I've well-documented my troubles and attempts to troubleshoot the phone key on my Google Pixel 1 on this site over the past half year. Earlier this week, I received my new Pixel 3--a phone I purchased solely in hopes of it working better with the Model 3. I justified spending nearly $1000 on a new phone (within my preferred ecosystem) that I really didn't need because my phone key was giving me so many problems multiple times a week.
I held off on posting because the past few days have been too good to be true. Dozens of unlockings and I'm still waiting for my first failure. It has worked in every situation where my Pixel 1 would have failed and needed Bluetooth toggled--the most common situations being not being able to unlock a door right after opening my trunk, and not being able to unlock the car if I walked just out of BLE range and came back to the car (like returning a shopping cart). And it works instantly. None of this holding the door handle opening waiting for the connection to establish. Just walk up to the car, pull the handle and it opens right away.
Having experienced both sides now, I can understand where people are coming from when they boast that their phone key just works. It so easy to discount people having problems when it's working because it's truly a seamless experience, just like having a conventional fob in your pocket that you don't have to touch. I'm waiting for the next Tesla firmware update or Android software update to reintroduce the problems, but for now, I'm just going to bask in the glory of a working phone key.
I held off on posting because the past few days have been too good to be true. Dozens of unlockings and I'm still waiting for my first failure. It has worked in every situation where my Pixel 1 would have failed and needed Bluetooth toggled--the most common situations being not being able to unlock a door right after opening my trunk, and not being able to unlock the car if I walked just out of BLE range and came back to the car (like returning a shopping cart). And it works instantly. None of this holding the door handle opening waiting for the connection to establish. Just walk up to the car, pull the handle and it opens right away.
Having experienced both sides now, I can understand where people are coming from when they boast that their phone key just works. It so easy to discount people having problems when it's working because it's truly a seamless experience, just like having a conventional fob in your pocket that you don't have to touch. I'm waiting for the next Tesla firmware update or Android software update to reintroduce the problems, but for now, I'm just going to bask in the glory of a working phone key.