Pixel 3/Pixel 3 XL

[Harthag]

Are any of you using the Adaptive Battery setting or have you found it problematic?

I'm using adaptive battery. I'm not at all impressed with battery life. Off the charger for 6 hours, 47 mins screen time. 15 mins of Chrome, 15 mins of Amazon app, two 5 min phone calls, some texts. I'm at 83 % battery. May try an exchange :/

 

[5105973]

Wonderful photos @Roadstar

I have a lot of family stuff I'm doing this weekend so it will take a couple of days to set this phone up fully the way I want but wow, as with my Samsung it's wonderful to have so many options and choices for customization, but it's a bit more clean and simple, in many ways reminding me of what I like about iOS.

It's staying nice and cool. I have had some issues with my Xr getting uncomfortably hot or warm on Reddit and Apple News and other news apps. That's not yet been a problem on the 3XL.

No eye strain evident so far. I did get to spend a full hour reading on it. I'm keeping up with the cautious optimism. I will need a full week to really know if this display is safe for me.
[doublepost=1548539941][/doublepost]

I'm using adaptive battery. I'm not at all impressed with battery life. Off the charger for 6 hours, 47 mins screen time. 15 mins of Chrome, 15 mins of Amazon app, two 5 min phone calls, some texts. I'm at 83 % battery. May try an exchange :/

No that's about what I'm getting. Battery life is not great on these phones. My husband warned me about that. For road trips he and I both will probably get battery cases. Though we do have options to charge in the car and this phone does charge very fast using fast charging. Though really it's not much worse than I've gotten on my Xr. I do think if there is a phone that needs service or an exchange it's my poor Xr, which I do otherwise like very much. But there's something wonky going on with it.

 

[nospleen]

I have been using an iPhone Xr off and on the last week. I must be getting old, but I think I like the screen on it as much or more than the Pixel. I really enjoy using iOS and the gestures. But, I always go back to the 3XL for the camera, ambient display, and android auto. I am getting another lab next month (he was born last Saturday, woohoo) and love having the Pixel camera and unlimited storage for puppy pics/video.

I have always gone back and forth, but had a hard time staying away from iOS. But, it seems that back and forth lands back on the Pixel more often these days.

 

[5105973]

I have been using an iPhone Xr off and on the last week. I must be getting old, but I think I like the screen on it as much or more than the Pixel. I really enjoy using iOS and the gestures. But, I always go back to the 3XL for the camera, ambient display, and android auto. I am getting another lab next month (he was born last Saturday, woohoo) and love having the Pixel camera and unlimited storage for puppy pics/video.

I have always gone back and forth, but had a hard time staying away from iOS. But, it seems that back and forth lands back on the Pixel more often these days.

Oh congratulations on the new pup! I love dogs. When I was a little girl I helped my next door neighbor take care of her black lab puppies. There are few things more fun and ticklish than getting buried in a lab puppy pile! They diligently pulled my shoes and socks off and ran off with them! 😀. I dearly wish we'd has these phones back then. I'd love to have had a video of that.

The Xr screen is really nice. The controversy over it was so overblown. I do prefer the 8Plus display for heavy duty ebook reading, but that's only because I had the 8 Plus available. If my Xr were my only phone, I certainly wasn't going to suffer. My Xr is the first iPhone I've had in ages that functions beautifully as an actual phone to have conversations on. It's a great phone all around except mine has something atypical going on and it's probably something wrong with the battery.

I do like Android on my Pixel a little better than iOS on my Xr. I do also value the same things you do, except to my disappointment Android Auto doesn't work on my truck. There are some limited functions it can do over Bluetooth but that's about it. I have another car, but that one is 26 years old, so I guess no Android auto for me! 😛
[doublepost=1548566216][/doublepost]Oh my Pixel fabric case did arrive, so my 3XL is now in its iconic pixel styled "sweater" much like my Pixel 2 has been wearing all this time. It's a salt and pepper color with a green power button. Until my tempered glass pack gets here it's all traveling in a soft fabric sleeve. The fabric case isn't by any means the ideal case compared to others I could have bought, but it's what I find to be familiar and comfortable and will help me part with Snowball when it's time to pack that much loved phone up for the trade in.

