Pixel 3 XL - Why?

[Krolic]

So, after months of leaks (opening of the flood gates, really) the Pixel 3 XL has officially been announced. I am in the need of a new phone very badly (completely bricked my Samsung Galaxy S7 and currently rocking an old and semi-functioning iPhone 5s) and have been patiently waiting for the new pixel to be launched. I love the stock android experience as I get frustrated with all the bloatware of other phones. I also don't want to try and get another phone with bloatware and try to remove it by rooting (how I ended up bricking my older S7).

 

However, based on the specs of the phone and looking at its price and the mound of features and changes that are not great, is there a reason to get the new Pixel 3 XL, especially compared with the 2 XL and the upcoming Oneplus 6T? It seems like the real meat of the phone is almost the same as the 2 XL, so why even bother with the newer model? I am an extremely heavy phone user and I am worried that the 4 GB of memory won't be enough. 

[LogicWeasel]

3 minutes ago, Krolic said:

So, after months of leaks (opening of the flood gates, really) the Pixel 3 XL has officially been announced. I am in the need of a new phone very badly (completely bricked my Samsung Galaxy S7 and currently rocking an old and semi-functioning iPhone 5s) and have been patiently waiting for the new pixel to be launched. I love the stock android experience as I get frustrated with all the bloatware of other phones. I also don't want to try and get another phone with bloatware and try to remove it by rooting (how I ended up bricking my older S7).

 

However, based on the specs of the phone and looking at its price and the mound of features and changes that are not great, is there a reason to get the new Pixel 3 XL, especially compared with the 2 XL and the upcoming Oneplus 6T? It seems like the real meat of the phone is almost the same as the 2 XL, so why even bother with the newer model? I am an extremely heavy phone user and I am worried that the 4 GB of memory won't be enough. 

If budget is tight and you don't mind gently-used, go for the 2 XL, it packs all the meat you want.  If you like new and splashy and don't hate notches, get the 3 XL.

 

You'd be surprised how well google's stock OS 9.0 Pie handles on 4GB of Ram, you'd rarely ever notice apps getting dropped from it unless you constantly open 10 memory hogging apps constantly after each other in an hour.

[BrinkGG]

2 minutes ago, LogicWeasel said:

If budget is tight and you don't mind gently-used, go for the 2 XL, it packs all the meat you want.  If you like new and splashy and don't hate notches, get the 3 XL.

 

You'd be surprised how well google's stock OS 9.0 Pie handles on 4GB of Ram, you'd rarely ever notice apps getting dropped from it unless you constantly open 10 memory hogging apps constantly after each other in an hour.

I'm hesitant to recommend the 2XL because of the constant slugging issues that so many people had. Personally I'm recommending the OP6 is a "Budget" selection, really mid price range, LG V40 at the high end, and Honor 8X or Poco F1 for low price range. 

[LogicWeasel]

2 minutes ago, Brink2Three said:

I'm hesitant to recommend the 2XL because of the constant slugging issues that so many people had. Personally I'm recommending the OP6 is a "Budget" selection, really mid price range, LG V40 at the high end, and Honor 8X or Poco F1 for low price range. 

Two famous you tubers in a fringe case got their phones swapped by Google Support.  Do you honestly think the majority of 2 XL's are having that issue?  Here's a bigger sample size, over 10 people at my work have them and love them.  They state the slowdowns haven't happened and they're very pleased with it vs prior Nexus devices most have upgraded from.

[Krolic]

9 minutes ago, Brink2Three said:

I'm hesitant to recommend the 2XL because of the constant slugging issues that so many people had. Personally I'm recommending the OP6 is a "Budget" selection, really mid price range, LG V40 at the high end, and Honor 8X or Poco F1 for low price range. 

Personally, money is not an option as I have been saving for months in preparation of getting a new phone. For Oneplus, the new 6T will be out by the end of the month, so I'd rather just wait for that one rather than the 6 (I've waiting long enough already). I have not looked into the LG V40 that much; is it running stock, or how much bloat ware does it have? In terms of the Honor and Poco (I've never even heard of Poco), as I am such a heavy phone user I'd rather not cheap out on a phone. 

