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For those who don't want to read the FAQ or find the video incredibly unhelpful [1]: a. It only supports the Nexus 6 out of the gate. b. It automatically swit

For those who don't want to read the FAQ or find the video incredibly unhelpful [1]: a. It only supports the Nexus 6 out of the gate. b. It automatically switches you to the "fastest" network available. Partners out of the gate are Sprint and T-mobile. Sounds like it prefers Wifi, then 4G LTE, and then degrades down to 3G or 2G. c. Pricing is $20 for unlimited talk (domestic) and text (domestic and international) and wi-fi tethering. Data is $10 per Gig. (Plus taxes, etc.) No support for unlimited data. they also refund you all the unlimited data at the end of the month. d. No annual contract required. e. Supports calls over wi-fi. Coverage map here: https://fi.google.com/coverage https://fi.google.com/coverage [1] Not even sure why they made a video, it doesn't explain a thing... Edit: clarified domestic talk pricing, and refunding data.

yellowapple 12y ago
The FAQ isn't particularly helpful, considering that instead of directly answering the FAQs, Google just kind of weasels its way around them. For example: "Q: Does moving between networks affect my battery life? A: We like full batteries too. Our software is optimized to not put extra strain on your battery by only moving you between networks when absolutely necessary." Just say "Yes", Google. Just say fucking "Yes". It's not that fucking hard to say fucking "Yes". Another example: "Q: When will Project Fi support other smartphones? A: The Nexus 6 is the first smartphone that supports Project Fi's network of networks. During Project Fi's Early Access Program we plan to only support the Nexus 6." That doesn't answer the question at all. The question asks "when", and Google just resorts to repeating the same exact information that prompted the question in the first place. Google does understand the point of FAQs, right? To answer common questions about things? Or are they too busy half-assing their Fiber rollout and building self-driving cars to stop and notice how much they suck at giving straight answers to even the questions that they fucking wrote?
- mahouse 12y ago
  > Just say "Yes", Google. Just say fucking "Yes". It's not that fucking hard to say fucking "Yes". Do you really need a "yes" there? I think it is pretty normal to have a stupid PR response there -- of course the answer is "yes". There is no other way.
  - ethanbond 12y ago
    Then why have it on the FAQ?
    - mahouse 12y ago
      Again, for PR reasons.
  - yellowapple 12y ago
    My point is that Google, of all companies, should be grown-up-enough to be able to resist the temptation to feed its users PR non-answers. Google's supposed to be bucking trends, "Do[ing] No Evil(TM)", etc.; they've set a higher standard and they're not meeting it.
    - ForHackernews 12y ago
      C'mon, "Do[ing] No Evil(TM)" is itself a PR non-answer to explain why we shouldn't be worried about their dangerous centralization of data and infrastructure.
    - RyJones 12y ago
      At Microsoft (and I'm sure at Google), there was an internal "rude FAQ" that was full of these answers. I felt it a shame we couldn't just publish that, instead.
    - bluedino 12y ago
      That Google is long gone.
  - Dylan16807 12y ago
    Well the real question is "Does it increase radio power usage more than a couple percent?", not whether it literally takes a single joule. Also the answer could be no! Transferring to a better connection can let you run the radio at lower power.
- fuentesjr 12y ago
  Have a Snickers.
  - yellowapple 12y ago
    Why?
    - scotth 12y ago
      "You're not you when you're hungry"
      - yellowapple 12y ago
        eats a Snickers
    - ecnahc515 12y ago
      Nobody likes a Diva
dmitrygr 12y ago
data is paid per-MB with no limits as far as i can see
Someone1234 12y ago
Everything you said is correct, I just want to make two tiny clarifications: - It is unlimited talk (domestic) and unlimited text (domestic and international). International talk costs extra. What was said in your post was accurate, but the way it was worded could confuse people into believing that it is unlimited international talk. The pricing is a little more nuanced than you said. - It is $20 (talk/text) and then $10 per gig of data. However they refund you all unused data at the end of the month. So if you buy 1 gig of data for $10 and only use 0.5 gig, they credit back $5. Which is an important distinction as that is their USP: cost savings by refunding unused data.
