Introduction

After using Nokia 6.1 for about three years, it was time to update. Unfortunately, none of the Nokia models suited what I wanted this time, so I decided to spend a bit more and get a Google Pixel 5.

First impressions

The phone is a bit smaller than Nokia 6.1 and much lighter. The screen aspect is slightly different (fashion of the day is taller screens). If feels like a good quality phone, but not quite like a flagship. There is a feeling of hollowoness when the screen is touched, which takes some getting used to and is pretty strange.

The battery is not replacable, as usual. It has capacity of about 4,000 mAh, which is more than what Nokia 6.1 has. But, if anything, it lasts a bit shorter for the same set of applications on the phone and without being connected to a 5G network. Two days can be pushed out of it, but just.

The OLED screen is sharp, with those deep blacks. It leaves Nokia's screen in the dust.

Everything happens a lot faster than on the Nokia. I guess that Snapdragon 765G does make a difference.

Functionality

With a bit more intense workout of the CPU, this phone does warm up. Must be all the horsepower that is available here that generates the heat.

Even with Nokia, I started using the awesome FairEmail recently. It is open source, with an absolutely amazing support and is the only Android email app that supports IMAP NOTIFY, to the best of my knowledge. Highly recommended!

DAVx5 works great on the phone as well. Another open source software, highly recommended.

The rest is pretty standard Android stuff and works without any problems.

I am not really a photo taking guy, but the camera appears to take nice photos.

There is no SD card support on this phone. Disappointing, but I knew this going into the purchase, so it was a reluctant tradeoff for the phone being splash resistant and getting updates on time.

The speakers produce decent volume.

Unfortunately, the included USB-C earbuds do not really fit my ears. After using them for a while, my ears hurt, because instead of soft silicone, the material in contact with the ears is hard plastic.

Updates

The phone came with Android 11, which received multiple security updates to get it completely up to date. Every one of those required a separate and lengthy process to get applied. Pretty bad design and for someone coming from Fedora RPM world, this feels like a step backwards.

4 May 2021: Google's 5 May 2021 security update. Worth notig is that on this phone, updates delivered by Google Play system also require a restart, so they are probably doing something?

8 Jun 2021: Google's 5 Jun 2021 security update. With 154 MB in size, it's likely not just security stuff.

11 Jun 2021: Google Play system 1 Jun 2021 update. Size of it was 15 MB, so probably contained actual patches and not just a version bump.

8 Jul 2021: Google's 5 Jul 2021 security update. Very small, less than 10 MB.

3 Aug 2021: Google's 5 Aug 2021 security update. Very small, just over 9 MB.

13 Aug 2021: Google Play system 1 Aug 2021 update.

8 Sep 2021: Google's 5 Sep 2021 security update. Just over 14 MB.

28 Sep 2021: Decided to give Android 12 Beta 5 a try. Looks a bit whimsical, with all those large buttons and super round corners. At a glance is now part of launcher, it seems, but it is totally broken. Let's hope Google fixes that for the final release. Apart from this, looks OK. Everything is still happening pretty smoothly.

5 Oct 2021: Google supposedly released Android 12 today, except they only released the open source code. Which means, the builds are not available yet for Pixel 5. Strange strategy. I am all for open source, but it is not like one can actually build working Pixel 5 binaries without all the proprietary junk...

19 Oct 2021: The at a glance weather got updated a few days ago, so the settings are no longer blank. After that, it worked for a few hours, then it stopped for a few days. Today, it started working again without any intervention. AI. :-)

20 Oct 2021: Android 12. Update size under 5 MB from Beta 5, so not much was changed. 5 Oct 2021 security update was delivered with it. The weather thing in at a glance has been working for over a day. :-)

5 Nov 2021: 5 Nov 2021 update, installed by sideload from OTA image. No idea why it did not get delivered to my phone as regular update by now, so updated by hand. A few days ago Google Play system update was delivered, with a date of 1 Sep 2021, which was already on the phone. Weird versioning system there.

8 Dec 2021: 5 Dec 2021 update, installed by sideload from OTA image. The OS is visually smoother, with gestures working more precisely. Nice.

