New Google Pixel 2 does not let you save contacts to device

[nelamvr6]

This thread is giving me a headache. Good luck OP, I hope you somehow manage to find happiness, or whatever it is you're looking for.

 

[Aquila]

Wait, making it more difficult for stupid people to not sync their stuff and therefore lose all their stuff and then come running to the forums to make a 10 page manifesto about the evils of Android causing them to lose their lifetime of contacts, photos, etc. ... this is a bad thing? You've got a warped sense of good and bad in this case, my friend.

 

[9900Boldfan]

Wait, making it more difficult for stupid people to not sync their stuff and therefore lose all their stuff and then come running to the forums to make a 10 page manifesto about the evils of Android causing them to lose their lifetime of contacts, photos, etc. ... this is a bad thing? You've got a warped sense of good and bad in this case, my friend.

We really need self driving cars these days. We need to get rid of the steering wheel,brakes and gas pedal along with the manual transmissions in cars because these things make it more difficult for stupid people to drive cars. I could see all the Porsche,Ferrari,BMW and all other car fanatics in arms were all futures cars to be manufactured based off of stupid people lol. Wish when I was given tests back in the days at school that they gave tests based off of what stupid people would know.

If we see manufacturers settings standards off these people I could see quite a few people being happy. While I do not oppose the Gmail sync feature I do oppose it when it is not an option. It is like buying a car and not being offered an option to choose between manual and automatic. Average person may not care but car fanatics will care. The same with the removable memory card option.

I can picture down the road some manufacturers removing the option to allow people to install their own SIM cards and making people choose via internal built in eSIM. Those that travel often in Asia and Europe will no longer be able to use their own local SIM card when they arrive at their destination. Carriers may then lock sim option to that carrier only and force people to pay roaming charges or pay extra from options only available from internal eSIM.

In the past we lost the option to replace our batteries on our smartphones,then lost memory card option,some also lost audio 3.5mm port,now option to save to device and later option to switch SIM cards. Slowly but surely our options are being reduced but prices are climbing.

 

[Aquila]

We really need self driving cars these days. We need to get rid of the steering wheel,brakes and gas pedal along with the manual transmissions in cars because these things make it more difficult for stupid people to drive cars. I could see all the Porsche,Ferrari,BMW and all other car fanatics in arms were all futures cars to be manufactured based off of stupid people lol. Wish when I was given tests back in the days at school that they gave tests based off of what stupid people would know.

If we see manufacturers settings standards off these people I could see quite a few people being happy. While I do not oppose the Gmail sync feature I do oppose it when it is not an option. It is like buying a car and not being offered an option to choose between manual and automatic. Average person may not care but car fanatics will care. The same with the removable memory card option.

I can picture down the road some manufacturers removing the option to allow people to install their own SIM cards and making people choose via internal built in eSIM. Those that travel often in Asia and Europe will no longer be able to use their own local SIM card when they arrive at their destination. Carriers may then lock sim option to that carrier only and force people to pay roaming charges or pay extra from options only available from internal eSIM.

In the past we lost the option to replace our batteries on our smartphones,then lost memory card option,some also lost audio 3.5mm port,now option to save to device and later option to switch SIM cards. Slowly but surely our options are being reduced but prices are climbing.

lol

 

[mxmarcus]

This is so funny

 

[CarbonOak]

This thread is giving me a headache. Good luck OP, I hope you somehow manage to find happiness, or whatever it is you're looking for.

Seriously. Though I understand what the OP is saying, the way he's reasoning it is like the ability to save-to-device is as essential to our life as water and air.

To OP: I believe very few people feel as strongly about contact device saving as you, and you're probably the only one that dislikes it for that specific reason, but you do you, dude. Return the Pixel and get one that suits you.

 

[shamdawg]

As I and gabbott said, just disable the contact sync so your contacts don't get sent to Google's servers. Seems simple enough.

 

[e30ernest]

The ability to just save your contact data offline is pretty much gone the way of the Dodo, just like the headphone jack. I think it's just something we'll just have to accept.

 

[Almeuit]

The ability to just save your contact data offline is pretty much gone the way of the Dodo, just like the headphone jack. I think it's just something we'll just have to accept.

