[Chuck Finley69]

Don't know what car you have, or what you're up to, but my Pixel 6 Pro and 7 Pro have always been rock solid with BT and Android Auto.

I believe @Exedorable is currently rolling in a pimped out 2011 Smart car ala California model tandem version

[Exedorable]

Don't know what car you have, or what you're up to, but

2021 Dodge challenger is my current daily (and has been for about a year and a half now). Generally speaking BT is pretty good, great (great) distance/range, very little distortions/skips (nearly never). But all those above issues happened in the same day. My wife's cousin has a 7pro, says it's the buggiest phone he's ever seen in his life. I'll admit that this may also hold a record for me: of course waiting for BlackBerry lag and apps to load (even the decreasing number of em which still work) isn't exactly fun - or probly even what most would tolerate in 2023. But lag or an app failing to load is kind of understandable - on my pixel 6a I literally can't wait to see what weird thing will happen next. Just a few hours ago my notes app just wouldn't respond (I could open it but not type or edit inside of it; had to close it and re-launch).

In all fairness tho, I'm still on the 6a, just couldn't switch from it tho I planned to. It's getting to the point where I'm starting to feel cut off - school updates for the kids, our door / house cameras, bank apps etc are just not functional on the Priv.

I'm gonna take it out over the weekend, maybe, thinking of turning it into my sports car (just a day or 2 out w/ it every couple weeks hehe) but yeah between the speed and power (among other things) - this pixel 6a is just too good. These bugs tho? Mad respect lol

[Exedorable]

I believe @Exedorable is currently rolling in a pimped out 2011 Smart car ala California model tandem version

Ironically, we usually lean toward the sporty side. Suv? Had to have a Durango. Before this challenger I had a Gti.

Surprising, and ironic, but 2 of our current cars are 2 door sports coupes ������

[Paul Reichert]

2021 Dodge challenger is my current daily (and has been for about a year and a half now). Generally speaking BT is pretty good, great (great) distance/range, very little distortions/skips (nearly never). But all those above issues happened in the same day. My wife's cousin has a 7pro, says it's the buggiest phone he's ever seen in his life. I'll admit that this may also hold a record for me: of course waiting for BlackBerry lag and apps to load (even the decreasing number of em which still work) isn't exactly fun - or probly even what most would tolerate in 2023. But lag or an app failing to load is kind of understandable - on my pixel 6a I literally can't wait to see what weird thing will happen next. Just a few hours ago my notes app just wouldn't respond (I could open it but not type or edit inside of it; had to close it and re-launch).

In all fairness tho, I'm still on the 6a, just couldn't switch from it tho I planned too. It's getting to the point where I'm starting to feel cut off - school updates for the kids, our door / house cameras, bank apps etc are just not functional on the Priv.

I'm gonna take it out over the weekend, maybe, thinking of turning it into my sports car (just a day or 2 out w/ it every couple weeks hehe) but yeah between the speed and power (among other things) - this pixel 6a is just too good. These bugs tho? Mad respect lol

The Techodyssey guy had a number of YouTube features about the 6a after it was released. His phone was fine but he had a lot of reports about buggy units, like basic Wi-Fi not working etc etc. Sounded like one of those Pareto 80%-20% spreads.

Google was rolling out updates to fix these. I wonder if updating your system would help. Might not be a good idea though; if it worked you might lay down your Priv for good. I absentmindedly left mine sitting on the coffee table about a month ago for a week. Started at about 89% battery, I'd pick it up every few days and the needle hardly had moved. When I started cruising with it again the battery was still in the 80's. These reconditioned phones... My Beatles @ 24bit sounds very clear on it. Strange, crippled, elegant device.

[Exedorable]

I wonder if updating your system would help. Might not be a good idea though; if it worked you might lay down your Priv for good... Started at about 89% battery, I'd pick it up every few days and the needle hardly had moved. When I started cruising with it again the battery was still in the 80's. These reconditioned phones... My Beatles @ 24bit sounds very clear on it. Strange, crippled, elegant device.

Yeah tbh it wasn't easy. But every time I take the Priv out I absolutely love it. Got a bit reckless tonight and was playing music in the evening so it died in the low 20s % range (my own fault) but basically lasted me a 12 hour work day otherwise.

