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Harthag

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2009
2,015
2,567
U.S.
No way I can judge it yet. But 3 hours SOT from around 30% isn't bad, especially as I've been downloading and installing apps etc.

Initial impressions are that it's not much different to my 3a XL. It looks better and is a touch heavier. Maybe a shade narrower which might explain why Swift Key is a tiny bit smaller.

Not that I'll really use it for this but my player of choice (Rocket Player) doesn't support motion sense. I did get it to work on Play Music but after a reboot, I can't play any of the music I put on myself. I'm only given the option to subscribe. Strange.

Still can't notice a difference with 90hz forced on. No doubt I'll get people telling me it's night and day and there's something wrong with me......

Not tested out the camera.

No banking app support for Face Unlock is a major negative.

Taking into account how much I can sell my 3a XL for and how much I can sell the free Chromebook for (no idea when I'll get that) it'll cost roughly another £500 to trade up to this. Which at the moment, I don't think I'll do.

I found upgrading to the new iPhone from an iPhone every year was (for me) pretty pointless looking back. I find much more worth going from one brand to another. Because the experience is very different going from say an iPhone to a Huawei.

I won't decide until I've had this a few days or a week but the sensible part of me says it's not a wise move. If I can find a decent offer on one, maybe this is a good time to try the Note 10+. If I leave it too long, it won't be worth it with the S11 surely interesting me.

Or I could find some self control and keep my 3a XL with it's great camera, great battery and unlocking method aside, pretty much the same great user experience.

Oh and the forehead for me is a total non issue. Loving the white with black trim in a clear case.

Time to charge it to 100% and see how it goes tomorrow.
Thanks for posting your thoughts so far. I can't buy a phone that has no app support for face unlock (and lacks a fingerprint scanner), that's just a major fail and unacceptable to me. "Support in the coming months..." the classic answer from Google that I hate to hear. For $900, your phone had better have one of its key features fully complete at launch.

How are you finding the 4XL compared to your 3a XL in terms of stutter or lag? My 3a is lag / stutter city, it was set up as new when I first got it. I have a feeling the 855 and 90Hz screen are both fantastic and minimize any perceived micro stutter?
 

Awesomesince86

macrumors 68020
Sep 18, 2016
2,482
3,302
I'd take a forehead over an annoying notch any day. Plus, forehead equates with smarts which is what Pixels are known for and it makes it easier to tell right side up.
I was always confused why more companies didnt use software to hide the notch while still using the extra real estate for notifications. They should have all done what OnePlus did and thats black out the notched section so it just looked like a forehead but still use that area for notification icons.
 

michael9891

Cancelled
Sep 26, 2016
3,060
3,945
Thanks for posting your thoughts so far. I can't buy a phone that has no app support for face unlock (and lacks a fingerprint scanner), that's just a major fail and unacceptable to me. "Support in the coming months..." the classic answer from Google that I hate to hear. For $900, your phone had better have one of its key features fully complete at launch.

How are you finding the 4XL compared to your 3a XL in terms of stutter or lag? My 3a is lag / stutter city, it was set up as new when I first got it. I have a feeling the 855 and 90Hz screen are both fantastic and minimize any perceived micro stutter?
So far, honestly no difference. My 3a XL is incredibly smooth.

Banking are the only apps that come to mind where no biometrics are a problem. I check various accounts multiple times a day and having to figure out certain digits each time is a step backwards.

I've also found the white to be less bright on this compared to my 3a XL.
 
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Jason2000

macrumors 6502
Jul 19, 2019
374
794
Planet Earth
Thanks for posting your thoughts so far. I can't buy a phone that has no app support for face unlock (and lacks a fingerprint scanner), that's just a major fail and unacceptable to me. "Support in the coming months..." the classic answer from Google that I hate to hear. For $900, your phone had better have one of its key features fully complete at launch.

How are you finding the 4XL compared to your 3a XL in terms of stutter or lag? My 3a is lag / stutter city, it was set up as new when I first got it. I have a feeling the 855 and 90Hz screen are both fantastic and minimize any perceived micro stutter?

