5 ms·

> what does this have that the year-old Nexus 6P and 5X don't, other than incremental hardware improvements? As someone who owns a 5X: - The Pixel is a premiu

by Veratyr 10y ago

> what does this have that the year-old Nexus 6P and 5X don't, other than incremental hardware improvements? As someone who owns a 5X: - The Pixel is a premium 5" phone, not a budget one. It has a flagship SoC rather than a mid-tier SoC. - The camera is better and more responsive (the camera on the N5X is slow and annoying). - The body isn't plastic, which means there will be less issues with heat and CPU throttling than on the N5X. - I can finally get a phone with a reasonable amount of storage and no bloat. The 5X only went up to 32GB and had no expansion. Alternatives from Samsung etc. are mostly carrier locked, unrootable and stuffed with OEM overlays. - There's no camera bump, so it can sit on flat surfaces less awkwardly. - They actually mentioned this phone during the announcement, unlike the 5X last year. They might actually pay it some attention in the future.

notatoad 10y ago
>The Pixel is a premium 5" phone, not a budget one. what makes it premium other than the fact that they're charging lots of money for it? i can't find a real differentiator over something like the oneplus 3, which costs half as much. i agree with you that it's better than the 5X, but comparing it to this year's competition, it doesn't look so good.
- technofiend 10y ago
  That's my problem with the phone - premium price but not premium feature set.
- Veratyr 10y ago
  Flagship SoC (SD821 vs SD808) and a metal body are the main things that make it worth the price to me.
  - notatoad 10y ago
    yeah, i understand that it's better than the $300 nexus 5X that's a year old. that goes without saying. but since the Nexus 5X was released, there's been a bunch of metal bodied phones with the SD820 released that only cost $399 - the oneplus 3, zte axon, honor 5x, xaoimi mi5... and there's nothing to differentiate the pixel from those phones, other than a 40% higher price.
- hammock 10y ago
  Oneplus 3 not available on verizon
  - lagadu 10y ago
    That's a problem for you, not for most people; therefore not google's problem.
    - hammock 10y ago
      Verizon has 140 million subscribers in the US, or about 35% market share. So you're right, that's not most people.
- smlacy 10y ago
  4GB RAM
- tw04 10y ago
  More memory, faster CPU, better GPU, and most important to me - best camera on the market. The Oneplus 3 is four times the size, the firmware running on it tends to be buggy, and the battery life is nothing close to the same. I get it - if you're on a budget you can probably do better with the Oneplus 3. But there are a MILLION options in the budget space. Pixel is about showcasing a high end Android phone WITHOUT all the bloat that Samsung adds. I can just about guarantee if Samsung would relent and just run stock android, Google would end the nexus/Pixel program overnight.
  - notatoad 10y ago
    It has 2GB less ram, and the same processor (slightly higher clock speed) and same gpu, vs the oneplus 3
    - lagadu 10y ago
      > the same processor (slightly higher clock speed) So... not the same. Also the GPU is faster too. I'll agree with you that it's silly that they're still trying to pass a 1080p screen and lack of SD card as high end though.
      - notatoad 10y ago
        The phone vendor always sets the frequency the snapdragon processors run at - some vendors choose to run their processors at higher clock speeds than others because they have better cooling, some get a better binning, but it's the same processor.
technofiend 10y ago
As always the most compelling thing about the phone is Google's support - fast releases and minimal carrier bloat. You have a nice list of positives and I'm not disputing them. But the feature list for what is now Googles top phone is underwhelming. 4 GB of RAM is barely adequate - it should be 6 GB like the other Snapdragon 821 flagship. No water proofing? That's the new black. Bottom-facing speakers? Complete regression from the Nexus 6. Including a smoking camera but no optical image stabilization? Make up your mind - is it a digital camera competitor or not? And frankly since there's no waterproofing there's no excuse for a fixed battery and no sd-card slot. Even some waterproof phones offer those features now. Google needs to blow Apple away with features rather than aping the latest iphone.
- kllrnohj 10y ago
  > Including a smoking camera but no optical image stabilization? Make up your mind - is it a digital camera competitor or not? Why does it need OIS if its EIS produces a stabilized image better than anyone else's image stabilization? The feature is image stabilization - whether or not it's done optically or electronically is irrelevant, all that matters is how good the end product is. And DXO's review claims that the image stabilization in Pixel is superb. https://www.dxomark.com/Mobiles/Pixel-smartphone-camera-review-At-the-top https://www.dxomark.com/Mobiles/Pixel-smartphone-camera-revi...
  - technofiend 10y ago
    >Why does it need OIS if its EIS produces a stabilized image better than anyone else's image stabilization? That's a fair point. If it indeed does produce a great image I have no complaint.
  - Someone1234 10y ago
    Your link only talks about video stabilisation, it doesn't appear to even try and examine still image stabilisation and if it is superior to OIS as you claim. Do you have a link that supports the claims made above? That one simply does not.
imaginenore 10y ago
Nexus 6P and 5X have the same camera, and it's one of the best smartphone cameras out there. DxO rated them 84, while iPhone 7's is 86. While Pixel's is ranked 89, it's not that far ahead. And 5X is a really cheap phone, I routinely see deals under $200.
DominikR 10y ago
If I'm in the market for a premium phone (and I am) then I either go with Apple which is known to deliver quality (I can buy a products without prior research because they are rarely bad) or I go with something innovative that is high quality. The Samsung Note 7 comes to mind with its phenomenal build (except for the explosions), display and some unusual features like a stylus and microSD slot. But what does the Pixel offer here for a premium price in comparison? The CPU is premium but weaker than current iPhone processors. Nexus cameras have always been crap even though Google always claimed that with the new generation and some revolutionary changes they have finally "fixed" it. And they always drop support rather quickly, although they always claim otherwise when they launch a new product. The Nexus devices were at least cheap and so I could overlook this stuff, but I'm not going to spend that kind of money on a device that will probably be a Nexus device with a metal case.
- izacus 10y ago
  Pixel isn't a huge annoying brick to carry around for one.
  - DominikR 10y ago
    There's a Note 7 and an iPhone 7 that isn't brick size, just as there's a Pixel XL that is brick sized. These options exist because many people do prefer larger smartphones. In fact this is the first year where there's higher demand for the iPhone 7 Plus than there is for the iPhone 7.
asciihacker 10y ago
>It has a flagship SoC rather than a mid-tier SoC. What is "SoC" an abbreviation for?
- alderz 10y ago
  System-on-Chip

