[HN Gopher] Pixel 8 Pro
___________________________________________________________________
Pixel 8 Pro
Author : alphabetting
Score : 247 points
Date : 2023-10-04 15:19 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (store.google.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (store.google.com)
| OneLeggedCat wrote:
| I wonder if the fingerprint and face authentication still suck.
| SketchySeaBeast wrote:
| I was interested in this release. But right now it's a $20
| difference here in CAD between the Pixel 8 Pro 256 GB and the S23
| Ultra 256 GB (there's a sale going on for the S23). With all of
| the Pixel's heat, battery, and connectivity issues (bad reception
| I can live with, but not knowing if I can call 911?), I can't
| justify it at all.
| guyzero wrote:
| But you have to deal with Samsung's UI in the S23 Ultra. It's
| still not that great after over a decade of existence.
| chenzhekl wrote:
| Also, S23 Ultra is equipped with Snapdragon 8Gen2, which is
| much more powerful than Tensor G3. The latter is almost
| equivalent to 8+Gen1 in terms of CPU and GPU.
| SketchySeaBeast wrote:
| I honestly don't much care for benchmarks, but in this case
| there's a direct correlation between power and efficiency.
| The Pixel Pros are typically very poor for battery life and
| that's really what I care about.
| braydenm wrote:
| Is there any word on whether the modem has moved to a different
| supplier? I previously suffered challenges having to soft-reset
| Pixel 6/7 to "Fix Connectivity" fairly frequently.
| mupuff1234 wrote:
| A pixel 7 for $400 seems like a much better deal.
| jansommer wrote:
| Yes! This is a steep increase in price since Pixel 7. Googles
| upgrades are not going to happen for 7 years on Px7, but
| hopefully GrapheneOS gives my phone a few extra years.
| [deleted]
| bitskits wrote:
| ...Especially considering the trade in values (~320USD for
| Pixel 6).
| e12e wrote:
| Wait, have they changed handling of (e)SIMs? I'm happily using
| two eSIMs on my pixel pro 7 (work and private). But looks like
| this supports only one physical and one eSIM?
| flotzam wrote:
| The Pixel 7 Pro only has one eSIM chip too, which you're using
| with the MEP (Multiple Enabled Profiles) feature:
|
| "This feature allows devices to have dual SIM support using a
| single eSIM chip, which can have multiple SIM profiles and can
| connect to two different carriers at the same time."
| https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/esim-mep
| retskrad wrote:
| The Pixel has like 1% of smartphone market and Google has been
| making their down devices for 10 years now! I have two questions:
|
| 1. Why hasn't Google pulled the plug and thrown in the white
| towel yet? People have voted with their wallets and chosen
| Samsung and Apple.
|
| 2. Why is the Pixel devices getting such a massive news coverage?
| Other smartphone ORM's with similar market share doesn't get the
| same treatment.
| slashtab wrote:
| It is better for all of the Android enthusiasts.
| Darky wrote:
| 1. it's not a vote, it's a market. 2. Pixel devices set the
| standard for every other android phones. the coverage is legit.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| "vote with your wallet" is a common expression in American
| English. Your correction is misplaced.
| Xeamek wrote:
| How do pixels set the standard any differenty then samsungs?
| bmcahren wrote:
| Samsungs are non-standard by default. They take the AOSP
| experience which Pixel fully embraces then they hack in
| cute fonts, water drop overlays, and replace the default
| tooling that comes with Android to build their samsung
| experience.
|
| Pixel drives and creates the innovation like cut-out
| display support, notification APIs that support multi-media
| control for instance across multiple apps, sound multi-
| plexing between apps, how calls interact with multimedia
| apps, foldable display support, app switching, fingerprint
| unlock support, the android API, etc.
|
| Samsung takes that, twists it into their own.
|
| In that essence, Pixel is the standard experience that
| Android is meant to be whereas Samsung is a customized
| experience built on the backbone of Android and in some
| ways in opposition to Android Open Source Project & Pixel
| Launcher's ideals.
|
| Samsung android phones are the Ubuntu whereas Pixel is
| Google's Debian.
| remlov wrote:
| It's now 3%.
| ksec wrote:
| Still no availability in Hong Kong.
| nneonneo wrote:
| Cool, maybe they can fix emergency calling sometime in that seven
| year window? https://www.androidauthority.com/psa-google-
| pixel-911-emerge...
| Alupis wrote:
| FTFA:
|
| > The issue was traced to Microsoft Teams
|
| I want to know how a crappy app from Microsoft can break the
| dialer on my phone. What the hell?
| awill wrote:
| that was incredible embarrassing. I remember it was the end of
| December, and they said "it won't be in the January update.
| Just wait until February"
|
| I cannot imagine Apple doing that.
| kelnos wrote:
| "Was"? You mean "is". The issue is still ongoing for many
| people.
| buttersbrian wrote:
| Apple has had some equally frustrating and embarrassing
| misses in their time. No manufacturer is 100%.
| willseth wrote:
| Is anyone else confused by the inclusion of a temperature sensor?
| Was there a demo that explains why anyone would want this? What?
| omoikane wrote:
| Maybe the plan is to eventually have the phone include every
| possible sensor and do _everything_.
|
| https://xkcd.com/2212/
| [deleted]
| SketchySeaBeast wrote:
| Seems to me to be a holdover from 2020. Interesting that Google
| assumed we'd still be measuring temps at this point.
| nsriv wrote:
| This was my first thought as well. Curious to see if it
| functions similarly or within a certain tolerance of one of
| those much more expensive FLIR temp gauges you see laptop
| reviewers use. MKBHD video showed that it asks for 5cm
| distance from object being measured and for you to tap to
| select type of material, which notably excludes skin temp.
| losvedir wrote:
| I'm intrigued by it. To be clear, it reads surface temperature,
| not ambient temperature. The demo gave the example of a hot pot
| on the stove, I think, and they mentioned they've submitted
| something to the FDA to take your temperature (to see if you
| have a fever).
| chickenpotpie wrote:
| My guess is that it's for AI photo editing features. The
| temperature can help the AI model determine people from
| objects.
| cdchn wrote:
| Maybe part of face unlock like liveness detectors for
| fingerprint scanners.
| [deleted]
| esafak wrote:
| So they are incorporating that group-portrait-correction feature
| (RealFill) after all.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37708292
| kimbernator wrote:
| It's starting to feel silly, having a yearly release cycle for
| smartphones. So much of this product page is focused on new
| software functions that may have some vague relationship with the
| slightly upgraded hardware, but that could mostly be released to
| existing phones. Every new iPhone, Pixel, or Samsung phone
| basically claims the camera is marginally better and hey, look at
| these software features that have very little to do with the
| hardware and should not fundamentally be a reason to upgrade to
| this phone.
|
| There is so much time, effort, and physical waste that is
| generated by slightly redesigning phones every year purely for
| the sake of making sales (as opposed to meaningful improvement
| upon the existing design or introduction of a new hardware
| feature). Think not only of people upgrading for the sake of it,
| but all of the cases, screen protectors, and other assorted
| accessories cast in plastic for previous models that are garbage
| now.
|
| It would be nice if we could just space these things out to 5
| years or so now, because that's probably how long it takes for
| anything to change enough to justify a new model.
| chaostheory wrote:
| The status quo is great. You have yearly releases that are
| stable and allow anyone to upgrade without fear of the new
| model coming out like with traditional video game consoles.
|
| No one is forcing you to buy anything you don't want.
|
| Also, the OS and apps need to take advantage of new hardware,
| so it's not a surprise if your seven year old phone becomes
| slower.
|
| If you don't like the status quo then I would go with a non-iOS
| and non-android phone like pine phone, Mairena, librem, or
| anything else that based on a more open Linux distro.
| kimbernator wrote:
| I think it's interesting that you cite video game consoles as
| a negative. I'd argue the opposite, I think phones should be
| more like them.
|
| With video game consoles, you have a single device where
| micro-optimizations are constantly done, new features are
| added, and all software can be purpose-built to work really
| well on that specific hardware. All of that for ~7 years
| means a really fantastic user experience and a massive
| community of people that have collectively worked through
| solutions to common problems and forced the company's hand on
| defects (joycon drift, for example). It also means tons of
| high-quality hardware-specific accessories, both from the
| company that made the console and from third parties.
| bravetraveler wrote:
| I don't see why it couldn't be that way - I see people
| overstating the hardware revisions. Apple, sure, they
| innovate. Qualcomm? Hah.
|
| For about five years it seemed like every flagship spanning
| generations was the same SoC
| [deleted]
| Eumenes wrote:
| > It's starting to feel silly, having a yearly release cycle
| for smartphones.
|
| These companies virtue signal about climate change nonstop, but
| still manage to produce disposable phones and light up their
| data centers for advertising and user tracking
| yccs27 wrote:
| Yeah, it feels like smartphones are finally maturing, and they
| are no longer new enough to justify the fast release cycles and
| short support times.
| Gigachad wrote:
| Cars still release on a yearly schedule decades later and
| they change almost nothing each year.
| 0x457 wrote:
| Well no. Car models have generations and mid-generation
| updates (aka facelift).
|
| It's very rare that there are any updates at all within the
| same generation. Year in model designation is just "ha,
| look at his looser driving last year BMW" and to show when
| car left assembly line.
|
| There are some examples where the same generation had a
| significant upgrade without a facelift, but those are rare.
| One example I could think of is MX-5 (ND): between 2015 and
| 2018 there were no changes at all, but in late 2019 there
| was nearly complete overhaul of its powertrain and then a
| small update in 2021.
| matsemann wrote:
| I feel it's a decade since I was excited about a new phone.
| Now I just copy over my settings and app, and act a bit
| disgruntled for a week that things are slightly different.
| mdgrech23 wrote:
| man if you think that's bad let me introduce you to the
| automobile industry.
| utopcell wrote:
| Five years ? Why would someone want to experience hardware
| advances in large steps instead of continuously ?
| [deleted]
| kimbernator wrote:
| Based on the phrasing of this, I'm not sure if it's meant to
| be taken sarcastically or not. Apologies if you did mean it
| that way, because I'll respond seriously:
|
| - Advances are mostly software.
|
| - Massive quantities of e-waste (and plastic waste via cases,
| screen protectors, etc).
|
| - Perverse incentives by companies to not properly support
| the user experience on older devices.
|
| - Tons of money spent pointlessly.
| quicklime wrote:
| If I'm buying a phone 4 years into the cycle, I don't want to
| start with a 4-year-old CPU and camera. 5 years later, when I'm
| ready to get a new phone, that'll be a 9-year-old CPU and
| camera. I'd rather have the latest tech when I buy it, and use
| it until it stops working.
|
| I agree though that the physical design should stay the same,
| so that cases and accessories don't need to be thrown away.
| Apple more-or-less does this with the iPhones, eg a case should
| work with any iPhone 12-14.
| matsemann wrote:
| In the iPhone 15 release they wrote "huge leap" 6 times. It
| felt like something to anchor the perception and to trick
| journalists to include it in a sentence. But when they say it
| so much, it kinda shines through that it's mostly just
| desperate words. "any man who must say I'm the king is no true
| king" vibes.
|
| https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/09/apple-debuts-iphone-1...
| theodric wrote:
| It's always the greatest iPhone ever!
