Google Pixel 3

C

CHANG3D

Supreme [H]ardness
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Here's our first look at the upcoming post-HTC full-Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL

google-pixel-3-xl-design.jpg
http://bgr.com/2018/05/29/pixel-3-leaks-and-rumors-pixel-3-xl-photo/

IMG_20180808_123632_280.jpg


I like the look of the smaller model render better. I never liked notches with chins.
 
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Honestly, notches are kind of the best outcome at the moment.

Until we can find a solid way to deal with the front camera, and the speaker/mic effectively, it is adding more screen space, and it can be used somewhat effectively.

I thought it was dumb until i got my iPhone X, and now I think it honestly is a pretty solid decision.
 
Keep in mind that these renders are still based off rumors; namely tempered glass screen protectors.

If the actual phones are as shown in these renders then I will likely be picking up the regular Pixel 3 as my work phone. I have a feeling it'll be the same size as the iPhone X which in my opinion is the perfect size; and this is coming from someone who owned the 6 Plus, 6S Plus, and 7 Plus. Nothing like being able to fit the phone comfortably in your pocket or any cup holder in a car. :D
 
I'm interested as a replacement to my first gen pixel. Did they fix the radio on the second one? I have a work iphone and my personal pixel both on att. The iphone is so much better at keeping signal.
 
As a "dude" I never ever used my front facing camera, ever.

BTW, I love my Google Pixel 2 XL
 
I’m fine with a notch - but only if it makes sense. They have an area on the bottom that isn’t screen. If it isn’t full screen why bother with a notch?
 
Mchart said:
I’m fine with a notch - but only if it makes sense. They have an area on the bottom that isn’t screen. If it isn’t full screen why bother with a notch?
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exactly if you're going to notch it, then make it symmetrical and ditch the chin. What's the point if you designed it for people to hide the notch with black bars? What's the point if there's enough space on the chin to hold the front facing cameras? Notches are fine in my book. But stop it with the chins!
 
Looks impressive and I hope the rumor holds up since both models actually would look good this year.
 
Can't wait! My Pixel 1 has been crapping out with 8.1 and even P. Pixel 3 is my next phone of choice!
 
Mchart said:
I’m fine with a notch - but only if it makes sense. They have an area on the bottom that isn’t screen. If it isn’t full screen why bother with a notch?
Click to expand...

CHANG3D said:
exactly if you're going to notch it, then make it symmetrical and ditch the chin. What's the point if you designed it for people to hide the notch with black bars? What's the point if there's enough space on the chin to hold the front facing cameras? Notches are fine in my book. But stop it with the chins!
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They're keeping the front facing speakers, which I have to say I'm a big fan of and am really glad they are, so I'd say there has to be a bit of a chin there to accommodate that. I'll gladly accept that small amount of bezel for front facing speakers, as that has been one of the bigger attractions for me for my past two phones (One M8 and Nexus 6P) and current phone (Pixel 2 XL).

I'd definitely rather them keep the same no-notch design like the Pixel 3 there or current 2 XL, but as long as they implement it properly where it's not going to cut into landscape videos (like on the iPhone X) and hopfully give you the option to hide it like on the Oneplus 6, I can get over it quickly.

I wonder what the size of the Pixel 3 will be compared to the current 2 XL though; they look like they could be similar size in that render if the Pixel 3 XL is that much larger. It's hard to tell though without any measurements. I also hope they'll be able to source Samsung AMOLED panels for both phones this time, as I'm sure they learned their lesson with the POLED fiasco in the 2 XL (although they seem to be much better now - my 2 XL's display seems great to me).
 
T4rd said:
They're keeping the front facing speakers, which I have to say I'm a big fan of and am really glad they are, so I'd say there has to be a bit of a chin there to accommodate that. I'll gladly accept that small amount of bezel for front facing speakers, as that has been one of the bigger attractions for me for my past two phones (One M8 and Nexus 6P) and current phone (Pixel 2 XL).

I'd definitely rather them keep the same no-notch design like the Pixel 3 there or current 2 XL, but as long as they implement it properly where it's not going to cut into landscape videos (like on the iPhone X) and hopfully give you the option to hide it like on the Oneplus 6, I can get over it quickly.

I wonder what the size of the Pixel 3 will be compared to the current 2 XL though; they look like they could be similar size in that render if the Pixel 3 XL is that much larger. It's hard to tell though without any measurements. I also hope they'll be able to source Samsung AMOLED panels for both phones this time, as I'm sure they learned their lesson with the POLED fiasco in the 2 XL (although they seem to be much better now - my 2 XL's display seems great to me).
Click to expand...

