Google Pixel 3

Jack up the prices, remove the headphone jack, and now add a notch?

Yeah, it's pretty clear that the Pixel's looking more and more like the iPhone of Android, and not for the better.

I can only hope that they got their screen QC act together this time. Pixel 2 XL buyers deserved better for the price - much better.

And yeah, I'm with everyone else in saying that they shouldn't be shipping with just 4 GB of RAM when similarly-priced phones can offer 6 GB or even 8 GB. Sure, you may not need it now, but think two or three years down the line, after software updates.

Also consider that USB-C desktop/laptop docks may become more of a thing, and we'll want better multitasking to go with a bigger screen. That takes more RAM.
 
NamelessPFG said:
Jack up the prices, remove the headphone jack, and now add a notch?

Yeah, it's pretty clear that the Pixel's looking more and more like the iPhone of Android, and not for the better.

I can only hope that they got their screen QC act together this time. Pixel 2 XL buyers deserved better for the price - much better.

And yeah, I'm with everyone else in saying that they shouldn't be shipping with just 4 GB of RAM when similarly-priced phones can offer 6 GB or even 8 GB. Sure, you may not need it now, but think two or three years down the line, after software updates.

Also consider that USB-C desktop/laptop docks may become more of a thing, and we'll want better multitasking to go with a bigger screen. That takes more RAM.
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The prices, at least, I can understand.

So many people act as if the Nexus-era pricing represented the 'real' price of Google's phones, and that the higher-priced Pixel phones are somehow a temporary error that Google will fix. Sorry, folks, those Nexus days are never coming back, and probably shouldn't. You know what barely-above-cost pricing meant? It meant low manufacturing numbers. It meant that Google couldn't push the boundaries of hardware features as much as it might like. It led to reluctant hardware partners. And it meant that few people outside of developers and hardcore enthusiasts knew that Google even had its own phones. You want to spread the gospels of stock Android and AI-based camera photography? Don't be surprised if the price goes up.

After that? Well, the notch I can sort of understand (Android P includes notch support, so Google wants to show how it's done), but the lack of a headphone jack feels somewhat arbitrary since Google hasn't had particular reasons to do it. Even Apple could point to its advanced haptic engine as a decent excuse. More RAM would be nice, although mainly on the Pixel 3 XL -- the regular Pixel 3 may be helped somewhat by having a lower resolution than, say the Galaxy S9.
 
Aurelius said:
The prices, at least, I can understand.

So many people act as if the Nexus-era pricing represented the 'real' price of Google's phones, and that the higher-priced Pixel phones are somehow a temporary error that Google will fix. Sorry, folks, those Nexus days are never coming back, and probably shouldn't. You know what barely-above-cost pricing meant? It meant low manufacturing numbers. It meant that Google couldn't push the boundaries of hardware features as much as it might like. It led to reluctant hardware partners. And it meant that few people outside of developers and hardcore enthusiasts knew that Google even had its own phones. You want to spread the gospels of stock Android and AI-based camera photography? Don't be surprised if the price goes up.

After that? Well, the notch I can sort of understand (Android P includes notch support, so Google wants to show how it's done), but the lack of a headphone jack feels somewhat arbitrary since Google hasn't had particular reasons to do it. Even Apple could point to its advanced haptic engine as a decent excuse. More RAM would be nice, although mainly on the Pixel 3 XL -- the regular Pixel 3 may be helped somewhat by having a lower resolution than, say the Galaxy S9.
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I agree with R&D and pricing part.
There's a lot of discussions about 3.5mm jack, well, I have good wired IEM's, but with a proper dongle (I'm using Essential Ph1 with cirrus DAC dongle, it's excellent), I don't really miss analogue jack. I don't charge and listen to music, it's not that big a deal to me. ( though "Essential" phone without jack is..yeah, essential lol, the phone is excellent anyway).
I think, at this point, since iPhone 6, we will see analog jack redundant in a few years, at least from major players, even ones, that still implements it.
Wireless setup is neat, but still light years behind of any proper wired setup. Major players could accelerate progress on that, not the notch.

