Especially with the Pixel lineup, there is a historical quality control issue with Google's phones that I'm worried hasn't been solved yet. I owned:
- Pixel 3: Past few months, volume buttons and power buttons gradually stopped working. USB port works for charging, but when connected to a computer, port connects and disconnects in an infinite loop. Bluetooth connection with car always skips/stutters during Maps usage even though iPhones and other Android devices work fine.
- Pixel: Camera stopped working
- Nexus 5X: Infinite boot loop issue, contacted Google and replaced it using warranty
- Nexus 4: No hardware issues
- Nexus One: No hardware issues
The Nexus phones were less problematic. I suspect it's because they were co-designed/manufactured by LG.
As time goes on, I use my phone less, not more, and I haven't dropped Pixel phones, unlike the Nexus ones.
I'm wary of purchasing the Pixel 3a, 4, or 5 since I don't want to be burned a 3rd time by specifically Google-designed phones. I think it would be best to avoid Android OS updates as much as possible as well.
I'm looking for the next smartphone to be modular. Heavily considering a Linux phone easier to DIY repair.
Don't forget the Nexus 6P. I got more settlement cash out of this one phone than every other class action item, combined, in my life.
The Pixel "a" series is solid. The features that Google reserves for their flagship level is laughable (hey Soli) when all most people want is just a reliable phone with a decent update story and maybe a few "premium" features like water resistance and a headphone jack.
I had a terrible experience with the Pixel 3a XL: Within a couple of months the daughter board with the main microphone on it died, so I could only make calls in speaker phone mode or on Bluetooth. Then the USB-C socket degraded to the point where it wouldn't charge or the plug would just fall out. Sometimes it would half connect to the charger and vibrate every five seconds or so until it eventually died. It seemed like the software was pretty reliable, though.
Did you get either problem fixed? Surely the first one at least should have been covered under the warranty.
On the USB-C, not saying this was your issue but really every USB-C phone I've had I've eventually needed to use a needle or pin and clear junk out of the bottom of the port to keep a good, solid connection. I don't know if that says more about the amount of lint in my pockets or the design of the USB-C port.
> On the USB-C, not saying this was your issue but really every USB-C phone I've had I've eventually needed to use a needle or pin and clear junk out of the bottom of the port to keep a good, solid connection. I don't know if that says more about the amount of lint in my pockets or the design of the USB-C port.
Me too, but as my only phone with USB-C is my Pixel 3, I assumed it was the fault of the model.
I had an issue with my pixel 2 where something must have shifted in the camera and every photo would blurry on the top half.
Would have been fine to replace it myself but found out that you can not get new replacement parts for the pixel phones and that they are glued up tighter than an iphone with many users reporting that the screen shattered when opening the phone.
Never touching another google product again. While I have had the occasional issue with an Apple product, I have just walked in to the store, they run a few tests and then hand me a replacement on the spot.
I believe you - I have an original Pixel 1 non-XL that I handed down to my kid with a USB-C port that barely works with any cables and even then if you blink at it wrong it disconnects.
FWIW, my 3a XL is working great. I'm might upgrade to a 5a eventually, but only for the water resistance.
My old Pixel runs ok except the camera has completely crapped out randomly while it was in storage. Every time I open the Camera app it immediately crashes and I can’t even turn on the flashlight flash.
>Every time a new Pixel phone comes out, we make a whole article summarizing all the problems people have with them. We don’t do this for any other manufacturer. Google has proven over the years that its phones simply have way more issues than others.
This is what got me to switch to iPhone. Ewaste is a big problem with Google phones. My wife has always bought iPhones and has gone through half as many phones as me.
On e-waste: I'm not sure if the Pixel 5 has done better in this aspect, but the Pixel 3/3XL's screen is almost impossible to remove without destroying it. There's low-quality hard-to-remove adhesive all over the screen, and you have to handle both the front-facing portion of the phone and the rear-facing portion in order to handle a screen replacement.
IMO iPhones fare a lot better in terms of screen replacement (and therefore preventing e-waste) because lifting the adhesive is more like a fine string around the screen rather than a thick pool of glue. Once the string is pulled, it's easier to mobilize the screen and gain access to the connectors, etc. There's a higher chance of being able to disconnect the screen and still have it be usable, unlike when replacing a screen on the Pixel lineup.
