I finally got my Pixel 6 last Wednesday and I've used it for about a week now.
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I have some Thoughts. For context, I'm coming from a OnePlus 6 and the only phones I've had before were the OnePlus 1 and 2.
While the phone's footprint is about the same as my old OnePlus 6, it is much thicker and noticeably heavier. The edges are sharper than the rounded edges of the OnePlus 6. The power button is placed a little bit higher on the Pixel 6 than the OnePlus 6. In addition to that, the fingerprint reader is also slightly too high up. If I am holding the phone and I want to unlock it, I have to shuffle my thumb up to the power button and then shuffle it back down to hit the fingerprint reader. However, when using the always on display and also wake to lift, I now rarely have to press the power button.
Speaking of the fingerprint reader, it is under the screen. It takes a beat for it to unlock and sometimes it doesn't recognize it the first time. I do have to reapply my thumb every now and then for it to unlock. This is my first time using an under screen fingerprint reader so I don't really have a comparison, but from what I've heard people say online, OnePlus and Samsung phones are significantly faster in that regard. For the reader to read your finger, it needs to shine a light which can be really bright at night.
The screen itself is pretty good. 90hz is nice. However, there is a weird pink tint to it on the left edge when displaying gray. I believe this is probably a manufacturing error and I could probably RMA the device for it.
The cameras are good. The main shooter can take some really great pictures. It has great dynamic range and great sharpness. However, the wide angle lens is noticeable weaker. It isn't as sharp as the main lens, which is a disappointment.
I've used some of the AI features, like the magic eraser, ambient music identifier, and the improved voice to text. All of the features are incredibly useful and convenient. I have no issues with them.
While they probably use a lot of processing power, the battery life has been good. I've gotten about 6 hours of on screen time while still having a good amount of battery left at the end of the day. I haven't had to charge it at all during the day so I don't know how fast the charging is using Google's 30W charger that I got with it. Instead, I charge it while I sleep. It has a feature where it quickly charges at the start, but once it reaches a certain percentage, it stops charging. But once it is close to your morning alarm, it would finish charging. Although this is a nice feature, I do miss OnePlus 6's Dash Charging which is significantly faster.
Some other things I miss from my old phone: gestures for navigation and music and the alert slider. I dislike using Android's stock gesture controls for navigation, but I've gotten used to it at this point. On OnePlus phones, you can draw a '<' or a '>' on the screen while it's off to skip songs. I used it all the time and not having it is annoying. The alert slider was also something I used all the time in classes. Being able to quickly silence my phone without even looking at it was very useful. On the Pixel, I have to turn on the screen and open the volume slider to switch between vibrate and silence which is incredibly frustrating.
I preordered the Pixel 6 so I was able to get the Pixels Buds Series A for free. They're small and light. The case can fit in the small pocket that all jeans seem to have for some reason. The audio quality is serviceable. It connects with the Pixel 6 well and it displays the case's battery status in the phone which is nice. It does not have as much isolation as the Pioneer C5TW.
Despite all the minor complaints, the Pixel 6 is a great phone, especially at $600. If you don't mind having a large device, I'd recommend it
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