Google Pixel review(A FULL REVIEW)

[CharminUltraStrong]

The Google Pixel Phone,

TL;DR:

Great phone, feels good in the hand, extremely quick, best Android experience, charges FAST, has faulty issues that occur among Pixel phones, Fantastic customer support, Amazing finger print scanner, Design is debatable, the finish chips/scratches in odd ways, fun Android Easter Egg(Entirely Subjective), Decent audio(Drives my HD 8 DJ's to substantial levels), Abysmal mono speaker, Google assistant is fantastic and useful, great buttons, chin bar is a bit big, great screen(Too much contrast albeit), and of course an amazing camera(Front and back)(A bit jittery with the Electronic Stabilization)(Has slightly too much contrast)

 

Overall rating...6/10 - 6.5/10  (Intended for iOS to Android converts, People who can truly appreciate Android)

 

If you want to see my issues with the phone, skip to the section where the entire paragraph is in red.

 

Full Review,

 

Design:  The design, in my opinion, looks interesting.  Especially in their "Quite Black" color, looks sporty, sleek and nondescript.  Although, this is entirely my opinion and it may NOT suit your tastes. My biggest gripe is that soft glass on the back. I took a look at it after only 3 days of using it, at this point I'm convinced a lady bug could leave scratches on the back glass by walking on it. Moving forward, to the front, that oversized chin bar irritated me a bit in the beginning but I've gotten used to it now.  A lot of people complain "Oh you ought to put touch capacitive buttons there!", yet, unless I'm wrong, it's stock Android and not all Android phones have those types of buttons right?  So I'm assuming that placing those buttons there would be left up to the 3rd party phone manufacturers and is something they'd tweak in Android.  I could be wrong, any how, yeah that chin bar is a bit big. Maybe they could have put dual front facing speakers there instead and a small mic grill next to the charging port.

 

Build quality:  It's fantastic, ABSOLUTELY, a step up from the Nexus 6p no questions asked.  The 6P felt good, but not this good.  In my opinion, it feels better than the iPhone 7/7+(Using the iPhone as a comparison because that's the direct competition)  and I'm unsure why. Maybe it's because the  7/7+ is thinner overall? I'm unsure, but as we all know by now there's a VERY subtle wedge shape to the Pixel.  Not much else to say, we all know it has Gorilla Glass 4(Thank God it's not 5), and that soft glass that scratches by touching it.

 

Software:  This is the fun part, currently I'm running Android Nougat 7.1.1(at the time of writing this) and it is smooth.  Flipping from page to page, swiping into the app tray, it's all so quick.  There's not much else to say, it's stock Android with no bloatware or ugly skins.  Google assistant, is lovely.  It's quick, always(ONLY) recognizes your voice, you can unlock your phone with it, and can do essentially anything(especially as they add more functionality).

 

Battery Life:  It's alright, max brightness, running games, etc. I'm getting 4-6 hours of screen-on time which is perfectly acceptable. 

 

Camera: Without getting into specifics, the(back) camera is fantastic. INSANELY quick focus, doesn't have that weird flicker like the iPhone 7+,  Good contrast(A little too much IMO), even better with HDR+ enabled, a very nice(Warm) dual tone flash, it does have lens flare but that's extremely minor(Hopefully they add a patch that allows you to toggle lens flare reduction on and off I can imagine it'd be glitchy).  The selfie cam is pretty good too, nice definition, it's sharp, not too washed out in darker conditions and maintains consistent colors.(Note: Both cameras have alright low life performance, nothing major but it's nice for a phone)(Can run 1080P 60 FPS or 4k 30 FPS)

 

My issues with the phone:  Now, from what I understand, this isn't just a problem with me.  It's an issue among Pixel owners, and Sony Xperia owners(Oddly enough)(Doesn't have to do with the wifi being 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz, that mainly applies to Android Gingerbread and older since they could only pick up 2.4 Ghz signals).  The wifi disables itself and makes it nearly impossible to connect.  This doesn't happen to EVERY Pixel phone but I'm under the assumption the issue is less commonplace than I originally thought.  What happens is, you get Network Association Rejections/Failures and(At the time of writing this) the issue can't be solved.  I've contacted Google Support,(They responded within seconds and chatted with me LIVE) they've escalated the case to specialized and I did everything possible to fix the phone.  From setting a static IP, to 6 factory resets, I've gone the full 9 yards and then some.  They don't know if it's software or hardware side, if it is then a simple patch could resolve the issue. Until then, this will impact the rating.  Another issue, the finish on the phone chips and doesn't scratch really. I dropped the phone from a height of 3 feet or so from my pocket and it hit the corner.  The corner isn't dented at all but somehow it chipped so now I'm stuck looking at this glaringly bright silver metal. Not only that but when it hit, it fell over LIGHTLY on to the back and chipped there as well(Glass went unscathed).

