I'm done with Pixels!

[Super Spartan]

I've been buying Pixel phones since the Pixel 4 because I always wanted that clean Android experience with no bloatware.

I was always disappointed though that many of the features which make a Pixel, a Pixel, are exclusive to US customers.

Things I wished I would have and always had a belief that might come to other regions:

1- Hold for me
2- Spam detection, not the regular spam call detected notification through the caller ID, but the feature where a Google Assistant will pick up the call on your behalf to know who is calling and what is the call about then ask you if you want to take it
3- In the past, if I were to type a name of a venue that is not in my contact list, the Contacts app would pull the phone number from the Google Search results and display it for me to easily dial it, well, that feature is now gone
4- The promised free year of Gemini Advanced and Google VPN is only valid for US customers.

• The great Pixel camera is not so great anymore, edge detection is one of the worst especially when it comes to video.
• No Portrait video for the selfie cam.
• Limited to 1080P when using Portrait Video
• An OS full of bugs from the people who invented Android where other manufacturers don't have such issues
• Crappy Processor, the Tensor G4 is just another major fail, I was always trying to make believe that it's fine, and I don't need anything faster for my basic usage. But heck, installing apps and updates on a OnePlus 12 or 13 is night and day faster, even editing photos using the Google Photos app is at least thrice as fast on any entry level phone that has an older Snapdragon phone

I just sold my Pixel 9 Pro due to the crappy battery life (which wasn't so good to start off with) and the brightness keeps dimming despite me turning off adaptive brightness, I always struggled looking at the screen in daylight when I was doing my cardio after the Android 16 update.

The Pixel 10 doesn't bring anything substantial from the rumors.

With that said, I am done with Pixel phones, Google needs to really up their game now with the market full of flagship level Android devices from Chinese manufacturers that cost less.

I just bought a vivo X200 PRO and I am astonished with the speed of the device, it's on another level and the camera IMO is much better especially Portrait photos and videos, edge detection is superb on this phone

 

[YankInDaSouth]

I can certainly understand your frustrations. Congrats on the new device! Hope you enjoy it!

 

[mgbosshogg]

Yes.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

Gemini you're not missing anything. It can't even dial a goddamn name. You say call do and do, it says it either doesn't understand or gives you some random web result. Basic tasks fail too. It's useless and in typical fashion they first made assistant useless, then removed it and replaced it with this inferior abomination.

The cameras are overhyped. They are good point and shoot but are legacy specs at the hardware level and rely heavily on image processing rather than raw performance.

The overall hardware is underwhelming, especially the SOC and it is overpriced. Both are premium range phones but regular phone is and should be priced as a mid-range phone. The a-Series which I personally find more appealing and problem free should come down a bit in price as a entry-level phone.

Google treats it's Pixel owners as guinea pigs. Furthermore while some find it exciting, the constant major UI overhauls make it difficult to recommend.

My anti-Pixel (a former Nexus/Pixel fan) advocating aside, I'm glad you found an alternative and can move on from the frustration. No phone is perfect but it sounds like you are headed on a new and hopefully enjoyable journey.