Pixel 4

kirbyrj said:
Snapdragon 855 and 6/8GB of RAM I'm guessing. The problem with Google phones is that they release so late into the chipset's lifecycle that it's last generation as soon as its released almost. I'd rather they delay it and release early like the Galaxys or maybe in a May/June timeframe like what they did with the Pixel 3A.
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Meh. I just don't feel like having the latest smartphone chips matters anymore.

My first gen pixel (which just died) still felt just as snappy as ever until its death.

I mean, maybe if you play games on your phone, but who other than children do that?
 
FedericoUY said:
Same here, can't stand my current phone (P2XL) top bezel in a almost 2020 phone. No way. They really should work on a bezelless device top and bottom. Why not something like OP 7 plus has done?
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I'd rather have a bezel than cutouts for cameras and sensors. I'd prefer it not to be a huge bezel, because that's just a waste of space, but small ones don't bother me.
 
Zorachus said:
Another slightly off topic thing; Look at how good the OnePlus 7 pro is, and it's $649.
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And it comes with free Chinese military intelligence collection at no cost to you! :p

No thanks. It's bad enough we need to buy phones that are manufactured in China, it will be a cold day in hell before I ever buy one designed there.

Maybe once China becomes a free and democratic society, but not until then.
 
Commander Shepard said:
It would be really nice if Google put the same effort into providing better battery life as they do into having the best e-peen camera. In fact, I bet they'd sell a helluva lot more Pixel 4/4XL phones if they had a 5000 mAh battery and the same camera as the 3/3XL.
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Agree. I don't even understand why they bother with the cameras.

It's a phone. I already have an awesome camera. The quality of pictures isn't even on my list of things I care about in a phone.
 
exlink said:


Don’t think I’ll ever end up using it.
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I just wish they would stop it with all the stupid gimmicks.

I get it, they want to differentiate, but please no.

  • I don't want face Id
  • I don't care about the camera quality
  • I don't want a 3d camera
  • I don't care about Panorama's and other camera app gimmicks.
  • I don't really care much about the bezels, unless they are so large it makes the phone unwieldly for its screen size
  • I don't care (within reason) about its CPU or GPU performance. Even the oldest ones on the market do everything except gaming adequately, and my phone will never have any games on it.
  • I don't want any pay features.
  • I don't want wireless charging
  • I don't want screen resolution above 1080p
  • I don't care about stereo speakers. One speaker is fine. I won't be doing any serious listening on a phone speaker anyway.
  • I don't want any voice recognition or digital assistant.
  • I don't want any cloud or syncing features.
  • I don't even care about getting the latest version of Android, as long as security is patched.
  • I don't want any of the gimmick features that I'll never wind up using. Just remember the engineering mantra. KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. The more features, the worse the product.

My phone is essentially a web browsing and email and calendar appliance, which runs a small handful of apps. It doesn't need to be able to do heavy number crunching, and it doesn't need to be able to render 3D graphics.

  • I care about it be responsive in a web browser and email client, but beyond that CPU/GPU power does not matter at all.
  • I care about it having long battery life
  • I care about it having a screen I can see in direct sunlight
  • I care about it having a screen that does not suffer image retention. I'll take LCD over OLED any day, I don't care about the quality of the blacks. This is not my home theater.
  • I care about it having analog audio out, or at least a dongle that can charge and offer line out at the same time.
  • I care about it having long battery life
  • I'd really like quickly replaceable battery
  • I'd really like expandable storage
  • I don't really care much about it being thin or sleek looking. It's going in a case before I even start using it, and it will stay there until it is replaced. I'll never even see the design.
  • I care about regular security patching. And by regular I mean at the very least monthly. Preferably weekly or biweekly. I want my security up to date.
  • I care about it being reasonably priced. $400 is appropriate for a good phone. Anything above that is questionable.

I feel like phone makers, in the rush to justify their outrageous $1000 price tags have gone feature crazy and forgotten about how to make a good phone.

I'm really disappointed my first gen Pixel just died, because now this means I have to replace it with some of this modern nonsense.

I'd be really happy to buy an updated Nexus 5x. Only thing I didn't like about that phone was the short battery life. Oh, and the camera bump was kind of weird.
 