My new Pixel stand also arrived. I'll set that up tomorrow. I have a lot of rearranging to do on my nightstand. 🙄

 

[Harthag]

No that's about what I'm getting. Battery life is not great on these phones. My husband warned me about that. For road trips he and I both will probably get battery cases. Though we do have options to charge in the car and this phone does charge very fast using fast charging. Though really it's not much worse than I've gotten on my Xr. I do think if there is a phone that needs service or an exchange it's my poor Xr, which I do otherwise like very much. But there's something wonky going on with it.

Good to know you're experiencing the same. Last year with the Pixel 2 XL I got one that had really bad battery life and a replacement was much better. I did the clean install, reset, all the crap Google tells you to do. Made no difference. It had to have been hardware then I thought. I'm thinking the same could be true with this phone but maybe not if both of you are also getting short battery life.

Also- please post about your experience with the Pixel stand! My iHome on the nightstand is ancient. It still uses the old Apple connector and I have my equally ancient iPod Nano connected to it. I think it's about time for an upgrade on that front.

 

[nospleen]

Here is a quick comparison between the 3XL and iPhone Xr. Pixel on top. The iPhone photo is good, but I like just prefer the way the Pixel processes better. Seems like the Pixel doesn't pull the highlights as much. The iPhone also made the sky look more blue than it was.

 

[5105973]

Here is a quick comparison between the 3XL and iPhone Xr. Pixel on top. The iPhone photo is good, but I like just prefer the way the Pixel processes better. Seems like the Pixel doesn't pull the highlights as much. The iPhone also made the sky look more blue than it was.

I'm getting similar results. I prefer how the Pixel camera plays with light. iPhone tends to flatten everything and suck out all the nuanced reflections in favor of making everything look warmer and brighter and probably more popular on social media. I have to admit the iPhone photo is more striking and what I would pick for a magazine article. But there's some loss of details.

The Pixel photo would years later tug at my heartstrings more because the way the light is playing off of the dog and other surfaces gives me more a feeling of being there in that moment. If it were my dog and a moment out of my life I would feel a little more connected through that photo than the idealized depiction from the iPhone.

This sort of difference in how cameras render the same scene is what caused me to have a problem with the way Samsung used to pretty up photos. I wanted to be connected to my memories the way I saw them in person and in previous generations of Samsungs, the combination of their heavy-handed processing and their oversaturated default displays caused me to feel such an emotional disconnect from my photos.

I vacation at a drab looking modest Atlantic beach but the Samsung made it look like I was in Hawaii. Goodness only knows how it would have made Hawaii look! I'm glad they stopped doing that. I love my S9+ photos. Selfies are still a hot buttered mess though. 🙄

Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly content with my iPhone photos. But I have long adored how the Pixel camera lets reflections dance around in a subtle special way that engages me in the scene just a little bit more.

 

[nospleen]

I'm getting similar results. I prefer how the Pixel camera plays with light. iPhone tends to flatten everything and suck out all the nuanced reflections in favor of making everything look warmer and brighter and probably more popular on social media. I have to admit the iPhone photo is more striking and what I would pick for a magazine article. But there's some loss of details.

The Pixel photo would years later tug at my heartstrings more because the way the light is playing off of the dog and other surfaces gives me more a feeling of being there in that moment. If it were my dog and a moment out of my life I would feel a little more connected through that photo than the idealized depiction from the iPhone.

This sort of difference in how cameras render the same scene is what caused me to have a problem with the way Samsung used to pretty up photos. I wanted to be connected to my memories the way I saw them in person and in previous generations of Samsungs, the combination of their heavy-handed processing and their oversaturated default displays caused me to feel such an emotional disconnect from my photos.

I vacation at a drab looking modest Atlantic beach but the Samsung made it look like I was in Hawaii. Goodness only knows how it would have made Hawaii look! I'm glad they stopped doing that. I love my S9+ photos. Selfies are still a hot buttered mess though. 🙄

Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly content with my iPhone photos. But I have long adored how the Pixel camera lets reflections dance around in a subtle special way that engages me in the scene just a little bit more.

Well said!!

 

[5105973]

Well said!!

Thank you.

Ugh...still setting up over here. I'd been terrible about enforcing consistency of apps and experience across Pixel, Samsung and iPhones, so I am finally settling down to do this. Sometimes it means diving into each app and making sure all the settings and notifications are the same. I can't believe how sloppy I let myself get. 🙄

I'm excited that so far no app that I consider important is missing on the Android side or appears to afford a lesser experience. In some cases like being able to buy content through the app, like books in Kindle reader for example, it's better than on iOS.

