Google Pixel smartphone

[Glade]

Dave. said:

bmwmike said:

Glade said:

Glade said:

Edited to get rid of some advice...I reccomended a bluetooth widget app, but just found that it was constantly sending back loads of personal data... so i guess free is too good to be true!!

Edited by Glade on Sunday 7th April 20:50

Realised today that this app was taking loads of personal data, so i've deleted it, and removed the post above!

How did you discover that?

The duckduckgo app altered him.

Yeah this, there is an app tracking blocker in the duck duck go android app. I activated it and am quite amazed at how many apps that I haven't used are reporting back various statistics about me.

Can't decide if it's really sinister or if it's anonymised so I am not really being personally tracked. It is definitely weird.

E.g. why does my motorcycle Bluetooth headset need to report a bunch of info about me including location to Microsoft. Especially when I havn't been out on the bike for a couple of weeks - it's not to do with function during use of the app.

The downside is it takes the place of a VPN, but to be fair the tracking is probably worse than my ISP seeing that I am browsing pistonheads.

[bmwmike]

Thanks. Didn't realise DDG had that feature. It's a pity its not available, or is it, as a stand-alone I could add to my openvpn installation, so i can have android VPN to my home, then apply the anti-tracking stuff. That would be cool. Already have pihole and my own DNS running off the openvpn, but i'm not sure if that also does much in the way of the anti-tracking at the app level that DDG does.

Wonder if DDG can be installed headless and hook it off a proxy like squid.

[Dave.]

bmwmike said:

Thanks. Didn't realise DDG had that feature. It's a pity its not available, or is it, as a stand-alone I could add to my openvpn installation, so i can have android VPN to my home, then apply the anti-tracking stuff. That would be cool. Already have pihole and my own DNS running off the openvpn, but i'm not sure if that also does much in the way of the anti-tracking at the app level that DDG does.

Wonder if DDG can be installed headless and hook it off a proxy like squid.

Yeah it would be handy, I don't need another web browser on my phone, I already have Chrome (should probably stop using it), Firefox (for the auto trader add in), and Brave for YouTube (could probably switch to FF for that).

[Dave.]

DDG's app tracker blocker has its own DNS, so "bypasses" my pihole when I'm at home.

[NoComment]

Morning all,

Can anyone recommend me a decent screen protector for the Pixel 8, I've ordered and tried 3 now and none of them stick around the edge.

Very frustrating. Coming from a Pixel 6 and tried the same brand as I used for that but no joy.

Thanks No comment.

[d_a_n1979]

NoComment said:

Morning all,

Can anyone recommend me a decent screen protector for the Pixel 8, I've ordered and tried 3 now and none of them stick around the edge.

Very frustrating. Coming from a Pixel 6 and tried the same brand as I used for that but no joy.

Thanks No comment.

Whitestone Dome; exactly what I've got fitted to my P8P and my wifes P8

Zero issues; just watch the How To on YT and go from there

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DOME-GLASS-Whitestone-Pro...

[TotalControl]

Got an email from Google One for my subscription saying some changes will be made, the only one that may concern me is the VPN functionality. They said its going from One but will be on your phone instead.

Is that right or did I read it wrong?

[Gren]

If you have a Pixel 7 or above you will still have a Google VPN on your phone. Everyone else with a One subscription loses the VPN

[dxbtiger]

I dropped my P7 yesterday, screened broke despite having a case.

Have upgraded to a P8, did the transfer over yesterday, pleasantly surprised it was both smaller and lighter than the P7.

It is VERY slippery, waiting for Amazon to deliver a case and screen protector, holding it with both hands until they get here..

[HTP99]

I've broken the glass that covers the rear cameras on my P8Pro, not sure when I did it I just noticed one evening, I thought "this feels odd" as I was holding it with my finger resting on the obvious point of impact.

There is a 5mm area where the impact happened and a bit of cracking coming from it across the rest of the area, everything seems to work fine still, just a pain as it will likely get damp and debris in there over time, I'm insured through my bank with a £75 excess, it's just going to be a faff backing everything up and then having to set up either a new phone or repaired one plus I don't have a spare phone whilst it's away.

[the-norseman]

Noticed a bug with my P6, if its plugged into any charger thats not a superfast charger, the screen reaction slows right down, its very hard to scroll etc.

[heisthegaffer]

Just ordered a p7a for £15 a month, u/l everything plus 30gb EU roaming.

Ordered a P8 via EE after 18 years but they absolutely screwed up the renewal, quoting one price but changing their minds when I went to accept it I sent the P8 back and moving to a different provider.

I currently have a Sony Xperia 1 which I love but I don't believe Sony are supporting security for much longer which is very disappointing hence the change.

I'm hoping the 7a will be a worthy replacement and the camera be just as good as the Sony.

[Glade]

I am sure that on my pixel watch i used to be able to control the music on spotify from within the exercise, without having to switch out of the fitbit apps, and into the spotify app... i'm sure you just swiped right and the music controls were there...

Am i just imagining that?

[.Adam.]

Has anyone joined the Pixel Superfan thing?

[C5_Steve]

.Adam. said:

Has anyone joined the Pixel Superfan thing?

I did, so far nothing really has come of it.

[bazza white]

Does anyone have one of the EE £250 discount codes sent out they dont want to use.

Makes the 8 pro £549 which is top end of what id spend on a phone and my mi 11t pro battery has had it.

[randlemarcus]

There's a £150 bonus on your trade-in for pre-ordering the 8a if that helps?

[Gren]

.Adam. said:

Has anyone joined the Pixel Superfan thing?

Yep I did and got what looked like quite an offer last week. To put your hat in the ring to test out new kit before release. Trouble is you needed to make your way into central London to pick whatever it was up as it was too 'risky' to courier. I didn't bother in the end

All the other stuff has been around marketing emails and 'chances to meet the Google team' which all sounded a bit stalker/geeky to me

[Radec]

Gren said:

All the other stuff has been around marketing emails and 'chances to meet the Google team' which all sounded a bit stalker/geeky to me

I'd just be like this to wind them up.

[bmwmike]

I like the new circle to search thing. Might be new as in I've only just discovered it, aka old news.