Pixel 5 early news

A black P5 is sitting in my Google Store cart. Just waiting for some good reviews. If the P5 has equal or better performance than my 3XL, with a better screen and battery life, I'll be satisfied. If we get a BF $100 price drop + $150 trade-in, I'll be happy to spend $450 on the P5. (y)
 
Last edited:
I too am eagerly waiting for official reviews. I'm hoping battery life is amazing, it should be due to the 1080p screen and a 4,100mAh ( 4080 ) battery, and efficient processor.

Screen brightness has always been a poor spot on Pixel's compared to the competition, hopefully that's improved over the 4 XL and 3 XL.
 
Ordered two. Black was sold out so I got the green. I'm going to put a dbrand skin on it so it doesnt really matter what color it is.
 
My wife's Pixel 5 should be here in 2 weeks. I'm honestly curious if "flagship" specs will mean anything. At least outside of gaming, which I don't do on my phone.
I miss the streamlined functionality of my Pixel. There was never a concern about 1st party apps working correctly, updates showing up on time, the camera taking good shots on the first try, etc.
 
For most ppl Flag ship specs don't mean a damn thing. I hope Google continues in this direction. But they will find the competition is just as fierce or even worse in this segment. Lets see what happens.
 
Sort of off topic, but for the average consumer, Joe Blow, non techie smartphone buyer. Which that crowd probably makes up 95% of the sales, not us [H]ard nerds here.

They don't care or even know about specs, heck they don't even know which OS version they're on, and of course don't know about the processor or RAM, or any of that. But my question or point is, since majority of people, at least here in the US still get their smartphone through the carrier on some type of payment plan, most are not paying outright in full cash for their phone, they put it on their monthly phone bill. So I bet people don't even know the full price of a high end smartphone today. If you told them their new Samsung Galaxy or iPhone 12 was $1,000+ they'd probably shit and be shocked to hear that. They just see that it costs $35/Month, and that's all they know.

So a Pixel 5 for $700 or an iPhone 12 Pro / Note 20 Ultra for $1100, I don't think registers in their minds. The average consumer just buys what they want on the monthly payment plan through the carrier. Only the very small % of people that buy their phones outright actually look and care about the total price.
 
The average consumer will buy whatever the salesperson push or whichever advertisement they heard or saw with the price. If they are looking for a cheap phone, the salespersons will push for the cheaper but equally if not the more capable Motorola or OnePlus. If they are looking for a high-end phone, they will push for Samsung or Apple. Google priced themselves in a category that’s hard to sell. And considering the amount of advertising for the Pixel 4 and it’s lack of sales despite being on every carrier, I really doubt the average consumer would buy the Pixel 5 either.
 
I preordered a few days ago, waiting for an in stock notification.

My Pixel 2 XL is still running strong, best phone I've ever had. Years later it's still just as fast as it was new and battery life is amazing.

What sold the upgrade for me was the 90Hz screen and 5G. Also, the fingerprint reader is key.

Not interested in any other Android brands, stock Android on Pixel is by far the best.
 
cybereality said:
I preordered a few days ago, waiting for an in stock notification.

My Pixel 2 XL is still running strong, best phone I've ever had. Years later it's still just as fast as it was new and battery life is amazing.

What sold the upgrade for me was the 90Hz screen and 5G. Also, the fingerprint reader is key.

Not interested in any other Android brands, stock Android on Pixel is by far the best.
Click to expand...
Solid upgrade for sure
 
The OnePlus 8T clearly has the better hardware and nicer screen and bigger battery.

But the Pixel 5 has the great camera and stock Android.

Both priced very close to each other. In the perfect world I would take the 8T with the Pixel 5 software and camera.
 
Zorachus said:
The OnePlus 8T clearly has the better hardware and nicer screen and bigger battery.

But the Pixel 5 has the great camera and stock Android.

Both priced very close to each other. In the perfect world I would take the 8T with the Pixel 5 software and camera.
Click to expand...
Don’t forget you have Google backing the hardware. OnePlus is not who you want to deal with if you have a hardware issue.

