yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Topics] TheMystic:
This isn't a rant, but an honest analysis of why I think the Google Pixels are bad smartphones for their price.

I will explain why the Pixels are overpriced, and why the so-called 'Clean' nature of Stock Android is overrated.

If you disagree with my points, you'll have to explain it with valid reason(s).

When we talk of 'clean' software, we are essentially expecting better performance AND better battery life. Because lack of unwanted apps and background services should automatically translate into the above two benefits.

Do we actually see Pixels exhibiting better performance or having better battery life in real life usage?

The answer is NO.

So at the cost of sacrificing a lot of useful features found on most other OEM implementations of Android, you get absolutely nothing in return.

If you're on XDA, one can expect you to know a little more than the average user. If you dig into device settings, you'll be able to uninstall/ disable most unwanted apps and services, remove their permissions (including the ability to post notifications), and stop most of them from running in the background. This will effectively 'clean up' the OS, giving you pretty much the same 'clean' experience as Stock Android, WITHOUT sacrificing on several useful features.

The hardware used in Pixel phones are usually of sub-par quality compared to flagships from other brands. Pixel phones have several complaints on the hardware front, just as there are on the software front.

Beginning with Pixel 6, you don't get unlimited storage on Google Photos even at 'Storage Saver' quality. But with Pixel 5 or older Pixel phones, there is a unique advantage and it has been discussed here.

Q. So what did you pay all that premium for?

A. To essentially cover all their marketing expenses.

These are the only benefits of Pixel phones:

1. Google Pixel offers one of the best cameras on a smartphone. But so does Samsung, and flagships from other brands are great alternatives too. One needs the camera to capture great photos and videos, and not necessarily the absolute best, which also has a subjective element to it.

A smartphone is much more than its cameras. And with GCam available for most devices, it reduces the need for a Pixel even more due to its cameras.

2. Google Pixel offers some advanced editing features. If you are a Google One subscriber, they are of no additional use to you. And there are several 3rd party tools that do a competing job.

3. Offline voice transcription: This is probably the only Pixel exclusive feature, but then not many care about it.

4. Fast software updates: This doesn't actually make anyone's life better.

CONCLUSION

As you can see, there really isn't any reason to get a Pixel, given the alternatives you have available in the market.

If you have been a lifelong iPhone user, you'll really be unaware of how much better the smartphone experience is with Android phones.

Likewise, if you have been a long time user of Pixel phones alone, you're really unaware of how much better your experience can be with smartphones from other brands.
[General Topics] EdT586:
A Google charger costs as much as my new phone ! ...LoL
[General Topics] TheMystic:
Google should either offer better hardware and software for the price, or bring back unlimited storage (even in Storage Saver quality) on Google Photos for Pixel devices to justify their price.
[General Topics] ethical_haquer:
Sounds like 🍎. Their chargers are crazy expensive, but they aren't durable. I've had to buy multiple replacements. Like how 🍎 and Google spend more money on lawsuits/patents then R&D. Ridiculous.
[General Topics] TheMystic:
Durable as in withstanding physical abuse or poor quality of components that cause them to simply stop working after sometime?
[General Topics] ethical_haquer:
Durable as in being able to withstand normal use for multiple years. I have multiple 🍎-branded lightning cables that have failed to the point of being able to see the wire. I mean really, with normal use, they just fail. I'm guessing it's because they are so thin, probably so they look better. My Samsung cable I just got is much more wiry, but it is also thicker and feels more durable, but I've only had it for a few months. Also, my 🍎charger blocks are showing small cracks in certain areas. Oh, and I had to buy a new charging cable for my Mac-book. It's a 2013, so okay, but guess how much a new charger costs? Straight from 🍎, $80 - Made in China.
[General Topics] TheMystic:
All these are signs of charger and cable being moved around constantly. I have never seen that happen to any of my cables or chargers, and that's because I rarely move them around. I keep one at home, one at my workstation, and I rarely need to charge when I'm on the move, unless I'm traveling, which isn't too often.
[General Topics] ethical_haquer:
Who knows. I keep a charger in my car and house, but I do move them around to different outlets. That could be it. You're talking about 🍎cables, right?
[General Topics] TheMystic:
Not just 🍎, all brands included: never had an issue with any of them in the last 10 years.
[General Topics] EdT586:
Google chargers and USB-C cable are good compared to Apple's !

