I’ve chosen to bunch these 3 Pixel phones together into one post because in general the experience was the same and the reason I didn’t keep them was also the same.
I owned the Pixel 6a between the iPhone 13 and the Samsung S23 Ultra. The 7a between the S23 Ultra and the Samsung A14 and the Pixel 8 between the Unihertz Jelly Star and the Samsung S24 Ultra.
Each time I’ve bought into the idea of the Pixel more than the device itself. They are supposed to be a “pure” Android experience, they never really have flagship specs but the software is supposed to make up for that. They are usually cheaper than other devices from big brands. They offer long software support and have readily available spare parts and repair guides.
All of that on paper sounds like the dream phone, couple that with an easily unlockable bootloader and a wealth of custom ROM availability and this should really be the perfect device for me every single time. But there is one thing that these devices have in common that lets them all down.
Tensor Chipsets.
I absolutely detest Samsung’s Exynos chipsets, they are inferior in everyway compared to their Qualcomm and TSMC counterparts. They get hot, have awful modems and drain the battery like nothing else I’ve ever used. Why am I talking about Exynos chipsets when Google use Tensor? As it turns out a Tensor chipset is an Exynos in disguise. It is made in the same foundry, by Samsung and only has a few tweaks made to it to differentiate it from an Exynos chipset. With that it shares all the same downfalls.
Google Pixels get hot, they have poor reception, they drain their batteries (particularly on mobile data) and have lackluster performance when compared to their counterparts. You will always get the Exynos and Tensor sympathisers, that will try to tell you it’s not a big deal, they’re not that bad and in some case they’re better than the alternatives. I will tell you categorically that this isn’t true. They are awful.
Every time I’ve fallen for it, only to realise shortly after purchase. Yes the camera is great, yes the devices are really well designed, yes the software experience is great but fundamentally these hardware issues are always there and always causing problems.
There are rumours circulating on the internet that Google will be moving away from Samsung’s foundry over to TSMC’s for their Pixel 10 series. If this bears any truth this will be the first generation of Pixel devices I could really recommend. Until then unfortunately my advice has to be to steer well clear of any Pixel with a tensor chipset. The last Pixel device that had a Qualcomm chipset was the Pixel 5, which was one generation previous to the nice hardware redesign. You could still purchase that device today and use it without issue, community support takes even the original Pixel (sailfish) up to Android 15 so I doubt that will become an issue any time soon.
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