Pixel 6 / Pixel 6 Pro / Pixel 6a

I'm really tempted on a Pixel 6. I'm rocking a Pixel 3XL(fairly new too so good condition and good battery) and I'm just not sure if the upgrade would be worth it. And then I'm thinking if I do get one, should I go just the 6 or the pro? I would want a 256gb model either way, the price difference between the 6 256gb and pro 256gb is $380CAD so is that worth it? Anyone else gone from a 3 to a 6? Worth it, what are the noticeable upgrades?
 
Mad Maxx said:
Pixel 6 delivered today and finally set up. That little discoloration above the day/date is an air bubble from installing my Zagg glass screen shield. Should dissipate within 24-48 hours. Case is the Urban Gray Caseology Vault.

Flat screen is the only way! (y)

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What do you think?

Having both the 6 Pro and 6, I find the regular 6's display has deeper blacks and gets brighter.

Plus a FLAT screen holy cow so much better than the useless curved edge screen. Like a million times better. The rounded edge display is so outdated looking, and offers nothing of benefit. If you couldn't tell I am not a fan at all of the curved edge display.

Also the regular 6 gives me better battery life than the 6 Pro
 
biztyke said:
I'm really tempted on a Pixel 6. I'm rocking a Pixel 3XL(fairly new too so good condition and good battery) and I'm just not sure if the upgrade would be worth it. And then I'm thinking if I do get one, should I go just the 6 or the pro? I would want a 256gb model either way, the price difference between the 6 256gb and pro 256gb is $380CAD so is that worth it? Anyone else gone from a 3 to a 6? Worth it, what are the noticeable upgrades?
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I went from the 3XL to 6 Pro to 6. At first, the Pro's curved screen didn't bother me, but as I used it over several days, I quickly grew to dislike it. Went back to my 3XL and knew immediately that the flat screen was superior. Despite lousy FedEx service, the standard 6 was worth the wait. It's virtually the same size as the 3XL with the latter being just a little wider. I got the 256GB version, not cuz I really wanted it, but it was in stock. Now, at the end of my upgrade journey, I'm very happy to run with the 6 until we see what the iPhone 14 has to offer.
 
Zorachus said:
What do you think?

Having both the 6 Pro and 6, I find the regular 6's display has deeper blacks and gets brighter.

Plus a FLAT screen holy cow so much better than the useless curved edge screen. Like a million times better. The rounded edge display is so outdated looking, and offers nothing of benefit. If you couldn't tell I am not a fan at all of the curved edge display.

Also the regular 6 gives me better battery life than the 6 Pro
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BOOM! You nailed all the advantages, along with $200 cheaper price!
 
Also wanted to mention that the Zagg glass screen shield is excellent. It came with a plastic frame that made it easy to apply the shield in perfect alignment. No trouble at all with the fingerprint scanner. I turned on the extra sensitivity setting, too.
 
I'm curious to hear if that update really did fix the slow fingerprint scanning. If so, the Pixel 6 is a much more compelling proposition (I'm not in a rush as I have an iPhone 13 Pro, but if I were to go Android...).
 
Hard to explain, but to me the flat designed Pixel 6 seems more Google'ish if that makes sense? It follows the Pixel design of past devices but in a new cool way. Where the Pixel 6 Pro just seems like a Samsung Galaxy phone running a Pixel ROM. Like i said, I still have both phones, and I far prefer and like the regular Pixel 6 over the Pixel 6 Pro, it's easier to hold, the FLAT screen ten million times better than the dated curved edge display, and for some reason it seems the screen is a little bit brighter and has deeper blacks on the regular 6 than the 6 Pro, and using both phones exactly the same the battery life is better on the smaller 6, not by a lot, but in my experience it is like 10% to 15% better battery.

I will be selling my Cloudy White Pixel 6 Pro, once my cases come in for the Pixel 6, that have taken FOREVER. The first one due today, the X-Level.
 
Supposedly a system update from Google that's rolling out right now improves the fingerprint scanner's performance. I haven't gotten it, but will probably sideload it after work if I have time.
 
