Google Pixel 4/Pixel 4 XL

[LBM4]

I have the 11 Pro and a Note 10 plus, had a Pixel 3 and a OnePlus 7 Pro- they all had/have micro stutters now and again, it’s no big deal. Out of al of them the OnePlus 7 Pro had the most consistent and smooth experience.

I agree that the One+ 7 and Pixel 3XL (even the 3a) are smooth, no stuttering for me, but the Note 10+ (with 12 gigs of RAM that I have), does give me some stuttering from time to time. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest though... although some people it drives crazy for some reason? Honestly, I believe the One+ 7 is probably the best ‘overall’ Android phone ever made! I should of kept mine instead of getting the Note 10+ that replaced it.

 

[jamezr]

I agree that the One+ 7 and Pixel 3XL (even the 3a) are smooth, no stuttering for me, but the Note 10+ (with 12 gigs of RAM that I have), does give me some stuttering from time to time. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest though... although some people it drives crazy for some reason? Honestly, I believe the One+ 7 is probably the best ‘overall’ Android phone ever made! I should of kept mine instead of getting the Note 10+ that replaced it.

I have the Note 10+ and iPhone 11 Pro Max and had the every Pixel phone to date and the P4 coming next week.
But I gotta say the Note 10+ has been the fastest most responsive phone with less app refreshes then the rest. Have not had a OPO since the 6 though but here great things about the 7.

 

[Awesomesince86]

Not to go way off topic, but One UI or whatever Samsung calls their UI now, still does indeed have slight microstutters, and very slight minimal hiccups. Which I never see on a OnePlus phone, and very very rarely on my Pixel. My most recent Samsung phone was the Galaxy S8+, and it absolutely lagged, fact. My office crew here has Note 9's, and I had to set them up for everybody, and yep, those for sure had slight microstutters that I rarely see on brand new phones. And I know when the phones is new out of the box there's a lot going on and downloading and installing. But I'm talking about after it's settled in, and totally up to date, and complete, these Note 9's still surprised me with some hiccups and very minor lag I wouldn't expect. I remember when the office here all got Galaxy S7 Edge's LOL holy cow those lagged like an old Windows 95 PC, that phone sucked so bad, all 8 of them here I was in charge of maintaining were horrific with lag and stutters and slowdowns

Now, I have not played with the S10, or Note 10, maybe Samsung finally is as smooth as Oxygen OS from OnePlus?

In my opinion, the smootheset lag free phones are;

-OnePlus
-iPhone Max
-Pixel

-Samsung and LG at bottom

I haven’t used a OnePlus device long enough to judge, but my Pixel 3 XL and my Pixel 3a both lagged and stuttered much more often than my S10 plus and by a considerable amount.

iPhones rarely stutter because their chips are next level, iOS isn’t resource heavy, and they draw out their animations to mask any stuttering.

My point still stands, you haven’t used any of the last few generations of Samsung devices and you keen repeating dated info on Samsung phones and spreading misinformation. As someone who’s used Samsung, Pixel, and iPhones within the last year, Pixels were easily the most laggy.

 

[slitherjef]

I haven’t used a OnePlus device long enough to judge, but my Pixel 3 XL and my Pixel 3a both lagged and stuttered much more often than my S10 plus and by a considerable amount.

iPhones rarely stutter because their chips are next level, iOS isn’t resource heavy, and they draw out their animations to mask any stuttering.

Funny you mentioned the XL 3 stutters... I just vented in that thread about how since Android 10 how it seemed to have gotten worse....

 

[drinkingtea]

I checked out the 4 XL today. I was surprised by how much I liked it. The phone is light and pleasant to hold. The matte finish feels great. I like how narrow the phone is. The display is punchy and bright and buttery smooth. The haptics feel very iPhone-like. The forehead and the chin do not bother me at all (anything looks futuristic in comparison to my 8 Plus), and I love the squeeze for Assistant feature.

The one issue I had is with the first 4 XL I tried—the settings page froze and crashed on me. I tried to go back to the settings page and it completely froze on me again. Odd.

Also, Google should be more consistent with its UI. There are two different dark modes—pure black and dark grey; choose one, Google, and stick with it. Some of the Google apps have no background behind the gesture bar and some have a white, black, or translucent background behind it. The same goes with the status section: some apps follow the new Material Design language and omit the translucent background behind the status icons and time while others do not. I think these UI inconsistencies exist because Google either doesn’t care and/or design teams don’t talk to each other when designing their respective apps.