But you can save it offline. You can save your contacts from Google to a file to a drive or if it's already synced to your phone it's technically available for offline since it doesn't need to contact Google for what it already has on the phone.

 

[e30ernest]

But you can save it offline. You can save your contacts from Google to a file to a drive or if it's already synced to your phone it's technically available for offline since it doesn't need to contact Google for what it already has on the phone.

Oh I know that... I've even pointed that out a few posts ago on this thread. But what the OP wants is the ability to keep all contacts offline, something that just won't happen as soon as you add a Google account into the device since AFAIK, it auto syncs as soon as you log in.

 

[chanchan05]

We really need self driving cars these days. We need to get rid of the steering wheel,brakes and gas pedal along with the manual transmissions in cars because these things make it more difficult for stupid people to drive cars. I could see all the Porsche,Ferrari,BMW and all other car fanatics in arms were all futures cars to be manufactured based off of stupid people lol. Wish when I was given tests back in the days at school that they gave tests based off of what stupid people would know.

If we see manufacturers settings standards off these people I could see quite a few people being happy. While I do not oppose the Gmail sync feature I do oppose it when it is not an option. It is like buying a car and not being offered an option to choose between manual and automatic. Average person may not care but car fanatics will care. The same with the removable memory card option.

I can picture down the road some manufacturers removing the option to allow people to install their own SIM cards and making people choose via internal built in eSIM. Those that travel often in Asia and Europe will no longer be able to use their own local SIM card when they arrive at their destination. Carriers may then lock sim option to that carrier only and force people to pay roaming charges or pay extra from options only available from internal eSIM.

In the past we lost the option to replace our batteries on our smartphones,then lost memory card option,some also lost audio 3.5mm port,now option to save to device and later option to switch SIM cards. Slowly but surely our options are being reduced but prices are climbing.

Because it's a vote by the wallet, and those who do not care for removable batteries and headset jacks outnumber those who do by a wide margin based on sales numbers. If it sells, that's what manufacturers sell. Samsung experimented with the S6. Sales showed that people care less for the removable battery but cared a lot about the SD card. So the S7 came and posted record sales for Samsung. Water resistance and looking sleek while at it was apparently an acceptable trade off for the majority in losing the removable battery. If people complained as much about removable batteries as they did the SD card, Samsung may have brought it back.

The Pixel, much like the S6 for Samsung, is in experimental stages. Google is still trying to see what the public wants from it, and is still gauging reactions. Honestly, in years of android forum participation, you are the first one I've seen to complain about this. Mainly because anyone else who knows that they want Google off their data, they need to stay away from the Pixel. The fact that the Pixel is made and designed by Google is a give away that they will take your data with likely no option to prevent them from doing so. It's not an option because Google doesn't want it to be an option.

The argument that other manufacturers offer it is again false, because device saving in other manufacturers save to manufacturer cloud. And you cannot argue that it's not the same because it is exactly the same. Device saving to say, Samsung syncs to Samsung Cloud. Saving to Gmail syncs to Gmail contacts. Both have option to opt out. How is that different? The only difference is that Samsung says save to device instead of Save to Samsung Account, but in the end its exactly the same.

In the end here, the bottom line is you disagree with how Google designed the Pixel. Then vote with your wallet and buy something else.

 

[Guto Aaron]

Computer manufacturers could do the same thing down the road too. Laptop manufacturers could say we do not need so much storage on our computers and force us to save all our contacts and pictures on their servers as well. Down the road in the future all our info is on some cloud server. Again, fine for those that want and like this option but I do not think people should lose their right to save to their own computer, tablet or smartphone and be forced to save everything on their could server. My $.02..

Your vision of a dystopian future is already here, it's called a Chromebook, and many people love it.

Honestly though, if you are this mega-paranoid about keeping your data off the cloud, what on Earth are you doing buying a Google made phone? The whole Google ecosystem is built around putting your data in the cloud, that's the whole point of the company. If you don't want any of your data in the cloud, don't use Google.

You call other people idiots - yet you're the one who bought a Google phone and has a Google account and yet is concerned about the privacy issues of your contacts being saved in the cloud.

 

[dc52ltr]

Is it not possible to do what you want on an iPhone? If so, please try one, I'm sure it will suit your needs.

