Why I'll never buy a Google Pixel phone again

If you saw my previous post, you will know that my phone almost spontaneously combusted on Sunday! But that is not the main reason I will never buy a Google Pixel phone again. There are many reasons I ultimately wasn't happy with my Google Pixel, but the main reason is the camera.

When I buy a phone, the camera is the single most important thing to me. I first got a Google Pixel 6A in 2023. Thanks to the plan I had, I was able to update it, free of charge, to a Google Pixel 7 in 2024.  For the year I had the 6A I was happy with it. With the Pixel 7 I was initially overjoyed with it. But I soon realized, ironically, the 7 never took as good a photo as the 6A.

Moreover, while the photo quality initially improved with each system update, things took a turn after about the fifth one. From there, the camera went from bad to worse. It reached the point where I simply couldn’t get a usable photo in cloudy weather; everything looked washed out, dull, or strangely processed. Interestingly, I found plenty of posts and social media comments online saying the 6A was better than the 7!

Another drawback of Google Pixel cameras in general is their poor zoom performance. Once you zoom in, the image quality drops sharply. It’s even more noticeable in video. Details turn mushy, edges blur, and anything beyond a modest crop starts to look like it was taken on a much older phone. The night mode isn't great either. The camera tries to compensate for its inability to focus with garish lighting. At first glance the photo looks dramatic but zoom in even slightly and it collapses into the same mushy, blurry mess. 

Do you have a Google Pixel? What version? Does it take a good photo?