Google Pixel smartphone

[Jordie Barretts sock]

Was offered a replacement (10 - 14 business days) or could try a factory reset.

Reset seems to have worked, but I still have to reset all my apps, discover the ones that didn't back up and reinstall, etc. Going to be a looooong couple of days.

[GlenMH]

Jordie Barretts sock said:

Reset seems to have worked, but I still have to reset all my apps, discover the ones that didn't back up and reinstall, etc. Going to be a looooong couple of days.

Yup - I have read about this too: reset sorts the problem for a while and then it returns and the cycle repeats itself.

Before I do the full reset, I am trying to back up my Whatsapp chats but some permission or other is preventing me do it...

[Gren]

Speed1283 said:

Any consensus on the 8 (rather than 8P)?

I have a P5 which generally I've been happy with, but it is a little disappointing that at less than 3 years old, the charging port seems to be dodgy now, and the phone is getting a little laggy/crashy from time to time.

With £75 of at the Google store, plus £170 trade in and £100 Amex cashback I could get an 8 for around £300.

I'm thinking the 8 as I don't want a massive phone, and I'm sure the step up from the 5 will be significant. Not against the pro but the price over the standard 8 seems high and it's a larger phone.

I swapped my 3 year old P5 for a P8pro but I'm assuming many of the benefits apply to both models

The camera is much better but mainly due to the zoom lens. I don't really use all the AI stuff
Battery life is much better, often getting through 2 days on a change. I can easily hammer it in a single day though. It also charges faster
Fingerprint scanner is worse. Not less accurate just slower. Having the face recognition to back it up though is slick
It's faster but not that noticeable in everyday use. Downloading app updates is one of the more noticeable areas

To be honest it's not night and day to the P8pro (apart from the size) so I'd expect the P8 to be just like an evolution of the P5. A bit better in every way but no huge leaps. For a £300 outlay its worth it. A new battery for a P5 would be close to £100 and mine was definitely needing one/

[the-norseman]

My Pixel backup/restore has worked perfectly on my Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 5 but when I did it on my 6 to do a full factory reset, both the phone backup and whatsapp completed 100% but when I started setting up the phone, the phone couldn't find the backup for the phone so I had to do a 100% new install and install everything from scratch which was annoying.

And it didn't solve my issue.

[Jordie Barretts sock]

For the moment everything is set back up. If the finger scanner starts playing up again, I don't think I'll bother. It's taken 24 hours though get me back to square one.

[GlenMH]

Jordie Barretts sock said:

For the moment everything is set back up. If the finger scanner starts playing up again, I don't think I'll bother. It's taken 24 hours though get me back to square one.

Yeah - that's what I am not looking forward to. I have got to wipe the phone before it goes in for repair so have to choose a day to lose getting it all set back up...

[stevoknevo]

Speed1283 said:

Any consensus on the 8 (rather than 8P)?

I have a P5 which generally I've been happy with, but it is a little disappointing that at less than 3 years old, the charging port seems to be dodgy now, and the phone is getting a little laggy/crashy from time to time.

With £75 of at the Google store, plus £170 trade in and £100 Amex cashback I could get an 8 for around £300.

I'm thinking the 8 as I don't want a massive phone, and I'm sure the step up from the 5 will be significant. Not against the pro but the price over the standard 8 seems high and it's a larger phone.

The charging port issue on the P5 will more than likely be very compressed pocket lint - turn it off and get in about the port with a paper clip/similar, you really need to go at it but eventually it'll start coming out, I've had to do it to a 2xl & 3 which became part of regular maintenance on a 4xl/5 but the 6 & 7 seem okay so far (lint gets in from your pocket and the charge cable compresses it over time as more gets in there until eventually you have difficulty or issues charging - just a side effect of USB C port design unfortunately as I've always kept mine port up in the passenger side pocket of my trousers and nothing ever goes in with it, it's the phone pocket! Yet still it happened)

[Speed1283]

Gren said:

I swapped my 3 year old P5 for a P8pro but I'm assuming many of the benefits apply to both models

The camera is much better but mainly due to the zoom lens. I don't really use all the AI stuff
Battery life is much better, often getting through 2 days on a change. I can easily hammer it in a single day though. It also charges faster
Fingerprint scanner is worse. Not less accurate just slower. Having the face recognition to back it up though is slick
It's faster but not that noticeable in everyday use. Downloading app updates is one of the more noticeable areas

To be honest it's not night and day to the P8pro (apart from the size) so I'd expect the P8 to be just like an evolution of the P5. A bit better in every way but no huge leaps. For a £300 outlay its worth it. A new battery for a P5 would be close to £100 and mine was definitely needing one/

Thanks

[Funk]

Out of nowhere and for no real reason I can see, At A Glance started showing my estimated commute time again this morning. I'd been trying to get that working for ages to no avail, then it just suddenly decides to do it.

I'd love to know what drives all these random things behind the scenes at Google, I really would.

[HTP99]

Funk said:

Out of nowhere and for no real reason I can see, At A Glance started showing my estimated commute time again this morning. I'd been trying to get that working for ages to no avail, then it just suddenly decides to do it.

