Now I'm in trouble

[alodar101]

My Pixel 2xl arrived yesterday. On my desk I have the iPhone 8+, the Note 8, and Just Black 2xl. The very first thing that came out of my mouth when I unboxed was, " I should have waited on the Panda". Anyway...

I like phones. You can see my lineup. Last years line up was similar, and the same the year before, except there was a windows phone in there too. I play with each for a couple of weeks then decide on a driver. I don't drink or smoke, no bad habits, my kids are grown, retirement account doing well...so I indulge in phones of all things.

The iPhone 8+ is good...everything works, but I was expecting more from the 7+ update. So, more of a disappointment that anything wrong.
The Note 8. Now there's a device. Handy, feels good, looks good, and anything or everything you want to do, you can do on a Note. My ONLY displeasure was, too many features. The features sometimes required both a Samsung and a Google login. 2 clouds, 2 storage areas...over all, too much. But its really hard to put this thing down.

Then the Pixel came. With all the advanced reading about the displays and color saturation and burn in, and class action lawsuits, I almost click the cancel button. But I didn't. So I opened the box...

Smaller than a Note or iPhone, but not by much. Not as pretty as a Note or iPhone, but not by much. Turned it on, setup was simple...not like the Note. Only real problem I had was trying to remember how to get my outlook.com contacts visible in contacts on the phone...But I remembered eventually. But the very first thing I noticed when I turned the device on was...the blue tint. Yes, it was there. Like the pics displayed in this forum, mine is on the lighter side. I displayed similar screens on my pixel and the Note, looked at them side by side. Both had the tint. Never bothered me on the Note..not gonna here either. I've often read about the Note being stupid fast. Well, so is the pixel. Stupid fast. Every time I came to a scenario where the a colorful page was displayed I looked for the washed out colors lots of people wrote about. Sorry....didn't see it. No....don't tell me. If I don't see it, I don't want to look for it. Of course, I'm older. Its probably all due to my eyesight in comparison to you younger folks. But..I do not see an issue on my device. Lucky...hope so. I've always thought the display issues were simply squeaky wheels. We all realize a % of everything is not up to expectations.

Anyway...I'm up to 20 hours on the phone now. Other than the outlook.com contacts, the only issue I have, is user based. Still trying to customize notifications so that every single event that occurs on the phone is not immortalized with a sound. I accidentally changed OK Google to Hey Google. Thought I was brilliant until I saw a commercial on the Pixel, and they use OK Google and Hey Google in the commercial.

Bluetooth sync'd quickly and restored automatically when I went for my walk this morning. I assume my Android Auto will be as problematic in my car as it was with the Note.

The problem I see, for me, the phone is a touch smaller, a touch lighter and a touch less glamorous than the Note 8 and iPhone 8+. But the phone feels like it belongs to me. Absolute good feel in the hand.

So I'll give it 2 weeks then decide on the driver. I'll read the forum posts here and other places and laugh at some of the issues, especially the imaginary ones. 2 weeks ago I wrote it will be hard to put down the Note 8 for any device. Then I picked this thing up. Its gonna be hard to put this down.

 

[jsarino]

In the Just Black color, you can think of it as the most business-like of the phones you have so far. I'm torn myself, I could get the Just Black now, or try to order a panda, whenever that's in stock again. But, I don't know if I can keep waiting until that happens. Incidentally, my wife has a Note 8. I like the hardware, and the S-pen. But, I still can't warm to TouchWiz...feels cluttered when I navigate through her phone.

I'd be interested to see what you go with as a DD!

 

[alodar101]

I'm a long time windows phone users at heart. Moving to Android or iPhone has been traumatic. But after some time, its all good now. I've never trusted google. They have always felt sneaky to me. So I always took the opportunity to look down on android. When I tried this latest wave of phones...who knows, maybe its just that I'm out of the sphere of MS influence, who knows. But the Android looks ok to me now. But...I like Cortana's voice better. I tried the Microsoft launcher. I liked that...on the Note 8...it worked well. So touch wiz wasn't as impactful for me. The thing with the Note was the overlap of Android/Samsung apps...I just didn't want to do that.

Someone on this forum this write though....What that translate into is features. Strictly Android means a lot of the cutie features you're used to, aren't there. They are there on the Note 8...so I'm seeing it side by side. Thats basically the decision that I will make...

 

[PowrDroid]

I don't drink or smoke, no bad habits, my kids are grown, retirement account doing well...so I indulge in phones of all things.

I like it. Ha ha. I think I'm headed for the same pasture.

