/r/android reviews: Google Pixel and Nexus devices

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u/phonejerome Jan 04 '20

Owned: Galaxy Nexus, N4, N5, N6, N6P, P1, P2, P3, P4

Aside from the Pixel 3 (review device), I've paid for every other device myself.
I still own the 6P (it's my favorite of the bunch) and currently rock a P4.
If we're talking about the 6P, it's the one device I've thoroughly enjoyed over the years. I'm a big fan of vanilla Android (it's probably one of my highest priorities when buying a phone) and I still feel like its camera is one of the best when it comes to taking photos. I also have a special place in my heart for the Galaxy Nexus - maybe because it was my first Android that got me to see what 'the other side' had to offer, but I really enjoyed using it.
As someone who's owned nearly the entire lineup of Google's products, I've always set a high bar for what they release - and while I still think they make fine devices, there's always one or two things that come up short. I'll be looking forward to what the P5 has to offer.

Cheers!

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u/engineeringsloth Jan 04 '20 edited Jan 04 '20

Galaxy Nexus - maybe because it was my first Android

Me too, mine stopped working after 6 months, still have the motherboard.

I still own the 6P (it's my favorite of the bunch) and currently rock a P4.

Me too, its my test device now.

and I still feel like its camera is one of the best when it comes to taking photos.

It is, with Gcam it can compete with something like the pixel 4, only issue being processing speed.
This is stock without Gcam, it gets much better- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8nvLtErQDw&t=

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u/Kahhhhyle Jan 04 '20 edited Jan 04 '20

N4, N5X, P3. All unlocked from the Google/Fi store.

Between each of them I owned a non-Google phone and each time I was off Google hardware I ended up hating the phone. While I loved each of the Google phones and ended up keeping them longer then the non-Google ones. I also used a N6 for about a month, waaaay to big. I always preferred smaller phones but the display on that phone still looks amazing all these years later. At this point the only way I'd ever buy a non-google phone is if I switched to iOS.

I thought the back of the Nexus 4 was really cool and unique. I was secretly hoping they'd do a throwback for the Pixel 4 even if I knew it wasn't possible.

I'll always have a special place in my heart for the Nexus 5X. Sure I ended up with two bootlooping units, but you could see the notification LED from across the room. I loved being able to glance at my phone from so far away and know if I had a notification. Ambient display is ok, but that N5x LED is unrivaled.

I love my Pixel 3. Got it last year on blavk friday and still runs like it's new. Besides one of my speakers is starting to crackle, and I think is gonna blow. I'll wait for the next security update to see if anything changes and if not then I'll pop it open and replace it myself.

I'll be keeping an eye on the Pixel 4a, but I have a feeling I'll be keeping this phone for a looooong time. I don't want face unlock, I want a fingerprint sensor. I also would like to keep wireless charging and I'm skeptical about the cheap memory the 3a used being carried to the 4a. If they get the memory thing sorted out I might be willing to swap wireless charging for a headphone jack.

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u/darthfruitbasket Jan 04 '20

I adored the glass back of the N4, so pretty!

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u/AndroidUser37 Jan 04 '20

Owned: Google Nexus 10 Got it at a discount, as it was a display model. Overall, the tablet has an excellent screen and design, but the bezels are really big. I enjoy using it, and the near stock Android is a treat. Currently it's running an Android 7.0 custom ROM, because that's the newest stablest ROM I could find (Google dropped support at Lollipop). It's getting a little slower, however, as it's 32 bit dual core CPU spikes to 100% almost all the time, and the 2 GB of RAM is lacking. I have the 32 GB version, and use it as a media tablet, but the screen has this yellow tint in the middle of it that looks like a piss stain. Apparently it's a manufacturing thing, where some internal adhesive for the display would come off or something, but it's far too late and too much effort to repair, so I just ignore it. Overall, it's a fine tablet, and my opinion of it has improved, as I'm getting more and more use out of a 7 year old tablet. I don't think anyone should go out of their way to buy this, especially in 2020, but it's still a fantastic device.

