Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Nexus-N/Pixel XL ( 2016 )
- Thread starter Tig Bitties
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Makes sense. I never got used to the fingerprint sensor placement on the Nexus 6P, always thought it was easier to reach on the front of the phone. Very happy with my 7plus battery life, I'm hoping the Pixel XL comes very close to it. Other than what you mentioned, I can't think of anything that my 7plus has that the Pixel doesn't (maybe OIS but I'll have to test that out myself and compare vs. EIS). Looking forward to getting mine toward the end of the month. Thanks.
My problem with the Pixel/XL comes down to the fact that it's priced identical to the 7/7 Plus while offering less. (No waterproofing, weak mono speaker, etc.) And while 7.1 is the best version of Android yet, it's still not worth spending $800+ on a device to access it (same issue I have with Samsung charging so much for their devices too).
The lack of SD card bugs me. I think if they wouldn't give folks the option of using an SD card then rather than copying Apple, the should have made the starting size 64 GB rather than 32. I don't have many apps on my S7 Edge and yet it's already half full. When I go with the school to sporting events I can't always offload my photos to the cloud storage. There are times we are out in canyons or up in mountains and I can't get a signal. I'll be glad to have that big 256GB storage card loaded in there. I was always grateful that my 6S Plus had 128 GB storage and yes, I did stuff it to the brim with videos and pictures.
I hear you on that.....I am taking a chance. I got the 32GB Pixel because of the price. I wish it had a SD card slot. But this is stock Android too so it is a lot lighter and doesn't take up much space.
I have 13GB left of the original 32GB. That is with over 2 GB of music on my device as I don't like to stream music. Rather have it locally...just my preference.
So storage hasn't been an issue so far for me....but if I do fill it up...i will get rid of it....
Last edited:
I think with all that got left out in their rush to market, mostly the waterproofing, 64GB would have been a good starting amount for the prices they are charging. Ouch!
I really do get so sick of competitors looking to Apple to set the pace. If these Android manufactures start omitting the headphone jack just because Apple did it first, I will be so fed up. It's one thing to do so because they have better technology for us than wired headphones. But so far they don't. Apple's new ear pods and similar ear buds are a welcome (though odd looking) innovation but even Apple can't get it ready for prime time just yet and wired headphones still have widespread popularity and are convenient.
Leaked photos of the iPhone 7 were disappointing and the final product was basically the same, and yet I find the final product to be quite beautiful, particularly in the slate black. Opinions can change the other way, too. I thought the touch bar would be really interesting and a game changer for the MacBook Pros, and yet the final product is disappointing and overpriced.
Don't see a problem here.
Not to mention, the Pixels still draw immense criticism for their design across reviews and users. Maybe the poster still doesn't find the final design to be to his liking but having nailed software and camera and other things, can come to terms. Or he's grown to like the design in person or via better photos and coverage of the final product.
Opinions can change when price, reviews, hands-on, and other things get factored in. Again, I believe you know how these things work.
Don't see a problem here.
Not to mention, the Pixels still draw immense criticism for their design across reviews and users. Maybe the poster still doesn't find the final design to be to his liking but having nailed software and camera and other things, can come to terms. Or he's grown to like the design in person or via better photos and coverage of the final product.
Opinions can change when price, reviews, hands-on, and other things get factored in. Again, I believe you know how these things work.
Last edited by a moderator:
Renders aren't usually very flattering because they are a bit lifeless. The light and shadows just never quite look real. Renders throw everyone off.
Anyway getting back to the Pixel, I was just over on the iPhone section explaining to a forum friend why I am unhappy with iOS 10 and how it's bogged down my enjoyment of my SE a bit. It all reminded me why I signed on to preorder the Pixel in the first place. I lost sight of that a bit while getting sidetracked over camera specs and such.
It's all about the OS. This is Google's opportunity to showcase Android in the best light it can. For me personally, it's a turning point where I decide where I'm committing the bulk of my attention and resources in 2017 and beyond, as Apple starts releasing all the wonders Tim says are in its pipeline, while Google and Samsung and other manufacturers start showcasing their visions for the market. It will be interesting to see if Samsung digs in and starts to differentiate itself more by developing Tizen or continues to customize Android now that Google has Pixel.