Yeah the standby on Priv remains relatively impressive. If I leave the pixel 6a laying in my drawer it'll lose about 10 % per day, w/ out any connections to Wifi or BT etc, just totally cut off. My Priv on avg estimates 19 days or more of just laying and draining - some days it goes down just 1-2 % and I just don't know why the 6a drains so much faster.

Charging the 6a is also quite, quite lackluster, and in a recent clip one review described it as like 3 generations of charging ago. Hard to deny that assessment since it takes me a good 2.5 hours to hit 100 % where by comparison the Priv after 1 hour flat can go from 25 to like 90

[Exedorable]

Day 3 w/ the Priv ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and of course I'm loving it, but I think this won't be my usual 2 weeks+ where I just can't break away. Pixel 6a is just too good. However!

Latest Priv bugs: apps are starting to creep up past the screen use % in list of battery drainer. Top currently is gmail but I've seen fb pass it too, tho sometimes it'll be at the same % or just maybe 1 higher (gmail will be much, much higher) but hey fb and Instagram continue to behave so, haven't uninstalled either one yet hehe

Latest 6a bugs: I'm showing my 5 year old a YouT video streaming over Chromecast, and it simply disconnects. Then minutes later while taking a photo the screen (or cam app?) show those transistor refresh lines that show up when you point a camera at a tv or monitor, and I had it pointed at a plant on a side table by our couch.

Speaking of which, I took nearly identical shots w/ the Priv and the pixel 6a and I gotta say I'm not sure if it's just a bad angle or a bad day, but this Priv is going almost toe to toe in this particular instance. The pixel took a much brighter image, which helps w/ some of the detail, like a sock that's too dark to almost see in the Priv pic, but there are 2 glaring errors. One is a small smudge on the side table, where in the Priv shot you can tell the volume to it and almost the texture, while the pixel just makes it look flat like a stain. Another is a pretty chunky grouping of artifacts on the wall next to a window, while for some reason the Priv HDR (while again, not as bright) really balances window and wall, the pixel 6a has these Minecraft style fuzzy square artifacts that botch up the wall.

Maybe just a lucky shot, or course a nod at the name brand quality of the BlackBerry lens (I've always maintained that at times, usually depending on lighting, images a Priv can capture can be stunning). Def a possibility that fb msgr, in which I'm sending these pics - I sent them to my wife to compare - is doing some kind of umm degrading or scrunching/compression of pixels in the image due to too much available information and it's a complete fluke (while the native pixel 6a image remains clearly higher quality, in reality). But nonetheless hehe. True story

[Exedorable]

Also ������ my android auto is working w/ no connection - I don't have a SIM in this 6a right now ������

[Exedorable]

Finally gave up my Priv after another week w/ it. New developments: the garbled, incoherent static I'd get as soon as the screen turned on (only in our '21 challenger) is completely gone. I don't know what update did what to which app - but it's absolutely working as intended, again, after a solid 1.9 years of problems (I'd have to either mute or pause the music any time I'd need to use the phone). Along the same lines reboots have been absent for this entire last week, I'm diligently charging as soon as I'm near 30 % (once or twice I fell below to about 27) and unplugging around 80+ (once or twice it did get to 95 or 99 %) but everything is working "well" or y'know as well as can be expected on a 7.5 year old android hehe. Updates start to DL w/ in just moments of hitting the update button, and like the GPS app which is back to functionality - Instagram and fb lite are behaving!

I did test fb lite on the pixel 6a which I'm now back on, and yeah first try sent me through a whole album of 670+ images w/ out a single stutter, just a half second delay as they pics loaded. 2nd try did have a brief snag at maybe the half point and maybe the 90 % point but - suffice to say that fb lite is way, WAY more efficient and it isn't some #random Priv trick lol ������

Other than a brief period, lasting a few hours, where I got that new "connect to network" notif and couldn't get data (calls and text continued to work fine tho) it's been a pretty uneventful week. Got 1 warning about Device is Overheating and taking steps to cool down as I was in an outdoor line on a 89 ° day. But overall still blown away by everything that can still be done (even if slowly and w/ a bunch of lag, hehe) on this old BlackBerry

Now that I'm back on the pixel 6a I'm def glad to have the speed back, the speaker quality is noticeably better and of course I'm getting immediate updates on house cams, kids school zoom meets, etc. It's nice when tech works ������ tho I do already miss that slider lol ������

[Exedorable]

Had another pretty smooth day w/ the Priv, no self reboots and no crashes. Getting harder to put my pixel 6a down tho, it's just too good.

