Google’s new Pixel phones are the talk of the town and rightfully so as they have quite a bit to offer the consumer. What they don’t have, or at least what is thought they wouldn’t have was the support for things like HD Voice and Wi-Fi calling. That is now known not to be the case for the Google Store models, at least for Verizon, as Google and Verizon reportedly have both confirmed that HD Voice and Wi-Fi calling will work with the Pixel and Pixel XL that are purchased from the Google Store. If you’re a Verizon customer and you’re worried that the updates may not be as quick due to Verizon handling them, HD Voice and Wi-Fi calling support on the Google Store version of the phones should be great news.
Beyond the potential for updates to take longer for the Verizon model of the phones (although Verizon has stated that updates for their model will go out at the same time as Google’s updates), Verizon is also reportedly locking down the bootloader of the phone which is another issue entirely if you like to tweak your devices and flash custom firmware, which, is actually a huge bonus of Google’s smartphone hardware.
Now that Verizon and Google have confirmed that the Google Store Pixel phones will support Verizon’s carrier-specific features, it begs the question of whether the Google Store models will also support those features on other carriers that offer them, as no confirmations have been made that they will or won’t work. T-Mobile, for example, was the first to offer features such as Wi-Fi calling and there will surely be some customers who purchase the Pixel or Pixel XL for their network, and since there is no T-Mobile model available through the carrier themselves, consumers may be left without the additional carrier feature benefits such as those mentioned above. All that aside, it’s good for Verizon customers as there is now no reason to pick up the Pixel and Pixel from the carrier specifically, unless the consumer simply just wants to use the device immediately instead of waiting for it to be shipped out.