I have recently upgraded to the Pixel 2 XL, Panda colour combo about a week ago. Since then, I have noticed 2 main issues that really annoy me on a daily basis.

The issues may surprise you as they are a lot different from what we are used to seeing since the phone’s been out.

I will be listing these issues and will provide possible solutions down below – if I have one or one that worked for me.

First, let’s start with the lack of option to change the notification volume.

This alone really drives me crazy. Any phone that I have previously owned had a setting where I could change the loudness of an incoming notification, however this is missing on the Pixel. Instead, what you get is a 2-in-1 solution where the ringtone and the notification sound are set to the same level and you don’t have control over which one is set to a higher loudness than the other.

I’m not sure about you, but I prefer to have my ringtone nearly maxed out, so I could always hear it when someone calls me, however due to the fact that I get hundreds of notifications on a single day, I personally prefer to leave the notification sound on the middle, perhaps just a little higher than that.

Now, whenever I get a notification, it kind of makes me jump up as it’s incredibly loud – it’s not funny when you’re working on a project and you get a blasting notification. I’m not quiet sure why Google hasn’t implemented this into Android yet – it sounds and looks like a really simple setting, hope that it won’t take years until Google realises that we need this.

Solution:

There isn’t any other solution other than Google finally implementing this feature into Android and onto their Pixel devices. The only thing you can do to solve this is by lowering the volume of your ringtone and hope that you hear when someone calls you.

I definitely recommend turning on the “Also vibrate for calls” settings for some feedback.

Second, extremely sensitive Proximity Sensor:

I have already reported this to the Pixel team, however you may be facing these issues as I do. Luckily I have a short term solution.

The Proximity sensor is a great little sensor in our devices. It wakes up the phone, or turns off the display when it’s close to your face, ears when you’re calling someone and prevents accidental touches as well as conserves some battery.

Well, it turns out that the Proximity Sensor is incredibly sensitive to dust, therefore you may have to clean it very often. I have a tempered glass screen protector on my Pixel that has a cutout for the camera and the sensor itself. It seems like even a small amount of dust will cover the sensor so much, that when you’re in a call, the display will not wake up and will require a small wipe on the sensor to fix your issue.

At first, I thought I have a faulty unit, but I have later on figured out that luckily I don’t have to go back to the store to get a replacement, instead I just have to either use my shirt, or use an ear cotton bud to clean the sensor. (Also, the “Phone” app recently, possibly introduced this bug as far as I can tell by looking at the ratings, feedback on the Play Store.)

Solution:

Well, hope that you have a working Proximity sensor. You can check this by downloading this app from the Play Store and see if it’s set to “FAR” or “NEAR”.

If it’s always stuck on “NEAR”, I recommend you to give your sensor a quick wipe, clean it and then see if it changes. If it changes after cleaning, you most likely have the same issue as me, and luckily you’ll only have to keep this in mind.

If it doesn’t change, even after taking off the screen protector, you may want to read some forums, report this to Google and perhaps try to get a replacement unit.

I’m curious, would you like to read these, similar posts in the future? Let me know in the comments down below, also don’t forget to follow us on Social Media to get the latest posts from us!