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Phones · Google Pixel

Google Pixel 5

58owners with an opinion
64%of verdicts positive
30/16positive/negative since 2024
6 yrslongest happy owner
3happy after 3+ years

Praised for design and reliability; criticized for software and battery.

What owners wrote

Doesn’t like itOwned 5 years
I recently just got my RMA fulfilled for a Pixel 5 that developed a spicy pillow after 5 years, but I've already sworn off Pixel devices from here on out after this and a total lemon of a Pixel 6 I had bought my wife for her birthday. In general, the whole planned obsolescence business model of smart phones has really soured my opinions of this technology that is now central to our lives.
NeutralOwned 3 years
I get Pixel phones and keep them until the battery goes. I've owned the original, the 5, and now the 7. None of the in-betweens because I didn't need to upgrade (the battery in the 5 went a bit earlier than expected, but I still got 3 or so years out of it, which is okay). Technically my original Pixel still works, but the screen is cracked pretty good so it's my backup phone. Why do you feel you need to change phones every 2 years? The hardware is probably fine unless your carrier of choice completely changes their network. The software will still work, although security fixes might be less frequent (it seems those are done for about 4 years, though 3rd-party distributors like Motorola might not honour that). Are you sure your perception that you need a new phone every couple years isn't being driven by marketing and contracts?
NeutralOwned 2 years
We are unfortunately a neglected part of the market. I used to have a Pixel 5. As somebody who uses phones minimally (<10 min average screentime per day), but still wants utilities beyond a feature phone for special use cases (maps, translate, digital tickets, public transport, NFC payments), it was about as small as I needed it to be to tuck it away in my pocket for the whole day. It was also quite a nice form factor with a black stone-like back case, which didn't seem to scuff or attract fingerprints. I had two of them. The first one lasted 2 years before the battery swelled up and I had to dispose of it. Google replaced it for free with another. Then eventually Google Pay stopped being supported on the second, since it was a few years beyond security updates. After that I found no alternative within the Android ecosystem. I don't want to get into Apple products (despite minimal use, I did have the phone customised so that it was stripped bare in terms of apps and notifications, and had a launcher which I preferred over Google's native design), and every tech blog talking about small phones led back to Pixel 5, or one of the ones just after which was also out of sale and security coverage. Even though they are sold at profit, I get the feeling phones are viewed by the industry as vehicles. Get one with a big screen into peoples hands, then keep riding on the payments for games, movies, TV and web browsing that follows that. As somebody who never used my phone for any of the…
Likes it
The Pixel 5 was an absolutely brilliant phone; everything about it was right: the texture, the size, and the battery was great too. It was the best phone I've ever had. It's a blueprint for creating a great phone, IMO. I've since moved onto a Pixel 9a and it just isn't as good, IMO. The screen seems so much... weaker? I used to drop the 5 quite a bit onto hard concrete floors, and it never sustained the damage that this one has (without as much abuse): the screen is cracked along the side. I'm still not sure how it came about. If it wasn't for GrapheneOS and the desire for a private and secure OS, I don't think I would stick with the Pixel line-up any longer.
Likes it
I’m not sure what the hack is. The watch is provisioned like a normal eSIM-equipped phone, since that’s what it is. How could SMS messages from different phone numbers sync? That’s the whole point: It is truly standalone. In my case there is no issue whatsoever because the person using the watch has no cell phone (preteen child). For the majority of adults who want the seamless Apple Watch approach where their watch and phone act together contextually, this is not a solution but it works great as a true standalone “phone on your wrist”.
Neutral
Is anything with the pebble time able to capture heart rate for historical data analysis? Anything that can show graphs that you know of? I've got the pixel watch and I'm using Fitbit for this currently, but it's way too expensive for all I'm using it for. I really just want historical heart rate at the moment plus basic exercise tracking, and of course being able to tell the time. Media controls are a huge plus as well.