My recent Priv use, even w/ out taking it out and w/ no Sim card, has been late night Disney+ sessions (headphone jack + that resolution = #winning) and on a side note it charges, while running Disney+ just about as fast as normal charging on the 6a (I'm exaggerating a little, but just a little)

[Exedorable]

Had another couple solid days w/ the Priv. Taking it out less and less and for increasingly shorter periods of time, but always a treat.

Plugged my Sim card in before heading to work, started charging in the car - and it immediately rebooted (lol) but otherwise stable, apart from the typical morning restart the next day, and relatively zippy (this is again a "looking on the bright side" of the restarts, since it performs better than it did back when it could go a stable couple months+ w/ out a single one).

Also messing around at work w/ a coworkers puck chi charger I discovered that yes MY ALMOST 8 YEAR OLD BlackBerry Priv supports wireless charging! You guys shoulda seen me yelling across my warehouse. Some people were like lolwhat but a few of the tech inclined guys were in disbelief until I showed then - they didn't even remember wireless charging was available back then!!

Back on my pixel 6a and torn to try a Moto ThinkPhone (that carbon fiber back plate has me drooling) but I think I will pass in the end. The pixel is just too good.

[brookie229]

Had another couple solid days w/ the Priv. Taking it out less and less and for increasingly shorter periods of time, but always a treat.

Plugged my Sim card in before heading to work, started charging in the car - and it immediately rebooted (lol) but otherwise stable, apart from the typical morning restart the next day, and relatively zippy (this is again a "looking on the bright side" of the restarts, since it performs better than it did back when it could go a stable couple months+ w/ out a single one).

Also messing around at work w/ a coworkers puck chi charger I discovered that yes MY ALMOST 8 YEAR OLD BlackBerry Priv supports wireless charging! You guys shoulda seen me yelling across my warehouse. Some people were like lolwhat but a few of the tech inclined guys were in disbelief until I showed then - they didn't even remember wireless charging was available back then!!

Back on my pixel 6a and torn to try a Moto ThinkPhone (that carbon fiber back plate has me drooling) but I think I will pass in the end. The pixel is just too good.

Lol, wireless charging was on my Palm Pixi Plus about 200 years ago - well seems like it anyway

[Exedorable]

Lol, wireless charging was on my Palm Pixi Plus about 200 years ago - well seems like it anyway

I knew a variant of the Priv had it, but figured it was only on the AT&T carrier-specific one (they were the only one to have it direct, at least at launch, if memory serves me right) but I never even tried it on my unlocked Priv thinking it simply didn't come w/ it. Ridiiic

[Exedorable]

Couple days that reminded me why most people don't keep using a Priv: battery deterioration / instability continues + signal is getting worse.

2 days ago for the first time in quite a while, actually don't even remember the last time, my Priv rebooted twice in one day. It also had some kind of memory leak where even disconnected from Wifi and w/ out a sim card it lost like 60 % battery during the night and died.

The lag at times is getting unbearable. I had a coworker run out to grab us iced teas from Panera, and he was back before I could place my order. Website simply just hung, no loading animation, no progress bar. Just unresponsive. On my 2nd attempt I timed 11 minutes between one page and then next on the site. Probably they took down some new towers (well old 4g towers) in my area

But I finished a couple more work days and I'm still (somehow) consistently getting through a full 9 hour shift on a single charge. To be safe tho I am plugging in as soon as I jump in the car. And my habit to turn on battery saver mode around 30 % is becoming second nature

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Couple days that reminded me why most people don't keep using a Priv: battery deterioration / instability continues + signal is getting worse.

2 days ago for the first time in quite a while, actually don't even remember the last time, my Priv rebooted twice in one day. It also had some kind of memory leak where even disconnected from Wifi and w/ out a sim card it lost like 60 % battery during the night and died.

The lag at times is getting unbearable. I had a coworker run out to grab us iced teas from Panera, and he was back before I could place my order. Website simply just hung, no loading animation, no progress bar. Just unresponsive. On my 2nd attempt I timed 11 minutes between one page and then next on the site. Probably they took down some new towers (well old 4g towers) in my area

But I finished a couple more work days and I'm still (somehow) consistently getting through a full 9 hour shift on a single charge. To be safe tho I am plugging in as soon as I jump in the car. And my habit to turn on battery saver mode around 30 % is becoming second nature

I really don't get the point of this... other than it being a case of martyrdom.

