Dang the new changes make the pixel 3 xl attractive but its a shame Google wants to give me just three fiddy for a mint condition pixel 2 xl. I'll stick to it for the time being. As per sour grapes, I didn't like the new notch anyways.
Yeah, the sky does not look near dark enough for a smartphone camera to suffer that badly. It’s as though they selected the sky as the metering point on the iPhone.
I hate it when companies do this. Treating me like an idiot means I won't buy their hardware. This, as you all say, is plainly a poorly metered shot done on purpose to mislead. If they're going to be this dishonest and think they can get away with blatant stuff like this, what other surprises are lurking in the product or features are being misrepresented to me? And if they're willing to lie at this stage, how are they going to treat me if there's a problem? Also is the T2 chip going to prevent people from replacing their displays with third party ones like Apple does?
Didn’t the Pixel 2 launch at $649? The new camera is an amazing piece of tech, but you have to be seriously keen on photography to justify that outlay.
Yes it did - it's a large price jump for a device that feels mostly iterative. The most direct competition is probably the Galaxy S9 - with a MSRP of $719 (but which is very frequently on sale, or includes generous "freebies" due to various promos, whereas the Pixels almost never go on sale until very late in their product cycle).
For $80 less, you get a the a similar-ish glass-and-metal phone with the same SoC and RAM (in the US), larger, higher-res screen, headphone jack, a camera that's good (though maybe not as good). Plus, you could have had it 7 months before you could have had a Pixel 3.
In other words, Google is betting that it's software is worth $80.
You're right! Actually, if you buy direct from Samsung, you can get the 256GB version for $60 less than Google is charging for the 64GB Pixel. (Not that I really think that many people actually need that much storage on their phones, but, well, if you do...)
Given that Google is having trouble selling as many phones as say, HTC or LG, I'm not sure that the "most people" comment is accurate... maybe "most people here."
A couple things, though: 1) Android isn't changing nearly as quickly as it used to (and Google seems to have no interest in fixing issues with core parts of the OS, like adding OpenCL support to speed things up, or reducing scrolling stutter/lag), and 2) Slowly, the "Samsung Experience" has gotten less terrible. It's still not as good as Google's offering, but it's not as much of an insult to the user any more. (Also, Google hasn't been making consistently good choices - it's march towards round-sized icons always made me think it was a change for change's sake, at the cost of user friendliness, since now, almost all icons look the same.)
The 128GB models have an even bigger price gap, $230 for the Pixel 3 vs S9 and $210 for the XL vs S9+ (comparing current prices buying directly from Samsung). The S9+ also has 50% more RAM.
Why is there no mention of the titan security chip that is included in the new pixel? i would like to see a deep dive into that what it can and cannot do.
There are a lot of lower end small phones, but I assume you want something high-end and yet small. Maybe xperia XZ2 compact? High specs, although it's a bit fat/chubby.
The XZ2 Compact is the only new one that kind-of fits the bill. It has issues, though. No 3.5mm jack, no Qi charging, and INSANELY thick - and yet the battery is smaller than the one I had in my RAZR MAXX HD years ago, which was smaller.
The Pixel 3 also lacks a headphone jack, FWIW, though it's pretty thin (and frankly, you're right: the XZ2 compact is INSANELY thick. In terms of volume (w*h*d), it's 106 cm^3, which is 23% LARGER than the Galaxy S9, which has a 5.8" screen, and 35% larger than the Pixel 3, which has a 5.5" screen.
Pixel 3's width is 68.2 mm, less than any other phone with 16:9 5" display, or 18:9 with 5.5". I found this is very good as phone's width is more important than screen size to get the feel that the phone is comfortable in our palm.
As a comparison iPhone 8 width is 67.3mm, just 0.9mm smaller. For me, iPhone 8's size is nicely fit in palm & pocket.
Pixel 3 height is 7.2mm taller though. Still acceptable but could slightly impact in pocket more than in palm.
Well, yeah. It really is. For some reason they're all getting so huge, even though our hands aren't getting bigger. No idea what it's about. Do most people REALLY watch films on their goddamn phone? The market is so boring, it's unreal. Compared to, say, 2012, the variety in devices these days is almost 0.
My Note Edge is getting really long in the tooth, but there's exactly zero out there that interests me. I did get a Sony ZX1 Compact eventually as a 'replacement', but only really the size and dedicated camera button pushed me to get one.
Ah, 2012. There were some great phones released then that were actually different. I still have my Nokia 808.
GSMArena.com writes this about the SD845 implementation:
"The Pixel 3 and XL phones are powered by a Snapdragon 845 chipset. Note that the CPU has been downclocked to 2.5GHz for the big cores and 1.6GHz for the small ones to save on battery power."
If this is true it would be very interesting to test how much power is actually being saved.
