Android

Google Pixel 6 Pro after a long time is a whole other smartphone | Video

May 26, 2022

For today I abandon the classic review scheme to talk to you more informally about how is it going with the Google Pixel 6 Pro a smartphone that from the launch in which Italy was excluded, to the debut with very few stocks in our country, did not have a very simple life.

More than any other aspect, however, what the Pixel 6 did talk about were the bugs and hardware defects that did not take long to emerge. So much so that even I, in my small way, had convinced my colleagues to avoid writing a review on the Pixel 6 Pro, waiting for better times, hoping to be able to re-evaluate it in a more serious way.

7 months after its launch, that moment has arrived and I thought I’d take stock, because every promise is due and why it seems fair to me to do justice to a product that is loaded with too many prejudices some of which are well founded, while others are excessively severe.

THE KEY POINTS OF TRANSFORMATION

In the video I have explained the concepts in a more exhaustive way, when you have 10 minutes take a look at it, here I briefly summarize the key points of the transformation of Pixel 6 Pro.

First of all we assume that anyone who has had the opportunity to try Google Pixel 6 Pro in autumn 2021 has found himself holding a smartphone on the verge of disastrous. The bugs and malfunctions were so evident as to make the device almost unusable, and were spread over all the technical compartments. Obviously I’m talking about software problems, because on the hardware ones (such as poor quality displays) there was no way to intervene. To understand better, what am I talking about?

major problems of overheating and autonomy below expectations
trivial graphic bugs, such as the notification curtain becoming transparent, or sudden black screens
photo quality much lower than the potential
video quality at the limit of sufficiency
big management problems with the brightness sensor
complete or partial incompatibility of photographic functions with third-party apps
important uncertainties on the telephone part with signal dancer
notable malfunctions of Android Auto
bad stability of the Bluetooth connection
slow and unreliable fingerprint sensor

Here you are, after 7 months, all these points, without exception, have finally been resolved. It didn’t take a short time and Google’s responsiveness was really hard to tolerate, but let me tell you that I was right in saying that, “with reasonable certainty”, exact words, Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro would transform.

Already in January things were better, but the real change came with the March feature drop anticipated by the first beta of the developer channel still dedicated to Android 12. That’s right, Android 12, while the first Android 13 Developer Preview was released, a part of Google’s staff was putting the pieces of Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro back together.

For the uninitiated, a few months ago Google has inaugurated a beta channel for Quarterly Platform Releases (QPRs), or substantial Android updates that are expected in December, March and June. With the Pixels it is possible to try these releases in preview which very often also include in advance the news of the feature dropthat is, those updates that on Google Pixels not only bring security patches but also tangible news for the user.

These days, finally, I’m trying the beta of the QPR3, which already contains the latest adjustments and some features that will be released in June with the feature drop for the Pixels. Here, finally I can say that it’s pretty much all right, now Pixel 6 Pro expresses its potential.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Those who had purchased a Pixel 6 Pro will now be able to sleep peacefully, right now, ironically, that Google has just spoiled the new Pixel 7 Pro to the world, arriving in October along with Android 13.

Leaving aside the very questionable idea of showing a product that will arrive on the market no sooner than 5 months have passed, and how this thing sounds a bit strange in the eyes of those who have had a malfunctioning Pixel on their hands for months, I would like to focus on work that has been carried out in Mountain View, truly transforming the Pixel 6 Pro into a smart smartphonemoreover now quite affordable compared to many other top-of-the-range devices.

Table of Contents

AN EASY SMARTPHONE

The thing I like most about the Pixel 6 Pro is that I never have the feeling of having to change my style of use based on its characteristics. I am reminded of a parallelism with Moto GP, when it is said that riders have to adapt their riding style to one or more characteristics of the bike, here with smartphones it is often the same thing: there are compromises, small gaps, twisted mechanisms. that after a while they get to know each other and learn to live together; with this Pixel, however, this is not the case, it is linear and simple in operation, extremely immediate; it is not poor, but tidy, it is not invasive but at the same time it often guides you in learning to exploit its possibilities.

There are not many smartphones with a good suite of functions and such hardware completeness that manage to maintain this intuitiveness, one comes to mind: iPhone, which however does not have the same flexibility as Android.