Any joy you get from still using a PKB phone, clearly can't overcome the phones ability to perform it's function.... to be a communications tool. Rebooting, Memory Leaks, Signal Issues, need to always turn on Battery Saver Mode.

Clear case of "suffering to obtain sympathy or admiration".

[Exedorable]

I really don't get the point of this...

Just sharing my experience. Some would say that's the spice of life, if not the point of it.

Any joy you get from still using a PKB phone, clearly can't overcome the phones ability to perform it's function.... to be a communications tool.

It's actually primarily a communications tool, now. True it can still run YouT and I'm re-watching Andor (for the 4th time) on Disney+, but for ex I'm taking it to work today because I really only need Sms emails and calls. I won't get notifs from my camera app, if a package gets delivered, but really stuff like that is just distracting (at work) even if convenient.

Here and elsewhere I've shared plenty of bugs I've had w/ my pixel 6a and that's in many ways right next to the latest and greatest (I understand there's a tensor 2, but from reports it doesn't do that much for performance and has the same connectivity/battery/antenna issues as this first chip). Just for instance I've had 2 issues in the past couple days: BT music started skipping (plays, then speeds up, then stutters, then normal) and Android auto would connect and then immediately disconnect - had to plug the phone in again about 12x to get it to work.

Priv is slow, laggy, and limited, but it's kinda predictable, and I'm sure not a small part of that comes from having been using it for so long and a bias from my love of it.

[Exedorable]

Another Panera order took exactly 10 min. Maybe it's the perfect storm of older bands on Priv + high site traffic due to their new Sip Club hehe

[Exedorable]

Man say what you will about the numerous drawbacks, but the Priv amoled screen is just effing beautiful. I'm watching 4k episodes and I think I can literally see the pores in someone's clean-shaven face! #amaze

[Exedorable]

Echoing a point I've made before: for w/e reason Motorola and BlackBerry/TCL made pretty stable software tweaks, for what they were, back in the day (I've no reason to suspect Motorola still does tbh). Of course older versions ran w/ less features and required less resources, but the stability of Google's own os on their own device (my pixel 6a) leaves me scratching my head sometimes. 2 recent examples:

- as on occasion, my music player simply stops output and once I open it again, the track I was halfway thru is back to starting from the beginning (there have been some instances where my Playlist actually goes back several tracks, randomly, when this "bug" occurs). This last time it happened during me taking photos, and this is especially ironic since this is one of the first phones (if honestly not THE first) which can run both video recording and still play music. I have multiple videos where I'm showing my wife somn or just shooting a quick clip in the car, and you can hear the background music playing in my car (over BT from the handset). Even some flagships I tried either didn't have enough ram or wasn't optimized enough to accomplish this (to be fair, when it works hehe).
- and 2nd, and this is truly bizarre: I had downloaded a long track (compared to an avg song) something like 50 minutes, and in the past couple days it disappeared. I was still tweaking the Playlist it was in, so I wasn't too bothered, figured it got glitched out by this 6a's mysterious habit of developing new bugs I've never seen before, and I'd just need to move it back. What I find to my surprise is the mp3 track is nowhere to be found (lol) but I have a VIDEO clip in my IMAGE library which I can now play (lolwhat) where the screen will remain absolutely black but all the music from that long track can be heard.

This is the kinda stuff that, given all its heat and performance issues, I'd never expect whatsoever (and have never seen) on my Priv

[Exedorable]

Took the Priv out over the weekend and well, things are getting worse: on avg it's restarting twice a day now. Had about a 20 min reboot at work, and the next day it restarted on its own around 330 am and then again at close to 11am. The 330 reboot lasted until after 6am according to the battery menu - but I know this is inaccurate because at 5am my alarm still went off. So not only is my displayed % off, I now have proof that the usage tracking is also in error.

On the pixel 6a side of things, standby drain issues continue, for ex: this morning as I was tucking away things ahead of a cleaning crew visit, and I hid it in the safe w/ 50 % remaining. Now, about 3-3.5 hours later it's at 34 ������ and this is w/ everything turned off no Wi-Fi no BT screen is dumped location is off etc etc.

