One week with the Google Pixel • Hacker News Board

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#71

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 9:19 PM UTC

pwinnski wrote: post #58

nattaylor wrote: post #16

I've been wondering if I was missing out on the iPhone's 3D touch feature, for interacting with photos, messages, etc. The author didn't mention missing it, so I guess I'm not.

When it was first introduced, I used it very rarely. With iOS 10, I've started using it frequently, many times per day. So the answer, at least for me, has changed dramatically very recently. If I were already considering a move away from iOS, I would never have started using the new iOS 10 3D touch stuff to begin with, and therefore wouldn't know what I was missing.

I'm in the same boat. I switched from the 6 to 7, so this has been my first real usage of 3d touch and it's actually very useful. I even discovered recently that the flashlight has 3 brightness settings exposed via 3d touch.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#72

Post by empath75 » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 9:19 PM UTC

colemickens wrote: post #34

askafriend wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Perhaps writing in a less condescending way might attract fewer downvotes.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#73

Post by kinkdr » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 9:19 PM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #67

kinkdr wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Past performance does not guarantee future results” I don't have a single bad thing to say about Google, but that doesn't mean that I am not afraid of their power and I don't dread the day that the current management will not be there to keep them in check. And sooner or later that day will come.

Your last statement is a pretty blatant slippery slope fallacy.

> Your last statement is a pretty blatant slippery slope fallacy.

Which one? In which way is it a fallacy?

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#74

Post by SiVal » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 9:21 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #52

Twenty44 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I wish developers would explicitly say what devices they test on. There's no reason an app shouldn't be totally polished on at least one device.

I doubt that would help. Some developers do the tests but aren't very good at testing. Others wouldn't do the tests but would copy and paste a long list of "tested devices", and with two million apps, you would never be able to tell the former cases from the latter.

Google could probably address this more effectively with some variant of: dev technologies making it easier to design for varied hardware profiles, test suites in the simulator that automate many types of testing across a set of standard profiles, specs for hardware makers showing them what the requirements of each standardized profile were, extensive test suites for hardware makers to make sure they conform to a standard profile, and a Google certification that a given device matches the such-and-such profile in all respects, so that if you test your code against the such-and-such profile in the simulator, and it works, it will work on the certified device.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#75

Post by dmcginty » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 9:22 PM UTC

I've been using Samsung phones for several years (currently still using a Galaxy S6), and my Pixel is supposed to come around the end of the month. Did they really get rid of app badges? That has been a thing for a while, unless I'm not understanding what "badges" are. Also, is the battery life on an iPhone good enough that you don't have to charge it every day. I can't remember owning a smartphone that could go longer than 24+ hours on one charge.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#76

Post by Luc » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 9:22 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #52

Twenty44 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I wish developers would explicitly say what devices they test on. There's no reason an app shouldn't be totally polished on at least one device.

There is less incentive to polish on even one device when you know it's <1% of the market. Seems better to put more effort to get it running reasonably well on more devices.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#77

Post by bad_user » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 9:22 PM UTC

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…

On number 2 I think that's just your lack of experience with Android apps. Me I've made the switch from Android to an iPhone 6s which I've had for a year already and now I also have an iPad Pro, both received as gifts, as I'm an Android guy :-) And let me tell you, I like Android more because of the apps.

Now granted, there are a couple of nice, polished apps on iOS. But there are also entire app categories on iOS that simply suck. Some random examples:

1) For my big ass iPad Pro, I can't find a Torrent application and given how common torrent apps are, I have a feeling they are banned by Apple. On Android I have uTorrent, Bittorrent, BitTorrent Remote, you know the real deal.

2) For iOS the one KeePass port that's available and usable sucks compared with Keepass2Android.

3) For Android you've got a really awesome XMPP client, see https://conversations.im/ - for iOS the XMPP clients I tried sucked.

4) Firefox on iOS is just a shell around a Safari webview and cannot do plugins, being handicapped by Apple's restrictions - it can't even do ad-blockers like official Safari. On Android on the other hand Firefox is the real deal, as it comes with its own engine and can do plugins.

5) On Android I could find a good and usable app for Pinboard.in (PinDroid). No such luck on iOS, so I use it from the browser.

6) Speaking of Firefox, on Android you have the "official" Tor browser and Orbot, the proxy. On iOS you have the "Onion browser" - better than nothing, but still, it's not even a comparison.

7) We have Signal from Open Whispers Systems on both platforms, but can you encrypt plain SMS on iOS? No you can't. But on Android you can, see: https://silence.im

8) On Android I also have apps that monitors my battery usage and gives me detailed reports about what is consuming my battery (currently GSam Battery Monitor Pro). On iOS you only get the stuff in its settings and that's not enough.

9) On Android you can manage your files with file managers. So for example I use Amaze File Manager and you can organize files, copy or share them. And given that you can copy files to/from an Android phone directly, without that iTunes monster, that can be pretty handy. On iOS people use freaking Dropbox for file copying, which is pretty dumb.

10) Once upon a time VLC wasn't available for iOS, then it happened, then it got banned by Apple, being replaced by copy-cats trying to fool people, without Apple lifting a finger, then it got approved again. Either way, VLC is a second class citizen on iOS.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#78

Post by Karunamon » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 9:22 PM UTC

kinkdr wrote: post #73

Karunamon wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your last statement is a pretty blatant slippery slope fallacy.

> Your last statement is a pretty blatant slippery slope fallacy. Which one? In which way is it a fallacy?

"And sooner or later that day will come."

You have no specific insight on the behavior of Google's future leadership team, so the assertion that Google will necessarily start abusing their users at some point in the future is unsupported.

(Apologies if this is coming off a bit blunt, there's just not much else to say)

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#79

Post by visarga » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 9:23 PM UTC

danvasquez29 wrote: post #43

pionar wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

voluntary Ecosystem lock-in is actually the reason I moved back to iOS. I use an iPad pro, and I don't believe there's a better tablet out there. I use Macbook Pros both at work and at home. Having all of those devices perfectly in sync is amazing for my productivity.

I tried too, but I can't find a use for tablets. As long as there is my laptop around, I never reach for the tablet.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#80

Post by josephg » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 9:23 PM UTC

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…

I moved from Android to iOS last year for this exact reason. Using android over a few versions felt like a slow slippery slope of access prompts giving permission for google to use ever more personal data about me and my phone. The final straw for me was learning that google uploads and stores audio recordings of everything I've ever said into google now[1].

A year ago when I got my iphone I deleted all of the historical voice data that google stored. Just now, In the process of finding the google activity link below, I've learned that all my deleted voice clips have magically undeleted themselves.

I've been very happy with iOS - there's some little UI gripes, but for me the biggest feature is Tim Cook standing up to the US government on behalf of privacy. I'm convinced that as an organisation Google just doesn't understand what privacy is or why its important to people. With all the new deep app intelligence features in android, I shudder to think about simply how much data google might be storing about its users. I'm very happy to be out.

[1] https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity?product=29