Black Friday Sale, New Tech (Premium)

I’d been waiting on Google’s Black Friday sale to pull the trigger on two personal technology upgrades, one long overdue. Well, that sale is live now. And I’ve made two major purchases. And in each case, I have no idea how much I’m paying.

I know.

But first, if you are in the market for a 2022 Google Pixel, this is the time to buy: the Pixel 6a is just $299, an incredible $150 off its already reasonable $449 street price. The Pixel 7, meanwhile, is just $499, a savings of $100. And the Pixel 7 Pro is $150 with a starting price of just $749. These are all incredible prices, period, and Google was already winning the price comparison with Samsung and Apple. (Whether it wins in other categories is open to debate, of course. But when you’re the underdog, competing on price is job one.)

With that out of the way, this has been an annus horribilis for my wife and me from a financial perspective thanks to our unexpected purchase of a Mexico City apartment, the many times we then flew there this year, all of the furniture and other stuff we needed to buy for it, and other related costs, and the subsequent interest rate spike that literally doubled our monthly equity line payment. I won’t bore you with all that too much, but long story short, my discretionary spending abilities have nosedived in 2022 and I can’t just go buy expensive new things on a whim.

But there are certain … needs that have come up. OK, needs is a strong word, actually. But I’ll just frame these as time-based personal technology decisions. It will make sense in a moment.

The first is our home wi-fi. When we decided to move to Pennsylvania in 2017, I researched what I’d need to do to fill this humongous home with Wi-Fi, and I ended up getting a Google Wifi mesh network system with three nodes (that I later upgraded to four nodes because, again, humongous house). I’ve been very happy with it overall, but over the past year, I’ve noticed some connectivity issues from time to time and have had to unplug the main mode from power to cycle it to get things back to normal. (I have also had issues with the Sonos gear in the sunroom, which resulted in the fourth node purchase and a Sonos Boost wireless extender that finally solved the reliability problems.) Plus, the Google Wifi system is based on Wi-Fi 5, which is now two major generations old. It’s been five years and it’s time for an upgrade.

When I first started researching this in late summer, Google was expected to soon announce something based on Wi-Fi 6E, the latest Wi-Fi standard, and a dramatic improvement over both Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 from performance, reliability, and bandwidth/(lack of) interference perspectives. What I call a future-proof choice. Not because Wi-Fi 7 isn’t right around the corner, of course it is, but because it should have a similar usable life to the Google Wifi system I perhaps kept around a bit too long.

Anyway, Google was one choice, based on my need for mesh networking and my mostly positive experiences. And then there was Amazon, which in late September announced its usual tsunami of new smart home products and services. Among them was a new Echo Dot speaker that I don’t care about, and the news that previous-generation Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Dot with Clock devices would all include built-in Eero capabilities that will allow them to extend an existing Eero Wi-Fi mesh network up to an additional 1000 square feet. And that … that is very interesting to me. (Reference: humongous house.)

So I looked up Eero, which is owned by Amazon and had just shipped its Wi-Fi 6E-based Eero Pro 6E wireless mesh system. And given the year-over-year commitment I see from Amazon with regards to the smart home, and the opposing year-over-year ambivalence that I see from Google … well, my mind wandered. And so I read some reviews, watched as Google finally did announce the Nest Wifi Pro system, and compared the two.

They appear to be similar. But the big difference is the price: where the Eero Pro 6E three-node system costs an astonishing $699, the Google Nest Wifi Pro three-node system is just $399. That’s a significant difference, but it’s still more than I wanted to pay. And so I spent the past month and a half checking to see whether either went on sale—the Eero did but the Nest never did—and, if so, when or whether it would make sense to pull the trigger. By the time Google announced its Black Friday sale, which again is underway as I write this, I figured that was the line in the sand: If the Nest went on sale, I’d get that. If not, I’d wait for the Eero to go on sale again and get that.

