Google phones

[Irving]

Okay, I picked up the Pixel 3a XL. I'm too busy to give it a review right now. I'll let you know how I like it over time as I use it.

[Great-Kazoo]

Okay, I picked up the Pixel 3a XL. I'm too busy to give it a review right now. I'll let you know how I like it over time as I use it.

$$ ? ?

[Irving]

$479, so $512 after tax.

[Irving]

Preliminary review.

-Often times I'll pull my phone out of my pocket to find that it has opened a bunch of stuff like I was but dialing. Very annoying to have extra stuff running, especially when it starts playing music or something.
-There is a headphone jack.
-Google wants to be on auto drive so much that some things are more difficult. If I'm looking in my contacts and click on a number, it starts dialing right away. That's annoying when I'm just trying to look at the number. Every time I get a call, when I reach into my pocket to get the phone out, it's already picked up by the time it gets out of my pocket. I don't like that at all.

I'm sure I can adjust those things, but haven't had time to figure it out and a little annoyed that I should even have to in the first place.

[00tec]

On my phone, there is a "motions and gestures" setting. I had to turn off "direct call", otherwise the damn think kept dialing people in my pocket.

[Gman]

There was a setting on the Samsung phones where it would keep the screen off if it detected it was in a pocket or purse. Not sure if that was a component of Android or the Samsung Touchwiz overlay?

[Jer]

Preliminary review.

-Often times I'll pull my phone out of my pocket to find that it has opened a bunch of stuff like I was but dialing. Very annoying to have extra stuff running, especially when it starts playing music or something.
-There is a headphone jack.
-Google wants to be on auto drive so much that some things are more difficult. If I'm looking in my contacts and click on a number, it starts dialing right away. That's annoying when I'm just trying to look at the number. Every time I get a call, when I reach into my pocket to get the phone out, it's already picked up by the time it gets out of my pocket. I don't like that at all.

I'm sure I can adjust those things, but haven't had time to figure it out and a little annoyed that I should even have to in the first place.

Definitely spend some time in the settings menus and see what they all do. These phones are infinitely adjustable and defaults may not be to your liking but, most likely, they can be adjusted easily to match your expectations. A lot of my iPhone convert friends hated their Android devices at first because they didn't do what they wanted not realizing that that was something they could adjust. I guess iPhone users tend to not even be use to settings since they basically just do what they do out of the box, like it or not. If you're coming from Android previously your initial reaction would be to jump in the menu to find the setting to adjust. Related: use the search bar at the top of the menu home screen to search for settings you're looking for as it works very well & saves LOTS of time. For the first few time though I would scroll through each menu option one by one and read what it says it does to set it to what you would like. I had my wife do this with her phones early on and now it's the first thing she does once she gets a new phone. Taking the time to do that on the front end will save you lots of time and frustration later on since your phone will do what you want it to do.

If you click the circle/avatar of your contact you will open their contact card to view information and have lots of other options. Simply clicking the number directly dials it which is what you're describing. Makes sense that when you scrolled to a contact and wanted to call them you would simply press the number rather than having to tap your phone three or four times to initiate a call.

[Irving]

I know how to go through a phone, but I'm a bit surprised at the lack of options for things I want to change, and the abundance of options for things I don't care about.

For example, there is only one notification sound for all notifications, so my texts and emails all get the same alert sound. I don't want that and can't find an option to change it.

[Jer]

I know how to go through a phone, but I'm a bit surprised at the lack of options for things I want to change, and the abundance of options for things I don't care about.

For example, there is only one notification sound for all notifications, so my texts and emails all get the same alert sound. I don't want that and can't find an option to change it.

Most apps have a setting to individually change the notification tone separate from the global tone.

For Android phones there's a pretty good chance that a setting (or app) exists to do what you want it's just a question of finding it.

[colorider]

This is all great info. When my iPhone 6s dies or becomes unusable, I’m NOT replacing it with an $800 or more iPhone. Phone prices have become absurd.