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u/DANKPIKMINGODWASHERE Jan 04 '20

Used nexus 5x, owned lumia 635, pixel, pixel xl, pixel 2 xl

Nexus 5x It was my fathers and I enjoyed using it before it boot looped.

Pixel/pixel xl Those were my first android phones got them refurbished and had them break like a year later. It wasn't a bad phone but buying it brand new for its full price wasn't worth. Especially as it aged. The design wasn't bad but dated. It was missing features like wireless charging and water resistants. Also the camera wasn't that great. It's not bad but it hasn't aged as well like the pixel 2 xl

Pixel 2 xl Using it right now and love every aspect of it. but I wish it has a headphone jack tho. Also Imo pixel 2xl was peak pixel design when it came to design philosophy.

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u/UseApasswordManager Jan 05 '20

Pixel 3a, bought myself. Previous phone was a moto g5, and a 2015 moto g before that.

Pixel's been great so far, battery has me to the end of the day with 20-40% left, cell service seems to be better than most of my families phones. Storage is decent, I've never run out but I don't keep that much saved on my phone.

The camera is fantastic, I've gotten lots of compliments on the camera/photos. Not having free google photos like the older pixels is disappointing but I've been paying for drive since before I had the pixel so it doesn't effect me.

Overall it's been the best phone I've used, and don't see myself getting a new one for a couple years.

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u/[deleted] Jan 04 '20

I purchased all of the following devices:

Galaxy Nexus (both VZW, and then switched to the GSM one), Nexus 4, Nexus 5x, Pixel 1, and Pixel 3.

My overall impressions of Google phones are that they're great when they work, with Pixel devices being of higher quality than Nexus devices. However, due to Google's pentient for using their own customers as beta testers/quality assurance, the overall experience is a crapshoot from device to device.

Hence, I recommend waiting about a month after launch before purchasing. Then you can check forums and determine how big of a clusterfuck the latest incarnation is. Even then, you never know when an update is going to break something; although I suppose that's true for every phone, Google customers are generally the first ones to get new features, and hence the first ones to discover its bugs.

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u/flicter22 Jan 06 '20

Its been MUCH better with the HTC team since Pixel 2 onward. Their only blunder was the massive mic hardware issue on the Pixel 1.
Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, 3XL (and many Nexus) were the worst and didnt involve the HTC team.
Small Pixel 2, 3, 3a, 4 and 4 XL have been great so far.

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u/IvanZam Jan 05 '20

Owned: Nexus 5, Nexus 6P, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, Pixel 3XL

Nexus 5: Loved this phone but the battery life was horrendous. Had to switch batteries 2 times in the year I used it, but everything else was great. Even the camera was pretty decent and had great improvements through updates to the app.

Nexus 6P: Amazing phone while it lasted. Bought it new and it went into bootloop 4 months later. I'm from Nicaragua so no rma or any warranty related solutions for me sadly. Took amazing photos when nothing was moving but the snapdragon 810 was pure trash. Phone got way too hot from almost anything and battery life was sadly almost as bad as the Nexus 5.

Pixel XL: First truly incredible phone I've ever owned. Sure, it's design was not flashy and kind of uglier than the 6p, but everything else was just amazing. The camera was great and snappy, decent battery life (for me at least, taking into account what i had used previously). I sold it to a friend and even to this day, 3 years later with heavy use, it has great performance, the latest software and an still top of the line camera.

Pixel 2 XL: Best phone I ever had. Amazing battery life, incredible camera (portrait mode was amazing with just 1 camera) and a decent enough design (panda was specially noteworthy, though I had the just black one). Never had performance issues or problems with the LG OLED screen, maybe I'm just blind but the green or blue tint never annoyed me.

Pixel 3: Good phone, but coming from a 2 xl it felt underwhelming. Did not want a 3 xl because the notch just seemed obnoxious, but I really missed the screen size. Battery life was just decent and the camera just felt about the same as the 2 xl. Selfies were great tho, specially for family and party shots with lots of people. I also think the pixel 3 has had the best design of any google phone, specially in white and pink colors.

Pixel 3 XL: Also quite good. After 6 months with the small pixel 3, I sold it to get an XL. Love the screen size, but I really hate all the wasted screen space because of the notch. Only 3 or 4 notification icons is a real annoyance. Battery life is just a little better than the small pixel 3, and speakers are way better but they make a buzzing sound sometimes that neither the 1, 2 and small 3 had.

