I realized today while listening to a friend's voice note that once that sensor next to the ear speaker gets active the pixels over it start flickering. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm not sure if it's intended but I sure think it's odd.
I am legally blind.
Edit - if this post upsets you personally, then I am sorry. Thought this sub was a place for discussion about Google pixel devices.
Edit 2: I'm not slamming the Pixel, it's the best phone I've ever owned hands down. Ridiculous I even need to state a stance.
I've put way too much time into finding a workaround for this problem that shouldn't have existed in the first place. Below is the method that got the best result so far (less than one second unlocks 95% of the time). This will not work for someone who needs to enroll more than two fingers.
First, you enroll your primary finger in the exact position that you usually hold your phone, but apply the absolute lightest pressure you can to the screen that it will read. I'm talking feather light while following the very specific instructions on the screen.
Next, in the same position with the same finger perform another enrollment but this time with firm pressure.
Optionally, you can use another finger to enroll the same way but you want to save at least 1 of the 5 allowed enrollments for later.
Now you wait until you're in a different place and experience a very bad read on your finger. That is where you stop (if safe) and use one of the remaining enrollments to enroll that specific scenario. This isn't perfect, but I found that I needed a version of my primary finger that was enrolled while in daylight, outside with the sun overhead. You may need a copy when your finger is dry, cold, or all the above. If you didn't enroll a second finger, you can use the remaining enrollments to help the phone learn more situations.
We shouldn't have to lick our fingers or type our password on this 2021 flagship phone. I hope Google figures out a way to make this better, or enroll more copies of our prints, but for now this is the most reliable method for me.
There's been a ton of complaints about terrible auto-brightness on the Pixel 6 phones, from myself included. While it was never that great on Pixels to begin with, I feel that it has been even worse on the Pixel 6, and I think this has to do with a new addition to the lineup:
The Pixel 6/Pro actually has a spectral/flicker sensor on the rear camera setup, next to the flashlight, which doubles as an ambient light sensor.
I first noticed when using the phone in my bedroom in low brightness. When I moved my phone over next to my lamp, with the cameras facing the lamp, my screen grew much brighter. But even before that, I also noticed that when you turn on the Pixel 6 flashlight, the screen gets brighter as the rear sensor detects the light (a hilariously bad oversight imo, Google should disable the rear ALS when flashlight is on). I took another phone and shined its flashlight onto the Pixel 6 rear spectral sensor, and the screen shifts into max brightness.
This extra sensor adds much more volatility in ambient light detection, and Google's auto brightness is going willy nilly adjusting the screen to match the brighter of the two sensors. In theory, light sensors on both sides are ideal, but Google has yet to nail just using one. Utilizing two is much more complex.
I also find it interesting that on Google's phone hardware diagram support page, they make no mention of the front proximity/ambient light sensor nor the rear spectral sensor on the Pixel 6/Pro even though it's mentioned for every other Pixel phone.
Yes I know, we all know the fp sensor sucks.
But I'm not here to say that. I've been using my pixel 6 on the job for about 2 months. Whenever I'm home the fingerprint sensor works pretty well. I'd say it's a 9/10 success rate. But when I'm at work and my hands get dry and a little dirty it doesn't work at all.
Some of you might think "yea well obviously the sensor won't work as well with dirty hands". But my hands aren't completely covered in mud, just maybe a bit of dust and stuff from handling many boxes. Cold weather makes my hands quite dry along with the frequent use of hand sanitizer. But even still, my previous phone (essential ph-1) was able to handle the same conditions very well.
Aside from having to wash my hands thoroughly 20 times a day (which isn't exactly possible while I'm at work), has anyone else experienced this and know any ways to help it?
Should I try registering my finger again while it's dry/dirty at work?
If you think you've experienced this, please star the bug tracker issue here: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/211840063. It may also affect the Pixel 6.
