editor
hiraethified
It's not going to offer as much protection as a big ugly slab of plastic but it's survived a few minor drops. Plus the Pixel is a pretty tough phone anyway.
Google Pixel phones - news, updates
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Chz
Stark Raving Sane
I've managed a major drop that clattered on the tarmac a few times. The edge of the phone itself was scratched on the corner (it dropped hard), but it was otherwise unscathed.
editor
hiraethified
Have to say I'm really, really impressed with the Pixel 9 range announced last night.
Seven years of updates, great cameras and some really interesting AI features.
www.tomsguide.com
Seven years of updates, great cameras and some really interesting AI features.
Google Pixel 9 Pro & 9 Pro XL hands-on review: Apple Intelligence is in trouble
These AI phones impress
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Prices have crept up a bit. 
I expect we'll see some great deals on the 8 soon. I think I'm going to wait a year(ish) for the 10 and then look to get a new 9 to replace my 6.
I expect we'll see some great deals on the 8 soon. I think I'm going to wait a year(ish) for the 10 and then look to get a new 9 to replace my 6.
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
Pixel 9 Pro Fold email had just landed in my inbox.
£1749 for the 128gb. £1869 for the 256gb, discounted at the moment to £1749.
Blimey! How much?
£1749 for the 128gb. £1869 for the 256gb, discounted at the moment to £1749.
Blimey! How much?
editor
hiraethified
But then you are getting 7 years of support and all the AI wizardry.Prices have crept up a bit.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I've never used a phone for 7 years and AI doesn't add value to me on smartphone. Let's see in a couple of years.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
Nobody who spunks nearly 2 grand on a phone is keeping it for 7 years. Most of them will replace it the second a more expensive one is released.
I got a stonking deal on my 8 via carphonewarehouse + enhanced cashback + topcashback. Took some pissing about with the tradein and in the end they paid it twice so I forgave them. Keep an eye on hotukdeals.
That being said I'm not super impressed, I had a 4 year old Oppo before that was holding up very well and was somehow more polished and less buggy than my new pixel which seems to get confused with the gestures (i.e pulling the running app selector up works 50/50 and going back often clashes with app's back gesture). The dialler is dreadful too and I often struggle to be able to hang up and it suggests ancient never used contacts over people I call daily, the camera often opens unfocused (although that seems to have been resolved as of late). It's also started flag a warning about having moisture/debris in the USB port too and were it not for the fact it was near free once all the deals stacked I'd have been pretty disappointed.
In short it's not quite the smooth native experience I was hoping for but then Google has gone to shit all around so no big surprise. Based on my experience with the 8 I certainly wouldn't be in a hurry to chuck the big money down for a 9 that's for sure.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
That's a shame. The main reasons I preferred "high" end phones was camera quality and screen quality. The screens on mid range phones are so much better then they were, heck even my 100 quid work phone has a basic OLED in it, but of course the best camera are kept the high end.
If you don't like the dialer, you could probably download an alternative? Never had the moisture issue with my Pixel, thank god, used to drive me up the wall with my Samsung.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
I have to say I'm not exactly bowled over by my Pixel 7a - I find the display on my 7 year ol MotoG4 plus easier to watch for videos and I've just discovered there's a Motorola out there with an earphone jack that will take an SD card up to 1TB..
OK it forced me to up my audio game with a Fiio headphone amp (huge improvement) but I would happily have put off that purchase and the ability to have my entire FLAC CD collection on my phone would have made that purchase more worthwhile ...
With only 128GB of storage it's annoying that the Pixel won't record video at less than HD ...
OK it forced me to up my audio game with a Fiio headphone amp (huge improvement) but I would happily have put off that purchase and the ability to have my entire FLAC CD collection on my phone would have made that purchase more worthwhile ...
With only 128GB of storage it's annoying that the Pixel won't record video at less than HD ...
editor
hiraethified
Well of course, everyone's needs are different.
The Pixel secured my loyalty thanks to its incredible cameras and the bloody amazing call screening which improves my mood every time it's called into action.
The new AI email/call summary is something I can see me using every day (I get huge amounts of emails and quite a few demand my attention).
That said, I have found myself being lured in by features that haven't proved as essential as I hoped in the past ( mainly with cameras), but my experience with my first Pixel phone has been overwhelming positive, so I'm in for an upgrade!
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
With one Android upgrade and two years of security patches (several months after the fact). Not the same market segment, really. I may not keep my phone 7 years, but I certainly keep it for more than three.
Moto phones are fine for their price (though even Xiaomi has a better update policy - I'd take them in a heartbeat over Motorola), but it's not the same thing at all. And that's before we look at the camera.
Agreed, came to the 7a from a 4 which was far superior in every way. Sound is very poor, no telephoto which I loved and update problems so bad only solution was to go on the Beta program. Massive disappointment.
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
Are the Ai features and Gemini two separate things?
I see there is a subscription fee for Gemini after the first year with these phones. £18 ish per month iirc.
I see there is a subscription fee for Gemini after the first year with these phones. £18 ish per month iirc.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
You get one year of gemini advanced. Fuck that.
editor
hiraethified
That's only for the advanced 'pro' Gemini AI which I have no use for. The regular AI stuff is free.
editor
hiraethified
That's not surprising seeing as you had the pro version with the 4, but the 7a was specifically sold as the budget, feature stripped version of the 7.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Have you tried a different keyboard? I always install SwiftKey on my devices. It's owned by Microsoft now, but I've used it so many years...
It could be worth trying a couple of different ones and seeing if it helps.
Stripped or not there's no excuse for its continuous failures to manage to update itself. Pixel 3a was excellent and rock solid with zero issues and I have it to this day as an emergency phone in the car.. Pixel 7 and 8 haven't got a great reputation either, suspect it all started to go wrong when Google went with their own 'Tensor' CPUs.
Small phone with telephoto and beautiful design made Pixel 4 great.
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
They're just Samsung CPUs with a bolt-on "AI" section. If it's a CPU issue, the Galaxy series would have it too. Though perhaps worth noting that the flagship Samsungs tend to still have Qualcomm in them.
That said, I've had exactly zero problems with my 7.
editor
hiraethified
Like I said, my experience with the Pixel Pro 7 has been nothing but positive, Did you try contacting Google? The one issue I had with my photo was swiftly resolved when they sent over a new replacement,
Bit late now as I've had it since release maybe. Worst issue is that however many factory resets I do it will not update since Android14 came out. Only workaround I've found since is to run the Android Beta Program which is Android 15 currently.
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I don't think there's enough of a leap in tech to make frequent upgrades worthwhile.
Mind you I seem so unlucky with my phones its rare I hold on to them for longer then 3 years.
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