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPkso_6n0vs
| animex wrote:
| The fact that's it's just 15 seems to belie this. I would
| expect Apple to re-brand once something truly different comes
| along... that being said all smartphones are becoming long
| and in the tooth and we're finally starting to see inklings
| of what might replace our phone addiction in the near-term
| (audio (buds) + vision, eyeglasses etc.)
| mrinterweb wrote:
| Obviously, companies that sell phones want to sell more phones
| as frequently as possible. I'm just glad that Google is aware
| that people value having longer term feature and security
| support for their products. The new 7 years of feature and
| security support is pretty fantastic.
| taway1237 wrote:
| I'm currently using Pixel 4a (just recently EOL), and I'll
| probably upgrade my phone this or next year.
|
| Maybe Pixel has a yearly release cycle, but it doesn't mean I
| have to upgrade every year, that would be crazy. And they can
| iterate more often to try some ideas more often than once every
| 5 years.
| oaktowner wrote:
| I agree with much of this post, but I have to take issue with
| "it's starting to feel silly." The "you need to upgrade your
| phone every year" concept has been silly from the outset.
| dominojab wrote:
| [dead]
| karolist wrote:
| Not everyone lives on the same upgrade cycle, you can, but
| you're not supposed to change your phone every year. With
| iPhone 15, the majority of people upgrading would be 12 and
| older device owners.
| awill wrote:
| I agree. I find upgrading less frequently makes the upgrade
| so much more significant. Upgrading yearly would leave you
| complaining and wondering what's new.
|
| I know people who lease a new car every 3 years. And often,
| if there's no redesign, they're getting a nearly identical
| vehicle. It's strange. Whereas, I upgrade my car every 10
| years, and am thrilled with all the improvements.
| pfannkuchen wrote:
| I think the lease thing is more to avoid dealing with any
| maintenance issues as well as the wear and tear on a less
| than new car. It's not to get the newest tech or style all
| the time AFAIK.
| kimbernator wrote:
| This is fine and good, but the problem is that once your
| phone is no longer the newest thing, the experience takes a
| hit because there's little incentive to actually support
| your device anymore.
| kimbernator wrote:
| That is technically true. However, I do find that a lot of
| people I know tend to get new phones well before they
| actually have a need for them.
|
| I don't entirely blame peoples' consumerism; As somebody who
| once worked in cell phone sales, the mere act of visiting a
| carrier store is likely to land you in front of a salesperson
| who is incentivized to sell new phones and lines
| indiscriminately. Not to mention the incredible amount of
| advertising that goes into phones - if people only upgraded
| when they needed new phones, I don't think Apple, Samsung, or
| Google would feel the need to advertise the new ones so
| aggressively.
|
| HN is likely a much more tech-literate crowd than the average
| person, so I think to a lot of us it seems silly to buy new
| phones every year. But I know that every time Apple releases
| a new iPhone, I get a call from my dad asking if it's worth
| upgrading from last year's model. I say no, nothing has
| changed, but the next time I see him he has it. Why? Because
| the salesperson made such a convincing case, not only about
| the merit of the new phone, but the fact that they could give
| him such a "deal" on it.
| kaba0 wrote:
| > lot of people I know tend to get new phones well before
| they actually have a need for them
|
| It might just be your "bubble", but even if not, is it
| really that bad of a deal? If you resell your previous
| phone at 2/3 the original price each year, you can use the
| latest phone for like 200 bucks for a year, or $17 monthly.
| For a device that is with you 0-24, and is probably the
| most often used item a typical person owns -- they have it
| on them more often than even their shoes!
| kimbernator wrote:
| I feel qualified to say it's not just my bubble, having
| worked in cell phone sales. The business hinges on the
| fact that people don't run out the useful life of their
| devices.
|
| Incentives exist on the part of the person who, being
| human, definitely want the new shiny thing, regardless of
| the logic behind it.
|
| They exist for the salesperson, who will get a commission
| for selling the new shiny thing, regardless of whether
| this makes the customer's life any better or worse.
|
| They exist for the carrier because the customer is on the
| hook for 2-3 years of service when they buy the shiny
| thing.
|
| Finally, they exist for the company that made the phone
| because they make a profit on the sale price of the shiny
| thing.
| bruceb wrote:
| Math doesn't work. Entry iphone 15 pro is $1,000. Say Tax
| is .08, so $1,080 out the door.
|
| 1 year from now if you sell it for 2/3 the price, you get
| back $720. A year's use cost you $360. About $1 a day.
| This is very worth it for some but not quite as cheap as
| $200 a year. This is without factoring in time to sell.
|
| You could trade in but that means you are locked in
| contract with service provider.
| Krasnol wrote:
| Yeah, but in the end they are those who fuel the waste
| machine. They start it, and they are the reason why there
| are new phones every year. For no sane reason.
|
| Somewhere along the way, you pass a threshold where it's
| uncool to have a certain version of phone and judging
| from what you hear about the waste problem with phones,
| it's above the reasonable moment to get rid of it because
| it's broken or not usable.
|
| I mean, sure it's a nice lie you can tell to yourself,
| but in the end, it's not good.
| Gigachad wrote:
| Apple has a few products like the ipad mini and imac that
| don't release on yearly schedules and it creates this
| situation where there are good and bad years to buy. Where
| the product hasn't been refreshed for 3/4 years and is now
| severely outdated and a major refresh is something like 6
| months away. It's pretty bad for the customer and the seller.
| Meanwhile it's always a good time to buy an iphone. There is
| no point waiting for the next model because it won't be
| meaningfully different.
| ezequiel-garzon wrote:
| Indeed, Apple compares on its website the iPhone 15 to the
| iPhone 12: "The A16 Bionic GPU is up to 40% faster than the
| GPU in iPhone 12" [1]. Maybe unsurprisingly, they don't use
| this comparison for the Pro line. r/iphone discussion here
| [2].
|
| [1] https://www.apple.com/mt/iphone-15/
|
| [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/16h13z3/why_are_
| the...
| agrippanux wrote:
| That's an awesome stat in favor of the iPhone 12, which is
| now 3+ years old.
| AuthorizedCust wrote:
| Your premise is wrong.
|
| Old phones that have economic life get cleaned up and re-sold.
| The fact that manufacturers tweak phones annually does not
| change this.
| rurp wrote:
| Based on the numbers I found from a few minutes of searching
| you are incorrect. _Some_ phones get resold or reused, most
| do not. Only 25% of people are using a secondhand phone and
| the phone population is increasing at 5x the human rate.
| chiefalchemist wrote:
| The Apple adverts push the fact that the 15 is titanium. That's
| it.
|
| The ad I keep seeing doesn't even hint at why Titanium matters.
| No matter, the point is, evidently the technical aspects don't
| seem to matter.
| mtreis86 wrote:
| It makes sense for gaming consoles, I don't see what is so
| different (these days) about phones.
| maxerickson wrote:
| They are selling millions of each version. There's lots of
| products where the volume is more like 10,000. The waste isn't
| in the product that is selling millions...
| muxxa wrote:
| Try out https://shop.fairphone.com/fairphone-5 for a
| repair/upgrade friendly alternative
| brokencode wrote:
| A lot of these new software features are enabled by better
| hardware. Especially AI features, which can require quite
| specialized and powerful processors. On-device LLMs are the
| next frontier in personal assistant software, and that can only
| be enabled by better hardware.
|
| Even the image processing for high resolution images can
| benefit from better hardware. Modern smartphones are heavily
| dependent on image processing to improve camera quality.
| Without the right hardware, performance and energy efficiency
| could be unacceptable.
| dottjt wrote:
| Isn't domain knowledge lost when we don't regularly build and
| release things?
|
| Isn't this why we're struggling to build nuclear in some
| countries because they weren't building it regularly, and now
| it's difficult to scale, let alone build new ones?
|
| I understand that it's wasteful, but maybe it's necessary to
| sustain itself? Especially from a feedback perspective from
| consumers?
| madeofpalk wrote:
| This seems divorced from reality. Just because a new phone is
| released every year, it doesn't mean you need to buy a new one
| every year.
|
| Small, incremental improvements each year means that whenever
| you buy a new device, it's modern (not using 4 year old
| components), and substantially 'better' than the previous one.
| bradgessler wrote:
| Try this: don't upgrade your phone for five years.
|
| The annual incremental release cycle is fine--what's silly is
| thinking phones need to be upgraded every year.
| 0xDEF wrote:
| Nobody is demanding that you buy a new smartphone every year.
| Modern smartphones have 3-5 years of security/bug updates and
| the batteries no longer degrade as fast as they used to.
| kimbernator wrote:
| I bought my pixel 7 early this year because my s20's screen
| broke and the cost to buy a new one to replace it myself,
| which is not something I think most people would be willing
| to do (instead paying even more for someone else to do it),
| exceeded the cost to buy another S20. On top of that, the
| moment my 3 year old, perfectly working phone had anything
| other than a pristine screen, it had zero trade-in value and
| basically encouraged me to throw it in a drawer or the trash.
| This was literally Samsung's flagship phone only 3 years
| prior.
|
| That could have probably been mitigated if the s20 remained
| relevant for more than a year or two and there was a mature
| parts market that made it feasible to upkeep rather than
| scrap.
| freedomben wrote:
| Normally I agree with you, but I don't think that's the case
| this year at least. The on-device ML chip (Tensor G3) is a
| legit difference-maker. A lot of the ML features they are
| rolling out wouldn't be possible on older hardware. You could
| do the non-realtime portions in the cloud, but the realtime
| audio cleanup wouldn't work for example (way too much latency).
| Also, personally I much prefer on-device. I frequently have
| spotty data connections so it's very disruptive when stuff
| relies on cloud connectivity.
| TaylorAlexander wrote:
| It's funny because if they did not release a new phone every
| year, the old phones would be useful for longer. I recently had
| to replace my iPhone 7s plus because it was getting so slow I
| sometimes could not get the camera to open as it loaded the
| system down too much. This was despite the fact that the system
| said my battery was not degraded (it had been replaced with
| Apple Care a couple of times).
|
| Of course when it was new the camera opened quickly. And then
| Apple made their OS more heavy weight every year until my phone
| slowed to a crawl.
|
| And faster phones are nice, but I think it is worth considering
| how valuable that really is to us as users and a society,
| especially if the process involves making loads and loads of
| ewaste and consuming tons of new resources, and all the
| emissions their mining and transport involves, when we could
| simply keep our software slim and our old devices functional.
|
| And the big companies will never do this. Do we need to force
| them to allow open software to run on these devices, so that
| clean builds can be patched and maintained when the company
| over bloats them or abandons them?
| vel0city wrote:
| I wonder how much of that is the software demands increasing
| and the flash storage itself wearing out over time. As flash
| storage wears it'll often go slower and slower as the error
| correction needs to process more to actually get you the
| uncorrupted bits. This is why a lot of cheap devices tend to
| just become unbearably slow after a while, their storage just
| gets to be way too slow.
|
| Flash storage doesn't last forever, and it's got a whole
| gradient of failure and wear experiences.
| chimeracoder wrote:
| > I wonder how much of that is the software demands
| increasing and the flash storage itself wearing out over
| time. As flash storage wears it'll often go slower and
| slower as the error correction needs to process more to
| actually get you the uncorrupted bits. This is why a lot of
| cheap devices tend to just become unbearably slow after a
| while, their storage just gets to be way too slow.
|
| Too bad no flagship phones have removable storage anymore,
| because that would be a really easy fix to this problem.
| vel0city wrote:
| If we're looking at older phones with removable storage,
| it usually limited what could be put on the SD card. And
| in the end the OS and system libraries were still on the
| on-board storage which would wear out over the years.
|
| And there's good reason for the OS _not_ being on a
| microSD card. Run a Raspberry Pi without locking the
| storage and see how fast it 'll corrupt itself. Most SD
| cards have pretty miserable reliability compared to the
| storage on-board. Imagine if you had to re-image your
| device every few weeks after your storage device
| corrupted itself again. Not really a great experience.
| whatscooking wrote:
| There's no such thing as the iPhone 7S Plus, but nice story
| cmcaleer wrote:
| Or there are such things as regional exclusives.
|
| https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/apple-
| ip...
| sanswork wrote:
| I don't update my phone every year but I also don't really
| want the progress of software or tech in general determined
| by the laggards.
| hamandcheese wrote:
| If anything it seems to me like hardware advances are
| directly correlated with increasingly worse software.
| sanswork wrote:
| People have been saying this literally since the release
| of the pentium and probably earlier. From where I'm
| sitting software is millions of times better today than
| it was in the 90s when I first started hearing people
| saying this(usually complaining about developers using
| C++ instead of assembly).
|
| Even just on the iphone the improvements in software have
| been dramatic over the past 10 years. Go install one of
| the early versions of ios on the simulator some time to
| see how far we've come.
| Barrin92 wrote:
| > From where I'm sitting software is millions of times
| better today than it was in the 90s
|
| I feel compelled to bring up this tweet from John Carmack
| I just saw a few hours ago. The most popular editor on
| the planet feels laggier than stuff Borland made in the
| 90s, on hardware probably a thousand times as fast. I
| don't know how anyone can say software is great with a
| straight face.
|
| We have supercomputers in our pockets and on the slightly
| aged phone my dad refuses to upgrade from four years ago
| many apps lag. They display like 5 widgets or 20 rows of
| items at any given time
|
| https://x.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1709651442762481877?s=
| 20
| kimbernator wrote:
| I think that a new phone release should just be warranted.
| The trigger should be "we made significant improvements
| that couldn't be applied in software to the old device"
| instead of "it's October"
| sanswork wrote:
| An improved camera can't be something applied in
| software, a faster chip can't be applied in software. So
| by your own standard every version is warranted.
| rurp wrote:
| My last three phone upgrades have been decidedly 'meh',
| and I only upgrade every 2-3 years. There have been some
| marginal improvements in battery life and performance,
| and some software niceties; but those get counteracted by
| bloat, regressions, and UX churn. Replacable battery and
| storage becoming less common is categorically worse for
| users.
|
| A phone with upgradable parts and minimal bloat would be
| better than any recent phone I've had, but it would also
| be less profitable for Google so obviously they will
| avoid that as much as possible.
