Google 'Pixel' Phones (and other Google event stuff)

youngblood

Surprising really as the carphone warehouse guy I was talking to said, so far, he's only sold one pixel to a northern Irish resident, the rest were southern buyers

OldMrBrennan83

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TallGlass

Well best of luck to Google, but if the Nexus 5 gives up the ghost, which it looks like it is (for me). Then it's off to Apple with me unfortunately, I am not jumping hoops or anything like it for a phone. Amazing considering they are apparently based here as the EU HQ we can't even buy a phone from them. :rolleyes:

youngblood

Patww79 wrote:

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Returns are with Google, although you can bring it back to the store if you wish either

burke_d7

So people who have bought in shop in north, how do you find it? Do you get the Google support and unlimited cloud storage?
Thinking about going up north for the small pixel. Any tips about buying, best customer service or having to return/ replace damaged faulty phone?

youngblood

Bought pixel 5" in Newry.
If you have to return for any reason you can return to carphone warehouse or Google directly, just ring them up. I've dealt with Google before and customer service is great. (They sent out replacement phone before I sent back my broken phone, within 2 days)
Phone feels great in hand, runs so smoothly, photos are the best I've ever captured. Everything just feels right.
Battery is good, so with a day of good use,100% at 8.20am this morning, streaming, casting, browsing, its now down to 20%. I always expect more with battery life but that seems standard. Would like to hear other peoples opinion on this.
As someone who came from Nexus5 to the pixel, the transistion is great.
Fingerprint recognition slick & fast, as is Google assistant which I wasnt sure of at first but have found it suprisingly useful.
There is no Google chat support like I had seen in some videos, I presume that US only.
Google always had unlimited storage (as long as they choose the file size) so that isnt still an issue for me, continues to be great.

OldMrBrennan83

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youngblood

You can upload pics at max resolution, with no limit with the Pixel.
I've just no need/want to back up such high quality/resolution photos.

Atomic Pineapple

You used to be able to buy from the UK Google Play store using Flubit in the past, has anyone tried this?

OldMrBrennan83

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matrim

How are people who've had this for a while finding it? I'm probably going to head to Newry on Saturday to pick up the 32GB normal version

C-Shore

matrim wrote: »

How are people who've had this for a while finding it? I'm probably going to head to Newry on Saturday to pick up the 32GB normal version

Yeah it's going great. I got it, with the Nexus 5 being my phone for the last 3 years.

Battery life is still great for me. Start the day at 6am, pretty heavy usage with usually about 4 hours SOT and I get to 6pm with about 40% left and then I get to bed time before it gets below 10%. Typically that daily usage doesn't have much camera use or maps use, which would of course reduce the time.
Right now I'm at 67% with 2 hours SOT.

Performance is great, no lag after what I feel is now enough time to have settled with the phone and gotten to regular use and multitasking. Definitely as the reviews put it, the smoothest Android phone yet.
Very similar to the Nexus UX wise, but performance over the 5 and my brief use of the 5X, is vastly better with the Pixel. 7.1 is just very polished, and whether it's solely down to 7.1 improvements, or both 7.1 and Pixel Hardware, it is definitely very smooth.
The Nougat quick settings are much better now that they're available in the notification shade without a further pulldown. It's small, but it makes a big difference having them so much more easy to access. Very similar to earlier versions of Cyanogen Mod if you're familiar with that around the Gingerbread/ICS era.

I'm only now getting used to using split screen, as I just wasn't in the habit of using it, but it's a great feature to have.

Charging times are great. So if you're coming from a non Quick Charge phone, you'll really notice the benefit when you need to charge at the end of the work day to make sure you get through to late night if you're going out after work etc.
Upgrading your cables and chargers to USB-C is a bit costly if you're buying USB-IF certified products or "Benson Approved". I spent about 70 between a new USB-PD Charger (that turns out is redundant after the recent revelation that the smaller Pixel maxes out charging at 15W), a USB-C car charger, a 2m C-C cable, 3 x USB 2.0 - C cables, and 2 x Micro to C adapters.

Camera quality really is great. All the talk while a little hyperbolic, is still true - it easily takes great photos with very little effort. Burst Mode is actually really handy especially when paired with Google Photos for creating gifs. Great if you have kids or young family members to catch memories etc.

