Android Thread v2

[Rocsteady]

I picked up a Pixel 6 Pro last week and it's a fantastic device, strong on every count: performance, battery life, screen quality, brightness, camera... it's an excellent phone.

To counter the borking point from above, a large part of why I switched away from Samsung (previous phone was an S20+) was that the latest software update utterly strawberry floated the device over and I had to spend a whole day pissing about trying to downgrade it again.

What happened to it? My s8+ is still running the latest software fine.

[Jenuall]

I picked up a Pixel 6 Pro last week and it's a fantastic device, strong on every count: performance, battery life, screen quality, brightness, camera... it's an excellent phone.

To counter the borking point from above, a large part of why I switched away from Samsung (previous phone was an S20+) was that the latest software update utterly strawberry floated the device over and I had to spend a whole day pissing about trying to downgrade it again.

What happened to it? My s8+ is still running the latest software fine.

Multiple things: The battery life tanked to the point where I was no longer even getting a day out of it which was a killer on its own. The performance became significantly worse, I had been using the phone a lot to play the PS5 remotely and before the update it was silky smooth 60FPS action with a crisp display, after the update it was a juddery mess - no idea if they borked the hardware video decoding or something but it was a horrible change! It started dropping bluetooth connections for no reason, I use the phone to listen to podcasts in my car when commuting and this became tiring very quickly! But the real nail in the coffin was that after the update it failed to hold a mobile data signal for any length of time despite being at full bars signal strength so I was constantly having to turn data on and off again in order for it to reconnect to the network.

Possibly I was just unlucky, but when looking for instructions on how to downgrade online there were a lot of similar complaints!

[Rocsteady]

I picked up a Pixel 6 Pro last week and it's a fantastic device, strong on every count: performance, battery life, screen quality, brightness, camera... it's an excellent phone.

To counter the borking point from above, a large part of why I switched away from Samsung (previous phone was an S20+) was that the latest software update utterly strawberry floated the device over and I had to spend a whole day pissing about trying to downgrade it again.

What happened to it? My s8+ is still running the latest software fine.

Multiple things: The battery life tanked to the point where I was no longer even getting a day out of it which was a killer on its own. The performance became significantly worse, I had been using the phone a lot to play the PS5 remotely and before the update it was silky smooth 60FPS action with a crisp display, after the update it was a juddery mess - no idea if they borked the hardware video decoding or something but it was a horrible change! It started dropping bluetooth connections for no reason, I use the phone to listen to podcasts in my car when commuting and this became tiring very quickly! But the real nail in the coffin was that after the update it failed to hold a mobile data signal for any length of time despite being at full bars signal strength so I was constantly having to turn data on and off again in order for it to reconnect to the network.

Possibly I was just unlucky, but when looking for instructions on how to downgrade online there were a lot of similar complaints!

That does sound a nightmare, maybe I've been lucky with mine.

[Hypes]

I've used Google phones since the Nexus 4 and not sure what borking is being referred to here. I've found them great. Currently on a 4a and loving it.

To follow this up, I've used Google phones since the Nexus 4 and each of them has been borked by a software update. The Nexus' both ended up in bootloops, and my Pixel 2's camera stopped working after an update.
Yet I've still picked up a Pixel 5 because I'm a sucker

[Tomous]

Just been to the phone shop. Wtf, the Ultra needs to chill out, it's strawberry floating huge. Couldn't hold it comfortably in two hands (/nocontext).

Think I'm gonna go 22+

[Carlos]

So I think my options are

Pixel 6 Pro, total contract cost £1,044 over 24 months

Samsung S22 Ultra, total contract cost £1,272 with 12 months Disney plus and Buds pro

Both 24 month contracts with o2 (I want that sweet free data roaming) and 30gb data


Extras for S22 are nice, I'd get use of both. Really torn. Or I can get a S22+ for £1,081.....which feels like it might be the middle ground. Not sure if Ultra would be too big and I doubt I'd use the S pen.

Even ignoring the S pen I think you’d be a fool to get any other phone than the S22 Ultra. It’s a beast of a device, has a great camera but crucially it won’t get borked by a software update further down the line which has happened to every other Google phone I have ever owned.

I had the S8 and the S10 and both were rock solid devices that took literally award winning photos, as in I won some photography competitions with the output of the S8.

These days I’m back with Apple, but only because I’m deeeeeep in that ecosystem. Samsung make by far the best Android devices.

Appreciate the reply, but could you expand more on the software borking point? And why Ultra is different?

I’m just going by personal experience. I am sure others might have something different to say.

I have had, from Google the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Pixel 1, Pixel 3, Pixel 4a.

Bar the Nexus 5 every single one of them ended up with a software update that added some sort of battery drain bug. I often looked around for others who had this same issue and whilst we were in a minority, we were not alone.

These bugs were never fixed by Google and the phones became borderline unusable (or at least somebody else’s problem once I sold them to Cex ) The Nexus 5 sadly developed another bug where the camera refused to autofocus on things.

