[OnePlus 6T  Guides, News, & Discussion] krabman:
The two big cons...

You get used to the notch they say, and I did. What I didn't get used to was the incredible waste of space to either side of it. They could have stacked two full rows of notifications in there and it would fit, not sort of fit, fit. As it is that space is wasted and I kept seeing that and in turn that would make me "see" or notice the notch. I'd seriously fire whoever made the choices on the notification area because it doesn't end there. unlike here and elsewhere if you decide to hide the notch it pushes the notifications down into the screen below the notch giving you a huge empty forehead and the screen that remains is actually less than the 5T, seriously, I had them side by side and actual usable screen is less with the notch hidden. Go back visible notch and you get to see all that wasted space again, for me there was no win. Also if you watch a video the 6T notch is like a pimple on your own nose and soon forgotten, do it on the Pixel and it's a huge pimple on your bosses nose that you have to actively try and pretend isn't there. Will you be the same? Some say yes, some say no, for me it was a definite no.

Then you have the ram management or lack of ram, I'm not going to argue over which it is and don't care. Going into recents pretty much meant waiting for the app to reopen which is so 2014; it's another thing that drove me crazy. I already knew I was running in the upper 5s of used ram with my 5T so while I do expect it would have got better both with a Goog fix and in the roms I'm pretty sure it will never be as good as it is here, which is to say flawless. Apps pretty much just pop open every time, not sure if I can recall a single app redraw so far.

Then you've got the recents/app drawer cludge which combines with the worst gestures I've ever encountered. I'm sure you've seen it in videos so I'm not going to try and paint a picture, I will say it's worse in use than it appears in a review. This one is easily fixed by installing a third party launcher and then getting rid of Googs idiotic gestures for one of the options off the market. To sum it up, the whole purpose of nav gestures is to get rid of the nav bar which gives you useable space on screen. Think about it, no gesture can ever really be easier than hitting an icon, the best they can do is equal that ease so failing to give you the screen space means you made someones life harder and gave them nothing. Total fail. Someone should be fired fail. If I were in charge of the person who sigined off on this nav/recents/gesture cludge I would fire him. No notice, excorted out of the building right now firing. The escort would be two thugs who hit his head on every hard point between his office and the curb where he was tossed. They're that bad.

So now you're thinking I hated the phone, not true, lets get into the pros...

The screen is beautiful everywhere it isn't being wasted or cut into by a cancerous tumer. I had mine up against a 6T in the store and there is no question where the better screen quality lies, it's all Pixel in that department. Wasn't just me saying that, all the store guys where over because the store was empty and they hadn't seen a Pixel in the flesh. All of us were in agreement.

You've also got the sofware experience. it's all slick and refined in a way that is unmatched in the Android ecosystem. The dialer with it's screening, spam block, and so on, the music id on the lock, etc. The phone may seem feature poor but in use it is a very pleasant device to own.

The camera is top tier. I think Goog is running out of picture refinement in software though because you can see areas like telephoto where phones with dedicated glass are getting better results now. They have added some useful features on the other hand, for example being able to pick a different picture besides the one you clicked actually works. Those who have kids will recall how getting a good photo can be a trail, they're in focus but you missed the moment, you caught the moment but it couldn't quite focus on a target that was moving fast, etc. I was able to get a few pictures of my grandkids that would have been junk but were salvaged by the feature. What I like about the camera is something it shares with the latest from Samsung and Apple, you can just point it at something and have a good expectation of a decent shot. I'm not talking art, I'm saying you got what was there and it's in focus with reasonably accurate color. It's a camera you can use without skills and a camera you can trust.

All in all I really liked the Pixel in use but the hardware is behind the curve and no matter how shiny you make it the hardware turd still lies below the polish. I went into a Tmo store to scope the 6T and when I went home I immediately called Fi and returned the phone and ordered a 6T as soon as I got done with that call. If I had my choice I'd get a 6T that had the Goog rom on it and with the higher quality screen from the Pixel but I didn't, I had to choose one before I ran out of the return window. I really couldn't get past that notch or more particularly the wasted space beside it. Seeing it next to the 6T and 5T really put it into perspective for me, what an utter fail when a year old mid range phone has more useable space than a brand new 1000 dollar flagship. I'll be a potential customer for the Pixel 4 assuming they get their hardware up to snuff with other flagships, the software experience was IMO best in class.