I saw that too over at GSMArena. My understanding is that it's better to have a high peak clockspeed as you want to be able to ramp up to full speed and then race to idle when there's phone activity. Bursty workloads are more common on phones (i.e. UI, animations, browsing, etc) than sustained workloads (i.e. games). I don't see how downclocking the peak clockspeed will save much on battery life at the potential expense of responsiveness, especially when most phone processors spend their time idling.
one again, shiitty ass low MaH battery capacity, all other specs for ME mean jack shit if have to charge the phone almost daily when using it because they cheap out on battery capacity...they could "easily" do 5-6-7k Mah battery size (these days) especially when these phones are MUCH larger than they used to be.
I rather not a phone be paper thin and weigh next to nothing with a crappy battery life chasing the "has to be glass with fancy cameras" methodology many phone producers seem to be doing over the past 5 years (at least)
It's sub-par design for almost as much as an iPhone Xs, which we all call out for being too expensive. I was a long supported of Nexus. Google lost me at their Pixel line. That, and the X convinced me, it got rid of the things I didn't like on an iPhone =P.
Higher pricing and lowered trade in values are kinda disappointing for the small model... My OG Pixel is having battery and screen disconnect issues so trade in is the only shot to get something decent back for it, but at least the base model is 64GB. I spent extra on the 128GB Pixel and even with a bunch of photos on it from my M4/3 camera (just been lazy about deleting) I'm still only at 50GB, I still kinda want 128GB but $900? Ugh...
The Not Pink is kinda dreary too, it's not pink pink or coppery looking or even rose gold, it's like a desaturated pink/beige mix... Yuck. Wireless charging is the one thing that still makes it kinda tempting versus some massive repairs on my old Pixel. I really wanted to squeeze out 3 years from it, did so without issue with my Nexus 5... My screen issue seems like a freak occurrence but it's still soured me a bit.
I've grown so accustomed to some of Google's perks tho, from the free unlimited photos backup to the finger sensor gesture for notifications. There's not a lot of really great and small-ish flagship either... XZ2 Compact would be my only appealing choice amongst those that are as small or smaller. Meh...
It's pretty meh their whole design, colors, etc. I can understand the hardware being good, the camera great, wanting the google ecosystem, but the design on pixel phones has been so bland since the start.
My Pixel was great thru 1.9 years... By that point my Nexus 5 battery had started suffering and the glass had lifted a tiny bit, nothing worse happened to the Nexus 5 tho... My Pixel has developed some severe and obscure screen disconnect issue but pressing down all over it seems to remedy it for a couple days at a time, looking at how it's connected I don't even understand how this is happening but I haven't wanted to take it apart.
I'm OK with the design, I wish the blue Pixel had been available in 128GB tho, and that every single launch didn't turn into a logistics and stock management shit show... Seriously if this one goes down the road every other one had imma be pissed, it's about time they straighten that out, it's low hanging fruit.
Getting my Pixel shipped turned into a 1.5 month long odyssey with three cancelled orders that got me kicked back to the queue every time, it was insane that CS couldn't do anything better by me until they eventually figured out the shipping issue.
I thought it was very telling that they didn't brag about their DxoMark score like they did last year. That leads me to believe it won't beat the P20 Pro for the top spot. Not that DxoMark is the only evaluation that matters, but Google sure wanted to play it up last year.
Have they said what they are going to do with the Pixel 2? I'm hoping it gets a significant price drop ($400ish) and sticks around as a mid-range option. Though, if it's like last year, they'll probably just pull it from the store.
Expect to see a sharp decline in the coming months. If you have the time, wait. In a couple months after the pixel 2 came out, the pixel can be had for $320ish, seemed hot. After another 3 monthsish, it was around $200. IIRC. It's like it's phased out, and they just want to dump everything. Part of the reason support is so lacking probably after about a year of owning an android phone.
Too notch for my blood. I really like my Pixel 2 XL and usually upgrade every year for free through my work, but I just dont want this phone. I could live with a notch, but that one is huge. The smaller one looks OK, but its still alot of bezel. Just not a great release for Google. Hopefully Pixel 4 pushes the envelope, this sure didnt.
Microsoft made devices which looks really good, and using great materials. However, I heard that the quality control isn't too good with surface devices.
dear google, please keep evolving android to the point where I can dock my phone with, a usb-c hub maybe, so I can use a desktop screen and m/k to interface with it... then maybe I can find it in my heart to justify f%^*ing midrange laptop pricing for a phone... signed google customer 4776703478
I’d love that, but they probably looked at the HP/Windows 10 phone which could do that and figured it’s just not something people want. But these phones do higher Geekbench 4 scores than most of the world’s Windows PCs.
Um..living under a rock? Samsung Note 9 switches to a desktop interface when connected to a monitor with a cable..and the S10 will supposedly do it wirelessly.
If I want an iPhone clone I'll buy the real one not a fake version for the same price. Being a copy it's obviously much worse than the real deal, two years old performance, much less advanced biometric, worse screen for Google are just pathetic, talentless copiers, where the innovation.
I'm lost about the low-light performance of newer phones. This is a solved problem: a larger sensor, fewer pixels, or some combination of the two.
