Google Pixel 9 Pro XL

Replying to you here in hopes you see this question. I'm one of those people who is affected by PWM on OLED screens. I tried a Pixel 9 Pro XL and it didn't work for me. Have a Razr 2024 which mostly works and that's thanks to some custom PWM settings from Motorola. Will Graphene OS have these custom PWM mitigation settings on 2027 Motorolas?

I'm tempted to get one to replace my very cracked Pixel 9 Pro XL. With all the incentives Google offers for Google Fi customers it's not all that expensive. Comes out to about $1100 after trade-in and includes a free Pixel Watch 5. I'm foldable-curious and Samsung just includes too much overlapping bloat "features". Gemini is bad enough, I don't need Bixby and whatever else. Not to mention I would have to pay full price.

As someone who was a big OnePlus fan from the 3 era to the 9 Pro, I saw the decline, I moved over when Nexus died, and had used a mixed bag before then. OnePlus was on the decline and it was clear it wouldn't be a contender for much longer here in the UK, especially when they merged OSs with the OPPO (?) OS, and software quality went through the floor. I moved to Pixels and currently have a Pixel 9 Pro XL which I'm looking to change as they destroyed the battery life with the march update and it still hasn't been resolved. The Pixel has been solid otherwise and performance is still excellent, but I can't abide having my phone entering battery saver every day by late afternoon. Nothing(TM) looks like it could be a decent choice, but they're generally weak hardware compared to a 9 Pro XL class device, and I'm not a fan of Samsung any more as a company, though it seems a S2X Ultra might be the only real option.

I still have my OnePlus 9 Pro, sadly I smashed the screen on day 2. Despite the broken screen it still feels and looks like a more premium device than my Pixel 9 Pro XL in terms of hardware, but the software really went down hill after the switch to the OPPO software. Now I want rid of the pixel because they destroyed battery life with an update in march they've still not fixed.

I'm so much happier since I abandoned all of Google. Photos are with Ente (shitty buggy apps but e2e & managed hosting), Mail, Calendar and cloud storage is at Proton, Keep notes were moved to Obsidian (best decision ever). Phone is a Pixel 9 Pro XL with GrapheneOS but I'm ready to ditch it once Motorola ships their 2027 flagships supporting GrapheneOS. I have maybe 3 apps that I still have to open Play Store with a throwaway account for. No idea how I managed to gaslight myself into liking Google products this long. I guess one just gets used to the overall brokenness, daily feature flag changes and the feeling of every interaction with their stuff being stored and analyzed forever.

Same. Purchased Pixel 9 Pro XL, didn't get my year of Gemini or Google One, technical missuport couldn't be bothered circling between all the investigation steps I did and re-did already and tej "fixes" that have been verified ate not fixing anything. "Support" agents couldn't be bothered - this feels like AI trapping me in the tarpit maze to save a few USD on the disk storage and infefence cost, effectively scamming me.

I'm in the same boat. Bought a 9 Pro XL and had to return it. Hope their OEM will use DC dimming for the screens or have an IPS option. In the meantime, I use a Motorola G Power 2024 which has IPS. I'm very much a non-expert but made a minor hobby out of trying to de-google it as much as possible. Never signed into Google with it. Using NetGuard with a whitelist to prevent most of the phoning home. Uninstalled or disabled most built-in apps. The apps I use are installed via either Obtanium or Fdroid. Have Dropbox from Aurora. Use Motorola's private space for keeping some data and apps in a separate, supposedly secure locker. I'm sure this doesn't come close to GrapheneOS's security level but it's the best I can do within the limitations of this device. It was a fun mini-project. NetGuard is invaluable for this purpose. Almost feels like the phone is truly mine.

I hope there's an improved screen. I bought a 9 Pro XL with hopes of running GrapheneOS but the PWM on the Pixel was terrible. Instant headaches. I can more or less get by ok with recent iPhone screens but the Pixel screen didn't work at all for me. Heard a rumor that Google was going to take eye strain seriously for this version. Hope that's true.

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.

That's the problem with pixel. Everytime I try to switch from iPhone, ever year's line up has some glaring GC issue. I've tried every year since the 2XL. Most recent is the 9 Pro XL (only the XL size) the camera bar falling off. The pixels could be amazing phones if Google could fix their crappy QC and invest in some actual customer support. People like Apple - you can go to a physical store and get support. You can get AppleCare+ and have accidental damage replacements, battery replacements, etc just take it to the store. Google doesn't have that, they don't have a physical presence, and it's nearly impossible to get a human and if you do, they are really stingy about RMAs.

Ooh now this is interesting! I have to start following them I guess, been itching to switch since the most recent Android update absolutely destroyed the battery life on my brand new Pixel 9 Pro XL.

Agreed, pixel oled (and iphone oled) make my eyes blurry and achy and ia ssume its the pwm. ips laptop, other phones never have this effect

As you're working with the OEM, I hope you'll consider a model which will come with either an IPS screen or is compatible with a 3rd party IPS replacement. I bought a Pixel 9 Pro Xl specifically to use with GrapheneOS. Unfortunately, its OLED and my eyes were incompatible. The PWM on the screen was terrible and I had to return it after some headaches. Of course, none of that was the fault of GrapheneOS. I absolutely loved using it and think your project is vital.

Nothing(TM) looks like it could be a decent choice, but they're generally weak hardware compared to a 9 Pro XL class device, and I'm not a fan of Samsung any more as a company, though it seems a S2X Ultra might be the only real option. Even the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is getting close to the price of an S26 here and the S26 will absolutely blow it out of the water when it comes to pretty much every facet of the hardware. Pixel 9/10 Pro XL is a midrange SoC sold at flagship prices. Even the A57, which is a midrange Samsung model that will soon hit 350 Euro is faster single core than the Pixel 9 Pro and on par multi-core. Also has better battery life and despite only being 0.1" smaller weighs 42g less and is much thinner. Gets supported for 6 years and also gets monthly updates. Also doesn't die frequently with spicy pillows, camera bars that drop off, etc. I still buy Pixels because it has an unlockable bootloader and can run GrapheneOS, but Google's pricing is insane and I wish that they would go back to the old price points. The 10a is the only Pixel with somewhat reasonable pricing for what it provides, but unfortunately they made the hardware differences larger than in the past (e.g. be not upgrading to the latest Tensor SoC).

> And then came iPhone X Did the iOS/Android situation actually swap, or was the X an outlier? I have photos from a recent event taken entirely with phones, and the result mirrors my experience for the past many years. iPhone (11-15 including Pro Max) photos look "normal". Very, very similar to what my eyes saw in terms of colors. Photos taken with Android phones (Pixel 9 Pro XL, recent Oppo or Samsung A series, etc.) look terribly unnatural. The blue of the sky, the green of the plants, the red of the dress, they look "enhanced" and unnatural, nothing like what my eyes saw. I can tell apart almost any iPhone vs. Android picture just by looking at the colors on the same display. The resolution or sharpness are harder to judge with one look and I wasn't trying to compare quality. But the colors are too obvious to miss.

You can get flagship Android phones for $500 or less if you are a bit patient and have a good carrier. I just ordered a Galaxy S24+ from Google Fi for $450 and it's a better phone than the $1100 pixel 9 pro XL imo. 6 months from now and on days like Black Friday you'll be able to get the pixel 9 for less than $500.