Overall, I really enjoyed the phone. I’m aware of the various issues surrounding the Pixel, but a discounted Pixel would be much cheaper than a non-discounted 11 Pro or a XS Max. I’ll have to wait a couple of months or so to see how the 4 holds up for others.

 

[Awesomesince86]

Funny you mentioned the XL 3 stutters... I just vented in that thread about how since Android 10 how it seemed to have gotten worse....

I used the 3 XL for the first 3 or 4 months of its release and it had some of the worse stutters I’ve dealt with in a couple years. Combined with the terrible RAM management and subpar battery, I just couldn’t understand why Google thought it deserved flagship pricing. The same remains for the Pixel 4 imo. Google have continues the Nexus program but raised pricing which doesn’t match the specs and there’s just not enough to justify it.

 

[AustinIllini]

I used the 3 XL for the first 3 or 4 months of its release and it had some of the worse stutters I’ve dealt with in a couple years. Combined with the terrible RAM management and subpar battery, I just couldn’t understand why Google thought it deserved flagship pricing. The same remains for the Pixel 4 imo. Google have continues the Nexus program but raised pricing which doesn’t match the specs and there’s just not enough to justify it.

Same here, honestly. I went back to iOS for work and I forget how good a smooth experience is. Google's pricing strategy is pretty bananas.

 

[Macalicious2011]

Will anyone take the Free Chromebook bait for Pixel 4 contracts on EE?

 

[michael9891]

Will anyone take the Free Chromebook bait for Pixel 4 contracts on EE?

The Chromebook is free with lots of major retailers here. No need to sign up for a contract.

 

[mjschabow]

I checked out the 4 XL today. I was surprised by how much I liked it. The phone is light and pleasant to hold. The matte finish feels great. I like how narrow the phone is. The display is punchy and bright and buttery smooth. The haptics feel very iPhone-like. The forehead and the chin do not bother me at all (anything looks futuristic in comparison to my 8 Plus), and I love the squeeze for Assistant feature.

The one issue I had is with the first 4 XL I tried—the settings page froze and crashed on me. I tried to go back to the settings page and it completely froze on me again. Odd.

Also, Google should be more consistent with its UI. There are two different dark modes—pure black and dark grey; choose one, Google, and stick with it. Some of the Google apps have no background behind the gesture bar and some have a white, black, or translucent background behind it. The same goes with the status section: some apps follow the new Material Design language and omit the translucent background behind the status icons and time while others do not. I think these UI inconsistencies exist because Google either doesn’t care and/or design teams don’t talk to each other when designing their respective apps.

Overall, I really enjoyed the phone. I’m aware of the various issues surrounding the Pixel, but a discounted Pixel would be much cheaper than a non-discounted 11 Pro or a XS Max. I’ll have to wait a couple of months or so to see how the 4 holds up for others.

You bring up the biggest issues I had with Android 10’s dark mode. Zero consistency between system ui and google apps whatsoever. Extremely messy.

 

[drinkingtea]

You bring up the biggest issues I had with Android 10’s dark mode. Zero consistency between system ui and google apps whatsoever. Extremely messy.

It’s really quite baffling how bad the dark mode implementation is and how slow Google has been to roll it out across its apps. When selecting dark mode, why doesn’t it trigger dark mode across all of Google’s apps? Why do I need to toggle dark mode on separately for apps? It makes no sense. Also, why does it take Google months to implement dark mode for Gmail, the Play Store, etc.? Months. Worst yet, people at r/GooglePixel would get dark mode in an app and then it would disappear.

This speaks volumes about Google. Such a basic implementation, and yet. It’s so messy and unprofessional. Google is hiring idiots. Google needs a Steve Jobs who will literally fire people for their idiocy or call people at 2am because a certain font choice bothered him/her. Google needs someone to wake them up.

 

[Tig Bitties]

It’s really quite baffling how bad the dark mode implementation is and how slow Google has been to roll it out across its apps. When selecting dark mode, why doesn’t it trigger dark mode across all of Google’s apps? Why do I need to toggle dark mode on separately for apps? It makes no sense. Also, why does it take Google months to implement dark mode for Gmail, the Play Store, etc.? Months. Worst yet, people at r/Pixel would get dark mode in an app and then it would disappear.

This speaks volumes about Google. Such a basic implementation, and yet. It’s so messy and unprofessional. Google is hiring idiots.