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Domingo said:
The one thing that might get me to buy one is 5G support. That's a feature that will definitely be important at some point. Without that, I can't justify a purchase that big for a device with an abbreviated lifespan.
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The only reason to go with 5G is to keep signal strength once they start shutting off 4G towers.

The speed increase will be marginal over LTE Advanced.

Don't believe the hype.
 
vegeta535 said:
Yawn I am done with buying any type of flag ship phone. I just brought my mom a $150 Moto g7 and was like this damn thing is enough for everything I need. No reason to buy $800+ phones anymore.
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I'm concerned about Motorola now that they are Chinese owned.

I'll likely wait for the Pixel 4 to launch, but only so I can get a good deal on a 3a.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I'm concerned about Motorola now that they are Chinese owned.

I'll likely wait for the Pixel 4 to launch, but only so I can get a good deal on a 3a.
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I've always liked OnePlus phones and owned the 3, 5T and 7 Pro. Yes, the disclosure of OP leaking personal info to the Chinese was very disturbing. I'm tempted to buy a 7T, next week. From my understanding, if you root/ROM OP phones it eliminates the risk of data theft.

I'm actually quite happy with my 3XL, save for its pathetic battery life. Sometimes, I use an external battery pack/case, but it nearly triples the size of the phone in my hand. There's absolutely no excuse for such poor battery life on an expensive flagship phone.
 
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Am I the only one addicted to the fingerprint scanner? That the p4 apparently doesn't have one, at least not on the back, feels like a deal breaker to me.

This might be the first year I don't update my phone, which wouldn't be a bad thing really; the P3 is still pretty sexy, all things considered.
 
grasshoppa said:
Am I the only one addicted to the fingerprint scanner? That the p4 apparently doesn't have one, at least not on the back, feels like a deal breaker to me.

This might be the first year I don't update my phone, which wouldn't be a bad thing really; the P3 is still pretty sexy, all things considered.
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I'm with you. Face recognition doesn't interest me at all. Maybe it's the future, but I ain't liking it at all.
 
Commander Shepard said:
I'm with you. Face recognition doesn't interest me at all. Maybe it's the future, but I ain't liking it at all.
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The usability of the two techniques bother me.

With the fingerprint reader on the back, it's hard to accidentally unlock the phone. With the faceID nonsense, I expect it'll happen all the time. That's a staggeringly bad UIX choice; things should only happen when the user expects and wants them to.

I don't really get why faceID is so attractive to folks.
 
^^It's halfway between the OG/P2.

And Pixel hardware is typically 9 month old hardware as it is lol. If I could wait for the 4a, I would. But my OG is on its last legs - I need a new phone ASAP.
 
hmz said:
Wanted to get that 3a, but it was damn too slow compared to my OnePlus 6..
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I'm curious. What do you do that makes it feel slow? Games?

because, from a typical web/email use scenario even my old 2016 Pixel, and the LG Gpad 8 from 2014 I'm using in the mean time both feel fine. I can't imagine any new phone in 2019 feeling "slow".

Except maybe if you use them for games, which I don't.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I'm curious. What do you do that makes it feel slow? Games?

because, from a typical web/email use scenario even my old 2016 Pixel, and the LG Gpad 8 from 2014 I'm using in the mean time both feel fine. I can't imagine any new phone in 2019 feeling "slow".

Except maybe if you use them for games, which I don't.
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2016 Pixel uses a better SOC. Multitasking, camera opening/closing, scrolling, mostly Chrome and app experience feel smooth on my OnePlus 6. After playing withe the 3a, I could feel a little lagging. It would probably get worse with future updates. It is probably fine for most people.

I will be getting the smaller pixel 4 regardless. I want face id and smaller form factor. After using Wife's iPhone 11 Pro I am really missing the face id.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I'm curious. What do you do that makes it feel slow? Games?

because, from a typical web/email use scenario even my old 2016 Pixel, and the LG Gpad 8 from 2014 I'm using in the mean time both feel fine. I can't imagine any new phone in 2019 feeling "slow".

Except maybe if you use them for games, which I don't.
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Not to take anything away from hmz's perspective, but honestly, I went from a Pixel 3 to a 3a and it wasn't anywhere near as big of a drop off in performance as you'd think. Coming from an OG Pixel and seeing your lack of enthusiasm toward all the Apple-like features, I'd think a 3a would be right up your alley. Especially since the battery life is significantly better than the 3.
 
