Et tu, Pixel?
October 24, 2018 9:06 PM Subscribe
Help me pick a new Android phone! Picky details inside.
My first-generation Pixel is on its deathbed. Rather than pay $150** to repair a phone that is nearly obsolete, I'd rather just get a new phone.
Criteria
1. Great camera
2. I can plug it in to my Linux laptop and export full-resolution photos
3. Does not require iTunes.
4. Can tether on AT&T without expensive extra cost
5. Works with Google Photos because that's where my shared photo albums are
6. Should last for at least three years, with a manufacturer that actively supports it with OS updates and security patches.
7. Not made by Google (see **)
I think (2), (3), and (4) rule out an iPhone. So, which are the best Android phones out there right now that are not Pixels? Budget: I'll pay for a top-end phone if I have to, but obviously I'd be delighted if there's a $400 phone that suits my needs.
** A well-known hardware defect with the Pixel-1 audio chip surfaced when I upgraded to Android 9. Now I can't reliably make or receive calls, headphones don't work, and video is recorded with screechy corrupted audio. The only authorized Google repair shop, UBreakIFix, says they can replace the motherboard at Google's expense, but first they require me to replace my screen ($150) because it has a small crack in the corner. They will not budge on this. I've tried to work with Google Support to find an alternative, but they are an insultingly useless waste of time. I feel burned by Google. I'm not buying another phone from them.
My first-generation Pixel is on its deathbed. Rather than pay $150** to repair a phone that is nearly obsolete, I'd rather just get a new phone.
Criteria
1. Great camera
2. I can plug it in to my Linux laptop and export full-resolution photos
3. Does not require iTunes.
4. Can tether on AT&T without expensive extra cost
5. Works with Google Photos because that's where my shared photo albums are
6. Should last for at least three years, with a manufacturer that actively supports it with OS updates and security patches.
7. Not made by Google (see **)
I think (2), (3), and (4) rule out an iPhone. So, which are the best Android phones out there right now that are not Pixels? Budget: I'll pay for a top-end phone if I have to, but obviously I'd be delighted if there's a $400 phone that suits my needs.
** A well-known hardware defect with the Pixel-1 audio chip surfaced when I upgraded to Android 9. Now I can't reliably make or receive calls, headphones don't work, and video is recorded with screechy corrupted audio. The only authorized Google repair shop, UBreakIFix, says they can replace the motherboard at Google's expense, but first they require me to replace my screen ($150) because it has a small crack in the corner. They will not budge on this. I've tried to work with Google Support to find an alternative, but they are an insultingly useless waste of time. I feel burned by Google. I'm not buying another phone from them.
Best answer: Google now offers Pixel phone repairs directly from Google.
I don't know if they're going to give you a different story from ubreakifix, but it's another option at least.
posted by GuyZero at 9:22 PM on October 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't know if they're going to give you a different story from ubreakifix, but it's another option at least.
posted by GuyZero at 9:22 PM on October 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm in a similar situation - my pixel also has the microphone and speaker issues. Watching this thread...
posted by eloeth-starr at 11:22 PM on October 24, 2018
posted by eloeth-starr at 11:22 PM on October 24, 2018
My first-generation Pixel developed a microphone and speaker problem. I took it to a UBreakIFix location and after they diagnosed the issue, they said that Google was aware of this category of problem and would replace the motherboard at no charge (!!), even though it was out of warranty.
I actually didn't take them up on it, because they would have had to hang onto it for a while while the motherboard shipped in, and it worked fine with a Bluetooth headset, so leaving it with them was more inconvenient than just putting up with it. So I don't know whether I really would have gotten it fixed for free.
EDIT: Oh, I see you typed this in tiny text at the bottom of your question. Sorry!
posted by value of information at 2:17 AM on October 25, 2018
I actually didn't take them up on it, because they would have had to hang onto it for a while while the motherboard shipped in, and it worked fine with a Bluetooth headset, so leaving it with them was more inconvenient than just putting up with it. So I don't know whether I really would have gotten it fixed for free.
EDIT: Oh, I see you typed this in tiny text at the bottom of your question. Sorry!
posted by value of information at 2:17 AM on October 25, 2018
Best answer: I have the OnePlus 6, and previously had the OnePlus 3, and they're lovely phones, and I second AugustWest. They run OxygenOS, which is very close to stock Android, with a few fairly unobtrusive tweaks; updates happen acceptably quickly. I'm very happy with the camera.
posted by pipeski at 3:03 AM on October 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by pipeski at 3:03 AM on October 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I have a P20 and the camera is extraordinary. It takes incredible photos with excellent colour accuracy, and a very simple and effective aperture setting with a finger slide to control DOF in standard camera mode. The camera also has a Pro mode that has manual focus, shutter speed and ISO settings and shoots in RAW!
