Smartphones and cases go hand in hand. These pocket computers we carry with us everywhere are expensive and fragile; it only makes sense to protect them. Smartphone manufacturers like Google know this, and make their own cases to sell to you next door one of their devices. But when Google asks if you want one of their cases when you pick up a new Pixel phone, say no.
As reported by The Vergethere are dozens of complaints on both Reddit and Amazon about Google’s official Pixel 6 covers, surrounding three main problems that seem to be recurrent with these cases: the material turns yellow; certainly does not fit phones; and if they fit the phones, the case itself is skewed, so that the material protrudes around the buttons. Some even accuse the cases of scratching their phones, which of course is what you buy a case to prevent.
A post from Redditor A_Giant_Baguette that contained photos captured the attention of the audience r / googlepixel. You can see from this picture the road the cover wraps around Pixel’s volume buttons while this photo shows how badly the case has turned yellow. These problems reportedly surfaced within seven months, ie way too fast for a smartphone case for $ 30, especially one made by the same company as the phone itself.
Even worse, seven months is a long time cocompared to the experience of some other customers who reviewed their cases began to worsen after two or three weeks. Whether your case looks new for two weeks or seven months, you have the right to be frustrated with a clearly defective product.
This does not mean that everyone who buys a Google cover for their Pixel will experience these issues. If you scan the review pages for themyou will find lots of positive reviews in addition to the complaints. However complaints is hard to ignore. Some users who have purchased through the Google Store Amazon can not even get their money back; A_Giant_Baguette, as id just that, reports it when they asked for a refund from Amazon, they were sent to Google, which in turn sent them back to Amazon.
When they finally got in touch with someone at Google, they were told that the company does not provide warranties on products purchased through third parties—even though this “third party” was the official Google Store on Amazon. (Take it as another lesson here: Do not buy anything Google-made from anyone other than Google if you want Google to cover it.)
So far, your best bet is to search elsewhere for your Pixel cover. Hopefully Google finds out the problem and does better with the next case. The company’s fabric cases were a hit, so maybe we’ll see them return to Pixel 7, if not one of Google’s other upcoming devices.
[The Verge]