I just installed the update and will see what improvements I notice. Had to remove the Zagg protector. It seemed to work fine with the scanner for a while, but by the end of yesterday, the scanner wasn't accepting any prints. Good thing is I can return it even after using it.
 
Apparently I'm forever last in line to get updates, because (like with the last update), I'm seeing nothing. One of the only good things about my Samsung experience was quick updates. Whenever they'd start rolling something out, checking for updates always worked instantly.
 
So it begins….

Android phone makers can’t help themselves in pissing off the hardcore, early adopter fans who pre-order only to see prices drop shortly after.

Have to wait and see if BF brings other savings.


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Back on the beautiful flat Pixel 6, glorious.

My simple homescreen;
 

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Will stock Android 12 ever theme 3rd party app icons like Telegram or Twitter or Reddit?
 
Zorachus said:
Will stock Android 12 ever theme 3rd party app icons like Telegram or Twitter or Reddit?
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I think that's up to the app maker itself to supply it? I don't think the launcher has the ability to auto-generate such an icon (though given it's ability to choose colors based on the wallpaper it may be coming and why the feature is still considered beta?) .
 
radeon962 said:
So it begins….

Android phone makers can’t help themselves in pissing off the hardcore, early adopter fans who pre-order only to see prices drop shortly after.

Have to wait and see if BF brings other savings.


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Best Buy is currently selling the unlocked Pixel 6 at $499 if you activate now. This is honestly the right price of this phone with shit for hw without any mmWave radios, middling if not poor battery life, and a crap optical under screen fingerprint scanner. But it’s got Google…
 
radeon962 said:
So it begins….

Android phone makers can’t help themselves in pissing off the hardcore, early adopter fans who pre-order only to see prices drop shortly after.

Have to wait and see if BF brings other savings.


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Google's Black Friday promo already appears to be up, and the focus is on the Pixel 5a (down to $399), not the Pixel 6. Best Buy is offering the same price as Target for an unlocked Pixel 6, though, so you at least won't have to be picky about where you shop.
 
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I sideloaded the new 11/17 update last night and it definitely does seem to make the fingerprint scanner quicker and more consistent.

One possible cause of annoyance is that the Pixel doesn't clearly inform you what type of unlock is needed. There's a very small fingerprint scan icon on your AOD lockscreen. It's small and when you touch it, it doesn't always even want you to unlock the device with your finger. Sometimes it just wants a swipe, other times it wants your passcode. On my S20, the AOD fingerprint icon was full size and it was consistent. The Android 12 AOD has so much wasted space with the huge over/under clock, they have tons of room to change this.
 
CHANG3D said:
Best Buy is currently selling the unlocked Pixel 6 at $499 if you activate now. This is honestly the right price of this phone with shit for hw without any mmWave radios, middling if not poor battery life, and a crap optical under screen fingerprint scanner. But it’s got Google…
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Anyone able to get a price adjustment if you bought from Best Buy? My son purchased his on 10/30/21 so outside of the normal 14 day window.
 
Domingo said:
I sideloaded the new 11/17 update last night and it definitely does seem to make the fingerprint scanner quicker and more consistent.

One possible cause of annoyance is that the Pixel doesn't clearly inform you what type of unlock is needed. There's a very small fingerprint scan icon on your AOD lockscreen. It's small and when you touch it, it doesn't always even want you to unlock the device with your finger. Sometimes it just wants a swipe, other times it wants your passcode. On my S20, the AOD fingerprint icon was full size and it was consistent. The Android 12 AOD has so much wasted space with the huge over/under clock, they have tons of room to change this.
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Yeah, people hate when I point this out but Google has been playing catch up to Samsung's design language ever since One UI. I'm not actually a huge fan of One UI but A12 clearly borrows a lot from it and if even "stock Android" is going all-in space wasting, then the more polished One UI is actually a better experience.
 