by Veratyr 10y ago

notatoad 10y ago

>The Pixel is a premium 5" phone, not a budget one. what makes it premium other than the fact that they're charging lots of money for it? i can't find a real differentiator over something like the oneplus 3, which costs half as much. i agree with you that it's better than the 5X, but comparing it to this year's competition, it doesn't look so good.

technofiend 10y ago
That's my problem with the phone - premium price but not premium feature set.
Veratyr 10y ago
Flagship SoC (SD821 vs SD808) and a metal body are the main things that make it worth the price to me.
- notatoad 10y ago
  yeah, i understand that it's better than the $300 nexus 5X that's a year old. that goes without saying. but since the Nexus 5X was released, there's been a bunch of metal bodied phones with the SD820 released that only cost $399 - the oneplus 3, zte axon, honor 5x, xaoimi mi5... and there's nothing to differentiate the pixel from those phones, other than a 40% higher price.
hammock 10y ago
Oneplus 3 not available on verizon
- lagadu 10y ago
  That's a problem for you, not for most people; therefore not google's problem.
  - hammock 10y ago
    Verizon has 140 million subscribers in the US, or about 35% market share. So you're right, that's not most people.
smlacy 10y ago
4GB RAM
tw04 10y ago
More memory, faster CPU, better GPU, and most important to me - best camera on the market. The Oneplus 3 is four times the size, the firmware running on it tends to be buggy, and the battery life is nothing close to the same. I get it - if you're on a budget you can probably do better with the Oneplus 3. But there are a MILLION options in the budget space. Pixel is about showcasing a high end Android phone WITHOUT all the bloat that Samsung adds. I can just about guarantee if Samsung would relent and just run stock android, Google would end the nexus/Pixel program overnight.
- notatoad 10y ago
  It has 2GB less ram, and the same processor (slightly higher clock speed) and same gpu, vs the oneplus 3
  - lagadu 10y ago
    > the same processor (slightly higher clock speed) So... not the same. Also the GPU is faster too. I'll agree with you that it's silly that they're still trying to pass a 1080p screen and lack of SD card as high end though.
    - notatoad 10y ago
      The phone vendor always sets the frequency the snapdragon processors run at - some vendors choose to run their processors at higher clock speeds than others because they have better cooling, some get a better binning, but it's the same processor.