 

I was considering the 2 XL not because my budget is necessarily tight, but I don't see much improvement between the 2 XL and the 3 XL. 

[BrinkGG]

Just now, LogicWeasel said:

Two famous you tubers in a fringe case got their phones swapped by Google Support.  Do you honestly think the majority of 2 XL's are having that issue?  Here's a bigger sample size, over 10 people at my work have them and love them.  They state the slowdowns haven't happened and they're very pleased with it vs prior Nexus devices most have upgraded from.

It wasn't just two YouTubers, there were quite a few people posting about this on XDA a while back, as well as Google Forums, LTT, Tom's, /r/pixel_phones, etc. 

I don't know if this is based on the fact that it's limited to 4GB of RAM, or if this was fixed in a software update. All I know is what DID happen, and that was people's phones slowing down with no particular reason. 

No, I don't think it's majority, but it did happen. Just saying. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Sniperfox47]

1 minute ago, Krolic said:

Personally, money is not an option as I have been saving for months in preparation of getting a new phone. For Oneplus, the new 6T will be out by the end of the month, so I'd rather just wait for that one rather than the 6 (I've waiting long enough already). I have not looked into the LG V40 that much; is it running stock, or how much bloat ware does it have? In terms of the Honor and Poco (I've never even heard of Poco), as I am such a heavy phone user I'd rather not cheap out on a phone. 

 

I was considering the 2 XL not because my budget is necessarily tight, but I don't see much improvement between the 2 XL and the 3 XL. 

Honestly unless you need the horsepower of the Snapdragon 845, or you really use your camera heavily and want those extra features, the Pixel 2 XL is the way to go, especially with it's price drop.

 

Each Pixel doesn't upgrade much on the hardware side other than matching the latest phone and most of the features roll back so you will get a very similar experience no matter your choice. The OS and Software is where it's at on the Pixel Line.

[Krolic]

1 hour ago, Sniperfox47 said:

Honestly unless you need the horsepower of the Snapdragon 845, or you really use your camera heavily and want those extra features, the Pixel 2 XL is the way to go, especially with it's price drop.

 

Each Pixel doesn't upgrade much on the hardware side other than matching the latest phone and most of the features roll back so you will get a very similar experience no matter your choice. The OS and Software is where it's at on the Pixel Line.

I would like the horsepower as I am a heavy phone user. 

[Krolic]

1 hour ago, Brink2Three said:

It wasn't just two YouTubers, there were quite a few people posting about this on XDA a while back, as well as Google Forums, LTT, Tom's, /r/pixel_phones, etc. 

I don't know if this is based on the fact that it's limited to 4GB of RAM, or if this was fixed in a software update. All I know is what DID happen, and that was people's phones slowing down with no particular reason. 

No, I don't think it's majority, but it did happen. Just saying. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is the issue I was kind of afraid of and did look into before, which is why I am apprehensive of the 4 GB of memory. Was the issue ever fixed with the older phones, or do people still have that issue? I know you said it DID happen, but is it STILL happening?

[Sniperfox47]

16 minutes ago, Krolic said:

This is the issue I was kind of afraid of and did look into before, which is why I am apprehensive of the 4 GB of memory. Was the issue ever fixed with the older phones, or do people still have that issue? I know you said it DID happen, but is it STILL happening?

I mean if they are still around they're infrequent. I don't know anyone who has these issues with the Pixel 2, and my 2 XL hasn't really had anything noticeable like this except when I'm running *really* ram heavy applications like CAD software. For pretty much any uses that a typical user would you won't notice the 4GB of ram in any restrictive way, especially because the stock experience on Pixel has a lot less RAM bloating than most other devices.

 

For really really really heavy user like myself more RAM would be nice, but it doesn't outright break anything.

 

 

[Krolic]

48 minutes ago, Sniperfox47 said:

I mean if they are still around they're infrequent. I don't know anyone who has these issues with the Pixel 2, and my 2 XL hasn't really had anything noticeable like this except when I'm running *really* ram heavy applications like CAD software. For pretty much any uses that a typical user would you won't notice the 4GB of ram in any restrictive way, especially because the stock experience on Pixel has a lot less RAM bloating than most other devices.

 

For really really really heavy user like myself more RAM would be nice, but it doesn't outright break anything.