What bothers me about iOS 10 is that all the bells and whistles everyone else seems to like just seem to get in my way. Heck, they even now affect how I log in to the phone itself. Android of course is the king of bells and whistles, especially Samsung's version, but I can move them out of my way. Or put them where I want them. With iOS the OS requires me to train myself. With Android I'm hoping I get to be in charge again. I do fine with Touchwiz. I hope I like plain Nougat. And I hope the phone itself plays nice with my carrier and my truck. Until recently I drove around a 24 year old car and didn't care how phones worked with cars. Whew, it's a whole new world for me this year! I still have the old car but it's semi retired now. It's going to be babied from now on.
Anyway getting back to the Pixel, I was just over on the iPhone section explaining to a forum friend why I am unhappy with iOS 10 and how it's bogged down my enjoyment of my SE a bit. It all reminded me why I signed on to preorder the Pixel in the first place. I lost sight of that a bit while getting sidetracked over camera specs and such.
It's all about the OS. This is Google's opportunity to showcase Android in the best light it can. For me personally, it's a turning point where I decide where I'm committing the bulk of my attention and resources in 2017 and beyond, as Apple starts releasing all the wonders Tim says are in its pipeline, while Google and Samsung and other manufacturers start showcasing their visions for the market. It will be interesting to see if Samsung digs in and starts to differentiate itself more by developing Tizen or continues to customize Android now that Google has Pixel.
What bothers me about iOS 10 is that all the bells and whistles everyone else seems to like just seem to get in my way. Heck, they even now affect how I log in to the phone itself. Android of course is the king of bells and whistles, especially Samsung's version, but I can move them out of my way. Or put them where I want them. With iOS the OS requires me to train myself. With Android I'm hoping I get to be in charge again. I do fine with Touchwiz. I hope I like plain Nougat. And I hope the phone itself plays nice with my carrier and my truck. Until recently I drove around a 24 year old car and didn't care how phones worked with cars. Whew, it's a whole new world for me this year! I still have the old car but it's semi retired now. It's going to be babied from now on.
What I find most annoying with the RRP of the pixel is the small ancillary things such as a lack of headphones. Yes often headphones supplied are not great, but some are. And no matter what an average pair included is better than non being included at all. It's things like that make me double take when Google are charging iPhone pricing TBH.
For the price Google are charging for the Pixel and pixel XL, a pair of headphones and even a TPU case included would help take much of the sting out of the very high purchasing price.
Postman due around 90 mins ....
For the price Google are charging for the Pixel and pixel XL, a pair of headphones and even a TPU case included would help take much of the sting out of the very high purchasing price.
Postman due around 90 mins ....
Congrats!
Just arrived
Looking forward to hearing how it works for you.Congrats on your new phone.Nothing can beat that first unboxing
Just arrived
Just arrived
Somehow I think they know when a new device arrives and that their inevitable pictures will be taken shortly.
Just arrived
You went with the smaller one? Looking forward to your thoughts -- perhaps on things that haven't already been mentioned by other users. Would be interesting if you could shed any new light.
Initial impressions.
Feel / Aesthetics ... I hated the renders and the leaked images, but actually its not bad at all in person. The dual glass/metal wedged back actually is alright. Not horrendous - not super fantastic. But ok. The device however does feel very slippery. Surprisingly so. (more slippery than I thought it would).
Quite black = more grey ... It's shame as it would be awesome if the pixel shared same black frontage as the iPhone and make the amoled screen disappear - but when it's switched off, you can clearly see the screen and sensor on the front.
Whilst were talking about that AMOLED screen - the resolution is fine. 1080p with pentile matrix was never going to be a major leap even over the iPhone 4.7" 750p screen due to the nature of the technlogy, but one thing I'm not adjusting too well too initially anyway is the saturation.