I have dealt with both companies. Google cross shipped a replacement phone. They take your CC info, ship you a replacement phone, you send your phone back with a pre-paid label they provide and they remove the authorization on your CC.

OnePlus runs you through so many hoops you eventually give up and move on. I was an early supporter with the One and held on that things would get better up and through the 5 but marginal camera, lack of updates and then the poor customer service on a hardware related item turned me off OnePlus finally.

I am Apple and Google only now as they just know how to back their products, provide regular updates and produce a good or great product every year and exceptional customer service is worth the higher price for me.
 
radeon962 said:
Don’t forget you have Google backing the hardware. OnePlus is not who you want to deal with if you have a hardware issue.

I have dealt with both companies. Google cross shipped a replacement phone. They take your CC info, ship you a replacement phone, you send your phone back with a pre-paid label they provide and they remove the authorization on your CC.

OnePlus runs you through so many hoops you eventually give up and move on. I was an early supporter with the One and held on that things would get better up and through the 5 but marginal camera, lack of updates and then the poor customer service on a hardware related item turned me off OnePlus finally.

I am Apple and Google only now as they just know how to back their products, provide regular updates and produce a good or great product every year and exceptional customer service is worth the higher price for me.
Click to expand...


Excellent point. In my opinion, OnePlus is a great phone, if you treat it as something you pay in full with cash, and it's yours, and good luck, keep it safe and don't break it. Root it and do your own system updates via XDA. Don't expect any warranty or service, and if you drop it, that's your fault, your on your own. If your ok with that, then go with OnePlus. Pretend there's zero help from OnePlus after you get the phone.

If you want A+ best service, walk into a store and get a replacement phone on the spot, or a repair same day, and the best warranty then go Apple.

Google is pretty good too, just no retail stores to walk into to replace a device.
 


This guy has had the phone since early September, and is doing a 30 day review of the Pixel 5, he says the battery life is outstanding, he gets on mostly 7h to 8h SoT. Says the phone is very smooth and fast. Bright and vibrant display. He also says the smaller size is actually nice, easy to one hand control and hold, and it's not slippery, can be used without case.
 
I just picked up a case for the P5. It's a Speck Presidio Grip. I thought you'd like to see a size comparison between it and a P3XL case. No doubt that the P5 will be the smallest phone I've owned since the iPhone 5.

PXL_20201015_222152846.jpg


PXL_20201015_222128039.jpg
 
I'm very tempted to buy the Pixel 5, coming from my Pixel 4 XL, but every time I put the phone in the cart on the Google site, and ready to press accept, I can't do it yet. It's more of a side grade at best it seems?

My main beefs with my 4 XL;

- FaceID blows, seems so inaccurate. And now with COVID, and wearing a mask FaceID is no good.
- Battery life on my 4 XL is ok at best, I get like 5h to 5.5h SoT, which isn't bad, but for me, I typically do best with a phone that can get me 7h SoT or better.
- Screen brightness, my 4 XL not too good outdoors, it's rather dim.
- Size, with the big forehead it's a rather large phone, it's borderline too large for my tastes, especially the width, you can't one hand use this phone, but I also don't like small phones either, not a fan of tiny phones.

So I'm torn
 
Zorachus said:
So I'm torn..
Click to expand...
Only 0.61 of an inch difference in height and the difference in width is insignificant. Has 537 ppi vs 432. No punch hole or cutouts. Snapdragon 855 for smooth sailing. I don't place any importance on a 90Hz refresh rate as it is smooth and snappy without it. Battery life, yeah it could be and should be better but I don't mind charging. See what the Pixel 6 offers which I know you will have interest in, who knows it may be a true flagship.
 
Last edited:
I'm coming from a 3XL with -- here it comes -- wretched battery life, so I'm ready for a new phone. I'm looking forward to trying the P5. If it's meh, I'll return it and muddle through with my 3XL for another year. If next year's P6 is a beast, I'll buy it regardless if I keep the P5.
 
Zorachus said:
If you want A+ best service, walk into a store and get a replacement phone on the spot, or a repair same day, and the best warranty then go Apple.