Demo made with Tasker (vs. Pixel 3, turn on sound): https://imgur.com/a/JlvKKR0
When I first got the P6 pro it woke me up a couple of times even though Flip to Shhh was supposed be on, and after some testing I realized it was due to my dark bed frame where I put my phone. Turns out the prox sensor does not work on dark surfaces (it does have* a proximity sensor even though the diagram doesn't mention it). If you are wearing clothes whose pockets are lined with dark fabric, or when setting down the phone face down, the Ambient Display may not turn off.
It's still not fixed in the December update (SQ1D.211205.017), hopefully it's fixable.
*Source: https://www.ifixit.com/News/55239/pixel-6-pro-teardown-google-actually-did-something-right
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Why do you need to scroll all the way to the left to use the Close all apps feature?
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Anyone else find it annoying that when the search function comes up in the app drawer, you need to search for an app from start to end? Example, you can't search "book" if you wanna find the Facebook app, you need to search "Facebook". This really sucks for some apps that you don't use often and only know part of the name. Weird annoyance but definitely sucks.
I made a post here a few weeks ago saying that the December update fixed my FP sensor issues. Just a few days ago it started acting up however where the FP sensor was not working on the always on display, I remember somebody commented on my original post saying they had this same issue.
I got in touch with Google support over live chat and they gave me a few tips to troubleshoot this issue and with what they've said so far it has been working absolutely flawlessly.
Here are the steps they told me to follow to improve it:-
- Remove all currently enrolled fingerprints from phone
- Clear the cache of the "Settings" app
- Reboot the phone
- Enroll your fingerprints again
- Unlock the phone from the lockscreen 20 times using each enrolled fingerprint and shift the position of your finger slightly each time you unlock
For example if your right thumb is enrolled, unlock the phone from the lockscreen 20 times using your right thumb and shift the position of your right thumb on the sensor each time you unlock. Repeat this step for each enrolled fingerprint.
Google support over live chat said this will help the sensor capture your fingerprint much more accurately allowing for more reliable and faster unlocking using the FP sensor and from personal experience so far it has been flawless.
They also said more fixes are coming in future updates to improve the reliability and speed of the sensor even further.
Pixel 6 has digital zoom. I've assumed this was the same as cropping the photo. Take a 12.5mp photo, and create a 6.25mp zoom image. But it starts with a 50mp sensor binned to a 12.5 image. Maybe it's smart enough to take 25mp from the sensor (the part of the sensor that's covers the zoom range, throwing out the rest) and bin those 25mp to create a 12.5mp zoom image ??? Anybody know? What is the mp of a zoomed image?
Just tried this tempered glass screen protector for my Pixel 6. At $9 for 3, it's a pretty good deal. Some reviews are saying that the fingerprint scanner doesn't work but I just installed mine, set up the fingerprint again, and it works well. Maybe just a hair slower than without any protector, but it's worked reliably so far. You probably do want to go into settings and increase touch sensitivity though.
For those few AT&T folks who've gotten their P6/Pro delivered early, I'm very curious to hear feedback on the overall experience with the fingerprint sensor. This was glossed over during the Google presentation event. I've read a couple posts from those who've gotten it early, but no in depth feedback on this that I've seen yet. To me, it's a major deal as it is something that you must interact with every single time you use the device (unless you go thr pattern/pin route), so I'm surprised that more in depth feedback hasn't been given on this yet. I know that the embargo lifts tomorrow, but would still love to hear from average phone users like me with real world usage.
Here are a few things I am curious about:
-How is the overall accuracy of the fingerprint sensor? Is it 80-90%+ accurate? Or less than this?
-Have you noticed that registering the same finger multiple times improves accuracy? Or, is this not necessary to achieve good results?
-If you have AOD turned on, can you use the fingerprint to unlock at any time? Or do you have to double tap first to wake (or press power), then unlock?
-In a real life scenario, when you pull the phone out of your pocket quickly to find something, can you unlock the phone quickly & naturally? Or, do you find yourself fumbling around to unlock it?
Thanks in advance for any feedback or experiences that anyone with the phone already can share regarding the fingerprint sensor!