Saturation on the panel is way too aggressive normally. With RED's in particular very stretched out colour wise, however we do thankfully have an SRGB mode in developer options, however it seems to be very much dialled back to the point where its not accurate either. Comparing the screen with SRGB mode to either the S7 (with basic mode enabled) or the iPhone 7 - the SRGB mode on the pixel is very washed out.
So I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place on that one. I'll just have to accept standard mode and get over the saturation.
Speed ... It's fast, not sure anything else needs to be said here. Multitasks and is speedy, no issues here.
Google Assistant ... Ok so here where it gets interesting. I honestly don't find it to be any different in usage than Google Now, and head's up. If you select anything other than English UK or English USA you won't actually get Google Assistant, you'll just have google on tap and the older NOW. So English Ireland is not supported and I'm not sure English Australia is either (as that's what my phone defaulted too on set-up despite putting in its region). Now Google Assistant may be optimised more for the USA market, but frankly it does little different than Google Now and it's limitations still show.
Battery life has been very good so far. Was at 65% when I opened the box and powered on the device for first time. So after the heavy initial set up, installing apps and such and 95 mins SOT so far and I'm at 35% which is pretty good all told.
Camera .. only had a basic time with it, but looks promising. These taken mostly in low light as its very dark here today, and the church one was very dull inside. It did an admirable job compensating without too much noise.
[doublepost=1478101335][/doublepost]
I did. I didn't want the bigger model. No regrets. It's a lovely size and based on initial impressions despite smaller battery I should still be able to get 5 hours SOT - we will see if that plays out over next few days.
Feel / Aesthetics ... I hated the renders and the leaked images, but actually its not bad at all in person. The dual glass/metal wedged back actually is alright. Not horrendous - not super fantastic. But ok. The device however does feel very slippery. Surprisingly so. (more slippery than I thought it would).
Quite black = more grey ... It's shame as it would be awesome if the pixel shared same black frontage as the iPhone and make the amoled screen disappear - but when it's switched off, you can clearly see the screen and sensor on the front.
Whilst were talking about that AMOLED screen - the resolution is fine. 1080p with pentile matrix was never going to be a major leap even over the iPhone 4.7" 750p screen due to the nature of the technlogy, but one thing I'm not adjusting too well too initially anyway is the saturation.
Saturation on the panel is way too aggressive normally. With RED's in particular very stretched out colour wise, however we do thankfully have an SRGB mode in developer options, however it seems to be very much dialled back to the point where its not accurate either. Comparing the screen with SRGB mode to either the S7 (with basic mode enabled) or the iPhone 7 - the SRGB mode on the pixel is very washed out.
So I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place on that one. I'll just have to accept standard mode and get over the saturation.
Speed ... It's fast, not sure anything else needs to be said here. Multitasks and is speedy, no issues here.
Google Assistant ... Ok so here where it gets interesting. I honestly don't find it to be any different in usage than Google Now, and head's up. If you select anything other than English UK or English USA you won't actually get Google Assistant, you'll just have google on tap and the older NOW. So English Ireland is not supported and I'm not sure English Australia is either (as that's what my phone defaulted too on set-up despite putting in its region). Now Google Assistant may be optimised more for the USA market, but frankly it does little different than Google Now and it's limitations still show.
Battery life has been very good so far. Was at 65% when I opened the box and powered on the device for first time. So after the heavy initial set up, installing apps and such and 95 mins SOT so far and I'm at 35% which is pretty good all told.
Camera .. only had a basic time with it, but looks promising. These taken mostly in low light as its very dark here today, and the church one was very dull inside. It did an admirable job compensating without too much noise.
[doublepost=1478101335][/doublepost]
I did. I didn't want the bigger model. No regrets. It's a lovely size and based on initial impressions despite smaller battery I should still be able to get 5 hours SOT - we will see if that plays out over next few days.
Last edited:
Nice write up as usual MRU!Initial impressions.
There he is! He is a star in his own right here on the MR forums! :=)
One supplemental thought ...
