7 ms·

When you say "rest of the hardware" are you referring specifically to Google's Pixel phones? From a hardware perspective, they seem pretty great. Or, are you

by smlacy 8y ago

When you say "rest of the hardware" are you referring specifically to Google's Pixel phones? From a hardware perspective, they seem pretty great. Or, are you referring to the phone industry in general, and how they're unable to make cameras that match the quality of the ones in the Google Pixel line?

Dig1t 8y ago
Pixel hardware is pretty mediocre in most other respects.
SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
I'm referring specifically to Pixel phones. They made weird choices with awkward notches, small storage and RAM, as well as a mediocre at best battery.
- PhasmaFelis 8y ago
  Also, removing the headphone jack for no reason except that it's fashionable right now.
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    The conceit that it makes it slimmer is ridiculous. Give me a thicker phone to fit in that headphone jack, and while you're at it, fill the rest of the space with battery.
    - reaperducer 8y ago
      And a floppy disk. An an IEEE-488 interface.
      - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
        Ok, yeah, you can exaggerate the desire for backwards compatibility, but when you change to NOT use the standard that's not the same thing at all. I believe wired headphones to still be the standard item of choice for listening, as evidenced by the extremely common need for a dongle.
        reaperducer 8y ago
        when you change to NOT use the standard that's not the same thing at all The standard is Bluetooth now. It's time to take a giant leap into the 90's.
        SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
        Rows upon rows of headphones in stores everywhere beg to differ. It's an emerging standard, absolutely, but I have no desire to have to charge me headphones.
        PhasmaFelis 8y ago
        > The standard is Bluetooth now. It absolutely isn't. It probably will be in a while, assuming they can get at least some of the sync issues ironed out, but it's not the current standard any more than electric cars are.
      - pickdenis 8y ago
        This argument is disingenuous. I hope people would stop spouting it. There will ALWAYS be an advantage to wired headphones over wireless: reliability and versatility. Bluetooth headphones can be VERY finicky about who they'll connect to and with how much hassle. They also cannot be plugged into a separate DAC/Amp setup. Perhaps if it were standard for headphones to allow the user to bypass the bluetooth DAC and run the drivers on our own signal, but I haven't really seen this on affordable headphones.
        gizmo385 8y ago
        This argument is equally disingenuous because you're implying that you simply can't use wired headphones of any kind. You can still get wired headphones without a headphone jack and just use the USB-C port.
        PhasmaFelis 8y ago
        And demolish any supposed gains in size and weight from removing the jack in the first place. The thing that gets me is, removing the headphone provides no benefit whatsoever for the vast majority of users. A few grams and some fraction of a millimeter aren't enough for you to feel the difference in your hand. If you don't use wired headphones, you gain no advantage from removing the jack. If you do use wired headphones, there's a substantial disadvantage to removing the jack. So if it doesn't benefit anyone, why do it?
        reaperducer 8y ago
        They also cannot be plugged into a separate DAC/Amp setup. It's a telephone. It's not a giant stereo rack system with hipster vacuum tubes all around. That's where your audiophile wired headphones go.
      - PhasmaFelis 8y ago
        A floppy drive you don't use is bulky and expensive. A 3.5mm jack you don't use makes no perceptible difference. When you remove features, there should be a net benefit to doing so.
  - xnx 8y ago
    I prefer better water and dust resistance over having a headphone jack.
    - PhasmaFelis 8y ago
      Doesn't make much difference when you've got a wide-open power/data port right there. Unless you're using a water-resistant case with folding rubber plugs, in which case you just close the one over the headphone jack and never think about it again. I get that some people never used wired headphones and don't care about the headphone jack either way. It confuses me that so many people are urgently trying to make out like this is a net positive for the average user.
- Arelius 8y ago
  Also, I don't know if it's just my phone. But it's been the most unreliable and miserable bluetooth experience I've had in years.
- gizmo385 8y ago
  I've had my Pixel 3 XL last for 2 days with pretty moderate to heavy usage without much issue.
- Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
  > awkward notches 1 notch. Singular. Not plural. Also, the Pixel 3 does not have a notch. That's only the Pixel 3 XL. > small storage wat? My Pixel 3 has 128 gig. That's quite a bit. An SD card slot would be nice to expand it, but I'm still pretty happy with 128. Stores my entire MP3 collection with tens of gigabytes left over for taking pics and recording videos. > RAM I'll give you this one. Having only 4 gig feels a bit dated, but I'm not sure if it's really an issue. > Mediocre at best battery 3,000 mAh is pretty standard. And the Pixel 3 sips the battery pretty lightly. My previous phone was a Motorola Droid Turbo. Even with its 3900 mAh battery, after using GPS + Bluetooth for 90 or so minutes for my commute to/from work, plus about an hour of browsing reddit during breaks at work, I'd come home with 40% left on the battery. With my Pixel 3, with the same usage patterns, I finish the day with about 60% of my battery left.
  - PhasmaFelis 8y ago
    > 1 notch. Singular. Not plural. OP said "Pixel phones". A Pixel phone has a notch, Pixel phones have notches. This is a weird thing to nitpick about.
    - Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
      "Pixel phones have notches" is easily interpreted to mean "ALL Pixel phones have notches", or even that multiple Pixel models have notches. No, a single model of Pixel, the Pixel 3 XL, has a notch. To say "Pixel phones have notches" is misleading. Pixel 1/2 did not have notches. Pixel 3 does not have a notch. Only the Pixel 3 XL has a notch. When someone says "I'm not getting a Pixel 3 because it has a notch", it is unclear whether they incorrectly believe that the Pixel 3 has a notch, or if they really mean the Pixel 3 XL and just left off the XL. It seems like a nitpick, sure, but I think it's important. So much noise is created about the notch in the Pixel 3 XL that I honestly think there are a lot of people that don't realize that the smaller Pixel 3 doesn't have one.

by smlacy 8y ago

Dig1t 8y ago

Pixel hardware is pretty mediocre in most other respects.