Very good point, can't argue with that. I wonder the same thing.

But iOS13's dark mode isn't great either, I mean the color. I much prefer the JB Eclipse tweak, it allows several different dark themes, pure black, or dark grey, or dark blue, etc...I like that sort of customization options, not just one.

 

[drinkingtea]

Very good point, can't argue with that. I wonder the same thing.

But iOS13's dark mode isn't great either, I mean the color. I much prefer the JB Eclipse tweak, it allows several different dark themes, pure black, or dark grey, or dark blue, etc...I like that sort of customization options, not just one.

I don’t like iOS 13’s dark mode, either, but at least it’s consistent and it was implemented immediately and thoroughly. I don’t like pure black dark mode. I’d much rather have dark grey. An option between the two modes would be nice.

 

[Tig Bitties]

I don’t like iOS 13’s dark mode, either, but at least it’s consistent and it was implemented immediately and thoroughly. I don’t like pure black dark mode. I’d much rather have dark grey. An option between the two modes would be nice.

Agreed. Pure black dark theme isn't my cup o tea. I like the very dark matte grey color

 

[raqball]

I ordered a regular (non XL) unlocked version in white with 128GB storage from Best Buy for release day in store pickup. Get a $100 BB gift card as well...

 

[JPNFRK7]

Does anyone else find it funny that Google can keep all of these reviewers quiet about the phone until the 21st, but not keep the phone a secret 6-8 months before it is out?

 

[tonybarnaby]

Any thought on if the inevitable 4a will have dual camera and 90hz?

 

[Awesomesince86]

The hits keep coming...might have already been posted by Pixel 4 won’t even have RCS support on Verizon or T-Mobile.

Google are dropping the ball left and right for this years Pixel line. I know this is technically a carrier issue but there’s no excuse for Google to Lee letting carriers dictate RCS support. If they mandates it, carriers would have no choice but to fall in line.

 

[mjschabow]

Any thought on if the inevitable 4a will have dual camera and 90hz?

If I’d have to guess, maybe a dual camera. But doubtful on 90hz.

 

[5105973]

I ordered a regular (non XL) unlocked version in white with 128GB storage from Best Buy for release day in store pickup. Get a $100 BB gift card as well...

Oh I can’t wait to read anything you have to report about it. That is the one I would like to get if I get one at all. I love my Note10+ but I’m having a hard time taking it with me. It gets left and used at home a lot but doesn’t fit as well into my purse. I didn’t think it was that much bigger than my S10+ but the teeny tiny difference made it harder to fit all the purse pockets I have. I’m thinking of going smaller on a Pixel despite the obvious appeal of the larger one.

 

[raqball]

Oh I can’t wait to read anything you have to report about it. That is the one I would like to get if I get one at all. I love my Note10+ but I’m having a hard time taking it with me. It gets left and used at home a lot but doesn’t fit as well into my purse. I didn’t think it was that much bigger than my S10+ but the teeny tiny difference made it harder to fit all the purse pockets I have. I’m thinking of going smaller on a Pixel despite the obvious appeal of the larger one.

Well..... I went into BB today and they had one on display... After a few minutes I walked over to Customer Service and cancelled the pre-order....

Not digging it. The top bezel flat out ruins the look of the device and I was not liking the overall feel of the unit I played with...

 

[Ralfi]

I love my Note10+ but I’m having a hard time taking it with me. It gets left and used at home a lot but doesn’t fit as well into my purse.

Too big for a purse!?

I wish I had a purse to carry my phone around. Wait what am I saying.... 😏

 

[drinkingtea]

I missy Flossy’s Tony Soprano outro. ?

 

[mjschabow]

Well..... I went into BB today and they had one on display... After a few minutes I walked over to Customer Service and cancelled the pre-order....

Not digging it. The top bezel flat out ruins the look of the device and I was not liking the overall feel of the unit I played with...

It is...really big. I saw one in person too. My complaint is, if you’re going to make a forehead that huge, you can’t even squeeze in a wide angle selfie camera?

 

[Aneres11]

One of the UK tech reviewers (TechSpurt) just tweeted to say the face unlock on his Pixel 4 completely stopped working today. He deleted his face data to rescan, but is now getting errors when trying to re-setup.

Another tech reviewer has had the same thing, and also said that his facial unlock doesn't work when he has glasses on.

I was honestly really tempted to give this a go in the 14 day window, but I am not bothering now.
I cannot understand how Google can release these devices every year with issues.