I don't like to put a case on my phone. In my 9 year history of Android phones, I've only ever smashed one, and that was my Nexus 5 back in August. So if you put a case on, it won't be a problem, but the metal body of the phone is a bit slippy, so one handed usage is a little difficult.

I have the 32GB version, and I'm up to 16GB used which includes the system. Photos original size backup is great and helps a lot with that, as well as having spotfiy and unlimited data with Three - so I don't download much stuff for offline listening.

Assistant is very much similar to voice commands as they've been without assistant, but there are a few times a week where the conversational aspect of Assistant comes in very useful.

Pixel Launcher is great for now. As with all new phones, I eventually start to mess around with Nova, but it's still great, as are the live earth wallpapers.
My only gripe is the buttons all on one side making screenshots difficult, but that's a good sign if that's the only negative!

If you have other questions just let me know.

C-Shore

Also to add, I just installed the monthly security update and that reminded me that updates now install in the background.

I put it down thinking it was the usual 20 minute update, but then it was just updated after 2 minutes. I forgot about the whole thing so I forgot to look at it to see if it restarts or not, but the phone was on and saying it was updated within 2 minutes. So that's a really nice feature.

I also meant to say, definitely enable the system UI tuner to make the quick settings work best for you.

OldMrBrennan83

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deadanonymau5

Anyone who has the Pixel, what route did ye go to get one? Anyone buy online and use Parcel Motel?

Thanks in advance

Cina

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

Anyone who has the Pixel, what route did ye go to get one? Anyone buy online and use Parcel Motel?

Thanks in advance

Got mine up in Carphone Warehouse in Enniskillen on the way back to Dublin one weekend. The Black Friday deals were on so there was £70 off and I couldn't resist. Don't think you'll get that now, though.

deadanonymau5

Cina wrote: »

Got mine up in Carphone Warehouse in Enniskillen on the way back to Dublin one weekend. The Black Friday deals were on so there was £70 off and I couldn't resist. Don't think you'll get that now, though.

Lucky you! Looks like Ill have to go up North!

Happy with the phone? Any issues?

Cina

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

Lucky you! Looks like Ill have to go up North!

Happy with the phone? Any issues?

Love it! It's a little bland looking for such a costly phone, but still feels and looks premium, but the software experience is incredible. It's just so slick and fast and I love the extra features of the Pixel Launcher on top of Stock Android. Battery life is great, too.

Oh and the camera is fantastic.

Best phone I've owned, it really does feel like google's iOS, i.e. all the features of Android with the slickness and speed and optimization of iOS because it's made by the same manufacturer as the phone, if that makes sense.

deadanonymau5

Cina wrote: »

Love it! It's a little bland looking for such a costly phone, but still feels and looks premium, but the software experience is incredible. It's just so slick and fast and I love the extra features of the Pixel Launcher on top of Stock Android. Battery life is great, too.

Oh and the camera is fantastic.

Best phone I've owned, it really does feel like google's iOS, i.e. all the features of Android with the slickness and speed and optimization of iOS because it's made by the same manufacturer as the phone, if that makes sense.

Nice, it makes sense to me after watching many video reviews on YouTube. I forgot to ask about battery life, how many hours screen on time do you get out of the (Pixel or Pixel XL)?

Thanks

znoop

Hello everyone,

I'm a 32Gb Nexus 6P owner myself, got it last February for 550€ on google store. Must say I'm very satisfied with it.

And I think to upgrade my wife's galaxy s4 with a 32Gb Pixel for the Christmas but I'm not sure where can I get the best offer in Ireland..

Priced at 790€ on eglobacentral.eu or 600£ + shipping from UK that's around 750€ as well which I find a lot. And the cheapest price I could find was 675€ (+20€ shipped) from ie.onedigitals.com.
I bought my Sony A6000 from eglobalcentral.eu and I have good experience with them guys but never heard of onedigital.com.

Any price updates guys? Somewhere else maybe?

Thanks

madmoe

I love my 6P and am gonna stick with it now until October\November when the new Google phone comes out.

Cheers,
M

OldMrBrennan83

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OldMrBrennan83

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deadanonymau5

Do you have the Pixel Patww?

