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One week with the Google Pixel

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Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#31

Post by RBerenguel »

stanleydrew wrote: post #19
ebbv wrote: post #5

Half the positives on this list I find to be kinda crazy to be positives. For example having Facebook Messenger handle your SMS messages. Really? You want to voluntarily give all that info to a company as user hostile as Facebook? Less drastically I question the need to hide apps away in an app drawer. If you don't use the app then just delete it. Am I alone in feeling that way? I'm glad he's happy and the Pixel seem…

> For example having Facebook Messenger handle your SMS messages. Really? You want to voluntarily give all that info to a company as user hostile as Facebook? The operating system shouldn't be paternalistically responsible for preventing this kind of preference. Some people do want to voluntarily give this information to FB in exchange for a simplified or more integrated messaging experience. I don't happen to be one…

Recently I cleaned completely my home screen (iPhone). In the dock I keep Phone, a folder with Safari and Mail, a folder with what I used to have in my home screen (Calendar, todo, clock... 7-8 things) and the "social" apps folder (Facebook, Whatsapp, iMessage, etc). The rest, I have it in a secondary screen, neatly ordered by folder. And anyway, when I need to open almost anything that is not in the dock, I just search for it, just like I do on my computer. It's like having an uncluttered desktop so I can see the background.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#32

Post by pionar »

spankalee wrote: post #23
chipperyman573 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the messenger part was the ability to give an app of your choosing permissions to be your default SMS app, and in this case he chose Facebook's. App drawer, it's personal preference but personally I like having a single home page and the rest of my apps in my drawer. But again that's just personal preference, I'm sure a lot of people would call it a negative because they have to manually move an app out of th…

By default new apps are added the the home screen as well, so without curation you have a very iOS-like experience.

But that's pretty easy to turn off on Android.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#33

Post by ebbv »

pionar wrote: post #28
ebbv wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't found it very useful. Certainly not a reason to choose iPhone over Android. I have other reasons (like privacy concerns and ecosystem lock in).

Honest question - Why would you say Android is worse at ecosystem lock-in than iOS?

I am not saying it is worse I am saying I am locked into Apple's ecosystem. :)

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#34

Post by colemickens »

askafriend wrote: post #12
colemickens wrote: post #4

Always fun to see Apple users step out of the RDF and gush over features that Android has had for years (not all of them, but a good chunk of them have been present in Android for a long time now). Edit: And yes, the UI/UX has changed remarkably little between Lollipop and Nougat, despite the popular memes amongst non-Android users... like the ones already repeated here.

It's never been about the features. We have this conversation every single time. Users care about the experience, and features are only a portion of the experience. That's what Apple really truly gets and other companies miss time and time again.

And the UI/UX is hardly at all different than what has been shipping for the last 3 major Android versions.

Again, none of this is new for people who are actually using a recent version of Android in the last 2-3 years, but go figure I get downvoted for pointing it out.

Just as your comment proves, it's a sad, tired and completely out-dated meme that Android doesn't have good UX. And then these blog posts come along and I roll my eyes because my old phone that is 2 major revs behind Nougat looks and behaves virtually identical to Nougat.

Ironically, there are good features in the last few major revs, but they're more about granular permissions and other functionality that isn't touched on by this article at all.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#35

Post by wodenokoto »

He doesn't have an iPhone 7+, yet he claims that the camera on the pixel are "consistently better".

I don't have any, but the side by side tests I've seen of real world pictures it is a complete wash between the two.

I find it silly to say that Apple didn't present a compelling enough camera, but Google did, when they are as similar as they are.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#36

Post by visarga »

> For instance, ask it to search for an actor and then ask, “what films has he starred in?” It knows you’re still talking about the same person. Impressive.

Yeah, but then you ask it: "What is heavier, a cat or an elephant?" and it fails, because it is lacking in common sense. It only has a small-ish factoid knowledge base and lacks all the general common sense things we take for granted.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#37

Post by Twenty44 »

doubleshadow wrote: post #20

I switched from an iPhone 6+ to the Google Pixel. I've had two problems, but overall love the phone. 1.) The phone is extremely slippery. I don't agree with the author on this one. My old iPhone was way easier to grip, and the iPhone 7 is even better. I bought a case which fixed this issue. 2.) I think this is pretty important. Android apps are second class citizens. A lot of applications don't work properly with And…

I think your second point may have more to to do with the diversity of hardware that Android runs on than the developers simply putting less effort into it. Android runs on so many different devices. It is more difficult to develop and Android app that feels totally polished on every device

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#38

Post by toomuchtodo »

rhinoceraptor wrote: post #24
clumsysmurf wrote: post #6

"3. Deep Google integration - This shouldn’t be surprising in any way, but having Google built into pretty much everything you do on the phone is seriously useful." This is my main sticking point with Android lately. I would much rather have a stock Android OS + device from Google, and then add the few Google services I want. Instead Google is getting more and more baked into everything, and understanding how my data…

Why else would Android exist than to get people (and their sweet, sweet user data) into the Google ecosystem?

To protect mobile search revenue. I get what you meant, I'm just saying Google doesn't need your location history and your assorted other meta data to profit off you. They just need to ensure Apple can never close the door on search to them.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#39

Post by leesalminen »

pionar wrote: post #28
ebbv wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't found it very useful. Certainly not a reason to choose iPhone over Android. I have other reasons (like privacy concerns and ecosystem lock in).

Honest question - Why would you say Android is worse at ecosystem lock-in than iOS?

Not the parent, but Android allows easy installation of arbitrary APKs downloaded from anywhere. Also, there are multiple app stores on Android, like Amazon.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#40

Post by visarga »

wodenokoto wrote: post #35

He doesn't have an iPhone 7+, yet he claims that the camera on the pixel are "consistently better". I don't have any, but the side by side tests I've seen of real world pictures it is a complete wash between the two. I find it silly to say that Apple didn't present a compelling enough camera, but Google did, when they are as similar as they are.

They are probably cameras and phones assembled in the same factory.
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