Previously on Lemmy:
Past Discussions:
Sorry for the delay for the weekly. Server's not that stable right now, maybe we should start the thread on Sundays instead.
I always like to switch things up once in a while because it's fun. So, let's get back to the brand discussion this week for the Google Pixel. We'll do a discussion on repairability next week. Again, ideas are always welcome here.
I've never used a Pixel, but people around here should know that I've been very critical of Google's product decisions over the years, and the Pixel is no exception. In my point of view, discontinuing the Nexus series, buying out the talents from the remains of HTC and starting an official "made by Google" phone is the equivalent of reddit buying out Alien Blue to make the official reddit app. I think it's the event that scared big Android manufacturers like Samsung enough to start making their own ecosystem away from Google, as they are concerned that Google may start locking software features to their own phones instead of improving Android overall (rightfully so, I might add).
It really makes no business sense at all to turn your manufacturing partners into your competitors, but then again, it's Google.
With that being said, the first years of the Pixels has been marred with growing pains. Whereas the Nexus line has always been barebones, no frills development devices, it seemed to me that the people who made Pixels don't even use Android and are insistent on turning Pixel into iPhones, removing the headphone jack on the Pixel 2 despite the antagonistic ad from the original Pixel, Pixel exclusive software features like Google camera that necessitating the need of rom mods, as well as the quality issues that seems to be inherited from the Nexus days just really soured me from considering Pixels, as I think it's against the spirit of openness that made Android great.
But it seems like in recent years, they finally figured out that a large percentage of people who bought Androids not because they can't afford iPhones, but because they like Android, and I see the introduction of the "a" series as progress. The recent Pixel ad campaign also made me think that they finally figuring it out: people want different things, trying to turn Android into worse versions of iPhones was not going to work, so they should be trying to make the best Android for Android users instead.
(It's also the reason I think all the previous reddit clones failed, but Lemmy will be the one that finally succeeds.)
I've had a Pixel 5a and currently have a Pixel 7. Have enjoyed them greatly. The 5a was a bit mediocre overall, camera performance wasn't that great & it got a bit slow over time. That being said, the clean OS experience and integration was always nice and it was perfectly suitable for my needs at a good price.
Now that I'm using my Pixel 7 as a daily, the Pixel 5a is holding up pretty well with GrapheneOS as a backup phone / media player.
Pixel 7 has been really nice to me. Interface is smooth, camera is nice, everything just works essentially. And getting the latest Android pretty quickly is a nice feeling. My only gripe is that Google's SoC is still a bit lacking and battery life isn't the best, but I hear the current Android beta has some promising battery life improvements.
Overall I've been having a good time with them. Still kinda miss my Nexus 5x tho, that thing was sweet...
How has grapheneOS been for you? Would you main it? I'm on a Note 9 that's had it's battery life reduced to pretty much having to charge it constantly or I'm out before the end of the day. Considering Pixels mostly because of Graphene, which Louis Rossman says great things about (except for the ex lead dev). I don't know if I'd be sacrificing any of the features in a pixel phone, though...
Personally I don't think I'd use it on my main phone as of now. While it does work well and the granular options for sandboxing/security are awesome, I'd worry about compatibility with banking apps and other more locked down software that, from what I've heard, will refuse to run under GrapheneOS. Also, yeah you'd be missing out on some of the exclusive Pixel features that are part of Google's stock ROM. But overall it works well and handles Play Store backend stuff pretty seamlessly while still keeping the security tight.
From what I understand camera quality and other features may be less performant than stock as well, though in the case of my Pixel 5a the camera experience wasn't that great before anyways so it didn't matter to me.
For now on my main phone I'm just gonna keep using stock and dipping into Android betas to mess with the new stuff coming to Pixel phones. Maybe once my desire to be part of that ecosystem is lessened I'd just go for Graphene on my Pixel 7.