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Tig Bitties

macrumors 603
Sep 6, 2012
5,515
5,687
Its what you need to successfully run substratum on this Pixel

Edit. Without root, that is. Are you running it with root?

I rooted my Pixel 2 XL immediately with the plastic wrap still around it LOL. Also installed TWRP custom Recovery to be ready for ROM's.

Substratum works perfectly well for me. I'm mixing like three different themes, running specific parts of each.
 
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noobinator

macrumors 604
Jun 19, 2009
7,332
6,993
Los Angeles, CA
People talk about all the benefits of being a celebrity of just plain old rich but whenever I think of rich, I picture myself as Scrooge McDuck in a room full of cell phone boxes swimming around on them. Imagine never having to worry about which phone to keep or putting on screen protectors or cases. I could use every phone naked and if it got damaged I'd just open another one. I'd actually hire a person just to scour the world for new cell phones and buy me a dozen or so of each to put in my Scrooge McDuck room. I actually told my wife this and I think she thought about calling a helpline of some sort.


I just installed a wet screen protector on my latest Panda 2 XL. Have to wait for it to dry a bit before I can run this phone through the paces and see if it's a keeper or not. Putting on those protectors is not fun. It was actually easier putting the wet install protector on my S8+ than this phone for some reason.
 
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michael9891

Cancelled
Sep 26, 2016
3,060
3,945
Yeah makes sense to hang on in that case then.
The free Google Home is definitely a great deal though, plus the £100 (dollar) reduction. It is unheard of for Google to reduce like this - especially in the UK but seems they're wanting to sell some of these devices which is only a good thing for us!

They have the same deal back home in the UK (£100 off and free Google home) but the overall cost is £200 cheaper here in the US. Not really wanting to spend £1100 just now.
 
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co.ag.2005

macrumors 68020
Jun 17, 2009
2,363
1,809
Fort Worth, TX
I rooted my Pixel 2 XL immediately with the plastic wrap still around it LOL. Also installed TWRP custom Recovery to be ready for ROM's.

Substratum works perfectly well for me. I'm mixing like three different themes, running specific parts of each.

gotcha. yeah, I haven't found a need to root, other than tether-free substratum. Too many of my apps don't work with root anymore. I know magisk has a way around it but it's been a PITA in the past to keep up with. Maybe it's different now.
 

fr4c

macrumors 65816
Jul 27, 2007
1,261
131
Hamster wheel
Received my replacement P2XL, and it's got more blue shift than the one I currently have. To make matters worse it's got a nasty mark across the back that will not come off, and also a slight bubble in the coating. Called Google and they are asking for this device back, and will send another when they receive it.
 

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michael9891

Cancelled
Sep 26, 2016
3,060
3,945
Received my replacement P2XL, and it's got more blue shift than the one I currently have. To make matters worse it's got a nasty mark across the back that will not come off, and also a slight bubble in the coating. Called Google and they are asking for this device back, and will send another when they receive it.
That's pretty poor that you have to wait and be without a phone. Even if just for a short time.

I've been having connection issues. Can't connect to my hotel WiFi (just says obtaining IP address) but my iPad can. And since this morning, my cellular connection on at&t has been very slow and unusable at times. Better not be a replacement job!
 
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slitherjef

macrumors 65816
Feb 8, 2012
1,400
1,189
Earth
Wanna see a pic?

Took my XL 2 out of the house this morning for a change and tried to use the camera a bit more. I noticed on my closeups I think it is trying to do the portrait treatment. I need to look into more settings...

I ran this through snapseed before bringing it into darktable on my Ubuntu box to resize so I can upload here. So far I am NOT liking this work flow. The aspect ratio is a bit off because when I took the photo I was the passenger in a moving car and slightly tilted the phone. resized to 25% of almost original size
 

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fr4c

macrumors 65816
Jul 27, 2007
1,261
131
Hamster wheel
That's pretty poor that you have to wait and be without a phone. Even if just for a short time.

I've been having connection issues. Can't connect to my hotel WiFi (just says obtaining IP address) but my iPad can. And since this morning, my cellular connection on at&t has been very slow and unusable at times. Better not be a replacement job!
I still have my original phone, which started this whole RMA thing. This was supposed to be my replacement which I just received today so a little bummed out about it. Google wants me to return this new phone I received today before I start another Advanced Replacement so I don't have over $2000 hold on my CC (which I understand), so I don't really mind outside of the delay. Good thing I didn't wipe my original phone yet, would've been annoyed for sure.

