Google Pixel smartphone

[Corso Marche]

C5_Steve said:

I don't think the Tablet is very appealing, bezels are huge and it's just not very attractive.

I thought the rest of the presentation around the integration of AI was interesting, very exciting.

The tablet/dock is the one item I'm considering. Don't have smart devices in the house so this would/could/should be the smart hub for the house, and the tablet which is grabbed for couch surfing.

I saw a condensed snippet reel of the AI stuff - it does look interesting for sure.

[james_TW]

I'm seriously considering the 7a. If I buy it, trade my P30 Pro in and sell the earphones (I really don't like rubber inserts), the phone will cost me £150 odd...

[E90_M3Ross]

the-norseman said:

E90_M3Ross said:

I always got the impression buying a phone outright and going sim-only is rarely cheaper than getting a contract, or am I missing something?

When ever I have worked it out, its always cheaper.

I do, however, get 30% off my contract with EE, so I think that helps me

[james_TW]

E90_M3Ross said:

the-norseman said:

E90_M3Ross said:

I always got the impression buying a phone outright and going sim-only is rarely cheaper than getting a contract, or am I missing something?

When ever I have worked it out, its always cheaper.

I do, however, get 30% off my contract with EE, so I think that helps me

I've been with O2 for 15+ years and I don't get any benefits from that...

[Funk]

E90_M3Ross said:

the-norseman said:

E90_M3Ross said:

I always got the impression buying a phone outright and going sim-only is rarely cheaper than getting a contract, or am I missing something?

When ever I have worked it out, its always cheaper.

I do, however, get 30% off my contract with EE, so I think that helps me

Same here, it's the only thing that's kept me with them and on contract.

I'd been waiting for the Fold and the only way I'd do it would be as a contract upgrade when my 6 Pro comes up in October. Hopefully by then they'll have sorted out some of the fundamental flaws they always seem to include as standard with any Pixel device.

The tablet's an interesting one - I got a free Nest Hub on some John Lewis deal ages ago but never set it up as I can't really see where I'd use it as a device. However the tablet got my attention and isn't silly money as it'd do everything a Hub would do but with the convenience of a tablet and I'd been looking at some sort of tablet for controlling a media PC from the sofa - this would probably be ideal. I don't even mind a bezel, after all there has to be somewhere for your thumb to hold it and super-thin bezels make that a pain. Also a moderate bezel means they can put in a half-decent FFC without going the hole-punch route etc.

I don't know how much I'd use the Fold as a mini-tablet - ironically it might even really only be at home so perhaps the new tablet and a Pixel 8 Pro later in the year would be the way to go.

Pixel Tablet + 8 Pro would probably cost less than a Fold on its own and provide more of the functionality I'm looking for.

[g4ry13]

james_TW said:

I'm seriously considering the 7a. If I buy it, trade my P30 Pro in and sell the earphones (I really don't like rubber inserts), the phone will cost me £150 odd...

I didn't realise it was releasing so soon, the 6A didn't come out until July.

Had I known, I may have held off from getting an S23. Although i'm not sure how the 7A fares in size to the 6A which I thought was a bit on the large side (for me).

[somouk]

E90_M3Ross said:

I always got the impression buying a phone outright and going sim-only is rarely cheaper than getting a contract, or am I missing something?

Got to watch out for the mid-contract price rises with this as it is a percentage of the total cost of contract usually meaning that the hardware is included.

[james_TW]

I bought the 7a... My initial impression is positive, but I don't like the tight integration with Google photos, migration over seemed straightforward, but it seems to be in the process of duplicating every single photo while backing that up to my Google drive. Maybe overnight it'll settle.

It's smaller than the p30 pro, but, to be honest, that's fine - the camera seems ok, but I'll give that a proper go tomorrow - the build is very plasticky but I can let that slide too

I'll hang on to the p30 until I can migrate some of the authenticator things for work, but I'll be selling the Google buds because they're of no use to me at all. My Huawei freebuds work fine as does the watch - and after installing the parent apps they communicate happily

One of the real weird things though is that most of my chargers won't work with this phone. I don't know if it's the cables or the plugs (or any of my sockets) but I can't work it out - one (iPhone) usb c and one usb A & usb c plug works with usb c cables. The usb A to usb c cables will not work, very odd as they all work with my Huawei...

[Mammasaid]

You need a PD charger, Huawei ones aren't as I found out going from a P30 Pro to Pixel 6 Pro

Something like this works

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Charger-Delivery-C...

[james_TW]

Mammasaid said:

You need a PD charger, Huawei ones aren't as I found out going from a P30 Pro to Pixel 6 Pro

Something like this works

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Charger-Delivery-C...

Thanks. My daughter's one is actually that very same one which I've appropriated (she's not here anyway) - it looks like most of my chargers won't work. I bet my car one won't either ...

[HTP99]

james_TW said:

One of the real weird things though is that most of my chargers won't work with this phone. I don't know if it's the cables or the plugs (or any of my sockets) but I can't work it out - one (iPhone) usb c and one usb A & usb c plug works with usb c cables. The usb A to usb c cables will not work, very odd as they all work with my Huawei...