Even when installing all my apps initially and messing around with camera and download 4gb of audio from Google Play Music, the phone hasn't felt warm or warming up ? It has been cool to the touch. Not sure others experience of this, but it just crossed my mind.
Even when installing all my apps initially and messing around with camera and download 4gb of audio from Google Play Music, the phone hasn't felt warm or warming up ? It has been cool to the touch. Not sure others experience of this, but it just crossed my mind.
come to think of it...mine never got hot either.....
How much space do you have after installing all of your apps and content?
Initial impressions.
Feel / Aesthetics ... I hated the renders and the leaked images, but actually its not bad at all in person. The dual glass/metal wedged back actually is alright. Not horrendous - not super fantastic. But ok. The device however does feel very slippery. Surprisingly so. (more slippery than I thought it would).
Quite black = more grey ... It's shame as it would be awesome if the pixel shared same black frontage as the iPhone and make the amoled screen disappear - but when it's switched off, you can clearly see the screen and sensor on the front.
Whilst were talking about that AMOLED screen - the resolution is fine. 1080p with pentile matrix was never going to be a major leap even over the iPhone 4.7" 750p screen due to the nature of the technlogy, but one thing I'm not adjusting too well too initially anyway is the saturation.
Saturation on the panel is way too aggressive normally. With RED's in particular very stretched out colour wise, however we do thankfully have an SRGB mode in developer options, however it seems to be very much dialled back to the point where its not accurate either. Comparing the screen with SRGB mode to either the S7 (with basic mode enabled) or the iPhone 7 - the SRGB mode on the pixel is very washed out.
So I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place on that one. I'll just have to accept standard mode and get over the saturation.
Speed ... It's fast, not sure anything else needs to be said here. Multitasks and is speedy, no issues here.
Google Assistant ... Ok so here where it gets interesting. I honestly don't find it to be any different in usage than Google Now, and head's up. If you select anything other than English UK or English USA you won't actually get Google Assistant, you'll just have google on tap and the older NOW. So English Ireland is not supported and I'm not sure English Australia is either (as that's what my phone defaulted too on set-up despite putting in its region). Now Google Assistant may be optimised more for the USA market, but frankly it does little different than Google Now and it's limitations still show.
Battery life has been very good so far. Was at 65% when I opened the box and powered on the device for first time. So after the heavy initial set up, installing apps and such and 95 mins SOT so far and I'm at 35% which is pretty good all told.
Camera .. only had a basic time with it, but looks promising. These taken mostly in low light as its very dark here today, and the church one was very dull inside. It did an admirable job compensating without too much noise.
[doublepost=1478101335][/doublepost]
I did. I didn't want the bigger model. No regrets. It's a lovely size and based on initial impressions despite smaller battery I should still be able to get 5 hours SOT - we will see if that plays out over next few days.
Dark, low light, and dull, and the church photo still came out like that? The Pixel camera is amazing then!
I don't normally go for cases or screen protectors but I found this to be quite slippy so I sent off for a black bumper and screen protector from rhino shield, I am really pleased, the screen protector went on really easy and the bumper looks quite smart but not to obtrusive. I am also very impressed with rhinoshields service, very quick.
As for getting warm, my first one did, I exchanged it because I found it to be dropping in and out of wifi, I was actually wrong, it was my wifi that was at fault, not the phone. Give them their due, CPW, swapped it with no quibbles. I haven't found this one to get warm/hot.
As for getting warm, my first one did, I exchanged it because I found it to be dropping in and out of wifi, I was actually wrong, it was my wifi that was at fault, not the phone. Give them their due, CPW, swapped it with no quibbles. I haven't found this one to get warm/hot.
Space wise I am around 14gb used with my apps installed and system and over 4gb of music downloaded. I have just over 15gb free.
I have TMO and the Pixel works just like any other phone on TMO. I haven't noticed any differences. I did some side by side speed test with the Pixel Xl and 7 plus and OPO3. All three performed about the same in wireless and data tests. The differences varied and were so close that it didn't matter.
But there is no Wifi calling that I could find though.