 

 

I appreciate that. What would be classified as situations where 4 GB of memory would be restrictive on the Pixel 3 XL?

 

I didn’t wonder if the fact that there is no bloatware that not as much memory is required. Like I won’t have both Google Assistant and Bixbie running at once like in the newer Samsung devices. 

[dizmo]

5 hours ago, Krolic said:

Personally, money is not an option as I have been saving for months in preparation of getting a new phone. For Oneplus, the new 6T will be out by the end of the month, so I'd rather just wait for that one rather than the 6 (I've waiting long enough already). I have not looked into the LG V40 that much; is it running stock, or how much bloat ware does it have? In terms of the Honor and Poco (I've never even heard of Poco), as I am such a heavy phone user I'd rather not cheap out on a phone. 

 

I was considering the 2 XL not because my budget is necessarily tight, but I don't see much improvement between the 2 XL and the 3 XL. 

If you're that tight on cash maybe you should consider a budget phone; something like this shouldn't take months to save for. Or, perhaps consider their monthly payment plan if you live in the US. The V40 is pretty expensive, and I'd say the Note9 is a better buy at that end of the spectrum. The OP6T is going to be cheaper, so if it does what you want, it might be a better bet, especially given your financial situation.

4 hours ago, Krolic said:

I would like the horsepower as I am a heavy phone user. 

I doubt you're that much of a heavy user. The difference between the SD835 and SD845 will likely be hardly noticeable, especially since they down clocked the SD845.

4 hours ago, Krolic said:

This is the issue I was kind of afraid of and did look into before, which is why I am apprehensive of the 4 GB of memory. Was the issue ever fixed with the older phones, or do people still have that issue? I know you said it DID happen, but is it STILL happening?

The biggest issue with a lower amount of memory, is memory management, and that's based on the OS and skin, so it's something you have to look at on a phone to phone basis. I have an Asus, and some apps like Uber simply don't stay in memory, even if they're the only app that's loaded; it will always have to reload itself.

 

[Krolic]

2 hours ago, dizmo said:

If you're that tight on cash maybe you should consider a budget phone; something like this shouldn't take months to save for. Or, perhaps consider their monthly payment plan if you live in the US. The V40 is pretty expensive, and I'd say the Note9 is a better buy at that end of the spectrum. The OP6T is going to be cheaper, so if it does what you want, it might be a better bet, especially given your financial situation.

I doubt you're that much of a heavy user. The difference between the SD835 and SD845 will likely be hardly noticeable, especially since they down clocked the SD845.

The biggest issue with a lower amount of memory, is memory management, and that's based on the OS and skin, so it's something you have to look at on a phone to phone basis. I have an Asus, and some apps like Uber simply don't stay in memory, even if they're the only app that's loaded; it will always have to reload itself.

 

Again, I'm not tight on cash, it was more that I did not see the point of the Pixel 3 vs the Pixel 2 as the specs are so similar. At this point, if I don't go for the Pixel 3 XL (still waiting on reviews of it) then I'm at least going to wait for the new OP6T and the newer Asus ROG (I know it looks ridiculous but I'm very curious). 

[dizmo]

Just now, Krolic said:

Again, I'm not tight on cash, it was more that I did not see the point of the Pixel 3 vs the Pixel 2 as the specs are so similar. At this point, if I don't go for the Pixel 3 XL (still waiting on reviews of it) then I'm at least going to wait for the new OP6T and the newer Asus ROG (I know it looks ridiculous but I'm very curious). 

If it took you months to save for a phone, then I wouldn't exactly say money's free flowing for you.

 

[LogicWeasel]

13 hours ago, dizmo said:

If it took you months to save for a phone, then I wouldn't exactly say money's free flowing for you.

 

It's all perspective.  Maybe he doesn't like paying for phones in device payments and prefers to be responsible with his disposable income and save some on the side, anticipating spending it on his phone purchase in the future.  He didn't say he had to switch to eating ramen for months to make ends meet.  If OP says he can afford a phone he wants, that's his privilege for budgeting properly (it's all priorities).  It's not our place to tell him what he can and cannot "afford", we are not his parents.

[kokakolia]

The OnePlus 6T is a no brainer to me.