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Thank you guys. I was too lazy to read the booklet, in fact was too lazy to check the booklets lol:. So, I opened the website and chat with a representative.

This sounds plain silly. What if one doesn't want to activate his IR and wants to use a foreign sim, whenever he/she goes out.
I understand the activation in India prior to using it first time bit, but then using Indian sim while roaming is silly.

Someone is wrong here - either the Samsung customer rep, or the people who specified the labels, because peeling off the "Indian SIM Card Only" label on a Samsung box gives only the following requirement about using an Indian SIM, nothing about roaming.

I think it is absolutely ridiculous that the battery of a so called flagship device goes kaput in 1.5 years. I will think really hard now before spending a fortune in buying a flagship smartphone,particularly from Google.

I am not talking about OS updates. I am talking about security updates which are released monthly. As per my company policy, the phone needs to have the latest security updates from Google within 3 months of release. Otherwise, I will lose access to corporate email. This is the number one priority for me.Google promises security updates for Pixel phones for 4 years which is an incentive to buy those. But given my experience, I need to know of other brands who are regular with security updates.
I will get in touch with Google support about the battery and if anything can be done to resolve the issue. However i dont have any hopes really. I am not sure how keeping the battery above 30% will help or feasible as my battery drains in 5-6 hours completely.

I believe Nokia are regular in monthly security updates, though I have no personal experience.

From personal experience, I can confirm that Samsung flagships (S series, Note series) receive monthly security updates for 3 years, so the latest security update is out of date by about a month (two at worse), never more. However, most other Samsung phones (A series and lower) often receive updates only once every quarter, so that would not be good for you. Here's Samsung's page/policy for security updates.

The Pixel was not made by Google. It was made by HTC for google with Google inputs,

While the Pixel was a great phone, the hardware was HTC and they were behind most other flagships.

That said, blaming Google or even HTC for battery is pointless. You are just eliminating a great phone based on a factor that google and even to an extent HTC have control over.

Battery life is heavily dependant on usage, charge/discharge cycles and just plain luck.

Even iPhone users have had to replace battery in the first year and you already heard of Apple slowing down phones so people don't have complaints on battery on older devices.

I have a similar requirement regarding security updates and my current phone, Samsung A9 Pro has not received any update for more than a year. Wanted to move to Pixel and found that Google promises security updates only for 3 years. Seriously considering switching to iPhone as I have been told that Apple currently provides support for 5 years.

The customer care is rep is wrong. My Brother in law's Note 8 was purchased in India and he has used in at least 10 other countries without doing any of these circus. Also My own Note 8 was purchased in USA and I've been using it extensively here in India and also in 3 other countries. The first usage of both these phones was in the country of purchase. The label is correct.

In the old days we regularly bought CDMA phones from local vendors. RCOM was selling low level phones, so if you wanted anything better you had to go to these chaps. rimweb.com was full of them. Except that many were unlocked by the vendor there were no difference. I must have bough at least four over the years. I think I still have one phone. Later on they tightened up so this was no longer possible.

I have a feeling that they are trying to be market specific, no more. Yes, there are places like Korea who use different frequencies, where our mobiles will not work.

Exactly my point. Forcing to go for roaming is harassment.

Thank you arunphilip and hemanth.anand. I think I will find out eventually.

I am no expert on this, but my LG help states the below:

I know Google has been using HTC/LG for manufacturing phones but that does not matter to an end consumer like me as Google proudly says Pixel phones are #madebygoogle and that's what matters. There is no connection between the end consumer and any other company when I am buying a Pixel phone.

Secondly, it is about trust with a company. If someone gets a bad product, he or she will lose trust on a brand, even if the person has been extremely unlucky. I know battery life depends on a variety of things and I am a pretty moderate user, so there is no reason for the battery to go bad so quickly. And battery life has never been a major issue for me so quickly in my previous phones.

Thirdly, battery life on pixel was never great. Even when the phone was new, it barely managed to survive till night. And the new Pixel devices have similar battery sizes and therefore, those are not expected to offer dramatically different battery life. Therefore, as a consumer, I am looking for options rather than just sticking to Pixel devices.

last but not the least, I believe Google has a long way to go to match Samsung, Apple or Huawei when it comes to hardware specs, quality and reliability. The original charger on my Pixel phone stopped working and developed blisters within 1 year and I had to throw it away. There are hundreds of posts in online forums (google, androidcentral, reddit etc) about huge battery drain problem in Pixel devices. Apart from the battery drain, the phone shuts down randomly at different battery % (12%, 10%,15%,18% etc) which is also a hghly reported problem in online forums. The display issues with the Google Pixel 2XL is well known to almost everyone.

I bought Google Pixel mainly because of the guaranteed timely security updates and the brilliant camera. However, I believe I should be looking at other options now given my experience and requirements. Since timely security updates are the no.1 priority for me, it looks like Nokia and Sony does a good job with security updates apart from Google pixel phones.

I understand your feeling mate; you feel frustrated when you don't get what you paid for.

So, lets start from beginning, with what you need. Regular updates, for sure, but what else? I am still going to suggest you an apple product, if you are OK to move on to IOS eco-system. Else, you may look for Samsung S9. Samsung extends some good discount under BYOD (bring you own device) scheme to most of the corporates. If you are going to look into sub 30K range, then Nokia can be a good option, though I have never used one after HMD take over. I would suggest to keep your distances from Sony if battery is a concern for you and you don't want untested updates playing foul on your device.

Thanks, mate.
I am so much used to Android that moving to Iphone is probably the last option but I am still keeping the option open.
I am actually looking into Samsung devices as an alternative to Pixel. I am trying to gather more information about the timeliness of security updates (how much delay?) and the longevity of security updates (how long after the device is released?). If anyone has practical experience about Samsung flagship devices, please share.
Also, I forgot to mention that all the accessories of my Google Pixel has gone bad like the earphones (microphone not working) and the USB C cable (torn off). Since the warranty on the accessories is just 6 months, I did not get any free replacement for any of these accessories. Please keep in mind I am not a rough user and I generally take care of my stuff.
Nokia seems to be doing good. However, they don't have a true flagship like S9 or Pixel. Also, their cameras seem to be lagging behing Apple/Samsung/Google. I am sure they will catch up within a couple of years.

If vanilla Android and timely updates are the only asks, Android One will be a better alternative to the overpriced Pixels.

Pixels sport all the drawbacks of the iPhone and worse.

After making fun of iPhone for the notch, Google has adopted an even uglier/deeper notch on their Pixel 3XL and threw in a massive chin as a bonus. Apple was panned by Android fans when they dropped the 3.5mm jack, but now even the Pixels have followed suit.

Hence it is better to buy an iPhone and receive 5+ years of OS updates than buy the substandard Pixels, and be forgotten after 2 years.

I'm not sure if you've missed my earlier post above.

As an example, here's the update tracker for the Indian (INS) version of the Galaxy S9+. You'll see that as of today, the latest security patch is the Sep 2018 one, with the Oct one due any day. Not perfect, since they don't issue patches on day one, but they are consistent, and that's good enough for me (and should be for you, with your 3 month patch window).

I've used the S8+ previously, and have the Note8 presently, and have received updates like clockwork.

The Samsung UI does take a bit of getting used to, if you're coming from the stock Android of Pixel. Now that I'm used to it, I find I prefer the polish it adds.