Frustrated w/ P6P: Do you think they will fix these problems?

[Lyphe 416]

I moved from a Samsung S20 to a P6P, and I WANT to love my Pixel. But there are a bunch of little things that just make me feel like I'm testing an unfinished phone. I'm mulling a move to iPhone or back to Galaxy.

Before I make any final decisions, maybe people with prior Pixel experience can let me know how Google typically handles bugs. I am aok with early bugs, but that is only if fixes are coming.

Bugs that frustrate me:

• Fingerprint sensor is noticeably slow.
• Adaptive brightness is buggy at night, often jumping up and down by 20%+ randomly.
• Sharing pictures via text often fails if I've edited the photo.
• Sharing a website image fails if I don't pause a few seconds between each 'ok' in the process.
• Acts buggy trying to end a call if the phone screen has timed out during the call.
• FPS feels like it struggles at times when scrolling.

Magnifying the issue is the fact that my gf has a iPhone 13 and simply never seems to have any issues. She was using my phone the other night and trying to figure out what was happening with adaptive brightness. It literally feels like I've got a discount phone by comparison.

Any thoughts from people with prior Pixel experience appreciated and cheers!

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Well the fingerprint won't get much faster, that's the hardware.

As for the rest... Flip a coin. Heads they'll fix it, tails they won't.

Sorry there isn't a better answer, but it's just how Google are.

 

[TraderGary]

I've had my Pixel 6 Pro since release.

My FPS is reliable, and I never have to resort to using my PIN. I have no problem with an optical sensor being a fraction of a second slower.

My connectivity has been excellent. I turn auto brightness OFF on any phone I've ever had as I don't like it. I've not had any other problems. I absolutely love my Pixel 6 Pro camera. I honestly don't have anything to complain about.

 

[TraderGary]

The problem you might be having when editing an image is an Internet speed problem. The image is stored in the cloud. You download it, edit it, and then send the edited image back to the cloud and then from there it is sent. That takes some time and if your tower connectivity happens to be slow it adds even more time. Website images can be quite large and you are dependent on the speed of the website server when downloading the image before sending it. I don't think these issues would be pixel bugs.

 

[B. Diddy]

For the adaptive brightness issue, a couple of basic things -- is the glass overlying the light sensor completely clean? And do you have a screen protector or case that might be partly obscuring it?

Is the "Increase touch sensitivity" toggle on or off? I've seen it mentioned that turning it on might help, but then again, some tech writers have said it doesn't. Again, if you have a screen protector, there's always a possibility that might be interfering, so it might be worth removing it and testing (I don't have a screen protector, and only occasionally notice some delay with the FPS).

When you share a photo via Messages, is this a photo you edited with Google Photos, or with some other app? Is the photo saved locally to the phone, or is it in the cloud (i.e., in your Google Photos)?

How are you sharing the website image -- are you saving that image to local storage first, or are you long-pressing it from within the browser (or is it the Google Search app you're using)?

Can you describe the bugginess when trying to end the call? Is it that the screen won't come back on if you touch the screen? Does it come back on if you press the Power button?

For the scrolling smoothness issue, the Smooth Display toggle is turned on, right? If so, I wonder if this might also be a web connection issue. Have you tested to see if this happens on both wi-fi and mobile data?

It's always worth sending feedback to Google about any issue you encounter. Most people don't bother because they assume they'll be ignored, but I think it can help. There have certainly been times where I reported a bug and then a little while later found that it was fixed. Was it my report alone that prompted them to fix it? Of course not, but it probably contributed to the aggregate of reports that made them look at the issue.

 

[Scott337]

For the things that are issues, like adaptive brightness as an example.....yes I think Google will certainly try to fix it, if they know about it. Have you reported the issue to Google so they can add it to their Buganizer tracking system?

Like others have posted, I have no issues with my FPS. Several folks running Android 12L beta have reported a snappier FPS with that version, so it seems Google is trying to make it even better with the next OS update.

 

[Scott337]

My other advice would be: if you are this unhappy within the return period don't wait for updates to maybe make you like the phone better. That will probably never happen. Trade it, return it, sell it and get something else which will make you happy right out of the box. That's what I always tell family and friends. I was happy with my 6P right out of the box. But if I wasn't I would have returned it right away and moved on to something else, not waiting for software updates to change my mind.

 

[mustang7757]

My other advice would be: if you are this unhappy within the return period don't wait for updates to maybe make you like the phone better. That will probably never happen. Trade it, return it, sell it and get something else which will make you happy right out of the box. That's what I always tell family and friends. I was happy with my 6P right out of the box. But if I wasn't I would have returned it right away and moved on to something else, not waiting for software updates to change my mind.

Same here

 

[Lyphe 416]

Well, fingers crossed.
It's a great phone otherwise ... but pretty frustrating for somebody that uses those functions.

Cheers.

 

[bembol]

I get it no phone is perfect but when it's built by one of the biggest companies I expect more from them or you know...

Fix the problems.

Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, etc. All had their issues but they were fixed in a timely manner.

I don't get WTF Google is (not) doing.

