Phones Google Pixel 2 / Google Pixel 2 XL

[Aneres11]

Congratulations on the new job! I have the exact same dilemma with wearables as you do. I'm small even for a woman. I can wear a small Apple Watch. I have a Samsung watch that does fit but looks big. I just like the Apple Watch anyway. It's great in the pool and reliable and versatile. Given your situation you may even want the LTE model if your watch would have difficulty connecting to your phone at work. I don't know if your company would let your phone connect to your watch over WiFi if you get beyond Bluetooth range. The LTE watch solves that problem. iPhone 8 is a nice phone. I love my 8 Plus. I definitely feel the value for the money with that purchase whereas I felt a bit turned up and shaken down for the coins in my pocket with the X.

It's not so much just the cost of the phone itself. One accident and it could cost the price of a new mid range Android phone to get repaired. As a result, the additional cost to insure it via Apple Care Plus adds so much to the upfront paid-in-full cost of the phone.

All that cost for what, exactly? There is much potential for, it but it's about a year or two away from being fully realized. A lot of the potential for the tech in that notch is tied up in AR. Right now AR isn't widely implemented yet enough to be useful. Like Apple Pay, it will take the time to establish lucrative partnerships and deals to make it more compelling.

Thanks! And thanks all for the congrats!
I'm really pleased!

Re the phones, I even looked at the Samsung ones, but Samsung Pay isn't here at the moment for my bank and they have zero plans to support it. Same with Android Pay - they don't support.

Apple Pay though, is everywhere. So the ability to use the Watch for that is pretty good. It's more the fact that I am on my phone a lot, and having the Watch would reduce the need for that but also keep my off my actual phone haha.

Why is there no Pixel Watch!?

 

[5105973]

Thanks! And thanks all for the congrats!
I'm really pleased!

Re the phones, I even looked at the Samsung ones, but Samsung Pay isn't here at the moment for my bank and they have zero plans to support it. Same with Android Pay - they don't support.

Apple Pay though, is everywhere. So the ability to use the Watch for that is pretty good. It's more the fact that I am on my phone a lot, and having the Watch would reduce the need for that but also keep my off my actual phone haha.

Why is there no Pixel Watch!?

Sadly it's because Google has historically demonstrated an inability to lay out a proper product roadmap and stay focused. As a corporate persona they demonstrate something akin to ADHD.

When they finally decided they wanted to make their own actual physical product line, instead of using all of that market data they are sitting on to formulate a cohesive, focused long term strategy, they simply copied at least the superficial form of everything Apple is doing, right down to prematurely removing headphone ports and put it into production with whatever resources they could muster at the time. Otherwise why would they mock the missing headphone jack in year 1 and then turn around and do the same damn thing in year 2? Whoops, they weren't thinking ahead. They didn't look at their plans for year 2, assuming they had any, and say to themselves, it's best we just not joke about this.

I think they may very well make a Pixel watch at some point. I expect it will have some astounding features better than anything Apple has brought to market but have horrid issues and have one aspect that looks or simply is awkward. I hope not...but...well...

 

[tbayrgs]

Thanks! And thanks all for the congrats!
I'm really pleased!

Re the phones, I even looked at the Samsung ones, but Samsung Pay isn't here at the moment for my bank and they have zero plans to support it. Same with Android Pay - they don't support.

Apple Pay though, is everywhere. So the ability to use the Watch for that is pretty good. It's more the fact that I am on my phone a lot, and having the Watch would reduce the need for that but also keep my off my actual phone haha.

Why is there no Pixel Watch!?

My sentiments as well. Android Central recently put up a post speaking specifically to this issue.

And while here in the US ‘tap-to-pay’ hasn’t reached anything close to the ubiquity it enjoys around much of the world, I still use it for probably at least half of my daily transactions. Of the 4 cards I use with any regularity, only 2 can be used with Android Pay and one took a year longer to be allowed vs. Apple Pay (from one of the largest banks in the US). Guess how many are set up for Apple Pay?

This is a common theme for me personally when it comes to trying to move to Android. On their own, I find benefits to each phone OS (though for my personally use case, iOS still pulls ahead). It’s taken into context with all the other types of devices where moving to Android just falls down. I’ve spent the past two days trying to find justification for picking up a Pixel 2–and with the current financing credit, higher trade in values they’re offering and a handful of Google Store credits, it wouldn’t cost me much. But when I stop and take into account smartwatches, tablets, desktop OS, smart home devices, TV streaming boxes, etc, switching to Android means that the extra hardware cost for the iPhone X actually brings more value vs. the compromises I have to deal with when switching to a Pixel.

