Hey, Pixel fans! Thinking about grabbing a new Google Pixel 10 phone? Hold up—my experience with Pixel devices has been a wild ride, and I’m torn about upgrading to the new Pixel 10. Today, I’m sharing my story to help you decide if Pixels are worth it—and to figure out if I’m just unlucky or if its Google’s hardware is still a work in progress.
My first Pixel was Pixel 6a, I bought in summer 2022, switching from an iPhone 12 mini. As of today, the battery is a disaster—it barely makes it to 5 PM, despite the fact it has never been my primary phone until recently. Turned out, I’m not alone with that issue, as Google had to decrease the Pixel 6a battery capacity due to potential overheating, and they launched a program where they offered affected Pixel 6a owners a $100 compensation for the battery issue. I guess that was triggered by some Pixel 6a owners who saw their phones literally caught on fire!
So I’ve provided Google support with my bank account credentials a few weeks ago, and still haven’t received anything. But anyways, it’s not about the money – for a $450 phone from Google that’s not even three years old, that’s ridiculous.
Now, lets go back to 2024, when I got a brand new Pixel 8. I loved it!… Until the day its screen turned green out of nowhere. Turned out it’s a well known Pixel 8 problem, and it won’t go away by simply rebooting the phone, as I initially thought. After some chatting with Google Device support and them running a remote diagnostics, they confirmed to replace my phone with the new Pixel 8 unit. Was I happy? Of course, that sounded fair and a phone with a new battery was fine with me!
But after some email exchange with Google support it turned out that things are not as simple as I thought: I needed to ship the defective Pixel from the same country I bought it from – Germany, and only then they will send the new phone back to my German address. Problem is, I’m not from Germany – I just bought it on Amazon.de with shipping to another country. So after some more exchange Google support didn’t give me any kind of solution, and it looked as a dead end for me…
Until I realized I can ask Amazon for help with shipping my Pixel 8 to Google. And you know what Amazon support told me? They didn’t bombard me with questions—instead they just heard me out and offered me a full refund once I return the defective Pixel 8 to them. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I’ve been using that Pixel 8 phone for almost a year! So huge respect to Amazon and their support.
Pixel Watch Woes
But that’s not the end of the story! The Pixel Watch 1? Another letdown. Its battery barely lasted until bedtime. And one day after a spa visit—despite being ‘water-resistant’—the watch thrown a bunch of errors and me, and the back lid fell off – that all happend after I put it on the charger. Of course, that was my mistake, but I got used to a worry-free Apple Watch experience just a bit too much.
So I kept my trust in Google, and got myself a Pixel Watch 3 45mm, which looks great with that bigger screen. But software updates are slowing it down – updated Gemini assistant responds way slower than Google Assistant did, and the watch is not as responsive at all, as it used to be just not a while ago. It feels like Google’s already prioritizing the Pixel Watch 4, leaving older devices behind. This reminds me of Apple’s approach who’s been doing this forever, and it’s frustrating.
The Good Stuff
OK, It’s not all that bad about Pixels. For example, my wife’s Pixel 9 Pro XL is just awesome (check my other video on that), and her previous phone – Pixel 7 is still holding up just fine being a work phone for her small business. This makes me wonder: am I just unlucky, or is Google’s hardware quality a gamble?
The Pixel 10 Dilemma
Now, here’s where I’m stuck. I haven’t upgraded to Pixel 9 when it was released because I was happy with my Pixel 8. Then when it suddenly died, and I decided to wait for Pixel 10. I’m still tempted to buy the Pixel 10 or 10 Pro—it looks promising if all the rumors turn out to be truth. But after 2 dud phones and not the best experience with watches, I’m worried it’ll be another letdown. Do I roll the dice on Google again, or play it safe with other brands? There are compact foldable phones from Motorola, there’s bauhaus-inspired Nothing phones, there’s new iPhones coming soon, and Apple Watches are way more superior than Google’s Pixel Watches – so it’s hard to decide!
Closing Thoughts
Google’s Pixel devices have killer software and cool features, but their quality control and customer service can leave you hanging. When things go wrong, you’re stuck navigating their mess or relying on retailers like Amazon to bail you out. I want to love Pixels, but it feels like we’re paying to beta-test Google’s hardware journey.
What do you think? Have you had any issues with Pixel phones or watches? Are you excited for the Pixel 10? Drop your thoughts in the comments—I need your help to decide! If you enjoyed this video, hit that like button, subscribe to my channel for more tech stories, reviews and comparisons.