The latest 30W G9BRI Google charger at least meets all USB-C specifications and DOE efficiency requirements, Apple's chargers don't and are one of the worst chargers available at crazy high cost.
[General Topics] TheMystic:
All phones today come with a minimum of 2 or 3 years of OS support and an additional 2 years of security updates. This is enough because most people will buy a new phone in 4 or 5 years. I'm not sure where you got your information from.

Please, stop this China CCP thingy. Want to know who the biggest spy is? Read here.

There is no such problem on devices that are launched globally. The global variants support Google Play Store and everything works if you just keep unwanted apps and services disabled. Or at the very least, block them using a firewall.

They offer better hardware and far more value than Google Pixels. Even the camera performance is comparable, taking away the only thing that Google Pixels are good at.

I don't know why people make this a big issue. The Chinese brands offer the charger in the box in most cases. Google, Apple and even Samsung don't. One can also buy accessories from their online/ offline stores, if needed. Their proprietary charging technology is magical and has revolutionalized the charging experience. You can still charge them using 3rd party accessories. But then you'll have to live with the charging speeds offered by Google, Apple and Samsung. Why are you complaining?

Please, stop this trust thing. 3rd party solutions are not as efficient and effective as features built into the OS.

Pixels and iPhones too have their own share of bugs. I don't understand why Pixels have so many bugs when their software has nothing to offer. And there are not as many bugs with the Chinese software as you make them seem to be. I have both OnePlus and iQOO phones and the softwares on both are great. I'm just annoyed with the notification handling on OnePlus phones since OOS 12. Hopefully they will fix them soon.

User is free not to use it. Google Pixel didn't even offer the feature (except on Pixel 4). Face Unlock is super convenient, works pretty well and fairly secure too with all the updates today. Better to offer with warnings about being less secure than not offering it at all like Google did.

Memory management is aggressive with the Chinese ROMs. But you can solve most of them by changing some settings.
[General Topics] TheMystic:
Things have improved over time. Today Chinese OEMs are at par with global brands in terms of software support. Flagships get 4 years Android updates and 5 years of security update. Others get 2 or 3 years of software update and an additional 1 or 2 years of security updates. This is sufficient.

Too much is made out of security updates. If you follow good practices, your phone will be safe. No need for monthly or weekly security updates, unless there is some emergency.

You have a problem with one country 'spying' on its own people but none with the country that spies on the whole world. Lovely!

My experience with Chinese OEMs have so far only been with their global variants, and so I can't comment on the China OS.

As a general principle, it is not a good idea to buy a product that hasn't been released for your market. Because it can cause problems and there won't be any support.

As far as I know, China phones can be expensive only if you are importing them. Otherwise, they are always less expensive than other brands, and as a result, offer excellent value for the price. The problem is with people who expect Chinese OEMs to offer everything cheap, even if the quality is at par or superior to global brands.

So Chinese phones giving poor battery life is due to spying, but Pixels giving poor battery life is due to Samsung? I can't stop laughing.

Like i said before, even without adding anything of value to the software, the Pixel phones have too many problems and complaints. It just shows they are too overpriced for what they have to offer. This is also the point of OP.
[General Topics] extremecarver:
You can read up reviews of rebranded phones on Gsmarena which has a quite decent battery runtime review. Plenty of the global OS rebrands scored much better than their China OS counterparts.

There are rules and laws in China about what data is under inspection - and that includes emails, messages, and phone call content. There needs to be filters that censor words in private communication - all that costs battery life as soon as you us a phone productively. If you don't install any social networks, and do a review like most websites do never installing your personal email, personal social messenger profiles, and so on - this software of course will not be active. Basically most reviews just use the camera and then look at hardware and software and surf the internet. Not actually using the phone as daily driver - so they nevere notice.