I definitely hope they go back to Samsung AMOLED but I had a Pixel 2XL it wasn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be. It wasn't the best but it was good.

defaultluser said:
I'm definitely up for a pixel 3. Especially if they upgraded to 6GB ram.
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I think that it is highly unlikely. If any model would get the extra ram it would be the Pixel 3XL.
 
I hope they improve the quality of the speakers and the screen on the Pixel 3... Really those are my two main complaints about my Pixel 2 XL compared to my Pixel XL... It felt like a step back to me.

I appreciate the additional screen real estate and like the look and feel of the phone otherwise... But those terrible crackly speakers are pretty inexcusable on a flagship. I see the blue shift and it doesn't bother me much day to day, but man, the black crush is horrible when you don't run the display with the brightness cranked...
 
Canon said:
I hope they improve the quality of the speakers and the screen on the Pixel 3... Really those are my two main complaints about my Pixel 2 XL compared to my Pixel XL... It felt like a step back to me.

I appreciate the additional screen real estate and like the look and feel of the phone otherwise... But those terrible crackly speakers are pretty inexcusable on a flagship. I see the blue shift and it doesn't bother me much day to day, but man, the black crush is horrible when you don't run the display with the brightness cranked...
Click to expand...

I think the cracking speakers may be a defect on some. I haven't heard any cracking or popping at all on mine at max volume (which I do play music through the speakers occasionally), but I've seen some others complain about it as well.
 
T4rd said:
I think the cracking speakers may be a defect on some. I haven't heard any cracking or popping at all on mine at max volume (which I do play music through the speakers occasionally), but I've seen some others complain about it as well.
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I see people complain about it but mine are perfect even at full volume. I love the front facing speakers.
 
ChronoReverse said:
I see people complain about it but mine are perfect even at full volume. I love the front facing speakers.
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That's definitely a feature I miss. I gave my Pixel 2XL to my brother since his previous phone was broken and I had a spare phone the iPhone 8 Plus. I definitely miss the front firing speakers and never had any issues with my device.
 
If anyone has ever had front facing speakers knows that they are 100x times better the down shooting ones. I miss my HTC m8 so much because of its front facing speakers. I need them again in my life.
 
At this point, I really don't care about the notch either way, but that one does seem a bit too tall/deep into the display. Also, it's odd that they're still sticking with 4GBs of RAM, which may be fine still for performance, but when most other flagships are putting 6-8GBs of RAM in their phones and for the price they're charging for these things now, I think it should have 6GBs minimum.

Regardless, I plan on keeping my 2 XL at least 18-24 months per my usual phone cycle, so maybe the 4 XL will fix these already apparent shortcomings.
 
Seems like little more than an incremental upgrade over the 2/2XL. Glass back bothers me a lot more than the notch. On the positive side, no real incentive to spend another $900+ on a new phone this year.
 
The 4GB of RAM is a let down for a flagship considering nearly every other new flagship is shipping with at least 6GB. But they might decide to increase it before the phone goes into mass production.

If the regular Pixel 3 still comes in at $649 then I'll probably pick it up.
 
I really hope that 4gb of RAM is either a lower end model and/or an engineering sample thing that will be upgraded before retail. Especially with Pixel prices, they cannot afford to wimp out on specs and features. Galaxy S9 / S9+ has 6gb/RAM , the OnePlus 6 has 6gb on the LOW end and 8gb as an option, as does the Razer Phone which also offers an 8gb RAM option. 4gb would be a major let down for a flagship device, especially if they're going to not just price it at iPhone levels but from what those are rumoring, around iPhone X levels!

I'm definitely in the market for a new device and the Pixel 3 (highest end model whatever that may be) is certainly in the running. I'm still using my Nexus 6 which thrives thanks to its open ecosystem of hackers, custom ROMs, and its "pure Google, non skinned nonsense or proprietary apps" standard even on stock. A family member of mine checked out the Galaxy S9+ and overall its a decent device, but all of the proprietary Samsung crap, TouchWiz UI, and its Knox bootloader lock means it will be of little use to me. I really hope the Pixel 3 is everything and more considering how so many other devices seem to be decent, yet have some glaring flaw. For instance, the OnePlus 6 looks pretty nice on paper but there is zero reason to not support wireless charging on such a high end device in 2018!