I went from a P30 Pro to a P6 Pro, I had an unused cable in the P30 Pro box, it wouldn't work at all with the P6 Pro, did a bit of research and yep, it was some odd thing with the make up of the cable where it would only work with certain phones, the supplied P30 Pro plug worked fine with a different cable though.

That's what gets on my tits with the "environmental" reasons for many phones now not coming with both charge plugs and cables, it seems many either just don't work with other manufacturers or if they do work they just aren't optimised for a different brand, meaning you have to either compromise or buy a new set anyway!

[Glade]

I hope they do a pixel flip next year... I have zero reason to replace my pixel 6.... But I would probably go for that.

[Corso Marche]

james_TW said:

One of the real weird things though is that most of my chargers won't work with this phone. I don't know if it's the cables or the plugs (or any of my sockets) but I can't work it out - one (iPhone) usb c and one usb A & usb c plug works with usb c cables. The usb A to usb c cables will not work, very odd as they all work with my Huawei...

As mentioned above Pixels only work with cables which have been certified PD. If it's not a certified PD cable then you'll encounter issues or it just won't work at all.
Modern phones have the smarts to test the cable before attempting a charge. If it's not up to spec the phone won't draw current, or sometimes might do so at a much lower rate, depending on the spec of the cable/charger.

(PD = USB-C Power Delivery)

Edited by Corso Marche on Friday 12th May 04:56

[legless]

the-norseman said:

E90_M3Ross said:

I always got the impression buying a phone outright and going sim-only is rarely cheaper than getting a contract, or am I missing something?

When ever I have worked it out, its always cheaper.

When I bought my 6 Pro 256GB at launch, most of the contract deals were £40/month over 3 years - £1,440.

SIM free phone for £949 and a £8/month 20GB O2 contract through uSwitch made the other option £1,237 over the same period, saving a couple of hundred quid.

[e-honda]

If you are paying full price going to EE / Vodafone you'll pay more buying separately because they have relatively high base prices to make the phone included prices seem more attractive, but compared to three or any of the cheaper networks it's just as cheap or cheaper to bring your own device depending how good a deal you can get on it.
But then of course that is just paying full price to the big networks, you can always negotiate things down, they all know eachother prices and will generally price match so ultimately it is all pointless frustrating and stupid.

[E90_M3Ross]

legless said:

the-norseman said:

E90_M3Ross said:

I always got the impression buying a phone outright and going sim-only is rarely cheaper than getting a contract, or am I missing something?

When ever I have worked it out, its always cheaper.

When I bought my 6 Pro 256GB at launch, most of the contract deals were £40/month over 3 years - £1,440.

SIM free phone for £949 and a £8/month 20GB O2 contract through uSwitch made the other option £1,237 over the same period, saving a couple of hundred quid.

Mine was £42/month for 2 years for my 6 Pro, 25gb data. 256gb model. Admittedly it's just gone up to £48/month with 10 months remaining. That's £1068 or so for 2 years. If I went sim only I'd need to get it for under £5/month to just break even and not have a massive single bill to start with.... Effectively getting a 0% "loan" over 2 years.

Edited by E90_M3Ross on Friday 12th May 17:46

[Funk]

Good to see the fingerprint sensor in the power button on the Fold - that means it's a proper ultrasonic one and I hope that will find its way onto the 8 and 8 Pro as well. Makes way more sense to have that in the power button than under the screen. In fact the rear-mounted one that was in use in the Pixel 2 (and 3? I don't know, I didn't have one as I went to the 4) was absolutely perfect. It annoyed me that they ditched that although I suppose it would have to be quite high up on order for wireless charging to fit too.

[Gren]

Funk said:

Good to see the fingerprint sensor in the power button on the Fold - that means it's a proper ultrasonic one and I hope that will find its way onto the 8 and 8 Pro as well. Makes way more sense to have that in the power button than under the screen. In fact the rear-mounted one that was in use in the Pixel 2 (and 3? I don't know, I didn't have one as I went to the 4) was absolutely perfect. It annoyed me that they ditched that although I suppose it would have to be quite high up on order for wireless charging to fit too.

It came back for the 5 along with wireless charging. Works a dream and much better than the power button one in my work Samsung phone

[8bit]

On a work trip this week, have a 22 plate 4 series hire car with Android Auto over Bluetooth. After a few miles I noticed my Pixel 4a in my pocket was getting very hot. By the time I arrived in Stoke the battery was almost run flat. Is this 'normal' for wireless Android Auto?

[eccles]

8bit said:

On a work trip this week, have a 22 plate 4 series hire car with Android Auto over Bluetooth. After a few miles I noticed my Pixel 4a in my pocket was getting very hot. By the time I arrived in Stoke the battery was almost run flat. Is this 'normal' for wireless Android Auto?

Yes.

My last car had a wireless charging pad, and wireless AA, the pad couldn't quite keep up over a 5hr journey, with the battery dropping by about half.

Not charging the phone, wireless AA would eat the battery in a couple of hours.