Review-New Cell Phone Edition

Let’s go back in time to December 2016 with me. President Trump was not in office yet and I was in desperate need of a new cell phone.

This is what I was rocking at the time.

http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/SamsungUS/Pdpkeyfeature-sm-g900azkaatt-600x600-C1-062016?$product-details-jpg$

A top of the line Korean made cell phone in 2014: Samsung Galaxy S5.

But it was time for a change and I don’t use iPhones.

Enter the Google Pixel

Google has had a number of mid level smartphones on the market for a while now. But nothing that was of interest to me until I heard about the Google Pixel.

The Pixel was everything I wanted in a new smartphone. A top of the line camera, integration with all the latest Google products and services including Google assistant, and even some early stage virtual reality apps. (More on that later though)

After weeks of deliberation I took the plunge and bought the small version of the Pixel and it was in my hot little hands just one week later.

Photo by Justin Main on Unsplash

The phone looks amazing and was extremely fast. All of my photos are backed up automatically using Google Photos and eight months later I have no issues with the phone.

Photo by Mark Solarski on Unsplash

The pictures are excellent quality and the built in AI algorithm behind Google Photos regularly creates new kinds of content with my phone using the standard photos I’ve taken. Here’s one example from a protest I went to in front of the Supreme Court of the United States here in DC.

Source: (CH)

But the coolest part about this phone is the integration with first generation consumer virtual reality systems.

Source: Google Daydream

This is the top of the line VR product from Google called the Daydream. It’s a bit pricy so I haven’t tried this yet. But I have tried one of these…

Source: Google Cardboard

This is the cheapo version of the system and it works ok for just a few dollars invested. Overall, I found the goggles to be pretty awkward and uncomfortable to wear for more than 15 minutes at a time. It was cool but not ready for prime time yet.

And who can forget charging...

The Pixel also uses the new USB C type battery charging system which very quickly charges the battery up when I need it. I charge once during the day when I wake up and the battery will last pretty much all day until I return home at night.

Now for the rest of the story...

Actually only one thing bugs me about this phone. The internal picture storage is kind of a mess.

Here’s what I see when I look for a locally saved picture.

Source: CH

Very confusing…

Some photos go to Google Photos and some do not. They end up in random folders in this submenu of the phone. But that’s the only I don’t like about the Google Pixel at this time. I’d recommend it to basically everyone who wants a nice quality smartphone.

Thanks for reading. What kind of phone are your rocking at the moment? Share with us in the comments.

(CH)