[Google Pixel 3 XL Questions & Answers] FireflyII:
I'm posting here because this is the only place I can think of to turn to where people are both knowledgeable and helpful.

I have a Pixel 3 XL, which I've had since November, and has worked without incident until yesterday. One of my main reasons for choosing this phone was the alleged support for root, but I haven't actually rooted it because the guides that I've seen up to this point still seem to indicate that there is some loss of functionality involved.

Yesterday I went for a walk to visit an old neighbor. The phone was at about 80% charge when I left, and working fine. At some point during the visit, I pulled out my phone to check for any messages, and couldn't see the screen. I thought it might be because it was bright outside, so I put it away again. A little later, I checked it again and still couldn't see, so I went indoors to look. Nothing. The screen was completely blank, and the phone wouldn't wake up from the fingerprint sensor or the power button. I tried holding the power button down for 10 seconds, then 30 seconds, then a minute and more, and nothing. I figured maybe the power had drained and it was off, so I'd check it out later. A little after that the phone rang, but the screen was still off and I couldn't answer it.

To fast-forward a bit, at present the phone is *almost* functionally a brick. If I get a call, it rings and vibrates, and if I swipe from the right spot on the screen I can answer the call. Also, alarms that I had set on the phone still rang this morning. Unfortunately, that's it. Without any indicator lights it's hard to know for sure if the phone is on or off, and no amount of holding down the buttons seems to do much more than maybe reboot it. I cannot reach the phone using Airdroid, Teamviewer, or Find my phone, so there seems to be little or no network communication happening.

I called Google, and their suggestion (after trying to get the phone to ring with the Find my phone option) was to try to erase everything. While I don't think that will work, I also don't want to try. I don't want to wipe out the phone without saving everything on it! They gave me the standard line about "most of your things should be backed up," but that's not true of apps that weren't installed through the play store, along with all of the associated data for those apps. They told me to take it to one of their partner companies, "ubreakifix," to have someone look at it, but the person at the store said they wouldn't be able to look at it for a few days, and that wiping out the phone is the first thing they'd do anyway. They say I just need to send it back to Google, and that they'll either fix it or, more likely, send me a replacement, but that they'll wipe it out too.

I find this incredibly frustrating. Without removable storage, everything is locked up inside the phone when something like this happens. Without root, I don't have the access authority to fully backup apps and data. Without a removable battery, I can't even fully power down and restart the device! On top of all of that, even if I get a replacement, there's no guarantee that this won't happen again, since I have no idea what caused it this time. I didn't drop the phone. I didn't spill anything on it. I just put it in my pocket like I do every day.

So here are my questions to you, the members of the developer and modding community: Is there anything else I can do? Does anyone know if I can pry the thing open and attach a cord somewhere internally to access the on-board memory? Is there a way to determine for sure if the issue is the screen, the motherboard, or something else, short of sending it out to never see again? Am I the only one who finds the attitude of wiping out a phone as the default practice for any difficulty to be incredibly frustrating? I would be grateful for any suggestions or insights that you may have to share!

Thank you for reading this, and I hope to get some good news.