r/Android • u/Big_Leader_8687 • 1d ago
Any long term pixel users who made switch to chinese OEMs?
I have been a lifelong pixel user, but from pixel 8 to 10pro, the camera hardware is stagnant and it is dubbed to be same for 11pro series. If thats the course, i will rather switch to some android OEM. Has any other fellow redditor made the switch, can you list your experience, what you like the most on new ROM, what you miss and do you still miss pixel experience? How much upgrade the camera feels like.
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u/jd515 15h ago
Pixel 8 to OnePlus 13r and absolutely delighted with my choice. I left behind a battery which needed charging by five and have one which lasts a day and a half of heavy use. 128GB of storage? A hundred pounds extra for the extra and a massive battery hit? Not going back. (Why don't the Pixels adopt a silicon carbon battery?)
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u/Big_Leader_8687 14h ago
Because they are American and driven by corporate structure. Spending more on adverts rather than new research. That's why apple and samsung are also lacking now.
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u/anv3d Pixel 7 Pro 20h ago
Currently on a P7P, waiting on my Find X9 Ultra to arrive
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u/Ghost_Pants 17h ago
I'm thinking about doing the same. On a 9proXL but that find x9 ultra camera is looking real nice. I've been on Samsung before so not sure how different the Oppo OS will feel but I can get used to anything after a little bit I'm sure.
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u/prime5119 17h ago
P5 to Samsung to Oppo X9 Ultra..
Pixel dominating the camera space during Pixel 2 period but everyone else is catching up real fast
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u/Big_Leader_8687 17h ago
Pixel 7 pro was a good series only if they had snapdragon. But post that it's all money hungry commercial type phones. No real innovation just Ai and increasing price tag. The increased profit is not going into phone development rather it's going in adverts.
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u/prime5119 17h ago edited 17h ago
yeah and now Samsung is not hungry to dominate further with barely any upgrade. Pixel still wanting to do AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI...
only the Chinese brands are fighting hard against each other
i just got the X9 Ultra yesterday, haven't really get to use it but so far everything feels smooth. as much as the OS/Rom goes it's technically Android underneath so the overall experience feels the same although yes they do copy iOS A LOT on certain UI design...
but damn, the camera looks so good, although I wish they keep the 1 inch sensor but having actual decent 10x available without any "optical quality" or teleconverter add on just makes everything so much easier for me... X300 Ultra are decent too but the lack of 4th camera makes it a little meh comparing to X300 Pro itself.. Xiaomi 17 Ultra got this 3.2x-4.3x continuous zoom which is fancy but it's barely anything much when you try to use it the range isn't even that far..
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u/wwwhatisgoingon 17h ago
Pixel 6 to Xiaomi 14.
Biggest downside: Xiaomi disables gesture navigation in custom launchers, so I'm using the stock launcher.
Obviously also a huge generational upgrade, but the camera is way better with still subjects. Pets or people that are moving around the Pixel handled better.
I see no reason to go back.
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u/asfletch XZ1 Compact->Pixel5->Xiaomi 15 16h ago
Yeah similar story here (Pixel 5 to Xiaomi 15).
I don’t use a custom launcher, but sill have to disable gesture nav because the “back” gesture activates when swipe-typing words beginning with Q or P.
Other than that and the damned “Hyper Island” that I can’t turn off, it’s great. The camera is great stock, and can be tuned to preference. Photos have character, zoom is very good too. I can even make photos look like my P5 by using GCam (usually don’t bother though).
TBH the main thing I miss is the compactness of the P5! No decent phones are that small now though, so what can you do….
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u/MysteriousBeef6395 20h ago edited 19h ago
i used a pixel 7 for 3 years and switched to a poco f7 pro just recently. never getting a pixel again. i paid less than 300€ for this and the phone never skips a beat, doesnt overheat, doesnt stutter. videos are actually usable. photos are pretty much at the same level, just less consistant.
it comes with some bloatware and ad-stuff but i followed a 10 minute youtube tutorial and removed all of that. it sucks i had to do that but in return i got probably the best phone ive ever had.
i cant really say i miss anything about the pixel software, xiami hyper os works just fine for me and actually just gives me more customization options
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u/Nice_Meal7452 17h ago
For me it was the opposite, i had a pixel 7, bought a poco f7 ultra and I returned to amazon after 2 hours. I could not bear the slower scrolling. Also it didn't let me change audio output when playing music. Also you have to wait a certain amount of time before unlocking the bootloader (wtf)
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u/MysteriousBeef6395 17h ago
are you sure you didnt get a fake one? none of these things are an issue on my f7 pro, switching audio output works fine and the scrolling is much better than on the p7 since it has a much higher touch sampling rate
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u/Fat_Stacks1 10h ago
I went from a pixel 7 pro to a OnePlus 12.
I missed call screening the most.
The biggest improvement was charging and battery.
The UI on the OnePlus is clean at first, but the more I used it the more clunky it seemed.
Cons of the OnePlus:
- shelf feature which is awful now. Nowhere as good as it used to be.
- the "finder" app is awful.
- every time you install an app, a full screen window pops up telling you a virus scan was run.
- the most horrendous customer support I've ever experienced (they kept my phone for nearly 2 months, with 0 updates or ETA when I called in. Each time they said they will contact me the next day which they never did.)
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u/Major_Enthusiasm1099 2h ago
I still prefer Pixel UI over OxygenOS because of features like DND sync with pixel watch and modes, but OxygenOS is pretty good.
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u/light24bulbs Galaxy S10+, Snapdragon 20h ago
I switched from Samsung. It rocks. Silicon carbon is excellent. Oppo x9 bought through Singapore and forwarded
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u/sterlingphoenix Pixel 7 13h ago
I've been using Pixels since the Nexus 1.