5 Jan 2022: 5 Jan 2022 update, about 38 MB.

10 Jan 2022: 1 Dec 2021 Google Play system update, about 46 MB.

5 Feb 2022: 1 Jan 2022 Google Play system update a few days ago. From memory, just under 60 MB.

8 Feb 2022: 5 Feb 2022 update, just under 14 MB.

11 Feb 2022: 1 Jan 2022 Google Play system update, just under 600 kB. Confusingly named the same as the previous such update.

24 Feb 2022: 1 Feb 2022 Google Play system update.

8 Mar 2022: 5 Mar 2022 update, 392 MB. Looks like something other than security updates may have been delivered here too.

14 Mar 2022: 1 Feb 2022 Google Play system update, yet again. Just under 1/2 MB.

24 Mar 2022: 1 Feb 2022 Google Play system update, one more time. Version numbers are cheap. Why multiple releases have the same release name is a mystery to me.

31 Mar 2022: 1 Mar 2022 Google Play system update.

5 Apr 2022: 5 Apr 2022 update, 15.5 MB.

29 Apr 2022: 1 Mar 2022 Google Play system update, one more time. Over 30 MB.

3 May 2022: 5 May 2022 update, 15+ MB.

6 May 2022: 1 Apr 2022 Google Play system update.

24 May 2022: 1 Apr 2022 Google Play system update, a few days ago, one more time. Over 50 MB.

1 Jun 2022: 1 May 2022 Google Play system update.

7 Jun 2022: 5 Jun 2022 update, 203 MB.

17 Jun 2022: 1 Jun 2022 Google Play system update.

7 Jul 2022: 5 Jul 2022 update, just over 18 MB.

3 Aug 2022: 1 Jul 2022 Google Play system update.

5 Aug 2022: 1 Jul 2022 Google Play system update, again.

16 Aug 2022: Android 13, 876 MB. Nice early surprise by Google. :-) Includes 5 Aug 2022 security update.

18 Aug 2022: 1 Jul 2022 Google Play system update, again. After this update, the menu item to run the update does nothing.

26 Aug 2022: After updating Google Play app, Google Play system update started working again and asked for a reboot. After reboot, there is yet another update available - 713 kB. Another reboot requested. Again, showing 1 Jul 2022 update.

7 Sep 2022: 5 Sep 2022 update, just under 30 MB.

12 Sep 2022: 1 Aug 2022 Google Play system update. There was another 1 Jul 2022 Google Play system update as well, just before it.

27 Sep 2022: 1 Aug 2022 Google Play system update one more time. 26 MB.

4 Oct 2022: 5 Oct 2022 update, just under 28 MB.

7 Oct 2022: 1 Sep 2022 Google Play system update.

19 Oct 2022: 1 Sep 2022 Google Play system update, one more time. 600+ kB.

23 Oct 2022: 1 Sep 2022 Google Play system update, yet again. 712 kB. Something is not quite right with it. My phone applied it and rebooted at least 5 times.

26 Oct 2022: 1 Oct 2022 Google Play system update, 58 MB. Followed by 713 kB update, twice already. Something is again not quite right.

8 Nov 2022: 5 Nov 2022 update, 16.54 MB. Also, Google Play system update 1 Oct 2022, twice. One of them showed that same 713 kB size.

18 Nov 2022: 1 Nov 2022 Google Play system update.

22 Nov 2022: 1 Nov 2022 Google Play system update, again and again (installed the same 1.9 MB update and rebooted at least 3 times already). Something is definitely broken in this update system.

24 Nov 2022: 1 Nov 2022 Google Play system update, yet again. Over 35 MB this time.

30 Nov 2022: 1 Nov 2022 Google Play system update, yet again. 8.9 MB this time.

6 Dec 2022: 5 Dec 2022 update, 433 MB. I guess a few things changed in this one. :-)

6 Dec 2022: 1 Nov 2022 Google Play system update, again. 713 kB this time. Installed and rebooted twice.

10 Dec 2022: 1 Nov 2022 Google Play system update, again. 5.5 MB this time.

13 Dec 2022: 1 Nov 2022 Google Play system update, again. Showed 713 kB size the second time around I had to reboot.

4 Jan 2023: 5 Jan 2023 security update, 25.49 MB.

19 Jan 2023: 1 Nov 2022 Google Play system update, twice, again at 713 kB (must be a magic number of some sort). One of those was also applied with previous security update.

