Pixel 3 XL

I spent a fair bit of time this weekend moving phones from the Pixel 2, which I have loved using, to the Pixel 3 XL.

It is drop dead simple to port over all of my accounts, data, and apps from one Pixel to another. Google has made that as easy as moving from one iPhone to another. You just connect both phones with the cable that comes in the Pixel 3 box and in about ten minutes the new phone has everything that was on the old phone.

But getting all of my security set up on a new phone (2FA, passwords, etc) and then logging into all of my apps (because I don’t like to log in with Google or Facebook or anyone else) is a massive pain. 

But at least I feel more secure.

After using the Pixel 3 XL for the last couple days, I cannot say that it is a meaningfully different experience than using the Pixel 2. Everyone says the camera is better. I have not noticed that yet but I am also not hugely particular about my phone camera.

One new feature of the Pixel 3 that I am using is wireless charging. I also bought the Pixel Charging Stand and when I get home, I just put the phone on the stand and it charges wirelessly. That’s nice. I used to charge my earlier Pixels wirelessly but they got rid of that in the recent models and now it is back. I like that.

I am excited about getting the Pixel 3 to screen my calls. That is another new feature it comes with. But I have not yet set that up. I will report back on how that is working for me.

The biggest disappointment for me is the lack of facial recognition on the Pixel 3. I like using my fingerprint to log into my phone, but I think I would like facial recognition even more. The iPhone has had that feature for a year or so now and I can’t understand why Google can’t match that.

Anyway, my big takeaway from spending a fair bit of my time this weekend moving from Pixel 2 to Pixel 3 is that not much changed for me. That’s fine. A new phone is always a nice thing to have. But I am not sure it was worth all of the setup time I put in this weekend. It’s pretty much the same phone I have had for the last year or so.