About RAM...4GB for stock android is more than enough. With P, that could change a little, but seeing google's example, I'd be safe to say, it's enough.
We see crazy desktop-like ram size on skinned phones (sammy/etc.), because they, for years, don't optimize their UI properly.
 
I feel like the notches these days on all the new phones are just a fad. While you do get increased usable screen area because the notif bar is moved as far up as possible, I get less info on the notif bar because it lacks the room it had with a traditional screen. Now I get the +1, +2 indicators to tell me I need to pull it down to get the full picture of what's really going on instead of just glancing at the notif bar. Maybe I'm weird..
 
Leaked Google Pixel 3 XL production unit photos with USB-C headphones.

https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/...-3-xl-production-unit-leak-usb-c-earbuds-box/

I can't get over the size of that notch. I'd rather have a wider one like on the iPhone X than a fatter one that goes deeper into the screen like with this phone.

Also, only 4GB of RAM. That's a fucking shame in a new Android flagship in 2018 that will likely cost nearly a grand again.
 
Wow.. makes me glad I got my 2 XL when I did, as there's absolutely no reason whatsoever to consider the 3 XL if that's the real deal. It takes a bit more than a negligible (in real world performance) SoC upgrade and wireless charging to stay competitive these days, Google. If I were in the market for a new phone when it launched, I would definitely take the smaller Pixel 3 over that if they put at least a 3,000 mAh battery in it this time. But watch them keep the battery sizes around the same, which would prompt me to just get the older 2 XL instead, considering I'm still getting 6+ hours of SoT on mine in over a day's time frame.

Screenshot_20180806-233326.png

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It's super obvious at this point that the Pixel team doesn't really prioritize hardware design. Behind the scenes, they're probably just tweaking leftover designs from other OEMs like they have for years. It was the same way with Nexus, but at least those were half the cost, so compromises were much more palatable.

Pixel is just a vessel for the best software experience on the market, and you're along for the ride on every other facet of the devices. At least the cameras are world class, but that alone doesn't make me want to spend $800+. I recently picked up an OG XL and see absolutely no reason I'll be upgrading within the next 12 months. With the RAM staying constant three years in a row, I doubt performance differences between Pixel 1-2-3 will even be perceptible for mundane daily tasks and multitasking.
 
On the Pixel 4 I've heard the notch will extend to the bottom of the frame.

9214379297_eb46a1fb57.jpg


Android version will be called Split.
 
brettjrob said:
It's super obvious at this point that the Pixel team doesn't really prioritize hardware design. Behind the scenes, they're probably just tweaking leftover designs from other OEMs like they have for years.
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The 'Pixel team' is basically HTC. Of course, it's now Googlized HTC.
 
Well the jump from GS3 to GS4 OLED quality was pretty large. If LG goes to near GS5 levels it would go a long way (the Pixel 2 XL panel, if you got a "good" one, is sadly closer to GS3 quality).
 
Honestly, I'd probably get a discounted Pixel 2 XL or a regular Pixel 3 over the 3 XL based on leaks so far. Everything I've seen so far has disappointed me about the new XL. The standard 3 may be where it's at.

I'm most eager to hear about the camera though.
 
I've said this for years that the Nexus program and even the higher-end Pixel program it's just a pet project made in Google's basement, that they throw a small amount of cash to the nerds working down there, and don't really care what they come up with, as long as it's a cool smartphone.

But those nerds are probably handcuffed with what they can do on a small budget their given, working out of Alphabet's basement, to design and program these phones themselves.

Google doesn't care, they don't make their big money off selling phones. Unlike Apple and Samsung which absolutely do.

The Pixel phones to Google is just a side project, just something to do for fun, not super serious.

The Verizon carrier exclusive, a third year in a row means they aren't serious. At this point the Pixel 3 should be available on Verizon, ATT, T-Mobile, and Sprint, just like the iPhone X is and Galaxy S9 are. That's how you sell a **** ton of phones. And this being the third year for Pixel now, Google should be prepared for that. But they don't care.
 