I just attempted a Pixel 3 screen replacement on a dummy phone. Difficult to do it cleanly without breaking things.
I was preparing to replace my Pixel 3a screen and even got the kit from iFixit when I realized that this would never work.
I took it to the local repair affiliate (ubreakifix) and let them break the screen instead. They were apologetic but I wasn't surprised and I got a new screen and glass for next to nothing.
Oh, I have replaced screen for pixel 3a about 3 times with different vendors. Screens were not original as it was difficult to get them in my country. All 3 had the same issue: bright flash when activated (only sometimes), multitouch almost dis not work, and sometimes had ghost touches.
I just bought an iphone SE after that, and I’m perfectly happy with it.
I really tried to switch off apple, but no, I cannot handle it.
iOS allows content blockers now, at least for Safari. While it’s not quite as good, it makes the Internet usable again. Firefox focus’s content blocker has been sufficient for me, as a specific recommendation.
They have supported ad blocking extensions for literally years. Though, these days, I'm 100% Wireguarded to my house when away and everything goes through Pihole anyways.
I find Brave's built in ad blocker pretty good. It's the only way I consume YouTube on iOS as it generally is effective as blocking ads and actively works around Google's preventing background playback.
I fixed the USB port connecting and disconnecting by replacing the USB port.
I fixed the power+volume buttons not working by replacing the entire connector.
The Bluetooth issue remains as I haven't looked into exactly which parts are responsible for it or how to fix it.
I can try to keep at it forever but it's an uphill battle. I can keep replacing parts on the Pixel 3, but one day the motherboard might die. Unfortunately, I don't want to purchase a hot air rework station and handle reflowing those chips as the pitch of the joints is too fine.
Agreed. I was going to post the same thing but I would have expanded beyond phones to all Google and Google related hardware. The amount of ewaste I've generated over the years of buying Google hardware or hardware running Google OSes is appalling. Phones, tablets, media devices, etc... all in the landfill (actually to ewaste facilities).
A few years ago, I finally had enough and switched over to the iphone and haven't looked back. I've had the same phone for the last 3 years and it's still running strong getting the latest updates, performing as well as the day I bought it.
And even if I got rid of it to buy the latest and greatest new version, I would rest easy knowing that it would end up in the hands of someone that would continue to get a lot of use out of it. And even after that, it'll probably end up being used for its parts.
The churn of Google hardware weighs heavier on my conscious than on my wallet, and it hasn't been an inexpensive experience.
I’m sorry but the Nexus 4 had what I called a “study assist” feature. If you tried to use Snapchat, the phone would randomly turn off or reboot. You don’t know when it will happen but it will happen meaning you will not respond to Snapchat messages, meaning you don’t get distracted by friends, meaning you can do your homework.
Interesting, I just RMA'd mine because of this and they asked about liquid damage, etc.. I had no idea this was common. It almost looked as though some purple ink got under the screen.
That's oxidation in the OLED cell. Normally there's supposed to be a hermetic seal around the display to prevent this, but manufacturers have to balance quality and durability against cost and bulk. Samsung just didn't quite hit the mark in that generation.
Samsung have made AMOLED for smartphones for about 10 years and such issue isn't very common on most phones. I doubt Samsung doesn't failed but phone manufacturer failed.
I have two or three of those in that state in a box somewhere... plus the glass back was so slippery that it would slide across most surfaces that were not perfectly flat! The same could happen with the front, too: https://youtu.be/-OQVn8xwjkI
It's true that this tends to happen on any new phone without a case that hasn't been smudged much yet, but the N4 was in a class of its own.
I had 3 different Nexus 5Xs. Bought the first one, it ended up crashing multiple times a day. Got the second one advance-replaced under Google Fi's "device protection plan" (for something like $70 + $100 deposit), it did the same thing even before I had done more than set up my Google accounts on it.
And then I had to fight and cold-email a VP off of LinkedIn in order to get them to replace that one without another fee+deposit since it would reboot itself several times a day (and the power button didn't "feel" right, although it was functional the whole time).
