pick up a 6 Pro whenever they become available.

I'll keep the beeb updated for the one guy who was in the same boat.

 

Had the new Pixel 6 Pro for about 6 weeks now and love it.

Has some great new features that I really like. The camera is fantastic.

No bloat ware BS.....so, definitely worth it.

Does have a few bugs here and there but Google fixes them pretty quickly, so no real complaints.

 

I had Android phones forever until this year and got my first IPhone (12 Pro Max). I enjoyed the customization I had with the Android phones and thought of Apple fanboys like the current Tesla fanboys. But it was time to upgrade from my Note7 and the wife was on the last leg of her Note 5. She wanted an IPhone because of the camera and she’s always taking pics of the kid and dog so it was important to her. She asked that we get the same phone so the transition would be easier and I didn’t care enough to fight it. The first 6 months I was annoyed at not being able to make the phone what I wanted but the pics are amazing on the IPhone (recording video in Dolby Vision is cool too). I’ve noticed that some smart home apps work better on the IPhone (Hue, Stagg, Ember, Anova to name a few of the top of my head). I do miss the customization but one isn’t necessarily “better” than the other, just different.

For privacy, i don’t notice a difference in targeted ads between the 2. Apple claims to be more private but I still get ads for things that I speak about with the wife or friends. That’s the most transparent measure I have, I guess, for my info being sold.