| kimbernator wrote:
| "significant" is the key word here. I'd be hard pressed
| to think of a generational release of an existing phone
| line in the last 5 years that I would describe as a
| "significant" improvement.
|
| The things you listed (camera and chip speed) are
| basically the only things left that these companies can
| claim is better than last year's model, but only because
| it's so easy to use synthetic benchmarks and numbers that
| mean nothing to make them sound like a dramatic
| improvement despite the fact that we've reached the
| bottom of the barrel in terms of diminishing returns on
| the user experience for smartphones in their current
| form. More megapixels don't matter anymore, CPUs are
| hardly a limiting factor and yearly gains on their
| performance are marginal at best, and we have more than
| enough RAM for pretty much all use cases.
|
| My point is that if these companies insist on re-
| releasing the same phone every time, maybe they could
| space it out a little.
| sanswork wrote:
| Just because you don't value the type of improvements
| doesn't mean there aren't improvements. It just means you
| probably don't need to upgrade this year.
| kimbernator wrote:
| I know there have been cases where companies seem to
| intentionally slow down old phones to encourage new sales,
| but it doesn't really even require an "evil" motive. By
| releasing new hardware yearly, they are dramatically
| increasing their workload by having to support every device.
| On top of that, there's the perverse incentive that spending
| the money to release timely, high-quality updates to
| previous-generation devices will actually have a negative
| impact on their bottom line by reducing new sales.
| [deleted]
| danielheath wrote:
| That's specifically covered under new EU ewaste laws -
| upgrades the impair device performance must be fixed in a
| reasonable timeframe.
| kaba0 wrote:
| > And then Apple made their OS more heavy weight every year
| until my phone slowed to a crawl.
|
| I mean, it is a bit unfair against Apple - some of the reason
| behind the OS getting more heavyweight is actually
| backporting new features in 7 year's distance, many which
| actually has dedicated hardware in case of the more modern
| lineup.
|
| Also, there is a big aspect which is independent of Apple:
| _every_ app is getting more and more heavy, the same phone
| now has to open a 500MB facebook app, not a 70MB one (just
| random numbers).
|
| Also, the whole "yearly replacement" thing is just.. not an
| actual thing. People on average change their phones every 3
| years, where the accumulated small improvements do add up.
| But everyone is at a different point in the cycle, so it
| absolutely makes sense. Add to it how apple devices hold
| their value to an insane degree, often living 2nd-3rd lives,
| and one would be really hard-pressed to actually pinpoint
| apple as a threat against our planet - compared to cheap
| androids that are barely good for a single year due to
| instantly obsolete software, has no resale value whatsoever,
| and are absolutely single-use.
|
| I am not a proponent of extreme capitalism/libertarianism,
| but I really have a hard time with a realistic business model
| that would be significantly better.
| tap-snap-or-nap wrote:
| > People on average change their phones every 3 years
|
| People in my circles seem to use their phones for 6-7 years
| atleast.
| dotancohen wrote:
| And those people are the reason that the average is three
| years, instead of one year like the teenagers do.
| kimbernator wrote:
| This figure sourcing gallup has nearly half of Americans
| replacing their phone "as soon as their carrier allows
| it":
| https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/07/15/how-
| often-...
| jonplackett wrote:
| If Apple just let people hang out on the last nicely-
| working version of iOS, where their camera still opens
| fast, then that'd be fine. But they don't. They bully you
| into always being on the latest
|
| Also, I remember a while back they did a specific optimised
| speed-up release of iOS with barely any new features and it
| _really_ worked. My iPhone 6S went from being basically
| garbage I was going to replace to like a brand new phone.
|
| They can do it if they want to. It's what's needed now. My
| iPhone 12 Pro has started to feel super slow since I got
| iOS 17. I have a new battery. Even texting feels painfully
| slow. There's no excuse for this. It's either deliberate
| and bad, or lazy and bad. Either way it's bad.
| triceratops wrote:
| You may not buy a new phone every year. But there's always
| someone who's buying a new phone right now. Why should they
| have to buy hardware that's potentially almost 5 years old?
| sawyna wrote:
| My pixel 4a 5g works like a charm. 3.5 years and still going
| fine. I used my pixel 2 for three years so badly. I used it as
| a hotspot every single day and the number of battery cycles
| were as if the phone was used for 6 years.
|
| My pixel 4a5g takes photos that are on reasonable standards,
| obviously they won't match match, but it doesn't make a serious
| difference either to me. I need three things from my phone -
| battery, camera and lag free user experience. I don't need
| thinner bezels for gods sake, I can't understand the craze and
| demand for thinner bezels over a two day battery life.
| theodric wrote:
| Whatever you do, don't take the Android 14 upgrade. Mine is
| dogshit slow now. I'm trying to decide if I can be bothered
| losing all my config and setting it up again with Android 13,
| or just paying Google for a new phone.
| jsight wrote:
| It may just need a little while to settle down. I get the
| feeling a lot of things get updated in the background after
| the initial upgrade.
|
| I noticed that my old Pixel 5 felt really slow for the
| first 30 minutes or so, but it seems to be returning to
| normal now.
| theodric wrote:
| Unfortunately the world is filled with people like my fried
| who, without fail, buys - for cash, not as part of a contract
| renewal - the max spec iPhone available every year. One for
| him, one for his wife. Sell the old ones, or give them to
| family. Revenue like that is too hard for these companies to
| pass up. And so we get this waste.
| paxys wrote:
| What's silly isn't the fact that they release new smartphones
| every year but that people feel compelled to upgrade every
| year.
|
| Incremental annual hardware refreshes are great, because
| everyone who is in the market for a phone can always get the
| latest and greatest and can be set for several years. For those
| that give in to the marketing and throw away perfectly usable
| devices and a thousand+ dollars - well that's nobody's fault
| but their own.
| modzu wrote:
| pixel 6 and 7 have severly weak fingerprint sensors, they
| overheat, and have basic telephone connectivity issues. its
| unfortunate not to see any of these basic table stakes addressed
| and instead just get a dog and pony show for the camera software
| and how it can produce fake photos
| IE6 wrote:
| > and have basic telephone connectivity issues
|
| This turned me off to Pixel phones indefinitely. I got the
| Pixel 6 Pro and it could not figure out what it should be
| connected to: WiFi, 5G, or 4G and of course rather than just
| choosing one it decided to not have any connection whatsoever
| unless I moved a few hundred feet to a different location or
| rebooted the phone. There was lots of discussion around this
| and youtubers even covered it but rather than fix the issue
| Google focused on releasing the next phone.
| RedComet wrote:
| The fingerprint sensors on the 6 and newer are terrible and
| massive downgrades in every way from previous models. Is there
| any indication that the 8 is moving to ultrasonic as rumored?
| syncbehind wrote:
| I wonder if the audio magic eraser feature will make it to older
| pixel phones. That and the best-shot one seemed very interesting.
|
| It also seems very arbitrarily limited to the newer ones, 7/7pro
| seem like they should be more than capable of driving these
| features.
|
| Is software limiting going to be the norm going forward for
| phones?
|
| Because, I don't think this is worth upgrading from last years
| phones from a hardware basis.
|
| Perhaps, we've reached a point in smartphones where the
| development cycles will be more iterative, instead of truly
| groundbreaking.
| jsight wrote:
| The same thing happened with photo magic eraser, but it
| eventually was released for other devices.
| seabrookmx wrote:
| I think we've been there for quite some time. iOS is also
| limiting certain features based on model like this. The new 15
| has certain image processing features the 14 Pro doesn't get,
| even though they have the same SoC.
| alephxyz wrote:
| They've already been limiting some of the "AI" image editing
| features to newer pixels (but installing the same app package
| on older phones works just fine).
| xnx wrote:
| I couldn't find a comprehensive history of all the features
| that have debuted on a new phone and then been allowed on older
| phones, but it's fairly common. 2 examples are listed here:
| https://www.phonearena.com/news/pixel-6-series-gets-pixel-7-...
| freedomben wrote:
| Yep, I expect most of these to make it to older pixels but
| probably not for a few months. There are some that probably
| require the newer Tensor G3 chip though, which can't be
| backported.
| DustinBrett wrote:
| The free watch included was the final thing to sell me on a pre-
| order.
| krzyk wrote:
| And again no Face Unlock like we had in Pixel 4 :(
|
| COVID basically ended and they still won't bring that back, I was
| hoping that Apple push for that will make Android phones also
| with a nice and secure face unlocking (for us that have issues
| with fingerprint sensors not recognizing their fingerprints)
| ThePowerOfFuet wrote:
| Face unlock without a 3D sensor is insecure, period.
| fullstop wrote:
| The Pixel 4 had lidar for that feature.
| cdchn wrote:
| Seems like this one has an IR sensor, maybe they use that as
| well (but probably not as good as lidar)
| stonewhite wrote:
| Features do include Face Unlock if you scroll down enough
| krzyk wrote:
| That's the unsecure one with only camera. And they don't
| allow to use that where fingerprint.
|
| Pixel 4 had dot projector for security.
| Grazester wrote:
| Apparently it is secure enough to use for payment apps now
| on the Pixel 8
| SketchySeaBeast wrote:
| They seem fairly confident in it.
|
| "Face Unlock on Pixel 8 now meets the strongest Android
| biometric class and can be used for banking app sign-in and
| payment apps like Google Wallet."
|
| https://blog.google/products/pixel/google-
| tensor-g3-pixel-8/
| otikik wrote:
| Oversized and overpriced.
| Kiuhrly1 wrote:
| Honestly the most appealing thing for me is the seven years of
| software support. The Pixel 5 support leaves a lot to be desired,
| given that I don't even want to upgrade from the hardware.
|
| The demo video of their AI photo editor was kind of mind blowing
| but ultimately not a feature I would use. I've seen a few
| complaints about their automatic photo processing as well, which
| you can't disable in the official camera app.
|
| Overall the majority of their features seem to be software which
| is tied to Google apps/services, which doesn't sit well with me.
| kelnos wrote:
| > _Honestly the most appealing thing for me is the seven years
| of software support_
|
| Yup. I've been clinging to my Pixel 4, but it hasn't gotten
| security updates in a year, which I'm not particularly
| comfortable with (been lucky so far, knock on wood). I might
| pick up the Pixel 8 (not Pro, god that thing is huge) mainly
| due to the support lifetime. And it does seem like their non-
| Pro releases are actually _decreasing_ in physical size for the
| past few years. Still a couple /few mm larger than the Pixel 4,
| but that's doable, I think.
| drcongo wrote:
| Reminds me of a Ford Edsel.
| rayeigenfeldt wrote:
| Pixels Image Process way too much. They add stuff into photos
| which is not necessarily there in order to make them look better.
| These devices are terrible.
| owenpalmer wrote:
| Can you give an example?
| daft_pink wrote:
| Snoozer like the iPhone 15 release. No real innovation, just a
| new chip, improved cameras, and a bunch of waxing and waning
| about premium materials that I will never see again after I slap
| a case on it.
| hbn wrote:
| Why do people expect to be blown away every year? Most people
| upgrade their phone every 2-3 years. This isn't the early
| smartphone days where there was tons of room for improvement.
| Moore's law has gotten increasingly closer to ending, screens
| are as pixel dense as necessary, and people generally are
| satisfied with the capabilities of their phone. Starting around
| 2017 smartphones as we know them peaked and so they just shove
| bigger/better/more cameras into them for the most part.
| proee wrote:
| There is tons of room for innovation in phones, but most
| companies don't want to risk deviating from what consumers
| think they want (just like Hollywood movies).
|
| I'm sure the HN crowd could come together and form a list of
| 100 ideas that are truly innovative in the phone space.
| However, these ideas are quite risky to bring to market.
|
| Some ideas:
|
| 1. Super Amazing Sound playback (next level) 2. Rollable
| display 3. More I/O (for 3rd party ecosystems)
| 01100011 wrote:
| How much of that can be delivered at a price point that is
| acceptable to consumers?
| tick_tock_tick wrote:
| Yeah but those are all worthless for selling a phone.
| SketchySeaBeast wrote:
| If you want something innovative there's always the foldables,
| one of which is Google's. I'm not sure what other form factor
| you're looking for in a phone, turns out that "glass slab
| that's nearly 100% screen" is a pretty decent design choice.
| dmbche wrote:
| Is this one able to call 911?
| cloudking wrote:
| Yes, if you buy the 911+ monthly subscription upgrade
| fitz-re wrote:
| You get a free trial year with the purchase of the phone.
| xattt wrote:
| It calls the real number, 9-1-2.
