yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] cmhjr:
The 821 in the Pixel is clocked the same as the 820 which is in most current highend phones and what some people are comparing the Pixel to in Benchmarks. The 821 clocked the same 820 will have similar Benchmarks scores but the scores do not show the power efficiency improvements that have been made to the 821.

Most of the new phones that are being released now (until the 830 start showing up) will have the higher clocked 821 and will have higher benchmarks scores compared to the Pixel but will not be as power efficient.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Paz9:
so im assuming with the 821 we will be able to OC it to its full potential with a custom kernel.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] cmhjr:
Most likely, there would be other factors that would come into play. One for example how the CPU is binned.

It is difficult at the moment to know for sure because the Pixel is completely different from the Nexus and Developers have only recently started.

Rooting was thought to be difficult but that was done, so I guess there will be OC kernels but not sure how long it would be.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] D3M0L15H3R25:
The performance is buttery smooth and takes everything you can throw at it. I came from an iPhone 6s plus (don't hate) and iOS is very quick and efficient for what it is. In comparison I find myself performing similar tasks taking the same amount of time. Getting to the screen through the fingerprint is insanely quicker than Touch ID (had many issues with that). With the added ram over the 6s Plus I see that many apps stay loaded at the point I left off(where the iPhone closes to utilize ram). There both very snappy. In comparison to the HTC m8 I owned with GPE 4.4.4 rom installed, the pixel xl dwarfs it in speed and overall performance.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Paz9:
considering selling my s7 for the pixel xl

can someone tell me if google/pixel has the same way of flashing stock fw like samsung (samfirmware had all stock regional firmware)
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] cmhjr:
For the Pixel they do have one for Europe and a specific one for Verizon plus the one for Google Play sold devices. This is the link for Android.

https://developers.google.com/android/images

Coming from the S7 you may want to check with others who have had the S7 because while I think the Pixel is a great phone it does not include software features that Samsung adds.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Paz9:
i use 0 samsung features.

absolutely none.

thats why im looking at the pixel XL, naked android, how it was supposed to be.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] cmhjr:
You will not be disappointed then, Pixel do have slight differences then fully stock Android because of the way Google designed the Pixel (Assistant Integration for example).

The only problem I have had is a couple of Apps that needed to be updated for Nougat. Other then that the Smoothness of phone and my Battery life so far have been great (right now 65% left, off charger for 20 hours and 2 1/2 SOT).
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Paz9:
how would you compare it to the s7/e? (battery life and general performance wise)
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] cmhjr:
I have only had Nexus since the N4, but know a couple people with the S7 Edge and my Pixel XL is much smoother it seems when I have played around with thiers. I have not had one micro stutter or stalls yet. As for battery life I have not used a S7 or S7 Edge long enough yet to determine that but I would imagine it much better then the S7 because bigger battery in the Pixel XL.

Compared to the N6 I had before the Pixel is much better, the only thing I miss is the dual front speakers.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] mlin:
I have an S7E on the nougat beta in addition to my Pixel XL. While I don't use many "Samsung features," there are several aspects of Samsung's version of Android that I genuinely prefer. To name a few: the ability to adjust color temp of the NightLight feature, more control over lock screen notifications, and the ability to easily theme on the fly out of the box. The cameras on both devices are fantastic, not sure which I prefer. The Pixel is definitely significantly smoother and noticeably faster as well. As far as the battery, I think battery on the S7E is slightly better. Even though my S7E is 9 months old, it still seems to fare better under heavy use though both drain at a similar rate when idle. I'm actually on the fence of whether or not I'll keep my Pixel XL - still switching back and forth to try and decide which I like more...
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Paz9:
hmm

im not sure if i should pick it up

the naked android OS is a big yes for me, and the fact that its a google phone / faster updates and im assuming devs will be supporting this much longer than the galaxy s7

does the pixel allow for a dark theme for the app drawer? i always see it as white.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] ithehappy:
No, absolutely not. You can't use Odin, which is Samsung's software to flash ROMs. You will be needing to learn the ADB commands to flash stuffs on Pixel. It might take a bit to read everything, but once you get hold of it its fairly easy.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Paz9:
Is there a repository of system files?

Are they the same nature as samsungs firmware

I.e csc/kernel/modem/system/ data partitions in binary or are they all combined in a single file? Also are there regional carieer specific files?
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Paz9:
would you say the pixel xl out of the box is faster/snappier than a s7 with custom rom and kernel?

i think thatll be the deciding factor for me, if its faster than a custom s7 than a custom pixel would definitely be the end all.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Reuben_skelz92:
Hell yeah
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] ithehappy:
I really don't know that mate. I myself in fact would like to know that.