I mean, it's great that you can use spare memory and processing power to merge together exposures in some kind of gimpy facsimile of how Astrophotography works (I hope your subject didn't move and ruin the shot!) - but there's no need.
It's a better idea to simply have less pixels in the first place - I've viewed modern cellphone pictures at their proper resolution (on a 4K monitor, because you can't otherwise) and they're a hot mess of hot pixels. Better than full-color TV static, but not by much. There's no details there, the extra picture size isn't accomplishing anything.
Larger sensor either requires more bulky optics or results in more distortion (which you can correct, at the expense of more blur).
Fewer pixels means lower resolution, and that'll be a tough sell. More resolution is especially helpful for digital zoom.
It's not a telescope - it's a phone. You can design a telescope around the camera's requirements and constraints, but there's only so much you can do to a phone's shape without jeopardizing public acceptance. To that end, the answer isn't simply longer exposures, because people like to take pictures of moving stuff, and the phone is also in motion. You can correct for a little bit of motion, but there are obviously limits.
I haven't followed much about Google's photo post processing technology, but I think they're using deep learning to filter a lot of the noise you mention, without sacrificing too much detail.
They absolutely can use a bigger sensor though. We're not talking about a 1" sensor here, they're far from that.
At the end of day it's called PHOTOgraphy. You need light, and the more you can get, the better the image, bearing in mind that you need it at the same time to prevent blurring.
But oh no, we NEED slim phones apparently. Or so the phone makers tell us.
There is no zooming in digital zoom, and companies should be sued for false advertising for using it, it's cropping, and if you want a lower res on your picture you'd be better of with fewer but bigger pixels in your sensor.
Yes, that was my point. With digital zoom, there's always less detail in the output than what was natively captured by the sensor. Therefore, it's beneficial to start with a higher-res image.
My wife and I have decided to switch to iPhones after being an Android only household since Android was a thing. There is no justification behind using android anymore. Google axed the nexus line, nearly every OEM has their own 'skin'. Fragmentation is everywhere, and all of the phones (except Google's own) are shipping with locked bootloaders.
Between the new Apple Watch (and practically dead Wear OS), Apple TV (and practically dead Android TV), etc. Apple is winning currently in every segment. I wish Google would step up to the plate and get their shit together.
It's not any worse than the new android walled garden though, but Apple has their stuff together. I still can't get android accessories to reliability work from device to device nor even OS version to OS version, let alone OS version from different brands!
Seriously, I'm running out of phones I can buy. I'm on a oneplus5 now, I don't want the 5t/6.. Can't unlock Samsung phones at any cost anymore (snapdragon/American), which was about my only other contender. From what I can tell you can't even root them!
If I could just repower my note 4 with a sd435 life would be great!
Pretty simple. Don't want the notch, I see no value in its use, nor the screen format. 6t says no more 3.5mm... Which I use. Plus I have not been very happy with OP as a company, that whole no HD playback thing was/is pretty embarrassing. The price creep is getting up there as well. Really the only thing they have going for them is being enthusiast friendly..
What about the Xperiz XZ3, Sony are almost running stock Android and they are one of the fastest to update nowadays. The XZ3 seems to be a homerun ,(except for the fp-sensor placement, the powerbutton really was the best place to have it).
I don't doubt the technical justification for the price, on the basis of fancy machine learning hardware, etc. I just think they departing from the reality of what these phones are actually worth to people.
The lack of headphone jack on the pixel 2 annoys me every single day. I am a heavy podcast user, and I listen to music, and I use the headphones for hearing calls clearly. Bluetooth headsets are expensive and require me to keep up to date with how much capacity they have left. They are also easy to lose, and costly to replace. Even the USB C to 3.5mm dongle has proven troublesome. A barrel connector didn't just happen. There are good reasons for long cables to be connected to a device by a circular connector. It's hard wearing for a start. I have broken 3 Pixel 2 devices with stress places on the USB C / 3.5 mm connector, and the current replacement, I am terrified to even use with the dongle now, so I no longer listen to podcasts, or listen to music. On my 128GB device - that I bought for the luxury of carrying my music collection with me.
As far as the notch goes, I could never tolerate a notch that large. Some can, happy for you, but it's so large, and so distracting, I just despise it. And that's the issue. I'm not spending a premium amount of money on a device that has so little respect for getting the little things right.... Like being able to listen to music without keeping track of if the headphones are charge, or without running the risk of the stress of the dongle breaking the port, or without being able to see the whole screen.
Samsung so far is the voice of sanity, but who knows for how long. These design professionals that manufacture these "trends" are trapped in a bubble where the unthinkable is the norm, and where rational design is regressive.
I'll stick with my Pixel 2, and I use a Moto E now for podcasts, and listening to music. It's a shame that I can no longer buy a premium device that does everything I want it to do, and a shame that smartphones (and smartphone oss) seem to be designed to hammer the storage so hard as to wear it out in 2-4 years. I can't even buy older devices that had rational designs because they had designed obsolescence built in (unless they are unused).
