It's Still Difficult to Just Buy a Google Pixel Today, and That's Insane

Megalith

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Six months later, the Google Pixel is still the NES Mini of phones. You know damn well that the lack of Pixels has nothing to do with their demand, so what went wrong? This is a strange thing, really, as Google spent big advertising bucks and is (was?) clearly interested in pushing the Pixel brand to iPhone-levels of awareness. It is stuff like this that makes me wonder if I should even bother waiting for the Pixel 2 instead of just splurging on an S8.

…other Android manufacturers know how to manage a supply chain. Samsung, LG, Huawei, Motorola, HTC and heck, even OnePlus now, know how to make phones available around the world in massive quantities. They have in most cases each made the necessary deals and commitments to get the phones in thousands of physical stores as well, a dramatically taller task than simply stocking a couple of warehouses for online-only distribution. I don't want to belittle the huge commitment of time, money and people required to manage the manufacturing, shipment and distribution of phones. But Google designed a phone for the general consumer and spent tens of millions advertising to that demographic, only to once again completely fail to make the devices available when those people went to buy.
 
Clearly they didn't expect this type of demand...

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hardware wise the pixel isn't even that amazing compared to other phones in it's price range.. but the phones easy enough to get though at least verizon(don't know about the other providers) and crap so i'm sure that's more of their priority over just selling the phone separately.
 
Google doesn't actually want to sell phones, they just need something which is partially available to keep pressure on OEMs who slack on updates.

I'm enjoying my Project Fi cell service and the $25 bills after tax. I dropped my Nexus 6 and cracked the screen, but it still works great though. Might get a new phone, but I heard that there was a new Google phone coming so I'll just wait for that I guess.
 
I'm enjoying my Project Fi cell service and the $25 bills after tax. I dropped my Nexus 6 and cracked the screen, but it still works great though. Might get a new phone, but I heard that there was a new Google phone coming so I'll just wait for that I guess.

The screen is easy enough to replace. I closed mine in the car door and even bent the phone maybe 5°. It was expensive, but easy.

edit: this was on a 6p.
 
The screen is easy enough to replace. I closed mine in the car door and even bent the phone maybe 5°. It was expensive, but easy.

edit: this was on a 6p.

While it's a completely different device, I found the same thing with replacing the screen on my Nexus 5 recently, although I replaced the whole chassis and it was cheap.

I'd like to update my Nexus 9 to a Pixel C, but it seems that after a short lifespan that's dead in the water. Which is a shame as it was a good product and well priced. The Pixel is too damn expensive!
 
I have the Pixel, and I have ordered them for guys at work, so I have not seen any supply issues. Though we just get the standard 32GB versions. They are an okay phone, but not a great one.
 
I'm enjoying my Project Fi cell service and the $25 bills after tax. I dropped my Nexus 6 and cracked the screen, but it still works great though. Might get a new phone, but I heard that there was a new Google phone coming so I'll just wait for that I guess.
Yup yup, my 6P is (y) and the Project Fi around here is great 95% of the time. Bill monthly has been ~$27 since month 2. Compared to the $80+/month when I was on AT&T, the Fi has helped pay for the phone.
 
Google doesn't actually want to sell phones, they just need something which is partially available to keep pressure on OEMs who slack on updates.
Sounds plausible, google isn't in it for the money they just need a phone running their latest and greatest os.
I've been on aosp for a long time and recently switched to samsungs touchwiz, feature wise its miles ahead of aosp, which is probably why it takes samsung 6 months to update their phones. I honestly don't miss aosp, its very bare bones and missing tons of useful features.
 
I am quite happy with my Pixel. Got it with the Verizon Black Friday sale, 128GB. The software experience has been amazing after my last 4 years of Samsung phones. No complaints for the price I paid ($360ish).
 
Bought our XL's at launch. They've been OOS since. Still the best phone I've used. Zero bloat, pure android. I'm done dealing with Samsung and them taking months/years to release an update that's old.
 
Um Verizon had an open case with Google due to all the microphone issues and they are done with the Pixel as of this weekend from the way they were talking. The local corporate Verizon store ended my contract Saturday and gave me a credit for the one month I had the Pixel and gave me free upgrade. They even told me I could keep the phone even though I had only paid one payment and it was credited. I told her I had no need for the phone so she gave me a brand new Beats wireless headset for the trouble and Verizon also credited us a month and half on our whole bill due to all the aggravation.

On top of that my fucking Chromecast stopped working after 5 months too...
 