 

[THE JUICEMAN]

It's true though.
My Pixel 2 was almost half the price of the X.

When you break down which device is better for your personal needs, there probably isn't much between them, and in a lot of cases (for me), the Pixel performs better.

However. I've recently been contemplating smart watches, and finding an Android watch that's in anywhere near the same league as the Apple Watch is basically not going to happen. I have small wrists, and the majority of the decent Android watches are all huge and not my style.

I have contemplated switching back to Apple as the watch will really help when I start my new job in April (hooray for Aneres' new job! ).
Thinking about the cost of the X plus Watch is eye watering.

Whereas an 8 (normal size) is now £699 on CPW and that's for the 256gb version. They have the same deal as the Pixel 2 where the larger storage capacity is same price as the entry.
For the cost of that 8, I could be well on my way to the iPhone and Watch again for around the same price of an X.

Much to ponder.

I'm looking at the new Fitbit Versa! If you haven't checked it oitit could work for you.

Edit: Day 5 with my Pixel and I'm still loving it. In the past I would have already made up my mine to return whatever Android phone that I was trying at the time. I'm excited that I finally made the switch. It's been a long time coming. I'm also very excited that I'm paying $550 less like I mentioned above than my iPhone X . All my family and friends know that I've tried to swtich so many times so they are all like haha yeah we will see blue bubbles again in a couple weeks. Nope. Not this time!

 

[Aneres11]

So I went into the office for half a day today to meet my new team and get a feel for new role.

I hadn't touched my phone other than the drive in (spotify play list select) and it came off charge at normal time.

It went into the locker at 9am and I took it out at 1pm. My battery was 79%. I'd hardly touched it.

Guess what?
It's boiling hot.

I am done, sadly.

 

[THE JUICEMAN]

So I went into the office for half a day today to meet my new team and get a feel for new role.

I hadn't touched my phone other than the drive in (spotify play list select) and it came off charge at normal time.

It went into the locker at 9am and I took it out at 1pm. My battery was 79%. I'd hardly touched it.

Guess what?
It's boiling hot.

I am done, sadly.

Ugh! But you know what? Remember when I said it could be environmental? My Spidey sense is telling me that it's the locker! No room to breath in there? It's over heating maybe.

 

[noobinator]

I am done, sadly.

Back to iPhone X?

I went all in since switching back. Apple Watch, Apple TV 4k, Airpods, MacBook...

 

[tbayrgs]

So I went into the office for half a day today to meet my new team and get a feel for new role.

I hadn't touched my phone other than the drive in (spotify play list select) and it came off charge at normal time.

It went into the locker at 9am and I took it out at 1pm. My battery was 79%. I'd hardly touched it.

Guess what?
It's boiling hot.

I am done, sadly.

Completely unscientific on my part here but the common denominator across all of your devices would be the apps you use or really terrible wireless signal. Considering IIRC, you don’t seem to have connectivity issues with non-Pixel’s, I can’t see what else would be causing this behavor across 3 different Pixels other than a rogue app. Possibility?

Regardless, my heart feels for you. I’d be quite dissappointed as well if a favorite device of mine just wasn’t suitable to use.

 

[Aneres11]

Hmm I'd think that if it was a rogue app, it would have happened before now. I haven't downloaded any apps on this phone and I've had it for nearly a week now.

It's very strange.
I just can't keep wondering what I'm gonna get every time I take it off charge each day. It's annoying.

Not really sure what to exchange it for either, but it will be an exchange and not for another Pixel 2.

 

[slitherjef]

So I went into the office for half a day today to meet my new team and get a feel for new role.

I hadn't touched my phone other than the drive in (spotify play list select) and it came off charge at normal time.

It went into the locker at 9am and I took it out at 1pm. My battery was 79%. I'd hardly touched it.

Guess what?
It's boiling hot.

I am done, sadly.

Not good at all. Can you screenshot your signal strength and post it? I'm curious.

Edit: maybe not, I can't even find it on my phone. There used to be a way to check your signal?

 

[Mark316]

Hmm I'd think that if it was a rogue app, it would have happened before now. I haven't downloaded any apps on this phone and I've had it for nearly a week now.

It's very strange.
I just can't keep wondering what I'm gonna get every time I take it off charge each day. It's annoying.

Not really sure what to exchange it for either, but it will be an exchange and not for another Pixel 2.

Damn, well this should make it an easy choice to go back to Apple, especially since you want the watch now. Not much you can do when the third phone is acting up now.

