Talking Tech - OnePlus Nord N30 5G to Google Pixel 8 Pro
After discussing my smartwatch experience, it occurred to me I haven’t talked about how I ended up with a Pixel 8 Pro.
In July 2023, we went tubing with my brother-in-law. I had recently purchased a wet bag and I was itching to use it. I threw my phone (a Google Pixel 6 at the time) in there, my sister-in-law had her phone, and my brother-in-law had his vape. My wife asks me, “are you sure you don’t want to leave your phone in the truck?” Nah, the wet bag should keep it safe. Remember this, it’s important later.
We get maybe halfway down the river and my brother-in-law wants to hit his vape. Cool, no problem. We drift over to a sandbar for a quick break. He gives me his vape, we throw everything back into the wet bag, and we continue on our way.
Apparently, when I put everything back into the wet bag, I didn’t capture enough air in it or seal it properly. Once we reach our destination, I pull everything up onto the bank and notice that the wet bag is suspiciously heavy. I open it up and there’s a good couple of gallons of water inside. All of the contents are just swimming in a pool of river water, vape and phones included. Thanks, wife! You were correct, as usual.
The phone kinda sorta worked, but it had a huge glitchy line down the center of the display. That doesn’t look right. Plus, touch interaction was inconsistent. I left it alone for the time being, but the inevitable was clear: that phone was done.
I took the Pixel 6 by a Cell Phone Repair location just to see what they could do, but a screen replacement would be around $400 and he couldn’t guarantee that the internals were still good after being exposed to water for such a duration. I decided that I was just better off replacing it with a new device. To the T-Mobile store!
Options at the T-Mobile store were slim. I needed something quickly since most of my work accounts require two factor authentication. The best budget option I could identify was the OnePlus Nord N30 5G. I had a OnePlus One way back in the day, and my wife had a OnePlus X for a while. Both of those were pretty solid phones. I figured it was a decent enough compromise that I could probably live with.
Boy, was I wrong. From the time I got everything set up on July 17, I hated that device. The fingerprint sensor in the power button was terrible placement. The UI was just generally irritating. Overzealous battery saving constantly encouraged the user to optimize apps, even when I constantly tried to disable those notifications. RCS messages wouldn’t consistently send or deliver (a problem I tried multiple times to bring up with T-Mobile support), so I had to rely on SMS and MMS messaging. Snapchat just basically didn’t work unless I kept the application open. It was garbage on all accounts.
When I finally had enough of the unacceptable problems, I contacted T-Mobile about returning the device. Their online support didn’t consistently respond after numerous attempts, so I tried to call them. Unfortunately, by the time I called them, the window to return the device had ended. Thanks, T-Mobile! I gave them ample opportunity to address my concerns and they STILL managed to drop the ball.
For better or for worse, I was stuck with the OnePlus device. One thing was certain, though: I would be looking to switch off of T-Mobile sooner rather than later. After a series of unpleasant support exchanges and price hikes, I had no reason to stick with that carrier. I wouldn’t jump into something without doing research, but I had no reason to stick with T-Mobile.
My old roommate, in a similar boat, started looking into Spectrum mobile. He explained his experience to me, and I started to consider the same decision. I didn’t have Spectrum services personally (since a 300’ driveway is apparently asking too much of Spectrum), but my mother-in-law had Spectrum mobile and I could just add another line to her account.
When Spectrum offered a huge discount on the Pixel 8 Pro, my interest was piqued. I loved my Pixel 6, and I felt confident that switching back to a Google Pixel device would fix most of what ailed me. Still, I was actively making payments on a device and plan with T-Mobile. It seemed irresponsible to pay off the device and jump into a new plan with a different carrier, even if I did hate the device I was using.
I started being (intentionally) careless with the OnePlus Nord N30 5G. If it broke, I would have to get a new phone. Not that I would intentionally break it, but you can’t help what happens on accident. One day, I started to perch the phone up on the ledge of my shower to listen to music (like I frequently did), and it slipped off and fell 7 feet or so into a running shower. I immediately picked it up and tossed it out of the water. Too late, the damage was done (YAY!).
The screen was shattered, and I figured there was some amount of internal water damage. I quickly pulled off my photos and videos, as well as save files and configuration settings. For the next little while, I would have to use it as my primary device, but I ordered a Google Pixel 8 Pro from Spectrum mobile a few days later on February 29.
When the Pixel 8 Pro arrived, it was like a breath of fresh air. The in-screen fingerprint sensor made so much more sense, the UI was intuitive and snappy, and the whole experience was night and day from my OnePlus Nord N30 5G. Service was comparable to T-Mobile, which is to say it was mediocre. I live in the boondocks, I don’t expect good cellular service. This is why I pay a premium for 500gbps home internet.
Immediately, I slapped a case, screen protector, and camera protector on the Pixel. I wasn’t going to dare chance an accident the way I did with my old phone. And when we go tubing, it isn’t going into the wet bag. It’s going into my truck, the way my wife told me, and the way I should’ve done to begin with. If you want to be safe, don’t take unnecessary risks. It was a valuable lesson, and I’m doing everything I can to keep the Pixel 8 Pro working for as long as I can.