OldMrBrennan83

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Cina

The Pixel is the best phone I have ever used. And I've used iPhone's, Galaxy's, Nexus's etc. I do not regret going up to Enniskillen and forking out €640 on one. It's a damn shame they won't release them in Ireland.

deadanonymau5

Cina wrote: »

The Pixel is the best phone I have ever used. And I've used iPhone's, Galaxy's, Nexus's etc. I do not regret going up to Enniskillen and forking out €640 on one. It's a damn shame they won't release them in Ireland.

How did you manage to get it for E640? The small Pixel with 32gb?

Cina

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

How did you manage to get it for E640? The small Pixel with 32gb?

Sorry for the late response.

It was during the Black Friday sales and CPW had it down to £530.

I'd keep an eye out, from what they said in store it's not selling very well up north so I'd say there will be quite a few deals like that.

shuffles03

Where is the best place to buy an Xl? I'm looking for the 'Really Blue' version.

OldMrBrennan83

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sentient_6

shuffles03 wrote: »

Where is the best place to buy an Xl? I'm looking for the 'Really Blue' version.

http://www.androidcentral.com/really-blue-google-pixel-now-pre-order-uk

OldMrBrennan83

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deadanonymau5

Patww79 wrote: »

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They'd be nuts to get one with the Samsung S8 & S8+ shaping up to look like the best phones available in 2017 (coming out in April)

OldMrBrennan83

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TallGlass

Cina wrote: »

The Pixel is the best phone I have ever used. And I've used iPhone's, Galaxy's, Nexus's etc. I do not regret going up to Enniskillen and forking out €640 on one. It's a damn shame they won't release them in Ireland.

It makes us look like idiots, there EU HQ is in Dublin, yet you cannot buy there phones here in Dublin, yet 100km up the road you can get one.

Come on Google sort your **** out here FFS.

deadanonymau5

Patww79 wrote: »

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The 6.2' quad hd+ super AMOLED display will probably be the best display on a smartphone this year. Iris scanner, water/dust resistance, 64GB storage with microSD slot, AKG earphone, wireless charging, Android pay and one of the best smartphone cameras as usual. What more could you want?

TallGlass wrote: »

It makes us look like idiots, there EU HQ is in Dublin, yet you cannot buy there phones here in Dublin, yet 100km up the road you can get one.

Come on Google sort your **** out here FFS.

They've supply issues in the US as well. It's a shame!

jester77

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

The 6.2' quad hd+ super AMOLED display will probably be the best display on a smartphone this year. Iris scanner, water/dust resistance, 64GB storage with microSD slot, AKG earphone, wireless charging, Android pay and one of the best smartphone cameras as usual. What more could you want?

An up to date OS without bloat? Has the S7 even gotten Nougat yet

OldMrBrennan83

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jester77

jester77 wrote: »

An up to date OS without bloat? Has the S7 even gotten Nougat yet

TBF Sammy were faster than HTC for once.

deadanonymau5

jester77 wrote: »

An up to date OS without bloat? Has the S7 even gotten Nougat yet

It'll have the latest version of Android, and get the next version. As Patww said what bloatware? Even if there was a few Samsung apps, its negligible.

If you're bemoaning that, Im sure you'd find many more 'problems' with other phones.

Patww79 wrote: »

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Atomic Pineapple

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

It'll have the latest version of Android, and get the next version. As Patww said what bloatware? Even if there was a few Samsung apps, its negligible.

If you're bemoaning that, Im sure you'd find many more 'problems' with other phones.

In the past Samsung were notorious for bloatware but it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue with their latest iterations, my finaceé has an S7 and while it's still got a lot of crap on it, none of it feels as intrusive as the last Galaxy I had which was an S4.

Cina

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

They'd be nuts to get one with the Samsung S8 & S8+ shaping up to look like the best phones available in 2017 (coming out in April)

I disagree. It'd take an almighty phone for me to pick Touchwiz over the Pixel interface, which is absolutely amazing. I can't stress how fast and beautiful to use the Pixel is, no matter how great the specs are on a Samsung phone, Touchwiz will always blight it.

Plus the Pixel has the best camera out there, really good battery life and a really good screen too. So the only advantages the S8 would have for me is the big and better (although the Pixel screen is still great) screen (which seems to be Edge only again which I find a bit crap) and the extra stuff like water resistance and an SD slot. That's not enough for me.

I'd say 90% of people would pick the S8 over the Pixel for those reasons and that's fine, but after using the Pixel Interface I never want to use any other Android one now, especially not Touchwiz.