 

[5105973]

Hmm I'd think that if it was a rogue app, it would have happened before now. I haven't downloaded any apps on this phone and I've had it for nearly a week now.

It's very strange.
I just can't keep wondering what I'm gonna get every time I take it off charge each day. It's annoying.

Not really sure what to exchange it for either, but it will be an exchange and not for another Pixel 2.

Whoa, this is insane. I keep thinking it’s got to be a social media app because when I had those things they kept killing my poor iPhone 5S. Facebook is so evil.

I’d love to recommend the Samsung S9 to you but the wearables for it are too danged big and you’ve already told us you’ve got small wrists. You can maybe get on with the Gear S2 Classic, since that fits me, and I’m smaller than you, I would imagine, but that watch is going along 2 years old now, maybe 3, I think. Well it still works, so it’s an option but just make sure you get a deal on it since it’s old.

The Gear S3 is an amazing smart watch but it’s huge on my husband. If a watch looks awkwardly large on a man who is over six feet tall and built like an NFL linebacker, then what chance do us mere mortals have getting one of those to fit? Somebody over on the Android side of things needs to get up off their dead aaa and start figuring out how to make these devices fit a wider range of wrists sizes besides the Thor and Hulk sizes.

So that leaves us with the iPhone 8 and a nice Apple Watch like you were talking about on one of the other threads. I’m salty on Apple for a lot of things right now, some more related to the attitudes of its fans rather than Apple itself, but I have to be honest and say iPhone 8/8Plus is still a solid product and the Apple Watch is beyond solid among the wearable options. Given the constraints of your job, that may be the way to go.

At least invest in the watch and later on if you’re discontented with an iPhone 8, well you know you did okay on an X so at some point that option may be on the table again and you will still have a good solid watch with some connectivity for messaging and calls for when you are at work and your phone is in the locker.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Guessing the locker you put it in blocks cellular signals so your phone is going full blast trying to maintain and acquire signal.

 

[5105973]

Guessing the locker you put it in blocks cellular signals so your phone is going full blast trying to maintain and acquire signal.

Would that account for the overheating? When I first moved to my house there was hardly any AT&T signal out here. The battery drained fast but it never got the phone hot. Same as for when I travel and go through vast open country with no signal to speak of. Neither my Android phones, Pixel 2 included, nor the iPhones got hot.

 

[noobinator]

Would that account for the overheating? When I first moved to my house there was hardly any AT&T signal out here. The battery drained fast but it never got the phone hot. Same as for when I travel and go through vast open country with no signal to speak of. Neither my Android phones, Pixel 2 included, nor the iPhones got hot.

I'd say not in itself (searching for signal) but combined with the fact that it's in a space with little to no airflow it could cause extra heat. Even worse if it was in a bag inside that locker.

Might as well just power it off if you can't use it all day. Or put it on airplane mode.

 

[Mark316]

I'd say not in itself (searching for signal) but combined with the fact that it's in a space with little to no airflow it could cause extra heat. Even worse if it was in a bag inside that locker.

Might as well just power it off if you can't use it all day. Or put it on airplane mode.

Yeah but the fact that this happened with his two previous Pixels before he got this job makes me think it's something completely different. There must be some fix out there but finding it doesn't seem worth the hassle if he is thinking about going back to Apple anyways.

 

[5105973]

I'd say not in itself (searching for signal) but combined with the fact that it's in a space with little to no airflow it could cause extra heat. Even worse if it was in a bag inside that locker.

Might as well just power it off if you can't use it all day. Or put it on airplane mode.

Ah, yes. That could be a factor. I think poor @Aneres11 has given this all the best possible try, short of stripping the phone down and testing each app one by one, which is not a palatable option for most people who run a lot of apps. Which is probably most of us at some time or another.

And what if the culprit is an app, and is found? It may still be a necessary app from a reputable source. Neko Atsume caused very close to the kind of behavior on my Note 7 that we see on Aneres11’s phone, though it was an immediate effect when the app was run, and continued after it was turned off, if I remember correctly. I had to uninstall it to cool the phone down.

Yet Neko Atsume remains a fun and viable app on iOS. It may even be fine on a Pixel, but I’m not ever risking it on Android again. It’s just a game and I can live without it. But I would presume there are no superfluous apps on Aneres11 Pixel 2.

What is to be done when an app you’ll miss melts your phone, in a manner of speaking? I did see on Android Central other people have something similar going on in conjunction with the February update. Google has not found anything and says it’s not their update. It has to be an app all these people have in common, but which one?

 

[slitherjef]

Just a couple out loud thoughts...

