Google says it can’t fix Pixel Watches, please just buy a new one | With no official repair program and no parts, broken Pixel Watches are just e-waste.::With no official repair program and no parts, broken Pixel Watches are just e-waste.

  • @Scrof@sopuli.xyz
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    82 years ago

    Aren’t all smart watches just e-waste? Always found them ridiculously redundant and wasteful. I mean my gshock is still on the same battery after 11 years and it’s still precise, has a calendar, alarm clocks, timers, backlighting and went through hell and back. I used to swim and take showers without taking it off, crawling in a desert, all sorts of abuse with not even a scratch.

    • Final Remix
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      2 years ago

      I’ve got a Pebble and an original recipe Vivoactive. They’re both workin’ perfectly fine after all these years, battery lasts about 5 days because I have the GPS, schedule/alarms, and messaging enabled.

      Once the pebble battery becomes a spicy pillow, I’ll replace it. I swim, shower, everything with these watches. They’ve both been through hell and back, and I think there’s a small scuff on one of them, at most.

        • @everett@lemmy.ml
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          62 years ago

          It’s not always easy to pull out your phone, especially if you’re sitting. You don’t always have free hands. Your phone isn’t always on your person. Stuff like that. Also, it’s really nice to, at a glance, see what the notification is and know that you don’t even have to bother pulling out your phone.

        • Final Remix
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          2 years ago

          So, I teach. Having a text just go “zzt” on my wrist, I can check the sender at a glance, and if it’s important, check the phone. Same with calls. Otherwise I can dismiss it and check later.

          I also have my watches set up with reminders for things lile “10 mins left to class” that silently buzzes in my wrist so I know to wrap up, and both track my movement and sleep. Fun bits of data for myself, to see if I’m sleeping poorly or being as lazy as I think I am one day. The pebble even has an 8:30PM wrap-up for the day that tracks my average steps and lets me know if i’m ahead or behind my usual.

          They’re useful when a phone would be too many features or too much noise.

    • @WiseMoth@lemmy.world
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      12 years ago

      I wouldn’t say so. My Apple Watch shows a ridiculous amount of useful information on my watch face and I can easily find any other info I need with it. It’s also got a lot of health and fitness features which can be extremely helpful and potentially life saving. In addition to all of that, the rest of the features are helpful too. Whether some might find them to be redundant or intrusive, I and clearly many others find them to be useful. Just because you don’t find a use for it, doesn’t make it bad.

  • buru
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    382 years ago

    i bought a P-Watch due to the circular aesthetic, have been wearing mine since release. it’s “OK” but last week i fell on my bicycle and scratched up the watch face pretty badly, so QUITE annoying that there is no repair program.

    doesn’t matter though, switching to a classic Cassio watch soon anyways. “Smart Watches” aren’t that helpful for me, ultimately i don’t understand the appeal. it’s just PHONE ON WRIST, seems like another way to “PLUG INTO THE MATRIX”

    • Cethin
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      62 years ago

      I don’t wear mine anymore really, but the use case for it for me was to see notifications quickly and easily without taking my attention away from whoever I am with. You can quickly just glance at your watch to see if the text/phone call/email is important or not and then just twist your wrist to dismiss.

      • @soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyz
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        02 years ago

        I used to think I had to decide if I wanted to reply to a notification immediately.

        Besides my smart doorbell notification and actual phone calls everything else can wait an hour until I finish what I’m doing. And for those two exceptions they have special vibration patterns in my pocket.

        Don’t be that guy who has to reply to notifications immediately

        • Cethin
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          22 years ago

          The point is I don’t feel the need to reply to almost any notification immediately. There are emergencies that can’t wait sometimes though.

        • @Drewelite@lemmynsfw.com
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          12 years ago

          I agree on principal, but unfortunately in today’s world there’s things like work that demand an immediate response. Is it healthy? Nope. Do they care? Nope.