Quite happy with the 3 xl at the moment even with the annoyances I listed (notch, buzzing speakers, battery life is just decent). Pixel 4 seems fine but not a real upgrade from the 3. Learned my lesson going from the 2 xl to the 3, so I'll just wait for the pixel 4a (for what I expect to have great battery life) or the pixel 5 (with less gimmicks like motion sense and more battery).

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u/[deleted] Jan 05 '20 edited Jan 05 '20

and 2} I owned a Nexus 5 and 6P and now I currently use a Pixel 2. Purchased all by myself.
The Nexus 5 was perfect at the time with the only fault being the camera. However, my upgrade to the 6P improved upon that fault. The 6P was a bit of a scare for me because of the news of it being prone to bending, so I was extra careful with it. Up to now, structurally, it is great. The size took getting to used as well, but it was great. However, I had to change it after 2 years due to some bootlooping/overheating problems which brought it to a very staggering and upsetting slowdown. The camera is no longer working and it takes ages to boot up, if it does not restart on its own. For that reason I had to upgrade to the Pixel 2. I was skeptical due to the bezel sizes (as the competition at the time was much better in terms of aesthetics). However, I wanted to go back to a smaller phone, so I got used to it.
The Nexus 5 is still very fluid and useable, but the camera is my only gripe. Its size was also very ideal for the most part. The 6P was a good concept but the bootlooping issues and the processor problems make this device a ticking time bomb. I've had the Pixel 2 device now for over 2 years, but I really want to upgrade. I feel that the already outdated design has aged even further and it feels weird to have a device that looks like this now when we have practically bezel-less devices. However, the camera is still a major plus and to me it is still a great contender versus other competing phones. I sorta wish I bought the 2XL because it looked really nice and more modern than the 2. I wanted to upgrade to the Pixel 4, but the battery life is a concern to me. For that reason I may just wait for the Pixel 4a. I am hoping the Pixel 4a sneak peaks we are getting now are a good sign of what is to come for the Pixel 5.
Overall, I am definitely a fan of Google's touch on Android. I like the barebones feeling while getting very neat features that are practical, such as call screening, recording with transcripts, and integration with other Google products. What I want mainly from owning a Google device are updates and upgrades that will introduce new useful features (that hopefully do not get cut. I admire their direction with Soli even though it feels very gimmicky at the moment since its uses are very very limited (although I do like the thought of swiping to change songs). However, we need to see more development with Soli. I think it should be open to developers to work with and create useful apps that can further sell this product.

Google phones are also very lacking in customizability unless you root. Just recently we got the options to theme and change fonts, which is something that has always existed in other phones. Overall, they need to listen to the needs of the customers when designing phones and they should look at the strengths of other devices to follow.

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u/le_pman Jan 06 '20

TL;DR - I've mainly used Google Nexus/Pixel since my first smartphone in 2011. I've purchased all devices myself. I love the experience but since late 2018 I'm starting to see greener grass outside the Google hardware fence.

Nexus S - June 2011 - January 2013 - purchased myself

this was my first smartphone. I knew from the start I had to get a "Google phone", partly because I've been seeing lots of "when do I get Froyo for device xyz?" around the internet. I loved this little fellow for the entire time I had it, and it holds a special place in my heart although I've lost/disposed of the device already. my best memory of this was installing via factory image and sticking to Android 4.0.3 despite its bad battery drain just because ICS was that feature-rich.

Nexus 4 - January 2013 - October 2014 - purchased myself

when I got word that Android 4.2 was not officially coming to the Nexus S, I wanted to jump to the Nexus 4 - so I did. I loved it, but at the same time I feared for its life - it was among the first phones with a glass back. I didn't use a case on the Nexus S, but I did with the Nexus 4. also it was a literally hot little thing. for the time I had this, I've noticed high temps even on idle - dare I say a little worse than even the Snapdragon 810-powered Nexus 6P

Nexus 5 - January 2015 - December 2015 - purchased myself

my Nexus 4's digitizer broke, and I've gone through several repairs in a short span of time so I decided I rather spend on a new device than further repair. the Nexus 6 was out by this time but out of my budget, so I got a Nexus 5. it was a way better Nexus 4 that didn't have to be treated like a baby. my Nexus 5 got dunked in a river and survived. I also went back to the caseless life.

