The Google Pixel series, hailed for its exceptional camera, faces significant issues with overheating, dating back to the Pixel 5. Users report dangerous incidents, including explosions. Despite a class action lawsuit and ongoing complaints, Google has not adequately addressed these defects. Though initial reviews of the Pixel 9 suggest improvements, consumer trust remains damaged.
In the modern world of social media, having the best phone can make or break a media campaign. For a while now, people have been talking about the google pixel, talking about how it currently has “the best camera” out of all the android phones. It has great processing, functionality, etc.
What are the Problems with the Google Pixel Phones?
well for the last few years we have been using pixel devices for jmurrayathletics.com, including the Pixel 6a, 7, watch, and 9. We used them for streaming, photos when a camera was too much extra weight, and managing our social media accounts. Was it worth it though?
Well, we should start with the fact that the Google pixel does in fact have a great camera, arguably one of the best on the market through a cellular device. However, that great quality comes with a serious drawback, the over heating.
The over heating even dates back to the pixel 5 with one user reporting the phone “almost burnt his house down”.
“Last night, at half-past midnight, I was (luckily) woken by the smell of burning, and turned to see my Pixel 5 spewing smoke and flames onto my bedroom carpet. The bedroom filled with acrid smoke in seconds, and I was lucky to wake up and get the phone outside. The bedside cabinet where the phone was charging is charred, as is the carpet where the phone was spitting white hot debris. The phone itself is obviously toast.”
The over heating issue which has been on going since 2021, along with a class action lawsuit that came after one Pixel Pro 6 user experienced the over heating on multiple phones over the course of a single year.
“Over the next several months, Plaintiff requested numerous replacement phones from Verizon, each phone was always the same model; a Google Pixel 6 Pro phone. All of which had the same overheating Defect, which would render the phone virtually unusable after minimal use.”
Customer complains on google support “My pixel 6a turned on fire and exploded I’ve been trying to contact google but can’t get a hold of them.”, google turned off commenting, after 31 other people reported the same issue.
There are hundreds of stories similar to Jennifer Hyatts experience, even going into the Pixel 7 and 8. Google still had not resolved the issue, one redditer posted in the R/googlepixel:
So I got my pixel 8 at launch, transferred all my data from my pixel 7, and I was loving everything about it except for the thermals. For some reason, the pixel 8 gets a lot warmer than the pixel 7 just by doing normal tasks like scrolling through reddit and twitter.
In our own personal experience, my first pixel device, a google Pixel 6a, crashed and would not restart after attempting to show a friend photos on the phone after only a year. When we contacted Google, we were told to buy an outdated replacement for the price of a new phone.
So we did, we just upgraded assuming the product would be better on the newer model. We ended up going with the Google Pixel 7, and again the same issues persisted, with constant over heating from basic use like scrolling social media or taking video, you know the things most people used their devices for in modern days.
That phone, actually exploded on us one day and currently looks like this.
Before the device exploded, it went through a series of odd battery drop outs as well, where it would read 30% and within seconds drop to 10% and then down to 1% like a countdown timer at an unusually fast pace.
Now these problems are not isolated to their phones either, as we we had also purchased the pixel watch around this time, where we found it was prone to the same overheating issues, something we never experienced under fitbit who’s tech influenced the pixel watch.
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Is the Pixel OS or the Battery the Problem?
While some users experienced the over heating and crashing when charging the device, we experienced the over heating with them on our wrist. Several times the device has overheated and left marks on our wrist in the place were it was worn. The watch also does not last as long as advertised. In our experience between two different watches, the only way for us to achieve a 24hr battery life or anything close is to never open the screen on the watch.
This is in contrast to the pixel watches predecessors at ftbit, which could last and work for 2-5 days depending on use. This battery life issue may be directly related to the over heating, which could be killing the batteries on both the watches and phones.
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My Google Pixel Device is Defective, What Can I Do?
After half a decade to improve, Google seems happy to put out faulty products. So much so that when I contacted Google support, they ignored the severity of their products causing skin irritation, overheating and crashing, as well as the reports of explosions. In the 6a lawsuit, it even alleges that Google failed to notify users of the problems or issue a recall. I personally don’t remember either of these happening as well.
Our contact with Google support lead to us being told multiple times there was nothing they could do, advised me to buy protection plan or replace the device, and being hung up on. That was until we mentioned talking to the firm that handled the original case of “Hyatt v. Google, LLC”. When a “manager/supervisor” finally found us important enough to call back about clear and long standing defects in their products.
We were given a measely $500 dollar credit due to the inconvience, and they refuseed to give a cent more despite us paying over 1 grand in total for the devices.
This act by Google may have been a violation of the FTC Act, primary law that gives the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the authority to prevent unfair business practices and protect consumers. Under it, manufactures are required by law to replace, fix, or refund for defective products. Google refused to replace, refund, and continues to refuse to fix their defects.
At this current time, we have not seen the same issues with the pixel 9. To the best of our knowledge after a month of use with the Google pixel 9, the heating issues may have been fixed, however, it is still early and reports may still come out .
While the new model may have fixed the overheating problems that caused problems in the past, Google may not be able to repair the trust they lost from consumers.
If you want to try a pixel device, we do use Google Fi for business and coverage services, Google does provide a reliable service area across the United States and Canada which we have come to rely on.
HI, I am the CEO & Lead Writer for Jmurrayathletics. I started this as a side hobby for my running and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but hope to grow it in to something so much more! I am a BJJ competitor and a competitive road runner, with a few placing records. I began my fitness journey in 2013, and it has offered me so much. It is my hope to share what I have learned and continue to learn with everyone through Jmurrayathletics.com, I hope you will join us and thank you for stopping by the website.