        • @saunjay1@lemmy.world
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          32 years ago

          Not all notifications need replying to, and it’s sometimes nice to have them be glanceable. I don’t use a smartwatch per say, the battery life on them suck, but my Garmin watch still has some of the same general functionality along with the fitness stuff I mostly have it for. Plus underrated feature for me is using it to ring my phone when I can’t find it ha

    • @Ejh3k@lemmy.world
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      41 year ago

      I wear my smart watch exclusively at work because when I’m on or around heavy machinery, I need to know if that little alert was something important or not. Otherwise I’d be checking my phone every five minutes. But I don’t have to stop or slow down to check my wrist.

    • Secret
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      12 years ago

      Never understood the appeal of Dick Tracey’s phone watch, still don’t understand them now that the are real.

  • @WindowsEnjoyer@sh.itjust.works
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    692 years ago

    Google support for literally anything is non existent. Same could be said about Meta.

    I am slowly shifting away from Google. Gmail and Google Photos is going to be the hardest. :/

    • @Swarfega@lemm.ee
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      72 years ago

      I moved from Gmail. I’ll link to my previous comment to save trying it out again…

      https://lemm.ee/comment/3347046

      If I ever move away from Protonmail it will take about 5 mins for all my 300 websites to start sending emails to the new mailbox.

    • JC1
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      22 years ago

      For Gmail, I switched to fastmail. For google photos, I switched for immich.

      The services that I still use from them are google maps, YouTube and SSO. They are all services that I wouldn’t mind them shutting down. It’s just that I find them much better than any alternatives.

        • JC1
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          42 years ago

          I installed this week, so I’m not a long time user. But it’s by far the best self hosted photo app that I’ve used. Before that I used nextcloud, but the user experience isn’t as good Imo.

          The only things that I miss are automatic albums based on face recognition and pet recognition. I still use google photo to share with family though.

      • @pureness@lemmy.world
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        22 years ago

        For SSO, are you talking about Google Authenticator? I was able to switch to Aegis, which is just an open source alternative, but does the same thing, except you are not forced to back up to Google.

        • JC1
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          12 years ago

          This is TOTP. I use my password manager for that. I used to use Bitwarden, but I recently switched to 1password.

          SSO means single sign on. If I sign on to Google, it automatically sign me on other apps. I use a forward auth on my self hosted services. I used to use authentik but I switched to google since it just works much better. If Google makes a shitty move in that department, I can always fall back to authentik.

          I don’t mind using proprietary softwares if they’re good, I just prefer to think about an alternative in case I need to switch.

    • @joel_feila@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Proton if you want email, privacy and cloud storage.

      Edit I use murena and it comes with cloid storage and online only office suite

    • @Chobbes@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      For those thinking of moving away from Gmail… I strongly recommend buying your own domain name so you actually own your address and can switch e-mail services whenever you want without needing a new e-mail address. Hell, I’d recommend this even if you’re planning on staying with Gmail for a while.

      Honestly, aside from having to point people at your new e-mail address… Gmail is not particularly hard to move away from, especially if you already use an external mail client. I don’t really miss it, anyway. The only pain point I experience is that if somebody sends you a Google Doc / Sheet you need a Google account to edit it, but that’s not a huge concern for me personally.

      I’m self hosting my personal e-mail right now, and it’s pretty great if you know how to do that stuff. Super cheap to host, and I can have as many aliases and send as many e-mails as I want. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s very doable if you already host your own stuff. Otherwise there’s a bunch of e-mail services like Proton (kind of expensive, and a little annoying in that it’s not just IMAP), Tutanota (dunno much about it), Fastmail, etc… But it’s also worth mentioning that if you have a domain / VPS already your VPS provider and your registrar may both provide e-mail services that you can use… And if you just want to get out of Google and you have an iCloud+ account already (which is very possible if you have an iPhone and wanted more iCloud storage, but otherwise it’s $0.99/mo) you can also use iCloud+ for e-mail with a custom domain.

      • @Nanabaz2@lemmy.world
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        11 year ago

        I did set it up. Survive multiple upgrade in place just fine.

        I can say it beats all my apps until now. The best part to me is delete from app request to delete from my Android as well. So unlike most, it works ironically like iPhone. And I prefer that

      • @WindowsEnjoyer@sh.itjust.works
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        12 years ago

        Yup, I am aware about it. It’s just dislaimers that look a bit scary (not production ready), even tho multiple users reported using it without any issues.

