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Comment by r12343a_19 | Hacker News Reader

The Pixel 6 is an overhyped disappointment. I replaced my old super-cheap Android One phone with a Pixel 6 and it's full of hardware / software bugs: GPS has problems, I see graphics artefacts (GPU problems?) and Google doesn't care.

I'm not surprised at all it has such a problem.

I should have bought an iPhone SE.

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I've been a happy pixel user for years after getting burned with some cheap Android phones, most notably One Plus.

The Pixel 6 is an unmitigated clusterfuck. GPS/Maps locking up is the worst. Either wont load or will lock up during a trip and you will miss a turn. Try rebooting a phone while you're alone on a motorway, then having to type in your route again - super dangerous.

I've had the camera (video) lock up mid scene. Focus locks up. Fingerprint recognition is a fail 25-50% of the time.

These have been known issues since release, I made the now incorrect assumption these were natural bugs that would be fixed over time.

Pixel 6 is the last phone from Google I will own. Not sure I want to jump to iOS yet but things are looking increasingly bleak in the Android garden

Oh, so there isn't a problem with my dirty fingers or something. The fingerprint reader indeed works like half the time.

Same got scammed by all the reviews saying best Pixel yet and a good price for flagship. Terrible software issues, I was unable to make calls without 10s of a high pitch beep interrupting within the first 5s, I'm glad I don't rely on my phone for work calls but some people do. I had to enroll in to the Beta early release to resolve it. Bluetooth dropping for seconds in the car. Random extreme battery drain even now. Fingerprint works about 50% of the time which is a pain because I have an 8 digit pin enforced by MS Teams for work.

Never again

Around the time of the Pixel 3 Android seemed to have all the momentum and Apple seemed to be flailing around trying to find ways to sell even more expensive and gimmicky hardware to their existing users. Since then Android seems to have really stagnated and Apple has fixed most of the shortcomings of their OS and introduced some good models at lower price points. There are still some things I prefer about Android's UX and I strongly dislike how locked down iOS is but most people are probably better off buying an iPhone now.

Get the SE. Aside from battery life, it's great in every way. Picked up the 2020 version used for $150. This is after 11 years on Android.

You still, in 2022, can't use uBlock Origin on iOS. It is the only major platform which makes it impossible to use uBlock Origin.

edit: iOS only has static block lists a la Chrome Manifest v3, not dynamic ones like uBlock Origin uses.

There are TONS of ad-blockers, and a very sophisticated and comprehensive ad blocking API available on iOS. What’s stopping one single ad blocker from running on it?

any recommendation for an adblocker on ios that can block youtube ads?

I’m using Musi (which is designed to stream songs off youtube). Behind the scenes, it likely uses mechanisms akin to popular youtube downloaders, and is finicky where age-restricted videos are concerned.

But with it, I’ve yet to see a single ad and it can play audio from youtube in the background.

It can find and play playlists but has a poor story of following channels. You cannot navigate to a channel with it and binge on videos from it.

1Blocker or magic lasso seem to do the trick for me

"Vinegar - Tube Cleaner" blocks all YouTube ads in Safari.

It also replaces YouTube's video player with the native HTML5 player, so you can play videos in the background or watch them in picture-in-picture mode.

Vinegar can also be used together with Sponsorblock for a completely ad-free experience. It's a difference as night and day.

Thank you for this recommendation - I'm planning to switch platforms in a few weeks, and blocking YT ads was one of the big open questions I still had.

Wipr works most of the time for me.

These tons of ad blockers do a very poor job actually blocking ads in Safari, unfortunately. I run AdGuard and any time I’m out of my PiHole’s range it’s all a crapfest of ads.

I use 1blocker and virtually never see an ad..

Similar here. Have 1Blocker, Better, Purify, and the Firefox Focus Safari extension and between those I rarely see ads. Compared to Firefox with uBlock Origin on my Windows machines I’d say the experience is about 98-99% as good.

I’ve used 1Blocker without issue for a years. I use uBlock Origin on my desktop, but I can’t say I remember seeing ads on my mobile with 1Blocker.

nextdns works real well for me.

I am so disappointed to hear that. The Pixel 3 was the best phone ever made as far as I'm concerned, and the 5 is not too shabby. Now I'm worried I'll have to look for another non-Samsung phone line when this phone needs to be replaced.

There is a lot of complaints against the 6 in this post so maybe it sucks but I've been super pleased with mine after upgrading from the 3a. I am running GrapheneOS but that shouldn't shield me from hardware issues which I haven't noticed any. My wife just got a 6a and so far so good with it as well.

Anecdotal but ever since I started using the pixel line (a pixel 2 and now in pixel 4a) from the previous Nexus 5x it has just been a Smorgasburg of quality control issues. The pixel 4a GPS constantly has conflict issues with Bluetooth and loses signal, and recently the SIM card reader disconnects intermittently.

The only reason I haven't switched to iPhone is because the speech recognition on android is light years ahead of Siri. So frustrating....

Just from watching Google the past few years I'm starting to wonder if the company has completely de-prioritized hardware.

Oh, so that's why my Pixel 6 always thinks I'm 50 feet to the right of my current location.

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