So, I just wait for the notch trend to end, and I suppose we'll never get the headphone jack back. What an absolutely pathetic state of affairs.
"A barrel connector didn't just happen. There are good reasons for long cables to be connected to a device by a circular connector. It's hard wearing for a start. I have broken 3 Pixel 2 devices with stress places on the USB C / 3.5 mm connector, and the current replacement, I am terrified to even use with the dongle now"
It's refreshing to see someone else with this opinion. Some people I swear don't have their brains switched on and just go with anything. No. A USB C port is not the ideal port, especially for something that is going to cause it a lot of stress.
I still wish my pixel 2 xl had flat edges, 256gb, 3.5", smaller bezel. That is the biggest notch of any phone ever... Hopefully the new screen performs better.
I heard talk from several pro photographers that this new Pixel 3 might be better then what they are using currently - Nikon D850, Canon EOS-1D Mark II!
If this is true, those pro photographers don't know what they're talking about. There is no way a smartphone is going to be better than a D850 with good glass. It's impressive what smartphone cameras can do given their size, but they are nowhere near the quality of a high-end DSLR.
After Nexus6 I can not look without nausea at these fugly soapboxes. The smell of "me too" degradation of eternal copycats is in this device is hard not to notice. Thanks they returned wireless charging at least.
You know, if you believe that Google has all that advanced image processing down pat, you might want to think about the fact that they store all your images for "free".
AFAIK, they don't promise to keep your data in a closed vault - just what they can do with gigabytes of your images in terms of facial recognition, familial analysis, friend and acquaintance mapping is just a tad short of terrifying.
And while this kind of information might make them better able to sell you ads, just how likely do you think they'll be to admit it when they experience a breech and lose that data to someone with more nefarious intentions?
And how is Apple different? Or Samsung? Everyone does the same. There are 5 million different settings in a modern phone. I just discovered that GBoard in my Pixel XL (just bought it two days ago new) had the option of recording everything I type and it was "on" by default. I turned it off, but that does not mean it is off, how would we even know if tracking/recording/storing of your data to their servers is off? That's the current state of affairs - you buy a Google or Apple phone and they will know everything about you whether you want it or not.
3.5 audio jack, it's a shame they "engineer it out", but what can you do? They decide and you have to follow, or look for something else.
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jakeuten - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Do people really think that the iPhone Xs shot was metered properly? It looks like they turned the exposure compensation all the way down.milkywayer - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Dang the new changes make the pixel 3 xl attractive but its a shame Google wants to give me just three fiddy for a mint condition pixel 2 xl. I'll stick to it for the time being. As per sour grapes, I didn't like the new notch anyways.lilmoe - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
What's wrong with the notch? It even looks like this!!|o___o|
😂😂😂
The hell they be smokin'
MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Yeah, the sky does not look near dark enough for a smartphone camera to suffer that badly. It’s as though they selected the sky as the metering point on the iPhone.philehidiot - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
I hate it when companies do this. Treating me like an idiot means I won't buy their hardware. This, as you all say, is plainly a poorly metered shot done on purpose to mislead. If they're going to be this dishonest and think they can get away with blatant stuff like this, what other surprises are lurking in the product or features are being misrepresented to me? And if they're willing to lie at this stage, how are they going to treat me if there's a problem? Also is the T2 chip going to prevent people from replacing their displays with third party ones like Apple does?Tams80 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Yeah, someone (or people) need a good smack in the head to bring them back to reality.It's actually quite rude to even assume people are that thick as to think that iPhone photo was normal.
Meteor2 - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Didn’t the Pixel 2 launch at $649? The new camera is an amazing piece of tech, but you have to be seriously keen on photography to justify that outlay.sing_electric - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Yes it did - it's a large price jump for a device that feels mostly iterative. The most direct competition is probably the Galaxy S9 - with a MSRP of $719 (but which is very frequently on sale, or includes generous "freebies" due to various promos, whereas the Pixels almost never go on sale until very late in their product cycle).For $80 less, you get a the a similar-ish glass-and-metal phone with the same SoC and RAM (in the US), larger, higher-res screen, headphone jack, a camera that's good (though maybe not as good). Plus, you could have had it 7 months before you could have had a Pixel 3.
