Having said that, both my Pixel 1 and 2 died within 6 months of purchase. Pixel 1 was purchased in Jan 2017. Had the infamous microphone stopped working bug in March 2017. Google replaced with a refurb which lasted 1 year until the microphone and headphone jack stopped working. Got a pixel 2 which also had quality control issues where several months later it was stuck on a perma startup booting loop. I made the mistake of buying the pixel 2 online so I couldn't get it covered under warranty.
And here we are with the Pixel 3. As amazing as night sight is, it annoys me to hell that my girlfriends iphone 6s is still going strong after years. Pixels really are not that durable which sucks because the best part of a pixel is still miles and leaps above the competition.
EDIT: The newer Iphone cameras are getting better. If the Pixel 3 also dies within a few months, then I'm going to Apple because I can't justify buying a flagship phone every year.
build quality issues are not widespread to the whole android ecosystem. apple kind of get the crown as long term phones because software support and hardware warranties, but it's not as to say that there are no android phones that can match them in half life.
For those people, the alternative Android offerings just aren't on the radar.
On the other hand, the apple ecosystem doesn't have fire sales like Android does, getting last year's hip kick-started flagship got $200-300 isn't so bad, even if you need to do it way more often. See Amazon fire phone, nextbit Robin, essential phone; these were all a great value when they went on sale, although the fire phone has no back button, so it was more terrible than the others, but also cheaper.
I suffered android for a number of years and you're right. Trash. Even the flagships. The worst bit is when they go wrong or have quality problems. My experience of service from Samsung and Motorola is sending it off, losing it for 4 weeks and it coming back with a ransom charge and a lie that I water damaged it which I didn't. The Motorola was the worst because it just went to sleep one day and never woke up again. This was 2 hours after I first powered it up.
My wife had a 6s with a light patch on the display, took it in Apple store and they swapped the screen out there and then. No charge.
There are somehow 2 or 3 different news modes - and I cannot figure out how to get to the one I want. The Google assistant frequently enables accidentally and records me talking. The phone regularly harasses me and asks me to give reviews and answer questions for them. Many of the news suggestions it gives me are tweets and Reddit threads; I don't tweet or use Reddit. There are a bunch of apps which can't be uninstalled that I don't use or have any need for. No matter how often I turn off the wifi, it decides it wants to turn it back on.
This is probably my last Google phone. Garbage.
I haven't experienced any of the problems that you mention (though the first thing I did was disable Google Assistant) but things I really do not like about it are: it's very slippery to the point that it would be suicidal not to use a case with it; I prefer the old UI; it's pretty heavy for the size.
- "remember": This is when you think of a memory all by yourself, like "I remember when I was a child" or "I remember that I have to buy some milk"
- "remind": This is when something else makes you think of a memory, like "this lullaby reminds me of when I was a child" or "my phone reminded me that I have to buy milk"
In this case you want "remind".
(Thought I'd let you know because I know in some languages, these are one word)
After reading the comment before posting I would probably have used 'reminds' but when I just write down my thoughts they often come out the wrong way and then I forget to read the comment again before posting (which I always should do!) :-)
So thanks!
Calling people is no longer the primary function of a °phone".
I always thought that was a weak stance.
An iPhone without calls is just an iPod touch, which clearly doesn't have the appeal of an iPhone.
We just call it phone because that's what we attached a computer to, but it's more like a pocket computer with LTE modem for most people. I'd call it Pocket PC if I could!
I interpret the parent comment not as diminishing the problem, but just reacting to that notion that calling is the main feature.
I genuinely think that ship has sailed since the iPhone, as every single aspect of pure voice calling got worse.
The first iPhone was so bad it was wise to keep it as a secundary device only. It got better with time, but there is still IMO no phone centric feature that is better than a decent dedicated feature phones.
I say that as someone who hates calling, and I’m still annoyed at how it’s half assed.
Issue was present on Nexus 6P, Pixel 1 XL, Pixel 2 XL ... my next phone may just be an iThingy at this rate, after using Android since the original G1 was released. I can't help but feel that Google's software QC and testing is just much more limited than it should be.
The problem here isn't the call quality, it is the customer service. This is typical Google. They might have many boffins working for them but they do not put the customer first and they don't appreciate the benefits of a customer first attitude. For a product that costs $$$ they should do it right, if they promptly dealt with customer service problems with real staff instead of outsourced 'ninjas' then they could turn customers with problems into their greatest brand ambassadors. In so doing they could convert a small army of people who prefer Apple but have ended up giving Android a spin into brand converts, spreading by word of mouth 'how much better Google is' and converting die-hard Apple fans into Google fans. But Google just don't get it. It is also cheaper to do customer service correctly than it is to have people left out there exasperated with the service they get.
Right now my sister is having trouble with their landline phone. They are cussing their broadband provider and blaming them. They have a retro 1980's phone that has 'always worked' but, after a house move and with a small child around, with unknown wiring in the new house it has to be the broadband provider that are to blame. Chances are that there is something wrong with the phone or the cabling inside their house. They are not willing to try a different handset (one with neat features like caller ID and no cord), they want to persist with the retro phone because it looks good, like the ones they grey up with. Sweet. They too have gone online and decided that the broadband provider are useless and that their services are off the mark. Yet there are many people with the same provider who have phones that work remarkably well, but, they have decided otherwise. Again, as per the Google problem here, there is a perceptual issue due to the poor quality of customer service.
Getting back to the Pixel 3, I had a phone with some stupid wallet style phone case that made it so I couldn't be heard on the phone. I was able to work out that it was the case and not the phone (or an app) but I too was grumbling about the quality of the phone before I realised that the problem was quite simple and had everything to do with the case and not the phone.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Pixel 3 problems were due to obvious but not so obvious problems in the majority of the cases and not some fundamental quality problem with the device. However, Google don't pick up the phone and talk to customers, they leave them to gang together on forums and make all their problems Google's fault, which it is. When will Google learn that in hardware the customer comes first and that customer service has to be done properly? It is such a shame as Google do put the customer first with their search and other software services, plus their design principles do a good job of embodying that.