Best phone for photography at €300, worst for anything else.

I give the phone 2 stars as it has given me some issues. More specifically, in the first quarter, it had a screen problem, which Google said was not covered by warranty because it was not purchased from one of their stores.

The phone has an INCREDIBLE camera, with an Ultra wide 0.7 that, although not as wide as others, has good resolution. The main camera also takes good quality photos with good zoom up to 2x.

The telephoto lens is 4x compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max, 14 Pro Max, and 15 Pro models (with 3x) and gives you good flexibility as it is very convenient for point and shoot. The reason I bought it is for the computational photography and the 4x telephoto lens, for which I have nothing bad to say. The phone does not have macro capability, although it doesn't necessarily bother me.

One of its downsides is that you can barely fry eggs with how easily it overheats, especially in the summer.

The charging time compared to other phones is not satisfactory as it charges very slowly.

The screen burned out and had a green tint, so I had to replace it with my own money because I had bought the phone from a store that was also on the Skroutz.gr platform, which has closed and been removed from the platform. If it didn't have the above problems, it would definitely be a phone worth buying to this day.

If it hadn't given me so many problems, I would definitely buy it again as for photos, Google does a better job than Apple, although Apple has much better quality in the video aspect.

Well, the phone is incredible for the money. I will list the positives and negatives. This is the second one because the first one died after a month of use and the screen never turned back on after the update to Android 15 (write pixel 6 pro bricked after android 15). The store sent it for inspection abroad and as soon as it became clear that the update sent the phone's code unreadable, they replaced it with a new one. So far I've had it for a week and everything is normal and I hope I won't be unlucky again.

Positives:

Very good phone with an incredibly nice camera and processing, and as a former flagship phone, the price is unbeatable. During the day, the photos are crystal clear, and at night with a little tweaking with brightness and shadows before taking a photo, everything comes out beautifully. The video at night or with zoom does lower the quality quite a bit, of course. It even captures the moon with some adjustments to the lens settings (shadows, exposure, and brightness; there's a video on YouTube for those who don't know), and astrophotography, although difficult to achieve, if done right, is incredible.

Very clean software, fast, simple, but at the same time very customizable with many smart gestures and shortcuts/smart features.

Very good battery that in the first few days doesn't last long, which changes once it learns your habits; it closes background apps for better savings. Usually, with moderate use, I'm at 40-50% now since it did a calibration with the smart battery.

The price, as I said, is incredible for the product.

Negatives:

The phone is not sold in Greece by Google itself, so there is no support in the Greek language for some smart features (THERE IS GREEK LANGUAGE ON THE PHONE). It doesn't have good text recognition when you press the open apps and select and copy text; in Greek, it confuses characters with foreign languages.

For the same reason I mentioned earlier, Google bears no responsibility for the product regarding warranty if purchased in Greece, so for warranty, wish that the store you bought from is reliable.

The phone does NOT have access to 5G in Greece.

It's relatively difficult to find a good screen protector in Greece for this specific model due to the curved screen without it being pushed by the case.

I believe that even with the bitterness from the first phone and the constant worry of experiencing the same issues with the second, it is worth the money, and Google is now one of the best mobile companies. Unfortunately, they often make choices that users don't like, and there will occasionally be bugs, but their phones are truly service-oriented devices. They are incredibly smart and helpful with many features that make the phone very sweet to use. The Pixel 6 Pro is my first Pixel, and I am very satisfied with my experience every day. If this phone experiences the same issue, I will update.

120Hz display with instant scrolling and vibrant colors. Quality glass construction.
Photos, especially selfies, are on another level. Naturally warm colors and details in faces have nothing to do with the flat photos you know. The 0.7 zoom is useful for a wider shot.
The main camera provides details due to HDR and vibrancy. The processing of Google Photos is exceptional, indicating that it's not just about the super lenses but the software. The eraser function that deletes whatever you want is handy.
Quick photos at night. It doesn't perform miracles in the dark, but it can turn an average photo into a good one. Especially in the sky with stars, for example, that you can't even see without using a tripod. In 2 seconds, it captures a photo and processes it.

The phone is on Android 14 now, and 4G VoLTE works fine on Cosmote. You don't miss calls, etc., like before. VoWiFi and 5G don't work.

GPay is instant, picking up from 5 meters away and immediately without waiting.

Fingerprint recognition always works, and I have a screen protector. I don't know what people say about it not working and what they expect. I also have a P40 Pro, and it's the same.

Overall, a fast phone with no lags anywhere, an iPhone with Android. Quality large screen.

The battery is normal to durable. During the day, it easily lasts without draining in the background or dropping with a bit of social media and 2 photos. I use it as a hotspot, and it has no impact on the battery. Generally, I bought it used; it would logically be better new. What they say about it not lasting, I don't know where they saw that and what exactly they expect. Ultimately, with a charging pad, you just place it on top, and it charges while you're at the office or home.

I should note that on the 1st-2nd day, it heated up a lot; now, after 2 weeks of use, it doesn't at all. The AI processor definitely makes a difference.