In the end I cancelled my Fi service, went and bought a phone from AT&T, and gave the final replacement to a friend when it came in.
And yeah, I dropped my Nexus 5X tons and all it had were scratches on the bezel. My Pixel (4A? I think?) fell out of my pocket about 2 feet onto the floor and shattered. Now I have a OnePlus.
Yep. For all the problems I've had with apple products, knowing I can call or visit apple to get the problems fixed is fantastic.
Since owning my 2016 macbook, the screen died due to the flex cable issue (while travelling - which was super annoying). And one key on the keyboard got sticky. They offered a free battery replacement while they fixed the keyboard (since battery life was dropping faster than it should). The tech broke another key on the keyboard while they were fixing the first one, so they ended up replacing the whole keyboard & trackpad. And when I got the machine back from being serviced, it started crashing due to a RAM issue. So it went back in for a motherboard replacement.
This machine is the worst apple product I've ever owned. But, despite all these problems showing up outside the warranty period, the repair work was all done for free. They have basically replaced the entire computer at this point. (I think the only original part is the backplate).
I think it makes sense for this work to be free, because these were all design problems. But good luck getting this sort of service out of Google or Dell or HP or something. Dell used to have an excellent service program, but those days have long passed. Just reaching a human at google who can help is like getting blood from a stone.
Nexus 4: partially unresponsive sensor, my very own Nexus collects dust, since it works actually, but it's unusable because of the sensor. I used it to watch some video before, since you don’t need sensor for that, but now it’s just collecting dust.
- nexus s: no issues, after 2 years battery was meh
- nexus 4: the only issue was usb port after 2 years of use
- nexus 5x: no issues
- nexus 6p (owned by my girlfriend): strange issue with battery, the phone just shut off after 20% of use and showed 0%; after warranty repair the phone is still working and had no issues
- pixel 2xl (owned by my girlfriend): no issues per see, but was droped in the bus and the screen got cracks
- pixel 4: no issues so far
- pixel 5 (owned by my girlfriend): no issues so far
all of these phones I still own and store them in the boxes, they still are working.
> with the Pixel lineup, there is a historical quality control issue
I guess it's hit or miss. I've had a Pixel 3 and now have a Pixel 5. The build quality of both has been far better than any of the other two dozen phones I've owned. No problems whatsoever with the 5. With the 3, I had a problem with the charger occasionally not working, but that was because the port was filled with pocket lint. And there was also what seemed like an occasional speaker problem on video calls, but it turned out to be a software problem with feedback loops and not a hardware problem.
I am going to get a Linux phone next as well, they look solidly built and I can handle the occasional hassle, I have a s21 ultra and it's ultra disappointing, I got it because they stopped making notes, had note 10 super duper or whatever but it died. Samsung and all the big phone makers have been getting less and less desirable, I am rooting my s21 ultra to see if they did anything interesting in hardware nobody is using, but I doubt it besides the massive camera. They even removed expandable storage, after making it possible to take a 104mp picture... so dumb.
This matches my experience. I've got a Pixel 3A here which I've owned since July of 2020. I take good care of it, my previous phones have all lasted on the order of 6 years.
This phone has its charging port failing where it will not charge 80% of attempts until I manipulate the cord enough to make it happy. I've tried multiple cables as well as cleaning out the charging port, hasn't helped. I went with the phone to save some money, but in retrospect if it fails after a year I'll come out behind.
Still have a working Nexus 6P which was a Huawei device. But, it runs really slowly around app startup, as if the built in flash device has somehow slowed down. Wish I had a good way of diagnosing by watching kernel events while phone is in use to give me a clue.
After my nexus 7 became unusable shortly after a year from flash degradation, I have decided not to spend a single ₹ on any Google product or service. They simply do not care about the customer. Buy pixel hardware at your own peril.
I used to have a 2XL and now a 5. To be honest I've never had a single issue. I did sign up for the android 12 beta and while there are some minor hiccups(completely normal phenomenon for any beta), things work pretty smoothly.
Yep, I've actually had every single pixel (XL, 2XL, 3, 4XL and 5). The only one that had issues was the 4XL, with the back peeling. Got a free swap that came in 2 days, and it was fine afterwards. I give my phones down my family afterwards and each one has lived 3-4 years easily.
