6 ms·

I've owned various iPhones (starting with the 4 in 2010) and I'm going to take a serious look at the Pixel 3 in 2018. Performance is a feature, and I don't see

I've owned various iPhones (starting with the 4 in 2010) and I'm going to take a serious look at the Pixel 3 in 2018. Performance is a feature, and I don't see a compelling reason why I should upgrade my 6S. I have a suspicion that Apple will keep the '6' chassis they've stuck with since the release of the 6 (6/6S/7/8) at 2GB of memory, and will continue to do so with the 9 next year. Pixel 2 performance with 4GB of memory is impressive. And I will not pay $1000 for a phone, that's absurd. Features I focus on when evaluating a phone - how quickly does the device unlock? Does it have a fingerprint reader? How quickly can I open the camera app? How are the photos? (I really hope Android device makers diverge from Apple and pursue a under the front glass fingerprint reader instead of facial recognition). I could care less about AI assistants/animojis. Get the basics down. Google _still_ has significant QA issues nearly six years after designing their first phone (Nexus 4) for OEM manufacturing. RCS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services) still needs to get off the ground. Until then, iMessage will still rule. My family is familiar with the built in messaging app, and I'm not asking my parents to use a separate app for texting. RCS will be able to replace iMessage for us. Apple is a $875 billion dollar company because they figured out how to do customer service/QA/hardware and designed an easy to use OS. I'm not asking Google to focus on ease of use for the OS, just get QA/service/hardware correct, at a $650 price point.

unityByFreedom 9y ago
> I'm not asking Google to focus on ease of use for the OS, just get QA/service/hardware correct Apple does the QA/service well because of their focus on usability. Usability has been a focus since their founding. They spend more money on design, which is why their hardware can cost more than the PC/Android equivalent.
- karpodiem 9y ago
  My comment pertains to the hardware issues Google has had with Pixel - OLED bleeding, phones shipping without an OS, etc. Mostly hardware defects, not OS design choices. There’s quite a few threads on reddit.
Aloha 9y ago
The X has 3gb of RAM, this is one of the drivers moving me to upgrade
- karpodiem 9y ago
  Yeah, the X is nice, but when I trying it out I felt a slight bit of sluggishness - like when the 6 was newly released. A high jump in resolution/PPI will do that. It really should have shipped with 4GB of memory.
  - dkonofalski 9y ago
    >It really should have shipped with 4GB of memory. Why? The iPhone 8 doesn't even have the 3GB that the X has and it's been deemed the fastest smartphone ever tested. That sounds like a case of valuing specs more than the actual usage.
legulere 9y ago
If new devices don’t give you anything new you want, maybe you should just keep using your phone as long as it keeps working?
- karpodiem 9y ago
  That’s probably what’s going to end up happening.
pwnage 9y ago
Have an X Face ID unlock is waaaay faster than touch ID every was for me. Especially considering how often touch ID failed due to sweat / grease.
- karpodiem 9y ago
  My phone is typically resting on my desktop most of the time. I want an unlock solution that doesn't require picking up the device. Touch ID authentication misses are rare in my experience with the devices I've owned since the 5S.
  - thinkythought 9y ago
    I have an X right here, and it usually rests on my desk. It will unlock from a VERY oblique angle, way beyond what i expected it to be able to handle. The only failures i've gotten with the scanner were when a pillow was covering part of my face and i was in bed. Basically any position that i can reasonably read the display from that isn't a joke or a test will unlock the device if i'm glancing at it. I have some complaints about the device, but this feature rocks as far as i'm concerned
  - amazingman 9y ago
    My understanding is that the screen wakes up to a slight nudge on the screen, though I’m not sure how well Face ID works at such an angle.
  - pwnage 9y ago
    You can tap the turned off screen to wake up and it works from a surprisingly steep angle. (I just did this exact workflow)
gutnor 9y ago
> Does it have a fingerprint reader? Reminds me of the attributed quote from Ford saying "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse" Fingerprint reader is just a mean to an end to provide secure login. How quickly people forget that a few years back people were asking Apple to introduce gesture-based pin entry like on Android phone. Fingerprint reader made that requirement obsolete. Also, there are new workflow that are enabled by FaceId. For example, it is completely reasonable to require authentication before popping out the keyboard, before sending any message, change any option, or switch to another application, ... That's huge. There was no way back to pin code to me once fingerprint allowed me to remove the grace period for no authentication on the lock screen. The workflows I mentioned above (if practical in reality) similarly would change the game and remove any interest to fingerprints reader. (well assuming FaceId works as Apple demoed - that's a big if in the first gen of the technology) edit: side note - fingerprint working on the whole screen would allow the same workflows that I mentioned. That would be a competing technology worth looking at.