The iPhone with FaceID did not have support from every app at launch either did it ?
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LOL it’s already $100 off on Amazon.

Isn't it a pre-order deal. Best Buy, Amazon and Google are all giving $100 Gift Cards with pre-order. What is wrong with that ?
 

Harthag

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2009
2,015
2,567
U.S.
The iPhone with FaceID did not have support from every app at launch either did it ?
I am not sure, I bought an iPhone 8 and then the X a couple months after. I thought Face ID worked flawlessly with all of my apps at the time though (banking, Starbucks, etc.).
 
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Lava Lamp Freak

macrumors 68000
Jun 1, 2006
1,572
624
Why would it matter to Google if Samsung is angry?
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One of my favorite reviewers:


It's just speculation on my part, but hardware sales is likely a very small piece of Google's revenue. If their goal is to have Android OS on as many phones as possible, and therewith Google services, it may not be in their best interest to put a significant dent in the sales of the OEMs that they rely on for propagation of their software and services.

They may fear that if they were to release a device that pulled a significant number of sales from Samsung, then Samsung might be more likely to consider Google a threat to their own business and begin to more seriously consider developing their own operating system, like Tizen.

Again just speculation on my part, because it truly doesn't make sense why they didn't include a larger battery or more storage, when those things wouldn't cost them a lot more money to source, and they're already charging flagship prices.
 

drinkingtea

macrumors 65816
Jan 31, 2016
1,240
3,271
It's just speculation on my part, but hardware sales is likely a very small piece of Google's revenue. If their goal is to have Android OS on as many phones as possible, and therewith Google services, it may not be in their best interest to put a significant dent in the sales of the OEMs that they rely on for propagation of their software and services.

They may fear that if they were to release a device that pulled a significant number of sales from Samsung, then Samsung might be more likely to consider Google a threat to their own business and begin to more seriously consider developing their own operating system, like Tizen.

Again just speculation on my part, because it truly doesn't make sense why they didn't include a larger battery or more storage, when those things wouldn't cost them a lot more money to source, and they're already charging flagship prices.
I really can’t see this being a reason. Hasn’t Samsung been trying to get Tizen off the ground for years, but Samsung knows that developers won’t bother to develop apps for it, so they’re sticking with Google.

I think the real reason is that Google is lazy and incompetent.
 

slitherjef

macrumors 65816
Feb 8, 2012
1,402
1,189
Earth
∆∆ I wouldn't say Google is incompetent, maybe just complacent. As all the other manufacturers.

They know the market is saturated. They know ecosystem is the way to go, a way to lock you in.

All things being equal, there is really nothing new to offer aside from random features and people are buying less devices so they are charging more. All my phones more or less do the same thing as the one I upgraded too, until they started removing the unnameable port...

Also, I guess why spend the money on R&D when people are buying less?

Edit again 😜
I still might buy this thing but going to try to wait for the email from Google with a promotion.
 

Tig Bitties

macrumors 603
Sep 6, 2012
5,517
5,692
Early battery results. Keep in mind this is all in WiFi, no SIM in yet, but I was not in Airplane mode at all, so radios could still be searching or no?

Screenshot_20191022-221716.png
Screenshot_20191022-221652.png
 

mi7chy

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2014
10,628
11,299
For a device with UFS 2.1 and not UFS 3.0 storage it's surprisingly faster most of the time compared to iPhone 11 Pro.

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I don’t think radios will be searching with no sim.

It supposedly does both physical SIM and eSIM so radio would be active otherwise eSIM OTA provisioning wouldn't work.
 
Last edited:
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Aneres11

macrumors 601
Oct 2, 2011
4,353
9,551
Aahh the battery screen shot screens have arrived.

Always the way with a new Android device. :D

Although I am actually intrigued if anyone has the regular 4. :)
 

Tig Bitties

macrumors 603
Sep 6, 2012
5,517
5,692
I would think Google will fix this 90hz bug needing brightness to be above 75%. I expect the next few monthly security updates to have a lot of bug fixes.

It's not like Pixel phones only ones that launch with OS issues, new iPhone's have been known to launch with buggy iOS versions, takes a month or so for them to be ironed out by Apple.
 