Yeah year 3 of more compromises while charging a premium price lmao. I bought my Pixel used and I'm damn glad I did. Full price for this is highway robbery. The Pixel 1 already has great optics, and nothing about the 2/2XL were compelling the move on to - and certainly not at the expense of a headphone jack.
I'm expecting to be underwhelmed yet again in October.
 
exlink said:
Honestly, I'd probably get a discounted Pixel 2 XL or a regular Pixel 3 over the 3 XL based on leaks so far. Everything I've seen so far has disappointed me about the new XL. The standard 3 may be where it's at.
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I am surprised that I've remained happy with my OG Pixel. Wanted a smaller phone after a string of Notes, which had features I wanted but literally never used, and haven't gotten the upgrade bug from the current phone- only really interested in checking out new tech more than anything else.

The standard 3 is also what I'm looking at, if/when I feel like upgrading. I will also say that the removal of the headphone jack is a bit annoying here, and that I look forward to seeing how transparent solutions can be made...
 
Zorachus said:
The Verizon carrier exclusive
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I believe they're selling it on Google Fi as well- kind of a duh thing, but worth mentioning- especially since Fi seems to use an amalgamation of networks for its limited coverage.

I damn near went with Fi too, until I saw the coverage maps and just decided that I was going to move to 'as good as I can get', i.e. Verizon.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
I believe they're selling it on Google Fi as well- kind of a duh thing, but worth mentioning- especially since Fi seems to use an amalgamation of networks for its limited coverage.

I damn near went with Fi too, until I saw the coverage maps and just decided that I was going to move to 'as good as I can get', i.e. Verizon.
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I bought my Pixel 2 XL direct through Google, but my point is, if Google truly is serious about phone sales, they would put them on all 4 major U.S. carriers. Verizon has like 90 million customers or so, but ATT, T-Mobile, and Sprint would be another 175 million customers for them to attract.

Imagine if Samsung only sold their Galaxy S9 through Verizon only, and every one else had to pay the $1,000 price tag out of pocket ? Their sales would plummet and they would lose billions.
 
Google isn't remotely interested in making the Pixel sell like the Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phone, that's just not there game plan here.

Google just isn't serious about phone hardware sales, that's just not their thing. To be honest we're lucky we even get the Pixel still I could just see them pulling the plug on it saying yeah we spend a lot of money on this division and don't sell a lot of them so yeah it's a wash we're just going to bow out of it.


I don't buy into the idea that Google can't manufacture enough phones like Apple or Samsung? Of course not that manyI I understand that, but at this point three years into the Pixel line and like 6 years after Nexus phones. Google isn't a mom and pop shop, they are a billion-dollar Corporation, I'm sure they could figure out a way to produce 10 or 20 million phones instead of just a couple million .

This isn't Google's first rodeo, they've been involved with smartphone production since the Nexus One, I know small that was, but they have real world experience in being in the hardware manufacturing business relationship. And they are a gigantic company, I'm sure after all this time with Nexus and now Pixel they could make it happen if they wanted. I don't think they care to.

I'm done giving Google excuses, no more cutting them slack. They are big boys, in this market.
 
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I wish we had a true third option in the market now, besides iPhone and Android.

Too bad Microsoft couldn't pull it together and really hit a home run. Or someone else ?

But for me as far as Android goes, it's Pixel or OnePlus phones only. I can't go back to manufactured UI's like Touchwiz or Sense anymore.

And iPhone if JB only. The iPhone XS Plus if there's a stable untethered Jailbreak release would tempt me back to iPhone
 
I don't think a company just goes and ya know, buys HTC, if they aren't serious about phones. Google offers payment plans on their phones from the Google store. Interest free, too.

When the iPhone came out it was an AT&T exclusive, and truly an AT&T exclusive, not just sales,for I think the first two years? That's a long time, and the iPhone was not considered a pet project.