| andrewstuart2 wrote:
| I'm really glad to see both the partnership with iFixit and the 7
| years of support. Because everything else seems mostly meh to me,
| and while I'm upgrading this year from a Pixel 6 Pro, the
| continued diminished returns make it seem likely that 2-3 years
| from now I won't have as much reason to.
| Alacart wrote:
| My experience with my own pixel 7 pro and a pixel 5 has been
| that these devices are an order of magnitude lower in build
| quality than Samsung or iPhones. I really, really wanted to be
| happy with them but they've been a never ending source of
| frustration.
|
| My pixel 5 just stopped turning on one day about 2 years in,
| and my pixel 7 pro had the volume and power buttons fall out
| about 3 weeks in (not due to a drop, after googling it's
| apparently a very widely seen issue).
|
| The service with iFixit was unhelpful, they told me "We keep
| seeing this and Google says this is wear and tear. We can't
| submit it for a warranty repair, and if we try we end up eating
| the cost". After finally complaining on twitter I was contacted
| by some support person who said to give iFixit this email and
| they would fix it. They still refused, and after a few more
| rounds of interactions like that I eventually bought some
| replacement buttons on Amazon, popped them in, and put a case
| that covers them on it. I'm fully expecting this to randomly
| die some time before 2 years is up.
|
| Combine that with Google's extremely strong tendency to abandon
| everything, promises like these seem well, worthless.
|
| Meanwhile my daughter is using my wife's old iPhone from 8
| years ago. My Samsung note 3 and my s8 still boot up and work
| just fine (though I cracked the screen on one about 5 years
| ago). It's just so obvious that these phones are very low
| priority to Google, while other companies base their business
| around their phones.
| thefz wrote:
| > My experience with my own pixel 7 pro and a pixel 5 has
| been that these devices are an order of magnitude lower in
| build quality than Samsung or iPhones.
|
| Subjective, I am at my third Pixel phone in six years and I
| never had an issue.
| buerkle wrote:
| I'm still on my same iPhone for almost 4 years. Getting a
| new phone every two years doesn't scream quality to me.
| buttersbrian wrote:
| I am biased, as I've had every pro/xl but the Pixel6 and
| the google nexus phone's prior to that.
|
| With that being said i've only had questionable build
| quality on 2 occasions. The Huawei 6p which was covered
| under a recall, and the Panda Pixel 2XL where there was
| some lamination issues.
|
| That being said, the build quality and materials (mostly)
| really stepped up initially in the Pixel 4, and then
| noticeably again in the P7. They are quite nice. I don't
| really find them lacking in quality, fit, or finish these
| days.
| thefz wrote:
| Neither does your case, honestly.
|
| My GF is still using a Pixel 3 pro every day.
| hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
| I'm a Pixel owner, and the phone quality has been stellar
| IMO, but I would never use any phone that couldn't get
| security updates - zero days, and sometimes zero days
| that require no or very little user action, are too
| common with cell phones. Which is why I think the 7 year
| support announcement is great news.
| jmilloy wrote:
| I'd guess you aren't seeing the build quality issues as
| frequently because you replace your phone more often. Three
| phones on six years sounds like a lot to me
| thefz wrote:
| See above comment as to why.
| vetinari wrote:
| > I am at my third Pixel phone in six years and I never had
| an issue.
|
| Don't you think that three phones in six years _is_ the
| issue?
|
| I'm still on 2019 Galaxy S10, i.e. fourth year, single
| phone. The hardware is still in great condition, no
| malfunction of anything.
| SketchySeaBeast wrote:
| But now you're stuck with no more security updates, but
| Samsung has gotten much better at that as well recently.
| vetinari wrote:
| I don't really mind; it concerns only updates of core
| system, not apps. Apps are still updated, so I get
| updated browser, mail and other apps, that could be
| attacked; they are not locked to the system. It makes the
| attack surface vastly smaller.
| thefz wrote:
| > Don't you think that three phones in six years is the
| issue?
|
| One (P3) ended with me having it in the back pocket of my
| jeans and literally jumping in the backseat... yeah, not
| smart.
|
| Another (P4a), I tried to open to swap a new battery in
| and it did not end well. I'd still happily be with the 4a
| if it was not for my dumb self. It's perfectly working
| and I use it to listen to some music while biking or at
| the gym. I just did not reattach the speaker cable.
| kelnos wrote:
| Would you still be with it, though? Someone upthread
| claims the phones just don't last. Maybe if you hadn't
| broken your phones, they still wouldn't've lasted much
| longer anyway.
|
| Having said that, I'm still using my 4-year-old Pixel 4,
| and it's in great shape. I'll probably get a new phone
| this year since it's no longer receiving security
| updates. Which is stupid, because I'm otherwise perfectly
| happy with the phone. And hate that they get physically
| larger every year.
| thefz wrote:
| Idea was to stretch the P4a until the end of security
| updates.
|
| The reason is that it is much, much more compact and it's
| perfect to carry around when on the bike as it does not
| wedge into my quad when pedaling. And it's easier to hold
| with my gloves on. Well, it's living a second life full
| of music and OsmAnd maps.
| zdragnar wrote:
| My wife and I have apparently been lucky enough to buy the 6
| variant then- we've had nothing but good luck with ours, and
| we haven't been babying them either.
|
| I miss some of the nice touches LG added on top of stock
| Android, but the hardware has met all expectations so far.
| kenhwang wrote:
| My friends regularly have to have their Pixels
| replaced/retired due to hardware failures around the 2 year
| mark. The 7 years of support is nice, but these phones don't
| last anywhere near that long.
| hef19898 wrote:
| I had a Pixel 2 XL that was replaced this year not because
| it was broken, well the screen was bit that's hardly the
| phones fault, but because my carrier had an offer on a
| Pixel 7 that was too good to be true. The Pixel 2 is still
| working so, even if there are no more OS updates anymore.
| trey-jones wrote:
| All anecdotal but I would still be using my Pixel 1 if
| there was software support. 4a5g still going strong for
| both my wife and me.
| shopvaccer wrote:
| I have had a pretty similarly bad experience repairing my
| pixel 4a the other month. Purchased a new screen and kit from
| ifixit for 1/3 the cost of buying a new phone, even had to
| get a heat gun to unglue the old screen, and guess what? she
| dies a week later anyways due to some other issue.
|
| The problem with all these phones is that they're kind of
| built to be disposable. They're just glued together plastic.
| And even if you can repair the phone or it survives 5 years
| or so, the vendor is just going to stop supporting the
| chipset anyways.
|
| Just got a fairphone 4, optimistic but the build quality is
| shit and they're already rolling out a fairphone 5 now...
| whatever, I use AOSP. I can't stand samsung anyways with all
| the crapware they put on stock android.
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| Yeah. I didn't want to buy a Google phone but they're the
| only ones supported by GrapheneOS. From what I've read
| they've got pretty good reasons for supporting them too. Why
| can't Samsung step up and offer the same security features
| and firmware update schedules? I'm using a Samsung Galaxy
| Note 9 and it's been excellent for many years but it doesn't
| matter if it doesn't run the software I want.
| shopvaccer wrote:
| With respect to grapheneOS on samsung, I don't think it's
| about security. It's about openness, there is already
| samsung knox (or whatever it is called, samsung dex?) so
| clearly they know how to make a secure enclave it's just
| that samsung wants to keep their stuff proprietary.
|
| In general samsung and others (huawei, etc.) are trying to
| get a grip on android, and open-source seems to oppose
| that.
|
| I don't know what motivates google to lean in so hard with
| open-source ( maybe trying to prevent fragmentation or
| avoid future antitrust or set a "clean" example standard
| for stock android with their pixel brand ), but we do
| currently enjoy its fruits.
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| You're right about that. Google seems to be a lot more
| open with its hardware compared to other manufacturers.
| This attitude apparently even extends towards their
| laptops. It's certainly something I've come to appreciate
| about Google.
| hparadiz wrote:
| Why does no one ever consider Sony? They let you unlock
| the bootloader and the hardware is excellent.
| izacus wrote:
| I stopped when they started permanently breaking camera
| procesing on bootloader unlock.
| freedomben wrote:
| Same, in fact it's the reason I buy and continue to buy
| their products. I continually hope that doesn't change
| andrewprock wrote:
| I had one Pixel 2 that lasted five years. I had another that
| lasted only six months before the screen just stopped working
| at all. We'll see how long my current Pixel 5a lasts.
| duffyjp wrote:
| My wife's 5a was bit by a common "screen" completely dies
| for no reason bug. It's more like the phone is stone dead,
| but that's how Google describes it. Even though she was
| well past the 1 year warranty they replaced it free under a
| special warranty program due to how common it is.
|
| And by replaced it, I mean they sent a different phone that
| had lots of wear and she lost all her non-cloud data.
| sct202 wrote:
| The 5A's have some kind of mass motherboard defect and
| the warranty was quietly increased to 2 years. I know 2
| people who recently went thru a bunch of hurdles (must go
| to Asurion/ubreakifix to get special request submitted)
| and got replacement phones sent outside of the extended
| warranty, because both the phones failed days after the 2
| year mark.
| virtualwhys wrote:
| My 5a's camera routinely crashes the phone and reboots
| when attempting to take a photo in bright light
| conditions (e.g. in broad daylight) -- it's infuriating,
| google says the phone is out of warranty so apparently
| I'm SOL.
|
| With Asahi Linux I'm now considering going back to all-
| Apple hardware after 12 years away.
| retinaros wrote:
| the nexus one was a beautifully engineered phone after that
| they moved to plastic and everything went down
| vetinari wrote:
| Galaxy nexus, while plastic, was still very nice phone.
|
| Nexus 5 had already quality issues. Pixels went downhill
| completely, while simultaneously bumping up the price.
| skavi wrote:
| The Nexus One was built by HTC. The Galaxy Nexus was
| built by Samsung. The Nexus 5 was built by LG. Pixel is
| in house, of course, but IIRC, Google bought a fragment
| of HTC some time ago.
| thesuitonym wrote:
| >I'm really glad to see both the partnership with iFixit and
| the 7 years of support.
|
| Damn, it may be time for me to move back to Android. Do Pixels
| require the updates to be sent by your carrier, or do they
| allow direct download?
| kelnos wrote:
| While the downloads do come directly from Google, they work
| with the carriers, who can delay the updates until they have
| a chance to look at it and ensure they're happy with it...
| whatever that means.
|
| IIRC you can download the images from Google via web browser
| and flash manually, but not sure if you can still do that,
| and I've never tried it myself.
| dagmx wrote:
| Most of the time you can direct update, but I believe Verizon
| has a special carve out.
| panarky wrote:
| Pixels get updates direct from Google, doesn't depend on your
| carrier.
| fullstop wrote:
| This isn't entirely true. I have a Pixel 7 Pro and T-Mobile
| -- updates can be delayed by the carrier.
|
| https://9to5google.com/2023/01/12/google-pixel-t-mobile-
| upda...
| sphars wrote:
| Did you purchase your phone from T-Mobile? I'm on
| T-Mobile but I always buy my Pixels direct from Google.
| All updates have come direct from Google, no T-Mobile
| involvement at all.
| fullstop wrote:
| In this particular case, yes, but the update can still be
| blocked by the carrier. People have been successful in
| updating the device by temporarily putting the SIM from
| another carrier in the phone.
|
| My daughter's Pixel 5a update, for example, was delayed
| but it was purchased from Google.
|
| To be clear, the update _does_ come directly from Google
| but the device won't show that the update is available
| until the carrier gives the green light. The factory
| image can still be sideloaded.
|
| The P7P is the first phone that I've not purchased
| outright, and that's because TMO was willing to give me a
| ridiculously generous offer to trade in a OnePlus 7t.
|
| edit: another link --
| https://www.androidpolice.com/pixel-t-mobile-update-
| delayed/
| Alupis wrote:
| don't buy modern phones direct from carriers, unless the
| deal is too good to pass up.
|
| unlocked, carrier-agnostic phones are the way to go.
| fullstop wrote:
| I agree, that's how I ended up buying the P7P through TMO
| -- it was a ridiculously generous offer.
|
| With the Pixel updates, at least, the updates come
| through Google but the carrier (at least TMO) can prevent
| this from happening even if the phone is unrestricted.
| sho_hn wrote:
| My impression is that the flagships have become fairly
| interchangeable (aside from perhaps the new Xperia, which still
| has its own character to some extent) and which one "is the one
| to buy" is now mostly down when you're in the market to buy.
|
| As in, this one is debuting the new Samsung GN2 cam sensor and
| I think the SoC manufacturing process node, ahead of whenever
| Samsung and the others post their new updated devices. So for a
| few months this is probably the one to get, until a competitor
| drops the next set of updates from the HW supply chain, and so
| on.
|
| Three years of updates and iFixit are great and could be
| differentiating for now, but hopefully the rest of the
| ecosystem will catch up to that standard.