In other words, Google is betting that it's software is worth $80.
thinkgadgetsme - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Small correction here, Samsung is selling Galaxy S9 in USA for $619, just checked today. So essentially google is selling $120 worth of software.sing_electric - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
You're right! Actually, if you buy direct from Samsung, you can get the 256GB version for $60 less than Google is charging for the 64GB Pixel. (Not that I really think that many people actually need that much storage on their phones, but, well, if you do...)ViviTheMage - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Yes, but then you'd have a Samsung phone. Like most people the lack of speedy updates, and the touchwizz is a 100% no go for me.sing_electric - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Given that Google is having trouble selling as many phones as say, HTC or LG, I'm not sure that the "most people" comment is accurate... maybe "most people here."A couple things, though: 1) Android isn't changing nearly as quickly as it used to (and Google seems to have no interest in fixing issues with core parts of the OS, like adding OpenCL support to speed things up, or reducing scrolling stutter/lag), and 2) Slowly, the "Samsung Experience" has gotten less terrible. It's still not as good as Google's offering, but it's not as much of an insult to the user any more. (Also, Google hasn't been making consistently good choices - it's march towards round-sized icons always made me think it was a change for change's sake, at the cost of user friendliness, since now, almost all icons look the same.)
notashill - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
The 128GB models have an even bigger price gap, $230 for the Pixel 3 vs S9 and $210 for the XL vs S9+ (comparing current prices buying directly from Samsung). The S9+ also has 50% more RAM.Adul - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Why is there no mention of the titan security chip that is included in the new pixel? i would like to see a deep dive into that what it can and cannot do.Eletriarnation - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
https://www.anandtech.com/show/13248/hot-chips-201...sseemaku - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Its hard to find a good phone that nicely fits in palm and pockets these days!shabby - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
S9 is similar size.milkywayer - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
But with the curved edges has +200% screen cracking ability. No thanks, i'll stick to non swaggy flat screen phones.eddman - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
There are a lot of lower end small phones, but I assume you want something high-end and yet small. Maybe xperia XZ2 compact? High specs, although it's a bit fat/chubby.piroroadkill - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
The XZ2 Compact is the only new one that kind-of fits the bill. It has issues, though. No 3.5mm jack, no Qi charging, and INSANELY thick - and yet the battery is smaller than the one I had in my RAZR MAXX HD years ago, which was smaller.sing_electric - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
The Pixel 3 also lacks a headphone jack, FWIW, though it's pretty thin (and frankly, you're right: the XZ2 compact is INSANELY thick. In terms of volume (w*h*d), it's 106 cm^3, which is 23% LARGER than the Galaxy S9, which has a 5.8" screen, and 35% larger than the Pixel 3, which has a 5.5" screen.CaedenV - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Agreed, even the big phones aren't quite large enough to rest comfortably in the hand. Maybe when we get 7" devices it will be good.Kaggy - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
XZ3 compact is the only flagship specced small phone left.0iron - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Pixel 3's width is 68.2 mm, less than any other phone with 16:9 5" display, or 18:9 with 5.5". I found this is very good as phone's width is more important than screen size to get the feel that the phone is comfortable in our palm.As a comparison iPhone 8 width is 67.3mm, just 0.9mm smaller. For me, iPhone 8's size is nicely fit in palm & pocket.
Pixel 3 height is 7.2mm taller though. Still acceptable but could slightly impact in pocket more than in palm.
piroroadkill - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
"68.2 mm, less than any other phone with 16:9 5" display". Simply incorrect, sorry.The Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact has a 5" screen and is 65mm wide.
https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_xz2_compact-9...
piroroadkill - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
I apologise greatly, the XZ2 Compact has an 18:9 display! Forget my stupid comment.piroroadkill - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Well, yeah. It really is. For some reason they're all getting so huge, even though our hands aren't getting bigger. No idea what it's about. Do most people REALLY watch films on their goddamn phone? The market is so boring, it's unreal. Compared to, say, 2012, the variety in devices these days is almost 0.Tams80 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
My Note Edge is getting really long in the tooth, but there's exactly zero out there that interests me. I did get a Sony ZX1 Compact eventually as a 'replacement', but only really the size and dedicated camera button pushed me to get one.Ah, 2012. There were some great phones released then that were actually different. I still have my Nokia 808.
LarsBolender - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
GSMArena.com writes this about the SD845 implementation:"The Pixel 3 and XL phones are powered by a Snapdragon 845 chipset. Note that the CPU has been downclocked to 2.5GHz for the big cores and 1.6GHz for the small ones to save on battery power."
If this is true it would be very interesting to test how much power is actually being saved.
saylick - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
I saw that too over at GSMArena. My understanding is that it's better to have a high peak clockspeed as you want to be able to ramp up to full speed and then race to idle when there's phone activity. Bursty workloads are more common on phones (i.e. UI, animations, browsing, etc) than sustained workloads (i.e. games). I don't see how downclocking the peak clockspeed will save much on battery life at the potential expense of responsiveness, especially when most phone processors spend their time idling.Meteor2 - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Well you certainly want to get to idle ASAP, but the bottom line is that for any given chip, efficiency decreases with frequency beyond a sweet spot.Perhaps the down-clocking is for thermal reasons?
