I didn’t like what the google store told me
As a nomad, my Pixel 6 Pro cell phone is one of the most important items in my life. It is my connection to the outside world, my entertainment, my research tool, my goto camera, my flashlight, my radio, among many other things. So when it started overheating on me, I knew it was time to start thinking about a replacement.
Now, my Pixel 6 has been a good phone, but not great in my books. I managed to crack the edge of the curved screen early on, *in a phone case* thanks to the stupid metal clasp on the edge that got crushed against the edge of the screen, cracking it. Worst design ever. That is mostly on the case, but the curved glass is not my favorite either for being more vulnerable to breakage, and also a touch too edge sensitive for my tastes.
Next, we have the USB-C port on my phone. The connector always has seemed kind of fragile in connecting with a cable. Some cables are better than others, but my previous phone had NO issues connecting with any cable, so I know this connector has issues. Protip: clean out all the dirt inside your USB-C connector with a fine non-metal tip, a toothpick MAY do if it is on the finer end. Anything too thick will not reach to the bottom of the connection hole, leaving gunk that may prevent your phone from connecting. I thought I had a broken connector until I took a second go at cleaning it with a finer pick, then I got the last bit of fluff out allowing me to connect again. My case doesn’t help either, its hole is just a little too small leaving some of my cable ends catching and not connecting unless I plug the cable in just so.
So yeah, my problems are not all on the phone, but enough that I knock the phone down from great to good. But some overheating in the winter sun of Mexico seems to have put the battery over the edge now, leaving me with a phone that starts to overheat in warm conditions at anything more than a light workload for the phone. That drops the phone hardware down to fair in my books. It’s not even out of its three year software update period yet – I had hoped to keep it at least one year beyond that, then upgrade, probably to whatever a Pixel 10 ends up being. I still love the Googles Android experience – less junk, better performance, few crashes sums it up. I get updates before most other phones too.
So even with the hardware being very ‘meh’ for me this time around, I’m still in the market for a Google phone, just one iteration earlier than I’d counted on. So I sat in on the Google 2024 Keynote to get the final details on my settled upon choice of phone: the Pixel 9 Pro. My Pixel 6 is still working, I just have to watch the heating very carefully – a phone call while data surfing or some heavy duty application screen time can heat things to 50C quickly now. I was hoping to confirm the details of which most had been leaked previously, then pre-order my phone the second it became available with my grim reaper cell phone provider Telus. If things work out typically, I’d have the phone in my hands in time to go down to the States by late October if need be.
The Keynote felt more like a Gemini AI launch party that happened to have some hardware being released to support it, but they did get to the phones eventually. Alas, the one bit of bad news from the Keynote is that the Pixel 9 Pro will not not be available until “fall” whatever that ends up being. Technically, that could be December 22, by which time I’ll long be down in the USA, which makes getting the phone a much bigger hassle.
The Pro XL is a little larger, about the same as the 6 Pro
Now, I could just bite the bullet and pay for the Pixel Pro XL. We are talking a move from C$1350 to C$1500 for the 128GB versions. $150 isn’t chump change, but the big reason I wanted the Pro rather than the Pro XL was its smaller size. A centimeter doesn’t sound like much, but every accessory I own would work better with a slightly smaller phone. Plus, I find one hand thumb typing to be a little difficult on my bigger phone – I don’t have huge man paws to reach all the way over to the ‘P’ key typing in a quick search. Typing has been a two handed job ever since I went to the bigger phone. Then there are pockets – I’ve never liked my big phone in any pocket – I deal with it but I wish the phone was a little smaller.
But now I need to decide if I want to just get another large phone or potentially wait until the spring to get the Pixel 9 Pro. I’m definitely a little leery of shipping an over thousand dollar priced item to me in the USA. Not to mention, a Telus store will not ship there, I’d have to get it sent to my home and forwarded, adding several pairs of hands plus potentially customs touching my expensive device.
After weighing my options for the day, I decided a Pixel 9 Pro XL with 256GB of storage was going to be my phone. No use in waiting, the order line was just going to get longer if I didn’t start my order now. Onto the slimy Telus site I went, putting in an order to pay a phone over two years that I had done with my last phone. First issue: The phone costs C$1905 on Telus’ site versus $1629 on the googles site. Can’t say I’m surprised at the $276 surcharge , but I knew there would be discounts available so, onto the ordering process I went. I select the 24 month regular payment plan, and sure enough, there is a $218 discount available, only if you sign up to pay the phone off over 24 months. There is no interest charge for payments, so you effectively get $218 off if you just pay your phone over time and stay loyally with the bastards Telus over that time. I wasn’t too impressed with the discount considering that they are over charging for the phone in the first place. I was ready to give up, but decided to check the “bring-it-back” option, just in case.