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Just get a Nexus 6P and call it a day. There's hardly any justification for paying the absurd asking price for the Pixel (other than bragging rights). Not to mention, the Nexus 6P is the far more sexier looking of the two.
 
That giant black thing on the top back of the 6P doesn't ooze sexiness to me.

I'm hoping they have a more economical Pixel 2 this June or August. I bought an Honor 8 last year and it's a really nice phone (the Kirin SoCs are really nice minus GPU performance which doesn't matter much for me), but it's almost May and it's still on the December 1st security update.
 
I did the math, for me and my wife's lines Google fi was going to be like $75/mo is with tmo its 80 after taxes now so we just said screw it and bought oneplus 3ts, saved $900 and imo was a way better deal.
 
Get a V20, and be thankful you have a replaceable battery! I love the phone, the fingerprint sensor on the middle of the back, but not the volume buttons! Great Photos, 64gb, + SB slot. I've seen alot of people bitch about the battery on stuff like the 6P after only a year!

Oh and the dedicated high end AMP! Audiophiles Rejoice!
 
I would have easily bought Pixel as my next phone if it was actually on sale on this side of the pacific, rather than having to import it. I don't really care about the looks of the phone, as long as it doesn't look fugly, and the images show anything but. I use phones to use, not to showoff, otherwise I would have went to Dubai and bought any one of the gold/diamond plated phones there,

Otherwise, I would not consider anything that was designed by the mainland, not even under the supervision of Google, so that pretty much discounts 6P, leaving only the Nexus 5X being the most recent device.

As a rule though, I don't buy anything over a year old unless it's either the newest or I have no choice.
 
If you want timely updates over the life of the phone, then a pure Android phone like the Pixel is the only way to go. The Nexus 5X is already on 7.1.2, while my Verizon S6 is on 6.0.1! What a joke. My next phone will definitely be a Pixel. Who cares if the hardware is the absolute best. All of them work fine these days.
 
I want one, but finding the large capacity model is challenging at best. They're also still charging the same price they launched at and we all know the Pixel 2 is on the way in October/November. At this point I'm just going to wait unless they drop the price by 40%. Hopefully they'll shrink the giant bezel for the 2nd model.
 
Most of the early problems with OOS Pixels where they fact Google was holding lots of phones for Project Fi. I ordered the phone at launch and the ship date was months down the road, I kept waiting and the date never changed, I read about ordering from Project Fi, I didn't think it would matter as I ordered from Google, so if Project Fi had phones why would Google not, both being the same. But I canceled my order, placed an order with Project Fi and the phone shipped out the next day when my Google order still showed 3 months out....WTF Google?

Remember Project Fi you don't have to activate when you order from them, just put in your own SIM and start using the phone, you never get charged for Project Fi if you never use the SIM.
 
Um Verizon had an open case with Google due to all the microphone issues and they are done with the Pixel as of this weekend from the way they were talking. The local corporate Verizon store ended my contract Saturday and gave me a credit for the one month I had the Pixel and gave me free upgrade. They even told me I could keep the phone even though I had only paid one payment and it was credited. I told her I had no need for the phone so she gave me a brand new Beats wireless headset for the trouble and Verizon also credited us a month and half on our whole bill due to all the aggravation.

On top of that my fucking Chromecast stopped working after 5 months too...
Are you some kind of executive or some shit? Big ass contract with your company or something?
Can't imagine the nickel and dime ass holes at Verizon treating 'somebody' that good.
 
Are you some kind of executive or some shit? Big ass contract with your company or something?
Can't imagine the nickel and dime ass holes at Verizon treating 'somebody' that good.

Better than AT&T. They'd just offer to save you money on a brand-new DirecTV subscription.
Verizon might not be Amazon or Southwest, but they've been a big jump over AT&T, Comcast, etc. in my experience.
 
My wife ordered one through Project Fi and got her phone in 2-3 days. So *shrug*
 
Still using my Nexus 6. Works fine for me. I totally get the WTF factor with google phones availability though.
 
I still don't understand the love for the Pixel phones.. IMHO they are so mfking ugly phones specially without physical buttons on bottom bezels or front facing stereo audio.

Throw all of that together with the fact there's no storage expansion and you've got d*** for phone! Google's madness follows Apple's in that if the lower end storage doesn't suit your needs they expect you to pay 50% more for the model whose only difference is that it has 4x the storage capacity. In either case, if the phone is crushed or stops working your pics and music are toast. At least in models those models allowing for microSD cards you stand a fighting chance of incurring as little real disruption as possible when those events do occur.
 
The pixel is by far the smoothest Android phone in the market. Don't give a crap about specs. Google's low level opt work wonders.
 
