Just be careful with the 8 because their motherboards tend to randomly fry themselves - both me and a friend had this happen around 2 years into owning ours and there are a decent number of people online with the same issue. Switched to the 10a on sale right before the price hike and man I'm glad I did. It'll probably be the last great Pixel if hardware costs keep getting worse and Google keeps shoving Gemini down everyone's throats.

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randlet an hour ago | parent | next [-]

My Pixel 8 failed with the exact failure mode (supposedly) covered by an extended warranty [0] program after owning it for 18 months. I had a very frustrating back and forth with Google support and in the end they refused to fix it under warranty because it wasn't manufactured in a specific batch.

Flagship phone turned into a useless device after 18 months of ownership due to a manufacturing issue and I've got no recourse. I'm done with Pixel and Google in general.

[0] https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/15009955?hl=en

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bpev 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I had this happen twice with pixel 5a's as well. Older, but just to say I'm not sure this is limited to the 8 line. One of them literally just died in my hand and was unfixable.

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kolla 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

So just use it until the motherboard dies, why switch before it dies?

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hbn 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Just off the dome:

- Suddenly being without a phone while you're travelling or dealing with something important is generally not fun

- Anything stored locally that isn't backed up is gone

- You can't transfer over your eSIM yourself

- Probably going to be a pain in the ass to get into accounts where the now brick was set up for 2FA

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__MatrixMan__ 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

If you're worried about things like this you should probably switch to a physical sim and just earmark some money so you can buy a new phone when it happens and transfer the sim. Maybe get some yubikeys while you're at it.

Anything complex enough to get over the air updates could lose its trustworthiness at any time. If a device is going to contain your digital soul, it should be simple and pluggable.

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epihelix 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I use an eSim adaptor in my physical sim slot. You can then transfer eSims effortlessly between phones. This seems the obvious solution to get the best of both worlds - all the good things about eSims, none of the bad.

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hbn 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I do still use a physical SIM but I'm sure we're all on borrowed time. The last 3 generations of iPhones don't have a SIM tray at all in the US.

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drnick1 5 hours ago | parent [-]

> The last 3 generations of iPhones don't have a SIM tray at all in the US.

Another good reason not to buy an iPhone. As if there weren't enough good reasons already.

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hbn 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Yeah I'm sure Android manufacturers aren't gonna follow suit, just like how they all have headphone jacks still right?

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bigyabai 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Many of them do have a headphone jack, still. If you're the sort of person that wants hardware options, Android has 'em.

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hbn an hour ago | parent [-]

If you want options, you go Android

If you want something good and reliable, you go iPhone

	▲	drnick1 43 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> If you want something good and reliable, you go iPhone Unless by "good" you mean being able to install software without Apple's blessing. Or send files to and from the device without iTunes or other similar monstrosity.

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shermantanktop 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

All the same applies if your phone is stolen…or lost…or seized at the airport.

Devices need to be considered disposable. Expensive but disposable.

	▲	hbn 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Okay but I try to prevent any of those things from happening, unlike the suggestion to use your phone with a high rate of failure until it dies.

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SoftTalker 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

All of those things are possibilities with any phone. If you're not prepared for the loss/damage/failure of your phone that's on you.

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grahamburger 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Definitely a good idea to plan on this at all times. In my case this looks like:

* All photos auto upload to Google photos

* All other important files are in a syncthing folder with at least two other devices (laptop+desktop)

* 2fa in Authy with cloud-sync

* Passwords on Firefox sync

* Google Fi is my carrier, and pulls eSIM when I log in to the app even without my old phone

* Google voice number is my main phone number. I don't lose access to incoming or outgoing sms or voice calls if I lose my phone.

In a pinch, I can buy a cheap prepaid phone and sim while traveling and be fully functional and reachable. I've had to do this before, and while I probably wouldn't go to the trouble for work, I feel compelled to be at least reachable for family.

I've thought about de-googling this further; photos could go straight into syncthing and I could port my # to a generic SIP provider that offers SMS. So far neither have seemed quite worth the trouble.

I've always felt very uncomfortable treating my phone as anything other than a rather overpowered thin-client.

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SoftTalker 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

One flaw in that is that Google Voice or other VOIP provider numbers are often rejected for 2FA or account validation.

	▲	grahamburger 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Sometimes, yes, but not that often IME. Maybe 10-15% of the time.

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mattwad 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I recommend you get off Authy - they don't have a browser extension or a desktop client, and surprise they don't have a way to export your codes either. I had to send them a GDPR data request, and then Claude decrypted the csv file they sent. I now use Ente and it's so nice having 2fa inside a browser extension. I can also export the secrets at will.

	▲	__aru 24 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Keepass is also a good alternative to Authy, caveat being you need some way to sync the db file between devices. I personally use Keepass for 2FA, Bitwarden for passwords. It's worked great for me so far, and I expect to stay with this setup for the foreseeable future.

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someonebaggy 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They are stronger possibilities once you know they are going to happen eventually, not just that they could theoretically happen.

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hbn 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes but I don't want my phone to be lost or destroyed or stolen. So using a phone that will likely fail until it does so is not taking preventative measures.

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doublepg23 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I swear every Pixel model people write "well it's a good smartphone minus the 'kills itself for no reason' bug".

	▲	Cider9986 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Yep, I got a 10 and the fingerprint sensor broke after a day. Pretty fortunately I got a refund with no return so I can't complain. My 9 has had no hardware issues besides the designed ones.

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

I fried my 8 pro wifi but I attributed it to listening to it inside my shower where it would get the full force of steam damage. So at least on my part I can admit that was a mistake.

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ButlerianJihad 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I had an 8 Pro and it had a fantastic run, and it was probably the best phone I ever had until I upgraded to the 10 Pro.

Sadly I never, ever put the 8 Pro in any case or protective shell, and the damage of repeated minor drops took its toll. The screen was just cracked a tiny bit around the corners, but eventually the upper-right corner began a creeping black amoeba of darkness, and finally the entire touchscreen became unreliable, I suppose due to that damage, so I decided to bail out. Repairs were exorbitant so I decided to take Google's own trade-in deal.

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gib444 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Just be careful with the 8

Don't forget the notorious vertical pink line issue! Luckily that had (has?) an extended warranty programme.

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randlet an hour ago | parent [-]

My Pixel 8 failed with the exact failure mode (supposedly) covered by that extended warranty [0] program after owning it for 18 months. I had a very frustrating back and forth with Google support and in the end they refused to fix it under warranty because it wasn't manufactured in a specific batch.

Flagship phone turned into a useless device after 18 months of ownership due to a manufacturing issue and I've got no recourse. I'm done with Pixel and Google in general.

[0] https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/15009955?hl=en

	▲	gib444 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Wow, that's shitty. There's certainly plenty of company in the 'never buying a Pixel again' crowd. I've not heard anything good about Google's support in general. Their partner repair company which did my screen replacement tried to refuse because it was running GOS - had to use all my charm to convince her to do it.