technofiend 10y ago

As always the most compelling thing about the phone is Google's support - fast releases and minimal carrier bloat. You have a nice list of positives and I'm not disputing them. But the feature list for what is now Googles top phone is underwhelming. 4 GB of RAM is barely adequate - it should be 6 GB like the other Snapdragon 821 flagship. No water proofing? That's the new black. Bottom-facing speakers? Complete regression from the Nexus 6. Including a smoking camera but no optical image stabilization? Make up your mind - is it a digital camera competitor or not? And frankly since there's no waterproofing there's no excuse for a fixed battery and no sd-card slot. Even some waterproof phones offer those features now. Google needs to blow Apple away with features rather than aping the latest iphone.

kllrnohj 10y ago
> Including a smoking camera but no optical image stabilization? Make up your mind - is it a digital camera competitor or not? Why does it need OIS if its EIS produces a stabilized image better than anyone else's image stabilization? The feature is image stabilization - whether or not it's done optically or electronically is irrelevant, all that matters is how good the end product is. And DXO's review claims that the image stabilization in Pixel is superb. https://www.dxomark.com/Mobiles/Pixel-smartphone-camera-review-At-the-top https://www.dxomark.com/Mobiles/Pixel-smartphone-camera-revi...
- technofiend 10y ago
  >Why does it need OIS if its EIS produces a stabilized image better than anyone else's image stabilization? That's a fair point. If it indeed does produce a great image I have no complaint.
- Someone1234 10y ago
  Your link only talks about video stabilisation, it doesn't appear to even try and examine still image stabilisation and if it is superior to OIS as you claim. Do you have a link that supports the claims made above? That one simply does not.

imaginenore 10y ago

Nexus 6P and 5X have the same camera, and it's one of the best smartphone cameras out there. DxO rated them 84, while iPhone 7's is 86. While Pixel's is ranked 89, it's not that far ahead. And 5X is a really cheap phone, I routinely see deals under $200.

DominikR 10y ago

If I'm in the market for a premium phone (and I am) then I either go with Apple which is known to deliver quality (I can buy a products without prior research because they are rarely bad) or I go with something innovative that is high quality. The Samsung Note 7 comes to mind with its phenomenal build (except for the explosions), display and some unusual features like a stylus and microSD slot. But what does the Pixel offer here for a premium price in comparison? The CPU is premium but weaker than current iPhone processors. Nexus cameras have always been crap even though Google always claimed that with the new generation and some revolutionary changes they have finally "fixed" it. And they always drop support rather quickly, although they always claim otherwise when they launch a new product. The Nexus devices were at least cheap and so I could overlook this stuff, but I'm not going to spend that kind of money on a device that will probably be a Nexus device with a metal case.

izacus 10y ago
Pixel isn't a huge annoying brick to carry around for one.
- DominikR 10y ago
  There's a Note 7 and an iPhone 7 that isn't brick size, just as there's a Pixel XL that is brick sized. These options exist because many people do prefer larger smartphones. In fact this is the first year where there's higher demand for the iPhone 7 Plus than there is for the iPhone 7.

asciihacker 10y ago

>It has a flagship SoC rather than a mid-tier SoC. What is "SoC" an abbreviation for?

alderz 10y ago
System-on-Chip