Throw all of that together with the fact there's no storage expansion and you've got d*** for phone! Google's madness follows Apple's in that if the lower end storage doesn't suit your needs they expect you to pay 50% more for the model whose only difference is that it has 4x the storage capacity. In either case, if the phone is crushed or stops working your pics and music are toast. At least in models those models allowing for microSD cards you stand a fighting chance of incurring as little real disruption as possible when those events do occur.
You do at least have to mention it automatically backs everything up to the cloud by default - if you are signed into the phone with a google account.
 
Throw all of that together with the fact there's no storage expansion and you've got d*** for phone! Google's madness follows Apple's in that if the lower end storage doesn't suit your needs they expect you to pay 50% more for the model whose only difference is that it has 4x the storage capacity. In either case, if the phone is crushed or stops working your pics and music are toast. At least in models those models allowing for microSD cards you stand a fighting chance of incurring as little real disruption as possible when those events do occur.

No Samsung fuckery with the UI (or other vendors for that matter), near instant updates at release, and in general a reliable experience that doesn't degrade much over time. Any hardware running Pure Android (the Pixel being one) offers this, but the Pixel has the added benefit of being optimized by Google.

I've owned nothing but Nexus or Nexus like phones - it is the only way to go for Android.
 
Throw all of that together with the fact there's no storage expansion and you've got d*** for phone! Google's madness follows Apple's in that if the lower end storage doesn't suit your needs they expect you to pay 50% more for the model whose only difference is that it has 4x the storage capacity. In either case, if the phone is crushed or stops working your pics and music are toast. At least in models those models allowing for microSD cards you stand a fighting chance of incurring as little real disruption as possible when those events do occur.

As has been said before, most who go for the Pixel are looking for the best STOCK experience. Pixel phones have very fast storage, a big reason for why they feel so fast/smooth. You get updates and features first, for a long time, assuming the other phones get them at all.

I will not disagree with the SD card, it's a feature I think all phones should have. But the Pixel backs everything up to Google drive/photos, which includes free unlimited original size photos and videos for life with the phone. I paid for the 128GB model, even then, I still wish it had a SD option.

Now, are those features worth it to someone? Only those buying a phone can make that choice based on their needs. Having had both Android (current is a Pixel) and iPhones, iPhones are very well made, while I might not agree with the price, it's one of the more understandable buys from Apple.
 
My problem with the pixels is the fact that google stated that their phones will only get two OS updates then one year of security updates.

Is an awful value paying that much for a phone that will be obsolete in two years.

And if they drop them like they did the N6 and N9 (at a point release, 7.1.1), tells me that it was dropped by someone decision, instead of a technical reason.

Im holding on to my N6 to see what i could buy as replacement.

As much as i hate the locked down ios, at the very least, it gets updates way passed the two years.
 
Wish they'd 'bring back' the Nexus concept.
Love my 5x. Loved my 5 before it.
I don't get the love for $800 phones that are marginally better than their $300 predecessors released a year earlier.

And yes - I know that last sentence is an exaggeration. Don't flame - I'm just using hyperbole to make a point.
 
The need to work on their branding. When I see Google Pixel, I think of the Chromebook Pixel. Hvaing a phone and a laptop with the same name is not very consumer friendly.
 
I was at the point where I almost got a Pixel XL. There was a two month wait at the time though, and I decided it wasn't worth it.

I ended up getting a Galaxy S8+, within a few days of the phone being released. I really didn't expect it to be in stock, but there was no availability issues despite the Galaxy S series being one of the most popular models that exists. Really no excuse for the availability issues with the pixel.
 
Hardware-wise, there is almost nothing particularly compelling about the Pixels. The camera is terrific, but that's really the only thing.
Yet it's still a desirable purchase because the software on the other phones is just that bad.
 
The last time I added yet another phone to our group Project Fi account, I looked at the Pixel XL momentarily, but at $749 it was just too big a pill to swallow, even with 0% financing over 24 months. A new 6P is still $399 as of last week (that phone has really held its value) and in Used condition ranges from $225-$275. I ended up with the latter.

I certainly don't fault them for offering the Pixel XL at that pricepoint, though. Why not?
 
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Its hardware, of course Google is bad at selling it. Google has a pretty bad track record with their own hardware. They simply don't want to commit the resources required to truly compete in the Android phone market. Their phones have their niche and that's about it. Google has the money to out market Samsung and get the phones out in the public eye, but they're either incompetent or uninterested in bothering. Be interesting to see if Google starts caring if/when Samsung finally decides they're done with Android.
 
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