Dragonstongue - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
one again, shiitty ass low MaH battery capacity, all other specs for ME mean jack shit if have to charge the phone almost daily when using it because they cheap out on battery capacity...they could "easily" do 5-6-7k Mah battery size (these days) especially when these phones are MUCH larger than they used to be.I rather not a phone be paper thin and weigh next to nothing with a crappy battery life chasing the "has to be glass with fancy cameras" methodology many phone producers seem to be doing over the past 5 years (at least)
kenansadhu - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
This seems like a valid concern.. if you do not go to bed every dayjvl - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
You may want to work on n your units some time..Dug - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Wow, that was exciting! s/cEnzoFX - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
It's sub-par design for almost as much as an iPhone Xs, which we all call out for being too expensive. I was a long supported of Nexus. Google lost me at their Pixel line. That, and the X convinced me, it got rid of the things I didn't like on an iPhone =P.And why copy the notch?
crotach - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
So, skip this and get the OP6 with the same specs for a lot less?Ironchef3500 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
+1Impulses - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Higher pricing and lowered trade in values are kinda disappointing for the small model... My OG Pixel is having battery and screen disconnect issues so trade in is the only shot to get something decent back for it, but at least the base model is 64GB. I spent extra on the 128GB Pixel and even with a bunch of photos on it from my M4/3 camera (just been lazy about deleting) I'm still only at 50GB, I still kinda want 128GB but $900? Ugh...The Not Pink is kinda dreary too, it's not pink pink or coppery looking or even rose gold, it's like a desaturated pink/beige mix... Yuck. Wireless charging is the one thing that still makes it kinda tempting versus some massive repairs on my old Pixel. I really wanted to squeeze out 3 years from it, did so without issue with my Nexus 5... My screen issue seems like a freak occurrence but it's still soured me a bit.
I've grown so accustomed to some of Google's perks tho, from the free unlimited photos backup to the finger sensor gesture for notifications. There's not a lot of really great and small-ish flagship either... XZ2 Compact would be my only appealing choice amongst those that are as small or smaller. Meh...
EnzoFX - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
They don't make them like they used to. =PIt's pretty meh their whole design, colors, etc. I can understand the hardware being good, the camera great, wanting the google ecosystem, but the design on pixel phones has been so bland since the start.
Impulses - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
My Pixel was great thru 1.9 years... By that point my Nexus 5 battery had started suffering and the glass had lifted a tiny bit, nothing worse happened to the Nexus 5 tho... My Pixel has developed some severe and obscure screen disconnect issue but pressing down all over it seems to remedy it for a couple days at a time, looking at how it's connected I don't even understand how this is happening but I haven't wanted to take it apart.I'm OK with the design, I wish the blue Pixel had been available in 128GB tho, and that every single launch didn't turn into a logistics and stock management shit show... Seriously if this one goes down the road every other one had imma be pissed, it's about time they straighten that out, it's low hanging fruit.
Getting my Pixel shipped turned into a 1.5 month long odyssey with three cancelled orders that got me kicked back to the queue every time, it was insane that CS couldn't do anything better by me until they eventually figured out the shipping issue.
cfenton - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
I thought it was very telling that they didn't brag about their DxoMark score like they did last year. That leads me to believe it won't beat the P20 Pro for the top spot. Not that DxoMark is the only evaluation that matters, but Google sure wanted to play it up last year.Have they said what they are going to do with the Pixel 2? I'm hoping it gets a significant price drop ($400ish) and sticks around as a mid-range option. Though, if it's like last year, they'll probably just pull it from the store.
EnzoFX - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
n-1 android phones drop, a lot.Expect to see a sharp decline in the coming months. If you have the time, wait. In a couple months after the pixel 2 came out, the pixel can be had for $320ish, seemed hot. After another 3 monthsish, it was around $200. IIRC. It's like it's phased out, and they just want to dump everything. Part of the reason support is so lacking probably after about a year of owning an android phone.
goatfajitas - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Too notch for my blood. I really like my Pixel 2 XL and usually upgrade every year for free through my work, but I just dont want this phone. I could live with a notch, but that one is huge. The smaller one looks OK, but its still alot of bezel. Just not a great release for Google. Hopefully Pixel 4 pushes the envelope, this sure didnt.Meteor2 - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
I just don’t think Google does leadership in hardware. It’s not in their DNA. Even Microsoft does better with their Surface products.kenansadhu - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Microsoft made devices which looks really good, and using great materials. However, I heard that the quality control isn't too good with surface devices.WatcherCK - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
dear google, please keep evolving android to the point where I can dock my phone with, a usb-c hub maybe, so I can use a desktop screen and m/k to interface with it... then maybe I can find it in my heart to justify f%^*ing midrange laptop pricing for a phone...signed google customer 4776703478
Meteor2 - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
I’d love that, but they probably looked at the HP/Windows 10 phone which could do that and figured it’s just not something people want. But these phones do higher Geekbench 4 scores than most of the world’s Windows PCs.darkich - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Um..living under a rock?Samsung Note 9 switches to a desktop interface when connected to a monitor with a cable..and the S10 will supposedly do it wirelessly.