But the very first thing I noticed when I turned the device on was...the blue tint. Yes, it was there. Like the pics displayed in this forum, mine is on the lighter side. I displayed similar screens on my pixel and the Note, looked at them side by side. Both had the tint. Never bothered me on the Note..not gonna here either. I've often read about the Note being stupid fast. Well, so is the pixel. Stupid fast. Every time I came to a scenario where the a colorful page was displayed I looked for the washed out colors lots of people wrote about. Sorry....didn't see it. No....don't tell me. If I don't see it, I don't want to look for it. Of course, I'm older. Its probably all due to my eyesight in comparison to you younger folks. But..I do not see an issue on my device. Lucky...hope so. I've always thought the display issues were simply squeaky wheels. We all realize a % of everything is not up to expectations.

I've now seen several Pixel 2 XL's in the stores. Yes, they have the blue tint. Yes, it is disappointing. But the colors on the display itself are really nice. I don't see the washed-out colors either. Must be my old eyes as well.

So I'll give it 2 weeks then decide on the driver. I'll read the forum posts here and other places and laugh at some of the issues, especially the imaginary ones. 2 weeks ago I wrote it will be hard to put down the Note 8 for any device. Then I picked this thing up. Its gonna be hard to put this down.

I am in the camp of either Note 8 or Pixel 2 XL. I like the idea of having lots of goodies to play with on the Note 8, but the idea of duplicate clouds, duplicate accounts, etc. is off-putting. Learning a different take on the OS, waiting for the dreaded Samsung lag to set in later, I don't know about that. Reboot your phone once a week. Clear the cache partition, etc. No thanks. Still, lots of stuff to play with. An S-pen!

But the Pixel 2 XL--everything works, it's super smooth, and having Moto phones I'm accustomed to bare bones Android.

Super interested in your experience with these phones. I'll be watching your posts with great interest. Keep posting your impressions of these phones.

 

[mj0528]

You know you can disable those other clouds. I have and I basically have what I want for Samsung and Google which they both have pros and cons so where one falls sorry, the other doesn't.

 

[thunderup]

I've been using the 2 XL since launch day. Mine has a blue tint. Yes, it bothered me. I have no grain or screen burn-in. Just the blue tint. It bothered me enough that on Monday I called Verizon and asked to switch it out for a Note 8, which I received on Wednesday and have used for 2 full days while still having the XL. I actually just boxed one up and dropped it off at the UPS store to send back about an hour ago. Which one did I send back? The Note 8.

Now, here are my thoughts comparing the two. I realize other people's opinions and priorities will be different, and that's perfectly understandable. These are only my opinions.

If all I was purchasing a phone for was a beautiful screen, there's no question I would keep the Note. Screen looks gorgeous. That being said, it had a tint when I tilted the phone at the same angles my XL does, only it was a reddish/pinkish tint. Didn't matter what screen mode I used...adaptive, basic, etc. The tint was always there, and sometimes worse depending on the screen mode. Also, the phone felt awkwardly tall and skinny to me. Impossible to reach the top of the phone with one hand for me, and I'm 6'1" with decent sized hands. The Pixel feels much more comfortable to hold and use. I also liked that the Pixel is a lighter phone.

For me, the battery life of the Pixel was much better/more consistent. The Note battery wasn't bad, but it was noticeably worse than the Pixel over the 2 days I used it. The battery life on this 2 XL is incredible, and has been since day 1.

Pixel camera is better to me. Again, the Note camera is good and I have no scientific metrics to back this up, I just liked the Pixel photos better.

The speakers on the XL are much better. They give a much richer and fuller sound. I thought the Note actually got pretty loud...much better than the single speaker on last year's XL, but it sounds pretty tinny and of course it's very directional. But again, it's just a single, bottom-firing speaker compared to dual front-facing on the Pixel 2 XL.

Software. As was mentioned above, the Note is settings overload. So much to go through, especially with the Galaxy Apps, Play Store, etc. It's just more than I want to deal with. Are there some legitimately helpful add-ons? Sure, but the cohesiveness of the software on the Pixel is wonderful. Everything just works so well together. I felt the Note was just a hodgepodge of features and app stores thrown together. Now, the Note was fast and very smooth...for the most part. There was some weirdness in the UI, some of which might be intentional. The recent apps switcher, for example, really bugged me the way the apps seemed to "snap" to the bottom as you're scrolling through, unlike the very smooth scrolling experience of the app switcher on the Pixel. Little things like that which bothered me after using the Pixel.

tldr - For my needs and the way I use a phone, I chose camera, battery life, speakers, and cohesive software over a beautiful screen. The Note is a really nice phone and if the Pixel didn't exist that's probably what I'd be using, it just wasn't for me.

