Regarding the Google Pixel and Pixel XL,
I just read today that Verizon won't get in the way of Google's updates to it. Meaning that whether or not you buy the Verizon version or the version from Google or Best Buy, the updates will be released to all Pixel (XL) phones at the same time. The Verizon version is also carrier unlocked apparently. Perhaps Verizon is turning over a new leaf? Too early to be certain.
I'm interested in the Pixel, but not at the price offered. Frankly, I think the price is ludicrous. Google is trying to say to the market that their phone is as good as or better than an iPhone. But Google doesn't have the luxury brand cachet that Apple does and they never really had the same sort of very large, rabid fanbase that will just buy every new product they release regardless of price or utility. In fact, they are starting to lose the trust of even their most ardent fans what with them having a history of abandoning (or showing signs that they will abandon in the near future) products that people use and like such as Orkut, Wave, Google TV, Reader, Voice, Nexus Q, Nexus Player, OnHub Router, Hangouts, and even the Pixel C and ChromeOS. Or having situations like the Nexus 10 where the Lollipop update resulted in extremely poor networking reliability and performance and was never fixed (most people with a Nexus 10 have either ditched the device or gone back to Kit Kat). I mean look at Allo and Duo... no one has really bothered with them because they've already put people in an out of like four instant messaging services and apps already. People are just done with it and are too embarrassed to try to recommend a Google messaging app to anyone at this point.
I think the Pixel is going to be a very poor seller. It's a direction that they should have gone with around the Nexus 5 era, when they still had an extremely loyal and trusting fanbase. In order to succeed in this strategy, they will need to do these major things:
1. Accept that the Pixel gen 1 isn't going to remotely be a market sensation and they are going to lose a lot of money on it, but stick with it anyway for at least two years.
2. Cure their horrible case of corporate ADHD. Stop releasing products to market that they aren't 100% committed to and support any that they do release for longer than one release or two years. No more Google OnHub Routers or Nexus Qs. Follow through with them or just kill them in the lab.
3. Continue with the Pixel phones for a 2nd and a 3rd generation and ensure that they are on par with or even exceed the fit, finish, and industrial design of Apple's iPhones and the OS is completely reliable and performs well on the devices even as time passes. If you pick up an iPhone 5S today, the device feels as fast as it did the day it was released. You can't say that about virtually any Android device.
If Google does those things, they can probably reasonably expect to have a reasonably popular smartphone on their hands in the 3rd generation. If they don't and they just start acting like the Pixel phones never even existed, they are going to absolutely destroy what remains of their consumer trust in them. At that point, they are going to see basically zero adoption in any of their new products or services and will just have to get by on Google Search, Gmail, and YouTube until they get obsoleted or disrupted out of the market entirely.
In any case, my Nexus 5X is good enough to go another year at least and the only feature it is missing is the Google Assistant and I can access that via Allo if I want in any case.
An update to my Nexus 5X woes: Performance still remains better than what I was going through before the fresh Marshmallow install, but I do have some sort of issue with the item labeled "Android OS" using tons of battery when Bluetooth is enabled. Since I just got a new car that has Bluetooth and my old one didn't, frequent Bluetooth use is a new thing for me. I get 10 hrs. max with Bluetooth on all day, but it easily went all day before when I had it disabled all the time. It seems like a common issue and I've tried some of the suggested remedies. Resetting all app preferences helped a little -- it got me to the aforementioned 10 hrs. from 8 -- but it's still a problem. Some say that factory resetting helped, but I just did that recently and I hate the all-day project that results from doing it.