I really really wanted the Google phones to succeed, but after following a similar path with 5 completely broken phones (across 3 models) I've lost all hope. At one point with the 5X
Google replaced my phone with another 5X that bootlooped within a week of receiving it.
So I begrudgingly switched to Apple. I haven't had a single hardware problem with my family's phones since. I will never pay for another Google phone. In hindsight I can't believe I tried again after the second time.
It's embarrassing that Google is continually having these significant hardware issues. Ultimately Apple didn't sell me on their ecosystem... Google did.
I am not affected (yet). If anyone from Germany is interested in figuring out what the issue is and can risk losing their data, feel free to ping me on libera IRC. I have the ability to desolder and dump the UFS memory to start some investigation.
Case ID [9-2313000031523]
Me: I am also recording this conversation
Support: We do not allow you to record
Me: So you can record, but I can't?
Support: That is correct.
I'm pretty sure that, in the US, even in "2 party consent" states, once both parties are aware the call is / may be recorded, you're on solid ground. As such, if the Google end says "this call may be recorded", you can record. (IANAL, etc... just my understanding)
That mode indicates that the boot ROM failed to verify the signature on the bootloader. Generally this means that for some reason your bootloader got corrupted. The way to restore this is a special qualcomm tool, but you also need a properly formatted and signed package to flash using the tool, and i doubt that google would give it to you.
How did it get corrupted? FTL issue in an aging eMMC? Bug in linux kernel block device driver? Malicious code? Sheer dumb misfortune? Who knows...
The way to restore this is a qualcomm tool, but you also need a properly formatted and signed package to flash using the tool, and i doubt that google would give it to you.
I don't know how it is now, but my almost-decade-old generic Mediatek Android smartphone (still working, although seldom used) lets you access the whole eMMC in a special recovery mode using SPFlashTool, and there's no signing required. Looks like they have locked down things since then, ostensibly for security but more likely for corporate control and planned obolescence...
The official answer is that with no bootloader locking, there is no way to prevent an evil maid attack (replace OS with a replica that logs your passwords, exfiltrate them later). The real reasons are anyone's best guess...
If the flash bootloader is failing to verify, I should be able to send a new one over the USB port, even if that requires wiping the device for security purposes. Defending against an evil maid attack doesn't explain why I can't do that.
Read the post from dmitrygr again or mine. The bootloader does not get loaded, because the verification fails. That means there is no way to wope or reset the device. Without a signed firehorse binary you can't do anything, because EDL just won't talk to you.
I get that, but there should be something in the ROM that can reflash the device.
It already has signature verification code, which is the hard part to fit into a tiny ROM.
> Without a signed firehorse binary you can't do anything, because EDL just won't talk to you.
So... either they should release a firehorse binary that can wipe devices, or they should add a small bit of code that can wipe and flash without needing a firehorse binary.
As I read it, dmitrygr was saying that the ostensible reason you can't do anything is fear of evil maid attacks, but that ostensible reason doesn't explain why there isn't a wipe+access mode. And "the bootloader is corrupt" isn't the reason, because this is about the pre-bootloader code.
> So... either they should release a firehorse binary that can wipe devices, or they should add a small bit of code that can wipe and flash without needing a firehorse binary.
And how should they add code to a ROM of yet bricked devices?
> As I read it, dmitrygr was saying that the ostensible reason you can't do anything is fear of evil maid attacks, but that ostensible reason doesn't explain why there isn't a wipe+access mode. And "the bootloader is corrupt" isn't the reason, because this is about the pre-bootloader code.
> And how should they add code to a ROM of yet bricked devices?
I'm criticising the original design. Read that "should" as talking about the past.
> Well, ask Google? :-)
Why? I don't care what they have to say (unless they have something surprisingly interesting to contribute), I'm just accusing them of doing this wrong.
Mostly correct. Just a slight correction: You not only need the right image to flash, which you do get from google (factory images) but you need a signed firehorse/edl binary the boot ROM will accept.