My number concern is battery life on the 4 XL?

My wife has the Pixel 2 XL, which gets her pretty good battery life. I have the 3 XL, and battery life is mediocre at best.

Now the Pixel 4 XL will have a 90hz display, but only a 3,700mAh battery

Google should at least go the Samsung route of 4,000mAh to 4,300mAh size batteries. Or look at Apple, they increased the Max battery from like 3,050mAh to like 3,900mAh in the Pro, which is 25% to 30% and it makes a massive difference, along with more efficient hardware too.

Based on that, from the Pixel 3 XL's 3,450mAh battery, then the Pixel 4 XL should come with like a 4,400mAh size battery, which would be amazing and really do the job like the 11 Pro Max.
 
Zorachus said:
My number concern is battery life on the 4 XL?

My wife has the Pixel 2 XL, which gets her pretty good battery life. I have the 3 XL, and battery life is mediocre at best.

Now the Pixel 4 XL will have a 90hz display, but only a 3,700mAh battery

Google should at least go the Samsung route of 4,000mAh to 4,300mAh size batteries. Or look at Apple, they increased the Max battery from like 3,050mAh to like 3,900mAh in the Pro, which is 25% to 30% and it makes a massive difference, along with more efficient hardware too.

Based on that, from the Pixel 3 XL's 3,450mAh battery, then the Pixel 4 XL should come with like a 4,400mAh size battery, which would be amazing and really do the job like the 11 Pro Max.
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I have to wonder why they are putting high refresh screens in fucking phones.

These aren't gaming PC's. heck, even 30hz would probably be OK :p
 
hmz said:
2016 Pixel uses a better SOC. Multitasking, camera opening/closing, scrolling, mostly Chrome and app experience feel smooth on my OnePlus 6. After playing withe the 3a, I could feel a little lagging. It would probably get worse with future updates. It is probably fine for most people.

I will be getting the smaller pixel 4 regardless. I want face id and smaller form factor. After using Wife's iPhone 11 Pro I am really missing the face id.
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Hmm.

Looking at geekbench benchmarks, (which I know, may not be the best measure of general responsiveness, but its a fairly standard benchmark that is easily accessible) the 3a actually performs better than the first gen Pixel. Not by much mind you, but slightly better:


Code: 
               Single Thread:               Multi-Thread:
Pixel1:             308                          855
Pixel1 XL:          307                          847
Pixel2:             359                         1507
Pixel2 XL:          358                         1506
Pixel3:             470                         1839
Pixel3 XL:          489                         1988
Pixel3a             343                         1297
Pixel3a XL:         349                         1312


So, this is by no means a perfect benchmark, but according to these figures on average the Pixel 3a is:

- 12.5% faster (ST) and 53% faster (MT) than first gen Pixel
- 3% slower (ST) and 13% slower (MT) than Pixel2
- 28% slower (ST) and 32% slower (MT) than Pixel 3

So, if these numbers are anywhere near accurate, it should be a slight upgrade over the first gen Pixel, and probably indistiguishably close to the Pixel 2.

With that, and the fact that you get analogue audio (which is awesome) and get to keep the fingerprint sensor means that to me, the 3a is probably a better phone than the yet to be launched 4, no matter what features they throw at it, at a much much lower price.

I'd only have two concerns:

1.) The performance of the 3a is clearly adequate for a w web/email type user like myself today, but what about in 2-3 years from now? Who knows what resource intensive crap Google is going to force on us in future Android updates

2.) How long will it keep getting security patches? With my first gen Pixel I didn't have a concern, because there are official LineageOS builds for it, so if it ever lost security patches, I could just hvae flashed LineageOS and gone on with my
life. No phone after the first gen Pixels has LineageOS support though. Maybe this is coming as they get closer to losing Google support, but who knows? There are no guarantees.

These are the things on my mind as I decide what I want to do.

My problem is that I am limited To Pixels and a handful of other devices because I want the full network switching compatibility with Google Fi. I don't like the direction Google is going with the Pixel 4, but the other fully supported phones are not perfect either.