It's easy to say why not just sell it but you have to remember the Pixel is not Apple or Samsung. I already posted my P6P on kijiji and shocking, not even a low ball offer. What's worse is I wasted my upgrade on this phone.

Here's my other issue, not sure if it's because I'm in Canada but why is it so difficult for me to contact Google customer service.

I wished these problems happened within 14 days, at least I could've returned it and saved my upgrade.

 

[Lyphe 416]

I'm in Canada too.
I haven't tried selling my P6P, but I've always had my best luck using eBay when selling phones.

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

I moved from a Samsung S20 to a P6P, and I WANT to love my Pixel. But there are a bunch of little things that just make me feel like I'm testing an unfinished phone. I'm mulling a move to iPhone or back to Galaxy.

Before I make any final decisions, maybe people with prior Pixel experience can let me know how Google typically handles bugs. I am aok with early bugs, but that is only if fixes are coming.

Bugs that frustrate me:

• Fingerprint sensor is noticeably slow.
• Adaptive brightness is buggy at night, often jumping up and down by 20%+ randomly.
• Sharing pictures via text often fails if I've edited the photo.
• Sharing a website image fails if I don't pause a few seconds between each 'ok' in the process.
• Acts buggy trying to end a call if the phone screen has timed out during the call.
• FPS feels like it struggles at times when scrolling.

Fingerprint sensor is noticeably slow.
I don't think the fingerprint scanner speed will improve. It's been over 4 months now since the phone's release and Google haven't made any substantial improvements to the speed or accuracy of the fingerprint scanner. I hope I'm wrong and they do come out with an update to improve it, but I doubt it.

Adaptive brightness is buggy at night, often jumping up and down by 20%+ randomly.
This was supposed to be fixed in an earlier patch, but it wasn't and mine, like yours, keeps going up and down repeatedly which is annoying. I'm not sure if Google think they've fixed it, per the December (?) patch, and they're not working on improving it any further. Again, I don't think this will be improved any further.

Sharing pictures via text often fails if I've edited the photo.
Haven't run into this problem. I was able to send photos through Google Messages, however I don't know if I had edited the photos.

Sharing a website image fails if I don't pause a few seconds between each 'ok' in the process.
Haven't run into this issue either, sorry.

Acts buggy trying to end a call if the phone screen has timed out during the call.
Have had that, but mine was related to the proximity sensor, where I'd pull the phone away from my face and the screen would sit there frozen and non-responsive. Couldn't hang up the phone and had to long press to force restart it. Happened to me a few times. No idea what caused it/if Google are able to fix it.

FPS feels like it struggles at times when scrolling.
I assume here you mean frames per second as in the refresh rate? I've noticed the refresh rate wavering between 60hz and 120hz. When it's 60 I notice it right away. If you mean scrolling is laggy, that could be due to the app (Twitter, Reddit, Facebook etc are notorious for laggy scrolling).

Magnifying the issue is the fact that my gf has a iPhone 13 and simply never seems to have any issues. She was using my phone the other night and trying to figure out what was happening with adaptive brightness. It literally feels like I've got a discount phone by comparison.

Any thoughts from people with prior Pixel experience appreciated and cheers!

Yeah, iPhone is just typically really stable/reliable. It's one of the things users love about them

I'm with you - the Pixel feels like a device still in beta and needed another few months to improve before it was released.

I get it no phone is perfect but when it's built by one of the biggest companies I expect more from them or you know...

Fix the problems.

Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, etc. All had their issues but they were fixed in a timely manner.

I don't get WTF Google is (not) doing.

It's easy to say why not just sell it but you have to remember the Pixel is not Apple or Samsung. I already posted my P6P on kijiji and shocking, not even a low ball offer. What's worse is I wasted my upgrade on this phone.

Here's my other issue, not sure if it's because I'm in Canada but why is it so difficult for me to contact Google customer service.

I wished these problems happened within 14 days, at least I could've returned it and saved my upgrade.

I think it was a combination of things that led to the Pixel 6/6 Pro to have such a large combination of issues:

- Moving to the Tensor processor (a Samsung processor) meant all new drivers, GPU, NPU, CPU configuration etc, was all new to Google who had previously only used Snapdragon chips.
- Inexperience using the Samsung radio instead of Snapdragon's probably is why the reception issues were so severe.
- Android 12 being a huge change for the platform meant that Android 12 would have had a lot of bugs in it already, then combined with all the hardware changes/inexperience, just led to so many issues.

That's my take on it. Could be 100% wrong, but that's what I would guess was the issue. And you're right, the resale/trade in value of the Pixel 6/6 Pro is so abysmal. Maybe the phone has got a reputation for being buggy and has turned off customers. Who knows.

 

[Lyphe 416]

The problem you might be having when editing an image is an Internet speed problem. The image is stored in the cloud. You download it, edit it, and then send the edited image back to the cloud and then from there it is sent. That takes some time and if your tower connectivity happens to be slow it adds even more time. Website images can be quite large and you are dependent on the speed of the website server when downloading the image before sending it. I don't think these issues would be pixel bugs.

Good point that I hadn't thought of.