Huh my Pixel 3 XL also just died in a very similar way the battery was starting to lose charge faster than expected and a few nights ago it died again and then wouldn't power on. It was taking charge, I plugged it into a powerbank with a wattage meter, and it was pulling just 5W over USBC. (The powerbank supports full PD) It's probably the wrong spot to report this sadly so it's probably been muted it seems like a hardware issue not an issue with Android itself.
I really loved my nexus 5 phone from Google until it got stuck in a bootloop and wouldn't charge. It was a a couple weeks out of warranty but they were nice enough to send me another one (with a charge hold) that almost immediately became a brick as well with the same issue and that one they would not replace.
It kind of sucks to see that this is still an ongoing issue on their newer and (much) more expensive phones. I've already sworn off getting another device from Google and this just reinforces this point. Samsung's hardware (with uh, one Note-able exception) has been solid and while it didn't get the same updates and of course had all the nonsense that Samsung added on top of the base android experience, was much better than any other Android device I've owned.
That said, the iPhone 4s I owned and the iPhone Xs Max I currently own are the two best phones I've owned and it's really not close. Of course it's frustrating dealing with the limitations of the OS and man would I love to sideload some of the great applications they have on Android, but the reliability and support are just unparalleled, not to mention iOS just kind of gets a lot of basic things right which makes it a much more enjoyable experience without tinkering.
I've had similar issues with all Pixel phones I've got too :(
I do like the fact that nothing fancy gets installed on the phone (unlike Samsung, the rest), but my Samsung N9 Note has been working for 2-3 years no issues! (yes, I don't like the crap that they add, but got used to it... by ignoring it)
Samsung has hardware issues over time the same as the rest, heck it was only 5 years ago their premium model had quality issues so bad they had 2 rounds of recalls and cancelled the model completely.
I still went with OnePlus again with the 9 Pro even though the initial (or maybe all, I stopped checking after I heard the initial reports) 8's were troublesome. OnePlus isn't half as good as what they use to be but at least you can get a decent phone without overdone software. That they actually let you just unlock the bootloader on new devices says a lot to me even though I don't think I'd deal with custom ROMs anymore.
The main thing I've found when getting an Android phone is more than which brand is reliable wait a couple of months for the first batch of common users (not reviewers) to see how it actually is before going for it. Yeah you're eating into the short update lifecycle Android phones have but you know it's not bad out of the gate and there is no crystal ball telling you which phone models this generation are going to have unforeseen issues in 2 years (though I guarantee it will be some).
If only the iPhone let me install apps from 3rd party sources... I'd jump on that hardware in a heartbeat.
Huhn. My wife's Pixel 3 broke just days before the 5a was released (this happened just a few weeks ago). Her LTE radio seemed to be having problems. It wouldn't connect to the cell tower, even after a factory reset. Sometimes, removing the SIM card and reinserting it would cause the phone to magically start working, but it quickly would lose it's connection again. We tried different SIMs, and finally it was totally dead and she used my old iPhone 6 for a few days while we waited for the 5a to arrive.
The Advanced Hardware Support Team are currently requesting only for phones that are in EDL mode. While the issue tracker has become a graveyard for phones, the particular focus of the engineers are Pixel 3/3 XL phones entering EDL after an OTA update.
If you have had this problem, please star the issue ticket and add a comment about your circumstances.
Googling EDL mode, apparently one way to enable it is to "short the test points on your device’s mainboard." Maybe Pixel 3s are getting these test points bridged by something inside the case, possibly due to e.g. thermal battery expansion pushing something against the mainboard?
Definitely not possible, since the board is not located under the battery but more like "around" it. (I know, because I had opened multiple Pixel 3 in the past)
Also, the probability of just shorting exactly the right two pins is reeeeeeeaaaaaaally low
> Also, the probability of just shorting exactly the right two pins is reeeeeeeaaaaaaally low
Ah, I was assuming that the "test points" were pads, not test pins. (You've opened these: are they pins?) JTAG is usually pads on most motherboards; it allows factory QA automation to prod the pads with pogo pins, while introducing a bit of setup friction in the way of doing an Evil Maid attack in the field, since there are no self-aligning pins or ports to quickly plug a cable onto.
Pads are pretty easy to bridge if whatever surface the board is facing is has electrically-conductive elements; especially if the pads don't have much separation. (Often in ruggedized embedded devices you'll see the JTAG pads specifically have been kapton'ed over by the integrator, presumably because of an anxiety about something exactly like this happening due to e.g. metal shavings getting in.)