In July 2023, we went tubing with my brother-in-law. I had recently purchased a wet bag and I was itching to use it. I threw my phone (a Google Pixel 6 at the time) in there, my sister-in-law had her phone, and my brother-in-law had his vape. My wife asks me, “are you sure you don’t want to leave your phone in the truck?” Nah, the wet bag should keep it safe. Remember this, it’s important later.
We get maybe halfway down the river and my brother-in-law wants to hit his vape. Cool, no problem. We drift over to a sandbar for a quick break. He gives me his vape, we throw everything back into the wet bag, and we continue on our way.
Apparently, when I put everything back into the wet bag, I didn’t capture enough air in it or seal it properly. Once we reach our destination, I pull everything up onto the bank and notice that the wet bag is suspiciously heavy. I open it up and there’s a good couple of gallons of water inside. All of the contents are just swimming in a pool of river water, vape and phones included. Thanks, wife! You were correct, as usual.
The phone kinda sorta worked, but it had a huge glitchy line down the center of the display. That doesn’t look right. Plus, touch interaction was inconsistent. I left it alone for the time being, but the inevitable was clear: that phone was done.
I took the Pixel 6 by a Cell Phone Repair location just to see what they could do, but a screen replacement would be around $400 and he couldn’t guarantee that the internals were still good after being exposed to water for such a duration. I decided that I was just better off replacing it with a new device. To the T-Mobile store!
Options at the T-Mobile store were slim. I needed something quickly since most of my work accounts require two factor authentication. The best budget option I could identify was the OnePlus Nord N30 5G. I had a OnePlus One way back in the day, and my wife had a OnePlus X for a while. Both of those were pretty solid phones. I figured it was a decent enough compromise that I could probably live with.
Boy, was I wrong. From the time I got everything set up on July 17, I hated that device. The fingerprint sensor in the power button was terrible placement. The UI was just generally irritating. Overzealous battery saving constantly encouraged the user to optimize apps, even when I constantly tried to disable those notifications. RCS messages wouldn’t consistently send or deliver (a problem I tried multiple times to bring up with T-Mobile support), so I had to rely on SMS and MMS messaging. Snapchat just basically didn’t work unless I kept the application open. It was garbage on all accounts.
When I finally had enough of the unacceptable problems, I contacted T-Mobile about returning the device. Their online support didn’t consistently respond after numerous attempts, so I tried to call them. Unfortunately, by the time I called them, the window to return the device had ended. Thanks, T-Mobile! I gave them ample opportunity to address my concerns and they STILL managed to drop the ball.
For better or for worse, I was stuck with the OnePlus device. One thing was certain, though: I would be looking to switch off of T-Mobile sooner rather than later. After a series of unpleasant support exchanges and price hikes, I had no reason to stick with that carrier. I wouldn’t jump into something without doing research, but I had no reason to stick with T-Mobile.
My old roommate, in a similar boat, started looking into Spectrum mobile. He explained his experience to me, and I started to consider the same decision. I didn’t have Spectrum services personally (since a 300’ driveway is apparently asking too much of Spectrum), but my mother-in-law had Spectrum mobile and I could just add another line to her account.
When Spectrum offered a huge discount on the Pixel 8 Pro, my interest was piqued. I loved my Pixel 6, and I felt confident that switching back to a Google Pixel device would fix most of what ailed me. Still, I was actively making payments on a device and plan with T-Mobile. It seemed irresponsible to pay off the device and jump into a new plan with a different carrier, even if I did hate the device I was using.
I started being (intentionally) careless with the OnePlus Nord N30 5G. If it broke, I would have to get a new phone. Not that I would intentionally break it, but you can’t help what happens on accident. One day, I started to perch the phone up on the ledge of my shower to listen to music (like I frequently did), and it slipped off and fell 7 feet or so into a running shower. I immediately picked it up and tossed it out of the water. Too late, the damage was done (YAY!).
The screen was shattered, and I figured there was some amount of internal water damage. I quickly pulled off my photos and videos, as well as save files and configuration settings. For the next little while, I would have to use it as my primary device, but I ordered a Google Pixel 8 Pro from Spectrum mobile a few days later on February 29.
When the Pixel 8 Pro arrived, it was like a breath of fresh air. The in-screen fingerprint sensor made so much more sense, the UI was intuitive and snappy, and the whole experience was night and day from my OnePlus Nord N30 5G. Service was comparable to T-Mobile, which is to say it was mediocre. I live in the boondocks, I don’t expect good cellular service. This is why I pay a premium for 500gbps home internet.
Immediately, I slapped a case, screen protector, and camera protector on the Pixel. I wasn’t going to dare chance an accident the way I did with my old phone. And when we go tubing, it isn’t going into the wet bag. It’s going into my truck, the way my wife told me, and the way I should’ve done to begin with. If you want to be safe, don’t take unnecessary risks. It was a valuable lesson, and I’m doing everything I can to keep the Pixel 8 Pro working for as long as I can.
Funny thing is I do still use the OnePlus device. Now it's just a runescape machine and mp3 player when the kids are using the Pixel.
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