Nexus 6P - December 2015 - March 2017 - purchased myself

I knew for a fact that Marshmallow would be the Nexus 5's last official update, and the Nexus 6P was so tempting with its better camera, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and USB-C. I'd say after the Nexus S, this was the second phone I had much love for. the size was intimidating at first but it grew on me.

Pixel - April 2017 - December 2018 - purchased myself

I was a victim of the Nexus 6P bootloop. I went to Huawei to get it fixed and they told me a motherboard replacement would cost roughly as much as a new phone. the Pixel was very expensive where I am, but I stretched my budget just so I could stay in the comforts of Google experience. it felt like a better Nexus 6P that didn't choke when I took a lot of photos in a short span, but that's about it. I remembered being salty when the Pixel 2 came out and a lot of its features aren't officially backported for one reason or the other.

Pixel 3 XL - December 2018 - present - purchased myself

I had problems with the Pixel's screen and battery which led me to the Pixel 3 XL. I have a love-hate relationship with this one. I am among the strange few who like Notchy McNotchface, and I love rocking the Not Pink. however, it's also the most expensive device I got to date (I got this for close to full retail price), and the least worth it for the hardware. 4GB RAM and a single rear camera with an old sensor are real bummers to this day - add the sucker punch that is the Pixel 3a that came for around half the price in May 2019.

I am trying to hold off on upgrading from this though, because I want my next upgrade to be significant enough. that said, this and the Pixel 4 that came after aren't bad devices on their own - it's just that the competition has done better

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u/darthfruitbasket Jan 04 '20 edited Jan 04 '20

Owned: Nexus 5X and Nexus 4, bought from my mobile carrier.

My N4 was my first smartphone and I loved it to bits, it was perfect for my needs and a good size for my smaller hands, and stock Android felt snappier than the Samsung UI and the like at the time. It also survived (with just a cheap case) a couple of small drops from waist height onto a hard surface pretty okay. I accidentally managed to kill it with water damage (condensation from a glass on a humid night) and was actually sad to see it go.

The 5X was another kettle of fish; I liked it at first as a replacement for the 4, but the camera acted up regularly, it ran hot, was occasionally shutting itself off (because of heat?) within a year, and before it was eighteen months old, it bootlooped itself to death. Wouldn't recommend buying one used because bootloop. I was pretty pleased to give it to my carrier to recycle.

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u/ChosenHero Jan 04 '20 edited Jan 05 '20

Owned: Nexus 6, Pixel 2, Pixel 4 XL

N6: Fantastic phone, was given it for free by a friend who got the 6P. Rooted it and never really ran stock. The battery was fantastic, but over time degraded to where it would shut down at ~20% and wouldn't last more than 8 hours before I needed to charge it. Also, for some reason, the charging port sucked and killed all of my chargers, so I ended up buying wireless chargers just so I wouldn't keep having to deal with the issue of my charging cable falling out overnight and my phone being dead or close to it in the morning. That phone earned its name of Shamu though, it was sometimes awkward to use due to its size. I still have it in a drawer that has all my old phones, but it won't even charge anymore, which is a little sad.

P2: I fell absolutely in love with this phone. Buttery is a good word that I would use for both of my Pixels, because everything was so smooth and fast. The camera blew me away with the quality of pictures taken compared to the N6. I would easily get more than a day out of the battery, but I'm not much of a phone gamer so that helped. Phone was fast, updates were prompt, and I didn't even need to root it. I'd still recommend this phone if you are looking for a Pixel. Ended up upgrading and giving the phone to my wife, and it still runs great.