 

[chanchan05]

Is it not possible to do what you want on an iPhone? If so, please try one, I'm sure it will suit your needs.

The iPhone's device contacts sync to iCloud. Basically, it's exactly the same.

 

[osubeavs728]

Technology, it's spooky dude. Next thing you know a robot will be made a citizen and I'LL be the one making sandwiches for it, man. When will this progression stop before we're all enslaved by the robots....sign the petition.

 

[dc52ltr]

The iPhone's device contacts sync to iCloud. Basically, it's exactly the same.

Yes I know, was taking the pi**

 

[KWKSLVR]

Privacy? Dude, nothing on a smart phone is private.

 

[9900Boldfan]

It is not exactly the same. The contacts get saved to the device on the iPhone and iPad. Then via iCloud have the "OPTION" to "BACKUP" to iCloud. The contacts on the iPhone and iPad always save to the device. You also have the "OPTION" to "SYNC" and "BACKUP" to your computer which is ideally the place to Backup and Sync. Even on the MacBook they save to the computer and not the iCloud unless of course you wish to run on iCloud Backup and back everything up from your computer to the iCloud server which again is fine if that is what you wish to do but that option should be left for the end user to make.

 

[chanchan05]

It is not exactly the same. The contacts get saved to the device on the iPhone and iPad. Then via iCloud have the "OPTION" to "BACKUP" to iCloud. The contacts on the iPhone and iPad always save to the device. You also have the "OPTION" to "SYNC" and "BACKUP" to your computer which is ideally the place to Backup and Sync. Even on the MacBook they save the computer and not the iCloud unless of course you wish to run on iCloud Backup and back everything up from your computer to the iCloud server which again is fine if that is what you wish to do but that option should be left for the end user to make.

It's exactly the same. Because on Android you also have the option to turn off the cloud backup. The only difference is on iPhone, it's called device, and on Android, Google is referring to it as your Googe Account. It's just naming. But as long as the sync/backup is turned off, it's not going to cloud. It all has to do with how they handle contacts differently as to how the backup sync options are able to get at the data. On Android, due to how it is handled, the data repository has to be linked to the Google Account, or there will be no option to turn on an online backup sync should you decide to do it down the line. You'll have to migrate the entire database in the phone to another section of the phone. This was because the accounts are sandboxed from each other. Now, with the repository linked to a Google Account, just like on an iPhone, option to backup or not is possible with a switch flick.

 

[9900Boldfan]

It's exactly the same. Because on Android you also have the option to turn off the cloud backup. The only difference is on iPhone, it's called device, and on Android, Google is referring to it as your Googe Account. It's just naming. But as long as the sync/backup is turned off, it's not going to cloud. It all has to do with how they handle contacts differently as to how the backup sync options are able to get at the data. On Android, due to how it is handled, the data repository has to be linked to the Google Account, or there will be no option to turn on an online backup sync should you decide to do it down the line. You'll have to migrate the entire database in the phone to another section of the phone. This was because the accounts are sandboxed from each other. Now, with the repository linked to a Google Account, just like on an iPhone, option to backup or not is possible with a switch flick.

//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171117/26a361ded0325624df853ce9f41974d3.jpg

The default account when you first get the Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL is the device but once you log into any Google app the default account becomes the Google account where on the iPhone or iPad the default account is always the device with the option to backup or sync to iCloud after. The default account on the iPhone or iPad is not the iCloud where on the Pixel 2 it is the Google Gmail server. Image below

Now once you have logged into any Google app the default settings are automatically and immediately the Google Gmail account and once you hit the sync button they get synced/backed up to the Google Gmail account. After you enter you can then have the option to switch off but by then your info has already been backed up / synced to Google's Gmail server. You can turn off the sync but once you go to your Google Dashboard account you will find that all your contacts are already there. In the future any time there is an app update it automatically restores settings to default settings which is to sync to Google's Gmail server.

With Apple you have the option to turn on backup/sync before there is anything backed up where as with Google you have the option to turn off sync after you have hit the sync option. To get to those options in the image you just attached you must first hit the sync button in the previous page. Once you have hit the sync button it takes you to the page in the image you attached which allows you to switch off the sync. This is after and not before. On top of that each update restores default settings.