---------- Post added at 12:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:21 AM ----------

LOL! Pixel is the phone which they consider iPhone for Android, and that's the reason I am getting it, but if I don't find the smoothness I am looking for then I would be really angry with it :laugh:
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Paz9:
is there a way to change the DPI density? like build.prop tweaks on the s7?

really enjoying the pixel so far.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] cmhjr:
In the developer options there is width DPI setting.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Paz9:
thank you

definitely the fasted phone ive used

rooted stock OS, i think this is the only android phone i am satisfied with as stock in terms of speed and battery life.

amazing.

i spent aeons modifying and tweaking my S7 disabling unnecessary services and apps, init tweaks etc to get somewhat batter performance / battery

the pixel out of the box is better than anything ive seen.

it is truly how iphones are to apple, this pixel is to android

i hope other vendors take notice on how these phones should be designed and implemented with software.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Novakingwai:
So far fast, but so is every phone when you first get it. Real test is 1-2 years from now. My Nexus 6 was great, then after almost 2 years it freezes while trying to open the camera.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] PsiPhiDan:
How come almost every single review I read tests the speed and shows the Pixel XL as slow? Almost any benchmark run, this thing looks like a slug. Yet everyone who owns it claims it's blazing fast and the small time I played with it at Verizon impressed me a lot. I don't get it. Anyone know?
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] wase4711:
Simple

Benchmarks scores means absolutely nothing in the real world of owning a phone, and using it everyday for normal tasks.

Anyone who has been around for awhile knows this to be true..
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] PsiPhiDan:
True, I have heard that... But, if they are completely worthless, why are they incredibly popular? Even in XDA, AnTuTu scores are commonly posted to reflect improvement from custom ROMs. I'd think they correlate somewhat to real performance. I remember when I was more into custom ROMs, the smoothness would correlate pretty strongly with the benchmark scores. And I'd say generally speaking, phones at the top of the benchmark leader boards are some of the best phones. It's just odd that the Pixel phone are so poorly scored.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Bruce lee roy:
They can be useful in reflecting rom performance improvements while being inadequate in measuring real world performance; the two operations can be mutually exclusive.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] wase4711:
As always, there is plenty of mis information all over the internet, including on XDA;

Its like the phony news epidemic in this country now; just because you read it on the internet, it doesn't mean its true at all

its popular because when someone gets what they believe to be a high score on these stupid benchmarks, they post it all over, and brag about how great their phone is..

Do the research and you will see how many companies,[Samsung being the worst] like to put tweaks into their firmware, to help produce artificially inflated test scores that get published all over the internet..

The ONLY test that matters is the one that YOU give the phone when you use it every day. NOTHING else matters..
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] v2.2v:
Bingo. This is the fastest Android I've ever used. Period. It's just as fast as day one and will be faster than the S8 too. You can stuff the SD 835 and en extra gig ram in the S8... The software will still put it behind the Pixel
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] neverstopdroiding:
I think you're right about the S8. What is for sure is that the S7 can't keep up with the SD 821 now. I'd love to try the 3T which is supposed to be even faster.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] wjnieuwdorp:
Top notch, on par with the latest iPhones.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] phil.spence:
I don't think the speed tests show it to be that much faster. Crazy how OnePlus put the 3T together for $400 however fast it is. I still wouldn't swap my XL for anything else right now.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] myboyblake:
I loved the speed in the beginning but now it's gotten very very bad and getting worse. The memory management​seems to suck. Don't ever have a long list. For example, go to spectrum.com and view the channel lineup and it can't scroll through. It freezes, force closes, and freaks out. The battery is still very very nice. Right now I have like 564MB free of Ram. You're telling me over 3GB is used up!? Force closing apps doesn't do anything. I guess I need to uninstall chrome, snapchat, and Facebook to have a usable phone. But still forget about long lists and scrolling a long webpage. This should not be happening in 2017. Hopefully the pixel 2 will fix this mistake.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] mikaole:
Just went there and scrolling is fine here.

Which browser are you using?
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] myboyblake:
I've tried chrome, Samsung browser, Firefox, and Opera mini. Pretty much any browser I use does it.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] nl1010:
Very smooth!
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] housepabldroid:
Amazing smoothness in every action,

ram is perfected fit for this beast and not particular heating in some heavy action
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] 3aucla1r3:
I'm with you guts, this thing is smooth as silk. So happy Google stepped it up a notch to this device.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] berry_lthird:
Hasn't skipped a beat since purchase.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] scorpilusgigantus1:
This phone is a beast when it comes to battery and fastness. Never use a phone as fast as this. Not even my LG g 5 or my htc m9 and the camera to is unmatched.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
OMG! Kim K posted another selfie with tons of cleavage! Rate this thread to express how quickly apps launch on the Google Pixel XL. A higher rating indicates that even the most intensive apps launch quickly and without hesitation, even if they are no longer in RAM.