- xanderstrike 12y ago
  The "refund" language is confusing for the purposes of advertising, and I wouldn't bother repeating it. It's by-the-gig pricing, full stop. They just charge you for data you use, at a quite competitive price.
  - cjhopman 12y ago
    I don't think that that's correct. The plan page basically says that it's by-the-100MB pricing. https://fi.google.com/about/plan/ https://fi.google.com/about/plan/
    - solaris999 12y ago
      I'm not sure if that's true. Their line about refunding unused data says "you’ll get your unused data credited in dollars and cents" which implies that it may be as fine grained as by the 1MB pricing (if they are actually refunding cents as well)
  - pikachu_is_cool 12y ago
    I don't really understand why they presented it that way, by-the-gig (or 100MB) sounds much more appealing than rollover data. Maybe it's some liability or insurance thing? Cause you basically have to fork over a bunch of money for the first month before the refunds roll over. (never mind, someone else responded to this question here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9422621 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9422621)
smacktoward 12y ago
What I don't get is, what's in this for Sprint and T-Mobile? Currently a user of their network is a customer they "own" -- they deal with that customer directly. Now they have Google sitting between them and the user, which effectively commoditizes their service; Google could switch them out for another network down the road without the user ever knowing or caring. That's great for Google, and probably also great for the user, but not so great for the individual cell providers. Presumably Google is paying them something to compensate for that, but it still seems dumb -- accepting a little money today at the cost of cutting your own throat in the long term. But then there aren't many providers in the US that aren't dumb, so maybe the long-term threat has just been completely missed by them? Who knows...
- cylinder 12y ago
  They are probably getting excess capacity bought by Google, it's not a bad idea to take easy guaranteed revenue. My other theory is that they are giving Google a taste of the business that will later lead to Google buying T-Mobile or Sprint outright.
- fixxer 12y ago
  They already do that (allow a 3rd party to resell over their infrastructure) with Ting. They are in a commodity biz.
  - briffle 12y ago
    and virgin mobile and boost (both of which they own) plus a dozen other MVNO cell companies.
    - fixxer 12y ago
      I'm tempted to get short Tucows on this, but they've been so awesome that I don't think I'd leave for Google's price point.
- stdgy 12y ago
  It brings the costs of on-boarding, support and sales to 0. At least, from the customer facing perspective. Presumably, they also believe this will bring them a net increase in 'paying users', with larger customer defections coming from the big players (Verizon and AT&T) rather than their own customer base. I could see how it could be an attractive revenue stream.
jamroom 12y ago
Just as a point of reference, this is about on par with AT&T family share plans - I pay $145 a month for 3 iphones, unlimited text and talk with 10 gigs shared data. With taxes and fees it comes out to right around $160 (which would be the same here if I used all 10 gigs). The down side is that I'm not refunded for any unused data, so I pay that every month. But we use a good chunk of it every month, so this wouldn't be a big savings for me.
- harryh 12y ago
  I also use an AT&T share plan and they recently started rolling over unused data. So while I'm not getting money back I feel like I'm at least accruing something when I don't get close to my max. Depending on your plan they might be doing the same for you now too?
  - Lawtonfogle 12y ago
    They roll it over but it is the last used and is only rolled over a single month. Month 1: Get 10 Use 5 = 5 rolled over. Month 2: Get 10 Rollover 5 Use 5 (of the 10) Lose 5 (already rolled over) = 5 rolled over. Month 3: Get 10 Rollover 5 Use 5 (of the 10) Lose 5 (already rolled over) = 5 rolled over. Month 4: Get 10 Rollover 5 Use 5 (of the 10) Lose 5 (already rolled over) = 5 rolled over. By Month 5, you would think you would have 30 (10 + 5 rolled over from each month) but you only get 15.
