Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

dogsnog.blog

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 482 posts

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#241

Post by laredo312 »

I've had a pixel 2 xl since release. Couple things I'm not seeing mentioned:

- My Pixel 2 xl speaker is awful when compared to an iPhone. Many users report the same: https://www.google.com/search?q=pixel+2+speaker+rattle

- My Pixel 2 xl proximity sensor will occasionally malfunction, causing the screen to go black when making a call. Also, well documented: https://www.google.com/search?q=pixel+2+proximity+sensor

The Google support callback feature is great, and getting an RMA was relatively easy -- however, my RMA unit was worse than my original -- the screen would periodically flicker off/on. Ended up keeping my original. Seems like the RMA is outsourced to some random company, can't even remember the name.

Coming from iPhone, I like Android better, and the Google Assistant is vastly superior to Siri, but the hardware is still second-rate.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#242

Post by CydeWeys »

e40 wrote: post #210
CydeWeys wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's this meme that Google has terrible customer support that is years out of date. When you have a problem with a Google product that you actually paid for (like one of their hardware devices), experiences are generally good. I had a replacement Nexus 5X shipped with no problem, for instance.

Google only gives support for paid things. I was a Nexus user for years and always got good service. I'm in Project Fi now and the service there is excellent. Just try getting support for a Gmail bug, if you're not paying Google money for your phone.

And to be fair ... why would one expect customer service on a free product? Free Gmail is possible because, as a software product, it scales effectively infinitely with no marginal cost beyond increased data center utilization. But customer service requires real humans, with marginal costs too high for a free service. Customer service only scales by adding more reps, which has linearly increasing costs.

I think a reasonable expectation is that if you want customer service, you should actually be a paying customer (one way or the other).

Whenever someone complains about bad customer service, my response from now on is going to be "And how much are you paying for the product?"

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#243

Post by ams6110 »

antihero wrote: post #89
ssijak wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience exactly. I always said bad things about iPhone. Hay it is closed, it has fewer options, worse hardware than top Android phones, etc.. It was the time during which I fiddled with the phone much, installed Ubuntu on Android phone, etc.. But then my last Nexus started to glitch like any other Android top phone after 1 year of use. I was so irritated by it that I said well I will try iPhone now. It was abou…

Also there's small stuff like: Photo map. I've traced back treasured photos that would have been lost in a sea of 44,000 photos by finding them on the map. Google Photos doesn't seem to have this. Notes also works really nicely for loads of stuff.

> lost in a sea of 44,000 photos

You're taking too many photos. Honestly ask yourself, how often do you go back and look at old photos? Maybe you do, but for me, I realized that I never do. So I stopped taking them.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#244

Post by untog »

matwood wrote: post #174
baldfat wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My anecdotal evidence has been the opposite. My daughter has always been an Apple user and she has had so many more issues with her phone. Either she never upgraded her phone due to storage limitations because she refused to uninstall certain apps. He screen twice has twice peeled off. The battery expanded and now it glitches every hour but she is stuck because there is NO HEAD PHONE JACK. So she keeps saying do I bu…

Siri is definitely Apples biggest weakness, but the headphone jack? The phone comes with a little adapter. If you're a person who has tons of nice headphones laying around, but a couple more adapters and call it a day. Is it a bit of inconvenience at first? Sure, but don't act like there is no way to plug in headphones or that it's the end of the world. And Duo? I'm a tech person and I can't keep all of the Google co…

You're right about the headphone jack for day-to-day use, but there are edge cases everywhere. I was at a birthday celebration a few weeks ago where someone wanted to play a song from their phone. But they couldn't, because they didn't have the adapter and neither did the DJ. I mean, these things happen. But it used to be the case that we had one, universal plug that would work with everything, and I miss that already.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#245

Post by [deleted] »

seanalltogether wrote: post #138
timrichard wrote: post #88

I develop on Macs, and really like using iOS devices. The iPad is my tablet of choice.... But I've always stuck with Android phones, since the G1 (and a lot of jokes at the time). I think it's because the app interoperability was designed in from the start, something that only appeared gradually in iOS. I find a lot of value in workflow companion apps. So when I get a text message, it gets archived to Gmail with a la…

Speaking of app interoperability, I can never go back to ios simply because I have an app called gentle alarm that plays a shuffled playlist from my music app to wake me up in the morning. After all these years, ios still doesn't give access to users music, and there's no way to set a playlist for built in alarms.