I'm limited to:

Designed for Fi models
  • Pixel 3a (Fi and Google store versions)
  • Pixel 3a XL (Fi and Google store versions)
  • Pixel 3 (Fi and Google store versions)
  • Pixel 3 XL (Fi and Google store versions)
  • Pixel 2 (North American and rest of world versions)
  • Pixel 2 XL (North American and rest of world versions)
  • Pixel Model G-2PW4100 (North American version)
  • Pixel XL Model G-2PW2100 (North American version)
  • LG G7 ThinQ (Unlocked North American versions sold by retailers)
  • LG V35 ThinQ (Unlocked North American versions sold by retailers)
  • Moto G6 (Unlocked North American versions sold by retailers)
  • Moto G7 (Unlocked North American versions sold by retailers)
  • Android One Moto X4 (North American versions)
  • Nexus 5X Model LGH790 (North American version)
  • Nexus 6P Model H1511 (North American version)
  • Nexus 6 Model XT1103 (North American version)

The Nexus models are just too damned old at this point. Other than that I loved them.

In the Pixel family, anything older than a Pixel 3 is probably out of the question, and even the Pixel 3 and 3a are questionable from a duration of continued security patching support (as noted above)

The LG models seem pretty decent. They are a year old at this point, but I just don't trust LG to give me patches and updates. I'd totally dive in if there were official LineageOS support, but there isn't.

Motorola is just straight out. Too many security concerns with a device designed by the Chinese. It's bad enough we have to buy phones made in china, but ones designed there, that's just insanity. This could have been mitigated slightly if there were official LineageOS support, but there isn't.

So, I'm left with Pixel 3a, 3 or the upcoming 4.

Either of them could be usable, once the assistant is disabled, all cloud syncing is disabled, all privacy settings are maxed out, and the standard launcher is replaced with the Nova launcher.

Of these the 3a is my favorite as it retains both the fingerprint sensor and analogue audio out.
The 3 is probably next. No audio out, but at least a fingerprint sensor.
The 4 would likely be dead last here. I'd never use the FaceID. Too many awful concerns there including being added to a face ID database, so that would be completely disabled. The lack of fingerprint sensor is what kills it. I don't think I want to go back to the bad old days of entering a pin every time.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I have to wonder why they are putting high refresh screens in fucking phones.
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FWIW, which isn't much, I'd prefer if EVERY device had a refresh rate 100hz plus. I don't care much for gaming on my 165hz, as I rarely attain that framerate, but I fucking LOVE it for shit like opening and closing windows and moving things around.
(Edit: I noticed that moving windows around on my 165hz monitor freezes rainmeter while they're moving, it doesn't do that on my 4k60 monitors, interesting.)


Fuck, I wish movies would ditch 24FPS (or 23.9whatever) because i hate being able to see frames.
 
So if the Pixel 4 turns out to be not that great, I'm guessing the 7T or 7 Pro would be the next best?
 
kidstechno3 said:
So if the Pixel 4 turns out to be not that great, I'm guessing the 7T or 7 Pro would be the next best?
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Your choice I guess. I don't trust any of the Chinese designed phones at all.

One Plus, Huawei, Honor, Oppo, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Motorola, I wouldn't buy any of them no matter how cheap they get. I don't even want them on my network or in my house, my workplace, or really anywhere I am.

We know Chinese intelligence can order these companies to do pretty much anything they want them to. We also know China uses their state intelligence operation to steal technology from western companies.

It's not just a hypothetical either. OnePlus has been repeatedly caught sending user data to the Chinese government.

Using any of these brands with all the information that is out there is quite retardedly foolish.

The "I have nothing to hide" argument is completely pointless when your employer shuts down and you are without a job because the Chinese stole their designs and dumped them on the market with subsidized Government funding, like what happened with Solyndra.
 
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Zarathustra[H] said:
Your choice I guess. I don't trust any of the Chinese designed phones at all.

One Plus, Huawei, Honor, Oppo, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Motorola, I wouldn't buy any of them no matter how cheap they get. I don't even want them on my network or in my house, my workplace, or really anywhere I am.

We know Chinese intelligence can order these companies to do pretty much anything they want them to. We also know China uses their state intelligence operation to steal technology from western companies.