| Scene_Cast2 wrote:
| I know GN2 might have been just an arbitrary example, but it
| looks like GN2 didn't make it to the 8 pro (contrary to the
| rumors).
| sho_hn wrote:
| Oh, do you have a source? The pre-release coverage still
| talked a lot about the GN2 even days ago, and to me it was
| more or less the defining new HW drop in this phone.
|
| It's a lot less exciting without a sensor upgrade and would
| be mostly playing catch-up otherwise.
| Scene_Cast2 wrote:
| Not the strongest sources, but:
|
| https://www.gsmarena.com/newscomm-60107.php - comments
| tipped me off; then googling for "pixel 8 GN2; last hour"
| gets me links like
| https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-8-pro-
| release-... where the cache has the reference but the
| current page doesn't.
| WillAdams wrote:
| Except for stylus support --- Samsung is thankfully
| continuing with S-Pen support (which also works on the Kindle
| Scribe and Wacom One and various other devices).
| eitland wrote:
| It is soon 5 years ago since I switched after using Android
| since almost since HTC Hero.
|
| Something like this could have kept me on Android for a longer
| so I am thankful it did not show up until I had left Android
| behind.
|
| After years of phones that became slow after a few weeks,
| having a phone that is still fast after 3-4 years is
| incredible.
| crossroadsguy wrote:
| Is there an Apple's Elop at Google now? I am asking this in all
| seriousness. How does this cost for this phone make any sense!
|
| Or maybe Google finally learned it from Apple that all you have
| do is declared a phone flagship and bump its cost dearly - then
| enjoy sights of people in long queues.
| initplus wrote:
| Same region locking nonsense there is every launch on the Google
| store.
|
| I understand you aren't selling this in my region, but not even
| letting me look at the product is super frustrating.
| deanc wrote:
| Yeah. They're absolutely shooting themselves in the foot. Makes
| no sense to me at all as it's good advertising for their brand
| and people all around the world are going to be interested.
|
| Here's an archive.is link which has most of the info [1]
|
| [1] https://archive.ph/RuBSk
| gardenhedge wrote:
| Why does anyone spend 1k on a phone..
| therealmarv wrote:
| why not? It's for many people the most important daily device
| they use. (the people here are probably more on their computer)
| lofaszvanitt wrote:
| Why does anyone spend so much on such a repugnant phone?
| dang wrote:
| Related ongoing thread:
|
| _Pixel 8 to have seven years of Android updates_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37766122 - Oct 2023 (269
| comments)
| redbell wrote:
| 7 years of support is probably the single, most noticeable
| improvement in the Android ecosystem in years now.
|
| Also, the temperature sensor in the Pro, if it worked as
| expected, should be a cool addition.
| kkielhofner wrote:
| Finally.
|
| The planned obsolescence conversation seems to revolve around
| Apple (the only self-interested greedy company on the planet
| according to the detractors) but they hold the record for
| software updates on smartphones - 10 years for the iPhone 5s.
| Here we are, in 2023, and Google is coming around to seven
| years of support. Apple has done at least seven since 2013.
|
| In any case I applaud this move and at least five years should
| be mandated by law. I wonder how many "random manufacturer
| drops a cheap Android on the market and walks away on software
| and support" Android devices there are sitting in landfills
| across the globe. Of course there are plenty of Apple devices
| as well but it's not due to lack of support.
| sbjs wrote:
| [flagged]
| sbjs wrote:
| These downvotes for a genuine question (-3 points at time of
| writing) are why I don't participate in HN tbh. And maybe
| they're exclusively for my parenthetical request for feedback,
| in which case, still, like, come on guys. Those downvotes are
| why my posts and comments always shadowbanned in the first
| place. And they all started with downvotes for genuine
| questions. The typical response from HN is "I dunno, maybe post
| better content." But I post the best content I have in both
| submissions and comments. So yeah, I guess this community is
| not for me, that's all I can conclude.
| striking wrote:
| Your posts and comments are not "shadowbanned" (or dead). If
| they were, we wouldn't be able to reply to you.
|
| Not every post or comment does well. You'll be better off if
| you don't take it so personally.
| afavour wrote:
| (I imagine you did get some downvotes for your request for
| feedback because it's off-topic)
|
| Your request is honestly a little difficult for anyone to
| answer. "As a long-time Apple user I've long suspected that
| despite the public specs, Android phones are crap. Can any
| long-term Android users confirm for me whether their phone is
| crap?"
|
| If there is a long-term Android user out there who finds
| Android phones to be crap I'd assume they would have long
| since switch to a different type of phone.
| VancouverMan wrote:
| > If there is a long-term Android user out there who finds
| Android phones to be crap I'd assume they would have long
| since switch to a different type of phone.
|
| That's a wrong assumption to make. I think there are a lot
| of reluctant Android users around.
|
| I'm one of them, and I've been using Android phones for
| well over a decade now.
|
| I don't mind Android itself and the selection of apps, but
| I've never liked the phones themselves.
|
| The Android phones I've used weren't sensibly sized, or had
| quality and reliability issues, or were generally tolerable
| except for one fatal downside (like a bad camera, or
| limited storage), or were too expensive for what was being
| offered.
|
| The iPhones I've used have generally been decent, from a
| hardware perspective. I find the software situation to be
| terrible, however.
|
| For me, a bad Android phone with tolerable software is at
| least kind of usable.
|
| A great iPhone phone with
| unsuitable/insufficient/frustrating software is unusable.
|
| Given that those have been the only viable options for a
| while now, I resort to using Android phones, even if I've
| consistently disliked the phones themselves.
| runako wrote:
| You posted an opinion suggesting that Android isn't the best
| in a thread about an Android phone. You inadvertently poked
| an audience self-selected to dislike questions phrased as
| yours was.
| Kiuhrly1 wrote:
| My guess is that your question isn't seen as relevant to the
| post (it's more of a general Android topic) and it has an ad
| for your failed submission which could be seen as
| manipulation, which is highly frowned upon on this site.
| There's a bias against the stereotype of Apple users too.
| shopvaccer wrote:
| I can't speak for stock android, but I can say AOSP
| (GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, lineageOS and such) is a much better
| experience than iOS.
|
| The free software ecosystem is nice cause the mobile apps are
| way more functional. You can do almost anything you can do on
| your laptop. Syncthing, K-9 mail, newpipe, firefox (with
| ublock), orbot, libretorrent, etc. are a few pretty good
| reasons to use AOSP.
|
| its kind of stylish too. google put out this "material you"
| thing which basically makes it so the whole OS uses the same
| color pallete.
|
| The only thing I miss about my iphone was that it was nice and
| small and could be used in one hand.
|
| Sorry to hear about your shadowban, it's annoying.
| rcarr wrote:
| I was a long time iPhone user for about 15 years - never had an
| Android. My iPhone 8 Plus finally reached end of support for OS
| updates and I'd heard great things about Samsung Dex so I
| ordered a Samsung Ultra S22 last week and I absolutely love it.
| Once you get it set up and used to it, I've found the
| experience to be superior to the iPhone. I just find it quicker
| to do the things I want to do because of the way it's set up.
| Things like editing the settings is just way better thought out
| - the search works really well in the main settings app and if
| you want to change the settings for a particular app (e.g get
| rid of the notification badge) you simply have to long press on
| the app, hit the "i" button on the pop up, and you're taken
| straight to the settings for the app.). And Samsung Dex is
| fucking awesome, especially if you've got a pair of AR glasses.
| My entire computing setup now fits in a small reporter bag. I'm
| now going to sell my Macbook and use the Ultra as my sole
| device which means I will have completely exited the Apple
| ecosystem. In the early smartphone days, I think iOS was
| superior to Android but I really don't think that's the case
| anymore.
| ThePowerOfFuet wrote:
| I hope you had a look at Samsung's privacy policy.
|
| https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/xtq9pq/samsungs_pr.
| ..
| rcarr wrote:
| Yeah, Samsung collects data and sells it. So does every
| other company. Not going to stop me using the phone. At
| least Android actually asks me every time if I want to opt
| into a service or not. If Apple want me back, they can:
|
| - Build a Dex competitor
|
| - Allow apps to communicate outside their sandboxes if I
| allow them to
|
| - Make it quicker and easier to edit settings
|
| - Stop doing ridiculous things like borking USB-C ports on
| non-pro models
| xnx wrote:
| It was the reverse for awhile. The Pixel had an outdated image
| sensor, but managed to pull off decent photos through software:
| https://www.theverge.com/21496686/pixel-5-camera-comparison-...
| mmmmmbop wrote:
| I find that Apple indisputably has better hardware and build
| quality, but Android has the better operating system.
| Workaccount2 wrote:
| I don't know who would be telling you that android phones have
| better hardware specs. And if I did, I would confidently tell
| you that they don't know what they are talking about.
|
| Signed, a decade+ android user.
|
| However, will end users really notice the gap? Not really.
| hobofan wrote:
| I own a Pixel 7 Pro (and owned the Pixel 6 Pro), and I
| regularly have iPhones of friends/family in my hands.
|
| Especially for the flagship Android phones like the Pixel Pros,
| I really don't think there is a noticable difference. They have
| excellent build quality, camera quality is so similar to
| iPhones that I couldn't tell which one is better, and on the
| software side I think it's a matter of being used to it (where
| I'm a lot more comfortable on Android).
| nicbou wrote:
| It's a mix of good and bad. The iPhone is generally very good,
| and the integration with other Apple products is unmatched.
|
| ...but my Android runs Firefox with uBlock Origin. I forget
| that cookie banners exist until I use my iPad. It also runs two
| background apps pretty reliably: a GPS logger and Syncthing. It
| respects my default web browser and music player choices.
|
| Quality is subjective. For my specific needs, I prefer Android.
| If those things were solved I would have an iPhone.
| yonibot wrote:
| Safari for iOS also has adblockers
| goosedragons wrote:
| That aren't as good as Ublock Origin for Firefox. There's
| also no AFAIK way to do something like what NoScript does
| for Firefox.
| throw9away6 wrote:
| I pay 4$ a year for ad block plus for iOS. Totally worth it
| and blocks YouTube ads
| AlotOfReading wrote:
| Same situation. I _have_ both, my work phone is an iPhone. I
| just don 't like using it. There's nothing major, both
| operating systems are capable, but there's little reminders
| everywhere that Apple is the one dictating how the phone can
| be used. Can't organize home screen icons. Uncontrollable
| notification spam by the system. Apple's apps mostly don't
| have individual privacy controls. Apple maps. Limited optical
| zoom. Having to find and use a special cable.
|
| All of these are minor gripes (and the latter even resolved
| going forward), but why pay a premium for a device that
| irritates me?
| xnx wrote:
| GPS Logger, Syncthing, and a decent/ad-blocking/extensible
| browser (in my case Kiwi) are exactly the things that make
| Android my preference.
| baxuz wrote:
| "Change your region and language"
|
| No, Google. Fix your shit. You're a global 1.70 trillion dollar
| company, not a local microbrewery.