Speaking of location that is the very thing that garbled music over BT on the Priv, I did some more testing w/ it today. It's a little better and some stretches of songs come thru ok, but soon as I turn it off I can use the phone normally. If it's on BT music is just not something you'd (or I'd) be able to tolerate lol

[brookie229]

Took the Priv out over the weekend and well, things are getting worse: on avg it's restarting twice a day now. Had about a 20 min reboot at work, and the next day it restarted on its own around 330 am and then again at close to 11am. The 330 reboot lasted until after 6am according to the battery menu - but I know this is inaccurate because at 5am my alarm still went off. So not only is my displayed % off, I now have proof that the usage tracking is also in error.

On the pixel 6a side of things, standby drain issues continue, for ex: this morning as I was tucking away things ahead of a cleaning crew visit, and I hid it in the safe w/ 50 % remaining. Now, about 3-3.5 hours later it's at 34 ������ and this is w/ everything turned off no Wi-Fi no BT screen is dumped location is off etc etc.

Speaking of location that is the very thing that garbled music over BT on the Priv, I did some more testing w/ it today. It's a little better and some stretches of songs come thru ok, but soon as I turn it off I can use the phone normally. If it's on BT music is just not something you'd (or I'd) be able to tolerate lol

Just curious, have you ever wiped your Priv and started over fresh or have you got everything on there since 2015 or whenever you purchased it? How much storage is remaining without data?

[Exedorable]

Just curious, have you ever wiped your Priv and started over fresh or have you got everything on there since 2015 or whenever you purchased it? How much storage is remaining without data?

I'm using 20.92 of total 23.86, and this is just now right after clearing cache. I don't believe I've ever factory reset this device, I did do this on my KEYᵒⁿᵉ and for a few weeks/months it did act like new, if memory serves me, but then it became about the same.

I have done no serious changes to this phone out of fear that I'd have some kind of issue whether between apps loading/installing properly. Likewise I've never done a battery swap etc - I'd be afraid to break somn else, personally

[brookie229]

I'm using 20.92 of total 23.86, and this is just now right after clearing cache. I don't believe I've ever factory reset this device, I did do this on my KEYᵒⁿᵉ and for a few weeks/months it did act like new, if memory serves me, but then it became about the same.

I have done no serious changes to this phone out of fear that I'd have some kind of issue whether between apps loading/installing properly. Likewise I've never done a battery swap etc - I'd be afraid to break somn else, personally

So you have just over 10% free space. If it were my device, I would factory reset, get rid of unused apps and clean up in general. Pretty much any device that is that old needs a good housecleaning. That goes for computer hard drives, anything really that has been used for that many years.

[Exedorable]

So you have just over 10% free space. If it were my device, I would factory reset, get rid of unused apps and clean up in general. Pretty much any device that is that old needs a good housecleaning. That goes for computer hard drives, anything really that has been used for that many years.

Well, functionally less, I think before clearing cache around 21.60 was full - and I clear cache almost daily (when I use the Priv, which is way less now, just a day or 2 and not even every week, where before I'd use it for 2+ months at a time no joke).

I have very few apps, all of which I use from time to time. DoorDash, bi reports, fb lite and Instagram still work, disney+ and a couple misc ones like a meme generator app and a few games (FFVII) but it's pretty clean. On my pixel 6a I scroll down quite a list lol, on this Priv you almost get all the apps soon as you open the drawer, maybe 1 more row

[brookie229]

Well, functionally less, I think before clearing cache around 21.60 was full - and I clear cache almost daily (when I use the Priv, which is way less now, just a day or 2 and not even every week, where before I'd use it for 2+ months at a time no joke).

I have very few apps, all of which I use from time to time. DoorDash, bi reports, fb lite and Instagram still work, disney+ and a couple misc ones like a meme generator app and a few games (FFVII) but it's pretty clean. On my pixel 6a I scroll down quite a list lol, on this Priv you almost get all the apps soon as you open the drawer, maybe 1 more row

That 10% number is important. I would factory reset and gradually add your apps back but then the apps of today require much more power than those of 7-8-10 years ago so maybe not really going to help much going forward. Instagram and other social apps are extremely power hungry.

[Exedorable]

maybe not really going to help much going forward

This is what I'd assume. The fact that my Priv can get me through a workday, a full 10+ hour one, is honestly enough for me.

The fact that I can show my wife a new YouT movie trailer, or re-watch Andor yet again w/ my headphones while she sleeps, or cast some dancing videos for the kids on our living room tv thru Chromecast, after this long - is kind of unreal