 

Minor notes: The singular mono speaker is abysmal, extremely tinny and SO SO EASILY obscured!  The audio output(Screw it Apple) is pretty damn good. It drives my HD 8 DJ's that are rated at a 95 Ohm impedance so not everything can drive these headphones.  It pushes these cans to pretty acceptable listening volumes and it sounds very good, even when running it through a streaming service(Like Spotify).  The screen is very nice, a bit too much contrast but sharp as hell. It's AMOLED so what did you expect? Not as good as a Samsung display but hey, I'll take it. Quick charging is lightning quick over USB Type-C no problems there. Very accurate gyroscope and is great with mobile VR(Google Cardboard or Daydream VR).

 

Again, my overall rating sits at 6/10 to 6.5/10. The rating is fairly critical and I'll note that the Wi-Fi issue, docks an entire point.

[CharminUltraStrong]

After a long wait, I've received my replacement phone and works just as it should. I'd say it's a 7/10 - 8/10, very happy to have a functioning device.

[ProdigyzMined]

I own a Quite Black Pixel XL, and a lot of the points you made are very true. I don't share your issue with wifi, but after a few days of use my phone would not sleep automatically. Factory reset solved it, just frustrating I had to resort to that. I'm also running the Beta, which is 1.7.2 at the moment. Nothing new worth speaking of, I'm just stoked that I can be a part of the vanilla Android experience coming off of a Galaxy S6 Edge/ S4.

[CharminUltraStrong]

On 2/9/2017 at 10:41 PM, ProdigyzMined said:

-snip-.

Yes, I agree!  I installed the new security patch on February 9th, it yields no fixes for my phone.  Now, not only does the phone not function with my household wifi, it's not working with any of my other networks that were working even when I had the issue.  For example, it always auto connected in my office but trying to connect to it now gives me a connection rejection.

[ProdigyzMined]

On 2/12/2017 at 10:16 AM, CharminUltraStrong said:

Yes, I agree!  I installed the new security patch on February 9th, it yields no fixes for my phone.  Now, not only does the phone not function with my household wifi, it's not working with any of my other networks that were working even when I had the issue.  For example, it always auto connected in my office but trying to connect to it now gives me a connection rejection.

Have you tried a factory reset? from what I've seen that will fix a lot of the problems people are having...

 

Also, if you're opted into the Android Beta, un-enroll. There's a chance the beta has some bugs that could be affecting you.

[RainColt]

On 1/17/2017 at 0:37 PM, CharminUltraStrong said:

-snip-

I had the same problem, mine wouldn't connect to anything with WPA/WPA2 but no password or WEP would connect, ended up sending mine back and got a new phone that couldn't send or receive audio during phone calls so I'm waiting for my 3rd one to come in.

[CharminUltraStrong]

On 2/13/2017 at 11:11 PM, ProdigyzMined said:

-snip-

I mean no offense to you whatsoever but I chuckled a BIT when you suggested a factory reset.  I've subjected my phone to AT LEAST 8 resets, and none had any positive results.  I've requested a replacement but I've got a problem with that now.  It expires in 72 hrs,. they can't send it to my 'til they receive mine, and I have a conference to attend for 4 days  .  I need that phone for those 4 days, and don't get me wrong the service is great! I sort of expected something more considering I made a $700 investment.

[CharminUltraStrong]

On 2/13/2017 at 11:25 PM, RainColt said:

I had the same problem, mine wouldn't connect to anything with WPA/WPA2 but no password or WEP would connect, ended up sending mine back and got a new phone that couldn't send or receive audio during phone calls so I'm waiting for my 3rd one to come in.

I tried that, I tried changing settings from my router and from my phone.  Oddly enough, once in a blue moon the phone actually starts working with Wi-Fi for roughly 3 hours then it turns over to data again.  5 Gb later, my data plan is mutilated.

[RainColt]

11 hours ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

I tried that, I tried changing settings from my router and from my phone.  Oddly enough, once in a blue moon the phone actually starts working with Wi-Fi for roughly 3 hours then it turns over to data again.  5 Gb later, my data plan is mutilated.

I'm currently waiting on google to send me my fourth pixel they all wouldn't send or receive audio during phone calls

[CharminUltraStrong]

On 2/28/2017 at 1:08 AM, RainColt said:

I'm currently waiting on google to send me my fourth pixel they all wouldn't send or receive audio during phone calls

Yikes!  I wish I could replace mine but I've got things to do this weekend. Another draw back, before this problem occurred I slapped a Dbrand skin on it.  Marble for the body, colored G logo and mahogany for the glass...$15 down the drain.

[RainColt]

20 minutes ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

Yikes!  I wish I could replace mine but I've got things to do this weekend. Another draw back, before this problem occurred I slapped a Dbrand skin on it.  Marble for the body, colored G logo and mahogany for the glass...$15 down the drain.

hahaha yup same here, I just went for the back skin in marble and a rhino shield bumper. 

[CharminUltraStrong]

Yet another unfortunate infuriating update.  I've had to once again reset the phone!  This time, I was sending text messages and while sending them it stopped working. I could send messages, the recipient could see them and I would be notified that I was receiving a message.  Entering the messaging app would show a message I had sent over an hour ago and the response, that was all.  This became a major issue as I was in the middle of a 4 day conference and reluctantly reset the phone.

 

BUYERS BEWARE, EARLY ADOPTION SYNDROME.