They don't notice that any China OS has strict restrictions on replacing the launcher. e.g. for ColorOS and OriginOS you need to be logged in - into the respective Vivo/Oppo account to change the default launcher, plus it will nag you every couple of days trying to default back to their own launcher. If you debloat their own launcher then some settings will be missing and you cannot use things that shouldn't be part of the launcher like recent apps or accessing some of the battery optimizations.

You clearly have no clue about China OS versions, so stop claiming they would offer update policy or their system could do X or Y.

Then comes the thing that some China OS phones if exported without activating in China before - will stop being able to do things like phonecalls. (Oppo/Oneplus).

Xiaomi/Redmi is kinda the big exception because you can unlock the bootloader and flash a global OS or a patched China OS (xiaomi.eu) and only live with missing LTT band 20 and some others. That's their way of making grey imports less usable - but still much better than others.

Honor / Huawei cannot even install google services framework on their China OS nor is there unlocked bootloader. There are ways for very basic google support but that's about it.

Meizu I'm not fully sure - very few people ever import them though they are quite big in China.

There are huge differences on the software side, and sometimes even on the hardware side between China OS and global OS versions of phones. Therefore I write China OS phone vs Chinaphone with global OS.
[General Topics] extremecarver:
You speak about Chinese OEM global phones. Not Chinese OEM China OS phones. They do not get so many updates except Honor/Huawei which I think actually even treat their China OS to longer support. However Honor/Huawei really has no way of installing google services framework.

Xiaomi 13 Ultra China OS has 3/5 update policy according to some Chinese reviews - but I didn't see an actual source from Xiaomi in Chinese verifying this.

All other previous China OS Chinese flagships DO NOT have 3/5 or similar update policy! And in the past no China OS flagship got 3 year major upgrades and 5 year security updates. Rather so far after 2.5 years their software support has been End of Life!
[General Topics] #YetAnotherPerson:
I don't think it's overrated because other phone companies ruin the UI with their own design language alongside material you and the pixel is modding friendly when compared to other flagships
[General Topics] TheMystic:
I already told you this:

This:

They are overpriced just because of this reason. UI, design language are all subjective. Stock Android is too basic and leave a lot of useful features out. Saying stock Android is better is similar to saying iOS is better than Android.
[General Topics] kodabmx:
Huawei was my default brand until that Orange turd put them on a certain list...

They can be unlocked - if you know how... GMS can be sideloaded.

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Pixel represents good value because of quick updates and support.

Anyone who thinks "safe practices" preclude being pwned by a zero-day is delusional! You could pwn a Pixel 7 just by an SMS message before the March update.

Custom ROMS is another giant reason Pixel is good vaule - I have Android 13 running on my Pixel 2 years after Google stopped supporting it because of Lineage. That phone is still useful because of it.

I would buy Chinese over Korean any day for what that's worth. I refuse to buy another Samsung ANYTHING. The OS in my television is slow garbage. KNOX pisses me off. One UI is trash IMHO

Here's a photo of my last Samsung - a Fold 3: Taken with a Huawei Mate 20 Pro that still works perfectly, and was one of the best devices I've ever owned. The Samsung Fold 3 would take over 2 minutes to install something the Huawei installed in 5 seconds!

I'm still paying for this POS, too!

View attachment 5897685

I would not want a Pixel if I was required to run the stock firmware.

Frankly, I want a phone that has 16GB of memory, an AMD SOC, and a Linux based on Arch - phones should be standardised to use UEFI IMHO.

It should be fast enough to compile the Linux kernel in 10 minutes, be a desktop computer using a dock, have 2TB of space etc. Then the phone would be worth 2000$, right? :)

The PinePhone is far too slow to be useful :(

I currently use a Pixel 7 Pro which I paid 800$CAD for. You can get a Pixel 7 for 240$ on a two year phone plan with Rogers - for 240$, you get GARBAGE from any other brand. It isn't the best value if you buy it for full retail, but only an idiot does that anyway!
[General Topics] TheMystic:
When there are known vulnerabilities, they must be patched. There need not be a monthly or weekly time frame to it.

You can buy Redmi phones for a fraction of the price and get the same performance.