    - jsprogrammer 12y ago
      AT&T: We'll always find a way to fuck you.
  - nandhp 12y ago
    > accruing I think AT&T only rolls over data to the next month, so you aren't actually accruing anything. Unlike T-Mobile, who I believe roll over data for up to 12 months.
    - harryh 12y ago
esalman 12y ago
Whom do I pay, Google?
- slb 12y ago
  Yes.
deleted 12y ago
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deleted 12y ago
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samstave 12y ago
I have Sprint and I live in Alameda Ca - and work in SOMA in SF - It is hands down the worst cellular carrier in the bay area with respect to LTE coverage and speed: 1. They have been claiming they are building new towers for the last THREE years. 2. No coverage AT ALL in any bart tunnel 3. No coverage fully across the bay bridge 4. Spotty coverage in SOMA 5. Google hangouts is utterly useless on mobile 6. three huge dead zones on 880 between Oakland and Menlo park, no coverage across dumbarton, etc. I wish companies would stop partnering with them for services like this. I carry a verizon MIFI with me everywhere for work (ops) and I turn it on every time I get on bart - when I am in the car and when I am sitting around in any restaurant / coffee shop / bar for any time because the network sucks so bad.
- maxsilver 12y ago
  But that's the whole point of Google Fi. They partnered with Sprint and T-Mobile. When your in Alameda and Sprint sucks, Google puts you on T-Mobile's network, and you get better data + coverage. When you head to the rural Midwest, and T-Mobile has EDGE or no service at all, Google can put you back on Sprint LTE and it's at least better than EDGE on T-Mobile. If this works the way they describe, then you win in both situations -- you get the best of either network, wherever you happen to be.
  - servercobra 12y ago
    This is exactly where I'm at. T-Mobile is super fast in Oakland, SF, and even in the BART tunnels, but I just went home to WI and had terrible T-Mobile coverage outside of Milwaukee. So I popped in my Ting SIM (a Sprint MVNO, $6/mo to keep the line open, pay for what you use) and instantly had good coverage.
  - mikeash 12y ago
    If you combine two crappy networks, the result won't be as crappy, but it won't necessarily be good either.
    - rizwank 12y ago
rlu 12y ago
Ahhh soooo annoying that it requires a Nexus 6. This sounds so awesome but I do not want a 6" phone. I'm hoping the next Nexus phone will have a smaller variant (and it will undoubtedly support Project Fi)
- nevir 12y ago
  Agree. Edit: Looks like the Sony Z3C is a (and the only?) contender! --- But, I've also given up on that front. The last phone that was (barely) usable one-handed for me was the original Moto X. At this point, there is literally not a single phone on the market that (that I can find): * Runs a recent version of Android (or iOS) * Is <= 5" tall * Has a recent/"fast" CPU/GPU So, fuck it, time to give in and go with a phablet.
  - Aradalf 12y ago
    ...The iPhone 6 is 4.7" and has the best processor on the market.
    - fragmede 12y ago
      4.7" is the screen diagonal. The total height, including the top and bottom border is listed as 5.44". This is according to Apple. http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/specs/ http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/specs/
      - jessaustin 12y ago
        This seems unlikely, as cell phones are generally rectangular and have flat screens. EDIT: maybe you could try drawing a screen with a 5.44" height and 4.7" diagonal. Euclid will not be your friend.
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        12y ago
Havoc 12y ago
>or find the video incredibly unhelpful Watched the video via reddit...NICE smooth style...still not idea wtf they're on about though. Oh well...hn comments will know. Sure enough...top comment is a comment expecting people to arrive here confused. So much for clear google marketing.
jpwagner 12y ago
I've been really excited about this upcoming announcement, but I'm disappointed at the pricing. I used 15GB last month, so I'd pay more than double what I pay now for "unlimited" data.
- zmmmmm 12y ago
  A lot depends on how well the WiFi network works. If their WiFi network is good enough then your data might stretch a lot further.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
jsz0 12y ago