Google is pretty good too, just no retail stores to walk into to replace a device.
Click to expand...

Not entirely true. I just had a really surprisingly pleasant experience dealing with an issue on my Pixel 4 XL. I had the dreaded 50% battery bug that has plagued some of these phones. My battery level would get stuck at 50% and I'd have to squeeze the phone in a certain area while rebooting to get the battery to reset. Beyond obnoxious. Eventually the phone just died and refused to charge. Anyway, last week I walked into a local uBreakiFix store here in Socal (the designated repair center for Google apparently) fully expecting to pay a couple hundred bucks and be without my phone for a week. To my pleasant surprise, they replaced the battery with a brand new one at zero cost for me and returned the phone to me within 90 minutes. I was absolutely shocked at how efficient and great the experience was. After getting very pissed with the build quality of my Pixel 4, the pleasant warranty experience ensured I will be staying with Pixel phones. Anyone else use uBreakIfix for warranty issues? I would highly recommend them.
 
After reading and watching so many reviews on the Pixel 5, I have come to this conclusion. What the old saying iPhone users used to say "It just works"

What I mean is, the Pixel 5 has mediocre specs, yes we know that, the Galaxy FE and 8T are similar priced with much better hardware. But the Pixel 5 has the magical sprinkling of stock vanilla Android, designed specifically for this phone, which makes it run smooth and fluid. Yeah this phone doesn't have super cool features, and stuff a high end Galaxy or iPhone will have, but the overall package is just a fast competent phone you can trust that works all the time, with guaranteed updates direct from Google for 3 years, and monthly security updates like clockwork, month after month, which is worth a lot I think.

The Pixel 5 is a phone you pull out of your pocket, reply to a quick text, and put it back and move on with your day. And it easily fits in pockets with the new minimal size. It's a simple phone, for the every day typical tasks you do with a smartphone. Yeah it's not the gaming powerhouse phone, or the best for watching movies on, but besides that, it's just a nice smartphone that easily gets the job done, without al the bells and whistles.

But what it does well, is important;

- Great battery life
- Excellent point and shoot camera
- 3 years guaranteed OS updates, plus monthly security updates for 36 months.
- Comfortable size, not a phablet
- Smooth fluid OS
- Wireless charging and IP68 are nice features, not must haves, but good to have

If your a gamer or big movie watcher on your phone, the Pixel 5 isn't for you, but for everything else, it's probably one of the best Android phones this year.
 
Last edited:
Commander Shepard said:
If Google priced the P5 at $595, they wouldn't be able to keep them in stock.
Click to expand...

I suspect it will be around that price many times on and after BF, which is when I plan on picking one up I think.

The only things I'll miss coming from my 2 XL is the Active Edge (squeeze assistant) that I use a fair amount of and it seems that the stereo speakers on the 5 are a bit weak/lopsided due to it not having a normal speaker at the top of it. Not a huge deal given how easy it is to launch assistant otherwise with a diagonal swipe from the bottom or by just using the hot word. I will definitely appreciate the addition of a wide-angle camera now since I'm traveling a lot in Europe and always taking wide landscape pics. Panorama mode often has a lot of uneven color shifting as you pan across for those shots on my 2 XL at least.

I can't say I'm not tempted by the OP8T and S20 FE at around the same price though. The only thing really holding me back from those phones is the camera, esp. night mode shots that the Pixel still excels at and I'm constantly amazed by it even on my old 2 XL. Otherwise with those OEMs committing to 3 major OS updates and not trailing Pixels too much in terms of update expediency, I would most definitely pick one of those over the Pixel. One thing to keep in mind with that "commitment" though, is that if their phone launches around the time of a major Android update, like the S20 FE just did, then Android 11 counts as one of their OS updates and you're back to really only getting 2 years of OS update support. It's kinda sketchy how they claim that, and they should just go by a time commitment rather than number of major updates. But considering Samsung has continued updating their 4+ year old S7 with quarterly security updates (it might be EOL by now, not sure), I wouldn't be too worried about that either, esp. considering their software often has features in it already that Google implements in future OS updates.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top