 

[Mike Dee]

I've been using the 2 XL since launch day. Mine has a blue tint. Yes, it bothered me. I have no grain or screen burn-in. Just the blue tint. It bothered me enough that on Monday I called Verizon and asked to switch it out for a Note 8, which I received on Wednesday and have used for 2 full days while still having the XL. I actually just boxed one up and dropped it off at the UPS store to send back about an hour ago. Which one did I send back? The Note 8.

Now, here are my thoughts comparing the two. I realize other people's opinions and priorities will be different, and that's perfectly understandable. These are only my opinions.

If all I was purchasing a phone for was a beautiful screen, there's no question I would keep the Note. Screen looks gorgeous. That being said, it had a tint when I tilted the phone at the same angles my XL does, only it was a reddish/pinkish tint. Didn't matter what screen mode I used...adaptive, basic, etc. The tint was always there, and sometimes worse depending on the screen mode. Also, the phone felt awkwardly tall and skinny to me. Impossible to reach the top of the phone with one hand for me, and I'm 6'1" with decent sized hands. The Pixel feels much more comfortable to hold and use. I also liked that the Pixel is a lighter phone.

For me, the battery life of the Pixel was much better/more consistent. The Note battery wasn't bad, but it was noticeably worse than the Pixel over the 2 days I used it. The battery life on this 2 XL is incredible, and has been since day 1.

Pixel camera is better to me. Again, the Note camera is good and I have no scientific metrics to back this up, I just liked the Pixel photos better.

The speakers on the XL are much better. They give a much richer and fuller sound. I thought the Note actually got pretty loud...much better than the single speaker on last year's XL, but it sounds pretty tinny and of course it's very directional. But again, it's just a single, bottom-firing speaker compared to dual front-facing on the Pixel 2 XL.

Software. As was mentioned above, the Note is settings overload. So much to go through, especially with the Galaxy Apps, Play Store, etc. It's just more than I want to deal with. Are there some legitimately helpful add-ons? Sure, but the cohesiveness of the software on the Pixel is wonderful. Everything just works so well together. I felt the Note was just a hodgepodge of features and app stores thrown together. Now, the Note was fast and very smooth...for the most part. There was some weirdness in the UI, some of which might be intentional. The recent apps switcher, for example, really bugged me the way the apps seemed to "snap" to the bottom as you're scrolling through, unlike the very smooth scrolling experience of the app switcher on the Pixel. Little things like that which bothered me after using the Pixel.

tldr - For my needs and the way I use a phone, I chose camera, battery life, speakers, and cohesive software over a beautiful screen. The Note is a really nice phone and if the Pixel didn't exist that's probably what I'd be using, it just wasn't for me.

Great comparison....spot on. Doesn't meant the Pixel is for everyone because indeed the Note 8 is a great phone. I too noticed a color shift on the Note but what really got me was how much more it shifted at the edges because of the edge design.

 

[thunderup]

Great comparison....spot on. Doesn't meant the Pixel is for everyone because indeed the Note 8 is a great phone. I too noticed a color shift on the Note but what really got me was how much more it shifted at the edges because of the edge design.

Thank you. Yes, the Note is a really nice phone and I can certainly understand why some would choose it over the Pixel, I just preferred the Pixel experience over the Note experience. It's great that as Android fans we have such wonderful phones to choose from.

 

[PowrDroid]

I've been using the 2 XL since launch day. Mine has a blue tint. Yes, it bothered me. I have no grain or screen burn-in. Just the blue tint. It bothered me enough that on Monday I called Verizon and asked to switch it out for a Note 8, which I received on Wednesday and have used for 2 full days while still having the XL. I actually just boxed one up and dropped it off at the UPS store to send back about an hour ago. Which one did I send back? The Note 8.

Now, here are my thoughts comparing the two. I realize other people's opinions and priorities will be different, and that's perfectly understandable. These are only my opinions.

For my needs and the way I use a phone, I chose camera, battery life, speakers, and cohesive software over a beautiful screen. The Note is a really nice phone and if the Pixel didn't exist that's probably what I'd be using, it just wasn't for me.

Thanks for the input. Much appreciated.

 

[strikeIII]

The Note 8 has been my daily. Just got the X today but iPhone will never be my daily driver. The Pixel 2 XL is a great device but there are so many things that the Note 8 has that better suits my needs. The portrait mode is definitely phenomenal on the Pixel 2XL but I don't use it that much. Oh and battery life is great on the Pixel 2XL.