I will buy a Google made phone for Development purposes since they get updates fast but as far as everyday use? Never again. My Nexus 6P bricked just because I forgot to charge it and it went down to 0. And when I did my research online about the problem it was a known issue. That made me furious. It made me move over to a Samsung Galaxy which I love. I can't believe this is still an issue with them.
> It should be noted that devices that are hard bricked and in Sahara mode (Qualcomm USB PID 9008) and have secure boot enabled (pretty much EVERY production device) will only accept signed programmers. This means that it is not only device specific (i.e. MSM8x26,MSM8974,etc) but vendor specific as well (i.e. LG, HTC, etc) since OEMs generate their own private keys to sign all firmware images, including EDL images.
Google have _not_ released the signed firehose files required to be able to fix this.
I recently has a pixel 2 die on me in a similar sounding way. Was working perfectly fine and then suddenly it won't turn on and won't take a charge. Tested with one of those usb tester things and it shows 0amp being drawn.
As a long-time Android user, it is a little ridiculous how short Google's timeframe for even security support is, on their own hardware. Updates to Android that were supposed to help remedy this problem haven't seemed to make a dent.
I'm sure, being Google, they've done all sorts of data analysis and cost-benefit and shown that it's a small group that keep phones that long and that people don't care that much about the support period... but it's just another seemingly penny-pinching situation from them that I think hurts their brand more than it could possibly be saving.
I like my 3a a lot, and bought it cheap later in its lifecycle, and it's a little galling to check and see that the support "guarantee" only goes up to next May, and the security timeframe is the same! If they stick to that schedule I'll have only basically their dead minimum of 18 months of support from when they stopped selling a device, or close to it. Is there really that much upside to these cutoffs?
If anything, they should be using the Pixel line as a cudgel (or let's be nicer, example) to encourage longer support timeframes from other Android manufacturers.
An iPhone SE from 2016 has about 2 hours of battery life left and is slow as molasses to eke even that little out of it. I know because we have one that my toddler gets to play with once in a while. That's the only thing it's useful for.
Apple does battery replacements on them for a reasonable price. Might not be worth it for a phone that old. But it is nice that Apple keeps updating devices until virtually no one is using them anymore.
Sorry, excuse me while I go burst my sides from laughter. Apple does battery replacements for more than a (entry-level, admittedly) new phone costs. And that new phone includes a battery. ;)
Moreover, Apple refuses to do battery repairs if your phone has other problems, even if those problems have absolutely no relation to the battery, like... a cracked screen. (I'm not kidding, but hey, props to them for actually being honest[1] for a change. That's a refreshing surprise.) Personally, I know very few people with Apple phones over a year or two old who don't have a cracked screen.
The cost of a battery replacement is less than 10% of the cost of the phone and it is something you only really need to do once for a phone. Of course it costs more than some bottom tier android because you are paying someone first world wages to swap the battery rather than having a child labor operated factory in India pump it out.
Replacing the battery with a smashed screen is almost impossible without also replacing the screen because you need to use a suction cap to pull the screen off. If it is smashed you need to scrape off all the chunks which removed what is left of the screen. These days the glass on the iPhone is much stronger than it once was so I don’t know anyone with a cracked screen.
Really? You're going to suggest that Google is the worse perpetrator of planned obsolescence when Apple still slows down phones and uses their flawed design as a scapegoat (and originally did it secretly and lied about it)? Okiedoke. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724
They slowed down phones to prevent them from crashing on peak voltage. If you remember the android scene around the same time, the Nexus 6P would just crash constantly when the battery got degraded.
If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash.
Of course this should have been more visible to notify the user to get a battery replacement. Which it now is and there is a full battery health page. It was also never really secret or lied about. There was a mention in the change logs that no one reads.
> If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash.
Certainly the average user would choose "no crash _and_ not get slower", conveniently ignoring the either-or nature of the question. (Maybe "get less battery life out of a single charge" if they are trying to come up with an alternative.)