And so this morning, I checked: the Nest is not on sale, sadly, but the Eero is once again on sale, for $419, which is the normal sale price I’ve seen a few times over the past several weeks. That’s $20 more than the Nest, but because I have a $50 Amazon gift card and some credit via my Amazon Visa rewards points, the Eero would still be less expensive. And so I checked with my wife, who I have ruthlessly bothered with our need for new Wi-Fi, and she OKed it. Probably just to shut me up.

Here’s what’s odd. When I finalized the purchase, the price came out to just $223.18. That’s no-brainer territory for this kind of upgrade, but it was also over $100 cheaper than I had expected. The Eero costs $419 on sale, and I had that $50 gift card plus $59.93 in rewards points cashback. And … $104.75 in “devices trade-in.” What?

I have no idea what that is. Or … almost no idea. I know that at some point in trying to justify an Eero (or Nest) purchase on Amazon.com, I was offered a trade-in on my existing Google Wifi system, so that could be it. But I was only offered $50. And why would that somehow still be in the system? This was a new purchase. I’m happy to trade in the existing setup if that’s what it is. Otherwise, I’m not sure.

Long story short, I’m either going to pay $223.18 for the Eero, which would be incredible. Or $327.93, which is still a great price and over $100 cheaper than the Nest once you factor in taxes.

The second purchase I wanted to get out of the way was an upgrade for my Pixel 6 Pro, which I bought with great hopes but realistic expectations last year and was so disappointed by that I switched to the iPhone 13 Pro. I did so with mixed feelings, of course, and there are advantages to the Pixel ecosystem in general, and to the Pixel Pro with its improved camera system more specifically. But whatever. The iPhone has mostly done right by me this year, and when the Pixel 7 series came around, I was paying close attention to see whether the Pixel 7 Pro addressed my key concerns with its predecessor.

It did not: the Pixel 7 Pro is still too big and bulky, still has an inferior curved display, and still has an unreliable in-display fingerprint reader (this time aided by insecure face unlock functionality). The camera system is only slightly upgraded, but I’m always on the lookout for something better on the telephoto front, the only area in which my wife’s Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is superior by a wide margin. And so upgrading to a Pixel 7 Pro at a cost of $299 after trade-in just didn’t make sense. It wasn’t that much an of upgrade and I wasn’t going to switch back then anyway. In fact, I sealed that deal by finally dropping the unreliable Fitbit ecosystem and buying an Apple Watch. Which will arguably make it harder to leave the iPhone going forward.

The thing is, I still have this Pixel 6 Pro, which doesn’t hold its value at all; in fact, the only time it really makes sense to trade this in is to upgrade to its successor. Today, it’s worth $550 on trade at the Google Store if you buy a Pixel, but if I tried to trade it in at, say, Apple, I’d only get $95. Gazelle would give me $266. Imagine what these prices will look like in a year.

The other thing is, the new Pixels have some capabilities that are worth reviewing and, more important, worth using. For example, the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 7 (but not the Pixel 6a) both offer Photo Unblur capabilities, which you can use on any photo, including those blurry scanned photos from the past, and Motion Mode capabilities. The Pixel 7 Pro has that new telephoto lens, which is always interesting, and Macro Focus, which is slightly interesting.

How much are those features worth? $100? $150? I don’t know. But what I do know is that moving forward with a Pixel 7 would also somewhat help when it comes time to think about a Pixel 8 Pro (or whatever) upgrade next year, and that the price differential on a Pixel 6 Pro upgrade then, versus a Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro, should exceed that $100-$150. In other words, on a number of levels, it makes sense—a bit of sense—to upgrade now. I can at least write about whatever device I get and those new capabilities.

But I waited. In part because of the aforementioned money issues. In part because I’m not super-excited about the upgrade. And in part because I held out hope that Google, which had loaned me a Pixel 6a for review, the first time it had ever done so, might think to include me in the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro review cycle. If not in the beginning then perhaps in a second or third wave.

That never happened: I’ve not heard a peep from Google, and so I bided my time knowing that Black Friday was coming. Between then and now, I read reports about some Pixel fans getting $100 offers via email: if they sent the code they received to a friend or family member, that person would get $100 off any Google Store purchase and then they, too, would get a $100 Google Store coupon. There was a similar deal in the Google Home app for upgrading from Google Wifi to Google Nest Wifi Pro, too. But I never saw either.