> automatically switches you to the "fastest" network available. It'll be interesting to see what type of impact this has on battery life / reliability. > refunding data I'm surprised they didn't go with data roll over or just lower price per GB. Refunds add a layer of guilt / buyers remorse to the process. I suspect a lot of customers will cross a 1GB boundary and feel obligated to use less data to lower their bill.
the_watcher 12y ago
Will it ever support iPhones? Obviously, as the competitor, they have some incentive to play by Apple rules and only support devices running their preferred OS, but at the same time, they make such a big deal over the open protocol of Android, plus have a general strategy of "get everyone using Google as much as possible," that I'd assume they'd eventually roll out to iOS (unless the issue is on Apple's end)
- dba7dba 12y ago
  I suspect no. iOS users pull down far more data. And it's Apple versus Google. Not going to happen.
  - click170 12y ago
    Do you have any figures about iOS vs Android data usage? That's a perspective I had not heard.
gcb0 12y ago
So, it does exactly the same thing my Nexus one did 5+ years ago before they bought companies and shut them down? if you don't know what i'm talking about, android got a SIP client working pretty fast from the comunity, and the best provider was using gizmo5. which google bought one year before launching the nexus one. Then on year after launching nexus one, they pulled an apple on it and shut down the service. then they launched google voice. which was a we-own-all-your-data-in-the-cloud version of gizmo5, but it was nice because they gave me lots of free stuff that almost never worked (phone dialer integration, sms, etc). until the clients they released became a piece of garbage (the last build is still from 2012, then they started to force the features trhu google plus and more recently via hangouts)
- runjake 12y ago
  Google Voice was from their GrandCentral acquisition. Gizmo5 was just SIP.
asavadatti 12y ago
The video looks like something directly out of the TV show "Silicon Valley".
kijin 12y ago
The $20 base charge with "unlimited talk and text" makes me feel like I'd be throwing away money in exchange for nothing. Unlimited only makes sense if I'm going to use a reasonable amount of it. These days, I talk barely 20 minutes a month, and I haven't sent a single text so far this month. Apps that use data are rapidly replacing both of them, and people who use a Nexus 6 with Google are likely to be at the forefront of this trend. I would really prefer a much lower base rate with zero talk/text and reasonable "overage" charges. Even at the old system of $.30/minute and $.25/message, It would probably come out cheaper for me. The overage charges will also encourage me to use more data instead of talk/text, and isn't that what Google wants me to do anyway? (My mother is with a South Korean MVNO and pays a $0 base rate, with "overage" charges at $.0018 per second of outgoing calls and $.02 per outgoing text. Crazy, huh? Pay-as-you-go data is more expensive with her carrier, but she doesn't need much data.) All in all, apart from easy international roaming, I don't see anything special in this offer. It's the same old American carrier racket, only more expensive. I expected more from Google.
- natural219 12y ago
  Ummm...how is this different from every other cell provider ever? Like where can you currently get anywhere near this level of access for less than $20?
  - kijin 12y ago
    That's the point. This is Google, so I expected something different from every other American cell provider ever. At the very least, I would have expected their plans to encourage people to prefer data to talk/text.
  - shkkmo 12y ago
    There are a variety of options: FreedomPop provides 500mb a month free data and you can pre-pay monthly for more data with lower overage costs. You do get sprint only. Republic Wireless already does the Wifi calling and switching and unlimited data. Ptel sells prepaid data at a flat $.10/megabye (atleast $10 / 60 days) and there are others in that range. There really isn't anything new here. If they can create a global network of networks where I can bring my own device, I'd be interested. The are other resellers that offer
JulianMorrison 12y ago
USA only, too.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- nodata 12y ago
  add a vpn on top?
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
AndrewOMartin 12y ago
The video is worth watching just to see how not-worth-watching the video is.

