Pretty close to sending pixel back

[jtmo3]

I feel like I'm a beta tester for google sometimes. Had the pixel for 4 days now. Running into a lot of issues. I use the phone on fi network. That's where the beginning of the issues started. When I'm connected to t-mobile everything seems fine. When it connects to sprint, the phone thinks I'm from pasadena, ca when I'm in missouri. So local calls require 10 digits or you get someone in california. US cellular, forget it, I get a recording from verizon about can't make a call and it hangs up. No data is usable. I've called and chatted with fi support numerous times and they have been no help in sorting this issue out. It was escaled last thursday, but as of yet haven't heard anything back. Way too long a time.

As to the phone there are numerous things wrong. Again, I use fi. Based on using wifi and cell coverage. I can sit 10 feet from several routers and can't make a wifi call. On a samsung (at&t), I can turn on airplane mode and then turn wifi on and make calls all day with wifi calling. With the pixel, if I do that, the phone will just sit there saying dialing and never make a call. This happens in our work building at times because depending on where I'm at there I might not have a cell signal, but good wifi. No incoming or outgoing calls until I get a cell signal back. For a phone and network that pushes wifi calling, this is not good.

Many other smaller issues. Pulse notification light does not work for most anything but texts. No light for missed calls. No light for voicemails. No light for emails I've asked for notification on. This would be livable except that ambient display doesn't work except when you actually receive the item that's set to notify you. It doesn't work when you pick up or tilt the phone up like my nexus did. You basically have to open the phone or push the power button. Hell, even the iphone has this beat now.

There are a few more things and I could go on, but this is getting long enough. For a phone at this cost point and using googles own service, this shouldn't be happening. Again, I feel like I'm paying google to be a beta tester for things that all worked on a nexus 5x. It might be different on verizon, but for thing other than fi related, I doubt it. Besides venting on my part, is anyone else seeing any of these things, or maybe some I've missed since I've only had 4 days with it? I want to like this phone, but too much seems missing and not working quite right with only a promise from google that they're working on things.

 

[monkmullen]

Re notification light and emails, I had to choose a ringtone before the led would come on. If I had notifications within Gmail set to vibrate, then no led.

 

[PretoEVO4]

Hi,

There are also third party apps that you can use that make notifications (particularly with an AMOLED screen) VERY nice. If you just want the LED notification light, then use an app called light flow. This will give you a huge level of control of LED alerts... more than you probably realize is possible.

Also, search the app store for Always on AMOLED Beta. This is an always on display app that I am using with the pixel. You will have an always on display just like the S7 with notifications. It is extremely good.

 

[jtmo3]

I choose silent for most everything except for a few labels. When those labels trigger, the display comes on and I get the chosen sound, but no light.

 

[mfriedman79]

Your Fi issues sound like either the network quality when on wifi is poor and it can't make a solid connection for wifi calling (unlikely as you said it worked on your 5x) or something is seriously wrong with your Fi SIM or account provisioning. I am on Fi with an XL and have tried numerous tests with wifi calling while in airplane mode and haven't had a single issue in that regards. As for your Spring issues, well, that is extremely weird and I unfortunately can't test 7 digit dialing being from Chicago where we pretty much use 10 digit dialing for everything.

 

[planoman]

All nexus and now pixel users are beta testers for google. lol! I have one on order and am on ATT, so I know wifi calling will not work like it does on my iPhone 7+ and S7 active. I am more concerned about the camera and flairs etc. If I see that even once in my 14 day trial, I will return it. Not paying $1000+ for that when my two current devices do not.

 

[jtmo3]

Thanks but I don't want to use a third party app for something that (supposedly) built into the operating system. If it worked, that's all I need. The feature should either work if available, or don't make it available. Again, thanks for the suggestion and I thought about it, but don't want to use one.

 

[jtmo3]

planoman, I hear you. Not seen any flaring but not taken many pictures. I've only taken a few pictures so far and also taken the same pictures with my s7 active on at&t. Brought them up on a laptop and asked the wife which ones were better and she picked the s7 actives every time. Not that the pixel photos were bad though. And I'm with you, I know at a certain point, we're beta testing for google, but at this price point, I'm not giving much leeway to them.

 

[Cant Miss]

There is at least one known issue with Nougat and LED notify; one that monkmullen's suggestion might workaround. I know I can't get Tasker to LED Notify either under Nougat. But they've known about it since September so surprised it ain't fixed in 7.1. Well maybe not that surprised... it is a Google phone.

One thought might be to record some silence and use that as the notification sound so you can get LED notify to work. Or just return it as I did (I had to many issues as well).

 

[jtmo3]

Thanks Cant. I already did that with silent tones. The whole notification system on this phone has big issues.

 

[planoman]

planoman, I hear you. Not seen any flaring but not taken many pictures. I've only taken a few pictures so far and also taken the same pictures with my s7 active on at&t. Brought them up on a laptop and asked the wife which ones were better and she picked the s7 actives every time. Not that the pixel photos were bad though. And I'm with you, I know at a certain point, we're beta testing for google, but at this price point, I'm not giving much leeway to them.

Thanks! Cameras are important to me which is why I like my iPhone 7+ and S7 Active. I also want stock android and the Pixel XL, but not if the camera has issues and I will try it out ASAP when I get mine. I agree at $1000+ for the Pixel XL my tolerance is not as high as it would be for a $600 device. I like have a stock android device but it needs to have very few if any issues as I see them.

