For anyone considering the Pixel XL...

Jtshurtleff

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I have owned 2 of them now, as well as the OnePlus 3T, and can tell you a bit about it if you would like to know, here is a summary of my time away:

The Pixel is a fantastic device, don't let anyone tell you otherwise if they have not used it. The phone flies and is right up to par with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Opening apps, playing games, using the camera, all of them work great and never lag. The camera is very good, maybe better than the iPhone 7, but I think the 7 Plus takes the cake with portrait mode and the zoom lense, plus OIS. The battery life on the Pixel XL is great, especially considering the 1440p screen. I was able to get through 5 hours of screen on time pretty much every day, usually closer to 6 or 7. The screen is fantastic to view and has deep blacks and accurate colors. Android 7.1 is very nice to use and fairly user friendly, plus the addition of Google Assistant is very neat, though not really ready for prime time; it is better than Siri though, by far. Also, the fingerprint scanner is awesome and located in a very nice place on the back of the phone.

The cons of the device are more specific to me, but here they are:

Apple Pay on the iPhone is nearly everywhere at this point, including a ton of online outlets. Android pay, while a good choice, is not up to par. I did not find any websites that had Android Pay as an option the way some have Apple Pay and only used it a handful of times out and about. I did not like the speaker on the Pixel, especially compared with the iPhone, and the lack of water resistance hurts it IMO. Finally, I use a smartwatch every day. Ever since the original Pebble I have used one and have felt naked the few days I did not have one. The Gear S3 I had was a great device, as was the Huawei Watch (the S3 is the better device to me) but Android handles their connected accessories poorly. Bluetooth headsets rarely work properly on calls and, for some reason, cut out a good bit. The watches were always my default choice for answering calls unless I turned them off which was frustrating. I like having the option to answer a call on my watch, and the S3 has a super loud speaker, but answering a call on my phone and it constantly switching between the watch and phone without me touching anything was incredibly frustrating. Finally, EIS on the camera is nowhere near as good as OIS for video. The EIS does a good job of handling shaky hands, but movement laterally with the Pixel XL camera looked very jerky.

So there it is, hopefully this helps people when choosing. I really liked the Pixel and think it is very close to matching the iPhone quality, and the software is much more fun to use, but the iPhone is better for me still.
 

kilofoxtrot

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I miss Samsung Pay... I found it superior to Apple Pay. But now that I have touchID on my MacBook Pro. That will probably change.
 

Wildo6882

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Apple Pay and Apple Watch are two things that are really stopping me from going full bore with Android. I still really like the freedom that Android provides, but the experience, even if you go with Google products, isn't as cohesive. I need my Bluetooth to work properly, and I need it to work with all of my devices at the same time. The Pixel is a really great device, but I still think it lags behind the 7/7 Plus. And Android's future is pretty murky. I don't mean it's going to fail, you just never know what direction it may be going in. Apple seems to have an actual vision of where it is headed. And I like that peace of mind.
 

MizWylie

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Apple Pay and Apple Watch are two things that are really stopping me from going full bore with Android. I still really like the freedom that Android provides, but the experience, even if you go with Google products, isn't as cohesive. I need my Bluetooth to work properly, and I need it to work with all of my devices at the same time. The Pixel is a really great device, but I still think it lags behind the 7/7 Plus. And Android's future is pretty murky. I don't mean it's going to fail, you just never know what direction it may be going in. Apple seems to have an actual vision of where it is headed. And I like that peace of mind.

Boom. Couldn't have said it better myself.
 

itsnotmeitsyou

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I think it would be useful to have a designated "Pixel XL vs iPhone 7 Plus" thread for reviews/experiences. There are a few threads on this and it would probably help people deciding between the two to have all the posts in one thread.
 

itsnotmeitsyou

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Apple Pay and Apple Watch are two things that are really stopping me from going full bore with Android. I still really like the freedom that Android provides, but the experience, even if you go with Google products, isn't as cohesive. I need my Bluetooth to work properly, and I need it to work with all of my devices at the same time. The Pixel is a really great device, but I still think it lags behind the 7/7 Plus. And Android's future is pretty murky. I don't mean it's going to fail, you just never know what direction it may be going in. Apple seems to have an actual vision of where it is headed. And I like that peace of mind.

That's the problem and why it's so tempting to buy an Android phone--Android devices are great and the hardware is usually ahead of the iPhone. However, the software is fragmented, buggy, and overall not very great. I was on Android for over 8 years and it has been such a relief using the iPhone 7 Plus and having everything work so flawlessly.
 

Jtshurtleff

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That's the problem and why it's so tempting to buy an Android phone--Android devices are great and the hardware is usually ahead of the iPhone. However, the software is fragmented, buggy, and overall not very great. I was on Android for over 8 years and it has been such a relief using the iPhone 7 Plus and having everything work so flawlessly.

If you're using the Pixel by itself it is no different that an iPhone. It is only once you connect something to it that it takes a dive in quality.
 

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