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Comment by nepger21 | Hacker News Reader

Google really needs to improve the core offering of what a phone is supposed to provide instead of using half baked AI as a selling point.

I have been using Pixel 7 for almost the past 2 years. But the amount of basic core issues are crazy. Recently,since the July update, every place where the phone cannot catch network signal, it shutdowns. And with the update, somehow i feel it cannot catch network signal as strongly. That is such a crazy thing. Last year, my friend got locked out of all his valuable pictures with Android 14 upgrade on Pixel 6.

My experience of Google is so bad with hardware that it has finally pushed me towards buying an iPhone for the very first time in my life after having been exclusive with Android OS for over 10 years.

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I had the Pixel 6 Pro and everything was amazing... except for signal and battery. Which are two of the most important things in a phone.

The battery was quite bad from the very beginning, barely lasting a day of normal usage, but I thought "well, at least they seem to have taken lots of care to avoid battery aging - slower charging than other phones, intelligent charging speed, etc. - so it won't degrade much". Two years later it wasn't even making it to 6 PM, or 3-4 PM on heavy use days (such as trips). OTOH my previous phone (Huawei P30 Pro), with much faster charge and no "intelligent" anything, still has amazing battery after more than 5 years of use (now in my wife's hands).

That was my first and last Pixel. A pity because the software was amazing, but that's no use if you operate under constant battery anxiety and can't even use Google Maps and camera on a trip without spending hours charging at the hotel.

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My 2 year old Pixel 7 is working great, I've experienced none of these problems. That's frustrating.

The Pixel 7 fixed those two problems, but it's still pretty weak compared to phones in its price range.

I'm using a Pixel 4a, it does everything I need well. I upgraded from the Pixel 2 only when it started malfunctioning. I plan to buy a newer pixel when I can no longer use this one, but I'm concerned they're not being made to last through a few of Google's frequent release cycles. Seems to be a problem with most manufacturers. I just want something durable and stable

I've had a similar sentiments with Google hardware and nearly every device I've purchased, including several generations of phones and a Google Home Hub, had to be returned at least once. This has left me with a less-than-favorable impression of Google's hardware quality. Given that I don't see much need for premium phones these days (I don't play games on my phone and am unsure about the value of AI editing features), I'm inclined to wait and explore midrange alternatives as they become available. (and not going for iPhone myself...)

My Pixel 6 and Pixel 8 have worked remarkably badly as cellular devices. I may well not re-up. The last straw is the aggressive Doze mode. Notifications regularly come in very late, 30+ minutes or more.

Especially frustrating because they've tuned that to try to improve battery life, rather than fixing what causes poor performance (battery life) in the first place.

Yep, I've had to disable it. Not impressed.

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/328432356

Meanwhile, I'm getting pushed away from iOS when I can't customise basic things and the Phone app (you know, the main use of a phone) takes 30s to open, even after restores.

> the main use of a phone

While the phone app remains important for some, it’s no longer the primary means of communication for most folks, especially with the rise of messaging apps and social media.

that seems like a hardware failure or perhaps you have too many contacts in your phone book? For 'fun' I created 50k iCloud contacts and it broke my account / phone. I had to call apple support to delete them.

Imagine calling Google support...

As much as I want to agree with you, saying the main purpose of a smartphone is to make calls is like saying the main purpose of amazon is to sell books. Only in the beginning was it so

I don't even know where my phone icon is(don't even remember the last time I used it), but I just searched for phone tapped the phone app and it launched instantly. So it's probably something unique to your phone. I suggest you wander it into Apple and see if they can fix it.

As for customization, that's sort of Apple's main feature set: It will always work the same everywhere on every device.

>I can't customise basic things and the Phone app (you know, the main use of a phone) takes 30s to open

I can't even remember the last time I used the actual voice calling function on my phone. It's probably been a couple of years now.

Call your mother

I talk to her frequently, using FB Messenger (both text and voice, sometimes video).

I like how just in this thread you can see the way marketing leaves a permanent mark on its customers.

Your comment is one of few where people report unrelated problems with their Google Phone. Different versions, different problems, no problems, all kinds of things. Open talk.

You've however brought up an Apple device and the comments under your comment are all Apple customers telling you that you either don't use your device properly since using your phone as a phone is "no longer the primary means of communication" or that it might be your fault (perhaps you have too many contacts in your phone book).

So while problems with the Google device are something normal, problems with the Apple device seem to be something extraordinary.

Pixel 8 Pro has been fairly solid. Some occasional battery life issues at first and some flakiness in recognizing the charging cable but otherwise it's the best Pixel since.. Idk.. the 5 or before.

no need to go too crazy, the samsung galaxy is stable

Samsungs are amazing phones but there'd no GrapheneOS support.

Stock OS is always going to have these pesky problems. After switching to GrapheneOS, I had close to no problems

I'll also vote for this. It worked great for stock operation including things like Android Auto. I had to switch back due to a need for some BS Microsoft software for teams that needs to pass safety net which my work uses for paging.

Why iPhone? Why not another Android—not Google's one? For me, it looks like you wanted to switch to iOS and looked for an excuse to blame something else for your decision. You blamed Google, not Android. In this case the rational decision is to switch to another Android brand—not switch to iOS. So, you seem a bit dishonest here. Maybe even dishonest with your own self.

what would you improve about the core offering of a phone? for me i don't see a reason to upgrade because my current phone has everything i want

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