Mine backs up automatically to my Google Photos.
(Both of these photos were taken with the P20 in a somewhat dark interior, no flash, and posted without editing or colour correction. I normally still do a tiny bit of editing to adjust saturation and contrast, but I was in a hurry!)
posted by DarlingBri at 4:02 AM on October 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Mine backs up automatically to my Google Photos.
(Both of these photos were taken with the P20 in a somewhat dark interior, no flash, and posted without editing or colour correction. I normally still do a tiny bit of editing to adjust saturation and contrast, but I was in a hurry!)
posted by DarlingBri at 4:02 AM on October 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/PickAnAndroidForMe/wiki/phones?fbclid=IwAR2w8ZqXe3k3EIk6iyYZP_pKTwufWb4g0sM8wrLAUWuQ85TIskYMKKlwowM
This guide is my favorite guide for android phones. It nicely lays out the pros and cons of each. Hope it helps.
posted by bbqturtle at 5:17 AM on October 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
This guide is my favorite guide for android phones. It nicely lays out the pros and cons of each. Hope it helps.
posted by bbqturtle at 5:17 AM on October 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
Best answer: RE: 2, 3, and 4: and in defense of iphones:
2: I respect your desire to export full-resolution photos through a cable, but you can also do this through non-itunes software very easily, including web based google photo and icloud. Google Photo works great on iPhone and I highly recommend it.
3: iPhones have not required itunes in 3-4 years now. I know I haven't had it. Everything (including full-phone backups) are now done through the cloud.
4: As far as I know, AT&T tethering policies are phone-agnostic. You could always check by throwing your sim in someone else's phone and see if the tethering will turn on. If you give more plan details we could check.
iPhones are a little pricey, but they have a great camera, great app ecosystem, the customization they have is a bit less than android, but when you customize on iPhone, it doesn't slow down / slowly eat the battery / become annoying. (IE, when I had android and installed custom software, it would always need tons of permissions, mess up notifications, some apps would continue to refresh / run in the background, keyboards would slow the whole UI, etc). Like I said, google photos work great. And, it's pretty well known - Apple supports their phones for the longest of any manufacturer, with all phones getting the OTA updates at the same time, with the same content.
A lot of my friends that had pixels just tried iphone 8 for the first time after their pixel fizzled. They were surprised with how nice the customization were in terms of impact to OS. (With some small frustrations, like you can't put apps on bottom rows of screens). None of them plan to go back to Pixels anytime soon.
There's a lot of fanboyism out there. I just recommend you try both sides of the aisle at least once. When I had android and I was frustrated by something (Like, I'd like it to play spotify when entering my vehicle's bluetooth automatically) I would end up installing an app or tweaking something, (Tasker to do it) that would slow down my whole phone, crash occasionally, etc. For my iphone, it just does it. But, if it doesn't do it, I just accept it. Taking away some of things that you could do in my case is nice, because I usually ended up worse than I started by trying to automate/tweak things.
posted by bbqturtle at 5:31 AM on October 25, 2018
2: I respect your desire to export full-resolution photos through a cable, but you can also do this through non-itunes software very easily, including web based google photo and icloud. Google Photo works great on iPhone and I highly recommend it.
3: iPhones have not required itunes in 3-4 years now. I know I haven't had it. Everything (including full-phone backups) are now done through the cloud.
4: As far as I know, AT&T tethering policies are phone-agnostic. You could always check by throwing your sim in someone else's phone and see if the tethering will turn on. If you give more plan details we could check.
iPhones are a little pricey, but they have a great camera, great app ecosystem, the customization they have is a bit less than android, but when you customize on iPhone, it doesn't slow down / slowly eat the battery / become annoying. (IE, when I had android and installed custom software, it would always need tons of permissions, mess up notifications, some apps would continue to refresh / run in the background, keyboards would slow the whole UI, etc). Like I said, google photos work great. And, it's pretty well known - Apple supports their phones for the longest of any manufacturer, with all phones getting the OTA updates at the same time, with the same content.
A lot of my friends that had pixels just tried iphone 8 for the first time after their pixel fizzled. They were surprised with how nice the customization were in terms of impact to OS. (With some small frustrations, like you can't put apps on bottom rows of screens). None of them plan to go back to Pixels anytime soon.
