I'd been pretty happy with my Nexus 5X. Good camera. Cheap. Seemed solid, despite the plastic shell. But then, a few days ago, it just rebooted and wouldn't go any more. I had the dreaded bootloop issue. Luckily, I had paid for the two year warranty. $80 deductible and a "new or reburbished" phone was on its way.

What finally showed up? A refurbished phone that seemed in reasonable shape. They appear to have replaced the glass and the buttons. But the camera? Can't focus up close at all. That's probably why it got sent back in the first place. So much for the "refurbishment" QA process.

Anyway, I'll comment on two things:

- Google's Android cloud backup/restore process initially didn't work at all, but I installed all the system patches, did another factory reset, and then it did offer to restore my phone from the cloud. This brought over all of my apps and most of my settings, but all the older Android apps where I'd set custom security policies ("why no, you don't need my location") were now granting full permissions. That's a surprising failure.

- I blew an hour on the phone with the customer service, escalating twice, until I got somebody who could do something other than offer me another refurbished phone. The ultimate solution is that they're rebating my full purchase price on a 18-month old phone. Getting this all properly sorted will take a while, and I've meanwhile ordered a Google Pixel XL (trying out the larger form factor to see how I like it).

I'm sorry to hear about that experience, Dan. I should have figured that they'd send out a refurb instead of a new phone, but that's pretty bad for the camera.

The Android phone migration process is garbage next to iOS. Upgrading an iPhone is so seamless. I've never had a good experience restoring one of my Android phones, where I have better luck migrating bugs and bad performance than I do app settings.

I think you'll like the Pixel XL. The size doesn't bother me at all. The screen is only slightly smaller than the 6P's was, but the 6P felt massive the entire time I used it.

Hopefully not a refurb Pixel? You could end up in even worse shape.

I ordered what I believe to be a brand-new Pixel. If a refurb arrives, you'll hear me screaming from thousands of miles away.