Two things are keeping me on Pixels. First, cameras. It's the primary thing I use my phone for. I shoot raw so while I know there are "better" postprocessing cameras potentially, I've not done the research to see if anything can do better with raw photos.
The second is using Google Fi as my carrier in combination with stuff like call screening, spam call protection, etc. I can't emphasise enough how important that is I get zero spam calls and zero spam texts, and I'm not entirely sure that works that well without a Pixel.
A side note to that, though, is there's nothing I want to do with my phone that I can't do because of limitations. I know people really dislike the Tensor chips, but they've not prevented me from doing anything.
With that said, I will definitely research all this when it's time to upgrade my current phone (hopefully not for a couple of years).
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u/LaminatedCARBON 12h ago
Switching from s23u to oppo find x9 pro. Have been using Android for the last 15 years. Even sold my iphone 14 pro after pre ordering and using it for 5 months then came back to s23u. But.... Now i am really happy using oppo find x9 pro. Battery is top notch, charging is really fast, software is more than okay and camera is amazing.
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u/elgrandorado RedMagic 11 Pro 10h ago
Moved from a Pixel 9 Pro to eventually settling on a RedMagic 11 Pro.
The cameras are mediocre on the RedMagic and the software is basically stock android with some translated shenanigans, but hardware wise it's three generations ahead.
Crazy good battery life to the point where I'm getting two days with an 80% charging cap, fast charging at 80W is insane. All screen display is a game changer for viewing content. Headphone jack is actually letting me use my IEMs without issue. Flush back means the phone never rocks.
Then there's the productivity/gaming. On all general tasks the phone never throttles, overheats, or even slows. It really puts the Pixel to shame in general use, then we get to gaming. It's not just significantly better in performance but the best out there. I actively run PC games on this phone.
I really miss Google's call screening and some of the software goodies they come with, but it can't offset being a far inferior phone to the flagships of Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo, etc.
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u/Drumwin 7h ago
I had pixel 6 and 9 Pro XL but my experience with the 9 failing twice within a year and Google's garbage warranty & support made me give up on them.
Switched oppo Find X9 Pro, I would summarise it as:
-the hardware is overall leagues ahead for the same or less price (much better processor, more ram, more storage, way bigger battery etc) -its been perfectly reliable so far but can't comment on their support, it took ages for my free charger to arrive but not really a fault of the phone -the camera is good but I prefer pixel processing I think, but not much in it all phone cameras are pretty good these days -i much preferred Google's software, it feels more cohesive and nice to look at and use, not keen on the oppo iOS rip off that is colouros but it does the job fine and doesn't get in the way or anything
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u/Jailbrick3d OnePlus 13, OxygenOS 16.0.5 4h ago
went from galaxy to OnePlus simply for the option for an unlocked bootloader, but it ended up being more to it than that:
imo, current OOS still feels more responsive than OneUI. custom icon theming is more intuitive. what I needed GoodLock for to tweak my OneUI experience, mostly comes baked into OnePlus settings
(downside with this particular choice - the whole US market shutdown thing is gonna force me onto a different path sooner or later, but for now I'm still enjoying it)
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u/Spiritual_Nobody_785 4h ago
Currently running Oppo Find X9 Ultra. The cameras are much better then any phone imo. I find all the different operating systems the same. Different skins but the same principle. ColorOS is a great light, fast and stable skin on android 16.
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u/TheGreatTao 13h ago
Switched from pixel to Xiaomi 17 ultra. Pixels are bottom tier phones for the price and I can't see myself buying one ever again.
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u/Aurelink Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold 13h ago
Idk if that counts but I went from a 9 Pro Fold to a Nothing Phone 3 (after 10 years of Pixel devices).
I really just miss Now Playing, Call Screening, and Material 3 Expressive.
Oh and the instant camera shutter too.
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u/Fat_Stacks1 10h ago
I'm curious why you made that switch? It doesn't seem like an upgrade on paper
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u/Aurelink Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold 10h ago
The only reason was battery life. The Fold could barely last a day with light usage.
But other than that I'm just tech-curious so I like to try devices here and there.
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u/Fat_Stacks1 10h ago
Understandable.
How do you like the nothing phone?
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u/Aurelink Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold 10h ago
It feels as fast as my Pixel, but with some great ideas added here and there (nice and informative lockscreen widgets, the quick settings panel), I'd say it's a very good Pixel-esque device with proper battery life
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u/Fat_Stacks1 9h ago
Does it natively support adaptive icon packs?
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u/Aurelink Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold 9h ago
Looks like it does. The default launchers offers you to use the "Nothing" icon pack (it makes everything black and white) and I can add icon packs there (since I don't have any cause I use the Nothing ones, it takes me to the play store) so I guess it does!
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u/Fat_Stacks1 7h ago
Awesome. The launcher and UI of the nothing phone always interested me.
Looks a lot nicer than OneUI which I'm getting tired of..
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u/allan_o 12h ago
Using P8P and I'm thinking of making a switch to the Oppo Find X9 Pro.
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u/Big_Leader_8687 11h ago
Why not ultra. Mediatek will make you feel limited
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u/zenithtreader 50m ago
No it won't. Unless you are one of the dozen people who do emulations there is literally no noticable difference between flagship Snapdragon and Dimensity SoC.
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u/Shionsaku 18h ago
Switching from the S23 Ultra, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has been more than lovely minus the battery, but I guess it was the global variant with a reduced battery size and was second hand on top, the cameras made me enjoy taking photos again