It’s not another Pixelgate, not yet. But Google’s latest handsets have some serious reliability issues. Fortunately, they seem to be tied to the same problem.
As the temporary owner of a Pixel 3 XL and Pixel 3—I’m going to choose between them and keep one—I’m naturally worried about another year of problems. Given the endemic reliability issues with the Pixel 2 XL—I had to exchange mine for a refurbished unit, twice—I assume this concern is understandable.
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And any issues with the Pixel 3 family are particularly troublesome because, for the first time ever, the smaller Pixel and the bigger XL model are both basically identical inside. This means that virtually any major Pixel 3 problem, sans something display-related—will impact all Pixel 3 and 3 XL handsets. With last year’s Pixel 2/2XL, each handset was completely different internally, and where the Pixel 2 XL has endemic reliability problems, the Pixel 2 did not.
Anyway, it wasn’t long after the Pixel 3 launch that early users started complaining about two problems that now appear to be related. In some cases, the Pixel 3 will not save photos taken with the camera. And in others, the Pixel 3 seems incapable of even the most basic multitasking functionality; the most obvious example being a music-streaming app like Spotify shutting down, and killing the music playback, when the user navigates to other apps.
Some critics immediately pointed to Google’s decision to include only 4 GB of RAM on its newest flagships in an era when its competitors include 6 or even 8 GB of RAM. And … those critics may have a point. Several prominent members of the Android community (for example here and here) have compared the multitasking performance of the OnePlus 6, with 6 GB of RAM, with the Pixel 3. And the OnePlus 6 has no issues at all handling tasks that trigger app shutdowns on the Pixel 3.
I’m not sure I’ve yet experienced these issues, but I’ve only had the phones for three days. We did use the Pixel 3 XL to stream music to our sun room’s Chromecast-connected speakers on Friday night, and I did use the phone for other tasks at the time and didn’t have any issues. But this is barely anecdotal, let alone “evidence” of anything. So I will try to trip up the phones in my testing going forward.
My guess—and my hope—is that Google can fix this with a software update. But even if this is possible, I feel like this event highlights Google’s ongoing immaturity when it comes to hardware design. And that the firm still hasn’t learned the lessons of its problematic past.
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#355187">In reply to spectremandroid:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes. The old "We added more memory and the bug went away" has never been a great solution to a system problem.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#355190">In reply to scarper86:</a></em></blockquote><p>The whole trend of recent years of rushing new products to market has led to a substantial drop in quality across the board. Nothing is likely to change since people seem to be accepting it in the same spirit they accept microwave ovens that are still more like a science experiment than a reliable method of cooking.</p>
Dryloch
<p>The Galaxy S10 is shaping up to be a beast. I think jumping on the Pixel now might be a mistake…</p>
Bats
<p>Thurrott has been really the only one having these issues, whereas no one else really has. I think the problem is not with the pixel the problem is him.</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#355206">In reply to Bats:</a></em></blockquote><p>We know you have a Google tattoo across you back in large letters so they will never have a problem in your mind.</p>
jedwards87
<blockquote><em><a href="#355206">In reply to Bats:</a></em></blockquote><p>It is like you can't read.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#355242">In reply to mrmediaguy:</a></em></blockquote><p>To a degree what you say is true, however, hardware design flaws don't necessarily mean that all units with the same hardware will exhibit the problem. That's why good hardware design involves providing adequate margins so that the product works correctly given the variation in characteristics that vary from one instance of a component to another. With inadequate margins, some product units can operate outside the specifications.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#355269">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>Apparently some people here don't approve of good hardware design practices. </p>
Lateef Alabi-Oki
<p>I'm trying to understand why aggressive memory management now equates to immature hardware design and earns the Pixel a "Gate" moniker?</p><p><br></p><p>Sure, Google should tune their memory management to be less aggressive (a software problem by the way), and fix the Google Camera bug (another software issue), but to make a huge fuss out of this is an orbital reach.</p><p><br></p><p>The hypocrisy is that when Apple for over 5 years refused to add more memory to their iPhones and as a result tuned their memory management aggressively, nobody made a scandal out of it.</p><p><br></p><p>For years, you couldn't even run anything in the background on iOS. Forget trying to sync a large Dropbox file in the background. The media and everyone heralded it as "great design" and "hardware optimization". </p><p><br></p><p>Google does the same thing and it called "Pixel-Gate". </p><p><br></p><p>Stop it!</p>
dontbe evil
<blockquote><em><a href="#355329">In reply to Tomaz:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>if 2 out of XXX users doesn-t have the issue, doesn-t mean there is no issue</p>
dontbe evil
<p>"<strong style="color: rgb(13, 68, 99); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Google’s Reliability Issues "</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong style="color: rgb(13, 68, 99); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">what a surprise /s</strong></p>
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#355330">In reply to dontbe_evil:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Google is not a hardware maker. I will stick to iPhone's and yes they have their own problems but between privacy, general security of Android, and the lack of a good (hardware) Android phone that comes with stock Android and gets all of the updates, the iPhone is the only option for me.</p>
jedwards87
<blockquote><em><a href="#355905">In reply to jeffreytz:</a></em></blockquote><p>I have also yet to run into any of these problems with my Pixel 3. Normally I am an iPhone user but I decided to try the Pixel 3. I am impressed with how this thing is working. I haven't decided whether I will keep it yet but so far so good. The camera is crazy good compared to my X, which is great in good lighting but everything else not so much. I have started using mostly Google services so I thought it was a good time to try a Google phone again as it has been awhile.</p>