Why so? There are a few things I wish OneUI had (especially a proper built-in Firewall), but it is otherwise an excellent experience with it. I have kept my phone completely stock, as it has most things I need (without root), unlike stock Android which has nothing.
[Red Magic 8 pro] jfsat:
I'm totally used to the yellow warning, but this red one is new. I think I must've screwed something up. I'm rooted and booting up fine, except I have to hit the power button on the second (red) warning. Is this normal, or did I do something wrong?
[Red Magic 8 pro] Jan Skokan:
I think it's okay 🤔
[Red Magic 8 pro] Swipe SCP:
Had this also on my old LG V20 back in the days it's normal I guess
[Red Magic 8 pro] ugene1980:
Just need to flash system.img and vendor.img will fix it

If not reflash the entire bundle
[Red Magic 8 pro] jfsat:
When I first got the red warning, all I had done was flashing a patched init_boot. That started the red warning, and I couldn't boot up. (I was stuck on the RedMagic splash screen.)

So I went to fastboot, then fastbootd, and flashed system and vendor. That didn't seem to change anything, so I flashed the entire update.zip. Surprisingly, that didn't change anything either.

I went into recovery, and side-loaded the entire update.zip, and then wiped data and did the option right under that (cleanup after update?), and THAT did the trick. I was booting again, but I still have the "corrupt" warning.
[Red Magic 8 pro] Arealhooman:
So…. It did not help.
[Red Magic 8 pro] jfsat:
Yep. I'm totally willing to reset the whole phone again. Especially since I setup my work account, and it encrypted the phone, and now I don't have a fingerprint reader. :mad:

I just don't know if I CAN go back to the beginning. I'm worried that I've done something that won't be fixed unless we have something like an MSM tool. Which I don't know of.
[Red Magic 8 pro] Arealhooman:
Wait, you currently cannot boot to system?
[Red Magic 8 pro] jfsat:
No, I'm up and running. But every time I boot up, I have to hit the power button on the red warning, or it won't continue to boot. If I were to tell the phone to reboot, and then walk away, it will get stuck on the corrupt warning.
[Red Magic 8 pro] V0latyle:
This issue usually happens due to dm-verity corruption, so some security features won't work. You can try reflashing /boot and /vbmeta if you want to fix it; otherwise you may need to wipe data due to other Android security features designed to protect user data if corruption is encountered.

If however it's not a big deal for you, you can just ignore the warning and fix it next time you update.
[Red Magic 8 pro] Arealhooman:
Are you 101 percent stock?
[Red Magic 8 pro] jfsat:
Here comes my moment of shame: I think so, but I'm not 100% sure.

First I let the phone do the OTA update, then I downloaded the 3.18 update and payload-dumped it, moved the init_boot to the phone, had Magisk patch it, moved that back to the PC, and after I flashed that I started getting the red corruption warning. So... I DON'T know if that was an exact match to what the phone already had on it. I'd like to assume so, but I'm not 101% sure.
[Red Magic 8 pro] Arealhooman:
Seems like you are not stock. I was under the assumption you were stock. The obvious solution is to flash stock. I doubt ota updates will apply.
[Red Magic 8 pro] Arealhooman:
If it is patched by magisk, it is not stock.
[Red Magic 8 pro] jfsat:
I mean, is there another method for gaining root at this time? Sorry if I misled you.

It's probably fine, but I'm going to try flashing boot.img and vbmeta.img just to see if it'll help. Like I said in the OP, I'm used to the yellow warning, but that red one is extra annoying.
[Red Magic 8 pro] Arealhooman:
Not sure, I got a Samsung, I think any firmware modification will get you a corruption warning. You can try TWRP, but it is prob same thing.
[Red Magic 8 pro] Stusick:
I have the same problem. tried to make root
[Red Magic 8 pro] jfsat:
Well, I've tried all I can think of. I've flashed different img files, I've flashed the entire update.zip through fastbootd _and_ recovery. The yellow and red alerts haven't gone away. But I'm already used to just triple clicking the power button when I see the yellow alert, and that speeds through the boot process. So I'm satisfied. It's dumb, but it's not the end of the world.
[Red Magic 8 pro] tknguyencsu@gmail.com:
I also have the "Your device is corrupt" warning after using fastboot enhance to flash the payload bin of the CN rom. My device does not boot it just stays at the Red Magic logo. I can flash either the global rom or the CN rom through sideload recovery. After several tries with both roms, my phone can not still be booted. Any suggestions? Thanks for your reply.
[Red Magic 8 pro] jfsat:
Do the sideload in recovery, and then go to the "wipe" menu (still in recovery), and do both the first and second options. That finally got me booting again.
[Red Magic 8 pro] tknguyencsu@gmail.com:
I did that many times without results.
[Red Magic 8 pro] jaimele:
Ami me sucedio lo mismo pero al intentar rotearlo y escribir mal el archivo init_boot para rotearlo y use el comando boot por error.

