Google Pixel 4 XL - Just Black - 128GB - UnlockedEPEAT

I was upgrading from the Pixel 3aXL which was a good phone. But the 4XL has a much better display and the screen looks a lot better. The face unlock is also very good. I've had great difficulty with face recognition with other phones, they don't read my face, or I have to do it 2-3 times before it will unlock. The Pixel 4XL will read your face each and every time. I like the option of picking up the phone and two taps wakes it up, one look and face ID opens right up. There are also a ton of other features on this phone that I'm still learning about, quick gestures, call screen, active edge, Turn on Flip to Shhh, and more. I like what I see so far! A lot has been said of this phone and it's terrible battery life. But the true reality is the battery is almost exactly the same as the 3aXL, and with extensive use it only lasts one day. But I found a way to make it better, I set the refresh rate to stay at 60 HZ, honestly for my use I can't tell the difference. PLUS, I set the display settings to adaptive brightness. Now the battery is VERY good, it easily gets me through the whole day with battery left over. Running at only 60 HZ and modifying the brightness, it saves tons of battery life. The photos are just like the Pixel 3, awesome photos. The video is adequate and the nite site gives very good photos in dark environments. The camera is one of the best features although it still doesn't beat newer Samsung phones, it does take crisp clear photos. For basic everyday photos, the software makes them the best at this resolution. The processing is more than fast enough for everything I do and the stereo speakers sound very good. I also like the fact that it gives you the option of three button navigation instead of phone swipe which I hear the future Pixels it's the ONLY way to navigate. There are unique features to Pixel that use your Google account that you can't do on other android phones. Some of my apps (not financial ones) auto save my password and log in so I can sign in at the touch of a button. Other phones I fumble and bumble with long complicated passwords with everything. So what's bad about the Pixel 4, something I haven't heard mention much. In low light situations when using the camerea the display will sometimes have waves going through it. My old Pixel 3aXL would simply fade a little (or brighten and fade) in this situation but the 4XL will actually have wavy lines go from side to side. It's not a defect, I confirmed this by testing another exact model. Using Messenger on video proved impossible because my image would have waves going up and down the screen like crazy. Only going into a better lighting condition would help this (not worth the trouble). Battery life is certainly not even close to newer Samsung or iPhone or any phones with the bigger 5,000 mah battery. But so far I haven't owned a Google Pixel that has great better life yet (2XL, 3aXL, and now 4XL). But with the settings I mentioned, I can live with just fine. Also, no fingerprint reader, and no ultra wide camera. But these don't upset me too much, my fingers do not seem to keep a proper unlock on any device I use. Back to the good, this phone is very thin and light. I use a Spigen Ultra thin case and this phone is much easier to hold, carry, and take photos than my Samsung S21 Plus (which beats Pixel in several categories otherwise). But we're comparing mid range to flagship. But sometimes I like a smaller lighter phone especially to take photos at work and on the road. If you can pick this up for $300 or less, it's a great deal. I got mine new, for once I splurged and skipped buying the refurbished model.

I had one of these for about 4 years and when the battery started misbehaving I upgraded to a Pixel 7 Pro. Sure, the camera was better because it had optical zoom and macro, but the facial recognition and fingerprint combo on that phone was awful. The 7 Pro facial recognition wouldn't work in dim light, much less total darkness, and the behind the screen fingerprint sensor was really finicky and made the phone a pain to use. I gave it away to a relative and bought another, by now very inexpensive, Pixel 4 XL. The facial recognition is excellent and will work in darkness just using the light from the screen. And compared to many newer phones it's lighter and easier to hold. The screen by the way is excellent. I intend to use this phone forever, that's how much I love it.

I bought the Pixel 4 XL to replace my Galaxy Note 8 because the USB-C port would no longer hold the charger piece so it kept falling out. I keep my phones charged and generally don't reboot until something goes wrong. The Pixel waited until the Amazon return window had expired to start acting up. I rebooted and got a message that the OS was corrupt. It took me a couple hours of Googling before I was able to get it to boot. I tried to reflash the OS but since it wouldn't boot properly, I couldn't get it to boot in the mode I needed. Reflashing the OS would fix the problem but I had to fix the problem before I could reflash the OS.Fine. I don't reboot very often. Should be fine. A week or so later, Android released an update that seemed to have fixed my booting problem. Great. Except now, some apps that have worked for years (Facebook, Google Maps, etc.) would start to open and then crash. And that's if the phone didn't just randomly shutdown and reboot for no reason, even if you weren't opening apps or doing anything other than looking at the screen.I finally got so frustrated, I gave my son the Pixel and took my old Galaxy Note 8 back from him. I restored the phone to factory default before giving it to him. The phone rarely crashed when I played games so I figured it would be ok for him. He is 8 years old.He is not as careful with keeping his phone charged as I am. Today, we took his phone (Pixel 4 XL) off the charger and turned it on. It tries to boot for a minute or so and then turns off and reboots. It is currently stuck in this cycle with no way to interrupt. We will just have to wait for the battery to go dead before we take it to a cell phone recycling kiosk. That's nearly $500.00 I may as well have wiped my butt with.I promise you, I will NEVER buy a refurbished phone from Amazon ever again.EDIT: I finally took the phone to a local cellphone repair shop and they were unable to repair it. That's how messed up a supposedly refurbished phone from Amazon was.

I wanted a relatively cheap phone to use as dedicated "vehicle phone". It lives mounted in my vehicle. I wanted something cheap enough it doesn't matter if stolen. But had to have OLED screen, wireless charging, and no distracting hole punch cut out. This phone has been perfect for my weird use case. I love Pixel OS and now I think my next real phone will be a Pixel. I also love how it's rootable. Google maps sucks now with constantly pop ups like Waze so I'm hoping If I route I can somehow limit Google maps to just do directions and no extra distractions. Can't root my lame Samsung...