yellowapple 12y ago

The FAQ isn't particularly helpful, considering that instead of directly answering the FAQs, Google just kind of weasels its way around them. For example: "Q: Does moving between networks affect my battery life? A: We like full batteries too. Our software is optimized to not put extra strain on your battery by only moving you between networks when absolutely necessary." Just say "Yes", Google. Just say fucking "Yes". It's not that fucking hard to say fucking "Yes". Another example: "Q: When will Project Fi support other smartphones? A: The Nexus 6 is the first smartphone that supports Project Fi's network of networks. During Project Fi's Early Access Program we plan to only support the Nexus 6." That doesn't answer the question at all. The question asks "when", and Google just resorts to repeating the same exact information that prompted the question in the first place. Google does understand the point of FAQs, right? To answer common questions about things? Or are they too busy half-assing their Fiber rollout and building self-driving cars to stop and notice how much they suck at giving straight answers to even the questions that they fucking wrote?

mahouse 12y ago
> Just say "Yes", Google. Just say fucking "Yes". It's not that fucking hard to say fucking "Yes". Do you really need a "yes" there? I think it is pretty normal to have a stupid PR response there -- of course the answer is "yes". There is no other way.
- ethanbond 12y ago
  Then why have it on the FAQ?
  - mahouse 12y ago
    Again, for PR reasons.
- yellowapple 12y ago
  My point is that Google, of all companies, should be grown-up-enough to be able to resist the temptation to feed its users PR non-answers. Google's supposed to be bucking trends, "Do[ing] No Evil(TM)", etc.; they've set a higher standard and they're not meeting it.
  - ForHackernews 12y ago
    C'mon, "Do[ing] No Evil(TM)" is itself a PR non-answer to explain why we shouldn't be worried about their dangerous centralization of data and infrastructure.
  - RyJones 12y ago
    At Microsoft (and I'm sure at Google), there was an internal "rude FAQ" that was full of these answers. I felt it a shame we couldn't just publish that, instead.
  - bluedino 12y ago
    That Google is long gone.
- Dylan16807 12y ago
  Well the real question is "Does it increase radio power usage more than a couple percent?", not whether it literally takes a single joule. Also the answer could be no! Transferring to a better connection can let you run the radio at lower power.
fuentesjr 12y ago
Have a Snickers.
- yellowapple 12y ago
  Why?
  - scotth 12y ago
    "You're not you when you're hungry"
    - yellowapple 12y ago
      eats a Snickers
  - ecnahc515 12y ago
    Nobody likes a Diva

dmitrygr 12y ago

data is paid per-MB with no limits as far as i can see

Someone1234 12y ago

Everything you said is correct, I just want to make two tiny clarifications: - It is unlimited talk (domestic) and unlimited text (domestic and international). International talk costs extra. What was said in your post was accurate, but the way it was worded could confuse people into believing that it is unlimited international talk. The pricing is a little more nuanced than you said. - It is $20 (talk/text) and then $10 per gig of data. However they refund you all unused data at the end of the month. So if you buy 1 gig of data for $10 and only use 0.5 gig, they credit back $5. Which is an important distinction as that is their USP: cost savings by refunding unused data.

xanderstrike 12y ago
The "refund" language is confusing for the purposes of advertising, and I wouldn't bother repeating it. It's by-the-gig pricing, full stop. They just charge you for data you use, at a quite competitive price.
- cjhopman 12y ago
  I don't think that that's correct. The plan page basically says that it's by-the-100MB pricing. https://fi.google.com/about/plan/ https://fi.google.com/about/plan/
  - solaris999 12y ago
    I'm not sure if that's true. Their line about refunding unused data says "you’ll get your unused data credited in dollars and cents" which implies that it may be as fine grained as by the 1MB pricing (if they are actually refunding cents as well)
- pikachu_is_cool 12y ago
  I don't really understand why they presented it that way, by-the-gig (or 100MB) sounds much more appealing than rollover data. Maybe it's some liability or insurance thing? Cause you basically have to fork over a bunch of money for the first month before the refunds roll over. (never mind, someone else responded to this question here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9422621 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9422621)

smacktoward 12y ago

What I don't get is, what's in this for Sprint and T-Mobile? Currently a user of their network is a customer they "own" -- they deal with that customer directly. Now they have Google sitting between them and the user, which effectively commoditizes their service; Google could switch them out for another network down the road without the user ever knowing or caring. That's great for Google, and probably also great for the user, but not so great for the individual cell providers. Presumably Google is paying them something to compensate for that, but it still seems dumb -- accepting a little money today at the cost of cutting your own throat in the long term. But then there aren't many providers in the US that aren't dumb, so maybe the long-term threat has just been completely missed by them? Who knows...

cylinder 12y ago
They are probably getting excess capacity bought by Google, it's not a bad idea to take easy guaranteed revenue. My other theory is that they are giving Google a taste of the business that will later lead to Google buying T-Mobile or Sprint outright.
fixxer 12y ago
They already do that (allow a 3rd party to resell over their infrastructure) with Ting. They are in a commodity biz.
- briffle 12y ago
  and virgin mobile and boost (both of which they own) plus a dozen other MVNO cell companies.
  - fixxer 12y ago
    I'm tempted to get short Tucows on this, but they've been so awesome that I don't think I'd leave for Google's price point.
stdgy 12y ago
It brings the costs of on-boarding, support and sales to 0. At least, from the customer facing perspective. Presumably, they also believe this will bring them a net increase in 'paying users', with larger customer defections coming from the big players (Verizon and AT&T) rather than their own customer base. I could see how it could be an attractive revenue stream.

jamroom 12y ago

Just as a point of reference, this is about on par with AT&T family share plans - I pay $145 a month for 3 iphones, unlimited text and talk with 10 gigs shared data. With taxes and fees it comes out to right around $160 (which would be the same here if I used all 10 gigs). The down side is that I'm not refunded for any unused data, so I pay that every month. But we use a good chunk of it every month, so this wouldn't be a big savings for me.