It's not just a hypothetical either. OnePlus has been repeatedly caught sending user data to the Chinese government.

Using any of these brands with all the information that is out there is quite retardedly foolish.

The "I have nothing to hide" argument is completely pointless when your employer shuts down and you are without a job because the Chinese stole their designs and dumped them on the market with subsidized Government funding, like what happened with Solyndra.
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Didn't even realize OnePlus originated in China. Good to know. Although from an article I found: " I'd still buy a Nokia-branded or OnePlus phone, because things were handled correctly and quickly once the problems were found. I just think it's important that we all understand what happened and don't think it somehow resembles things like Huawei and ZTE's troubles with the U.S. government." It seems like the sending data to China issue was fixed promptly after discovery, so I'm less worried about something like that. But nowadays even Google and Apple are bowing to Chinese demands, so all in all it's a little of pick your poison.
 
This is the Pixel 4 thread please take off topic discussions of Chinese data collecting elsewhere.
 
So, my summary of positives and negatives of the new Pixel 4 based on the latest pre-release info (I don't even want to call them rumors anymore, as so many of them are coming from Google themselves)

+ No notch
+ Possible audio port (included in artwork in today's PCWorld article, but who knows)
+ Faster CPU than previous gen
~ 6GB RAM is an improvement, but still less than Samsung
- 64GB Storage, and no expandable storage
- Large bezels by modern standards
- Battery life is only marginally improved (XL) and unchanged (non-XL) from previous gen
- Gone is the fingerprint sensor, replaced with face unlock which has both security and privacy concerns galore.
- More AI assistant bullshit
- Stupid gimmicks like gestures
- Astronomical price

It seems to me like they have removed some things I'd like to see, and raised the price over previous gens substantially.

And what do we get for that price? Stupid useless gimmicks like AI Assistant, Gestures and Face Unlock.

Google really have no idea what makes a good phone. (Hint, it's not gimmicks) They would really be well served by dropping all the AI foolishness and gimmicks and just focusing on making a solid phone, like they did back in the Nexus days.

I'm definitely passing on this one. It's looking more and more like I'll pick up a 3a. Hopefully they will be further discounted when the Pixel 4 launches. If the 3 is discounted enough I may even be tempted by one of those due to the faster CPU than the 3a, but the lack of audio port and that stupid notch make that a difficult decision.

Actually, never mind, the more sane sized little one (I don't want a phablet) doesn't have a notch, so that isn't part of the decision.

Also, WTF. A non-phablet phone is now 5.6"? That was the size of the XL not that long ago... Why do they keep getting bigger? Ugh.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
So, my summary of positives and negatives of the new Pixel 4 based on the latest pre-release info (I don't even want to call them rumors anymore, as so many of them are coming from Google themselves)

+ No notch
+ Possible audio port (included in artwork in today's PCWorld article, but who knows)
+ Faster CPU than previous gen
~ 6GB RAM is an improvement, but still less than Samsung
- 64GB Storage, and no expandable storage
- Large bezels by modern standards
- Battery life is only marginally improved (XL) and unchanged (non-XL) from previous gen
- Gone is the fingerprint sensor, replaced with face unlock which has both security and privacy concerns galore.
- More AI assistant bullshit
- Stupid gimmicks like gestures
- Astronomical price

It seems to me like they have removed some things I'd like to see, and raised the price over previous gens substantially.

And what do we get for that price? Stupid useless gimmicks like AI Assistant, Gestures and Face Unlock.

Google really have no idea what makes a good phone. (Hint, it's not gimmicks) They would really be well served by dropping all the AI foolishness and gimmicks and just focusing on making a solid phone, like they did back in the Nexus days.

I'm definitely passing on this one. It's looking more and more like I'll pick up a 3a. Hopefully they will be further discounted when the Pixel 4 launches. If the 3 is discounted enough I may even be tempted by one of those due to the faster CPU than the 3a, but the lack of audio port and that stupid notch make that a difficult decision.

Actually, never mind, the more sane sized little one (I don't want a phablet) doesn't have a notch, so that isn't part of the decision.