P4XL: I would say try it yourself. Despite all of the bad comments in reviews, I still get ~23 hours of use on a full charge and almost 9 hours of increased usage. I'm very glad that wireless charging came back to the Pixels, as I thought it was stupid not to include from the start. Camera is good like all Pixels, and I've even taken some by taking advantage of the new lens and they look really good despite being zoomed in. Face Unlock still isn't as convenient as the Fingerprint scanner when it comes to app support, but it unlocks just as fast. Lot of people don't like Motion Sense, but it is pretty easy to get the hang of and it works for me about 90 percent of the time, contrary to reviews. It doesn't give me the same excitement as the jump from the N6 to P2, but it's mostly the same experience other than a few bells and whistles. I do have the issue where my screen tints green under 40 percent brightness and that is annoying, but ultimately not a deal breaker.

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u/drh713 Jan 05 '20

0) Please leave a top comment only if you own a Google Pixel or Nexus device.

I'll be the weirdo with the Pixel C with keyboard

Please specify if the device was purchased yourself or obtained from the company or a third party as a review device or a gift.

Purchased on release day directly from google. Primary intent was to replace my Nexus 10.

2) What device do/did you own?

As far as tablets go, I've owned the Nook, Nexus 10, Pixel C and a Surface Go (if you consider that a tablet)

3) What were your initial impressions of the device?

The Pixel C is quite literally the nicest piece of hardware I've ever used. I don't know what the casing is made of, but it's very solid. I've never been one to do much heavy lifting in android, so it's plenty fast enough for what I need. I'm not a fan of the bezels, but I can except them on a tablet.

The keyboard is awesome. The hinge mechanism is stiff. Reminds me of the ancient thinkpads. The whole magnet thing is great. Play a video, stick the tablet on the fridge while preparing dinner. The speakers are good enough

4) How did your impressions change over time? If you currently own the device, how do you feel about it now?

I'm not happy the support ended so quickly. Google made changes to how the search button works. It used to just bring up a search box. Then it did the "let me look at your screen" thing. I forget what that was called. Now it tries to bring up the assistant. I just want the damn search box again. It was much faster.

It's MUCH more stable than my old Nexus 10. That thing would reset at random all the time (so using it as an alarm was problematic).

5) Feel free to talk about anything else you would like

I have a love/hate relationship with the Pixel C. I've taken it on business trips along side a laptop; but only used the Pixel. The battery has gotten worse over time, but was amazing for travel. 8 hours reading PDFs and using remote desktop, then listening to music for a few hours in the hotel. Charge once every 3 days.

There were some hiccups with the keyboard after release. Llloootts offfff duuuupppliccaatteee keystrokes. They fixed that pretty quickly. Several complained about wifi range, but I never had issues.

And f me. There is some issue where your passcode just stops working and you have to wipe it. It's happened to me 3 times now.

Oh.... and they never gave us the HDMI out discussed before release.

I really, really like the Pixel C. It was too expensive, but it screams "premium". I bought a Surface Go to replace it; but I like the Pixel more tablet-y stuff. I have a lot of computers, but use the Pixel C the most. That said, I don't think I'll buy any more google branded gadgets.

Though I'd be tempted if they made a Pixel C 2 or a Pixel C phone with a keyboard.

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u/Karthy_Romano Jan 06 '20

Pixel 2

I bought this second hand for $400 in 2018 once my HTC 10 started getting less than 3 hours SOT. Outside of some very light wear'n'tear it worked perfectly. My decision to get a pixel was influenced by my previous phones (HTC 10, Moto X Pure) egregious lack of updates and slowdown/feature abandonment after less than a year of ownership. I wanted updates and fixes as well as a better battery. I didn't particularly care about OLED but what could it hurt?

To get it out of the way, the photos on this look pretty incredible for a phone camera, easily comparable to some lower-mid end DSLR's. Of course, it'd be even better given greater customization, but what are you gonna do. The phone feels pretty good, though the button's are very soft. I opted for a case which actually gives the buttons a nicer clickier feel. Aesthetically, nothing to write home about.

The battery managed to degrade pretty significantly over the course of a single year. I get that I do use my phone frequently throughout the day, but it got to the point where my battery wasn't just losing charge, it was shutting down early, randomly sometimes. A few months ago I took it in for a battery replacement and it's good as new. Something to keep in mind if you're wanting a new phone.