I'm being more particular now because the Android phones are no longer going to be secondary phones but the primary ones. Well the 3XL will be, but on occasion the S9+ will get honors, too. For now iOS is getting demoted, but just a little bit. I don't see this being a permanent move, yet, but who knows. I want to be ready for anything.

 

[5105973]

Just testing out my new display protector. LK . The Supershieldz I had fit and adhered better but I couldn't get the display to register touches properly. This LK has the right feel and clarity but isn't cut quite right. And the edges aren't sticking properly. Oh well itit will do for now and maybe settle down after a day. I hope to get a good tempered glass protector because I really don't want a wallet or folio case right now.

I'm just about fully moved into the 3XL. I've been staring at it off and on all day and I haven't gone blind, crippled or crazy yet as the old saying goes, so I have more hope now that this phone will bear the proud name of Snowball and get to be my main phone by the end of the week. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed! 😛

@slitherjef how's it going?

@jlp2979 It looks so far like the battery indicator works a bit opposite to Apple's. It drains fast early on and then once it gets down to 60% seems to plateau a bit. For me on an iPhone it hangs steady above 90% for a long while then falls off a cliff past 60%.

I still don't claim to be even remotely excited about the battery life on the 3XL. It's ok. Nothing to do a happy dance about. It's not fit to kiss the pinky toe on my husband's Huawei P20 Pro for battery life. That's a helluva smartphone. Great camera, great battery life. I forget what it's missing for it to have lost a chance to the Pixel 3XL as my husband's main phone. I never got to use it, myself.

 

[5105973]

Anybody get any of the Fitbits to work with their Pixel 3 or 3XL? I didn’t see official compatibility listed for my Charge 2HR. Grr. Everything is so iPhone oriented even though iPhone has Apple Watch. Android gets thrown the crumbs. My S9+ wasn’t even supported last time I checked a few weeks ago.

 

[Michael Goff]

Anybody get any of the Fitbits to work with their Pixel 3 or 3XL? I didn’t see official compatibility listed for my Charge 2HR. Grr. Everything is so iPhone oriented even though iPhone has Apple Watch. Android gets thrown the crumbs. My S9+ wasn’t even supported last time I checked a few weeks ago.

I think it should still work, even if it isn't officially supported.

 

[5105973]

I think it should still work, even if it isn't officially supported.

I'll let you all know if I get it working. I haven't charged and used it in awhile.

 

[co.ag.2005]

Anybody get any of the Fitbits to work with their Pixel 3 or 3XL? I didn’t see official compatibility listed for my Charge 2HR. Grr. Everything is so iPhone oriented even though iPhone has Apple Watch. Android gets thrown the crumbs. My S9+ wasn’t even supported last time I checked a few weeks ago.

My wife’s Fitbit Versa works with her P3XL just fine. Not sure if the charge 2 HR would be any different since it’s slightly older hardware (but not by that much)

 

[slitherjef]

@slitherjef how's it going?

Not too bad, I got the basics set up on mine but I haven't really moved over to it yet, I am still trying to figure out what direction I want to take with it. If I want to swap and upgrade lines or prune a couple.

I do wish I got my XL 2 running or at least waited before I went ahead and ordered the 3 😳

 

[joshwithachance]

Night Sight is quite awesome. These pictures were taken maybe half a minute apart when it was totally dark outside, but if I didn't know better, I'd think the latter one is a daytime shot on a cloudy winter day here.

That is incredible.

 

[Aneres11]

Here is a quick comparison between the 3XL and iPhone Xr. Pixel on top. The iPhone photo is good, but I like just prefer the way the Pixel processes better. Seems like the Pixel doesn't pull the highlights as much. The iPhone also made the sky look more blue than it was.

Ha, not Pixel 3 related (shot on iPhone), but the Labrador in car photo reminded me of one I took so thought I’d share it too. 😀.

Featuring a big tongue. 😛

 

[5105973]

I got up this morning and opened my kitchen door and since it's 9 degrees Fahrenheit out some feral cats came trooping in to sit on my hot air register while I had some coffee. I took some photos and videos of them with my 3XL and iPhone and noticed my 3XL has a bit of jerkiness while panning (not unusual with my Android phones unfortunately) and a bit of slowness saving photos and videos compared to my iPhones. No biggie.

