9to5Google Weekender: How’s your Pixel holding up as the heat returns?

Ben Schoon | May 21 2023 - 9:00 am PT

Google’s Pixel phones are, unfortunately, a bit notorious for running on the warm side. As warmer temperatures start to settle in for many, how’s your Pixel holding up in the heat?

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Since the switch to Tensor, Google’s Pixel phones have earned a reputation for not handling heat very well. The chips tend to generate quite a bit of heat during operation, and that’s only made worse when Summer temperatures arrive. It’s not uncommon for these phones to show warnings about heat and suffer in performance as a result.

Realistically, heat is something that’s going to affect any smartphone, but it’s pronounced on Pixel phones just because of how good Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips are at staying cool, and how good the cooling methods have become on competing Android phones.

Personally, in North Carolina, I’ve been noticing my Pixel 7 Pro starting to struggle with heat just as temperatures have touched the 80s, and I’m not really looking forward to a Summer of trying to keep my phone cool. I remember quite a few times last year where I was holding my Pixel 6 Pro up against a cold drink or the vent in my car to try and drop its temperature on a hot day. It’s one of the things that I didn’t miss when using devices from Samsung and OnePlus over the hottest months.

Google might end up making this problem even worse soon, too.

As our Kyle Bradshaw discovered this week, Pixel phones will soon introduce a feature that lets the phone double as a dashcam for your car. It’s a brilliant idea, but also a recipe for making your Pixel struggle in the heat. Sitting things up on the car’s dashboard on a hot, sunny day is already going to result in problems, but adding constant video recording seems especially questionable.

I’m really, really hoping Google can make some improvements with Tensor G3 and cooling on the Pixel 8, because dealing with this problem is starting to get a little ridiculous. At least it sounds like Samsung’s chip manufacturing process is getting better. Google has a brand loyalty problem, as a recent report showed, and I’d be willing to bet overheating is one reason people are willing to consider a switch.

This Week’s Top Stories

Pixel 8 Pro has a temperature sensor

A big Pixel 8 Pro leak hit the web this week, revealing the purpose of a mysterious new sensor that first showed up in a previous leak of the device. As it turns out, the Pixel 8 Pro will have a built-in temperature sensor, used for reading your temperature just like a traditional contactless thermometer does. It’s a strange idea, and we’ll be interested to see how it plays out.

Big Pixel Buds Pro update is incoming

As we exclusively reported this week, Google is preparing a fairly big Pixel Buds Pro update that most notably adds support for “Clear Calling,” the Pixel 7 feature that makes phone calls easier to understand.

Source: Big Pixel Buds Pro update adding Clear Calling, more

Google to purge inactive accounts

Google this week announced that, starting later this year, it will purge inactive accounts. This is defined as accounts that haven’t been used actively in at least two years, with actions such as accessing email, watching a YouTube video, using Google Search, or even an active subscription keeping the account open. Google won’t purge YouTube videos from accounts even if they’re considered inactive.

Google will delete accounts, including Gmail & Photos, that haven’t logged on in two years

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Top comment by After The Nova

Liked by 5 people

My LGs always stood up good against the heat, the V60 was the best ever at it. But my pixel does not at all, I live in San Antonio Texas so it's hot more than half of the year normally and last year it was suffering, I did the same thing too, putting on ice or a vent to cool it, and the battery goes significantly with it too. Turns off at the most inconvenient times.

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