    • @Nath@aussie.zone
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      82 years ago

      I’ve had acceptable support for the pixel phone. I forget what went wrong, but I had a problem with one of my pixels, needed repair and they replaced it when it was just shy of two years old.

      It sucked, because I had to send it to Hong Kong from Australia, and they then promptly sent me a replacement. But I was 5 days without a phone.

      With Apple support, they have local presence and I’ve had same-day repair.

      I have no intention of shifting away from Google. Their cloud service is great. I pay for it and my only complaint is there are stricter privacy policies on gsuite accounts that mean some Google services are incompatible. Which is a very clear endorsement of the old adage ‘if you aren’t paying for the service, you’re the product’.

      • @WindowsEnjoyer@sh.itjust.works
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        82 years ago

        I’ve heard this story: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/22/google-csam-account-blocked

        Imagine your primary email is no longer accessible. Your memories (images/video) is no longer accessible that dates back to 2014.

        I am scared it might happen to me, so I am strongly considering moving away from Google products.

        Yes, writing this from my pixel. Luckily, I can flash alternative OS to my Pixel, so I don’t really mind having Pixel, but Google services? Nooo…

        • @nehal3m@sh.itjust.works
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          2 years ago

          I am in the Apple ecosystem, but this strategy is universal. Every month I am reminded by my calendar to make a backup. That means:

          A Photos export to flat file format for photo and video

          An iCal backup (easily imported elsewhere)

          A vCard backup of contacts

          A bookmark backup

          A to do list export by pasting to a .md

          Same for notes

          I like the easy way an ecosystem lets all my things play nice together, but I don’t want to be beholden to it. This is an acceptable workaround to me.

      • @WindowsEnjoyer@sh.itjust.works
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        2 years ago

        I was considering this on and off, but never really attempted to do this.

        Biggest dealbreaker was lack of USB-C cable, but here are few other issues:

        1. No easy & free way to sideload apps.
        2. No ability to install 3rd party OS.
        3. No proper files management.
        4. Clipboard and files sharing is still a joke. It works, but is uncomfortable as fuck.
        5. Lack of cusotmization almost for every aspect of a phone.
        6. Inability to self-repair. Apple made it harder on purpose.
        7. Overpriced smartphones & gadgets.
        8. Can’t simply upload & download files from my PC (both Windows & Linux).
        9. Shitty media format support.
        10. Apple wallet does not support discount cards.
        11. Buying an Apple device means I would literally support anti-consumer company with shitty behavior towards its users.
        • @arc@lemm.ee
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          42 years ago

          Apple doesn’t allow “questionable” apps like emulators, bit torrent clients on its store and of course you can’t sideload them either.

        • @nitefox@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          Inability to self-repair. Apple made it harder on purpose.

          Can you repair android phone nowadays? Afaik, they are just as hard as apple

          Clipboard and files sharing is still a joke. It works, but is uncomfortable as fuck.

          Never had a problem

          No easy & free way to sideload apps.

          this should come before March 2024

          Overpriced smartphones & gadgets.

          True for the gadgets, smartphones are just in line with other android phones but at least the phone is supported for 5-6 years and it doesn’t go to shit after a few years of use

          Shitty media format support.

          Preach.

          Buying an Apple device means I would literally support anti-consumer company with shitty behavior towards its users

          Then buy no phone and remove google, etc. For a computer, buy a System76 et similia -but do not use Nvidia/AMD/intel GPU/CPU; no Samsung for SSD, no Intel network card etc.

          Apple wallet does not support discount cards.

          But you can?Maybe it’s new, idk

          Can’t simply upload & download files from my PC (both Windows & Linux).

          True. I use iCloud webApp on Linux or transfer the files on Mega

          No proper files management.

          It works for the most basic use cases

          No ability to install 3rd party OS.