ChronoReverse said:
Yeah, people hate when I point this out but Google has been playing catch up to Samsung's design language ever since One UI. I'm not actually a huge fan of One UI but A12 clearly borrows a lot from it and if even "stock Android" is going all-in space wasting, then the more polished One UI is actually a better experience.
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I agree. I *HATE* Samsung's system apps like calendar, clock, people, messages, etc. but One UI is actually really feature-rich and customizable these days. It looks good, too. I think it's better than the Pixel's implementation of Android 12. Samsung apparently dedicated all of their talented engineers to the core OS while all of their apps look/work straight out of 2012.
 
So back on my Pixel 6 for a day, and I do like the more portable form factor, and flat screen much more than the 6 Pro.

But...

Performance wise, yeah I can notice a difference. The regular 6 just feels slightly and I mean very minor bit slower than the 6 Pro. Very very minor split second hiccups on certain things when maybe sending a text, or going back to an app I have in background. I mean just a quarter of second barely there lag, not much really, but it's there.

The Pixel 6 Pro. Smooth as butter, very fluid, always fast 100%.

Now why is that? The 120hz display over 90hz? I doubt it. The 12GB RAM over 8GB? Don't think so.

But there's a difference, it's certainly not night and day or anything. But the 6 Pro is just a faster smoother feeling phone over the Pixel 6.

Wish Google did what Apple does with the Pro line of phones. The 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max are virtual identical hardware inside, only the screen size and battery being different.
 
I've noticed a couple quirks in my 6 that weren't in the 6 Pro. The touch screen doesn't feel quite as sensitive as the 6 Pro even with the heightened sensitivity feature tuned on. I've had to tap icons more than once or twice to activate apps. It's random and happens at various points on the screen. The recent update hasn't improved the fingerprint scanner as far as I can tell. I'm more certain than ever that I strongly prefer the scanner on the back of the phone.

For $699, I think the 6 256GB is a good, but not a great phone. I can live with it for the next year unless something else catches my attention.
 
The only issue I've had with the touch is the navigation icons at the bottom. Feels like the touch activation area is really picky with those. I have them not register rather often. Seems like I hit the bottom half of them out of habit, and that's usually where it doesn't always count. This is my 5th Android device (of all makes and OEMs) and I've never had that happen to me with previous phones. It's not a huge deal, but it's peculiar.
 
CHANG3D said:
Best Buy is currently selling the unlocked Pixel 6 at $499 if you activate now. This is honestly the right price of this phone with shit for hw without any mmWave radios, middling if not poor battery life, and a crap optical under screen fingerprint scanner. But it’s got Google…
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Let's see, I see Change3D, I look up and see it's a pixel thread, and I know before even reading it that he's going to be crapping all over the phone. And true to form Change3D never fails to disappoint. I mean he's only been doing it for how many years now? I can pretty much make a mad lib out out of his pixel posts....pixel (1,2,3,4,5,6) is a (insert derogatory adjective here).

I know I know. We get it. Pixels are complete garbage. They're not worth holding up the jock strap of the almighty iPhone and were all idiots for buying them. Thank you for the reminder.
 
I can only go by what my son tells me and the Pixel 6 is major upgrade over my old OnePlus 5 that he took over from me. He does not like to change much and I talked him into the Pixel 6 and he absolutely loves it. Battery life, camera and speed are the 3 areas where even he said he could not believe how much better it is.
I think those that are coming from a year or even a two year old phone may expect too much. There are not quantum leaps in user experience from generation to the next.

Start replacing a 3 or 4 year old phone and the new phone is a substantial change in speed, battery life, camera, etc.

To me, if you like Android get a Pixel 6/Pro.

If you like iOS, get the 13 Pro/Pro Max.

If you are on the bleeding edge, then get the Flip or Fold.

Each (except for the Flip or Fold as they are more a proof of concept still) represents well what their respective vision is for their ecosystem.

They are more alike now than ever before and it should just come down to personal preference as both are excellent phones.
 
