It’s becoming a little big of a pattern with Google Pixel phone releases. Once the initial excitement wares off, problems with the devices themselves begin to rear their ugly heads.
Following reports of terrible audio quality in video recordings, which Google strangely says is by design, we’re seeing a prominent report of a Pixel 3 XL device with serious display issues.
The influential tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee has posted an image of his personal Pixel 3 XL handset with a permanent line of pink pixels down the middle. Brownlee says the line appeared ‘out of nowhere’ and no amount of resetting would get rid of it.
I’m not about to make an entire video, but RIP this Pixel 3 XL. My screen just got this permanent pink line of dead pixels down the middle out of nowhere. Wtf pic.twitter.com/CcbyEmE2G8
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) October 24, 2018
The reviewer, who has a whopping 2.96m followers on Twitter, speculates it may be down to the Samsung panels used on the device. While Brownlee says it may be a limited quality control issue, his following is exactly the kind of tech enthusiast Google is hoping to attract with its Pixel handsets.
In all likelihood this is a largely isolated occurrence, but it isn’t a good look for the company whose phones have been overwhelming critical successes that haven’t exactly translated into big box office numbers.
Related: Google Pixel 3 vs Pixel 2
Brownlee’s issue comes after reviewers commented on the terrible audio quality in video recordings. In side-by-side comparisons with the iPhone XS, recording quality sounded tinny and distant. Google says it has tuned the Pixel 3 microphones in order to minimise background noise and emphasise the spoken word. That may be the case, but the end result of that tuning is bad sound.
In a statement, Google said: “We made several advances in the audio recording capabilities of Pixel 3, including enabling stereo recording in landscape mode. When recording outdoors, our tuning is specifically designed to reduce background noise like wind and road noise and overly loud sounds and optimize for audible speech. To achieve this, we selectively de-emphasize some frequencies, which minimizes disruptive noises and optimizes the resulting audio. We do extensive user testing of our products to ensure they are tuned for real world usage, and we’re always looking at additional tuning opportunities based on user feedback.”
Are you an early Pixel 3 or Pixel 3 XL adopter? Are you happy with the performance thus far? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