harryh 12y ago
I also use an AT&T share plan and they recently started rolling over unused data. So while I'm not getting money back I feel like I'm at least accruing something when I don't get close to my max. Depending on your plan they might be doing the same for you now too?
- Lawtonfogle 12y ago
  They roll it over but it is the last used and is only rolled over a single month. Month 1: Get 10 Use 5 = 5 rolled over. Month 2: Get 10 Rollover 5 Use 5 (of the 10) Lose 5 (already rolled over) = 5 rolled over. Month 3: Get 10 Rollover 5 Use 5 (of the 10) Lose 5 (already rolled over) = 5 rolled over. Month 4: Get 10 Rollover 5 Use 5 (of the 10) Lose 5 (already rolled over) = 5 rolled over. By Month 5, you would think you would have 30 (10 + 5 rolled over from each month) but you only get 15.
  - jsprogrammer 12y ago
    AT&T: We'll always find a way to fuck you.
- nandhp 12y ago
  > accruing I think AT&T only rolls over data to the next month, so you aren't actually accruing anything. Unlike T-Mobile, who I believe roll over data for up to 12 months.
  - harryh 12y ago

esalman 12y ago

Whom do I pay, Google?

slb 12y ago
Yes.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

samstave 12y ago

I have Sprint and I live in Alameda Ca - and work in SOMA in SF - It is hands down the worst cellular carrier in the bay area with respect to LTE coverage and speed: 1. They have been claiming they are building new towers for the last THREE years. 2. No coverage AT ALL in any bart tunnel 3. No coverage fully across the bay bridge 4. Spotty coverage in SOMA 5. Google hangouts is utterly useless on mobile 6. three huge dead zones on 880 between Oakland and Menlo park, no coverage across dumbarton, etc. I wish companies would stop partnering with them for services like this. I carry a verizon MIFI with me everywhere for work (ops) and I turn it on every time I get on bart - when I am in the car and when I am sitting around in any restaurant / coffee shop / bar for any time because the network sucks so bad.

maxsilver 12y ago
But that's the whole point of Google Fi. They partnered with Sprint and T-Mobile. When your in Alameda and Sprint sucks, Google puts you on T-Mobile's network, and you get better data + coverage. When you head to the rural Midwest, and T-Mobile has EDGE or no service at all, Google can put you back on Sprint LTE and it's at least better than EDGE on T-Mobile. If this works the way they describe, then you win in both situations -- you get the best of either network, wherever you happen to be.
- servercobra 12y ago
  This is exactly where I'm at. T-Mobile is super fast in Oakland, SF, and even in the BART tunnels, but I just went home to WI and had terrible T-Mobile coverage outside of Milwaukee. So I popped in my Ting SIM (a Sprint MVNO, $6/mo to keep the line open, pay for what you use) and instantly had good coverage.
- mikeash 12y ago
  If you combine two crappy networks, the result won't be as crappy, but it won't necessarily be good either.
  - rizwank 12y ago

rlu 12y ago

Ahhh soooo annoying that it requires a Nexus 6. This sounds so awesome but I do not want a 6" phone. I'm hoping the next Nexus phone will have a smaller variant (and it will undoubtedly support Project Fi)

nevir 12y ago
Agree. Edit: Looks like the Sony Z3C is a (and the only?) contender! --- But, I've also given up on that front. The last phone that was (barely) usable one-handed for me was the original Moto X. At this point, there is literally not a single phone on the market that (that I can find): * Runs a recent version of Android (or iOS) * Is <= 5" tall * Has a recent/"fast" CPU/GPU So, fuck it, time to give in and go with a phablet.
- Aradalf 12y ago
  ...The iPhone 6 is 4.7" and has the best processor on the market.
  - fragmede 12y ago
    4.7" is the screen diagonal. The total height, including the top and bottom border is listed as 5.44". This is according to Apple. http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/specs/ http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/specs/
    - jessaustin 12y ago
      This seems unlikely, as cell phones are generally rectangular and have flat screens. EDIT: maybe you could try drawing a screen with a 5.44" height and 4.7" diagonal. Euclid will not be your friend.
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        12y ago