Likes it
I just charge mine as part of my nighttime routine, sometimes it's only five minutes, sometimes it's 20. In the morning I just throw it on the charger while I'm showering/brushing my teeth. It's almost never full, but it never dies. I thought about the Fitbit air, but being able to see your heart rate is kind of nice.
Likes it
I'm perplexed how anyone would have trouble charging their smart watch 30-45 minutes per day, unless they have an unusual schedule like (near-constant travel). This is something I almost never think about or have issues with.
Likes it
I've used GrapheneOS on a Pixel 3a, 5, 8 and 10 Pro so far and it's worked really well. I couldn't imagine going back. The only things I'm missing (which don't exist in other OS'es either): - Being able to configure contact scopes in such a way that the app in question only gets access to the phone numbers of the contacts belonging to the label I specified, e.g. "WhatsApp", nothing more. Yes, one can of course add contacts' phone numbers to the contact scopes "by hand" but 1) there is a limit on the number of contacts/phone numbers configured this way, and 2) AFAIK there is no way to back up that list. - Being able to install browser extensions in Vanadium. - Being able to configure multiple VPNs at once, e.g. for Tailscale, ad filtering, blocking HackerNews during times when I should be doing something more productive :) etc., especially since the Vanadium browser doesn't support extensions (see above). I was hoping that the Rethink app might implement something like this ( https://github.com/celzero/rethink-app/issues/1047 ) but it doesn't look like it's coming and it'd probably be much better to do this at the OS level.
Likes it
I have a projector that can project 4k at 60hz or 1080p at 240, and I can really notice it by just moving the cursor around. I don’t need to render my games anywhere near 240 to notice that too. Same with phones - moving from pixel 3 to pixel 5, scrolling through settings or the home screen was a palpable difference. Pixel 3 now feels broken. It is not.m, it just renders at 60 instead of 90 fps.
Doesn’t like it
Fwiw, these "tricks" are nice for some, but cause headaches for those who're PWM sensitive (like me). I can easily see the flicker of eg my Pixel 5 screen (which iirc is around 300ish hz?), and it hurts my eyes. Fortunately , some folks like Philips make bulbs that are very low or zero flicker.
Doesn’t like it
Agreed, I was recently looking through photos from my Pixel 5 and realized that it had "helpfully" modified an image of a bunny, making the fur look wavy and adding a weird faded-out eye on the body. On top of that, it applies skin smoothing to every photo, even with the beauty filter disabled. It irked me enough that I'm looking for a new third-party camera app. Despite using exclusively Pixel/Nexus phones for the last 12 years, I might abandon them entirely once this phone dies.
Doesn’t like it
I'm really picky. Creaks, screen issues (got the line down the middle of the screen on a 2XL, 3, and 6), speaker went out on 5, cell radio would randomly stop working on the 8, having to reboot multiple times per day. Most recently a 9 Pro XL, flexed more than my wife's, and the screen creaked when pressed (which my wife's didn't). The camera bump falling off didn't happen to me, but I've seen it on others. If I'm going to pay Apple prices, I expect the same level of quality. I really want to like the pixel, but I can't trust Google's quality until they prove otherwise. Every generation of Pixel has had some sort of QC problem.
Doesn’t like it
Just a heads up, when I contacted Google Support about this, they insinuated that this is something slowly being rolled out across Pixel 5 devices, so while it may work now, it could stop at any moment. The issue I received when tapping to pay was "Your phone doesn't meet software standards". It did mention it can be due to rooting (my phone wasn't rooted) or "uncertified software" (of which I didn't have any). I'm sure you might already do so, but I'd advise not to rely on the phone to pay going forward. For me, I was caught off guard in a shop without any other payment method. There was no warning or notification about the change until I tapped to pay at the card terminal. I tried a few more times afterwards with another payment method as backup, and it never worked again, even after rebooting, toggling NFC off and on. I never received an email, notification or warning in the app itself. It was quite disappointing as I reckon I could have run that phone for a few more years as a minimal phone. Google did offer me about £100 off of a new Pixel. So if this happens to you and the lack of Google Pay is a dealbreaker, I'd give that a try.