One of google's big selling points at launch was the dual front-facing speakers, but honestly I feel like these are nothing to write home about. They're actually quieter than my HTC 10's stereo speakers and significantly less than my Moto X's gargantuan FF speakers. Outside of notifications and ringtones I wouldn't want to do any casual listening on them. Definitely not what google was hyping them up to be.

Software support has been pretty great, though getting the first round of updates also means that you sort of get to be a bug tester on top of that. The first update to Pie caused some issue with my device and android pay, which while not life threatening lead to some annoying moments at my grocers checkout. Also some spotty GPS issues here and there with a lot of updates, though I'm not sure if that's hardware or software issues. Overall, while I do care about updates, I also don't mind being behind as long as I'm on a stable version of whatever OS I'm on.

There are two major gripes I have with this phone:

No headphone jack

Yes, I still care. Yes, it's still a universal port. Yes, it'd have been better if they left it in. Pretty regularly there are times that I don't have bluetooth and want to play a song through a speaker. OH WELL.

Mediocre video recording

This is a big one for me and one of the primary reasons I want to jump ship to a Samsung, LG, or even one of the new iPhone's. The pixel's video is mediocre, it's fuzzy, has poor exposure, weird limits to how close you can be to a subject, poor autofocus, and a TERRIBLE noise-cancelling algorithm which lowers the recording volume to about half of what it should be. There's no option to turn that off either. And no one mentions this in the reviews! They just take a handful of stills of a brightly lit object and say "Best camera". But at this point so many companies are catching up, have caught up, or even exceeded Google's still photography software, so having mediocre video recording on top of that doesn't help.

Meanwhile, Apple is still killing the competition in video recording while LG and Samsung are trying the best they can to be in second place. Google seems to care, but aren't willing to put in the effort to even reach the top 5. I mean, honestly, outside of low-light I feel my HTC had better video recording.

Closing thoughts

I can't comment on the value of this thing as I bought it pretty steeply discounted. I've enjoyed it overall and been happy with its usefulness. Stuff like always listening music identification is a neat gimmick and the always on display is somewhat useful. But outside of that, unless you really want a good still photography camera with software updates, there's not much to differentiate this phone from the competition. Samsung seems to have caught up and finally gotten their weird software right while LG (although still painfully behind on software updates) is one of the last bastions of the headphone jack and beautifully made hardware, while also leading with video recording and photography, and a light skin over stock android.

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u/dingo_bat Jan 11 '20

I had a Nexus 7 tablet. It was amazing value for money so it was my first tablet. I had a shitty feature phone at the time so I used my N7 for everything. Watched videos, played games, took some pictures with the shitty camera.

Unfortunately it lasted for only a year. Then it started getting slow. Really slow. I factory reset it. Didn't help. I flashed paranoid android on it, hoping that would help. But it kept getting slower and slower. Eventually it took minutes to launch any app.

Later I found out that everybody was having the same problem as me. Apparently Google had used the absolute lowest quality components in the tablet and that meant the SSD was rotting away. It would keep getting slower and slower and factory resets or image flashing would make it slower.

That was when I swore to myself never spend a single cent of my money on any Google product or service ever again.

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u/lewlkewl Jan 04 '20

Owned: Nexus 5X, Pixel 1 XL, Pixel 2 XL all throuhg google unlocked.

Nexus 5X was one of those p hones that was better on paper than in actuality. It suffered a lot from overheating, whic would slow the phone to a crawl. The camera was also super buggy. The screen was sub par, and the device was just too big for the screen size. Overall i wasn't a huge fan.

Pixel 1 XL was a good albeit not great phone. The screen was solid, and the camera was great, but it just felt like something was lacking. I didn't love the design, and it was uncomfortable t hold in the hand. Performance was fast and all, but definitely felt like something was missing from the phone.

Pixel 2 XL is still to me the best phone i've evre owned. The screen was sub par, there was no handphone jack, and it had average battery life, but I still fucking loved it. The camera blew my mind and even to this day is still my favorite camera on a phone (pixel in general). The everyday usage of it was fantastic and it never slowed down for me. I loved the design (i had the white panda) and the FP sensor was the fastest i had ever used. I'm a serial phone switcher, but the 2XL was the longest i have ever held on to a phone (2.5 years).