Si tu no es por rotear el terminal o si , lo solucione de la siguiente manera:

1- descargar el firmware de tu rom que usas actualmente.

3- descargar el dumper y extraes el archivo payload.

4- activar el modo fastboot y a traves de minimal y fastboot flashear los sigiuientes comandos de la rom extraida de payload.

-fastboot flash init_boot FILENAME.img

-fastboot boot boot.img

- fastboot system system.img

Con estos pasos he arreglado en mi caso.
[Red Magic 8 pro] CrazyMoney:
Did you tried flash boot and vmeta on bootloader rather than fastboot？ I flash it on BL, and it gone.
[Touch Cruise General] oli71:
Hi Folks,

I had my Cuise to repair at o2 (rubber issue). After receiving my gadget, I had to re-install my image (original o2 WM6.1 and restore my backup (Sprite Backup)). Since then my Cuise tend to freeze after wakeup for several seconds. Not every time, just sometimes.

Does anyone has an idea what happens?

Best regards, oli
[Touch Cruise General] Sjnieboon:
I have the same kind of problem. When I push the on/off button to get my Cruise off of standby mode, it doesn't do a thing. All other buttons are ineffective too. If I do a soft-reset, it acts normal for 2 or 3 minutes, but if it gets into standby mode again (automatically or manually), same thing happens.

I now run Touch-IT Lite v.1.0 on it since yesterday, but I had the same problem with the full version of Touch-IT. The full version worked very well for maybe a month, but I don't know if it's the firmware or that's something wrong with my Cruise. Can anyone please help?

EDIT:

Nevermind, I found this topic about my problem: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=366558&page=1
[Touch Cruise General] oli71:
I fixed the issue on my Touch Cruise. As I tried to optimize my power management using the Tweak Tools and enabling power management for SD Card etc., I set everythin to "Default" there and now it is working fine again!

Well, still now got a hughe battery drain left... :-(
[POCO M3 Pro / Redmi Note 10 / 10T 5G] debianmain1:
So I just got a Note 10 5G off of eBay....Looking at the MIUI Version & I am puzzled. It just updated to 13.0.4.0 SKSEUHG & I'm not finding SKSEUHG Versions anywhere....Someone have an idea other than it's obviously an EU Version? Is it a specific carrier phone that has been unlocked?
[POCO M3 Pro / Redmi Note 10 / 10T 5G] 1lopes:
yes, it is a carrier phone. it is possibly branded as Hutchison Telecom if im sure

also, im pretty sure its impossible to get your hands on a carrier rom, as they come flashed by default with their bloatware installed and some tweaking they did, only on region roms (global, eea, indo, russian, taiwan and turkey) but not carrier roms
[POCO M3 Pro / Redmi Note 10 / 10T 5G] debianmain1:
Hmmmm...That is about what I thought.....It has done 2 updates so far (came with 13.0.2.0 & now is 13.0.4.0), so it looks like I'm getting OTA. What would be a good path to change over to a generic EU or Global ROM? Or is that not a good idea?
[POCO M3 Pro / Redmi Note 10 / 10T 5G] wetito:
Probably is a branded firmware. I suggest replace it with global or eu version. If u like miui dialer install indonesian. If u dont want unlock bootloader, u can install only eu firmware, because u have a branded eu
[POCO M3 Pro / Redmi Note 10 / 10T 5G] debianmain1:
No prob with EU firmware...can you point me to a tutorial?