Xex360 - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
If I want an iPhone clone I'll buy the real one not a fake version for the same price. Being a copy it's obviously much worse than the real deal, two years old performance, much less advanced biometric, worse screen for Google are just pathetic, talentless copiers, where the innovation.ryedizzel - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
he said the same price, lolvarase - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Hey ... Pixel has a bigger notch!ss96 - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Andrei, do you have any idea if the P-OLED displays are using the new DDICs that Synaptics introduced at CES?mode_13h - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
LOL. Google seems to think they're Apple.Pixel 2 was already about twice what I'd pay for a phone. Pixel 3 pushes it up to about 3x. Let's see if Pixel 4 will even surpass Apple's pricing!
Great_Scott - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
At this rate, Nokia (sorry, HMD) is going to end up with 70% market share all over again. The more things change...Lavkesh - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
And it can only be good. Atleast they design their own hardwareGreat_Scott - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
I'm lost about the low-light performance of newer phones. This is a solved problem: a larger sensor, fewer pixels, or some combination of the two.I mean, it's great that you can use spare memory and processing power to merge together exposures in some kind of gimpy facsimile of how Astrophotography works (I hope your subject didn't move and ruin the shot!) - but there's no need.
It's a better idea to simply have less pixels in the first place - I've viewed modern cellphone pictures at their proper resolution (on a 4K monitor, because you can't otherwise) and they're a hot mess of hot pixels. Better than full-color TV static, but not by much. There's no details there, the extra picture size isn't accomplishing anything.
mode_13h - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Larger sensor either requires more bulky optics or results in more distortion (which you can correct, at the expense of more blur).Fewer pixels means lower resolution, and that'll be a tough sell. More resolution is especially helpful for digital zoom.
It's not a telescope - it's a phone. You can design a telescope around the camera's requirements and constraints, but there's only so much you can do to a phone's shape without jeopardizing public acceptance. To that end, the answer isn't simply longer exposures, because people like to take pictures of moving stuff, and the phone is also in motion. You can correct for a little bit of motion, but there are obviously limits.
I haven't followed much about Google's photo post processing technology, but I think they're using deep learning to filter a lot of the noise you mention, without sacrificing too much detail.
Tams80 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
They absolutely can use a bigger sensor though. We're not talking about a 1" sensor here, they're far from that.At the end of day it's called PHOTOgraphy. You need light, and the more you can get, the better the image, bearing in mind that you need it at the same time to prevent blurring.
But oh no, we NEED slim phones apparently. Or so the phone makers tell us.
Zoolook - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
There is no zooming in digital zoom, and companies should be sued for false advertising for using it, it's cropping, and if you want a lower res on your picture you'd be better of with fewer but bigger pixels in your sensor.mode_13h - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Yes, that was my point. With digital zoom, there's always less detail in the output than what was natively captured by the sensor. Therefore, it's beneficial to start with a higher-res image.eek2121 - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
My wife and I have decided to switch to iPhones after being an Android only household since Android was a thing. There is no justification behind using android anymore. Google axed the nexus line, nearly every OEM has their own 'skin'. Fragmentation is everywhere, and all of the phones (except Google's own) are shipping with locked bootloaders.Between the new Apple Watch (and practically dead Wear OS), Apple TV (and practically dead Android TV), etc. Apple is winning currently in every segment. I wish Google would step up to the plate and get their shit together.
DigitalFreak - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
To each their own. Have fun with that walled garden.ummduh - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
It's not any worse than the new android walled garden though, but Apple has their stuff together. I still can't get android accessories to reliability work from device to device nor even OS version to OS version, let alone OS version from different brands!Seriously, I'm running out of phones I can buy. I'm on a oneplus5 now, I don't want the 5t/6.. Can't unlock Samsung phones at any cost anymore (snapdragon/American), which was about my only other contender. From what I can tell you can't even root them!
If I could just repower my note 4 with a sd435 life would be great!
maximumGPU - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
why would you not want 5t/6 or upcoming 6t? They're fantastic phones.Tams80 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
They're mundane and for some people don't have the features they want.So fantastic for you probably, but you aren't everybody.
ummduh - Saturday, October 27, 2018 - link
Pretty simple. Don't want the notch, I see no value in its use, nor the screen format. 6t says no more 3.5mm... Which I use. Plus I have not been very happy with OP as a company, that whole no HD playback thing was/is pretty embarrassing. The price creep is getting up there as well. Really the only thing they have going for them is being enthusiast friendly..Zoolook - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
What about the Xperiz XZ3, Sony are almost running stock Android and they are one of the fastest to update nowadays.The XZ3 seems to be a homerun ,(except for the fp-sensor placement, the powerbutton really was the best place to have it).
Ironchef3500 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
I just about totally agree with you. I am on the fence, long time android user.Lavkesh - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Absolutely horrendous pricing. There are absolutely no justification to pay these prices for these phones.mode_13h - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
I don't doubt the technical justification for the price, on the basis of fancy machine learning hardware, etc. I just think they departing from the reality of what these phones are actually worth to people.grant3 - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
As usual, a bunch of bitching about the "notch", even though it can clearly be turned off as seen in one of the article's photos.Of all the problems this phone has, "notch" should not qualify for the top-5.