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] AstroDigital:
If anybody says an app lags when launching I like to know what app and how ?
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] trackour:
nice post

:)
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
You're busy and don't have time to wait, which is why you need to stop reading this thread and get back to organizing your Pogs. Rate this thread to express how the Google Pixel XL performs when multitasking. A higher rating indicates that the Google Pixel XL keeps many apps in memory so that they don't need to reload, and that when moving between apps, transitions are smooth and performance is excellent.

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] AstroDigital:
Multitasking works great but I find split screen a bit hard on a 5.5 inch screen. Wish the phone was bigger.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Wot-75:
The phone is plenty big... the screen needs to be bigger...
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] AndroidRaven:
How does this have a 5 star rating? I can understand a 3 or 3.5, but really, 5? Every test I've ever run and every test on YouTube clearly shows the phone is terrible in utilizing memory correctly. Google needs to address this issue.

I think false ratings like this are hiding the fact that there is an issue and sadly the issue won't get addressed.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Okmed:
That was my take on it, there seems to be a lot of wasted space, especially on the bottom. It is bigger then Droid Turbo overall but the screen is only fractionally bigger.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] neles86:
You're too stuck on benchmarks and youtube videos. These ratings are based on real world scenarios. I would personally rate this section a 5 as I haven't had ANY multitasking issues with my xl.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] AndroidRaven:
I'm sorry, where did I get stuck on benchmarks? If anything I went specifically based on results and not on benchmarks at all.

I am going off of my own tests and YouTube tests as well which confirm my findings. The phone cannot maintain apps in memory, and restarts apps as if you're opening them for the first time. It doesn't do this with everything obviously, but overall it's not good.

---------- Post added at 05:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:04 PM ----------

I'm sorry, where did I get stuck on benchmarks? If anything I went specifically based on results and not on benchmarks at all.

I am going off of my own tests and YouTube tests as well which confirm my findings. The phone cannot maintain apps in memory, and restarts apps as if you're opening them for the first time. It doesn't do this with everything obviously, but overall it's not good.

I clearly specified that the phone DOESN'T UTILIZE MEMORY CORRECTLY, meaning benchmarks are there but software is not good.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] PsiPhiDan:
I heard this when I was on Samsung phones ("they are too aggressive and close apps frequently"), heard this on HTC phones, heard this when I got the LG V20... Apparently no one is ever happy with Android memory management. Which is funny because it's so much better than iPhone memory management.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] AndroidRaven:
I think Apple has always had Android beaten on memory management. I've never seen software as efficient as iOS. Without going deep into it, one way you can clearly tell is the fact that to run Android smoothly you basically need double the benchmarks of an iPhone. iOS has been running on 1gb of RAM while Android phones running on 4 to 6, and still iOS beats them in memory management. iOS software is simply way better and way more efficient than Android. The way Android is built, it needs double the specs of iOS to run.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] PsiPhiDan:
That's interesting. I think that may mean iOS is less memory-intensive, but I'm not sure they means it's better at memory management. I think of memory management more in regards to multi-tasking capabilities, which iOS is very bad at.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] AndroidRaven:
Yeah iOS really didn't have much multitasking until not too long ago,, now they're a lot better, but you're right I think iOS is definitely less memory intensive than Android. I don't think there is a reason to have 6gb RAM phones at the moment. I'm not sure there are any apps that require that much RAM. Optimization I think is terrible in Android, and that becomes much more apparent in Samsung phones.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] daindian:
Phones like the oneplus3 and mate 9 beat the iPhone for multitasking smoothness etc but I agree most of them is horrible
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] keithleger:
I think this one really depends on how you use the phone. If you use it for business type applications like I do then you will find it extremely fast and a great multitasker. But if you play a lot of games it really does not do a great job. It does have to reload games from the start much more often. Thankfully I don't play many of those sorts of games.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] LucaOwner:
I understood
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] nelnel002:
I don't have a pixel XL but I can tell you that there's a difference between 6gb and 4 gb of RAM on Android . I have 4 phones 2 of them have 6gb o ram and I made a lot of test and definitely 6gb of RAM make some differences.

That's the fault of the poor ram management on Android .

6 gb of ram +/- 22 app opened and always smooth

4 gb of ram +/- 12 app opened and smooth but sometimes we have reloads I have the impression that's a lil bit short.