But what did strike me unusual was that when I went back out to the home screen I had quite a bit of stutter and lag opening and closing apps. I went through and cleared some app caches I wasn't too worried about and restarted the phone. The lag was still there.

But by the time I finished my coffee and felt well and truly perky, the 3XL was pretty perky, too. 😱

Does my new phone need a morning coffee routine to get going, too? 😵

My husband has had zero lag or stutter on his 3XL since Christmas. Mine has zero right this minute but I will keep an eye 😵 on it. 😀

Edit for clarity: my Pixel 3XL was being used indoors in warm temps. It was not exposed to the cold at all. Despite it being a candidate for the name of Snowball when the original Snowball is traded back .

 

[AustinIllini]

My 3XL will sometimes get hung up when I launch apps directly from the lock screen. I get a cute picture of my dog, but i want to get to my app.

 

[5105973]

My 3XL will sometimes get hung up when I launch apps directly from the lock screen. I get a cute picture of my dog, but i want to get to my app.

Fortunately mine seems to be zipping along great now. It was just too funny that it was lagging about the same time I was and perked up as soon as I finished my coffee and felt the caffeine kick in. 😱

It was like the phone needed to wake up along with me.

Oh goodness let's hope this phone doesn't take on my personality. 😕 It already has what look like two little eyes on the notch. If I see them giving lots of sarcastic or exasperated eyerolls, I will know assimilation has occurred. 😱

 

[AustinIllini]

Fortunately mine seems to be zipping along great now. It was just too funny that it was lagging about the same time I was and perked up as soon as I finished my coffee and felt the caffeine kick in. 😱

It was like the phone needed to wake up along with me.

Oh goodness let's hope this phone doesn't take on my personality. 😕 It already has what look like two little eyes on the notch. If I see them giving lots of sarcastic or exasperated eyerolls, I will know assimilation has occurred. 😱

#grumpyphone

 

[three]

Black crush is still an issue that existed with the Pixel 2 / 2XL.

I've tried Screen Balance app and it makes no difference or turns black to gray. Seriously, how has this not been a major issue in reviews or for people in general? Black Panther on Netflix is nearly unwatchable as is Dr. Strange. Also happens on YouTube videos. Turned off adaptive brightness and used 85% brightness, still black crush and blocky images.

Do you all just overlook it and enjoy the phone? Do people not watch any videos on their phones? Sincere questions, not bashing. I love the 3XL but this may be a deal breaker for me.

To be completely honest, I tried my hardest to overlook the black crush and smearing issues and simply enjoy the phone. There's so much to like with the 3 and 3 XL, but at the same time, I'm really regretting the purchase of this phone. I'd say over the past month or so, I've run into MAJOR issues regarding voice calls. I've had nothing but complaints that I sounded far away or experienced echo, additionally, people on the other end couldn't hear me for the first 5 - 10 seconds, etc. I've tried turning off Wi-Fi calling and advanced LTE features. It's apparently a hugely widespead issue. So, I'm getting ready to sell the phone and move on. I'm probably going to pick up the OnePlus 6T. It's a great phone other than that, I just can't be having issues with phone calls.

 

[5105973]

I've done okay with calls with my husband and Duo video calls though there's a delay before the connection solidifies on both ends so we can see motion and hear clearly. I don't quite get the same delay on FaceTime. The real test will be calling my dad. It took years for Apple to make a phone he finally doesn't think sounds like a piece of crap. My Xr is good on calls, as is my S9+. When Dad and I have some time to spare I'll call him and see what his verdict is. He's very grumpy and will just flat out say "don't call me on from the bottom of the well again" if it is bad. Ah, man he's going to flip when he finds out I have ANOTHER phone to test on his ears. 😱

Oh well at least I am no longer asking him to judge Barbie doll beauty contests. I used to drive him nuts with that when I was 7. 😀
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To be completely honest, I tried my hardest to overlook the black crush and smearing issues and simply enjoy the phone. There's so much to like with the 3 and 3 XL, but at the same time, I'm really regretting the purchase of this phone. I'd say over the past month or so, I've run into MAJOR issues regarding voice calls. I've had nothing but complaints that I sounded far away or experienced echo, additionally, people on the other end couldn't hear me for the first 5 - 10 seconds, etc. I've tried turning off Wi-Fi calling and advanced LTE features. It's apparently a hugely widespead issue. So, I'm getting ready to sell the phone and move on. I'm probably going to pick up the OnePlus 6T. It's a great phone other than that, I just can't be having issues with phone calls.