 

[alodar101]

I will tell you, with every minute that goes by...the Pixel will be hard to put down. I think Thunderup said it very well. Opinions vary....and you have to do what is yours to do. I appreciate you opinion, but its my eyes, my hands, my ears. Also...I don't really have to turn things off and really highly customize something to get it to work. I prefer out of the box, close. I will most likely sell my iPhone and keep the note, because its on the payment plan for TMO. But...its probably the Pixel I'm keeping. Again, as Thunderup said, if I was to walk into the store and buy 1 of these 2 devices....it would be the pixel.

 

[Almeuit]

I've never trusted google. They have always felt sneaky to me.

Just curious on what? Things they do or their privacy policies?

 

[bxrider117]

I have the Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL and S8+. I had great battery life on the S8+. The screen is amazing. I neutral on the software. I don't love it and I don't hate it. I used substratum to make the S8+ setting all black.

I have had both pixels all week. I jumped from the Pixel to the 2xl to the Pixel and have decided on the 2xl. Coming from the S8+ the Pixel was just too small. Also the speakers sounded lower than the 2xl. I have the blue tint shift, but it's far from a bother.

I also love the fact that I can get the latest system updates and not have to wait. Battery life has been slightly better than the S8+. My first day using the XL all day I pulled over 6 hours of sot. I'm glad I did not fall for the hype and cancel this order.

 

[alodar101]

When Google first started and they were configuring the search engine, you started to see things you looked at on web sites show up in customized ads and stuff... Kind of how Amazon does it now. Everyone thought this was freaky as hell and probably invasive. So they did what was cool at the time and blamed Microsoft. Anyway... It's more of a left over feeling from when the Genie was let out of the bottle... I'm close to being over it now..

 

[Almeuit]

When Google first started and they were configuring the search engine, you started to see things you looked at on web sites show up in customized ads and stuff... Kind of how Amazon does it now. Everyone thought this was freaky as hell and probably invasive. So they did what was cool at the time and blamed Microsoft. Anyway... It's more of a left over feeling from when the Genie was let out of the bottle... I'm close to being over it now..

Ah okay. I suggest taking a look at Microsoft's privacy policy if you are bothered by Googles. You may be shocked . I will leave it at that haha.

 

[Aquila]

I'm a long time windows phone users at heart. Moving to Android or iPhone has been traumatic. But after some time, its all good now. I've never trusted google. They have always felt sneaky to me.

Google is FAR better, for both user privacy and user security, than Microsoft. Not a well known thing in the general public, but definitely true.

 

[Orion78]

I've been using the 2 XL since launch day. Mine has a blue tint. Yes, it bothered me. I have no grain or screen burn-in. Just the blue tint. It bothered me enough that on Monday I called Verizon and asked to switch it out for a Note 8, which I received on Wednesday and have used for 2 full days while still having the XL. I actually just boxed one up and dropped it off at the UPS store to send back about an hour ago. Which one did I send back? The Note 8.

Now, here are my thoughts comparing the two. I realize other people's opinions and priorities will be different, and that's perfectly understandable. These are only my opinions.

If all I was purchasing a phone for was a beautiful screen, there's no question I would keep the Note. Screen looks gorgeous. That being said, it had a tint when I tilted the phone at the same angles my XL does, only it was a reddish/pinkish tint. Didn't matter what screen mode I used...adaptive, basic, etc. The tint was always there, and sometimes worse depending on the screen mode. Also, the phone felt awkwardly tall and skinny to me. Impossible to reach the top of the phone with one hand for me, and I'm 6'1" with decent sized hands. The Pixel feels much more comfortable to hold and use. I also liked that the Pixel is a lighter phone.

For me, the battery life of the Pixel was much better/more consistent. The Note battery wasn't bad, but it was noticeably worse than the Pixel over the 2 days I used it. The battery life on this 2 XL is incredible, and has been since day 1.

Pixel camera is better to me. Again, the Note camera is good and I have no scientific metrics to back this up, I just liked the Pixel photos better.

The speakers on the XL are much better. They give a much richer and fuller sound. I thought the Note actually got pretty loud...much better than the single speaker on last year's XL, but it sounds pretty tinny and of course it's very directional. But again, it's just a single, bottom-firing speaker compared to dual front-facing on the Pixel 2 XL.

Software. As was mentioned above, the Note is settings overload. So much to go through, especially with the Galaxy Apps, Play Store, etc. It's just more than I want to deal with. Are there some legitimately helpful add-ons? Sure, but the cohesiveness of the software on the Pixel is wonderful. Everything just works so well together. I felt the Note was just a hodgepodge of features and app stores thrown together. Now, the Note was fast and very smooth...for the most part. There was some weirdness in the UI, some of which might be intentional. The recent apps switcher, for example, really bugged me the way the apps seemed to "snap" to the bottom as you're scrolling through, unlike the very smooth scrolling experience of the app switcher on the Pixel. Little things like that which bothered me after using the Pixel.

tldr - For my needs and the way I use a phone, I chose camera, battery life, speakers, and cohesive software over a beautiful screen. The Note is a really nice phone and if the Pixel didn't exist that's probably what I'd be using, it just wasn't for me.