There's a lot of fanboyism out there. I just recommend you try both sides of the aisle at least once. When I had android and I was frustrated by something (Like, I'd like it to play spotify when entering my vehicle's bluetooth automatically) I would end up installing an app or tweaking something, (Tasker to do it) that would slow down my whole phone, crash occasionally, etc. For my iphone, it just does it. But, if it doesn't do it, I just accept it. Taking away some of things that you could do in my case is nice, because I usually ended up worse than I started by trying to automate/tweak things.
posted by bbqturtle at 5:31 AM on October 25, 2018
Best answer: I love (and have gotten compliments on) my Moto X4. It has dual cameras, one of which is HD. It is unlocked and works on AT&T. It is fast. It is sleek. I really like it. (Some reviews on the website talk about "spam software", but it is just an Android phone and you can turn off apps you don't want to use quite easily. I have had no spam software. I bought the unlocked one straight from Motorola.)
posted by jillithd at 6:24 AM on October 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by jillithd at 6:24 AM on October 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Nokia's (HMD, actually) Android One phones are cheaper than a Pixel (or any of the recent OnePlus phones), but are still quite nice to use. 90% of the hardware for 60% of the price seems like a good deal to me.
The only nice to have that I didn't get was Qi charging support, but given that the battery lasts 12+ hours of screen on time (or about 3 days of idle) with my usual usage I don't actually have any need for it. Except when I've forgotten to charge one night I've never had it below 40% at the end of the day anyway.
posted by wierdo at 6:42 AM on October 25, 2018
The only nice to have that I didn't get was Qi charging support, but given that the battery lasts 12+ hours of screen on time (or about 3 days of idle) with my usual usage I don't actually have any need for it. Except when I've forgotten to charge one night I've never had it below 40% at the end of the day anyway.
posted by wierdo at 6:42 AM on October 25, 2018
Best answer: Check out the Nokia 7.1, which is available for preorder now and I think starts shipping next week. It's $349 but has the specs of a much more expensive phone. I have not heard good things about the Pixel 3 -- the hardware isn't worth the price, according to the linked review.
posted by number9dream at 8:24 AM on October 25, 2018
posted by number9dream at 8:24 AM on October 25, 2018
I went from the Nexus 6P (which I loved) to the Pixel 2 XL and am very very pleased. I also use ProjectFi, so I don't know if they work as well on other phones.
posted by eusebis_w_adorno at 8:40 PM on October 25, 2018
posted by eusebis_w_adorno at 8:40 PM on October 25, 2018
Response by poster: Follow-up: I ultimately decided to go with a second-hand iPhone 8 for a while to see how I like it. The deciding factor was Apple's commitment to hardware and OS support and privacy. I am really so disappointed with Google's support, and it seems like all of the other Android manufacturers are even worse.
I was to overcome the iPhone obstacles I'd thought would be issues: I solved the photo transfer issue with libimobiledevice, and I'd thought tethering was blocked on ATT but it turns out that hasn't been true for a few years.
My app ecosystem is mostly the same as on Android, with a few little annoyances but it basically works. The biggest stupid thing about the iPhone so far is that I have 256GB of space and I can't copy over any media because I don't have an iTunes computer host. Oh well. Apple always has locked down iOS in the stupidest ways.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 4:13 PM on November 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was to overcome the iPhone obstacles I'd thought would be issues: I solved the photo transfer issue with libimobiledevice, and I'd thought tethering was blocked on ATT but it turns out that hasn't been true for a few years.
My app ecosystem is mostly the same as on Android, with a few little annoyances but it basically works. The biggest stupid thing about the iPhone so far is that I have 256GB of space and I can't copy over any media because I don't have an iTunes computer host. Oh well. Apple always has locked down iOS in the stupidest ways.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 4:13 PM on November 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
qxntpqbbbqxl - you can always use dropbox on iOS for some of that!
posted by bbqturtle at 5:05 PM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bbqturtle at 5:05 PM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
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Reviews on line support this. I cannot link now, but Android Police speak highly of the OnePlus. If you are into rooting your phone, it can easily be done. They don't encourage it, but do not discourage it either. They facilitate it actually.
It runs on AT&T and I just read today that the OnePlus 6T will run on the Verizon LTE network. The best place to buy it is directly from OnePlus, but I am hearing rumors that they will be selling it through T-Mobile and Verizon for the first time.
I have AT&T. I tether the phone regularly to my Chromebook.
(As for your Pixel, if you have insurance, and you lose it or it gets run over by your car in your driveway, the deductible may be less than the $150 screen job.)
posted by AugustWest at 9:21 PM on October 24, 2018 [4 favorites]