I broke my recently new Google Pixel 2 phone whilst long distance cycling in the rain around Taiwan. After researching many options to fix it (including asking repair shops in Taiwan, which isn’t a solution as the parts / this phone is not produced here), the best and cheapest solution seems to be to mail it to Google HQ in USA (country of original purchase), where it will be fixed (and likely replaced given my warranty).
I tried mailing the phone from Taiwan > USA, but the package was returned because it contained a battery. (I can’t read or speak Mandarin so I didn’t notice batteries weren’t allowed in the signs at the Taiwan post office).
I’d love to see the phone fixed at some point! I’ve been enjoying a digital detox without the phone for 2+ months now, and soon I will also appreciate it again for some creative projects~
Currently, a friend in Taiwan is holding onto the phone for me, as I moved to Cambodia for the next few months (I live/travel according to different projects).
Could you or someone you know travelling to the USA, bring the phone with you, and then mail the phone to California?
As I am neither in Taiwan or the USA soon to do this myself, I wonder if anyone would be open to helping? Let me know what you’d like in exchange, like cash, or other things abundant in my life that you may be interested in.
Which is why customers must demand it. The non removable battery is a terrible idea and their face saving excuse of a thinner phone saves you like 1 mm. I demand removable batteries in my phones and i usually buy a few per year. Its ones of those things that if customers demand something the company will follow based on profit rather than other less than ideal reasons.
This month when i checked lg (slow), sony (battery heat issues), samsung (obviously bad) and the phone company here had their own brand, myphone (no idea as they are too small to have much review) all had a model that can remove batteries. I used to be a htc loyal buyer til they went to china and all their phones became unable to remove batteries (interestingly at the same time). If a million customers simply mention to a company they no long buy their product because XYZ issue, best believe they will change.
How is Samsung “obviously bad”? I’ve found them (s4 and s7) to be better than any alternative available in the market at the time they were sold, and never had problems. Considering the s10.
I was wondering the same thing. I’ve had the S2, S6, and now on the S7. Only stopped using the S6 because the screen shattered. But the S7 I bought used 2 years ago and it’s still great with no lag. Gave HTC a try between the S2 and S6… That was a mistake.
My three officemates (all Taiwanese ladies) were anti-Samsung, because Korea… All three of them now have Samsung phones because they saw the pics taken from my S6 and how nice the phone was.
Messed around with the S10 a little bit yesterday at the Taimall. That thing is gorgeous and feels great in the hand. Not cheap, but definitely a nice piece of kit!
Hehe. I might explore international shipping options from USA > SE Asia, or I may encounter someone traveling that route. Or another option may arise
I quite enjoyed the Google Pixel 2 and the assistive features, so I’m seeing if there’s some way to salvage the existing phone than to consider buying another mobile.
Re: removable phone battery
Ya, the battery is not removable on Google Pixel 2 without special tools that my Taiwan-based friend does not have. (She also asked a friend who works at a mobile repair shop for help, and they can’t remove the battery either.)
Taiwan-based friend looked into this and said the price estimate is ~$250 USD?
Adding the repair services I am purchasing from Google for this phone ($200), and incidentals, the total in this route is around $500 … I figured at this price point I may buy a new phone instead.
As a company they are obviously bad. Meaning what has been publicly released makes them seemingly horrible. Im not sp into tech so correct me if im wrong. I realise some of their tech is quite good but as a company and their morals they are terrible and not worth supporting. Much like toyota as far as covering up faulty parts that leads to death for years, volkswagon for intentionally hiding pollution and samsumg for their recent bouts with spying/privacy and exploding. I realise every person has their preferences. But if picture quality is the key point, thats what cameras are for. Seems odd people are so easily bought by features that arent all that amazing in comparison. But to each their own and i realise people tend to care about these things more than the impact the company has on the world.
Its strange to me how its not only acceptable, but people actually seem to think youre nuts by asking for a removable battery, no spyware/privacy issues, not signing our life away for the benefit of making them more money from our information etc. Really really strange how people think now…thats why im into biolgy haha!
This is a great story so far. What happened to the phone?
Google’s a world wide company and you’re telling us that they do not have a cooperating international carrier or a viable solution?
Even Amazon worked out a way for me to replace my US only Kindle that would be too expensive to return. They bricked it. They sent a code to Kindle central saying if my old Kindle were to come alive again it would be bricked as soon as it went on line. They then bent the rules and shipped a new one to me for free.
I’m confused about the battery thing. My last few cheap phones came to me by mail. They had internal batteries.
This whole story seem fishy, like the time I was in a youth Hostel in Greece. Some Egyptian guy, our roommate, learned I was taking the ferry from Athens to Haifa. He said he had a friend there and wanted me to hand carry a letter.
I said no. Why would anyone ask a person to do this? Mail is faster.