Now I'm wondering if this is a sign, and maybe just sell the new replacement I get.
 
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Tig Bitties

macrumors 603
Sep 6, 2012
5,515
5,687
Wow Google really has a quality control issue on the 2 XL, sad to see.

I wonder if the HTC U11+ was the Pixel 2 XL instead, if things would be different ?

Maybe next year HTC will be sole manufacturer and Google will be more strict on build


I.midt be the lucky one here, I'm very satisfied with my Pixel 2 XL, liking it much more than my LG V30 and feels like a true sequel to the Nexus 6P
 
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co.ag.2005

macrumors 68020
Jun 17, 2009
2,363
1,809
Fort Worth, TX
That's pretty poor that you have to wait and be without a phone. Even if just for a short time.

I've been having connection issues. Can't connect to my hotel WiFi (just says obtaining IP address) but my iPad can. And since this morning, my cellular connection on at&t has been very slow and unusable at times. Better not be a replacement job!

to be fair, they give you 2 options. The first is you send back and wait for another device, the other option is for them to put a hold on your CC and they give you a link to order a replacement. Once they receive the defective device, they take the hold off. That's the option I went with as I don't have a backup phone at the moment.
 

5105973

Cancelled
Sep 11, 2014
12,132
19,733
Yeah these are basically my thoughts.
The X seemingly takes the prettier photo but the Pixel seems sharper.
You can do some photo editing to the Pixel photo to add warmth and glow and it would take maybe one or two steps and you’d still have that lovely play of light. But I don’t know of any post processing with the apps I have that would enable you to put back in the details into the iPhone photo that just aren’t there.
[doublepost=1514402545][/doublepost]
Received my replacement P2XL, and it's got more blue shift than the one I currently have. To make matters worse it's got a nasty mark across the back that will not come off, and also a slight bubble in the coating. Called Google and they are asking for this device back, and will send another when they receive it.
Wow.

F3D7D745-C78D-4A62-8389-1874DAAC1D1D.png
 

5105973

Cancelled
Sep 11, 2014
12,132
19,733
Well I’m doing some reading around about the Pixel 2, trying to decide if I want to take the plunge again. It’s a little scary reading over on other forums of people’s phones that previously working well having hardware breakdowns after a time. I was wondering if HTC is struggling and so I was reading about U11’s and they do have issues, too.

But the 2 year warranty and Google’s willingness to do RMAs on bad units helps. I don’t know. It helps this is not going to be my only phone. Lol, even my X can’t be my only phone since I can’t read ebooks on it.

We are here on the edge of 2018 so I may hang in a little longer and see what the Samsung S9 turns out to be to make sure I don’t really want in on that. I donut know.
 
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noobinator

macrumors 604
Jun 19, 2009
7,332
6,993
Los Angeles, CA
Got my new 2XL all set up and this one looks good so far. No screen imperfections that I can see. The blue shift is about the same as the others so it is what it is. Everything is operating as it should so far. I am not doing too much on it since I just did a wet install screen protector this morning. This thing is very zippy! iPhone X like speed. The camera is also quite amazing. I really love being able to double click the power button to launch the camera. Free storage on Google Photos is a bonus. This feels huge in my hand since I have been using an iPhone X but not in a bad way. I missed having the extra screen real estate. The animated wallpapers are quite awesome as well. I also LOVE the Google Fabric case. Love the color and love the feel. Yes it's slippery but so is the phone. I've had like 3 people ask me about my phone in just the past hour of messing around at lunch.

I can already tell this plastic screen protector is going to be crap. These tend to have a sticky feeling to them and not the crisp gliding like on the original glass and some of the nicer glass protectors. I wish I could find a tempered glass one that fit and didn't have issues.