Skiddywinks - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
If you consider extending the notch laterally to the edges of the screen to be equivalent to the "disabling" of it, then you might be right.Hulk - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
I have a Pixel 2. Great phone.The only thing I'd notice if I switched to the Pixel 3 is the wireless charging.
I'm not even tempted to "upgrade."
flymee2themoon - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
The lack of headphone jack on the pixel 2 annoys me every single day. I am a heavy podcast user, and I listen to music, and I use the headphones for hearing calls clearly. Bluetooth headsets are expensive and require me to keep up to date with how much capacity they have left. They are also easy to lose, and costly to replace. Even the USB C to 3.5mm dongle has proven troublesome. A barrel connector didn't just happen. There are good reasons for long cables to be connected to a device by a circular connector. It's hard wearing for a start. I have broken 3 Pixel 2 devices with stress places on the USB C / 3.5 mm connector, and the current replacement, I am terrified to even use with the dongle now, so I no longer listen to podcasts, or listen to music. On my 128GB device - that I bought for the luxury of carrying my music collection with me.As far as the notch goes, I could never tolerate a notch that large. Some can, happy for you, but it's so large, and so distracting, I just despise it. And that's the issue. I'm not spending a premium amount of money on a device that has so little respect for getting the little things right.... Like being able to listen to music without keeping track of if the headphones are charge, or without running the risk of the stress of the dongle breaking the port, or without being able to see the whole screen.
Samsung so far is the voice of sanity, but who knows for how long. These design professionals that manufacture these "trends" are trapped in a bubble where the unthinkable is the norm, and where rational design is regressive.
I'll stick with my Pixel 2, and I use a Moto E now for podcasts, and listening to music. It's a shame that I can no longer buy a premium device that does everything I want it to do, and a shame that smartphones (and smartphone oss) seem to be designed to hammer the storage so hard as to wear it out in 2-4 years. I can't even buy older devices that had rational designs because they had designed obsolescence built in (unless they are unused).
So, I just wait for the notch trend to end, and I suppose we'll never get the headphone jack back. What an absolutely pathetic state of affairs.
Tams80 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
"A barrel connector didn't just happen. There are good reasons for long cables to be connected to a device by a circular connector. It's hard wearing for a start. I have broken 3 Pixel 2 devices with stress places on the USB C / 3.5 mm connector, and the current replacement, I am terrified to even use with the dongle now"It's refreshing to see someone else with this opinion. Some people I swear don't have their brains switched on and just go with anything. No. A USB C port is not the ideal port, especially for something that is going to cause it a lot of stress.
varase - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
The lightning connector is the closest you're going to get to a barrel connector.K-lob - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
I still wish my pixel 2 xl had flat edges, 256gb, 3.5", smaller bezel. That is the biggest notch of any phone ever... Hopefully the new screen performs better.beginner99 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Too big, too expensive. If i'm ready to pay apple prices I can as well just buy apple as their SOC is obviously way ahead of anything else.Harry_Wild - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
I heard talk from several pro photographers that this new Pixel 3 might be better then what they are using currently - Nikon D850, Canon EOS-1D Mark II!cfenton - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
If this is true, those pro photographers don't know what they're talking about. There is no way a smartphone is going to be better than a D850 with good glass. It's impressive what smartphone cameras can do given their size, but they are nowhere near the quality of a high-end DSLR.SanX - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
After Nexus6 I can not look without nausea at these fugly soapboxes. The smell of "me too" degradation of eternal copycats is in this device is hard not to notice. Thanks they returned wireless charging at least.Bfree4me - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
These Tarrifs are killing us. So what minimum wage got raised to $15 bucks. Fuel, Food and now Cellular Phones are up...smh Thanks Donnievarase - Saturday, October 13, 2018 - link
You know, if you believe that Google has all that advanced image processing down pat, you might want to think about the fact that they store all your images for "free".AFAIK, they don't promise to keep your data in a closed vault - just what they can do with gigabytes of your images in terms of facial recognition, familial analysis, friend and acquaintance mapping is just a tad short of terrifying.
And while this kind of information might make them better able to sell you ads, just how likely do you think they'll be to admit it when they experience a breech and lose that data to someone with more nefarious intentions?
Peskarik - Saturday, October 13, 2018 - link
And how is Apple different?Or Samsung?
Everyone does the same.
There are 5 million different settings in a modern phone. I just discovered that GBoard in my Pixel XL (just bought it two days ago new) had the option of recording everything I type and it was "on" by default. I turned it off, but that does not mean it is off, how would we even know if tracking/recording/storing of your data to their servers is off?
That's the current state of affairs - you buy a Google or Apple phone and they will know everything about you whether you want it or not.
3.5 audio jack, it's a shame they "engineer it out", but what can you do? They decide and you have to follow, or look for something else.
superccs - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
Wow you really scratched the surface with this article Anantech. You really stayed up late writing this 1 pagers didn't you?