TMO is having a deal to pay $325 back to you if you bring the Pixel to their network.
http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/google-pixel-phone-offer.html
Still really toying with the idea of getting one of these but can't really justify it. Trying to justify it in my head haha but it isn't working out too well...!
Since coming back to iPhone having not used one for a year, I find myself in the same situation I'm always in with them. Boredom.
Don't get me wrong, I generally tire of phones easily anyway, but I find the iPhone so unspectacular (still) that it leaves me wanting.
Whilst it therefore probably seems silly to some that I bought a 7 Plus seeing as it was hardly a big change aesthetically from the previous 2 models, I wanted to go back to iOS to see if I'd feel differently having used Android for a year. Something I'd never managed for that long before.
All it has done is left me wanting to go back to Android, and that's not something I thought would be the case. More than anything, Pixels version of Android, as it's so pure and clean but you have that option of customisation that the iPhone just does not provide. And that's where Android keeps me interested mainly.
I do love the iPhone for things like wallet, Apple Pay, the ease and speed of use, the 7 Plus camera is great, and I love the size of my Plus, but I am hankering for the smaller Pixel (in white) as a nice companion to my iPhone. Nice expensive companion anyway.
The Pixel would also house a Vodafone sim which would then mean it could be used of a weekend. My iPhone (on EE) gets no coverage when I have my part time carphonewarehouse shift (3 masts have been taken down in the town for EE) and wifi doesn't work, so my device is effectively useless. With Vodafone it's 4g galore (and o2) so I'd finally have a connection to those outside of our store.
I've considered slightly cheaper alternatives such as HTC10 and Xperia XZ (not massively cheaper) and whilst I like those devices a lot, I like how pure the Pixel is and the early reviews of its lightning fast performance and great camera are just pushing me further towards it.
I've waffled. Maybe I'll just take the plunge. It doesn't help that I have to look at one every time I'm in CPW and every time I look I have to go and have a play. I like it more and more each time I use it and I can't even use it properly as it's locked down to the display bar! Imagine having one of my own...!
Since coming back to iPhone having not used one for a year, I find myself in the same situation I'm always in with them. Boredom.
Don't get me wrong, I generally tire of phones easily anyway, but I find the iPhone so unspectacular (still) that it leaves me wanting.
Whilst it therefore probably seems silly to some that I bought a 7 Plus seeing as it was hardly a big change aesthetically from the previous 2 models, I wanted to go back to iOS to see if I'd feel differently having used Android for a year. Something I'd never managed for that long before.
All it has done is left me wanting to go back to Android, and that's not something I thought would be the case. More than anything, Pixels version of Android, as it's so pure and clean but you have that option of customisation that the iPhone just does not provide. And that's where Android keeps me interested mainly.
I do love the iPhone for things like wallet, Apple Pay, the ease and speed of use, the 7 Plus camera is great, and I love the size of my Plus, but I am hankering for the smaller Pixel (in white) as a nice companion to my iPhone. Nice expensive companion anyway.
The Pixel would also house a Vodafone sim which would then mean it could be used of a weekend. My iPhone (on EE) gets no coverage when I have my part time carphonewarehouse shift (3 masts have been taken down in the town for EE) and wifi doesn't work, so my device is effectively useless. With Vodafone it's 4g galore (and o2) so I'd finally have a connection to those outside of our store
. I've considered slightly cheaper alternatives such as HTC10 and Xperia XZ (not massively cheaper) and whilst I like those devices a lot, I like how pure the Pixel is and the early reviews of its lightning fast performance and great camera are just pushing me further towards it.
I've waffled. Maybe I'll just take the plunge. It doesn't help that I have to look at one every time I'm in CPW and every time I look I have to go and have a play. I like it more and more each time I use it and I can't even use it properly as it's locked down to the display bar! Imagine having one of my own...!
FWIW - the pixel is quickly turning into the android device I've wanted for years. Flagship stock android but with fixes for some older quirks of stock android, plus finally a great camera. I can actually see myself using this device for a good while and it's not very often i feel that with my android devices. But this one feels like it's going to quell my thirst.