I also really dislike Chrome on phones. I do this hack to get the navigation stuff at the bottom:

https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/move-chromes-address-bar-bottom-your-screen-android-0176946/

but I still prefer other browsers. I feel Safari on my iPhone is the best mobile browser but that isn't happening on Android. So for me the next best thing is the Samsung Browser. I loved it on my S8+ and it feels very similar to Safari. I just set it up on my Pixel 2 XL and it is great. I'll report back after I use it some more. So far, the third time is a charm. :)

2XL.jpg
 

5105973

Cancelled
Sep 11, 2014
12,132
19,733
Got my new 2XL all set up and this one looks good so far. No screen imperfections that I can see. The blue shift is about the same as the others so it is what it is. Everything is operating as it should so far. I am not doing too much on it since I just did a wet install screen protector this morning. This thing is very zippy! iPhone X like speed. The camera is also quite amazing. I really love being able to double click the power button to launch the camera. Free storage on Google Photos is a bonus. This feels huge in my hand since I have been using an iPhone X but not in a bad way. I missed having the extra screen real estate. The animated wallpapers are quite awesome as well. I also LOVE the Google Fabric case. Love the color and love the feel. Yes it's slippery but so is the phone. I've had like 3 people ask me about my phone in just the past hour of messing around at lunch.

I can already tell this plastic screen protector is going to be crap. These tend to have a sticky feeling to them and not the crisp gliding like on the original glass and some of the nicer glass protectors. I wish I could find a tempered glass one that fit and didn't have issues.

I also really dislike Chrome on phones. I do this hack to get the navigation stuff at the bottom:

https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/move-chromes-address-bar-bottom-your-screen-android-0176946/

but I still prefer other browsers. I feel Safari on my iPhone is the best mobile browser but that isn't happening on Android. So for me the next best thing is the Samsung Browser. I loved it on my S8+ and it feels very similar to Safari. I just set it up on my Pixel 2 XL and it is great. I'll report back after I use it some more. So far, the third time is a charm. :)

View attachment 743932
The fabric case is gorgeous. The Samsung browser is what I used and liked very much.
 
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eyeseeyou

macrumors 68040
Feb 4, 2011
3,384
1,594
Is Picture In Picture or multi window really a built in feature on the pixel or whatever version of android is running on the pixel?
 

Aneres11

macrumors 601
Oct 2, 2011
4,348
9,520
It's funny how bad Chrome is on Android. Well, not funny in the enjoyable sense if you get me.

On desktop, or on my Chromebook at least, I love it. Very intuitive and just joyous to use. Can't seem to even have a home button on chrome for Android... :eek:
 
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slitherjef

macrumors 65816
Feb 8, 2012
1,400
1,189
Earth
The charging issue is back...

Plugged in this morning 2.5 hours before I got to get up for work at about 18% with official cable. After a short time I check to see the estimate time, usually about an hour and 20 minutes. It just reads charging rapidly... A bit of time later it finally gives me an estimate of 5 hours :eek:

Not sure if it's the outlet or if there is something up with the phone. It's getting unreliable however :(

Going to try to reboot and see if that works.

It's the Nexus 6p all over again problem wise.

Too late for an RMA or to get my money back if this is the phone.

I'm so disappointed. Every Google phone I've had has had issues. :(

Edit: reboot seems to have worked. Hope this is not a battery issue. It may be system software?
 
Last edited:

fr4c

macrumors 65816
Jul 27, 2007
1,261
131
Hamster wheel
The charging issue is back...

Plugged in this morning 2.5 hours before I got to get up for work at about 18% with official cable. After a short time I check to see the estimate time, usually about an hour and 20 minutes. It just reads charging rapidly... A bit of time later it finally gives me an estimate of 5 hours :eek:

Not sure if it's the outlet or if there is something up with the phone. It's getting unreliable however :(

Going to try to reboot and see if that works.

It's the Nexus 6p all over again problem wise.

Too late for an RMA or to get my money back if this is the phone.

I'm so disappointed. Every Google phone I've had has had issues. :(

Edit: reboot seems to have worked. Hope this is not a battery issue. It may be system software?
Try charging/testing in safe mode, although your charging issue seems sporadic. Google may have you do a Factory Reset before proceeding with hardware exchange.

Another issue could be the 18W charger itself, I've seen reports of them being faulty. You may also want to see if Google will just exchange an charger for you. IIRC correctly this issue first started when you attempted to charge your Pixel with the Nexus 6P charger. I hope your brief use of that charger did not cause the issue for you.

See here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4w1xf5/please_check_your_chargers_some_nexus_5x6p/
 
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