          True, but on the other hand iOS is the reason you would buy an iPhone. I’m a power user on desktop but I can’t be bothered on mobile: back when I had an android, I used the stock apps too and never did anything “”“weird”“”. I’m a desktop user throughout, so if I have to do anything I will just use my PC instead of relying on my phone

          – That said, if you don’t mind paying:

          • try protonMail, there is the auto import and forward for gmail;
          • MEGA has a sync feature for the photos. I use it but on iOS it’s not that great, for example the photos never get deleted but just uploaded;
            • @nitefox@lemmy.world
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              -12 years ago

              Never said you were wrong lol

              If you value freedom over comfort, then obviously an iPhone doesn’t cut it

              • @WindowsEnjoyer@sh.itjust.works
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                42 years ago

                freedom over comfort

                With freedom comes the confort. It’s me who should decide what I need, not Apple. Apple should adjust to my needs, not me to Apple.

                • @nitefox@lemmy.world
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                  2 years ago

                  With freedom comes comfort

                  lol, tell me that when you use a banking app outside the Google play services

                  Freedom [to install your own OS on a mobile device] for sure won’t bring me any comfort, and in fact it’s something I don’t care about.

                  Beside, it’s a naive take: Apple doesn’t force you to buy its phones so you can just go wherever. And I doubt most people who buy an android do so for the freedom to install their own OS

          • @WindowsEnjoyer@sh.itjust.works
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            32 years ago

            Mostly done by ad-blocking DNS server at home (or via VPN when I am away), but yeah - no ability on Apple. Also impossible to root.

            I don’t do root anymore, but I would love to have this available as an option. Opens much more possibilities.

            • @pup_atlas@pawb.social
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              22 years ago

              This just, isn’t true? You can just download the Ad Block Plus Safari extension, just like you can on a desktop/laptop machine. You could even add a user script manager to block ads yourself if you’re so inclined. This has been in iOS for years, at least 4.

        • @Chobbes@lemmy.world
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          22 years ago

          I have an iPhone, but I will say for me the biggest deal breaker with it is absolutely not the lack of USB-C support (though that sucks and THANK GOD they’re switching)… The lack of sideloading for apps is a much bigger problem IMO, because it’s really hard for free and open source apps to even exist on iOS (which makes paid apps, subscriptions, and advertising much more common). Honestly, I’d care a lot less about the lack of sideloading if it wasn’t for the other inconvenient facts, like the a $100/year developer license to publish anything on the App Store, or the fact that you pretty much need to have a Mac to develop for the iPhone… The $100/year developer license is just a death sentence for any open source apps and hobby / passion project apps. It’s not thaaaat much money, but it’s a lot to pay on top of putting in a bunch of free work to build an app in the first place.

    • ditty
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      22 years ago

      I love my Samsung watch because I can do Strava tracking and listen to Spotify to my Bluetooth Buds while running without taking my phone. Absolute game changer honestly

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    212 years ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Google makes a big deal out of its partnership with iFixit and the availability of replacement parts for its products, but one Google product that doesn’t seem fixable is the Pixel Watch.

    After spotting some posts from Pixel Watch users seeking a remedy after cracking the glass and coming up with no clear answers, The Verge got Google to confirm that, even 11 months after launch, there is no repair plan right now.

    Google can’t fix your watch.

    The whole top half of the watch is one big glass hemisphere, so it’s not difficult to bang one of the glass corners into something and shatter the watch.

    This might all seem like it’s against the spirit of Google’s big repairability announcement in 2022, but that blog post says the program is for Pixel phones, not any of the other stuff Google sells.

    With the Pixel Watch 2 coming out soon, we’ll be sure to ask Google if there are any repair plans this time.


    The original article contains 216 words, the summary contains 164 words. Saved 24%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • TheSaneWriter
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      122 years ago

      The amount of E-Waste our society generates is truly abhorrent. It will take hundreds of thousands of hours and countless amounts of money for future generations to fix this.

    • @troutsushi@feddit.de
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      242 years ago

      Oooooh, that’s a neat idea in light of the current EU legislation concerning the Right to Repair: Introduce a mandatory, highly visible, and standardized seal that all electronic devices have to display on the front of their box:

      Repairable

      or

      Disposable

        • @troutsushi@feddit.de
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          62 years ago

          It’d be more fitting to mandate every product to include its ecological price. Disposable vapes, for example, would disappear instantly.

      • Phoenixz
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        112 years ago

        Then tax the shit out of disposable products please as we already waste way too much

        • NutWrench
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          11 year ago

          Do the same thing with phones that have non-replaceable batteries, too.