After reading your post I went to Amazon Prime Video and sat in my now dark dining room and watched the opening scenes from Star Trek (the 2009 movie starring Chris Pine as Kirk) and I can see a tiny bit of black crush. I'm not sure what smearing is in this context. My Samsung and Xr displayed the scene very closely. While the Xr didn't have black crush, being an LCD, it didn't render dark scenes any better . JJ Abrams crapped the whole shot up with lens flare anyway. Idiot.

 

[Harthag]

To be completely honest, I tried my hardest to overlook the black crush and smearing issues and simply enjoy the phone. There's so much to like with the 3 and 3 XL, but at the same time, I'm really regretting the purchase of this phone. I'd say over the past month or so, I've run into MAJOR issues regarding voice calls. I've had nothing but complaints that I sounded far away or experienced echo, additionally, people on the other end couldn't hear me for the first 5 - 10 seconds, etc. I've tried turning off Wi-Fi calling and advanced LTE features. It's apparently a hugely widespead issue. So, I'm getting ready to sell the phone and move on. I'm probably going to pick up the OnePlus 6T. It's a great phone other than that, I just can't be having issues with phone calls.

Funny, I've experienced no other issues with my 3XL. Calls are fine, both speakers seem clear. HD voice and wifi calling both fine (Verizon). I called my office and left a voice message using the 3XL and I sounded the same as I do with my iPhone. Amazing the variance in QC among these phones. Have you tried to RMA?

I've been able to overlook the black crush / blotchiness so far and am enjoying the phone. I've settled on setting white balance to 20% strength and fluorescent (warm) within the Screen balance app. I can manage. As I said earlier, I get the same blotchiness and smearing on the XS and 6T when I turn brightness way up. So this made me feel better about the Pixel.

Also funny, I just sold my 6T on Swappa. Fantastic phone but I missed wifi calling. Also the Pixel has HDR support in Netflix. I don't watch much HDR video on my phone but it does look awesome and noticeably better than on the 6T. I'm enjoying the camera much more than anticipated. I take maybe 100 photos a year and know nothing about cameras, and there's a clear difference in quality vs. the 6T to me.

Battery seems to be slowly improving as well.

Enjoy the 6T if you go that route! Can't go wrong. I had no technical issues with mine.

 

[5105973]

I wasn't quite sure what "smearing" is on OLED so I looked it up and saw this discussion on Twitter. I don't think I've seen that yet.

One thing I don't like so far on the Pixel 3XL and really all of the Android phones I've owned so far is that panning is not smooth on 4k recording. It looks a little jerky. iPhone does panning across a scene much better and smooth, very smooth. Stereo audio for videos is best from my S9+ so far, with Pixel second and iPhone last, but not a horrible last. A slight last, if that makes any sense. When I tested my husband's 3XL the low light capability on the Pixel was better than on my Xr.

So far the display that's easiest on my eyes is my Pixel's. 😱. Really after all the drama I went through on my XS Max. I'm a bit shocked about that. With it being so cold and the kids off from school and helping me around the house I got lots of time to just catch up on emails and read and look for recipes. No eye strain from all of that. No sign of migraine yet. No increased sensitivity to other LED lights in my house. Whoa. 😱

Of course I get along ok with my S9+ but with curved edges I was always a little bothered by what my eyes perceive as a bit of glare or extra brightness where the glass curves. It can lead to a bit of eye strain, not the pwm kind I got on iPhones but ordinary strain from glare. With this display being flat, I am spared that and enjoy a pretty nice experience on it. 😀

All that's missing is good battery life. This is passable and that's about it. However, the phone is very light and charges fast, so maybe I need to be careful what I wish for if a bigger battery were to make the phone heavier.

As we all know by now my Xr' weight has given me pinky finger fatigue. I never really worried much about a phone's weight. I used to work out with weights for goodness sake. I've got really strong hands for a small woman. But pinky fatigue is a thing. I thought the writer over on Android Central was exaggerating when she wrote about it last year. And then it happened to me. 😳