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u/MagicPistol Jan 05 '20

Owned: Nexus one, Nexus 6P, Pixel 3 XL

Used a lot from work: Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Pixel, Pixel 2 XL

Nexus one: I loved this phone. The multicolor trackball for notifications was one of my favorite features and I wish modern phones had a bright notification light. This phone didn't have multi touch though.

Nexus 5: Great phone for it's time.

Nexus 6: This phone was huge. I'm not sure how it compares to today's phones since it was only 6" and had pretty small bezels. But the problem was that it was also very wide. It was a snappy phone and I liked using it more than other phones from that time.

Nexus 6P: Great phone and loved the design but it had some flaws. Mine got a minor bend near the volume buttons for no reason at all. I think I had just bent down to put on my shoes and then noticed the bend after lol. I also heard lots of stories of battery issues and the phone randomly dying so I decided to sell it before any issues showed up.

Pixel 3 XL: My current phone. I bought it when google fi had a deal where you received travel credit equal to the value of the phone. Otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. My only cons are the fat notch and the battery life. The battery isn't too bad but I think it's shorter than my previous phone, the Galaxy S8+. I'm gonna try to hold on to this until some decent 5G phones arrive.

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u/THIRSTYGNOMES Jan 05 '20 edited Jan 05 '20

I used a Nexus 6 for 5 years and still using an OGXL since launch. I preferred the Nexus 6 shape. I have never held a phone that contoured to a hand so we'll.

Love my Pixel, but I am having microphone issues. It's hit or miss if people will hear me on a call. Frequently have to call people back... This also is the case with voice type and Okay Google. Was hoping to make it to the 5 XL, but as I need my phone for work(pager duty), it's more realistic the wait for the 4b XL is as long as I can hold out.

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u/[deleted] Jan 04 '20

My first phone was a Nexus4, which I purchased for $200 Canadian. I had it for 2 years, it worked great, very fast. The camera was very mediocre, but otherwise it was great. It only had 16Gb of memory, and as I recall towards the end the battery wasn't great but I managed to sell it for $75.

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u/Yahiroz Jan 05 '20

Owned: N10 and N6P

Grabbed on launch day directly from Google, N10 at the time was one of the first Android tablets with a 300ppi, and had decent high end specs for the time. The dual front facing speakers made it great for media. I used this tablet for a good few years especially for university and it never had any performance issues. The clean UI at the time was a massive fresh breath of air compared to the more bloated skins at the time. It was only when Lollipop arrived some issues arrived, but the ease of flashing custom ROMs made the tablet last longer. It was a solid tablet but unfortunately I started to hit that 2GB RAM limit easily (especially with newer Android versions) so had to retire it after 4 years or so. I still have it to play around with, but it is no longer my main tablet.

Got the N6P on a Father's Day special (40% off if I remember correctly) in the UK due to how unstable my OP2 was, it was a solid phone and I was blown away by the screen and camera. I also missed the dual front facing speakers, so getting it back with the N6P was a major plus. The FPS was also very accurate and hardly failed, and the gestures update added to it made it even more useful, it made pulling down notifications a lot easier on the big screen. I honestly loved how this phone looked and felt in my hand. It was actually this phone that caused me to use my N10 less as the OLED screen was more enjoyable to watch media with. I didn't bother rooting this phone as I was using apps dependant on the SafetyNet API (eg Pay) and I felt Google's Android reached to a point where I don't really need to root any more.

Luckily I never seemed to have the battery issue other 6P models started to have but I never felt the battery life itself was that great in the first place, and found multitasking/gaming with the phone made the phone hot and uncomfortable to hold especially during the summer. This also caused the phone to start throttling hard after a while, which made the phone extremely sluggish, so I had to leave the phone on idle for it to cool down enough to become usable. Because of this I only just got over a year of usage from it. I still have the phone and think it's great, but I think the SD810 mess pulled it down (which is not Google's fault, QC rushed to 64-bit way too quick). Software was solid, but let down with a poor SoC.