That said, this might still be 'google specific', although I don't know enough to say for sure. I 'do' remember hearing that Google would be using the cloud for sending images etc., and it sounded like it was just going to be a google thing. If it is, not the best system in the world if the image doesn't appear in the text to be sent half the time.

I doubt it's my speed. I have gigabit service at home ( well 500 up and down, but pretty damn fast ). My ping is 1-2ms. I live downtown Toronto, and my phone is on 5G when not connected via my wifi.

Your explanation on this makes sense, but then feels like they still need to look at it since it works as broken if I click too quickly, which should never be an issue.

 

[Lyphe 416]

For the adaptive brightness issue, a couple of basic things -- is the glass overlying the light sensor completely clean? And do you have a screen protector or case that might be partly obscuring it?

Is the "Increase touch sensitivity" toggle on or off? I've seen it mentioned that turning it on might help, but then again, some tech writers have said it doesn't. Again, if you have a screen protector, there's always a possibility that might be interfering, so it might be worth removing it and testing (I don't have a screen protector, and only occasionally notice some delay with the FPS).

When you share a photo via Messages, is this a photo you edited with Google Photos, or with some other app? Is the photo saved locally to the phone, or is it in the cloud (i.e., in your Google Photos)?

How are you sharing the website image -- are you saving that image to local storage first, or are you long-pressing it from within the browser (or is it the Google Search app you're using)?

Can you describe the bugginess when trying to end the call? Is it that the screen won't come back on if you touch the screen? Does it come back on if you press the Power button?

For the scrolling smoothness issue, the Smooth Display toggle is turned on, right? If so, I wonder if this might also be a web connection issue. Have you tested to see if this happens on both wi-fi and mobile data?

It's always worth sending feedback to Google about any issue you encounter. Most people don't bother because they assume they'll be ignored, but I think it can help. There have certainly been times where I reported a bug and then a little while later found that it was fixed. Was it my report alone that prompted them to fix it? Of course not, but it probably contributed to the aggregate of reports that made them look at the issue.

• No screen protector.
• Phone is clean. I'm annoyingly ocd about a smudge-free screen.
• Increase touch sensitivity was off, but I'll try turning it on. Not sure how that would be related, but I will try - ty.
• For shared pictures, I use only google apps.
• No idea if images are local or cloud. I just snap or screenshot and then follow the share prompts. Half the time the image doesn't appear, and it seems directly related to how fast I follow the share prompts. I believe google uses the cloud for all shared images now per the other posters note and something I remember hearing recently.
• When I go to end a call, if my screen has timed out, I get my normal fingerprint on a black screen .. but fingerprint does not unlock it. This is most of the time and it stays like that until I hear the other person hang up. Only on speaker phone calls that go on for a while.
• Smooth display is turned on yes. The FPS thing has been very rare and not something I remember seeing recently, so this is less of an issue.
• Good call on feedback. I've sent it now for all items.

 

[TraderGary]

All I can say is that there must be a significant sample variation. I've had my Pixel 6 Pro since release. My FPS works reliably, and I never have to resort to using my PIN. Unlike Samsung, it works with a press and not a quick tap. My connectivity has been superb with no dropped calls. I'd be more than happy to meet with anyone in the Atlanta area and show them a Pixel 6 Pro that works like it should.

 

[B. Diddy]

For the photos issue, try clearing the app cache/data for Google Photos. (Don't worry, you won't lose any photos -- after you reopen the app, it might take a few seconds to resync everything with Google Photos in the cloud, but it'll still be there.)

 

[Lyphe 416]

For the photo issue - I stopped syncing photos to my google cloud account since I don't really need that, and now it works fine without any issue after a few tests. Hopefully that is the fix. Ty.

 

[TraderGary]

For the photo issue - I stopped syncing photos to my google cloud account since I don't really need that, and now it works fine without any issue after a few tests. Hopefully that is the fix. Ty.

Interesting. I don't use Google cloud to store my photos either. I subscribe to Microsoft 365 and have a Terabyte of Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage. Once I installed OneDrive on my phone, I had an option to automatically store and retrieve my P6Pro photos using OneDrive. Google storage may be too slow for you and me.

 

[walterkurtz]

Magnifying the issue is the fact that my gf has a iPhone 13 and simply never seems to have any issues. She was using my phone the other night and trying to figure out what was happening with adaptive brightness. It literally feels like I've got a discount phone by comparison.

Any thoughts from people with prior Pixel experience appreciated and cheers!

my GF also uses an iphone. i even tried the 13 pro for several weeks after giving up on the pixel 6. like you, i envy how she seems to use her iphone without issue. but she is often jealous of the features and customizability of my galaxy S21. i loved the feel of the 13 pro and tried desperately to stick with iOS. but in the end i decided i'd rather have a phone that worked for me than have to work for my phone. in other words: i want to do things my way, not apple's.

*also, size was a big factor for me. i much prefer 13P/S21 size to pixel 6.

 

[N4Newbie]

I'm in Canada too.
I haven't tried selling my P6P, but I've always had my best luck using eBay when selling phones.

Try Swappa instead. You'll probably get higher bids and will pay much (much!) lower fees.