Of Paul’s Perpetual Pixel Purchasing Problems (Premium)

As you may know, I’ve engaged in a lot of navel-gazing over my decision to purchase a Google Pixel 2 XL. And I’ve just changed things up yet again.

There are few things in life of which I am truly jealous. But as I’ve observed to my wife and a few close friends, the one exception is surety. With any decision, big or small, the internal debate just never ends. It’s worse for big decisions, of course—our recent move out-of-date, for example—but it’s always there.

So when I run into people who know exactly what they want, who have stopped running the numbers on the alternatives, that’s when I really understand how jealousy works. That’s what I want: Surety. And it’s just something I’m rarely capable of.

Given this, you may understand what it’s been like for me to watch the Google Pixel 2 XL drama unfold, expand, and then never really end. This new device—an obvious upgrade to the original Pixel XL, with its best-in-market camera and Project Fi compatibility—should be a no-brainer for me, a clear view of what I’ll be using for the next year.

But it’s not.

When Google first announced the Pixel 2 XL, I pre-ordered one as early as I still believe was possible. And yet, my handset has still not arrived, even though many pre-orders have. (And, of course, Verizon customers, including a friend of mine, were able to walk right into a retail store and buy one over the counter as long ago as last week.)

That’s a bit frustrating. But in this case, the wait time—my pre-order has always been due to arrive sometime late next week—has worked to my advantage. Or at least to my nerves. Because I’ve revisited this decision again and again since October 4, and since all the bad news has erupted around the phone.

As I wrote previously, I feel like Google has handled the bad news about as well as they could. I also believe that some, but not all, of the problems that have piled up are, if not invented, at least exaggerated.

But I agree with critics that many of these problems were self-inflicted, that Google could have avoided all of this had it made better technology decisions. More abstractly, the entire notion that Google is designing/making its own phones now, and that the Pixel handsets are in any way different from the Nexus models that preceded them, is ludicrous. The Pixel 2 is an HTC, and the Pixel 2 XL is an LG. Google did not “make” these phones. And, yes, that bothers me on some level.

More to the point, the sheer number of issues with the 2 XL, in particular, has made me nervous that I’ve made a bad decision. Worse, if the Pixel 2 XL doesn’t work out for me, it’s not as simple as choosing another phone. (What a luxury that would be.) I’ll need to rethink Project Fi, which I love. (Speaking of which. My Project Fi bill last month was -$18.45. Yes, negative. I got a credit. How does your bill look this month?)

So I do have a plan B of sorts. I can always go crawling back to AT&T, or to T-Mobile, or wherever, and get a new line. Buy a Samsung Galaxy S8+, or Note8, or whatever, and just use that normally, day-to-day. I can fire up my Project Fi account, and my existing Pixel XL, when I travel internationally, and save some money that way. It’s not completely horrible.

But what I’d really like to just use the one phone. What I’d really like is for the Pixel 2 XL to not suck.

So in my internal back-and-forths around other phones and other wireless carriers, I’ve returned again and again to the Google Store on the web. What I’ve seen is that I could get a Pixel 2 XL more quickly if I just abandoned that black and white version I originally wanted. Or I could get the smaller and less modern looking Pixel 2 almost immediately. And I considered that. More than once.

But last night I finally pulled the trigger on a change. I am sticking with the Pixel 2 XL. But instead of the black and white version I originally ordered literally a month ago, I’l get the black version, still with 128 GB of storage, and still at about $1000 with taxes. (My original Pixel XL is allegedly worth $400 on trade-in, which will help.) But it will arrive Tuesday or Wednesday this week.

And then the real trial will begin. Because if I detect even the slightest display issues, I’ll send this thing back immediately. And start over yet again.