24 Jan 2023: 1 Nov 2022 Google Play system update, again. 58 MB this time.

31 Jan 2023: 1 Jan 2023 Google Play system update, 59 MB.

7 Feb 2023: 5 Feb 2023 security update, 15.38 MB.

17 Feb 2023: Several reboots required for Google Play system update in the last few days, still version 1 Jan 2023.

7 Mar 2023: Google Play system update, 50 MB. This update is labelled 1 Feb 2023.

14 Mar 2023: 5 Mar 2023 security update, 258 MB. Apparently, this was also a feature drop. In addition, Google Play system update required two more reboots to update the device (still 1 Feb 2023).

15 Mar 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Feb 2023, one more time.

24 Mar 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Mar 2023.

4 Apr 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Mar 2023, multiple times today. First, 713 kB, then 9.5 MB, then 713 kB again and again. There was another one a few days ago as well. All required reboots.

11 Apr 2023: 5 Apr 2023 security update, 25.31 MB.

12 Apr 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Mar 2023, one more time. Just under 1 MB.

21 Apr 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Mar 2023, 9.9 MB. Then another update, 722 kB. Both required reboots, as usual.

2 May 2023: 5 May 2023 security update, 15.4 MB. A few days ago, Google Play system update, 1 Apr 2023.

6 May 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Apr 2023, one more time.

19 May 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Apr 2023, one more time. Exactly 10 MB this time.

25 May 2023: Google Play system update, 1 May 2023, 48 MB.

13 Jun 2023: 5 Jun 2023 security and feature update. 368 MB. Followed closely by another Google Play system update.

23 Jun 2023: Google Play system update, 1 May 2023, 722 kB, one more time.

27 Jun 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Jun 2023, first 10 MB, then over 40 MB. Two reboots.

6 Jul 2023: 5 Jul 2023 security. 18.54 MB.

10 Jul 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Jun 2023, one more time.

14 Jul 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Jun 2023, twice.

25 Jul 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Jun 2023, about 740 kB.

26 Jul 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Jun 2023, 10 MB.

8 Aug 2023: 5 Aug 2023 security. 13.84 MB.

11 Aug 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Jul 2023, 47 MB.

12 Aug 2023: Android 14 Beta (5?), 2.02 GB. It looks and feels very similar to 13. Haven't bumped into any trouble yet.

13 Aug 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Jul 2023, 145 kB.

15 Aug 2023: The phone experienced some trouble when connected to my T450s via USB. Not sure whether this is because of bad cable or something to do with beta software. Essentially, home screen lost its icons, USB could not be switched into file transfer mode etc. It worked after a reboot and a few tries.

18 Aug 2023: Google Play system update, 1 Jul 2023, 1.3 MB. The above issue with loss of icons has already been reported to Google: 295402084.

19 Aug 2023: Android 14 Beta update (5.1?), 6.02 MB.

28 Sep 2023: In the last several weeks, there were system updates to new beta versions and several Google Play system updates. It still remains an open question whether this phone will even get a final version of Android 14, when it comes out. The phone is only guaranteed to receive updates until Oct 2023.

5 Oct 2023: Android 14, 11.59 MB. This brings 5 Oct 2023 security update with it. Google Play system update followed, 2.0 MB.

6 Oct 2023: Google Play system update showing as available, 60 MB. But, failing to download. No idea why...

6 Oct 2023: That Google Play system update finally downloaded in the afternoon on the same day. This is probably one of the last entries on this page, because Pixel 8 is on order.

Conclusion

It will probably be an OK phone for my needs. It is a bit expensive, but that is the price for getting a premium brand phone with quick updates.

Copyright © 2021 Bojan Smojver.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the licence is here.