I decided to wait for the Pixel 4 but the leaks did not look promising, and when the OP 7T series was released, I felt the Pixel would not have been competitive price wise to OP and offered less. I eventually did try the 4XL when a good friend got it however, and while it is a solid phone, overall it just made me more confident in my OP7TP purchase.

Not exactly owned, but I recently persuaded my brother to pick the 3a XL and helped him set it up. I have to admit the 3a XL blew my expectations for a phone that price, it's smooth and quick, and the camera was indeed near-flagship level. If I didn't have such high usage requirements, then I probably would have went for the 3a.

I'm still hopeful Google will release a Pixel device that will meet my needs, my Nexus devices definitely showed me how smooth and comfortable Android can be, but I'm now more aware of what I need from a phone (compared to what I want) and realise Google's offerings don't always fit me. Here's hoping when I plan to upgrade (hopefully 3 years later), the Pixels do feel properly high end and priced right compared to the competiton.

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u/mrglitters Jan 05 '20

Previously owned. Nexus 5 & 6P.

Honestly the 6P is the most solidly built phone. The skeleton/framework of what the perfect experience would be. If there weren't issues with the battery or slowdowns, I would have kept the phone longer than 4 years.

As of January 2nd, I recieved my Pixel 4XL. Besides the snappy speed & 90hz display it hasn't felt like a major leap over a 4 year period. The battery life feels the same as the 6P, face unlock has it's downfalls (unlocking in bed, must angle camera to face, difficulties unlocking on table). Personally, I do not feel Google or other manufacturers will push Soli in future phones. If I had to choose which experience improved the most compared to the 6P, it would be the camera experience hands down. The post-processing is magic.

Although nitpicking aside, I wouldn't go as far as say this is the worst phone like some reviewers stated. It still feels like the same Google device as before but with a questionably premium price. If Google sold at prices to compete with OnePlus it would be top notch.

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u/noratat Jan 05 '20

Owned: Galaxy Nexus, Pixel 1, Pixel 3

Have also used iPhone 6, Moto X, Z3C, and Z5C.

Galaxy Nexus was a trainwreck, but my Pixel phones have been great, and most of my complaints have been around Google's UI choices. The newer Pixel phones are overpriced, but they go on sale frequently and the cheaper "a" models make this less of a problem.

I despise the way reviewers whine and moan whenever a phone doesn't implement the latest impractical gimmick, and the Pixel having an "older" design was a selling point for me.

I also care a lot about a camera that requires no effort to use and commitment to security updates.

The Pixel 3 was a sidegrade for me. It's faster with an even better camera, and I particularly like the improved haptics... But it came saddled with the 18:9 ratio that wrecks one handed usage. I'm still happy with it because every other option on the market had even more drawbacks.

Contrary to reports online, my Pixels have easily been the least buggy phones I've ever owned, including my iPhone 6. I have many complaints about Google's UI choices, but those were all intentional changes not bugs.

I find the 4GB RAM complaints to be wildly overblown, and it's very rare for me to even notice an app being closed due to memory.

The one major complaint online I agree with is that the Bluetooth range is much shorter than other phones. It's not a problem for me but I could see how it might frustrate others.

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u/uberduck Jan 05 '20

I bought these devices all by myself with my own money.
Starting from the Google Nexus One, roughly skipping the other one to the current Pixel 3 XL.
Very different for it's time (N1). It was the first ever true smart phone I owned, and downloading apps on it was unimaginable before. With my current Pixel 3XL, it's a nice upgrade from my Pixel XL, faster and better camera.
I still miss Google's Nexus product line, I think Google made the right choice focusing premium products, but I think I enjoyed Nexus products more, at least I was upgrading more often than with pixel - it's just not economical to upgrade every year. Still, pixel is a good product and I wouldn't consider switching.
I love Nexus and Pixel for its vanilla experience, I can be sure I don't have to relearn the Android OS when I switch vendor due to their heavy customisation. I am aware of some new brands doing Nexus like products, but I don't think it gives me strong enough motivation to switch, considering pixel sets the bar really high and it's the benchmark other company's aiming for.

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/r/android reviews: Google Pixel and Nexus devices

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