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| Yeah it's pretty stupid that this trillion dollar company can't
| figure out how to sell a phone worldwide. I'm actually gonna
| have to import this thing if I want to run GrapheneOS.
| kyriakos wrote:
| A very small part of the world is supported unfortunately and
| the situation year to year has not been improving. On the other
| hand samsung and apple are available everywhere.
| vetinari wrote:
| Even after you change your region and language, it will drop
| you to the front page.
|
| If you try to click the direct link again, it will redirect you
| to "Change your region and language".
|
| That's beyond broken.
| archgoon wrote:
| [dead]
| baxuz wrote:
| It's because it's not available in most countries in the
| world, including a number of EU countries.
| tpm wrote:
| Yeah, one of the biggest companies in the world and still not
| selling the phones in our country. I actually used Pixel phones
| a few years back, but currently with no working 5G it's not
| going to happen.
| ireallywantthat wrote:
| Too expensive for my tastes.
|
| Give me 380USD phone which lasts for next 5-8 years, feels
| premium, is repairable, camera is decent, replaceable battery, OS
| is just Vanilla Android with atleast 5 years(more years of
| Software updates would be welcome) of Software Updates and when
| you can't provide it, make it hackable enough to install Custom
| ROMs.
| soperj wrote:
| I still don't get the "premium feel" line when everyone covers
| their phone in a case anyway. I don't care if my phone is made
| of plastic when it actually makes it less prone to breaking
| when dropped.
| kelnos wrote:
| I don't know if I've just been excessively lucky, but I've
| never put a case on any smartphone I've owned since 2010, and
| I've only cracked the screen on two of them. These days
| (probably for the past 4 years) I do put the thin-film screen
| protectors on as well, and replace them if they get damaged.
|
| I've always been of the feeling that I'm buying this lovely,
| well-designed piece of hardware, why would I want to cover it
| up in an ugly plastic case?
| matttb wrote:
| I don't put cases (or even screen protectors) on mine
| either (since 2015). I've dropped it many times, obviously,
| but I've only ever had the edges of the phone get the
| slightest nicks - which I prefer to having a case on it.
| patall wrote:
| Exactly because you have cracked the screen on two of them.
| I (and many others with a case) am at 0 cracked screens.
| tredre3 wrote:
| We can throw anecdotes to each other all day. I've been
| using smartphones since 2010 as well. Never used a case.
| Never cracked a screen.
| kiririn wrote:
| Even worse is when the premium feel is at the expense of
| usability as well as durability. Matte glass backs and
| rounded aluminium sides might as well be a bar of soap
| freeAgent wrote:
| There are also some plastics that feel fine, IMO. It's mostly
| a matter of whether the phone creaks or bends easily.
| Jcampuzano2 wrote:
| I've been saying this to people for years. Tons of companies
| market how a phone feels, its looks/colors but then almost
| everybody just ends up slapping a case on it.
|
| I literally couldn't care what a phone was made out of/how it
| feels since I just put a case on it before I even use it for
| a day in most situations.
| amelius wrote:
| Not really true for the Samsung Flip phones out there. I
| don't know many people who use a case on them.
| justin_oaks wrote:
| Speaking of cases, the case near the bottom of the page is
| being sold for $35. That's a lot of money for some molded
| plastic.
| thesuitonym wrote:
| Same here. I think it's ridiculous we make phones out of
| glass, then put more glass on them to protect that glass.
| Phone screens should be made of plastic, which doesn't
| break, and then let me put a piece of glass over it to
| prevent scratching. And then if that breaks, oh well, I
| don't care because i can replace it for $10.
| TheBigSalad wrote:
| So you want the same thing but for less than half the price?
| panzagl wrote:
| [flagged]
| dang wrote:
| Please don't take HN threads into flamewar hell. We're trying
| for something else here.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
| panzagl wrote:
| Sorry, sounded funnier in my head...
| [deleted]
| rtcoms wrote:
| Pixel 7a ?
| kras143 wrote:
| Check this out
| https://murena.com/america/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena...
| Night_Thastus wrote:
| That's why I think I'm going with the Samsung A54. It's around
| that price (if unlocked), but has decent specs. I eventually
| want to phase out my 4-year-old A50, mainly for android auto
| reasons. Need to ask online though, there may be better spec'd
| phones for the price point.
|
| No replaceable battery, sadly, but those don't really exist at
| this point.
| abdullahkhalids wrote:
| I am also in the market, and replacing my small/compact Moto
| G4 after 7-8 years. Sansung A54 seems to be the most
| appropriate replacement, based on my criteria.
|
| I just looked up the battery replacement procedure, and it is
| not horrible for something you want to do once after 4 years.
| jassyr wrote:
| The pixel "a" series match your requirements for the most part.
| An inexperience phone stripped of unnecessary features.
| Unfortunately I don't know any phones that are also repairable,
| replaceable, and hackable.
| manuelabeledo wrote:
| Sadly, you are part of a minority that rarely gets any
| attention from mainstream manufacturers.
| sho_hn wrote:
| Samsung sells their regularly-refreshed A series into
| something close to this price range, and they're great
| devices. For some reason they don't get nearly as much
| attention in the US as they do in Europe and other parts of
| the world, though.
| Night_Thastus wrote:
| Yep. My first smartphone was the A50, which has done well
| up until now. (Though I may upgrade to make android auto
| stuff a bit faster)
| 12907835202 wrote:
| No company will ever make a 5-8 year phone at that price.
| That's $47-76 a year.
|
| People pay that amount or more for apps that help manage their
| fantasy football team...
|
| Comparitively that would be an insane bargain for a phone and
| it's absurd for that to be your requirement.
|
| I do wonder what the right price point would be for a
| subscription model. At the moment the average replacement time
| is every 2 years which would be the equivalent of $30 a month
| basic and $40 for pro.
|
| Could they afford $30 a month sub but you got the yearly
| upgrades rather than every 2 years?
|
| If the price of the parts is quite low compared to the R&D that
| could be feasible.
|
| But I actually have no idea.
| plorkyeran wrote:
| The current iPhone SE starts at $430 and will (probably) get
| at least 5 years of updates. If budget phone makers can't do
| something cheaper than the iPhone SE then surely their entire
| business model is just fucked?
| [deleted]
| Gigachad wrote:
| Economies of scale. The SE is basically the hand me downs
| from the mainline iphone and couldn't exist without it.
| It's not surprising that no name brands can't compete with
| the richest company in the world.
| LeifCarrotson wrote:
| Why would they not make a budget phone? It's not like the BOM
| + assembly for a touchscreen, first(!) battery, motherboard,
| and plastic case cost that much. Check out some of the public
| reports from counterpointresearch.com: the profit margin on
| flagships is often double the BOM cost, the profit margin on
| budget phones is a little tighter but still not bad. Who
| cares what the revenue is per year? What matters is how much
| it costs to make the thing. Most vendors are just tweaking
| reference designs anyways.
|
| The Moto G Play is just $170 list, currently going for ~$110.
| It has a rather pathetic 3 years support, but that's $4.72
| per month at list, or ~$3.95 at current list rates - assuming
| you throw it away when the support contract ends. The Samsung
| A14 5g is $200, and gets 4 years' support, which is $4.15/mo,
| again, assuming list price and discarding when security
| updates are over.
|
| I'm currently typing from my Moto G6, which came out in April
| 2018. I bought in July of that year for $100 (it was a BOGO
| with a buddy's $400 Moto One Zoom, they were literally giving
| them away as a backup to promote their more expensive phone
| because the BOM cost was so cheap). I plug it in on my desk
| at work because the battery sucks now, but that's no great
| hardship. By that math, I've enjoyed the use of a smartphone
| for $1.62 per month (would be $3.25 at list). Yes, it's only
| running Android 9 and not getting "security updates" anymore,
| but I have my phone app, messaging app, a camera, and
| Firefox, and that's about all I need.
|
| I think it would be ridiculous to spend $30 or $40 A MONTH
| for a smartphone. It doesn't matter what some people pay for
| a fantasy football team app, that has nothing to do with
| buying hardware. Other people are buying 3000 lbs used cars
| for the same price others are paying for a flagship 200g slab
| of glass!
| jfengel wrote:
| One of the OP's requirements was a vanilla Android. Vendor
| Android versions aren't features, they're profit centers.
|
| I know the Samsung phones come with a fair bit of crapware,
| cuz I used to have one. How's the Moto?
| abdullahkhalids wrote:
| I have the Moto G4, which is on its last legs after 8
| years.
|
| It barely had any non-android, non-Google apps. If there
| were any, I uninstalled them all except one from the Apps
| list without having to root my phone or anything. The
| last one is called Moto, which is disabled (can't be
| uninstalled).
| [deleted]
| xnx wrote:
| A Pixel 6 Pro meets all these criteria except for replaceable
| battery.
| jfengel wrote:
| The battery is replaceable, just not by the user (at least
| not easily). I've had my Pixel battery replaced; the cost
| didn't seem exorbitant.
|
| It would be nice to be able to pop batteries in and out on
| the fly, but I suspect that would make it a lot harder to
| waterproof. I've lost more phones to water damage than I have
| to battery death.
| imiric wrote:
| The Samsung Galaxy S5 from 2014 had a removable battery,
| headphone jack, a microSD card slot, and was IP67
| dust/water resistant. We lost removable batteries because
| it was an easy way to make devices obsolete.
|
| IMO smartphones peaked around that era, and we've only seen
| incremental improvements and enshittification ever since. I
| used to be excited about every new device, but these days
| all manufacturers are grasping at straws trying to
| differentiate their rectangular slabs from the competition.
| AI is the latest gimmick in this trend.
| garba_dlm wrote:
| I will never get used to this geo-determined internet (i cannot
| see the phone's page without a vpn)
|
| is like we developed this new amazing inter-connection network.
| and then due to politics, decided it was much too good... far too
| much freedom without national barriers, so we've gone on to
| reintroduce these barriers.
|
| as if the internet was restricted by the same geographical
| (physical) realities that we commonly encounter.
|
| but nothing will ever be as dumb as the re-introducing material
| scarcity (DRM schemes) back into the 'cyberspace' just so a few
| can keep making money out of what they already did; possibly for
| several generations of descendants
| joduplessis wrote:
| Oooooh wow, that strip - no thanks. First impressions of the
| aesthetic: clouds & bubblegum.
| ForkMeOnTinder wrote:
| That strip is part of the deal if you're buying a pixel.
|
| https://www.gsmarena.com/google_pixel_6-pictures-11037.php
|
| https://www.gsmarena.com/google_pixel_7-pictures-11903.php
|
| https://www.gsmarena.com/google_pixel_8-pictures-12546.php
| joduplessis wrote:
| Wow, I have not noticed that before!
| panarky wrote:
| The price you pay for better camera sensor and lenses.
| SketchySeaBeast wrote:
| I don't think that necessarily true - Samsung has hidden the
| cameras inside the body, and I'd argue that there's nothing
| terribly special about the pixel camera hardware compared to,
| say, the S23 Ultra.
|
| That being said, I like the look for the visor.
| xnx wrote:
| Largely invisible once it's in a case
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| I don't put my phone in a case and don't understand why
| people do. Dropping your phone is a rare event, not a serious
| risk.
| devit wrote:
| In my experience most of the flagship phones are slippery
| enough that it's not a rare event to drop them if you don't
| use a case made out of a higher friction material.
|
| Of course that's an incredibly dumb design, but
| unfortunately they are made like that.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| I guess I can't relate. I've had a Pixel (the first one)
| and I didn't feel like it was slippery or anything. It's
| been a while but I think the reason I had to replace it
| wasn't damage, but because it wouldn't hold a charge any
| more. Otherwise I'd still probably have it, I really
| liked that phone.
| crossroadsguy wrote:
| Is that some kind of subtly resurgent brutalist design?
| gpm wrote:
| I actually really like the strip on my pixel. Being able to
| support the phone by the bottom of the strip instead of
| squeezing it feels good.
| deergomoo wrote:
| Comparing this to the regular Pixel 8 it doesn't look like you
| get an awful lot more for your extra PS300, I'm surprised there's
| such a delta.
|
| Bigger screen (which for many is a minus not a plus), an extra
| 4GB RAM (still seems absurd to me that we need this much RAM on a
| phone) and more capable/additional auxiliary cameras.
|
| I suppose the charitable take is that PS700 feels like a pretty
| good deal for the non-Pro one.
| 01100011 wrote:
| I'd love the telephoto camera for outdoor shots, but I can't
| stand the price or the size of the phone. Even with the Google
| Fi discount of $300, the price($500 with trade-in) is too much
| to justify.
|
| I guess I'll stick with my Pixel 5A.
| havblue wrote:
| You do get the watch for free with a preorder so you get an
| extra tiny screen to go with your new gigantic screen.
| buttersbrian wrote:
| Check out best-buy. They are offering $100 more on lots of
| pixel trade-ins than the google or fi store.
| theunixbeard wrote:
| Be warned: The Pixel 5A has a manufacturer defect where they
| just die out of nowhere:
|
| https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/11833075?hl=en
|
| This just happened to me after 1.5 years of usage of my Pixel
| 5A.
|
| Luckily Google extended the usual 1-year warranty to be
| 2-years to give free replacements (which I took advantage of
| and in fact was given a free upgrade to a 6A)... But be
| prepared for your phone to die out of nowhere.
| cdchn wrote:
| I'm surprised Google isn't leaning more into their main advantage
| over Apple: AI. If it weren't for Call Screening and Wait-for-Me
| I'd have probably already switched over by now.
| cobertos wrote:
| I'm still on the Pixel 3! I can't get off. I bounced off the
| Pixel 6. It's too big in my hand. The finger print sensor is in a
| weird spot. Android 13 is more restrictive. And worst? It's not
| faster or better. It's legitimately a hard _downgrade_ for me.
|
| I have 2 Pixel 3s now (microphone died and battery swelled) but
| they run everything snappy! I might just keep buying Pixel 3s off
| eBay, its so much cheaper. My main worry is lack of security
| updates, especially with the webp vulnerability.
| matttb wrote:
| My wife and I are on the pixel 3 still as well. I hate the size
| of the 8, but that camera sure looks real nice...
|
| Her pixel 3 is also starting to shutdown randomly which is
| concerning since our last phones were the bootlooping nexus 5x.