Also, WTF. A non-phablet phone is now 5.6"? That was the size of the XL not that long ago... Why do they keep getting bigger? Ugh.
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Gimmicks don't make a good phone but they sure do sell them. They spend a ton of money on research and marketing to sell phones. The gimmicks and the marketing behind it all is what sells products.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
So, my summary of positives and negatives of the new Pixel 4 based on the latest pre-release info (I don't even want to call them rumors anymore, as so many of them are coming from Google themselves)



And what do we get for that price? Stupid useless gimmicks like AI Assistant.

.
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So yeah, I will politely disagree with you as much as possible on this point. Google assistant is not a gimmick. It's by far one of my favorite tech developments of the last 5 years and has made my life so much easier. Every night as go to bed, I tell google one simple phrase, "okay google, goodnight", and in return, it locks my front door, sets my home alarm, turns off every bulb in the house, plays sweet relaxing rain sounds, and sets my morning wake up alarm." All that from 3 words. It's the tits. I would never go back. I use it for making calls, texts, reminders, controlling my smart TV, my roomba, and a thousand other things. It's not a gimmick, and has literally made my life much simpler and easier.

Maybe you don't use it but actual gimmicks are fads which quickly fall out of favor. I will wage you cold hard cash that AI assistants aren't going anywhere.

And you not caring about camera quality in your cell phone? Sorry but you represent probably less than 5% of the population. MOST people consider this a major selling point. The days of carrying around a point and shoot camera are long gone. For many, the reality that the best camera is the one you have on you and for most that's their cell camera. Maybe you walk around all the time with a fancy DSLR around your neck but that's not the norm for most people.


Getting this post back on point, I plan to buy a pixel 4 XL on day one. I had the original pixel and then a Pixel 2 XL. I skipped the 3 because it honestly didn't really seem like a huge upgrade and I was still really happy with my 2. A couple month's ago I lost my pixel 2xl out on the lake and I've been using my OG pixel and I'm really anxious to get my hands on the newest one.

Does it look like a perfect phone? Far from it. Like most I wish the battery was bigger but 3700 mah should be at least okay. The reality is that I have a charger at my work desk, in my car and at home and there's little reason for me to run out of battery. Pixel's have never been about having the best specs, but rather the user experience. They're the first android phones I've used that still feel snappy and fast even after years of use. That's become REALLY important to me. Having a laggy phone is a huge turn off for me. In that sense, I appreciate the bump to 90hz. It makes for a very smooth user experience. Not a gimmick IMO. Also, even though I wasn't initially a huge cell phone picture taker a few years ago, I've since become a much heavier picture taker BECAUSE of owning pixels. They take amazing photos, and I've gotten so many compliments on my phone's pictures over the years. That's a selling point.

The whole bench mark comparison era is pretty meaningless these days. Almost all phones are fast enough to execute 99% of most applications reasonably well. It's the software experience that differentiates how enjoyable a phone is to use and Pixel's excel in this area.

Anyway, if you want, I'll sell you a white 128gb Pixel generation 1 for $40 bucks in a couple weeks after I get my hands on a Pixel 4 XL. :)
 
Johnny78 said:
So yeah, I will politely disagree with you as much as possible on this point. Google assistant is not a gimmick. It's by far one of my favorite tech developments of the last 5 years and has made my life so much easier. Every night as go to bed, I tell google one simple phrase, "okay google, goodnight", and in return, it locks my front door, sets my home alarm, turns off every bulb in the house, plays sweet relaxing rain sounds, and sets my morning wake up alarm." All that from 3 words. It's the tits. I would never go back. I use it for making calls, texts, reminders, controlling my smart TV, my roomba, and a thousand other things. It's not a gimmick, and has literally made my life much simpler and easier.

Maybe you don't use it but actual gimmicks are fads which quickly fall out of favor. I will wage you cold hard cash that AI assistants aren't going anywhere.

And you not caring about camera quality in your cell phone? Sorry but you represent probably less than 5% of the population. MOST people consider this a major selling point. The days of carrying around a point and shoot camera are long gone. For many, the reality that the best camera is the one you have on you and for most that's their cell camera. Maybe you walk around all the time with a fancy DSLR around your neck but that's not the norm for most people.