I didn't want to walk out of the store unprotected, and I didn't do much research because I was happy with my Pixel 5 until I wasn't, but I'm hoping to spare someone from a headache. I'd heard that the fingerprint sensor was slow, but the screen protector they sell made my phone unlock maybe 1 out of 10 tries.
EDIT: Yes, I've tried troubleshooting this, (increased touch sensitivity, re-added fingerprints, added multiple fingerprints for the same finger, ignoring the issue to try and let it learn) but after seeing reviews on the T-Mobile screen protector complaining about this, reviews on competing screen protectors claiming they're searching for an alternative to the Go To protector due to these issues, and zero posts on this subreddit about the issue, I thought I'd go ahead and post this to try to save someone $40 and a headache.
I am considering the Pixel 5a and the Pixel 6 as potential replacements for my Pixel 3a. I like the rear mounted fingerprint sensor on the Pixel 3a and the Pixel 5a but I am open to considering an on screen sensor if it works as easily and well as the rear sensor. From what I have read, there may be some unexpected usage issues with the Pixel 6 fingerprint sensor but no one near me has one on display so I can not actually experiment with it. So I ask here......
- What actually wakes up the screen? Does the display wake up as soon as you touch the fingerprint sensor area on the screen? And if so, is it possible for the screen to wake up unexpectedly in my pocket. I carry my phone inverted in my front pants pocket with the screen facing inwards towards my leg. I am concerned that this might cause intermittent leg contact through my pocket to wake the screen up and make the phone more susceptible to pocket dialing.
- How accurately does your finger have to be placed? Unless the screen wakes up by some other mechanism, there is no indication on the screen for the fingerprint sensor location before the screen wakes up, right?
Im a XR Developer and I always found ARCore more pleasing to work with, the Light Estimation tools are way better than what ARKit offers currently. Also Android development in general is soooo much nicer. I recently got a new Developer device, the iPhone 13 Pro and wow that LiDAR is amazing it changes the whole UX of an AR app where it just works and its fun. Youre simply not limited to good lighting anymore. Its so sad that Google again didn't provide some sort of Depth Sensor on the Pixel 6 (my private device). Especially because ARCore allows the use of such sensors.
I just wanted to say this.
I'm not sure what's happening with the light sensor on the pixel 6 but it's behaving as if it can't even measure the light to assist the brightness. In a pitch black room it will set the screen brightness to half and I'll need to adjust the brightness every time, been doing it for a month and it's learnt nothing. When I unlock the phone and it's dimly lit room it will set brightness to the minimum or just jump to 80% instantly right after. Also changes are not gradual they are very jerky.
Is this a software or hardware issue?
Everyone so I'm sure everyone here is aware of the pixel 5 proximity sensor issue which hits the AOD unfortunately! This it's really annoying and frustrating to me. Are there any third party I was on and been display apps that is recommended to try out? Most of them gain a lot of battery though. I was just wondering if anyone had anything inside here. I have my AOD turned off because it's not reliable 😭 however, of course, I'd love to use it. Thanks in advance for any help!
For anyone curious dpreview has a good write up about it. Coupled with the smaller aperture, the camera actually gathers less physical light than most flagship phones out there.
> The Pro-I offers slightly less light-gathering & shallow DOF ability than the iPhone 13 Pro With an F2 lens, we calculate that the main camera is then roughly F7.1 full-frame equivalent. For perspective, the iPhone 13 Pro's 1/1.65" sensor with F1.5 lens makes it F6.8 full-frame equivalent, which means the main imager on the Xperia Pro-I actually offers slightly less light-gathering and shallow depth-of-field ability than the iPhone 13 Pro, in single exposures before you consider computational imaging approaches, that is. This is something we've confirmed via signal:noise ratio analyses.
https://www.dpreview.com/news/1641689739/sony-just-packed-a-1-stacked-cmos-sensor-into-the-xperia-pro-i-but-there-s-a-catch
Ever since the January update the proximity sensor turns off the screen when I put my thumb near the top of the it. This is especially annoying in Gmail as it happens when trying to press the delete button! Is anyone else having the same Issue?