It did kind of seem that way with Nexus but I don't think that's the case with Nexus. For all we know Verizon was the only one lenient enough about carrier add on to meet Google's standards, or maybe Verizon just offered them a ton of cash.

It is kind of a shame that more people aren't aware of the Pixels though.
 
I'm no Apple fan but I'll give him credit when they first entered the cell phone market in 2008 with an iPhone they weren't sure how it would do it was only on one carrier fast forward to just three years later with the iPhone 3GS it was a major success by then and that was the best smartphone available for its time and it's sold millions and millions of devices only being on one carrier and was extremely Popular by that time.

my point being let's say this is Google's third-year only into the smartphone market on their own is the pixel 3 nearly as popular as the iPhone 3GS was for its time? Not even fucking close so what's Google's excuse there are no mom and pop small shop there a billion-dollar Corporation why can't they get it together?
 
Wow.. Z. Three posts in a row!

But other Z... Hehe, iPhone was originally an AT&T exclusive past the first year because it's a Steve Jobs revenge thing. Sprint was the first carrier that Steve wanted the iPhone to go on, because CDMA would save space on the board from SIM cards; and that Sprint being small, Steve thought he had leverage. He then talked to Verizon, and they laughed at him saying the phone won't sell. As it turned out AT&T, the biggest at the time was the only one excited about it, and told Steve that they'll let him do whatever he wants. So there's a difference!

Back to regular Z, as far as the third option, the issue will always be third party developer support. Heck, Google Home can't even get enough support cause they were a year late to the Amazon Echo Alexa party. Amazon paid a lot of money that first year to get developers to make Alexa integrated apps. Right now, the only way we could possibly get a third option is if someone/company makes a disruptive communication product.

Let's brainstorm and come up with a disruptive [H] communication device!
 
Who else here is disappointed in the rumored 4gb of ram on the new pixel 3? Everything else seems the same as pixel 2 except for 845 snapdragon and the notched screen.

What incentive is there to upgrade for this mesially upgrade that'll cost consumers probably $500 on top of selling their pixel 2?

Now these are still not official specs, however if true, that's pretty damn pathetic for a 2018 flagship Phone. I read the Galaxy note 9 will get a 6gb and 8gb ram option.

Google always drops the ball and gimps something every damn time. The pixel 2 was plagued by a sub par screen while the 3 will have marginal ram for the price point. It'll be sufficient, yes, however is not enough compared to the competition.
 
I don't think I care about the RAM. If Google thinks 4gb will deliver a flagship experience, I'm good. I am not a fan of the notch but I doubt I'll care when I start using it. I just hope it is justified by a useful feature and not a notch for the sake of a notch...

Personally I loved my Pixel XL. I actually kind of hate my Pixel 2 XL.

The screen isn't the greatest, especially compared to previous phones, blue shift, bad bad bad black crush on anything less than half brightness etc.

The speakers are hot garbage. Worse phone speakers of any phone I have owned since a blackberry curve... Vibrating, rattling, major difference in sound between top and bottom, poor bass response. It's amazing how much better the Pixel XL speakers are...

No headphone jack sucks. I loved using my Shure IEMs but I'm not OK with using a dongle in my charging port while I carry it in my pocket. I'd rather not ruin the port or break a dongle... So Bluetooth is where it's at now. Pixel Buds sound like trash, Google assistant doesnt even work with them anymore, probably a software issue on the phone...

I'll probably get the Pixel 3 XL because Google is still the only OEM I can count on to take care of security updates and release Android OS updates... That is why I am probably going to hang in there for one more gen and see what happens. I just need to get off of this Pixel 2 XL ASAP... I do love the unlimited Google Photos storage a lot too...
 
The point is your paying 2018 pricing for 2017 hardware / specs. Google will charge premium pricing when the competition will have better specs. THATS the problem I have however still deciding if having a google with the latest greatest software out ways that.
 

Looks like the bottom is only rounded because of the launcher. Once apps launch, it'll be right angles. Better than the GS8/9 in that regard!
 
