It's definitely a big change in experience. You'll be fine with the back button being on the other side, though
Not like Moto Display ... you can just tap on it and the screen comes on for you to interact with it just like it's a normal lock screen notification.
I like the cohesive feel and extreme speed of the phone. The individual features are nice, but it's great to have a phone that works amazingly quickly all the time.
Battery life on the XL is good — finish the day with normal usage with 20-30% left in the tank. The standard Pixel obviously isn't as good in terms of battery life, I end the same kind of day with 10-20% left instead.
Not very wet. Use it in the rain if you need, but don't let it sit in any water, and don't take it in the sauna with you
The "shade" ... ? You mean the navigation bar with the nav buttons? You can't hide it unless you're using a full-screen app like a game or the camera; then the buttons disappear and you can make them come back with a swipe up from the bottom edge.
Tough to say because there's far more to performance than just the CPU. We don't have the "same" phone both with a 821 and 820 to set side-by-side and compare performance. Google's clearly done a LOT of performance tweaking in the software on the Pixels, and I think that'd stand out even if they weren't using an 821 to power the phones.
The glass gets scratched, for sure. I suppose that means that the lens would be susceptible as well ... though I don't think the Pixels are that much more at risk than the lens on any other smartphone camera.
Yup you can use them safely. The Pixels don't support Qualcomm's Quick Charge in any form, so you'll just get the bare USB charging speeds, but nothing bad will happen
The Pixels are notably more responsive than any other phone I've used, including the Nexus 5X.
Battery life = read reply above
Camera = still excellent
Waterproofing = wish it had it
Yup, it came back in stock on the Google Store today, actually.
It's only available for the Pixels because the Pixels are the only phones with Android 7.1 that includes the Daydream software and the certification to use Daydream. Other future phones that meet the Daydream cert and have 7.1 will be equally compatible with Daydream View and future Daydream headsets.
Seems to work just fine here. I'm not pulling up compass apps to get my exact heading ... but Maps and other apps that use location seem to know where I am just fine.
1. For the stock launcher and configuration, the wallpaper you set is the one you get on both the lock and home screen — google doesn't differentiate. (I personally appreciate this ... I never want a different image on the lock screen. To each their own, though!)
2. As far as I can tell, you can't do that in the stock Messenger / Contacts apps on the Pixels.
3. Home screen date and time as in the status bar time and the date/weather on the top-right of the home screen? Nope, you only options there are to switch between 12/24 hour clock (like all phones) in the status bar, and the choice to turn off weather in Google Now in order to turn off the weather view on the home screen. That doesn't save you any space, though, because that widget is not removable. You also can't remove the Google tab ... that's part of the launcher.
3a. Of course, you can just choose to use a different launcher and all of that goes away. That's why Android is so great
4. You can't.
5. You should be able to just download the Verizon voicemail app. In my experience the main dialer had visual voicemail baked into it, too, though.
6. Out of my wheelhouse. I don't really drive, and when I do, Bluetooth isn't involved
Huh?
Different phone and different experience. I think you can manage the change in back button ... you can only decide if you need waterproofing and wireless charging.
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