| freedomben wrote:
| I won't be moving off of the Pixel 5a until the hardware
| breaks. Fingerprint sensor on the back and the camera notch all
| the way to the left are so good. With the case on the phone, my
| finger naturally lands on the sensor when I pick it up and it
| unlocks lightning fast. I don't understand why we can't have
| fingerprint sensors on the back anymore :-(
| chromakode wrote:
| Have you looked at the Zenphone 10? That appears to be the true
| Pixel 3 successor.
| huehehue wrote:
| The on-screen fingerprint sensor on newer models is
| infuriating. Unlocking the screen is always a two-action
| operation of "tap the screen -> wait for it to fade in / wake
| up -> put your finger on the sensor".
|
| The first tap to waken the screen often fails so I have to try
| one or two more times.
|
| It's a small thing but, I have to tumble with it probably 100+
| times a day given how often I check my phone for e.g. Slack. It
| should be the smoothest part of operation, imo.
| timmit wrote:
| For the people who cannot visit the url above, try this,
| https://blog.google/products/pixel/google-pixel-8-pro/
| lofaszvanitt wrote:
| I've been pondering about changing to this phone, but it's so
| ugly, I mean literally so ugly, that it always gives me the
| jives. It's the worst looking phone on the market, period. A
| hideous monstrosity, that noone considers buying. Maybe Chucky
| with the knife and this phone can be paired somehow, but I have
| serious doubts.
|
| Just go to ASUS' industrial designer, who dreamed up the Zenfone
| 10 design, hand him lots of black briefcases with blood diamonds
| and greenbacks, plus strawberry cakes and beg him to come up with
| something.
|
| And the colors... this is really the socks+sandals of the phone
| market.
| IshKebab wrote:
| It's not the best looking phone but that's ridiculous. It looks
| fine.
| lofaszvanitt wrote:
| No, a nightmare. That camera "bridge" is just horrible.
| timbit42 wrote:
| It's better than Apple's notch.
| [deleted]
| karencarits wrote:
| I hope they will improve the photo post-processing. Currently, I
| have the pixel 7 pro, and the camera app really alters people
| more than I like. Fortunately, you can also save RAW files. The
| rumors on Reddit said that the processing algorithm may have been
| developed for cameras with lower resolutions - if that's true,
| the results on pixel 8 will be even worse
| simonsarris wrote:
| The skin waxing (probably aggressive noise reduction) on the
| Pixel 7 Pro is so bad it's changed how I take photos. I no
| longer try to get faces in my photos unless the light is very
| bright and they're close and near the center of the frame (the
| very bad barrel distortion is another problem with faces, they
| cannot be too close to the edges or they'll be comically
| elongated)
|
| The Pixel 2 XL camera was better, I swear
| OneLeggedCat wrote:
| The camera (actually cameras) on my Pixel 7 Pro is the most
| over-hyped mediocrity ever. I can't believe that it reviewed so
| well. The jpeg processing is so over-done that everything looks
| like cartoons and plastic. The video drops dozens of frames
| when zooming in and out. The raws are not real raws, but are
| instead just less processed pseudo-raws, and yet still have
| terrible dynamic range anyway.
|
| I do like the colors of the jpegs.
| kylecazar wrote:
| It's odd to me that my Pixel 7 Pro is worth less in trade-in
| value than iPhone 11.
|
| I'm sure there are reasons, but it stings a little.
| makeitdouble wrote:
| Getting access to the Apple ecosystem has inherent value that
| comes on top of the phones themselves.
|
| Green bubbles can be worth a few hundred dollars. Or why some
| people keep a busted iPhone around just to manage the parental
| controls. Android doesn't have much of those restrictions or it
| applies less.
| kelnos wrote:
| I was surprised to see my Pixel 4 is worth $250 for trade-in.
|
| I've never actually traded in any of my old phones, on the fear
| that the new one might break at some point and I'd need a
| backup. Granted I've only once had to take advantage of this in
| the 13 years I've had smartphones.
|
| I didn't click all the way through, but I'm hoping you don't
| have to turn in the old phone immediately... I'd like to hang
| onto it for at least a couple weeks just in case I find the
| backup/restore process hasn't completely done its job.
| nerdwaller wrote:
| > I didn't click all the way through, but I'm hoping you
| don't have to turn in the old phone immediately... I'd like
| to hang onto it for at least a couple weeks just in case I
| find the backup/restore process hasn't completely done its
| job.
|
| Last I remember looking the timeline is within 30 days of
| receiving the new device.
| KoftaBob wrote:
| that's probably to incentivize iphone users to switch over
| wffurr wrote:
| Aftermarket prices for Android devices are lower than iOS
| across the board. They depreciate faster.
| grepLeigh wrote:
| This is a meta comment, but I think it's extraordinary that we're
| only 15ish years from the first smartphone release and we've
| already reached the "boring" incremental improvement phase for
| these tiny pocket supercomputers.
|
| Consider how long it took PCs to reach the same stage (with a
| fraction of the adoption). It was like 20 years from Kenbak-1 to
| the 90s PC era.
| TheBigSalad wrote:
| We're coming up on 20, but I get it.
| mrinterweb wrote:
| I hear what you're saying, but I feel this release is less
| boring than other recent smart phones. It seems that they are
| really at an inflection point where they are able to start
| really utilizing their AI chips for deeper integration. From a
| hardware perspective, I agree this release might be boring. I
| don't think the Tensor3 is a far faster chip than the Tensor2
| (for general purpose CPU tasks), but the AI processing capacity
| of this chip seem like the focus of this model. The new display
| seems pretty great, but I have been pleased with my Pixel 7
| display.
| grecy wrote:
| > _It 's extraordinary that we're only 15ish years from the
| first smartphone release and we've already reached the "boring"
| incremental improvement phase for these tiny pocket
| supercomputers._
|
| I think people are not yet ready to accept the exact same thing
| is about to happen to cars. Some company will have a perfectly
| usable electric self-driving vehicle and will produce tens of
| millions of them a year. They will be an appliance, like your
| toaster, and nobody will care anymore.
|
| I'm sure it will happen to other things in our lives too.
| rurp wrote:
| We're quite a ways off from full self driving cars and it's
| not clear that we'll ever get there. By that I mean you can
| drive anywhere you want while taking a nap. Car companies
| will still be working on improving limited self driving /
| enhanced cruise control for the foreseeable future which
| leaves plenty of room for differentiation.
| afavour wrote:
| People have been saying self driving cars are just around the
| corner for a decade or so now.
|
| I do believe the future you outline will happen but IMO the
| timeline is very far from clear. Significant challenges
| remain for self driving cars.
| Moldoteck wrote:
| Waiting when button phones will become the trend again
| dotancohen wrote:
| Since buying a larger-screen e-ink device, I have been
| wanting to go back to a dumb phone. But just a few features
| preclude this.
|
| 1. Dialing in the dumb phone. No dumb phones support CardDav
| syncing.
|
| 2. Very few dumb phones can function as wifi hotspots for the
| e-ink device.
|
| 3. Few dumb phones can record calls.
|
| 4. I forget what eight was for... seriously I had one or two
| other issues but I don't remember what they were.
| neilv wrote:
| Current LLMs and misc. deep learning enable an early kind of
| ubiquitous personalized AI augmentation that's always with you.
|
| One barrier to innovation here is that most of tech has shifted
| to think of empowering users as _not_ the goal, but rather,
| empowering users is an occasional necessary step towards the
| company exploiting those users harder.
|
| We could use better thinking.
| kcb wrote:
| Windows Mobile and Palm phones were around int the early 2000s.
| I think they would absolutely need to be included if
| considering the history of smartphones.
| afavour wrote:
| Don't forget Symbian! I had a NES emulator on my Nokia phone
| back in the day. Wonderful stuff.
| antod wrote:
| I really don't think the iPhone (or even Android) was the
| equivalent of the Kenbak-1 in terms of smartphones. There were
| "smartphones" before the iPhone.
|
| IMO the iPhone was the 90s PC era where these things got a lot
| better and more ubiquitous and less fragmented.
|
| And (also in my opinion) coincidentally 90s led into an the era
| where overly dominant OS vendor(s) were crushing the fun and
| freedom out of computing. Phones are harder to escape from that
| than with PCs though.
| kxrm wrote:
| Yep, I too remember Windows CE 5 on my Audiovox slide out
| keyboard phone which in 2006 was blowing people's minds. I
| got it purely so while on-call I wouldn't have to head home
| to handle incidents.
|
| It was a great mobile computing experience but terrible at
| being a phone.
| ActorNightly wrote:
| I remember getting the original Motorolla droid back in 2010.
| Half of my friends had iPhones. Other half were still on
| regular phones.
|
| By 2014, everyone had a smartphone.
| nicbou wrote:
| 6.7 inch screen. My Pixel 5 is already big. This one is an inch
| bigger in my hand and in my pockets.
|
| Price increase. 875EUR in Europe. The Pixel 5 was 630EUR. Do you
| really get 40% more phone?
| KeplerBoy wrote:
| It's 1100EUR in the Austrian Google Store.
| xelxel wrote:
| Same here in Italy. Crazy price, almost 350EUR more than the
| Pixel 6 Pro. I really wanted to upgrade, but no Pixel at this
| Price. I'll wait for a sure street price in less than 6
| months
| wnevets wrote:
| Maybe I have abnormally large hands & pockets but the Pixel 6
| Pro w/case size is really good. I am always annoyed when I have
| to use someone's phone and their tiny screen.
| ForkMeOnTinder wrote:
| Interestingly the non-Pro pixels have been trending in the
| right direction for size.
|
| The Pixel 6 is 6.4"
|
| The Pixel 7 is 6.3"
|
| The Pixel 8 is 6.2"
|
| If the trend continues we only have to wait 3 more years for a
| < 6" phone
| nilespotter wrote:
| I switched from Pixel 6 to Pixel 7a because the 7a size is
| _perfect_
| seanalltogether wrote:
| They are close to being back to original size of the pixel 3
| which in my opinion was the perfect size.
|
| Pixel 8 - 150.5 x 70.8 x 8.9 mm
|
| Pixel 6 - 158.6 x 74.8 x 8.9 mm
|
| Pixel 3 - 145.6 x 68.2 x 7.9 mm
| morsch wrote:
| It's also very close to the size the smaller (non-plus etc)
| Samsung flagship phones have head for years:
|
| S10: 149.9 x 70.4 x 7.8 mm
|
| S20: 151.7 x 69.1 x 7.9 mm
|
| S21: 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm
|
| S22: 146 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm
| zem wrote:
| yes, i'm still clinging to my pixel 3, which is indeed
| perfect
| Tade0 wrote:
| I remember when such phones were in a different size category
| named "phablets".
| abdusco wrote:
| They had huge bezels. I feel like current phones with huge
| displays are at most as big as then-phablets or even
| smaller.
| hbn wrote:
| Our thumbs haven't grown in the past decade and they now
| are expected to stretch longer distances. I can't even
| reach the opposite top corner with my thumb on my iPhone
| 13 mini
| cdchn wrote:
| Stop me if you're head this one before but I'm going to
| tune you into a neat trick.
|
| Use your other hand.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| Yeah, no shit. I don't think that there's anyone who
| can't figure that out. The problem isn't "I can't figure
| out how to use my phone", it's that always having to use
| the phone with two hands is annoying as hell. Phones
| shine when you can use them one handed. They suck when
| you have to regularly use them two handed because they
| are so big.
| plorkyeran wrote:
| The original galaxy note was 147 x 83 x 9.7: slightly
| wider and thicker than the pixel 8, but not quite as
| tall. Overall very similar in size, but with a 5.3"
| screen rather than 6.2".
| kcb wrote:
| The aspect ratio makes a huge difference. Back then phones
| were still mostly 16:9. My Nexus 6 still feels massive
| compared to modern phones.
| [deleted]
| hiatus wrote:
| I am also in the Pixel 5 group and have been struggling to find
| a replacement as our phone nears its end of security updates.
| Does anyone have any suggestions for a potential replacement?
| There seem to be few phones in this size and weight class.
| bobviolier wrote:
| When do the security releases stop? I was assuming for
| another year as I am currently downloading Android 14.
|
| I was going to wait for Pixel 9 (currently also on Pixel 5).
| Moldoteck wrote:
| Iphone 13 mini))) Or galaxy s23 should be abt the same as p5
| karolist wrote:
| I've had all Pixel phones up to and including the 6 Pro,
| finally gave up due to various issues and am super happy with
| 13 mini + watch ultra combo. I don't depend on my phone that
| much anymore and mini model size is perfect for pockets and
| one-hand use, the build quality and CPU/speed is amazing,
| battery life is decent too, screen on time it's not
| impressive but really efficient just streaming BT audiobooks
| all night. Miss 120Hz screen and zoom camera so I'm going
| with a Pro phone next, but not yet.