Cina

Cina wrote: »

I disagree. It'd take an almighty phone for me to pick Touchwiz over the Pixel interface, which is absolutely amazing. I can't stress how fast and beautiful to use the Pixel is, no matter how great the specs are on a Samsung phone, Touchwiz will always blight it.

Plus the Pixel has the best camera out there, really good battery life and a really good screen too. So the only advantages the S8 would have for me is the big and better (although the Pixel screen is still great) screen (which seems to be Edge only again which I find a bit crap) and the extra stuff like water resistance and an SD slot. That's not enough for me.

I'd say 90% of people would pick the S8 over the Pixel for those reasons and that's fine, but after using the Pixel Interface I never want to use any other Android one now, especially not Touchwiz.

I have mates who have the pixel, and I probably would have got one myself. The only problem is I already had the HTC 10, which is still better the pixel in some regards.

The nexus/pixel release schedule is what kills me. I get a new flagship every march/april, so whatever is released the the end of the year would have to be something pretty special for me to upgrade again. Maybe this year's iteration will be.

Cina

Basil3 wrote: »

I have mates who have the pixel, and I probably would have got one myself. The only problem is I already had the HTC 10, which is still better the pixel in some regards.

The nexus/pixel release schedule is what kills me. I get a new flagship every march/april, so whatever is released the the end of the year would have to be something pretty special for me to upgrade again. Maybe this year's iteration will be.

The 10 looks great but again, not sure what it has over the Pixel other than expandable SD? Maybe if you prefer a front scanner to a back one.

OldMrBrennan83

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Cina

Cina wrote: »

The 10 looks great but again, not sure what it has over the Pixel other than expandable SD? Maybe if you prefer a front scanner to a back one.

Yeah, expandable SD, better scanner placement, better audio.

That's said, if the two came out at the same time and for the same price, I'd probably go for the pixel.

deadanonymau5

Patww79 wrote: »

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deadanonymau5 wrote: »

They'd be nuts to get one with the Samsung S8 & S8+ shaping up to look like the best phones available in 2017 (coming out in April)

Patww79 wrote: »

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deadanonymau5 wrote: »

The 6.2' quad hd+ super AMOLED display will probably be the best display on a smartphone this year. Iris scanner, water/dust resistance, 64GB storage with microSD slot, AKG earphone, wireless charging, Android pay and one of the best smartphone cameras as usual. What more could you want?



They've supply issues in the US as well. It's a shame!

jester77 wrote: »

An up to date OS without bloat? Has the S7 even gotten Nougat yet

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

It'll have the latest version of Android, and get the next version. As Patww said what bloatware? Even if there was a few Samsung apps, its negligible.

If you're bemoaning that, Im sure you'd find many more 'problems' with other phones.

Forgot to mention, we were talking about hardware...

deadanonymau5

Cina wrote: »

I disagree. It'd take an almighty phone for me to pick Touchwiz over the Pixel interface, which is absolutely amazing. I can't stress how fast and beautiful to use the Pixel is, no matter how great the specs are on a Samsung phone, Touchwiz will always blight it.

Making a mountain out of a molehill imo... an ugly skin that you'll only see between using apps.

Speaking of fast, the S8 will have the next gen processor. Pixel has 'old' tech. I wouldn't go to the trouble of travelling to another country to get a phone with 'old' hardware

Cina wrote: »

Plus the Pixel has the best camera out there, really good battery life and a really good screen too.

Best camera? How?
In comparisons I've seen certain cameras perform better in different situations. It's subjective anyway.

"really good battery life and a really good screen too"?
Ah come on now...:rolleyes: The S8+ will probably have the same battery life and has a better screen.

OldMrBrennan83

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Cina

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

Making a mountain out of a molehill imo... an ugly skin that you'll only see between using apps.

Speaking of fast, the S8 will have the next gen processor. Pixel has 'old' tech. I wouldn't go to the trouble of travelling to another country to get a phone with 'old' hardware



Best camera? How?
In comparisons I've seen certain cameras perform better in different situations. It's subjective anyway.

"really good battery life and a really good screen too"?
Ah come on now...:rolleyes: The S8+ will probably have the same battery life and has a better screen.

If you always wait for the newest hardware, you'll never buy a phone.