About three months ago I decided to upgrade from a Google Pixel 6 to a Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. Going from the Pixel 6 to the $1,200 Pixel 10 Pro XL, I expected a significant improvement. Unfortunately it didn't arrive. My start with the Pixel 10 Pro XL was rough, with the phone having a number of annoying issues such as general slowness, an inability to properly play newly released games, and several apps suffering from severe lag to the point where they were practically unusable. Fast forward, and while my experience with the Pixel 10 Pro XL is miles ahead of what it was when I got the phone at launch, it still falls short of my expectations.
I'm happy to report that while I still pretty much regret buying the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL, the more serious issues have been resolved. Most of my apps now work perfectly and many of the input lags I experienced in the early days are gone. Popular Destiny: Rising by NetEase, a game that was laughably unplayable when it launched on the Pixel 10, now works as advertised. Compared to how poorly the Pixel 10 Pro XL ran in those early days, it's night and day. I've actually had almost no complaints with the Pixel 10 Pro XL for a good few weeks there, but things have gone downhill since last month's update.
The Pixel 10 Pro XL's bigger problems are fixed, but there are new problems
Since downloading the October update, I've seen certain apps crash quite frequently on the Google Pixel 10 Pro, with Gmail being the biggest offender. If I open any email thread with more than a few emails, the app freezes and eventually crashes. Based on various forum posts online, I'm not the only Pixel 10 Pro XL user experiencing this issue. But while some others online found solutions and ways to fix the problem, none of these methods worked for me. The simple act of checking my email on the go is now unnecessarily frustrating. I haven't been able to replicate the issue on my Pixel 6, so it looks like a Pixel 10-specific issue, maybe even the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL specifically. A report from Android Authority suggests that this is a Pixel 10-wide issue, though the more widespread issues seem to have since been fixed.
One of the big selling points of the latest line of Pixel phones is the integration of artificial intelligence. My Pixel 10 Pro XL purchase got me a free year of Google AI Pro, which is otherwise $19.99 a month, and I wasn't convinced it was worth the asking price. I asked Gemini if Pistol and King Kong: The Official Game of Peter Jackson's Movie were backwards compatible on Xbox. It told me Pistol was but King Kong he wasn't actually King Kong is BC if you have the disc handy while Pistol it isn't. Another question made me change my mind and give the correct information. I also tried using AI to fix the Pixel 10 Pro XL performance issues I was running into, but that didn't help either. I don't think the AI integration is polished enough to be a real reason to buy the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL or any other phone, but the technology is likely to improve exponentially in the coming years.
If you are interested in image and video generation using artificial intelligence, you can get more out of Gemini.
In the short term, I hope that Google will roll out more updates for the Pixel 10 Pro XL that will fix the ongoing technical issues that I and others have experienced. Even with its issues, it's a much better phone than it was three months ago, but it's still not one I'd recommend buying at full price.
Source: Notebook Check
