I'm tempted to get one to replace my very cracked Pixel 9 Pro XL. With all the incentives Google offers for Google Fi customers it's not all that expensive. Comes out to about $1100 after trade-in and includes a free Pixel Watch 5.

I'm foldable-curious and Samsung just includes too much overlapping bloat "features". Gemini is bad enough, I don't need Bixby and whatever else. Not to mention I would have to pay full price.

▲

daoboy 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm on my last Samsung for this reason. Just way too much bloatware, need to agree to a new privacy policy once a week, and every time it updates I find a few new apps on my phone I didn't want.

Gonna hold out for the Motorola/Graphene phone though. One of the models is supposed to be a flagship foldable.

	▲	microtonal 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I also have a Samsung phone besides a Pixel with GrapheneOS and I just ripped out Gemini, most of Bixby, etc. using UAD-ng. It's very clean now, but I still have all the customizability of OneUI, Good Lock, etc.

▲

rurp 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Samsung just includes too much overlapping bloat "features"

Yep, that's a major drawback. My partner has a Samsung phone and seeing all of the included bloatware, plus the terrible updates and add even more, made me not even consider one of their devices last time I bought a phone.

▲

calvinmorrison 4 hours ago | parent [-]

how about any time the system updates it automatically installs gambling apps on my phone?

▲

microtonal 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Are you sure it's not some carrier install? (Which are apparently a thing in the US.)

I have never seen anything like that on a flagship Samsung, nor our daughter's A series.

	▲	TaLiTr 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		At work we bought a used tablet off eBay to replace a customer device where they really wanted an identical (obsolete) model. OMG the amount of extra crap that Verizon branded tablet had pre-installed was agonizing. All system apps so you couldn't get rid of it.
	▲	calvinmorrison an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		i take the position that it's all dog shit and i dont care whos fault it is, all of these people need to be put in front of a tribunal and justice done

▲

Grombobulous 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Just be careful about what your actual use case is.

For example, this form factor of foldable doesn’t give you significantly more screen real estate for 16:9 video content since it’s such a square aspect ratio.

They also generally aren’t large enough to take advantage of tablet layouts, while tri-fold designs fold out to be almost identical to a tablet size.

You have to really want to use two apps side by side in my opinion.

▲

krisroadruck 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'm on fi and got the fold 8 through fi for a pretty steep discount. It was cash off immediately + fi credits. I can pull up exact details if you care but it was several hundred dollars off split pretty evenly between instant discount and fi credits. Coming from nearly 10 years of pixels/nexus the transition hasn't been that bad. I miss a couple pixel exclusives, but nearly all the samsung bloatware can be disabled or removed entirely. I haven't bumped into bixby once.

One genuine nice Samsung feature is DeX. Been using it + moonlight (when needed) to make the phone basically a secondary computer when hooked up to USB-C monitor. Honestly I think this phone may end up replacing several other devices - kindle, gaming portable (eg: steamdeck, replaced by phone + GameSir G8 + controller), laptop, tablet. I think it can only replace laptop in my use case because I can remote into my desktop from it if I need extra compute - so if you are laptop only I don't expect it to be a straight replacement.

Honestly, best phone I've ever used - but I hope next year either google gets off the sidelines and adopts passport form factor + gets its shit together on the crease, cpu and dex equivalent so I can get my pixel exclusives and vanilla OS back, or alternatively Samsung makes the wide form factor the "ultra" and gives us better cameras, speaker placement, s-pen and IP68.

▲

DANmode 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you run GrapeheneOS on it and use it as your full machine while wired to a display or three, sure.

Otherwise, in no world is $1100 for a cell phone anything but expensive.

Yes, iPhones are also expensive.

▲

Grombobulous 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The other thing I would say is that Pixels are just not high end hardware and they masquerade like they are. They get these insane launch sale deals like we are seeing now and the whole reason for that is because they aren’t competitive with true flagships.

It’s just not really a flagship phone in terms of processor performance.

I know Samsung has a lot more of their garbage software on it but I think if I was in the Android market I’d probably be inclined for a Samsung device over a Pixel. If I lived in Europe or Asia I’d be looking at something Chinese that’s not sold in the US market. Companies like Xiaomi and Huawei make way better phones than Google.

▲

overfeed 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> It’s just not really a flagship phone in terms of processor performance.

I'm curious to know which apps/use-cases you feel are hobbled by the non-flagship processors on Pixels. It feels like most peoples top 3 activities on phones are infinite scrolling inside apps or a browser, taking pictures, and playing games, which Pixels seem to be great at. It's been many years since I felt that a phone that is slow enough to notice - even the midrange ones, and I (used to) write and debug code on my phone.

	▲	Grombobulous 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Gaming is a very common use case where a true high end chipset can help. 4 year old video, but Genshin Impact ran better on the Exynos chip of the time compared to Tensor: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IG5eTHJfM5U Sure, 4 years later anything can run Genshin, but the point is that the next new hit game is just around the corner and gamers appreciate the extra performance. My understanding is also that the pixel’s tensor chip series is not very “flagship” in terms of battery stamina/efficiency when you’re doing heavy tasks such as gaming. So it’s not always about having the faster processor, you can also benefit by your processor being the most efficient on the market and making the most use of the battery in your chassis. Video comparison of last year’s phones head to head where the Samsung phone lasts nearly 8 hours longer on video playback: https://youtube.com/shorts/R_zYmUkafew

▲

microtonal 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Samsung also has these kinds of sales. A bunch of people on a forum I frequent had some Z Fold 8 just north of 1000 Euro with a trade in and by stacking coupons.

Heck, even flagships like the S26 Ultra, which was introduced in March and still dominates the CPU, GPU, etc. charts are currently 500 Euro off in my country.

Even discounted, Pixel have pretty bad prices compared to the competition. The primary reason to buy a Pixel is to run GrapheneOS. Otherwise, just get an iPhone or if you are willing to remove the bloat with UAD some Samsung phone.

▲

tpm 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

From Europe, at this point I don't even look at Pixels because of their sad excuse of a battery. Just buying directly from China better phones for half the price. Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi are all good, others probably too, Huawei has nice hardware but due to US ban no usable Android.

▲

Grombobulous 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Interesting, I didn’t realize that the ban went that far — Google can’t even put Google Play on it for European customers then?

I’m now recalling that Huawei does have their own OS that is not based on Android.

In any event, your exact sentiment reflects my feelings. Honor, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, etc etc, what is the Pixel really getting you over those options?

	▲	tpm 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Huawei has their HarmonyOS but still releases Android phones too for international markets - but these can't use Google Services, so they have their own services. If it's possible to somehow install google services I have no idea. Personally I would perhaps like to use or at least try Pixel's software (I've had some Google-software phones years ago, a Nexus I think? Maybe even some Pixel. And they were fine), but not on that HW.

▲

garciasn 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It’s $1800; they are applying trade-in and some sort of GoogleFi discount to get it down to $1100.

Nearly $2000 after tax for a phone is fucking absurd.

	▲	Grombobulous 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That’s in the eye of the beholder. Folding phones are unique devices and the best tri-fold designs can legitimately replace a tablet. A whole lot of people use their phone as their primary and most-used device. I don’t think a high price is insane, it’s just that folks who consider them a utility and a side-device to a desktop computer tend not to feel that way. Many millennials and older who grew up with desktops and laptops probably can’t comprehend the idea of a phone being the only device or primary device. My iPhone was something like $1300 and I feel like it was worth every penny, and that a cheaper model did not meet my needs and wants.

▲

drop_star 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> free Pixel Watch 5.

Personally, I find smart watches a gimmick but maybe I havnt looked into them enough.