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I really wish some low signal strength testing was standard in reviews. Products are not going to do a good job on aspects that arent well revuewed. This artic

I really wish some low signal strength testing was standard in reviews. Products are not going to do a good job on aspects that arent well revuewed. This article makes it sound like this is crisis level bad on this device, at whichnpoint everyone might take notice. But I'd just like all phones to be competing not just to be ok, but to be good at cellular communication. Currently we dont evaluate that?

kevingadd 4y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if the people doing product reviews managed to not hit this scenario often enough for it to show up in a review. The average reviewer may not be running special software to figure out what their signal level and mode are when outdoors. Could also be specific to the type of modem being used or specific frequency band for the article author (who is in France, I think?) vs reviewers who might be in the US or UK or etc. Personally I've had very bad experiences with quality control on Google phone handsets. Every single one I've owned had various problems that wouldn't make it past QC at other manufacturers - like a broken proximity sensor on the Pixel 4 I got for work, improper cooling on the nexus 5X I bought while working at google (constantly thermal throttled), and a nexus 4 I bought that had a bad internal flash drive that failed a week after I set it up (RIP my 2fa codes).
bobthepanda 4y ago
That sounds fairly complicated to test, given that it's location dependent and carrier dependent. It does sound like multiple people caught this, though: > In case you’re wondering, this isn’t a problem with my particular unit because I’m not the only one to have expressed concerns about it. Marques Brownlee has already mentioned it in his Pixel 6 second-try video, my friend Cameron Summerson talked about it, and people are complaining about it on Twitter, Reddit (1, 2), and the Google Support forums (1, 2, 3).
- Snuupy 4y ago
  I disagree that if it's difficult/complicated it shouldn't be done. Plenty of complicated testing setups cost thousands of dollars but are done because they give the prospective buyer extremely useful information on purchases. For example, you can see rtings reviews on audio equipment where they have a test dummy and bring that test dummy onto a train/subway track to test microphone performance or noise cancellation performance. Testing wireless signals could be done on a private network (say it costs some tens of thousands of dollars) but replicated for a comprehensive list of phones (say, gsmarena style) could be done. I'm glad awareness is being brought to this issue.

kevingadd 4y ago

I wouldn't be surprised if the people doing product reviews managed to not hit this scenario often enough for it to show up in a review. The average reviewer may not be running special software to figure out what their signal level and mode are when outdoors. Could also be specific to the type of modem being used or specific frequency band for the article author (who is in France, I think?) vs reviewers who might be in the US or UK or etc. Personally I've had very bad experiences with quality control on Google phone handsets. Every single one I've owned had various problems that wouldn't make it past QC at other manufacturers - like a broken proximity sensor on the Pixel 4 I got for work, improper cooling on the nexus 5X I bought while working at google (constantly thermal throttled), and a nexus 4 I bought that had a bad internal flash drive that failed a week after I set it up (RIP my 2fa codes).

bobthepanda 4y ago

That sounds fairly complicated to test, given that it's location dependent and carrier dependent. It does sound like multiple people caught this, though: > In case you’re wondering, this isn’t a problem with my particular unit because I’m not the only one to have expressed concerns about it. Marques Brownlee has already mentioned it in his Pixel 6 second-try video, my friend Cameron Summerson talked about it, and people are complaining about it on Twitter, Reddit (1, 2), and the Google Support forums (1, 2, 3).

Snuupy 4y ago
I disagree that if it's difficult/complicated it shouldn't be done. Plenty of complicated testing setups cost thousands of dollars but are done because they give the prospective buyer extremely useful information on purchases. For example, you can see rtings reviews on audio equipment where they have a test dummy and bring that test dummy onto a train/subway track to test microphone performance or noise cancellation performance. Testing wireless signals could be done on a private network (say it costs some tens of thousands of dollars) but replicated for a comprehensive list of phones (say, gsmarena style) could be done. I'm glad awareness is being brought to this issue.