unityByFreedom 9y ago

> I'm not asking Google to focus on ease of use for the OS, just get QA/service/hardware correct Apple does the QA/service well because of their focus on usability. Usability has been a focus since their founding. They spend more money on design, which is why their hardware can cost more than the PC/Android equivalent.

karpodiem 9y ago
My comment pertains to the hardware issues Google has had with Pixel - OLED bleeding, phones shipping without an OS, etc. Mostly hardware defects, not OS design choices. There’s quite a few threads on reddit.

Aloha 9y ago

The X has 3gb of RAM, this is one of the drivers moving me to upgrade

karpodiem 9y ago
Yeah, the X is nice, but when I trying it out I felt a slight bit of sluggishness - like when the 6 was newly released. A high jump in resolution/PPI will do that. It really should have shipped with 4GB of memory.
- dkonofalski 9y ago
  >It really should have shipped with 4GB of memory. Why? The iPhone 8 doesn't even have the 3GB that the X has and it's been deemed the fastest smartphone ever tested. That sounds like a case of valuing specs more than the actual usage.

legulere 9y ago

If new devices don’t give you anything new you want, maybe you should just keep using your phone as long as it keeps working?

karpodiem 9y ago
That’s probably what’s going to end up happening.

pwnage 9y ago

Have an X Face ID unlock is waaaay faster than touch ID every was for me. Especially considering how often touch ID failed due to sweat / grease.

karpodiem 9y ago
My phone is typically resting on my desktop most of the time. I want an unlock solution that doesn't require picking up the device. Touch ID authentication misses are rare in my experience with the devices I've owned since the 5S.
- thinkythought 9y ago
  I have an X right here, and it usually rests on my desk. It will unlock from a VERY oblique angle, way beyond what i expected it to be able to handle. The only failures i've gotten with the scanner were when a pillow was covering part of my face and i was in bed. Basically any position that i can reasonably read the display from that isn't a joke or a test will unlock the device if i'm glancing at it. I have some complaints about the device, but this feature rocks as far as i'm concerned
- amazingman 9y ago
  My understanding is that the screen wakes up to a slight nudge on the screen, though I’m not sure how well Face ID works at such an angle.
- pwnage 9y ago
  You can tap the turned off screen to wake up and it works from a surprisingly steep angle. (I just did this exact workflow)

gutnor 9y ago

> Does it have a fingerprint reader? Reminds me of the attributed quote from Ford saying "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse" Fingerprint reader is just a mean to an end to provide secure login. How quickly people forget that a few years back people were asking Apple to introduce gesture-based pin entry like on Android phone. Fingerprint reader made that requirement obsolete. Also, there are new workflow that are enabled by FaceId. For example, it is completely reasonable to require authentication before popping out the keyboard, before sending any message, change any option, or switch to another application, ... That's huge. There was no way back to pin code to me once fingerprint allowed me to remove the grace period for no authentication on the lock screen. The workflows I mentioned above (if practical in reality) similarly would change the game and remove any interest to fingerprints reader. (well assuming FaceId works as Apple demoed - that's a big if in the first gen of the technology) edit: side note - fingerprint working on the whole screen would allow the same workflows that I mentioned. That would be a competing technology worth looking at.