SEMI-TOP PHOTOS BUT VERY RELIABLE

It wasn’t a monster at first and it’s not a monster now, at least in terms of pure image quality. I remain a bit of the idea that the Algorithm, the one with the Google “A”, works better with lower resolution sensors. Probably the noise of all those pixels squashed like sardines it creates more problems than benefits in a photograph that is 80% computational. The alternative would have been to adopt a larger sensor and to tell the truth there would be almost 1-inch sensors, but we know that Google thinks in ways that are often incomprehensible, so they went to fish for an already outdated one.

Coming to the photos, I can only be satisfied, the Pixel image paste is there and in the latest updates there has been a big leap in quality especially in night photos and videos. But what is striking is theflawless reliability who has this smartphone, never makes a mistake and together with a software with really useful functions manages to give you unparalleled peace of mind. Personally, with a small child in the house who receives photos all the time, the Pixel is the tool of choice to play it safe.

AUTOMATISMS THAT HELP

Another important feature of the new Pixels is the ability to automate a number of functions. I’ll give you some examples: it categorizes notifications and doesn’t stress you unnecessarily for trivial things; answers spam phone calls on its own or assists you when you cannot speak; call for help in the event of a car accident; you can ask him to keep you under control (position, health check, emergency calls, battery) for a certain period of time, perhaps while you are doing a solo excursion; adjusts the charging speed according to the style of use (charging very, indeed, too slow); set rules for ringtone status, do not disturb mode and much more based on location or connection with WiFi networks; automatically fix photos and propose sensible changes; he transcribes the conversations also in Italian with impressive precision; offers me the most used apps in the first place; warns me if a phone call is spam; retrieves the name of the business that is calling from the Google Maps database; proposes me actions to free up space with criteria, etc. etc.

Almost all of these things can be done with any Android smartphone, but the Pixel does them right away, without having to install anything and without having to go and find the functions in the menus.

THE PLEASURE OF USING IT

Finally, there is the pleasure of use, that is, all those aspects that add up to create the user experience. First of all the graphics, which after a few months has finally become coherent and consistent, with attention to animations and various elements, now supported by the increasingly frequent adoption of Material You also in Google apps and beyond. On this Pixel 6 Pro there is then the haptic feedback which is really super, gradually with the updates Google has refined the way in which the large integrated vibration motor is exploited. Each touch, swipe, double tap, unlock corresponds to a different and “physical” feedback. It is as if the experience of interaction acquired a dimension, that of physicality. A swipe looks like a real movement of that card, the tap on the keyboard corresponds to the sensation of pressing the keys, the animations are always underlined by a very light drag. It is something to try.

Let’s also add the system sounds that are all pleasant and the theme mechanism that for some time has been applied to more and more third-party apps, giving a graphic coherence to the whole system that, honestly, never existed on Android.

Let’s not forget the performances, which are always solid thanks to the Tensor, all in all a SoC that has proven to live up to expectations and that is unmatched by the alternatives of Qualcomm, Samsung and Apple, at least in terms of daily usability. Tensor which is also linked to the security discourse, on which Google has done its utmost to ensure the user the serenity necessary for the use of banking apps, management of crypto wallets or trivially for payments.

PRICE IS NOT BAD BUT IT MAY BE WORTH WAITING

Currently, the Google Pixel 6 Pro is priced at around 800-850 euros as the best price and presumably it will be able to see itself more permanently around 750 euros during the summer, a price that is not bad considering the general value of the product.

7.9
Hardware

5.7
Quality Price

Google Pixel 6 Pro

BEST PRICE
851€

All pricing (19)

Google Pixel 6 Pro after a long time is a whole other smartphone | Video Compare Price alert

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Google Smartphone Google Pixel 6 Pro 5G 12GB 128GB Black

Bpm power

851€

GOOGLE PIXEL 6 PRO 5G 128GB BLACK 6.7 “INCH CAMERA 50 MEGAPIXELS

899€

After all the updates, Pixel 6 Pro has nothing to envy to some famous competitors, iPhone 13 Pro above all, but also Galaxy S22 Ultra, OPPO Find X5 Pro or Xiaomi 12 Pro, which all cost a little more.

In case you have already pointed it, one more thought could give it to you Pixel 7 Pro, which in fact Google has already shown and announced for the month of October also in Italy. It will be a smartphone very similar to the 6 Pro, a sort of revised and corrected version with small adjustments and a software that hopefully is more ready, especially thanks to the experience accumulated by Big G in recent months. I don’t think Google will raise prices, so, as long as the budget allows it, it might be worth waiting for the new model, or even, why not, wait for it and then get the 6 Pro which will certainly suffer a price drop at that point. .

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