5 ms·

Bit of advice I'm looking for, if my question resonates for you: I've had Pixels in the past (pretty distant past at this stage) but I generally found the exper

Bit of advice I'm looking for, if my question resonates for you: I've had Pixels in the past (pretty distant past at this stage) but I generally found the experience to be too "beta" or "experimental", in that various features would not carry over to a new Pixel, and I'd have to get used to something entirely different all over again. In contrast, I've enjoyed the Samsung approach, and I love the Fold. (I also carry iphones, I like gadgets) Should I try the Pixel Fold, might I like it? (looking for opinions from people who recognize my story; no need to tell me things like "nobody can answer that for you")

cogman10 2y ago
I've never used the fold, I'd be a bit concerned about the screen wearing at the crease. Damage is another thing to be worried about. As for the pixels, my advice is to hold off buying the latest until like Feb or even May. Google pretty aggressively drops the prices after release so waiting just a little bit will save you several hundred dollars. By Feb, generally the phones have been pretty stable.
- freedomben 2y ago
  Black Friday usually gets a couple hundred $ off as well. Only risk is that if the phone (or watch, etc) is selling well then they won't discount it, so you might end up waiting a long time or waiting a couple months and still paying full price. I always try to hold out for Black Friday though unless my old phone is broken.
SushiHippie 2y ago
I only bought a Pixel because of GrapheneOS. I think I've never had this few issues with a phone. (I only had Samsung phones before this) It feels even better than the Android that the Pixels ship with, I used it for a day before I flashed GrapheneOS, and I can completely understand why one would not buy a Pixel again if they only experienced the Stock OS.
- fsckboy 2y ago
  I'm always interested in trying things like that, but I'm not that into playing some sort of "jailbreak cat and mouse" over time. If I install GrapheneOS, is it automatic after that for security updates and whatnot, or do I have to do some weird two-hands-three-fingers reboot and manually download, etc?
  - hendi_ 2y ago
    Yes, it's fully automated OTA updates with GrapheneOS. (running it since 9mo on my Pixel 8)
    - joe200 2y ago
      What about banking apps ? Do they work correctly ? Do they complain that you don't have genuine phone ?
      - SushiHippie 2y ago
        My banking apps all work (three different german banks), but the app from my health insurance does not want to work. Relevant recent submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41215126 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41215126
  - penguinjanitor 2y ago
    Graphene OS has automatic updates, prompts you for reboots after installing them via notification.
  - lynndotpy 2y ago
    Speaking as a Calyx user since 2020, the install experience was a bit finnicky, and it required no ongoing manual maintenance. My understanding is the web installer is pretty easy now though. One caveat: Unlocking the bootloader deletes the disk. This is a reasonable security measure, but it means you don't want to use the phone for anything important before installing Graphene.
- 2y ago
delecti 2y ago
I'm not sure why you think you'd like the Pixel fold more than the Samsung Fold. Their dimensions are similar, but you've already said you dislike the software experience. I had the Nexus 5, Pixel 1, 3a, and now 7a, with a couple other phones in between which each time drove me back to Google hardware and their flavor of Android. If you didn't like the software in the early days of Pixel, or even in the Nexus days before, you probably still wouldn't.
- fsckboy 2y ago
  >I'm not sure why you think you'd like the Pixel fold more than the Samsung Fold. a hypothetical answer to my question could be: "yes, worth trying the Pixel experience again, but stay away from the Fold." my question had two dimensions. but thank you! very informative. yes, I had most of the Nexuses, then into the Pixels
- LegitShady 2y ago
  Personally can't imagine someone thinking "I hate the pixel experience" and then actually preferring samsung's, which is way worse.
  - delecti 2y ago
    Personally I view the Pixel experience as "clean", but I've heard it described as "sparse" by Samsung fans.
  - fsckboy 2y ago
    i probably write in too parsimonious a style compared to how people read: my complaint was not about the pixel experience, it was about the experience moving from each pixel version to the next back in earlier days, it was about the deltas. I can learn any system, but I want one and done. I don't want to keep having to learn all the time when it comes to things like muscle memory. i hate gestures, for example. If I could configure/control them, alright, but I don't like when some touch that used to be unnoticed or neutral suddenly starts wiping out what I'm doing. my mantra when it comes to coding UIs: job number one is never ever lose anything the user has typed
  - 2y ago
klauserc 2y ago
Hm... difficult question. I got a Pixel Fold at half price second hand. What MKBHD says about the Pixel Fold is absolutely true: it has the best outer screen/folded experience of all the foldables. Most of the time, I use it closed. And, apart from the abysmal screen brightness, it's a perfectly fine phone when folded. There are still very few apps that support the full screen properly and while you can force apps to run full screen on the big screen, their automatic UI layout will simply blow up the lower and upper portions of their interface so that you don't see that much more. Most Google app, obviously, have proper support and YouTube is definitely the primary use case for the big screen. Insanely, Google Maps loses features when viewed unfolded (WTF?). But even among the Google apps, though, most don't really use the space in a useful way. They often just put some hamburger menu permanently on the screen. Nice, I guess, but you won't bother unfolding the phone just for that. Web browsing/reading is great on the unfolded screen. That's where the near-rectangular aspect ratio works best. Honestly though, while I'm keeping an eye on what's happening in the foldable space, I think my next phone will be a boring old slab phone again.