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drinkingtea

macrumors 65816
Jan 31, 2016
1,240
3,271
I would think Google will fix this 90hz bug needing brightness to be above 75%. I expect the next few monthly security updates to have a lot of bug fixes.

It's not like Pixel phones only ones that launch with OS issues, new iPhone's have been known to launch with buggy iOS versions, takes a month or so for them to be ironed out by Apple.
I would much rather have that bug than the iOS 13 bugs I’m dealing with (horrible RAM management [Safari and other apps reload every time I leave the apps and when I turn the phone off, even for five minutes or less], the Mail app is literally broken, constant frame drops, and etc.). My phone is almost unusable and it’s been this way since iOS 13 was released. I’ve never been so frustrated with Apple (well, except several months ago when my two-year-old MacBook died after the logic board failed for the second time). It’s been the buggiest iOS release for me. I think Apple has released about 4 software updates since the iOS 13 release because it’s been that buggy. I have no idea when Apple will patch up the issues I’m having.

Apple isn’t perfect. I think a lot of Apple enthusiasts keep quiet about the day-to-day issues that iPhones can and do encounter.
 

Lava Lamp Freak

macrumors 68000
Jun 1, 2006
1,572
624
I would think Google will fix this 90hz bug needing brightness to be above 75%. I expect the next few monthly security updates to have a lot of bug fixes.

It's not like Pixel phones only ones that launch with OS issues, new iPhone's have been known to launch with buggy iOS versions, takes a month or so for them to be ironed out by Apple.

You can force 90Hz in developer options to get around the bug/limitation. That likely drains battery more quickly, though.
 
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Awesomesince86

macrumors 68020
Sep 18, 2016
2,482
3,302
I would think Google will fix this 90hz bug needing brightness to be above 75%. I expect the next few monthly security updates to have a lot of bug fixes.

It's not like Pixel phones only ones that launch with OS issues, new iPhone's have been known to launch with buggy iOS versions, takes a month or so for them to be ironed out by Apple.
This isn’t a bug. This is a deliberate move by Google. They likely saw battery life was bad with 90hz always on and decided to throttle it back to make battery respectable. If they do patch and fix it, I expect battery life to plummet.
 

5105973

Cancelled
Sep 11, 2014
12,132
19,733
I would much rather have that bug than the iOS 13 bugs I’m dealing with (horrible RAM management [Safari and other apps reload every time I leave the apps and when I turn the phone off, even for five minutes or less], the Mail app is literally broken, constant frame drops, and etc.). My phone is almost unusable and it’s been this way since iOS 13 was released. I’ve never been so frustrated with Apple (well, except several months ago when my two-year-old MacBook died after the logic board failed for the second time). It’s been the buggiest iOS release for me. I think Apple has released about 4 software updates since the iOS 13 release because it’s been that buggy. I have no idea when Apple will patch up the issues I’m having.

Apple isn’t perfect. I think a lot of Apple enthusiasts keep quiet about the day-to-day issues that iPhones can and do encounter.
I'm having trouble with the keyboard in iOS. Selecting and cutting and pasting is just plain weird now. It's very hard to control text selection. I don't know if it's a bug or a new feature I just haven't figured out yet. My emails are sometimes weird. I dont know how to begin to describe it.

Anyway congratulations to everyone who has received their new Pixels. I am behind on looking at all the reviews that have been posted but I'll catch up eventually. I'm on my 3 XL at the moment and updating my Pixel 2.
 

michael9891

Cancelled
Sep 26, 2016
3,060
3,945
It definitely feels a little nicer in the hand to use, compared to the 3a XL. Had my first experience of needing to use banking apps quickly today and no support for biometrics is simply not good enough.

I remember when I bought my last Pixel, I thought it might spoil things for when the 4 was released. And so far, I think I'm right. It's just not a different enough device to justify spending several hundred pounds extra.

I would be very surprised if this doesn't go back. But that's not to say it's a bad phone, because it's far from it. It's the great Pixel experience I've always liked. My worst fear was the battery but it's been alright so far. I just want something more different for all that money.
 
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