A few words about this specific mobile phone.
It is very fast, the screen is very beautiful, and the battery is also very good, easily lasting a day with normal use.
As soon as I got it, I did all the updates, so I don't have an opinion on the problems it may have had before, except for the fact that it heats up with the slightest use, which I had read and is true. 5G is not supported in Greece, only 4G, but at least you can talk and surf at the same time, or receive notifications, etc. (Vodafone provider)
Calls have no issues, and I haven't noticed any general problems with its functionality so far.
For those who have two SIM cards, keep in mind that it supports one SIM and one eSIM simultaneously.
The cameras, which we have read so much about, personally didn't impress me. At least the main camera. They are just good. It is 50MP, but there is no such option. Whatever you do, it limits you to 12MP as the final result. The telephoto with the x4 optical zoom is really worth it, it is very clear, while the ultra-wide is also just good.
Something else that bothers me a lot in general with some phones is when there is no option to disable HDR when taking photos. And here, there is no such possibility, it is permanently active.
The video is very good up to 4K 60 fps.
Overall, it is a very high-quality device and definitely worth the money, around €400, as it is clearly superior to all the mid-range phones in this price range or even more expensive ones.

It was purchased for its good camera and in that regard, I am satisfied. During use, it never overheated, never froze, it is flawless.

On the 4th day of use, it fell and the screen broke, and then I discovered that there are no spare parts available in Greece. I bought the original screen from Germany (another 200 euros) and had it installed in Greece (another 50 euros, including the glass they put on), but they did not take responsibility because it was not the store's purchased screen that was repaired (which is logical). Nevertheless, for now, it is functioning normally.

Also, some applications like the one from the National Bank cannot function (professionally for payments), while they work on my old XIAOMI phone.

20/07/2024 After a fall that I did not pay attention to, because it was not from a height and the phone is in a wallet-type case, it probably fell at an angle and one corner hit, and the screen started trembling slowly and gradually, and after a few days, it reached a point where the phone could not be used anymore.
Now that I need a new one, I am considering the same model again because its photos and videos (for my needs) are excellent.

Tremendous phone, especially at the price it can be found now. Flawless, I use it with a physical SIM WIND/NOVA and I haven't missed a single call (I don't know about older models). Incredible camera, don't be fooled by the preview, which is grainy and of poor quality to avoid losing fps in the shot. Once you click, everything goes from 0-100 immediately. It has built-in features for simple image editing (blur depth, contrast, brightness, etc.), and the magic eraser works very well, although not perfectly in difficult conditions as it struggles a bit if it can't blend the background with the object, resulting in a somewhat off look. But as I said, we're buying a phone, not a magician. Multitasking is on another level, Google Assistant with voice recognition just for you, and the Google logo on the back is a touch-sensitive macro button that can do many things, and you can adjust it according to your preferences in the settings. Zoom is quite decent, although there are better options on the market (in real conditions, they are pretty useless for me after the 10X, as everything becomes like watercolors on most phones). Video is quite good, but not at the same level as the photos, it has some noise at night, which can be made cleaner with a simple noise reduction.

In conclusion:
Positives:
- Photography
- Speed
- Multitasking
- Features
- AI
- Android Updates

Negatives:
- Battery (I consider it unacceptable for the launch price of €1000 in Greece)
- I have to charge it twice a day with usage of messenger, Instagram, email, and occasional photos. If anything changes, I will update this part as I have read that it improves after a week thanks to the AI, although I don't know how true that is.
- You can't remove the Google search bar at the bottom of the home screen.
- The fingerprint sensor doesn't work unless you have a completely straight finger on the screen. It's also a bit slow, but it doesn't affect anything significantly.
- The device heats up quite a bit if you do even light multitasking, nothing major that causes issues, but it's worth mentioning because other devices in this category don't have this issue.

The phone is like giving you a Ferrari without brakes.
It has quite good features but is the most useless thing I've seen regarding calls to the point that you want to throw it against the wall.
I'm not talking about 4G, Wi-Fi, etc. (where it's also a drama and you have to deal with makeshift solutions).
I'm talking about a simple call, whether to receive or make, I'm talking about the most fundamental and basic function of the phone, which tests your patience and brings out your worst self to a criminal degree.
Countless times I've felt like turning it into a wall decoration.
I kept it for only 5 months, just as long as my patience lasted.

If it didn't have this problem, it would have been a flawless phone in all other aspects, beautiful with very good capabilities and VFM features.

P.S.: If it doesn't come officially to Greece, stay away and beloved.

Update: I would be curious to see how those who pressed dislike would evaluate the product today if they had bought it from the beginning of its release when it had a ton of problems.

I have had it in my possession for almost a month now. It was purchased tax-free for €478. Coming from budget Xiaomi and Samsung A52, the difference is huge. The operating system may not have as many options as Samsung's One UI (which is not necessarily a bad thing, as the software is very clean).

I have not seen any bugs, the battery lasts much longer than the A52, and I have had no signal problems. The fingerprint scanner is as fast as Samsung's (which doesn't bother me).

The camera has made me not want to use my Canon M50. And for point and shoot, it's definitely better than the S22U that I compared with a friend. For iPhone, it's a matter of post-processing preference, it doesn't lack anywhere except for video, which doesn't bother me.

We're talking about phones that are 2-3 times the price.

One thing I would like Google to change is that in some cases, the post-processing on photos is so intense that the photo is just bad. Very aggressive HDR, contrast, and sharpening. These are only with the main lens (x1-x2), as soon as the telephoto lens comes in, it's magic.

The AI features, apart from the Magic Eraser, which is impressive, I haven't used to the fullest yet, which is also the strong point of the Tensor chip. Since it's a phone that came out at the end of 2021, I don't know about its longevity since it was purchased in 2023, but I hope it lasts as long as older Pixels that I read about.

The differences with the Pixel 7 Pro for me were not worth the price difference, which is why I chose this one.