PS: cm based rom whit 6 gb of ram is the best to multitask, I can have almost 30 apps opened;)
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] iamgauravmishra.sj:
iOS is not as open as Android. Apple works most of the time on R&D of their smartphone. Apple uses more optimization

On its app by decreasing features. As android is open source

And the work done on its optimization are vary from OEM to OEM. Anyone can develop and install any app with bug or not bugs. Any manufacturer can flash their own UI. Thats why apple ios beats Android.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] AndroidRaven:
Yes and no. I fully understand that opportunities for issues when releasing open source software and that's a whole other issue. The problem that I have is that Android has never been run the way it is running on the Pixel today. According to google, Android has never run as smoothly as it runs on the pixel. Again this is finally software and hardware put together by one team. The problem is that even as pure as Android is on the Pixel, it still lags behind iOS. Horrible memory management, still lagging, and now has somehow turned into a Samsung phones which include features that don't work all the time, don't work correctly, and are not reliable. Double tap to wake works only when it wants to, scrolling through letters while swiping the spacebar is just not smooth to the point you end up stop using it. I'm not even an iPhone user, and I don't think I ever will be, but I'm disappointed with the pixel now that Google had full control more than ever. From hardware to software just feels like it's Google's first attempt at being involved with smartphones, even though they've been running the nexus lineup for 6 years now.

I can't recommend the pixel, by all means get the one plus 3t if you're reading this.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Krouget:
I think the phone/OS handles multitasking/RAM just fine. Google has outlined in developer documents how they do it, and aside from some behavior I noticed in beta, it does what it was designed to do, well. I think it (Android 7.x) clears apps from memory a bit too early (as a measure of time, not system demand), but again, that was an intentional move by Google to address clutter for the end-user, IIRC.

But measuring multitasking and performance also depends on how well any individual app was coded. I'd argue the efficiency of any particular app probably has more bearing on how well it plays with the device, and other apps, as opposed to the phone, itself.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] jimmmysil:
IOS has no split screen! Wait they might introduce it as innovation in a couple of years!
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] the_rahul_009:
They have. Try searching for it. Not on iPhone but on iPad. But I remember it came after some one did on Android
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
Some phones exhibit choppy scrolling, especially when navigating long web pages when multiple apps are running in the background. Rate this thread to express how you smooth scrolling feels on the Google Pixel XL under such conditions. A higher rating indicates that scrolling is always buttery smooth, even when you're reading a 10,000 word article on "how to kiss a girl".

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] noremac258:
No slow downs in scrolling, buttery smooth!
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] dtreth:
My Internet can be slow as an American Presidential Election campaign, so sometimes the pictures and ads load erratically. I have noticed how buttery smooth it has been even when they things are popping in while I scroll.

I haven't had a stutter yet, but I haven't done any sort of real testing on it. It just feels so natural.

That said, my Nexus 6 was pretty nice upon release, and it has some pretty bad lag issues these days. Only time will truly tell.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] Olorin92:
Only stutter I've noticed so far is in the Google Messenger app, when scrolling through the contacts quickly. Lags like crazy. It looks as though it's trying to load the little Alphabet picture next to each contact but can't do it quickly enough, so it lags. Chrome is also a bit on and off, but I'm assuming this is more ****ty development, as opposed to the phone itself.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] rmewpm:
When I use puffin browser I get a stutter sometimes
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] digitalundertaker:
Nothing so far.
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] humdrum2009:
Chrome is a bit and miss out lags for me, Facebook is slow as well to scroll and open videos.

They need to update these apps to work smoother. Chrome should be doing this

Puffin browser smokes it
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] rmanulkin:
Some websites seem to stutter
[Google Pixel XL Real Life Review] 21cdb:
Definitely still stutters and lag. It's a lot better than before, but it's by no means smooth all the time. All the reviewers that say it's silky smooth 100% of the time are smoking crack, because that's definitely not the case by any means.

BUT it seems to always be responsive and doesn't seem to hesitate much when switching apps etc. Overall it's a much better experience than before.
[PDA2, XDA IIi, 2020i General] relbourn:
I am looking to clean my xda 2i under the edges of the screen as this affects the tap accuracy.

Does anyone know of any kits, even ones involving funky screwdrivers so I can dismantle and clean (hopefully without pinging springs all over the place)

Rob
[PDA2, XDA IIi, 2020i General] skeeve666:
you dont need a kit just a bit of paper or thin card and run it around the edge of the screen under the facia, other than that just a standard small watch posi screw driver and a star screw driver driver, you can pick these up very cheaply, sry for got the size, if you buy a set of small ones you can strip it down in under 2 mins. there are no springs that will go ping btw :P
[PDA2, XDA IIi, 2020i General] relbourn:
I have been doing that but unfortunately it does something but not the trick though!!! small watch posi and star screwdriver eh? I'll need to look out for those!

ps glad about the springs, thx!