I'd love to know what drives all these random things behind the scenes at Google, I really would.

LOL mine comes and goes, yesterday I was in the Traffic app as my commute home wasn't showing on my home screen as normal, it said something about setting home and work details to show me my commute time, like it was asking me to set it up for the first time, I didn't do anything and then this morning it's showing my commute time, really odd!

[Funk]

Not that anyone particularly cares but my 69 year old mother is absolutely delighted with her free Pixel Watch 2. She's gotten right into it, using it to track her walking, heart rate, doing the breathing and relaxation exercises, installing apps and using Google Assistant etc!

She keeps messaging me to tell me what new feature she's discovered. I've just got her used to using Google Pay - it's going to blow her mind being able to pay for things with her watch...

She said to me about 10 years ago, "Gav, don't let me get left behind with technology..." I've held her to that and when something new comes up she's not sure about I gently remind her and she's game enough to at least have a jolly good go with things. I'm proud of her for not fearing change and trying new tech.

[E90_M3Ross]

Funk said:

Not that anyone particularly cares but my 69 year old mother is absolutely delighted with her free Pixel Watch 2. She's gotten right into it, using it to track her walking, heart rate, doing the breathing and relaxation exercises, installing apps and using Google Assistant etc!

She keeps messaging me to tell me what new feature she's discovered. I've just got her used to using Google Pay - it's going to blow her mind being able to pay for things with her watch...

She said to me about 10 years ago, "Gav, don't let me get left behind with technology..." I've held her to that and when something new comes up she's not sure about I gently remind her and she's game enough to at least have a jolly good go with things. I'm proud of her for not fearing change and trying new tech.

[Mammasaid]

Funk said:

Not that anyone particularly cares but my 69 year old mother is absolutely delighted with her free Pixel Watch 2. She's gotten right into it, using it to track her walking, heart rate, doing the breathing and relaxation exercises, installing apps and using Google Assistant etc!

She keeps messaging me to tell me what new feature she's discovered. I've just got her used to using Google Pay - it's going to blow her mind being able to pay for things with her watch...

She said to me about 10 years ago, "Gav, don't let me get left behind with technology..." I've held her to that and when something new comes up she's not sure about I gently remind her and she's game enough to at least have a jolly good go with things. I'm proud of her for not fearing change and trying new tech.

Go Funky Mother!!

[dontfollowme]

That is great Funk. Good on her!

[stevoknevo]

Funk said:

Out of nowhere and for no real reason I can see, At A Glance started showing my estimated commute time again this morning. I'd been trying to get that working for ages to no avail, then it just suddenly decides to do it.

I'd love to know what drives all these random things behind the scenes at Google, I really would.

My at a glance weather has stopped working since updating to the January security patch the other day...had this previously on my 2xl & 3 where it would go AWOL for weeks at a time, would occasionally happen on the 5 for a few hours or a day but it's never done it on the 7 until now.

[mattstr675]

Recently upgraded to a Pixel 7 from an old Huawei P20 lite.

Generally pretty happy with it, apart from one thing. On the old Huawei, I had it linked to a Huawei smartwatch/ band. This allowed me to run the phone alarm to the watch as vibrate. This worked well as working shifts, it meant my other half wasn't woken when the alarm went off.

Now Huawei health is no longer available from the Google store, prob due to googles issues with Huawei, so the old watch isn't usable. No biggie, was old and could do with updating. Unfortunately, looking at the alarms screen on the pixel 7, it looks like I can only sync it to a Pixel watch! They sell for £300+ and reviews aren't favourable so thaple t won't be happening.

Long story to explain a simple issue, sorry! Anyone got any workaround for this, or can recommend a smart watch with a decent vibrating alarm for around about £100.

[E90_M3Ross]

I'd have thought any smart watch that can receive notifications from the watch can do that. I have a Garmin Forerunner 955 and that works with notifications and alarms etc.

[Mammasaid]

mattstr675 said:

Recently upgraded to a Pixel 7 from an old Huawei P20 lite.

Generally pretty happy with it, apart from one thing. On the old Huawei, I had it linked to a Huawei smartwatch/ band. This allowed me to run the phone alarm to the watch as vibrate. This worked well as working shifts, it meant my other half wasn't woken when the alarm went off.

Now Huawei health is no longer available from the Google store, prob due to googles issues with Huawei, so the old watch isn't usable. No biggie, was old and could do with updating. Unfortunately, looking at the alarms screen on the pixel 7, it looks like I can only sync it to a Pixel watch! They sell for £300+ and reviews aren't favourable so thaple t won't be happening.

Long story to explain a simple issue, sorry! Anyone got any workaround for this, or can recommend a smart watch with a decent vibrating alarm for around about £100.

You can download the app directly from here if you want to keep using your Huawei band- https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/mobileservices/heal...

I did this with my Pixel 6 and had no issues.

[mattstr675]

Thanks to mammasaid, downloaded from that link.

Will try the alarm and see how it goes.

[mattstr675]

mattstr675 said:

Thanks to mammasaid, downloaded from that link.

Will try the alarm and see how it goes.

No good, whatever I do I can't get the watch to pair with the phone. Guessing the watch maybe too old??