Google announced the third-generation Pixel smartphones earlier this month, and they bring some upgrades over the previous generation. The Pixel 3 now comes with an 18:9 display, whereas the Pixel 2 featured a screen with 16:9 aspect ratio. The Pixel 3 XL, on the other hand, comes with a notched display, and unlike other Android smartphones, this one is a deeper one.
Google has packed brilliant cameras and excellent software on the Pixel 3 phones, but just like the previous two generations, the latest one is also reportedly marred with some issues. Here’s a look at the list of issues with Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL as reported by users.
Watch: Google Pixel 3 XL Hands On
Poor audio in video recording
A lot of Pixel 3 users have complained about audio quality issues when recording videos on the smartphone. The issue also came to limelight when a pair of popular YouTubers compared the recording audio quality with the iPhone XS Max. The Pixel 2 XL also had a similar issue where the audio appeared to be distorted and high pitched. While Google issued a software update to fix this issue, this time around, the issue seems to be a little different.
Soon after users started complaining, Google issued a statement saying that it has specifically tuned the audio to reduce the background noise, while optimizing the spoken words. In short, Google is saying that it is by design, and not a problem as such.
Google commented on the issue saying “we made several advances in the audio recording capabilities of Pixel 3, including enabling stereo recording in landscape mode. When recording outdoors, our tuning is specifically designed to reduce background noise like wind and road noise and overly loud sounds and optimize for audible speech. To achieve this, we selectively de-emphasize some frequencies, which minimizes disruptive noises and optimizes the resulting audio. We do extensive user testing of our products to ensure they are tuned for real-world usage, and we’re always looking at additional tuning opportunities based on user feedback.”
Memory Management
We have all types of flagship smartphones out there from the likes of Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and OnePlus, and most of them come with minimum 6GB of RAM, and a maximum of 8GB. Xiaomi is also expected to launch a smartphone with 10GB of RAM. Now, while OEMs have been offering more amount of RAM for better memory management, Google thinks that 4GB of RAM is good enough to offer smooth Android experience.
A lot of users have reported about the memory management issues that kill background apps. Among the prominent used cases, music and podcast apps just close without offering any warning. This could be because the Android OS needs more RAM to be free. Maybe, a flagship smartphone with 4GB of RAM in 2018 wasn’t a good idea after all.
Camera fails to save pictures
Google has highly focussed on the Pixel cameras, right from the very first smartphone. And while OEMs are going for dual, triple and even quad cameras at the back, Google is just using one camera, which does a better job than others. But then, what’s the point of having a great camera smartphone when it is marred with some issues.
Now, this is not a completely new issue, as even Nexus smartphones faced a similar problem. Both the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL sometimes fail to save the photos. A lot of users have complained about the same on Reddit which also means that it is not an isolated issue. Complains have already been noted on Google Product Forums, but Google is yet to respond. Some users did note that the problem could be caused by the Doze battery saving feature, and disabling it worked to fix the problem for some users.
Wi-Fi fails to connect
This is one problem that causes occasionally where the Pixel device fails to automatically latch on to the Wi-Fi network even when it is in coverage. We have been facing the same issue on our Pixel 3 XL and Pixel 2 XL where even after turning on Wi-Fi, it doesn’t connect with the network for a while. The issue seems to be particularly with 802.1x EAP (enterprise secured) networks. Some users on Reddit and other forums have also been reporting about speed drop issues.