  • Art35ian
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    2 years ago

    Same with the Google Nest Hub.

    It cost me around $600 and has a known splash-screen issue which I just woke up to one morning.

    No fix available when it happens. Nothing I did caused it. I just had to bin it.

    It’s either planned obsolescence or just shitty design.

    • @casmael@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      Probably both tbh

      Let’s mint a new razor: assume both malice and incompetence

    • ඞmir
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      32 years ago

      Nest Hub for $600? Which one is that expensive?

    • @thisisawayoflife@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Companies should have fines for at least as much as the revenue they generated with those devices. Designed obsolescence is something that needs to be *abandoned, even if it hurts really bad financially.

      • @fubo@lemmy.world
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        272 years ago

        Even simpler: If you sell it, and it breaks or becomes useless, you’re expected to take it back and dispose of it responsibly. Electronics retailers can charge a deposit, just like the supermarket does for beer and Coke.

        Just imagine if things worked that way —

        Find the broken husk of an iPod Shuffle on the beach? Take it to an Apple Store; they give you five bucks.

        Find a roadkill Dell laptop on the side of the road? (I did earlier this summer.) Take it to any big-box store that sells Dell laptops; they give you five bucks.

        Pixel Watch turned into e-waste? Mail it to Google; they give you five bucks. (Probably on your Google Pay account, yeah, but that’s better than nothing.)

        • @HurlingDurling@lemm.ee
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          172 years ago

          But before that make it like a tire. Bought a pixel watch and it died in a year an a half? If the device should have lasted 3-5 years, you should be able to send it back to the manufacturer for a percentage of the cost back. Sure, google can say it’s watches only last 12 months, but as a consumer would you buy such a disposable item?

    • TheSaneWriter
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      442 years ago

      It’s probably a bit of both. They save money with a worse design and they make more money on more sales.

  • @sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
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    802 years ago

    Expecting companies to be good citizens is crazy. Expecting consumers to be informed consumers is crazy. Our gov’t needs to pass regulations about repairability for just about any consumer product. But expecting voters to be informed voters also seems crazy.

  • @spacedance@sh.itjust.works
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    822 years ago

    Their support is infamously hard to contact, they discontinue projects very often, and now this. Google makes some very interesting products, but there would have to be a huge shift at the company, which won’t happen, for me to buy them.

    • @dai@lemmy.world
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      192 years ago

      My pixel had issues with the screen (p7p) contacted google, within a couple of days I had an advance replacement device in my hands and a return label for the faulty device.

      My watch is giving me issues currently so I’m planning on hitting up support about that too, as it’s not within what I expected from the watch (won’t connect via bt after a month or so, requiring a factory reset).

      In AUS we have great consumer protections, if my watch continues on the way it is currently I’ll be returning it for a full refund.

      • @JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
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        2 years ago

        I love being in Maine and quietly mentioning our Implied Warranty and willingness to contact the Secretary of State about a faulty product. I’ve had success multiple times and only needed to write the Secretary office once.

    • @Archer@lemmy.world
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      92 years ago

      They immediately lost my business with no public followup on 911 dialer bugs on Pixels. Plus there is ALWAYS a huge hardware problem on flagship Pixels, every single generation. Went iPhone SE and really why would I ever move back?

      • @andysteakfries@lemmy.world
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        72 years ago

        I’ve had a lot of pixels in my family and the only one that had major issues was the Pixel 4.

        I think you may be buying into overblown anecdotal nonsense.

        • @CobraChicken@lemmy.ca
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          2 years ago

          As have I, and my experience is similar to the other guy.

          Fingerprint on the 6 drove me nuts.

          On 7 pro now. My tap to pay goes away randomly sometimes until I restart the phone. 7pro camera is hit and miss, mostly missed. Takes very detailed photos, but the quality is far worse than pixels older than pixel 6.