cogman10 2y ago

I've never used the fold, I'd be a bit concerned about the screen wearing at the crease. Damage is another thing to be worried about. As for the pixels, my advice is to hold off buying the latest until like Feb or even May. Google pretty aggressively drops the prices after release so waiting just a little bit will save you several hundred dollars. By Feb, generally the phones have been pretty stable.

freedomben 2y ago
Black Friday usually gets a couple hundred $ off as well. Only risk is that if the phone (or watch, etc) is selling well then they won't discount it, so you might end up waiting a long time or waiting a couple months and still paying full price. I always try to hold out for Black Friday though unless my old phone is broken.

SushiHippie 2y ago

I only bought a Pixel because of GrapheneOS. I think I've never had this few issues with a phone. (I only had Samsung phones before this) It feels even better than the Android that the Pixels ship with, I used it for a day before I flashed GrapheneOS, and I can completely understand why one would not buy a Pixel again if they only experienced the Stock OS.

fsckboy 2y ago
I'm always interested in trying things like that, but I'm not that into playing some sort of "jailbreak cat and mouse" over time. If I install GrapheneOS, is it automatic after that for security updates and whatnot, or do I have to do some weird two-hands-three-fingers reboot and manually download, etc?
- hendi_ 2y ago
  Yes, it's fully automated OTA updates with GrapheneOS. (running it since 9mo on my Pixel 8)
  - joe200 2y ago
    What about banking apps ? Do they work correctly ? Do they complain that you don't have genuine phone ?
    - SushiHippie 2y ago
      My banking apps all work (three different german banks), but the app from my health insurance does not want to work. Relevant recent submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41215126 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41215126
- penguinjanitor 2y ago
  Graphene OS has automatic updates, prompts you for reboots after installing them via notification.
- lynndotpy 2y ago
  Speaking as a Calyx user since 2020, the install experience was a bit finnicky, and it required no ongoing manual maintenance. My understanding is the web installer is pretty easy now though. One caveat: Unlocking the bootloader deletes the disk. This is a reasonable security measure, but it means you don't want to use the phone for anything important before installing Graphene.
2y ago

delecti 2y ago

I'm not sure why you think you'd like the Pixel fold more than the Samsung Fold. Their dimensions are similar, but you've already said you dislike the software experience. I had the Nexus 5, Pixel 1, 3a, and now 7a, with a couple other phones in between which each time drove me back to Google hardware and their flavor of Android. If you didn't like the software in the early days of Pixel, or even in the Nexus days before, you probably still wouldn't.

fsckboy 2y ago
>I'm not sure why you think you'd like the Pixel fold more than the Samsung Fold. a hypothetical answer to my question could be: "yes, worth trying the Pixel experience again, but stay away from the Fold." my question had two dimensions. but thank you! very informative. yes, I had most of the Nexuses, then into the Pixels
LegitShady 2y ago
Personally can't imagine someone thinking "I hate the pixel experience" and then actually preferring samsung's, which is way worse.
- delecti 2y ago
  Personally I view the Pixel experience as "clean", but I've heard it described as "sparse" by Samsung fans.
- fsckboy 2y ago
  i probably write in too parsimonious a style compared to how people read: my complaint was not about the pixel experience, it was about the experience moving from each pixel version to the next back in earlier days, it was about the deltas. I can learn any system, but I want one and done. I don't want to keep having to learn all the time when it comes to things like muscle memory. i hate gestures, for example. If I could configure/control them, alright, but I don't like when some touch that used to be unnoticed or neutral suddenly starts wiping out what I'm doing. my mantra when it comes to coding UIs: job number one is never ever lose anything the user has typed
- 2y ago

klauserc 2y ago

Hm... difficult question. I got a Pixel Fold at half price second hand. What MKBHD says about the Pixel Fold is absolutely true: it has the best outer screen/folded experience of all the foldables. Most of the time, I use it closed. And, apart from the abysmal screen brightness, it's a perfectly fine phone when folded. There are still very few apps that support the full screen properly and while you can force apps to run full screen on the big screen, their automatic UI layout will simply blow up the lower and upper portions of their interface so that you don't see that much more. Most Google app, obviously, have proper support and YouTube is definitely the primary use case for the big screen. Insanely, Google Maps loses features when viewed unfolded (WTF?). But even among the Google apps, though, most don't really use the space in a useful way. They often just put some hamburger menu permanently on the screen. Nice, I guess, but you won't bother unfolding the phone just for that. Web browsing/reading is great on the unfolded screen. That's where the near-rectangular aspect ratio works best. Honestly though, while I'm keeping an eye on what's happening in the foldable space, I think my next phone will be a boring old slab phone again.