Lo! Here was an additional discount, for $485 dollars, but with a wrinkle add on. The idea is you give them your phone back at the end of two years, and get another new phone, all for a lousy savings of an additional $240 for the returned phone. You can just pay the $240 and the phone is yours, but they would much rather you buy a new phone. I hope to keep this next phone much longer than two years, so will consider the $240 a free loan from Telus payable at the end of my term. Now I’m down to $943, with $240 payable at the end of my term for a total of $1183. That is at least getting closer to my $1000 budget I was trying to meet.
Onto phone plans with evil empire Telus. One way I’ll claw my way back to that $1000 spend is to reduce my plan back to Canada – USA roaming. I’m at $100/mth right now for Can-US-Mex roaming with 200Gb, plenty of data for me. I see on my phone a plan being offered that is $85/mth 200Gb Can-US roaming. Sounds good to me, the $15 will net me $360 over the next two years, leaving me under a grand. Time to order this baby!
Of course, the sneaky Telus ordering site gives me $95 for the same plan. I suspect a $10 discount is being offered for those of us free to leave at any time, but I decide to play dumb and get online with a rep. I’m hoping to haggle a deal. In fact, if I can’t at least get that $10 off, I’m walking away and waiting for cheaper Pixel 9 Pro. An online chat with Natlie confirms my suspicion, but I play the disgruntled customer, so she escalates and passes me on to “customer care” I think it was. It’s just the first level escalation where they have more powwwer to offer you a deal to keep you with the mob Telus family.
I have a chat with Johnathan who is nice enough, but obviously isn’t keeping up with today’s phone releases – He almost ends up ordering me a Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which starts at an eye watering C$2400, definitely not in my price range even if I was interested in a phone with a folding screen. To be clear: I’m not interested, I think these things are too fragile for my life in the desert where dropping a phone on sharp rocks is a real possibility. But ordering via phone got me one bonus. It seems the white phone was left off of the website, but I was able to order over the phone. White will be the new exclusive color of special Android phones. Now where have I heard of that concept before?
But I do at least get my $85 plan, with a reduction of data to $150Gb, still plenty for me in a month currently. I wave off the $15 per month mob protection plan, but am out of strength to fight the $60 gouge connection fee. I am annoyed too that I can’t get the phone shipped to a store. They are having system issues and can’t connect to the DB that tells them the nearest store to ship my phone to instead. I can’t even phone in after the order is completed before it is shipped come August 22nd (hopefully) to have the ship address changed. Silly computers and bureaucracy have combined for maximum inflexibility on Goliath’s Telus’ part.
I have a phone on order now, and none too soon it seems. My poor Pixel 6 was very toasty by the time I was done with the call where I was talking and using data at the same time – definitely not normal for my phone. It is currently sitting under a slightly damp cloth to keep it at a coolish 30C for the moment. I’m cooling down myself from the frustration of navigating this system to save myself some bucks. I could brought the phone outright from Telus at $1905 and kept my Can-US-Mex roaming plan at an increased rate of $110 per month. So, $25 per month plan savings plus $722 saved on the phone after my $240 payment to keep my phone two years from now.
It shouldn’t be this hard. I spent an hour and a half with two different reps to get what I wanted, and even then I probably left $60 on the table not fighting the connection change fee. I probably could have gotten a better deal on the roaming rate, but possibly at the expense of another escalation to a third rep and who knows how long on the phone, plus some threats to pull my business on my part. I’m too tired for this kind of crap. The thing of it is, I used to work mobility support for corporate a long time ago, I know how these things work. Sad to say, the games you need to play to get a deal have not changed much. Even corporate customers get screwed if they don’t have a savvy rep working the cell phone companies for them. I hope to keep this new phone for something close to the seven years of updates googles offers for it. Perhaps by then some of this nonsense in ordering will be gone, or I might have to hire a lawyer by then. Time will tell.
Yes, I have not updated my travels in quite some time. I do have an entry in the cue nearly done. Perhaps I’ll get around to finishing it soon.