        • @Archer@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          There were multiple public reddit posts about a Pixel 911 dialer bug - NOT the Teams one that we already had, but a new one. No follow-up on that and from what I’ve heard it’s more productive to scream into the void than contact Google support, so I picked up and left. Glad I did too, Android is death by a thousand laggy cuts compared to iOS. For me, the choice was simple: I need rock solid 911 support, immediate attention on critical bugs, and a phone that didn’t lag. iPhone is the only major flagship that can do everything on that list

    • @spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works
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      2 years ago

      Unfortunately that huge shift would require a complete change in Google’s corporate culture and that’s not gonna happen.

      I had my own experience with their customer support after purchasing 2 Pixel 6’s. They were utter garbage. Both had the cellular connectivity problem and the fingerprint sensors were completely useless. Those sensors failed 100% of the time in brightly lit stores. There’s no way in hell that Google was unaware of those problems, and they were in fact well documented (but not resolved) after six months and one major software “fix”.

      Lucky for me a request for help on Reddit resulted in multiple people saying they despised their Pixels and to return the damn things before it was too late.

      • JackbyDev
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        32 years ago

        Do you mean Pixel 7 by chance? I’ve heard problems with it’s sensor. I have the 6 and haven’t noticed anything. Just curious mostly.

        • @spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works
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          22 years ago

          Pixel 6. From Android Authority:

          Hate is a strong word to use in any context, so I’ll try my best to avoid that language. I very strongly dislike the Pixel 6’s fingerprint sensor.

          Glad your experience is better than ours. Maybe Google fixed the problem.

    • @orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
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      42 years ago

      I’m pretty sure almost everything they make these days simply exists to obtain data from users first and foremost. They don’t want long term support or products that stick around forever; they want to add more and more vectors to build those profiles and record behaviors.

    • @etuomaala@sopuli.xyz
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      132 years ago

      Interestingly, even Pine64’s smart watch requires you to silly cone glue the two case halves together if you want it to be waterproof. It does give you that option, though, which is cool.

      • @noobnarski@feddit.de
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        42 years ago

        (Almost) my entire house is smart, but nothing talks to the cloud anymore.

        So nobody can get that data except me. Some exceptions are that I dont have or want smart locks, that just seems to insecure and unreliable.

        • @agent_flounder@lemmy.one
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          22 years ago

          Some people have a hard time imagining bad outcomes or “thinking like a bad guy”. I guess that’s why infosec people are needed lol.

      • @agent_flounder@lemmy.one
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        12 years ago

        Though in IT, I do have a (limited) smart home but also old tech like a 40s Western Electric phone, a few 1920s-40s typewriters, a few vintage woodworking tools, myriad vintage and new fountain pens (I use them to take notes… you know, on paper gasp). I have and wear lots of budget watches (err, but, one at a time) … from the 1890s - present, mechanical and quartz.

        The nicest oldest ones are a 1895 Elgin hunter pocket watch (ladies size 6) and a 1930s Hamilton open face size 10. I often wear vintage wristwatches: Bulova, Elgin, Waltham, Timex, and Seiko. I have more modern ones including Fortis, Orient, Casio, Bulova, and more.

      • @M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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        222 years ago

        I always see the software working people go nutty for the new hardware and dohickies.

        Meanwhile a lot of people I knew who worked on hardware live in the woods “off grid”.

        • @______@lemm.ee
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          142 years ago

          I know a hardware guy that lives on a farm and uses raspberry pi for his garden hoses.

        • @vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org
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          12 years ago

          If by “software” you mean Web or Java or something like that, then, well, for the purpose of this conversation they are enthusiasts.

          While people working on hardware are forced to get some understanding of how the world around us works.

          • @M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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            12 years ago

            I think the difference is simply between who has to go on site to fix an issue and those who “theoretically” could.

    • @grayman@lemmy.world
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      232 years ago

      My G Shock is super reliable and will never need a battery. No way I’m swapping it out for some fragile piece of junk screen that mostly displays a clock that dies every few days.

        • @M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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          52 years ago

          I have had the same automatic (self winding) for over a decade. Wear it almost everyday, it gets beat up and used hard but still works great. And no batteries is nice.

            • @M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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              12 years ago

              Well this one is more of a happy accident. It is a Fossil, and was a warranty replacement for a battery watch I bought. Have had not much luck with the battery Fossils but they seem to make a solid (or did not sure if they still do) automatics.