I should've included my thoughts on battery life. After having to recharge my 3XL 2-3 times/day, I easily can go all day with my 6 and use only 15% - 60% of battery power. That's damn good, IMO! (y)
 
radeon962 said:
I can only go by what my son tells me and the Pixel 6 is major upgrade over my old OnePlus 5 that he took over from me. He does not like to change much and I talked him into the Pixel 6 and he absolutely loves it. Battery life, camera and speed are the 3 areas where even he said he could not believe how much better it is.
I think those that are coming from a year or even a two year old phone may expect too much. There are not quantum leaps in user experience from generation to the next.

Start replacing a 3 or 4 year old phone and the new phone is a substantial change in speed, battery life, camera, etc.

To me, if you like Android get a Pixel 6/Pro.

If you like iOS, get the 13 Pro/Pro Max.

If you are on the bleeding edge, then get the Flip or Fold.

Each (except for the Flip or Fold as they are more a proof of concept still) represents well what their respective vision is for their ecosystem.

They are more alike now than ever before and it should just come down to personal preference as both are excellent phones.
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Great post, totally agree.

In my mind the top phones of 2021 are, Pixel 6 Pro if your an Android fan. And iPhone 13 Pro Max if you like iOS.

My top picks of 2021;

#1 = Pixel 6 Pro
#2 = iPhone 13 Pro Max
#3 = Pixel 6
#4 = OnePlus 9 Pro
 
Anyone up in the middle of the night, to see the lunar eclipse;
 

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Is that with the Pro? One thing the S21 Ultra is really good at is capturing detailed zoom photos of the moon.
 
radeon962 said:
Anyone able to get a price adjustment if you bought from Best Buy? My son purchased his on 10/30/21 so outside of the normal 14 day window.
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Best buy has the Black Friday pricing guarantee so I'm pretty sure you can get it adjusted.
Johnny78 said:
Let's see, I see Change3D, I look up and see it's a pixel thread, and I know before even reading it that he's going to be crapping all over the phone. And true to form Change3D never fails to disappoint. I mean he's only been doing it for how many years now? I can pretty much make a mad lib out out of his pixel posts....pixel (1,2,3,4,5,6) is a (insert derogatory adjective here).

I know I know. We get it. Pixels are complete garbage. They're not worth holding up the jock strap of the almighty iPhone and were all idiots for buying them. Thank you for the reminder.
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I'm pretty sure I was a fan of the original pixel and pixel 2 (though not the XL). Pixel 3 was where google lost me with their issues after issues. Since I'm also shitting on apple too, perhaps it's you who are projecting your fanboy fantasies of google upon me. Being a fanboy or a hater is bad no matter what side you're on. Sure, you can totally overpay for a Google device if that's what you want. But it's hard to beat apple right now in terms of value. An iPhone mini has mmWave, good battery life, and the best performing SoC on mobile devices for $699. You want to pay Google the same price for something less? Sure, you go right ahead and overpay for it while I tell people to get it while it's $499 instead.
 
Zorachus said:
Anyone up in the middle of the night, to see the lunar eclipse;
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It can't do better than that? I took this hand held with Huawei P30 some time ago:
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Not entirely sure what kind of black magic it did there considering the zoom camera isn't anything fancy... If I'd have to guess, it goes "a bit" beyond what you can possibly get with sensor data only (as in, this can't possibly be real...).
 
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Something I've noticed over the last few weeks is how the battery life seems to be improving. Doing the same tasks I was doing even a week ago appears to leave me with more battery. I'm assuming it's just just how the adaptive battery function works, but it seems to be doing its job. At least on the surface - I'm not exactly using a physical battery tester or anything. At the end of the day, even after extremely heavy during the first week, the lowest my battery has been was around 30%. That's with no Wi-Fi at all and 5G (non-mmWave) enabled. I'm sure that'll decrease over time, but that's encouraging for trips where I'm going to be using it for really long stretches.
 
My simple homescreen and lockscreen;
 

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Starting to wonder if my 6 is defective. Whenever I wake it from the AOD, none of the home screen icons work. I have to tap them 3-5 times to launch. Anyone else have this problem?
 
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