Awesome right up here! You said the same thing on what I was thinking. Had the Pixel 2 XL not exist... Note 8 would have been my phone easily. The screen is so gorgeous and I'm a sucker for big beautiful screens. Infact I've been contemplating on buying the Note 8 since it dropped in price on T-Mobile. But that software is what just ruins it for me. The Pixel software is just too nice and fluid I just can't go to another phone. Maybe I can use the Note as a secondary phone lol.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Thank you. Yes, the Note is a really nice phone and I can certainly understand why some would choose it over the Pixel, I just preferred the Pixel experience over the Note experience. It's great that as Android fans we have such wonderful phones to choose from.

Kinda wish this was plastered all over.

We have our preferences, so let’s not fight over them.

 

[booboolala2000]

My Pixel 2xl arrived yesterday. On my desk I have the iPhone 8+, the Note 8, and Just Black 2xl. The very first thing that came out of my mouth when I unboxed was, " I should have waited on the Panda". Anyway...

I like phones. You can see my lineup. Last years line up was similar, and the same the year before, except there was a windows phone in there too. I play with each for a couple of weeks then decide on a driver. I don't drink or smoke, no bad habits, my kids are grown, retirement account doing well...so I indulge in phones of all things.

The iPhone 8+ is good...everything works, but I was expecting more from the 7+ update. So, more of a disappointment that anything wrong.
The Note 8. Now there's a device. Handy, feels good, looks good, and anything or everything you want to do, you can do on a Note. My ONLY displeasure was, too many features. The features sometimes required both a Samsung and a Google login. 2 clouds, 2 storage areas...over all, too much. But its really hard to put this thing down.

Then the Pixel came. With all the advanced reading about the displays and color saturation and burn in, and class action lawsuits, I almost click the cancel button. But I didn't. So I opened the box...

Smaller than a Note or iPhone, but not by much. Not as pretty as a Note or iPhone, but not by much. Turned it on, setup was simple...not like the Note. Only real problem I had was trying to remember how to get my outlook.com contacts visible in contacts on the phone...But I remembered eventually. But the very first thing I noticed when I turned the device on was...the blue tint. Yes, it was there. Like the pics displayed in this forum, mine is on the lighter side. I displayed similar screens on my pixel and the Note, looked at them side by side. Both had the tint. Never bothered me on the Note..not gonna here either. I've often read about the Note being stupid fast. Well, so is the pixel. Stupid fast. Every time I came to a scenario where the a colorful page was displayed I looked for the washed out colors lots of people wrote about. Sorry....didn't see it. No....don't tell me. If I don't see it, I don't want to look for it. Of course, I'm older. Its probably all due to my eyesight in comparison to you younger folks. But..I do not see an issue on my device. Lucky...hope so. I've always thought the display issues were simply squeaky wheels. We all realize a % of everything is not up to expectations.

Anyway...I'm up to 20 hours on the phone now. Other than the outlook.com contacts, the only issue I have, is user based. Still trying to customize notifications so that every single event that occurs on the phone is not immortalized with a sound. I accidentally changed OK Google to Hey Google. Thought I was brilliant until I saw a commercial on the Pixel, and they use OK Google and Hey Google in the commercial.

Bluetooth sync'd quickly and restored automatically when I went for my walk this morning. I assume my Android Auto will be as problematic in my car as it was with the Note.

The problem I see, for me, the phone is a touch smaller, a touch lighter and a touch less glamorous than the Note 8 and iPhone 8+. But the phone feels like it belongs to me. Absolute good feel in the hand.

So I'll give it 2 weeks then decide on the driver. I'll read the forum posts here and other places and laugh at some of the issues, especially the imaginary ones. 2 weeks ago I wrote it will be hard to put down the Note 8 for any device. Then I picked this thing up. Its gonna be hard to put this down.

Similar boat. But instead of the Samsung and Apple, I have the Essential Phone coming Monday, in white. Same screen in smaller frame. Maybe the way to go. Depends on the cameras.

 

[anon(10092459)]

Kinda wish this was plastered all over.

We have our preferences, so let’s not fight over them.

Indeed! "Be together. Not the same" still rings true. No need for a civil war with every new device announcement.