We typically like Pixel phones a lot, but we have some reservations about Google’s quality control

-11 points

It’s certainly more than a bit annoying that THIS is the product that Google keeps alive, while constantly killing other, much more useful products.

I’ve literally never met anyone with a Google Pixel. It’s just not on anyone’s radar when buying a new phone. I’m sure some like it, but it’s not exactly setting the world on fire.

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5 points
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LOL like me and half my friends all have Pixels. We’re all FOSS nerds. I’ll also never consider another carrier other than Google Fi. I’ve yet to land in a foreign country and not have instant, unlimited cell service. Carrier bonding is also a blessing in the mountains.

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1 point

Well yeah, if your group self-identifies as FOSS nerds, that’s about what I’d expect :D I bet a lot of them are also into Linux, right?

I love my Linux/FOSS brethren, but most people just buy an iPhone or some Samsung and are perfectly happy just using those as is.

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5 points

I use Google Fi as well but I’ve questioned the purpose of carrier bonding/switching since T-Mobile and Sprint merged. As far as I know US cellular is the only other network that Fi uses. Correct me if I’m wrong.

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1 point
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Historically Sprint was a different type of network [CDMA] but I think with 5G it’s all coagulated together. However, US Cellular is the network I fall back on when I am in the mountains so it’s the one I’m thankful to be able to pop on whenever tmobile drops away.

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11 points

I think this is rather location dependent. Here in Aus a lot of people I know use them. Just some more anecdotal evidence.

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1 point

Australia does have some quirks, as many Australians like to point out :D

According to marketshare figures, last year Google had 3 percent marketshare in Australia. IPhone was 43.8 percent, followed by Samsung with 31.8, followed by Oppo (4.5) Lenovo (3.6), HDM (3) and finally: there’s Google with 3 percent.

https://appleworld.today/apples-iphone-now-has-46-5-of-the-australian-smartphone-market/amp/

In the US, iPhone and Samsung have bigger shares and Google is at about 4 percent (was 2 in 2022)

So at least from the statistics, Google isn’t doing particularly well in Australia either. But you certainly might run with a particular group of people who prefer them over other brands. People do like to conform to a group.

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3 points

Your experience is not universal. I think most people I know have a Pixel, even the non-nerds!

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3 points

It really can depend on where you are. For example, in the US Google had a 4 percent marketshare in 2023. It actually doubled compared to 2022: that was 2 percent.

Buf if you happen to run with a group pf people who go against the grain and buy Pixels, it might very well feel like a dominant brand.

In our company for example, everyone has iPhones. So to me, they appear to have 100 percent marketshare, when reality is closer to 50-60 percent in most markets.

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12 points

Largely exaggerating bugs. If it happens to you that sucks, but I’ve never actually met anyone in the real world running into these bugs. This is “your holding it wrong” writing designed to rile up nerds.

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4 points

I have an 8 Pro that has had bugs since it was released.

They’re mostly frustrating inconveniences that make using it annoying. Graphical glitches, phone calls hanging up unexpectedly, being able to type even after going into open apps view, not being able to switch apps because it just disappears from the open apps view, the fingerprint sensor just not working at all sometimes, and more.

Nothing that breaks the phone, but it’s real annoying more often that it should be.

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2 points

IDK, nobody gets any real numbers so it’s hard to say. I just know 9 pixel 6-8s and nobody has run into anything major.

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9 points
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You shouldn’t discount these reports just because you haven’t seen them yourself. I mean, how many people do you talk to in the real world about their Pixel phones? If it’s less than hundreds, it doesn’t really say much — that’s well within chance since, as the article states, the problem is inconsistency. If 1% of users experience a given problem, that’s actually a pretty big deal. If 10% experience it, it’s pitchfork time.

Pixel phones are notorious for poor quality control, and Google is notorious for poor customer support. That’s a bad combination. Lots of people have perfectly good experiences, but there are still a lot of problems that aren’t just flukes.

I read the article and I think it’s pretty fair. I’ve used a couple different Pixel models and followed their respective subreddits for years. It’s always something. Green tint, or poor signal, or overheating, or a barely-functional fingerprint reader, for example. None of these things affect everyone, but they’re real problems. Probably the fingerprint reader is the most widespread. At least that’s improved (for me) over time.

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51 points
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r/android comment section giving the expected behavior as usual. These news sites know how to be a puppet master, I’m telling ya.

Webite wants to push pro Pixel discussion:

Proceeds to drop a article with a sensationalist title that triggers said Pixel owners.

Comment section is immediately filled with folks declaring how great their Pixel is.

This tactic flip flops between OEMS. It’s generally in Samsungs favor but not always.

Disclaimer: Idgf what phone you own. I’m only speaking on what is painfully obvious to me.

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3 points
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Great point.

It’s so weird to me when people reply with “doesn’t happen to me”.

And?

That these things happen to people is a positive claim on their part. The idiots commentors saying it doesn’t happen to them don’t even realize their dispositive claim is meaningless.

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4 points
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I have a pixel 8 that doesn’t have any issues, but I can read the title that says Google’s quality control is shit. So I can understand my phone is okay and other people have problems. Even if I bought 100 pixels, my sample size would still be too small to dismiss other people’s claims.

Funnily enough, this is my first comment I’ve made about how my pixel is fine. So now I’m part of the problem :3

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14 points

This. These sites have said anti-Pixel articles far and away get the most clicks so they keep writing them.

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10 points

I sometimes wonder how much Pixel hype is just inertia from when other manufacturers had terrible skins and Pixel was the only way for most to get a stock android experience.

Nowadays third party software has come a long way and from what I can see the pixel’s main selling point is it’s cameras.

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18 points

There have been some strange issues with my 8 pro that resemble hardware connection issues or even the start of bad memory chunks. (The display glitches are mentioned in the article, actually.)

The new screen capture feature is buggy as all hell and is prone to buffer issues after long periods of spot translation.

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5 points

For what it’s worth, mine has been great. Luck of the draw?

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19 points

I’d argue that a luck of the draw issue is worse than a consistent, across the board QA issue.

Still can’t bring myself to bite the bullet and buy a Pixel because of these “horror stories”.

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4 points

Same.

But mainly my S20+ is still way more than I need and I see that being the case for quite some time to come. Phone tech plateaued years ago. It’s great.

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4 points
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Yeah, I am biased to QA as well.

Some of the glitches are subtle enough to make me think it’s something crunchy in the physical hardware. Many people simply wouldn’t notice the issues, TBH.

Like all hardware bugs, it’ll likely take a bit of time to manifest fully. Being cynical, I would probably say the failures will fully manifest around the Pixel 10 release timeframe.

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