 

[jtmo3]

Depending on what you consider issues, unfortunately, the pixel has it's share. And to me, too many that matter for me to overlook or believe google will fix them without causing other issues. If one is to believe that they put this phone together in 9 months, they stuck their reputation on the line to get it out the door. For me, it's not looking good...at this price point. A phone for me is about communication. With just the issues I brought up, it fails at being good at communicating. Thus a fail for me.

 

[Cant Miss]

Cameras are important to me which is why I like my iPhone 7+ and S7 Active. I also want stock android and the Pixel XL, but not if the camera has issues

If you're a videographer, you're about to be bummed (I was). While the EIS is mind numbingly good for a static scene... you soon discover you can't slowly pan the scene as the stabilization "holds on to it" until it finally let's go, which results in your smooth pan actually jumping across the screen in chunks.

 

[planoman]

If you're a videographer, you're about to be bummed (I was). While the EIS is mind numbingly good for a static scene... you soon discover you can't slowly pan the scene as the stabilization "holds on to it" until it finally let's go, which results in your smooth pan actually jumping across the screen in chunks.

Interesting. Nothing official just like good cameras. I have seen some indoor shots with the Pixel/XL with arcs and flairs which I have never seen on my current devices and I take lots of pic of my kids, dog etc. My other devices do have OIS so Ill be sure to try and use them when shooting video. Good info, Thanks.

 

[Tf407]

I feel like I'm a beta tester for google sometimes. Had the pixel for 4 days now. Running into a lot of issues. I use the phone on fi network. That's where the beginning of the issues started. When I'm connected to t-mobile everything seems fine. When it connects to sprint, the phone thinks I'm from pasadena, ca when I'm in missouri. So local calls require 10 digits or you get someone in california. US cellular, forget it, I get a recording from verizon about can't make a call and it hangs up. No data is usable. I've called and chatted with fi support numerous times and they have been no help in sorting this issue out. It was escaled last thursday, but as of yet haven't heard anything back. Way too long a time.

As to the phone there are numerous things wrong. Again, I use fi. Based on using wifi and cell coverage. I can sit 10 feet from several routers and can't make a wifi call. On a samsung (at&t), I can turn on airplane mode and then turn wifi on and make calls all day with wifi calling. With the pixel, if I do that, the phone will just sit there saying dialing and never make a call. This happens in our work building at times because depending on where I'm at there I might not have a cell signal, but good wifi. No incoming or outgoing calls until I get a cell signal back. For a phone and network that pushes wifi calling, this is not good.

Many other smaller issues. Pulse notification light does not work for most anything but texts. No light for missed calls. No light for voicemails. No light for emails I've asked for notification on. This would be livable except that ambient display doesn't work except when you actually receive the item that's set to notify you. It doesn't work when you pick up or tilt the phone up like my nexus did. You basically have to open the phone or push the power button. Hell, even the iphone has this beat now.

There are a few more things and I could go on, but this is getting long enough. For a phone at this cost point and using googles own service, this shouldn't be happening. Again, I feel like I'm paying google to be a beta tester for things that all worked on a nexus 5x. It might be different on verizon, but for thing other than fi related, I doubt it. Besides venting on my part, is anyone else seeing any of these things, or maybe some I've missed since I've only had 4 days with it? I want to like this phone, but too much seems missing and not working quite right with only a promise from google that they're working on things.

It seems like your complaint is more with the carrier and not the phone no?

 

[jtmo3]

Did you read the post? Yes, there are issues with the carrier, but also with the phone. Worse is, the phone maker is the carrier and can't make things work. Kind of like google making the os, and can't clean up the bugs, that are fairly annoying. A communication device that isn't communicating with the user to announce waiting issues to take care of. Doesn't give me a lot of hope that google will be any different than apple or samsung or you name the manufacturer. While the package was/is nice, it just seems rushed to me with the nagging issues...for me.

 

[racedog]

Sounds like you need to demand a new phone and a new sim. This phone you were sent sounds like the poster child for a "lemon".

 

[jtmo3]

Well, I did tell them to send me a new sim this weekend and they said they would order it, but when I checked today, there was none ordered so I ordered it again. I have my old one from the nexus that I put in today to see if it helped and it did the same thing. I'm thinking this is a back end issue with their engineering and only they can fix it and I can't get them to get back with me. Fi was working great along with my nexus until thursday when the pixel arrived. Now, most everything is a mess and all I did was put in a new sim and start up a new phone. Wow, if I knew then what I know now.....

 

[Amele]

I haven't seen any flare with the camera. It isn't great in low light situations but I have edited some of those to look better. I get what you are saying about wanting it all to just work but I always felt the thing with Android was, if it didn't just work, you could probably find something to do, or download that would make it work. I will always miss the Note 7 but I have gotten quite attached to the Pixel XL, for its own virtues. That said, the not being able to call is more than annoying, it would be a deal breaker for me.

 

[anon(9227267)]

Well, I did tell them to send me a new sim this weekend and they said they would order it, but when I checked today, there was none ordered so I ordered it again. I have my old one from the nexus that I put in today to see if it helped and it did the same thing. I'm thinking this is a back end issue with their engineering and only they can fix it and I can't get them to get back with me. Fi was working great along with my nexus until thursday when the pixel arrived. Now, most everything is a mess and all I did was put in a new sim and start up a new phone. Wow, if I knew then what I know now.....

Ain't this the truth - went from a Droid Turbo to a Z Force Droid to a Pixel - "if I knew then what I know now"...