More than just the tech specs and feature I am concerned about the Pixel's purchase options. Right now, Google has seemingly faceplanted in this regard, at least in my opinion. They've made an exclusive deal with Verizon Wireless - VERIZON - so that's the only way to pick one up through the carrier and I'll be damned if I'm going to switch back to that catastrophe. Hopefully with the Pixel 3 they'll not make any exclusive deal but make it available to all carriers, but if they had to choose at least one I don't understand why it isn't T-Mobile (or perhaps Sprint, but most likely T-Mobile) given that T-Mobile has long been the most open and Android-friendly carrier around of the major labels; they were even the place where the very first Android phones were sold back when iPhones were ATT exclusives!

However, regardless of what they do with carriers Google's direct from the Google Store financing option is lamentable. Consider that Apple - even Apple! - now has a carrier-independent "iPhone Forever" program where you get AppleCare + any iPhone you want, paid via monthly payments AND after either 6 months or a year you can upgrade to the latest version at no charge by simply handing the old one back in. Given the way that ALL manufacturers are increasing the price of their devices and generally reducing the amount of real support they get, it seems more and more like a 0% interest "leasing" system is the best way to go about it instead of being stuck with paying $800+ for a device that will quickly devalue and may not even get proper trade-in credit vs selling it on your own etc. However, as of the Pixel 2 last year, Google Store Financing did offer 0%APR for 24 monthjs but they missed a very critical factor - you still had to pay off the full cost of the bloody device! There was no promise that you could turn it in for the Pixel 3 with nothing more to pay etc... just a vague suggestion that you'd get "store credit for trade in" but who knows what that may cover! If Google can't complain about underwhelming sales if they only sell the Pixel through Verizon and have a piss-poor full-term financing on what is then an outdated device. These few small changes would probably change Pixel adoption significantly.

Ultimately I'm most interested in an open, "hacker friendly" device with high end specs and features so Pixel may on my short list...lets just hope they've learned from the past!
 
Thing is - you don't need more than 4gb on an android phone at the moment -6gig is nice if you're gaming or multitasking a lot, and above that is just obscene.
 
More memory -> less battery life; I'd prefer that they balanced it out. Your phone can only do so much at a time.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
More memory -> less battery life; I'd prefer that they balanced it out. Your phone can only do so much at a time.
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Yeah, citation needed on that one; I'm not buying it at least. Recent OnePlus phones with 6-8 GBs of RAM have been matching or beating competing Pixel and Samsung phones with similar sized batteries. If you're actively using your phone in a way that will use that additional RAM, then I might believe it in that situation, in which case is justified since your phone is still meeting your demands at that moment and using (negligibly) more battery/resources is of course going to come along with that. Otherwise, when you're using the phone in a less demanding state, it's not going to be using any additional battery still just because that extra RAM is available, because the OS is still going to manage/kill background apps that don't need to stay active in memory despite having the additional memory to support them (providing the app isn't garbage and is programmed properly).
 
IdiotInCharge said:
Does the RAM power off when you're not using it?
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You think the extra RAM is an additional chip to power or something? It's the same RAM chip(s) the phone has to power otherwise, just a higher capacity with the same power requirement. Even if it was an additional chip though (which it isn't), it would still be a pretty negligible hit on battery.
 
T4rd said:
You think the extra RAM is an additional chip to power or something? It's the same RAM chip(s) the phone has to power otherwise, just a higher capacity with the same power requirement. Even if it was an additional chip though (which it isn't), it would still be a pretty negligible hit on battery.
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The bigger power draw comes from the faster ram. But even then the ram powers down when in sleep mode anyways. In use the memory plays a pretty insignificant role in the over all power draw.
 
I like the look of the smaller model. As a (mostly) proud owner of the Pixel 2, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the massive bezels piss me off. It's literally my only complaint, though. This one fixes that issue.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
Does the RAM power off when you're not using it?
Click to expand...

Ram was never a big thing with power draw. Granted the faster the memory the more voltage is required plus the size (despite being a single chip) also requires more voltage. But compare your memory’s power usage to that of the SOC or the screen or the combined sensors (with some being ALWAYS active vs memory which goes into low powered mode).

The issue before with more memory and Android is the background tasks and how the OEM’s essentially allowed as many to stay running that the memory would allow. That’s no longer the case, except for Samsung who keeps adding more and more background tasks themselves.
 
Pixels are probably the best in terms of software.
Hardware is pretty good as well.

Why make aesthetics so generic? They have a good design team...
 
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