I’ve tested dozens of phones and I have some of the best ones on my desk now, but Google’s Pixel has locked me in. I just can’t escape.
October 2017: Google announced the Pixel 2 XL, and I spent a couple of days jumping through hoops trying to order the phone’s panda version to ship to Lebanon. My first few orders didn’t go through because the Google Store was refusing my Lebanese credit card, so I switched to Amazon, got the black version since the panda one was out of stock, and shipped the phone to my US forwarding address. Then, on top of the local US taxes, I paid the shipping and import fees to forward the phone to Lebanon and register it on my local network.
It cost me about $300 extra and took several weeks to land in my hand, but I did not regret the long wait, hurdles, or extra expense. Forget the dull display or the chunky forehead and chin; the Pixel 2 XL was the best Android phone I’d used in years and the best camera I’d ever experienced on Android.
I was already writing about Android and Google at the time, so importing a Pixel was both a personal and business decision. Personal because I had briefly tested Nexus phones and really liked stock Android; Google’s cleaner approach was much closer to that than the Samsung, HTC, and LG phones directly available to me in Lebanon. And business because I really needed that phone to stay on top of everything new in Android and Google Land in order to, well, keep my job.
A year later, when the Pixel 3 series was announced, I decided to skip it. My Pixel 2 XL was still getting most of the updates and features, so I saved some dollars and forged on.
In 2019, I went through the same hoops to get the Pixel 4 XL. Soli aside; this was a significant upgrade over my 2 XL. I loved the astrophotography mode, better display, more efficient processor, facial recognition, and faster charging. Then, in April or May 2020, I dropped the phone and ended up with a tiny smash in the display right between the case and protector (I’d taken all the precautions, and still!). That smash caused a spider crack through the entire bottom half of my phone’s glass, but luckily, the actual display was unaffected.