Havoc 12y ago

>or find the video incredibly unhelpful Watched the video via reddit...NICE smooth style...still not idea wtf they're on about though. Oh well...hn comments will know. Sure enough...top comment is a comment expecting people to arrive here confused. So much for clear google marketing.

jpwagner 12y ago

I've been really excited about this upcoming announcement, but I'm disappointed at the pricing. I used 15GB last month, so I'd pay more than double what I pay now for "unlimited" data.

zmmmmm 12y ago
A lot depends on how well the WiFi network works. If their WiFi network is good enough then your data might stretch a lot further.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

jsz0 12y ago

> automatically switches you to the "fastest" network available. It'll be interesting to see what type of impact this has on battery life / reliability. > refunding data I'm surprised they didn't go with data roll over or just lower price per GB. Refunds add a layer of guilt / buyers remorse to the process. I suspect a lot of customers will cross a 1GB boundary and feel obligated to use less data to lower their bill.

the_watcher 12y ago

Will it ever support iPhones? Obviously, as the competitor, they have some incentive to play by Apple rules and only support devices running their preferred OS, but at the same time, they make such a big deal over the open protocol of Android, plus have a general strategy of "get everyone using Google as much as possible," that I'd assume they'd eventually roll out to iOS (unless the issue is on Apple's end)

dba7dba 12y ago
I suspect no. iOS users pull down far more data. And it's Apple versus Google. Not going to happen.
- click170 12y ago
  Do you have any figures about iOS vs Android data usage? That's a perspective I had not heard.

gcb0 12y ago

So, it does exactly the same thing my Nexus one did 5+ years ago before they bought companies and shut them down? if you don't know what i'm talking about, android got a SIP client working pretty fast from the comunity, and the best provider was using gizmo5. which google bought one year before launching the nexus one. Then on year after launching nexus one, they pulled an apple on it and shut down the service. then they launched google voice. which was a we-own-all-your-data-in-the-cloud version of gizmo5, but it was nice because they gave me lots of free stuff that almost never worked (phone dialer integration, sms, etc). until the clients they released became a piece of garbage (the last build is still from 2012, then they started to force the features trhu google plus and more recently via hangouts)

runjake 12y ago
Google Voice was from their GrandCentral acquisition. Gizmo5 was just SIP.

asavadatti 12y ago

The video looks like something directly out of the TV show "Silicon Valley".

kijin 12y ago

The $20 base charge with "unlimited talk and text" makes me feel like I'd be throwing away money in exchange for nothing. Unlimited only makes sense if I'm going to use a reasonable amount of it. These days, I talk barely 20 minutes a month, and I haven't sent a single text so far this month. Apps that use data are rapidly replacing both of them, and people who use a Nexus 6 with Google are likely to be at the forefront of this trend. I would really prefer a much lower base rate with zero talk/text and reasonable "overage" charges. Even at the old system of $.30/minute and $.25/message, It would probably come out cheaper for me. The overage charges will also encourage me to use more data instead of talk/text, and isn't that what Google wants me to do anyway? (My mother is with a South Korean MVNO and pays a $0 base rate, with "overage" charges at $.0018 per second of outgoing calls and $.02 per outgoing text. Crazy, huh? Pay-as-you-go data is more expensive with her carrier, but she doesn't need much data.) All in all, apart from easy international roaming, I don't see anything special in this offer. It's the same old American carrier racket, only more expensive. I expected more from Google.

natural219 12y ago
Ummm...how is this different from every other cell provider ever? Like where can you currently get anywhere near this level of access for less than $20?
- kijin 12y ago
  That's the point. This is Google, so I expected something different from every other American cell provider ever. At the very least, I would have expected their plans to encourage people to prefer data to talk/text.
- shkkmo 12y ago
  There are a variety of options: FreedomPop provides 500mb a month free data and you can pre-pay monthly for more data with lower overage costs. You do get sprint only. Republic Wireless already does the Wifi calling and switching and unlimited data. Ptel sells prepaid data at a flat $.10/megabye (atleast $10 / 60 days) and there are others in that range. There really isn't anything new here. If they can create a global network of networks where I can bring my own device, I'd be interested. The are other resellers that offer

JulianMorrison 12y ago

USA only, too.

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nodata 12y ago
add a vpn on top?
- deleted 12y ago
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AndrewOMartin 12y ago

The video is worth watching just to see how not-worth-watching the video is.