These were all quality phones but they did put me off Google hardware for life. I have also had nearly every model of iPhone from the original to the 12 (I used to swap my phone every 6 months because I have problems) and never had any battery problems. The Galaxy S8 and S10 also never developed any issues.

[Knoyleo]

Google appear to have removed the ability to filter their news feed, the one you get when you drag the screen left from the home screen. You used to be able to select not to show items from certain news sources, or on certain subjects, but now there are only options to report content or "send feedback".

[Return_of_the_STAR]

I've had the pixel 5 for a year and half now. I've had no issues with either software or battery.

[Dual]

I'm in the market for a new family tablet. Uses will be: general sofa surfing, watching Netflix etc whilst doing the washing up, giving to the boy to distract, taking on road trips and planes.

I've got it down to:

Samsung S6 Lite (£299) or Lenovo P11 Plus (£279ish)

Performance seems similar. Lenovo has larger storage. Samsung comes with a pen and headphone jack. Lenovo is cheaper. Lenovo is stock Android.

In normal circumstances I would just go with Lenovo but I don't know if I can see past the missing headphone jack.

Help me grcade. Is there another tablet I should consider?

[Tomous]

Had my S22+ for a week or so now, and it is brilliant, camera is a lot better than my S10. So is the battery actually.

Very happy with it.

[Hypes]

Google appear to have removed the ability to filter their news feed, the one you get when you drag the screen left from the home screen. You used to be able to select not to show items from certain news sources, or on certain subjects, but now there are only options to report content or "send feedback".

Have you ever been able to do this? I think you could/can do it on Google News but not on "Discover". Which is ridiculous

[Dual]

I went for the S6 Lite

[Tomous]

Anyone having an issue with the Spotify app where the Now Playing bar doesn't appear on the bottom?

Seems to keep disappearing for me.

[more heat than light]

Anyone having an issue with the Spotify app where the Now Playing bar doesn't appear on the bottom?

Seems to keep disappearing for me.

I had exactly this issue yesterday. Bit weird.

Phone just updated to Android 12. Man alive it's ugly and unwieldy.

[Tomous]

Anyone having an issue with the Spotify app where the Now Playing bar doesn't appear on the bottom?

Seems to keep disappearing for me.

I had exactly this issue yesterday. Bit weird.

Phone just updated to Android 12. Man alive it's ugly and unwieldy.

I've just changed battery optimization to unrestricted and it reappeared.

Not sure if coincidence or not.

[Carlos]

I'm in the market for a new family tablet. Uses will be: general sofa surfing, watching Netflix etc whilst doing the washing up, giving to the boy to distract, taking on road trips and planes.

I've got it down to:

Samsung S6 Lite (£299) or Lenovo P11 Plus (£279ish)

Performance seems similar. Lenovo has larger storage. Samsung comes with a pen and headphone jack. Lenovo is cheaper. Lenovo is stock Android.

In normal circumstances I would just go with Lenovo but I don't know if I can see past the missing headphone jack.

Help me grcade. Is there another tablet I should consider?

Yes. Buy an iPad. The base model is £319. If you need a stylus don't bother with Apple's overpriced one. I got mine from Amazon for £20 and its brilliant.

A secret a lot of Android fans won't tell you is that an iPad stocked with Google apps is a much better tablet than any Android device. I have an iPad Pro for work and I use Google's apps for all my casual, non-work stuff.

The benefits of an iPad are Apple's better build quality, better performance and a whole raft of apps and games you cannot get on Android.

[Tomous]

Mods, can we get this lunatic out of the Android thread pls

[Rocsteady]

I love my ipad but for torrenting it's useless so it depends on your use cases.

[LewisD]

If anyone's interested, I'm going to be selling my Pixel 6.
First time I've ever sold a phone mid-contract, and I'm going back to my old Huawei.

Not that it's a great sales pitch, but after owning it for 7 months I've decided I really don't like it.
Camera is terrible compared to my old Huawei (if this is the best camera on a pixel to date, I feel bad for older pixel users!).
I dislike the size and the shape (I have a Mous case on it and it makes it huge to make up for the camera ledge). And without a case it's so slippery it doesn't stay still on any surface.

It doesn't bring anything to the table that my old phone didn't already excel at.

Just don't know what it's worth is my biggest problem.
Screen has a Mous protector on it, so is untouched. Have all the box etc still.

[Drumstick]

If anyone's interested, I'm going to be selling my Pixel 6.
First time I've ever sold a phone mid-contract, and I'm going back to my old Huawei.

Not that it's a great sales pitch, but after owning it for 7 months I've decided I really don't like it.
Camera is terrible compared to my old Huawei (if this is the best camera on a pixel to date, I feel bad for older pixel users!).
I dislike the size and the shape (I have a Mous case on it and it makes it huge to make up for the camera ledge). And without a case it's so slippery it doesn't stay still on any surface.

It doesn't bring anything to the table that my old phone didn't already excel at.

Just don't know what it's worth is my biggest problem.
Screen has a Mous protector on it, so is untouched. Have all the box etc still.

CeX may help you gauge an appropriate price to sell:

https://uk.webuy.com/search?stext=pixel%206