Hello，everyone. First,I want to introduce myself.I am a university student in China.I am a native Chinese.
I got my Pixel 4 about one month later after the college entrance examination last year. It cost me about ¥3400 ($527.63).I chose the white,64GB version.
The phone is very nice.Unlike the rom made by Chinese brands-----it is very clean,no ads,no useless features,no limitions from manufacturers.For example,Huawei,a brand like shit,has lots of ads and useless software in its system,and it doesn’t allow you to unlock the bootloader.Xiaomi,the brand which is loved by most Chinese people, also has ads in system.But it allows you to unlock the bootloader.
As we all know, Chinese government has Internet censorship.We can’t access some famous websites, such as Google, Facebook,Pxxnhub,Twitter, Tumbler, Instagram,Youtube and the most important, Reddit.
Using VPNs in seems illegal in China,but seldom can you hear that someone is under arrest because using VPN.
Searching ‘VPN’ in Baidu or other China-based searching engine,you can’t get the right results.
Most VPN services available in China are providing gaming net speed boost service.
The right searching key word is’加速器’,which is ‘speed booster’ in English.
To improve my experience using the phone,I got VPN too.They are free of charge.
Let’s talk about the phone software and features.Soli rader (Motion Sense) is not available in China.But I enable it using Magisk module.(I am going against the law, someone please call the cops!
)
Some softwares made by Chinese companys don’t obey the rules made by Android.They try to start in the background.To save my 2800 battery,I have to freeze them using 3rd softwares.Some software can also ask for authority they do not need.Such as phone,camera, microphone,to track you and finally sell your personal information push ads to you.
For the mobile carriers my user experience is very bad.There are three mobile carriers in China.They are Unicom, Telecom and Mobile.
Telecom is not originally supported by Pixel.Mobile has almost the best signal(Telecom is the best),but is difficult to use VPN on it.Unicom has original support,is easy to use VPN on it.But most importantly, Unicorn has the worst signal.(At least in my university )
After using it for several months,I found its back partly removed from the phone so I bought some glue to fix it.Now it has become normal.I’m still using it(on Android 12 DP3).No matter what phone I would use in the future,I won’t forget it.My first phone, Google Pixel 4.
Thank you, Google!
A very interesting insight!
This is the problem most people have when switching to android. My first phone was a budget Samsung and I hated its software. Ads would pop up. I thought this was what all androids were like. Then I switched to a Pixel and the software experience was night and day compared to Samsung. It was great . There are many people that think that all androids have the same software because its either Apple or Android but there are good and bad android phones.
Welcome to the pixel family. Enjoy your pixel!
I’m also from China. I got my first smartphone, G1 (HTC Dream), back in college. And since then I have never had any phone other than Google phones (Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 6p, Pixel, and I’m currently using Pixel 3a). For me using stock android in China has never been that much of a pain, but I get the struggle with using VPNs. And that’s why I eventually decided to 肉身翻墙。
Anyway, good luck with your new phone and welcome to the pixel family.
Greetings from Taiwan. Welcome to the Pixel family!
Congrats on the phone and best of luck for your situation!
pixel 5 Chinese user here! Basically Pixel is my only choice on mobile phone, IPhone is too expensive and hard to get vpn works correctly. Other brands just like you said, are pure shit.
Huawei,a brand like shit
This is one of the most interesting threads I’ve read in a while in this sub. Since Google is entirely banned in China, I usually don’t expect people within the mainland use Google’s own phone. Your insight is very rare and interesting to most of us in here. Hope you stay safe within the ’wall’, since…you’re basically break every censorship law of China right now lol
And…love how you said Huawei is shite. Much agreed.
香港人路過😂這裡應該也有用很多講中文的的香港和台灣Pixel用戶
This man is risking his life for his pixel knowledge bombs. Thank you and welcome.
Cool to see a post from China on here. Please be careful with the internet while you live there. Nobody deserves to be persecuted for modding a cell phone.
I like that you fixed the back once it came off. I waited too long haha. Great phone though!
Ayy China gang:flexed_biceps:
. Not Chinese, but live in China, wonderful to hear someone use a Pixel device!
Hey, your English is very good, but please take this unsolicited advice. You always must put a space after punctuation marks like . , ? and before (.
I hate the CCP. Be safe OP
Post some pics taken from the phone if you can.
I’ve been a longtime google pixel user and I always have that software problem too! I’m not from China but I use some apps like qq to chat with Chinese friends, it’s a nightmare. The app causes all sorts of problems on my phone and pops up whenever I’m doing something else. 
I’m buying an xperia 1iii next. Pixel has gone to shit and google has been out of touch with hardware for a while. Now that sony has stepped up it’s game, it’s the obvious choice for stock android.
This is your first phone?? I have trouble with pixel 4 battery, face unlock module and back… sigh, but taobao got me parts for cheap.
Anyways, I am glad you like it. I wanna know if
- Telecom providers in china support 5G on pixel 5
- Do you have trouble installing apps like alipay and bank apps on your pixel 4?
- I thought VPN simply works on all providers, apparently not?