| bitshiftfaced wrote:
| Pixel 5 was 782EUR, euro-adjusted inflation, so it's a question
| of whether it's 12% more phone.
|
| Edit: is that price for pixel 8 pro? A Google search is saying
| regular pixel 8 is 799EUR, so basically the same price for the
| base model.
| buttersbrian wrote:
| do they offer the watch as a free rider where you are?
|
| Because ... that's worth 12% and then some.
| [deleted]
| j10u wrote:
| Agreed, I moved away from Pixels because of size... I'm hoping
| for a Pixel Mini someday
| dabluecaboose wrote:
| I'd heard rumors about a Pixel Mini in 2023. Was holding out
| hope for a surprise drop at the Pixel event today, but with
| how leaky Google hardware development is, I should have known
| better.
| coldpie wrote:
| I moved away from Android entirely because of size. Currently
| on an iPhone 13 Mini, which is riiight at the very upper edge
| of a reasonable size. I would love to go back to Android if
| only someone reputable would make a reasonably-sized phone.
| crossroadsguy wrote:
| This was the exact reason. I never even considered iPhone.
| I thought it's ridiculous to pay that crazy price. Then one
| day I saw the first SE and it was at a decent price on
| deal. Fell in love with tue size. But now that size of
| phone is nowhere to be found essentially. I finally bought
| 14 few months ago and next time I have to change I'll move
| back to some cheap Android phone. Screw tracking. If at
| this crazy price I have to buy a locked down brick I'd
| rather replace that with something much cheaper.
| Tade0 wrote:
| My SO is holding on to a first-gen iPhone SE for the exact
| same reason - I don't know what kind of hands manufacturers
| expect people to have, but at this point I'm all but
| certain that modern flagships are too large for most of the
| population.
| crossroadsguy wrote:
| If only 13 Mini battery wasn't shit. I don't need the
| 1000 mega pixel camera or M20 Apple cheap. Just give me a
| good battery and a non-crazy sized phone and I am good.
| And yeah take my money.
| torton wrote:
| I have a 13 Mini. The battery is typically at 30-50% in
| the evening. Generally never have to worry about the
| charge during the day. Perhaps it's time to replace the
| battery if it's at 80% of health or below?
|
| If I travel and have to use GPS most of the day / take
| hundreds of photos, I carry a small 5000 mAh battery to
| charge up on the go. I think it's a reasonable
| accommodation for a phone that's perfectly fine day-to-
| day.
| jdhawk wrote:
| loved the size of the mini but the battery life was awful
| after a year or so of deg.
| grumpwagon wrote:
| Asus Zenphone 10 is a bit bigger than the 13 mini, but is
| reasonably small and otherwise well regarded
| crossroadsguy wrote:
| They didn't release that and 9 in many geographies.
| wilsonnb3 wrote:
| Despite it having a reputation for being a small phone,
| the Zenfone 10 is essentially the same size as the Galaxy
| S23 and iPhone 15 - in other words, "normal" size and
| quite a bit larger than the iPhone minis.
| akvadrako wrote:
| It's a lot smaller than the Pixel though, which is what
| this thread is about.
| coldpie wrote:
| I can't go any bigger than the 13 Mini. It's right on the
| edge of too big. I'd prefer smaller.
| nisegami wrote:
| For context:
|
| Pixel 5 has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 85.9% screen-to-body
| ratio Pixel 8 Pro has a 20:9 ratio and 87.4% screen-to-body
| ratio
|
| So the difference is ever so slightly less impactful than it
| sounds, but it's still a much bigger phone.
| xtirpation wrote:
| Are those numbers normalized against inflation?
| patrickmcnamara wrote:
| Those numbers are inflation.
| mcsniff wrote:
| Been holding on to my Pixel 5 with GrapheneOS for a while
| hoping a smaller Pixel is available.
|
| I might consider the non-Pro since it now has a 120Hz screen
| and is smaller.
| biggytalls wrote:
| [dead]
| synergy20 wrote:
| still using pixel3, except they stopped upgrading the software a
| while ago, still it's usable though some apps refuse to be
| upgraded, sigh
| nimos wrote:
| TBH the most interesting feature to me is screen brightness. I
| have a pixel 6 and it's not TERRIBLE in bright sunlight but it
| is... not great. Not sure that quite gets me interested in
| upgrading though. Cameras seem better I guess - have to wait on
| reviews for that.
| buggeryorkshire wrote:
| I have a P6P and the general brightness is awful. My old P5 is
| brighter, which I still own.
|
| The Android 14 I just installed on the P6P massively improved
| the dark light performance of the camera though. Not tried it
| on the P5
|
| That said it's not worth me upgrading - I'll wait til the P9P.
| lanius wrote:
| Do you have adaptive brightness enabled? For the longest time I
| did not realize that the screen doesn't achieve max brightness
| despite the brightness slider manually set to the max unless
| it's enabled.
| cogman10 wrote:
| I pretty much just go from security update to security update.
| My 6 is working fine right now and I have no reason to abandon
| ship for the 8.
|
| My wife, on the other hand, has a 5 which falls out of support
| this month. So, she's getting the 8.
| mattanimation wrote:
| I'm still running a Pixel 2...
| slashtab wrote:
| It's your choice but it's not safe.
| cobertos wrote:
| Is there any way to make it safe? I've bought newer pixels
| and they are a downgrade all around for me. I just want
| security updates and the ability to browse on-device files/do
| file management (newer Androids keep restricting further and
| further)
| barbazoo wrote:
| Possibly https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/walleye/
| haunter wrote:
| Still only available in 26 countries. Joke.
| lnxg33k1 wrote:
| It's awesome to me when they do these kind of pages and then
| there are 28 footnotes, can you even trust any claim on the page,
| would you even bother reading them at a certain point
| cantSpellSober wrote:
| > _Best Take uses [...] an on-device algorithm creates a blended
| image from a series of photos to get everyone's best look_
|
| Sounds like Photoshop's image stacks, that "process the multiple
| images to produce a composite view that eliminates unwanted
| content"
|
| Cool when applied to make a crowded place look empty. Useful,
| albeit creepy when you apply it to disembodied heads.
| xnx wrote:
| Google Plus had this feature in 2013:
| https://www.dpreview.com/articles/1400574775/hands-on-
| with-g....
| wunderland wrote:
| If you're really set on Android, I would buy a year old phone (so
| probably a "Pixel 7 Pro" if that's a thing? Not sure when Google
| last changed their naming scheme).
|
| A year old iPhone goes for maybe EUR100-200 less than the new
| model, but last year's Android phone is now basically half price.
| LostLocalMan wrote:
| I've been wanting to get off of my s21 ultra because it's
| extremely bulky and has gotten slow over the years. The killer
| feature keeping me on it is the 100x zoom for identifying birds
| and I haven't seen another phone rival it yet. To be clear the
| 100x zoom is awful quality and not really useful for anything
| beyond getting basic shapes and colors but for identifying far
| birds it's awesome.
| matsemann wrote:
| My S10 is still fast..
| zidad wrote:
| I recently bought a Pixel 7 after my Huawei P30 pro broke.
|
| The older Huawei model is so much better than the newer Pixel
| that it makes you think why they don't allow them to access the
| Play store anymore.
| k12sosse wrote:
| Better how, like, it rubs your feet for you?
| eBombzor wrote:
| In what way was the Huawei better? Not disagreeing, I myself
| regretted upgrading to the Pixel 7 from an S10e. Screen,
| portability, and speaker quality were all downgrades.
|
| And wasn't the whole play store debacle part of some US ban on
| Huawei? Something outside of Google's control?
| markdoubleyou wrote:
| I "upgraded" from a Samsung Galaxy S9 to a Pixel 7 this year,
| only because Samsung stopped doing security updates. Big
| disappointment for me, too. The fingerprint scanner from that
| 2018 phone was 10x more reliable than the in-screen thing
| that the Pixel uses.
|
| I don't miss the battling software ecosystems (Samsung vs
| Google) on that old phone, though.
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| hstaab wrote:
| It looks just like Frozone from The Incredibles
| Lutzb wrote:
| The depreciation between Pixels and iPhones is staggering.
|
| Trade-in in Germany on Google Store page:
|
| - Pixel 6 Pro 256gb ($999 on release) - 235EUR
|
| - iPhone 13 Pro 256gb ($1099 on release) - 730EUR
|
| While I am partial to Googles line of phones (had pretty much
| every Google phone since the nexus one), the loss of value is
| something I cannot really ignore any more when deciding to buy a
| phone.
| jacooper wrote:
| Thats why you just wait and get it cheap.
| eptcyka wrote:
| Older phones don't get significantly cheaper when bought new,
| used ones are a gamble, and the savings don't go that far
| anyway when you consider the amount of updates you'll be
| receiving diminishes.
| jacooper wrote:
| Pixels are supported for 7 years, starting with the 8. P6+
| for 5 years Also I'm talking like a couple months later,
| not a whole year.
| well_actulily wrote:
| A major confounding variable here is that there's probably a
| bit more of a motive for Google to get someone to move cross-
| manufacturer than to incentivize an upgrade from someone who
| already has a Google phone--depreciation aside.
| graton wrote:
| In the US it is $400 for the Pixel 6 Pro (256GB) and $550 for
| the iPhone 13 Pro (256GB) to trade-in for a Pixel 8 Pro
| (128GB).
|
| I am probably going to trade in an old Pixel 3 (64GB) that I
| had sitting in a drawer. They will give $200 trade-in for it
| for a Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro. Only $30 trade-in for the other
| phones they sell.
| mpalmer wrote:
| Maybe it's just worth more to Google to convert an iPhone
| owner? Trade in value is not a very pure measurement of
| depreciation.
| kkielhofner wrote:
| A search of completed/sold listings on eBay shows roughly 2x
| resale pricing for the iPhone 13 Pro 256gb vs the Pixel 6 Pro
| 256gb.
| gr__or wrote:
| 500EUR for my iPhone 13 Pro 128gb from Apple's trade-in partner
| here in Germany.
| libertine wrote:
| What I don't get are these price tags.
|
| My last flagship phone was a Google Nexus 6P where the base
| model was $499. Amazing phone, too bad after 3 years it had a
| battery issue but the manufacturer gave me a new one.
|
| But the thing is: it was $499.
|
| That was the greatest thing about the Nexus lines - good
| hardware (maybe not the latest SOC) with regular updates and a
| good OS experience. I miss those phones.
|
| Google with the Pixels went full goofy mode. I'm not paying
| 1.140EUR for a phone. I have a Huawei P10 that's still running
| smoothly, just the battery is getting tired... so maybe ill get
| one of those Pixel 6 Pro :)
|
| But Google pushed away a lot of the Nexus user base, who were
| hyped every year for the new Nexus.
| fluidcruft wrote:
| Isn't that the segment the Pixel _a line targets? The 7a is
| $499...
| libertine wrote:
| Yes, but the 6P was the flagship.
|
| This was back in the day where a flagship phones base
| prices were like 600/700EUR.
|
| Now it's double.
|
| In 2018 the Samsung Galaxy 9 was 700EUR. Now a Samsung
| Galaxy S23 is 1.200EUR.
| maxerickson wrote:
| I payed $550 for my Pixel 6, ~1 year after the release. Has
| good hardware, regular updates and a good OS experience.
|
| Comparable to ~$450 a year after the release of the 6P.
|
| I guess the 6P might be relatively higher end?
| pie420 wrote:
| "That was the greatest thing about the Nexus lines - good
| hardware"
|
| Yet every nexus phone had major hardware issues. that's not
| good hardware. It wasn't premium, it wasn't supported long,
| and it wasn't high quality. I LOVED the nexus line, as a
| broke college student that prioritized bang for the buck and
| customization, and speed, and android was getting great new
| features every year, but things have gotten so bad at google.
| libertine wrote:
| > Yet every nexus phone had major hardware issues.
|
| I won't argue with that. But I'm right there with you,
| Nexus phones and android releases were exciting - and you
| knew with Nexus you'd be the first to get the new stuff.
| partiallypro wrote:
| My trade in for the 7 Pro was $420 to get the new 8.
| krzyk wrote:
| I wonder if this time they allow you to take that 50Mpix photos,
| or are they magically transformed to 12Mpix again.
|
| Pixel 7 Pro also had 50Mpix sensor.
| nsriv wrote:
| The Pro gives you access to full res RAW images from each
| sensor which are all 48mp (on the Pro, not sure about regular),
| not accounting for digital crops, which are 12mp center binned.
|
| As a sidebar, you're all over this thread with negatively
| framed and inaccurate musings on features, so I'd recommend you
| give the product page or critical reviews a more serious look
| rather than letting other people do the work for you by
| correcting.
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