I kinda wish I could still get updates, I'd really like to figure out how I botched things, but I guess it's not a huge issue.

I may dump project fi and just shove the at&t sim card from my Nexus 6 (which should be retired) into the device.

On a couple occasions my fi signal just dropped with an error message say something I can't remember right now. It happened once while I was trying to place an order. It usually comes back up after a minute. Just weird.

No point in having 3 lines...

 

[Aneres11]

So I was all ready to go and get the iPhone 8, and realised that the S9 is £30 more. So for the extra, I thought I'd at least just give this a go as I didn't really want to jump back into iOS just yet. Unless I hate the S9...

Pixel was amazing, but with all the problems it just wasn't worth it anymore.
Sad as I loved it.

 

[nospleen]

So I was all ready to go and get the iPhone 8, and realised that the S9 is £30 more. So for the extra, I thought I'd at least just give this a go as I didn't really want to jump back into iOS just yet. Unless I hate the S9...

Pixel was amazing, but with all the problems it just wasn't worth it anymore.
Sad as I loved it.

Please post your thoughts when you get some time. Congrats!

 

[co.ag.2005]

So I was all ready to go and get the iPhone 8, and realised that the S9 is £30 more. So for the extra, I thought I'd at least just give this a go as I didn't really want to jump back into iOS just yet. Unless I hate the S9...

Pixel was amazing, but with all the problems it just wasn't worth it anymore.
Sad as I loved it.

Enjoy! I'm using the S9+ and quite like it. I'm trying to figure out how to have it and my P2XL

 

[Wildo6882]

So I was all ready to go and get the iPhone 8, and realised that the S9 is £30 more. So for the extra, I thought I'd at least just give this a go as I didn't really want to jump back into iOS just yet. Unless I hate the S9...

Pixel was amazing, but with all the problems it just wasn't worth it anymore.
Sad as I loved it.

Do you still have your PixelBook?

And definitely let us know your thoughts on the S9 after you’ve had some time with it.

 

[5105973]

So I was all ready to go and get the iPhone 8, and realised that the S9 is £30 more. So for the extra, I thought I'd at least just give this a go as I didn't really want to jump back into iOS just yet. Unless I hate the S9...

Pixel was amazing, but with all the problems it just wasn't worth it anymore.
Sad as I loved it.

Dammit I hate you people with the gorgeous blue! I can't say I regret my choice of purple but I wish I could make my phone do like my old Nokia and change from one color to another by flicking my wrist so I could have both. That is gorgeous and I hope it works out for you. I will see you over on the S9 thread!

What are you going to do about a wearable?

 

[Mark316]

Dammit I hate you people with the gorgeous blue! I can't say I regret my choice of purple but I wish I could make my phone do like my old Nokia and change from one color to another by flicking my wrist so I could have both. That is gorgeous and I hope it works out for you. I will see you over on the S9 thread!

What are you going to do about a wearable?

He'll have changed phones 3 times by the time he replies so it'll probably be an Apple watch.

I kid, Aneres11. That Sony is calling your name though lol

 

[Aneres11]

Do you still have your PixelBook?

And definitely let us know your thoughts on the S9 after you’ve had some time with it.

I do have my PixelBook.
Even if I used an iPhone full time, I'd still keep that. I love it.
I'll post some early thoughts on the S9 later...

Dammit I hate you people with the gorgeous blue! I can't say I regret my choice of purple but I wish I could make my phone do like my old Nokia and change from one color to another by flicking my wrist so I could have both. That is gorgeous and I hope it works out for you. I will see you over on the S9 thread!

What are you going to do about a wearable?

It is a lovely colour, I must admit.
And re a wearable, I'm not sure yet. I'm not desperate for one just yet but they are in the back of my mind. I think I may look into some older ones (like the Motorola ones), just so I have notification access.

He'll have changed phones 3 times by the time he replies so it'll probably be an Apple watch.

I kid, Aneres11. That Sony is calling your name though lol

Haha you know me so well!
And funny you should mention the Sony.
I had a hands on with it yesterday at CPW.
I hated it. I'm so glad I didn't preorder it. I have loved every single Sony phone since the XZ. But this is just not nice at all.
Even though it's bezels are reduced, it basically ruins itself with how thick it is. It's unnecessarily podgy.
It also feels cheap. Like really nasty, cheap plastic. I feel bad saying it, but it's just how it felt to me in the hand.

The screen was also a bit disappointing, but the XZ Premium was next to it (which I owned for a while last year) and that's always going to win out over any phone IMO.

Was shocked at how much I disliked it.