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago

I'm referring specifically to Pixel phones. They made weird choices with awkward notches, small storage and RAM, as well as a mediocre at best battery.

PhasmaFelis 8y ago
Also, removing the headphone jack for no reason except that it's fashionable right now.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  The conceit that it makes it slimmer is ridiculous. Give me a thicker phone to fit in that headphone jack, and while you're at it, fill the rest of the space with battery.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    And a floppy disk. An an IEEE-488 interface.
    - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
      Ok, yeah, you can exaggerate the desire for backwards compatibility, but when you change to NOT use the standard that's not the same thing at all. I believe wired headphones to still be the standard item of choice for listening, as evidenced by the extremely common need for a dongle.
      - reaperducer 8y ago
        when you change to NOT use the standard that's not the same thing at all The standard is Bluetooth now. It's time to take a giant leap into the 90's.
        SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
        Rows upon rows of headphones in stores everywhere beg to differ. It's an emerging standard, absolutely, but I have no desire to have to charge me headphones.
        PhasmaFelis 8y ago
        > The standard is Bluetooth now. It absolutely isn't. It probably will be in a while, assuming they can get at least some of the sync issues ironed out, but it's not the current standard any more than electric cars are.
    - pickdenis 8y ago
      This argument is disingenuous. I hope people would stop spouting it. There will ALWAYS be an advantage to wired headphones over wireless: reliability and versatility. Bluetooth headphones can be VERY finicky about who they'll connect to and with how much hassle. They also cannot be plugged into a separate DAC/Amp setup. Perhaps if it were standard for headphones to allow the user to bypass the bluetooth DAC and run the drivers on our own signal, but I haven't really seen this on affordable headphones.
      - gizmo385 8y ago
        This argument is equally disingenuous because you're implying that you simply can't use wired headphones of any kind. You can still get wired headphones without a headphone jack and just use the USB-C port.
        PhasmaFelis 8y ago
        And demolish any supposed gains in size and weight from removing the jack in the first place. The thing that gets me is, removing the headphone provides no benefit whatsoever for the vast majority of users. A few grams and some fraction of a millimeter aren't enough for you to feel the difference in your hand. If you don't use wired headphones, you gain no advantage from removing the jack. If you do use wired headphones, there's a substantial disadvantage to removing the jack. So if it doesn't benefit anyone, why do it?
      - reaperducer 8y ago
        They also cannot be plugged into a separate DAC/Amp setup. It's a telephone. It's not a giant stereo rack system with hipster vacuum tubes all around. That's where your audiophile wired headphones go.
    - PhasmaFelis 8y ago
      A floppy drive you don't use is bulky and expensive. A 3.5mm jack you don't use makes no perceptible difference. When you remove features, there should be a net benefit to doing so.
- xnx 8y ago
  I prefer better water and dust resistance over having a headphone jack.
  - PhasmaFelis 8y ago
    Doesn't make much difference when you've got a wide-open power/data port right there. Unless you're using a water-resistant case with folding rubber plugs, in which case you just close the one over the headphone jack and never think about it again. I get that some people never used wired headphones and don't care about the headphone jack either way. It confuses me that so many people are urgently trying to make out like this is a net positive for the average user.
Arelius 8y ago
Also, I don't know if it's just my phone. But it's been the most unreliable and miserable bluetooth experience I've had in years.
gizmo385 8y ago
I've had my Pixel 3 XL last for 2 days with pretty moderate to heavy usage without much issue.
Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
> awkward notches 1 notch. Singular. Not plural. Also, the Pixel 3 does not have a notch. That's only the Pixel 3 XL. > small storage wat? My Pixel 3 has 128 gig. That's quite a bit. An SD card slot would be nice to expand it, but I'm still pretty happy with 128. Stores my entire MP3 collection with tens of gigabytes left over for taking pics and recording videos. > RAM I'll give you this one. Having only 4 gig feels a bit dated, but I'm not sure if it's really an issue. > Mediocre at best battery 3,000 mAh is pretty standard. And the Pixel 3 sips the battery pretty lightly. My previous phone was a Motorola Droid Turbo. Even with its 3900 mAh battery, after using GPS + Bluetooth for 90 or so minutes for my commute to/from work, plus about an hour of browsing reddit during breaks at work, I'd come home with 40% left on the battery. With my Pixel 3, with the same usage patterns, I finish the day with about 60% of my battery left.
- PhasmaFelis 8y ago
  > 1 notch. Singular. Not plural. OP said "Pixel phones". A Pixel phone has a notch, Pixel phones have notches. This is a weird thing to nitpick about.
  - Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
    "Pixel phones have notches" is easily interpreted to mean "ALL Pixel phones have notches", or even that multiple Pixel models have notches. No, a single model of Pixel, the Pixel 3 XL, has a notch. To say "Pixel phones have notches" is misleading. Pixel 1/2 did not have notches. Pixel 3 does not have a notch. Only the Pixel 3 XL has a notch. When someone says "I'm not getting a Pixel 3 because it has a notch", it is unclear whether they incorrectly believe that the Pixel 3 has a notch, or if they really mean the Pixel 3 XL and just left off the XL. It seems like a nitpick, sure, but I think it's important. So much noise is created about the notch in the Pixel 3 XL that I honestly think there are a lot of people that don't realize that the smaller Pixel 3 doesn't have one.