A reader was nice enough to offer me his code, however, which I accepted. And then Google announced, literally that day, its Black Friday sale preview, where the Pixel 7 would be $100 off and the Pixel 7 Pro would be $150 off. And so I decided to wait, hoping that I could use the code along with the sale price and then use my trade-in to make up the difference.

Here’s what that would look like: the Pixel 7 Pro would be on sale for $749, minus the $100 for the code and minus $550 for my Pixel 6 Pro trade-in, resulting in a potential price of just $100. The Pixel 7 would be on sale for just $499, minus the $100 for the code and minus $550 for my Pixel 6 Pro trade-in, resulting in a potential Google Store credit.

And so this morning, I gave it a shot and I decided to go for the Pixel 7 Pro for the improved camera capabilities. The device is $749 on sale, and my trade-in credit is $550. Assuming the code I was offered works, my final price should be $100 or so before taxes. But when I entered the code, it was accepted but the $100 didn’t come off the price. So I’m either going to pay $243.94 for the phone after taxes. Or about $135 or whatever if the code worked. Which is unclear. I’m guessing not. (I’m sure the policy is that you can only use one deal at a time or whatever. I get it.) I’m sort of OK with this: at least my book is finally available for sale and some additional money is coming in.

Depending on how these purchases go, I either just spent about $360 or about $570. And I bet it’s the latter. We’ll see. We’ll also see how much use I get out of both. I know the Wi-Fi system will see daily use. But it’s unlikely—really unlikely—that the Pixel will sway me to switch yet again. I am, however, holding out hope for the future. Google might get it right eventually.

And that’s the thing. Personal tech is like anything else: sometimes it sticks and sometimes it doesn’t. One thing I don’t discuss enough, perhaps, is how some products are so good you just use them for years and years while others just don’t click and they get lost in the mix. And so I decided to go back and look at previous articles like this and see how the products I purchased fared over the long run.

In December 2020, for example, I wrote New Tech for a New Year (Premium), describing some big tech purchases. We had just gotten a Sonos Sub to augment the already-powerful Sonos Play:5s in the sunroom, and we still use this setup all the time, most notably for our weekly music nights. We also got a Sonos Move, which comes outside with us for outdoor music nights in the summer but is in fact my most-often-used Sonos gear, since I use it for music, podcasts, and audiobooks while shaving and showering. Every single day.

The kids still use their iPhone 12 Pros, of course, though Kelly’s screen had to be replaced. And I’ve used the HP Renew Backpack on every single trip to and from Mexico City this year, and, I think, on every single flight since I bought it. Nice.

Less successful? The Logitech Brio didn’t solve my webcam issues (and I think I returned it, as it’s not here anymore). And that exercise ball? Nope. We gave it away locally in one of our decluttering sweeps.

And in April 2021, I wrote New Year, New Travel Tech (Premium) in anticipation of being able to travel again as the pandemic (sort of) waned. Global Entry remains the single smartest thing that international travelers can get, and I’ve sailed through customs 10 times (10!) since I got it. Love it.

My Bose QuietComfort Earbuds have evolved from a special use case—noise canceling on flights and other modes of transportation—to my daily go-to. I use them at the gym, where I put them in “silent” mode with full noise cancelation, and I use them on outdoor walks, in “aware” mode so I’m not surprised by a car or jogger coming up behind me. Plus all those flights. Great purchase.

Ditto the Apple iPad Air, though I’d probably go for a cheaper model now: I use this thing every single day to read, and to watch videos sometimes on flights, and that 64 GB storage limit has been no limit at all: I download multiple Netflix videos before every flight and I’ve never come close to hitting the limit.

So that’s not a bad track record, for the most part. Of course, we don’t know what the next year holds. We’re looking to sell our house, and so it’s possible that the Wi-Fi purchase, in particular, is questionable, though I expect to use it in whatever new place we end up in (and maybe get a single node out to Mexico City regardless). But we can’t predict the future. All we can do is consider the possibilities and act accordingly. So we’ll see what happens.