Getting this post back on point, I plan to buy a pixel 4 XL on day one. I had the original pixel and then a Pixel 2 XL. I skipped the 3 because it honestly didn't really seem like a huge upgrade and I was still really happy with my 2. A couple month's ago I lost my pixel 2xl out on the lake and I've been using my OG pixel and I'm really anxious to get my hands on the newest one.

Does it look like a perfect phone? Far from it. Like most I wish the battery was bigger but 3700 mah should be at least okay. The reality is that I have a charger at my work desk, in my car and at home and there's little reason for me to run out of battery. Pixel's have never been about having the best specs, but rather the user experience. They're the first android phones I've used that still feel snappy and fast even after years of use. That's become REALLY important to me. Having a laggy phone is a huge turn off for me. In that sense, I appreciate the bump to 90hz. It makes for a very smooth user experience. Not a gimmick IMO. Also, even though I wasn't initially a huge cell phone picture taker a few years ago, I've since become a much heavier picture taker BECAUSE of owning pixels. They take amazing photos, and I've gotten so many compliments on my phone's pictures over the years. That's a selling point.

The whole bench mark comparison era is pretty meaningless these days. Almost all phones are fast enough to execute 99% of most applications reasonably well. It's the software experience that differentiates how enjoyable a phone is to use and Pixel's excel in this area.

Anyway, if you want, I'll sell you a white 128gb Pixel generation 1 for $40 bucks in a couple weeks after I get my hands on a Pixel 4 XL. :)
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I can't picture myself ever using it. The less AI and cloud in my life the better.

I find voice recognition technology really just to be a nuisance. Rather than deal with figuring out how to dictate something, have it be interpreted wrong, have to figure out the voice commands to correct it, etc. etc. I'd much rather just type something. To me it really is a gimmick. Something that is cool to play with for 5 minutes, but in the end is more of a hassle than it is worth and never gets used.

I really don't want voice commands on anything I own. In fact, I consider it something I would reject outright, because if something is always listening, the temptation to use that data is way to great for any company to pass on. It's cool to play Star Trek for a few minutes when I first get the phone and marvel at how far te3chnology has come, but then I never use these features again. So, at least for me, a gimmick.

I'd really love phones to be more like my desktop PC was in 2003, in that it never did anything, including accessing the internet, without me explicitly telling me to.

I am so effing tired of AI trying to guess what I want and getting it wrong time and time again.
 
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I love my google assistant. We have a google home in most rooms in my house, but easily within earshot of every room. So convenient. I use it daily, same with voice commands when I drive and I drive A LOT.

The only thing about the specs that worries me, if true, is I don't want face ID detection exclusively, this is mostly because I routinely wake up and use my phone in a way that I have no interest looking at the screen, and the unlikely only 64GB of storage, considering I was hoping for at least 256 GB.

Better camera is the biggest selling point, Unlimited cloud google photo storage combined with the image quality of the pixel line thus far is part of what's keeping me with them, not to mention we have a whole google household and use Project Fi, so its just easier.

Pretty much every thing you "don't want"
I do.
I want and expect google to listen to every single damn thing I do and react accordingly, I want cloud backups so that if I get a new device or log onto anything everything I need is right there. That's the future, I want the future now.

I don't give a fuck about privacy, I knew that was gone years ago, might as well make the data overlords do something for me instead of acting like its the 1950s.
 
TheSlySyl said:
I don't give a fuck about privacy, I knew that was gone years ago, might as well make the data overlords do something for me instead of acting like its the 1950s.
Click to expand...

And with that, the creepy tech companies have won.

Their strategy of incrementally crossing the line over and over again until we all become numb about our fundamental rights to privacy has succeeded.

It makes me sick to my stomach.

Privacy is not worth giving up for anything. No amount of money, service or benefit is worth trading away privacy.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
And with that, the creepy tech companies have won.

Their strategy of incrementally crossing the line over and over again until we all become numb about our fundamental rights to privacy has succeeded.

It makes me sick to my stomach.

Privacy is not worth giving up for anything. No amount of money, service or benefit is worth trading away privacy.
Click to expand...

Well you don't have much of a choice other than iOS then if you're truly concerned about privacy, IMO. Of course Apple can probably still see a lot of your activity, but I would trust them more to protect and handle my data responsibly than I would Google or any other OEM. This is coming from someone who's never owned an Apple device as well.
 
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