CHANG3D said:

Looks like the bottom is only rounded because of the launcher. Once apps launch, it'll be right angles. Better than the GS8/9 in that regard!
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It appears those right angles come at a significant cost to screen real estate. Not sure what some people's obsessions with right angles are; I've had an iPhone X since launch and have had zero issues with rounded corners.
 
You know those movies where they try to copy a mutant or super hero using its dna or following the same process that gave the original person super powers? Remember how they always come out retarded and deformed? That’s what I imagine google did with the already ugly IPhone X. This thing his hideous. It’s like a caricature of the iPhone X that exaggerates everything ugly about it.
 
AltTabbins said:
Yeah its actually a huge deal. MKBHD even made a video about it. Its so bad that he doesn't like using the Pixel anymore.
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This doesn't really answer the question.

Is 4GB actually a limitation, or are people bitching about spec-sheet e-peen?

If it is a limitation, how much does it take to degrade the experience?

And is the phone not expected to function as a phone with just 4GB?
 
IdiotInCharge said:
This doesn't really answer the question.

Is 4GB actually a limitation, or are people bitching about spec-sheet e-peen?

If it is a limitation, how much does it take to degrade the experience?

And is the phone not expected to function as a phone with just 4GB?
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MKHBD is a millionaire $$ YouTube star. He gets every new phone released delivered to him to use and review. Probably gets like 20+ new smartphones a year.

He's not a guy to take real world advice. He might see 1/10th of a second microstutter and call that major lag. Because he's just in that business, seeing everything out there.

Sure he says the OnePlus 6 is a smoother faster phone, and it very well may be. But it's also a 2018 phone with the newest Snapdragon processor and more RAM then the Pixel 2 which is a 2017 phone.

And the OnePlus has always run a more tweaked souped up version of stock Android, compared to what stock Pixel is.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
This doesn't really answer the question.

Is 4GB actually a limitation, or are people bitching about spec-sheet e-peen?

If it is a limitation, how much does it take to degrade the experience?

And is the phone not expected to function as a phone with just 4GB?
Click to expand...

As of now I don't think its a limitation for most. The question is will it be a year or year and a half from now.

I'm still on a pixel 1 and want to upgrade.

As Canon said google is the only OEM that you know is going to get you android updates. Overall android has gotten a lot better but I've seen a lot of issues over the years with phones having major issues that a software update fixes that the phone will never get. I wish the pixel 3 would have 6 or 8 gigs of ram to help it hopefully be more future proof but as of now it isn't something that I think will stop me from buying it.
 
Well, I'm with you on the Pixel- though I'm not in a hurry to upgrade. It does everything I want it to do, and it still has a headphone jack.

I'm just not seeing the issue with memory. Either the phone has enough for the user or it doesn't, and generally speaking, just using the phone as a communications device I can't see 4GB vs 6GB+ being an issue.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
I keep seeing comments about RAM-

is this actually a problem for people?
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For me, it's less about it being a limitation than it is paying the premium Google is charging for their hardware when basically all of their competition (besides iOS devices that aren't directly comparable in this regard) are putting 6+ GBs RAM in their phones at the same price or significantly less. So basically Google needs to be more competitive with their hardware for what they're charging for it, esp. given that they seem to be following Apple's strategy of "less is more" in terms of specs and additional hardware features without even having the benefit that Apple does with their custom SoCs that blow everything else out of the water for at least a year after they're released.

But yes, there is a tangible difference in real world performance as well for some power users as well when some of their apps have to be reloaded because of the 4 GB RAM limitation. Personally, I have been fine with my Pixel 2 XL's performance, but I already had a hard enough time justifying buying it with a 20% off coupon from Google too with its existing (although minor - lack of headphone jack, wireless charging, and POLED issues) hardware limitations and issues. I doubt the RAM itself will be a deal breaker by itself for most people still, but it's just another consideration people will likely take into account before deciding to buy this $850+ device or not.
 
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