[deleted]

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#246

Post by onewhonknocks »

sowbug wrote: post #240
onewhonknocks wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But is it your contention that the experience of the current iOS on a 2014 device would be the same (or very close) as that of the current iOS on, say, an iPhone X? Because I'd push back on that.

Dude, back off. This isn't a speeds and feeds product review. Someone had one phone for a while and then bought another phone. This is a post about the experience.

It is my opinion that it is a highly flawed comparison. Am I not allowed to simply communicate that in the comments section? Also, I'm not sure why you feel like you're in a position to tell me how to conduct myself.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#247

Post by ivan_gammel »

eddieroger wrote: post #184
no1youknowz wrote: post #120

I know a lot of this is anecdotal... My Mom who is 77, has had a few Androids. Always calling her Sons to help fix her phone. She bought cheap phones for a couple of hundred dollars, but always limited the Ram, but had plenty of storage. WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook would constantly fill it up and many times you'd have to clear out all the apps, clear the storage on the phone, etc, etc. Then I would have to explain to h…

> My time is mission critical, I can't spend 1 hour debugging a phone and talking to someone who just wants to use a device as non-technical as possible as anything complicated with be forgotten. This is off topic and the stuff of downvotes, but you're not talking about "someone," you're talking about your mother. I value my time as much as the next developer, but I would hope to never be so busy that I can't take an…

You are certainly right, but I concur with the author - it's not the time for your mother, it's the valuable time stolen from you and your mother by a device, demanding the regular maintenance.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#248

Post by ekianjo »

YouKnowBetter wrote: post #136

My whole family (parents, sister & her kids, wife & our kids) have switched to iPhones (and macos devices) years ago. Result: 1. no "technical" issues anymore. As the go to IT guy in the family this alone is worth the supposed premium price one pays for the Apple logo. 2. Everything is updated, at all times. 3. "Facebook logs my sms" are a none issues 4. All devices die of old age (even the devices that have since lo…

> Result:

You forgot:

6. You now all live in Walled gardens.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#249

Post by Wildgoose »

antihero wrote: post #90
Wildgoose wrote: post #47

I have an iPhone SE because it has a headphone jack. But if the SE 2 doesn't have a headphone jack then this will be my last iPhone. My son wants to replace his iPhone, he's just waiting to see if the SE 2 has a headphone jack as well, or he will be switching to Android. Some of us like being able to charge our phone and use it to listen to music in our cars using the AUX input of our car stereos. Plus have a wider c…

Lack of Headphone jack is annoying as fuck, but if it's for in-car use buy a cheap £10 Bluetooth audio adapter. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-SoundSync-Bluetooth-handsfree... Anker do one now! For headphones you can use that adapter (fiddly) or a 3rd party dongle, or buy something like the ATH-M50x with BAL-M50 bluetooth adapter, which was my daily driver and I loved it (until they got nicked :( )

Just tried checking that out, but apparently it is "Currently Unavailable". Thanks for the recommendation though.

But in any event, it is just something else needing charging, and it isn't only in the car. The headphone jack costs pennies and is universal.

Scrapping it in order to encourage people to buy your Airpods is not simply not good enough - especially for those of us who simply can't wear in-ear buds.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#250

Post by ams6110 »

josefresco wrote: post #148
no1youknowz wrote: post #120

I know a lot of this is anecdotal... My Mom who is 77, has had a few Androids. Always calling her Sons to help fix her phone. She bought cheap phones for a couple of hundred dollars, but always limited the Ram, but had plenty of storage. WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook would constantly fill it up and many times you'd have to clear out all the apps, clear the storage on the phone, etc, etc. Then I would have to explain to h…

Sounds like you just needed to buy Mom an Android device with decent storage - and/or maybe a "flagship" device that isn't left hung out to dry. I too have family with shitty Androids. My Mom runs an iPhone 5 that is so far behind she's afraid to update it at this point (holding out for new iPhone) I also have family with flagship Android devices - completely different exp.

Indeed, unfair to compare a "cheap" Android phone with an iPhone. If you spent the same money on an Android phone, it would work better.

I have an Android phone (not a super cheap one, but a modest Moto G, substantially less expensive than an iPhone) and it's trouble-free.

Edit: also, don't get the phone from a carrier. It will be loaded with bloatware, a lot of which you can't remove.

Post reply on HN