That’s not an option. It’s not that the battery was flat. It’s that when the CPU hit peak power consumption the voltage of the battery would drop low enough to cause the CPU to fail. The only option is to limit power draw or to crash.
No, actually, it IS that the battery was flat, and it IS an option. Apple chose to use a battery which was not durable enough for the requirements imposed upon it by their design. I'm not sure why you think that they couldn't have avoided it like LITERALLY EVERY OTHER PHONE MANUFACTURER (including themselves at one time).
> If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash.
No. If you asked the average user if they would rather their phone have the speed decreased, or have a slightly thicker battery (and thus phone), they would all rather it be slightly thicker.
> You're going to suggest that Google is the worse perpetrator of planned obsolescence
Yes.
The big problem was the deception, not the slowing. If they wanted to remove the speed difference between new and old phones, they'd have to slow them all down.
And especially because you can get a new battery, I find updates getting cut off so soon with android to be significantly worse than anything apple does.
No, the deception was what got them fined. However, why do you think they chose to go with the deception, knowing that they were risking fines? Oh, right, it's because the slowing definitely would've been a problem if they had disclosed it up-front.
And you can't get a new battery, by the way. Apple's batteries are not designed to be replaced, remember?
> Oh, right, it's because the slowing definitely would've been a problem if they had disclosed it up-front.
If they made the turbo a bit less aggressive, so slowdowns happened on fewer phones, and made it say "your battery is failing so the phone can't reach peak speed reliably", it wouldn't have been a big problem.
Batteries can only put out so many watts as they age, and apple didn't cause that to spite people into having to buy new products.
> And you can't get a new battery, by the way. Apple's batteries are not designed to be replaced, remember?
> Meanwhile an iPhone SE from 2016 can upgrade to the latest iOS. It just works.
Please don't say things like this here. That part of your comment is inappropriate and incendiary, and contributes at best nothing and at worst drama to this discussion.
This particular bit of your comment does not contribute to the problem under discussion, to the potential solutions or work in progress, or to any other related concern. It is not tangentially-related to Android problems or to Pixel problems. It does no benefit to the post topic, "Pixels bricking unexpectedly", to start a flamewar about iPhones.
HN does not benefit from conversational arson directed at some random Android device post, that has nothing to do with how you feel about Apple versus Android. There are enough fires on HN as it is. If you feel very strongly that we should consider and discuss your views about the relative hardware warranty times of iPhone versus Pixel, then write a blog post and submit it to HN.
I’m now considering buying a new Pixel phone - I need to switch from iPhone to Android for certain reasons, and I hate pre-installed crap of Samsung. (Samsung Internet? Really?)
But I also don’t want to deal with HW issues and my family never had any HW problems with Samsung… so I guess Samsung it is?
I fail to see the downside of choice.
It's fair enough that the manufacturer provides their basic out of the box apps, and no-one forces you to use others than Samsung's.
If you don't want to use the Samsung versions, they're easy to hide away eg in a folder in the all apps directory.
Typically a user puts most often used apps on a desktop anyway, so you'll only see what you want to use. My S21 Ultra has 512GB of storage, it's hardly want for more.
My Pixel 3A bricked suddenly as well. It’s now just collecting dust in the cabinet, very disappointing. Meanwhile, my iPhone 6S still works but with a deteriorated battery.
- Pixel 3: Past few months, volume buttons and power buttons gradually stopped working. USB port works for charging, but when connected to a computer, port connects and disconnects in an infinite loop. Bluetooth connection with car always skips/stutters during Maps usage even though iPhones and other Android devices work fine.
- Pixel: Camera stopped working
- Nexus 5X: Infinite boot loop issue, contacted Google and replaced it using warranty
- Nexus 4: No hardware issues
- Nexus One: No hardware issues
The Nexus phones were less problematic. I suspect it's because they were co-designed/manufactured by LG.
As time goes on, I use my phone less, not more, and I haven't dropped Pixel phones, unlike the Nexus ones.
I'm wary of purchasing the Pixel 3a, 4, or 5 since I don't want to be burned a 3rd time by specifically Google-designed phones. I think it would be best to avoid Android OS updates as much as possible as well.
I'm looking for the next smartphone to be modular. Heavily considering a Linux phone easier to DIY repair.