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Pixel 3 Review

anandtech.com

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Re: Pixel 3 Review

#41

Post by LoSboccacc »

fyfy18 wrote: post #30
awill wrote: post #19

I really appreciated the critical honesty here. With a Pixel you're getting an 8 month old SoC. The reason this detail is important is because the 8 month old Galaxy S9 is now selling far below MSRP. You can get them new for around $500. That makes the Pixel FAR more expensive than it's SD845 brothers. Also, it's crazy to me that Apple has such a huge lead in single threaded CPU performance. They've been ahead for ye…

The Xiaomi Mi 8 has the same SOC and Sony IMX363 sensor as the Pixel 3, so if you want a cheaper device that's a good option. The only thing you really miss out on are waterproof and wireless charging, but considering its less than half the price...

They are in general providing hardware well above the competitor at most price points, just got an A2 and I'm loving it, camera included, gives a real run for money to high end devices

Re: Pixel 3 Review

#42

Post by kristofferR »

fyfy18 wrote: post #30
awill wrote: post #19

I really appreciated the critical honesty here. With a Pixel you're getting an 8 month old SoC. The reason this detail is important is because the 8 month old Galaxy S9 is now selling far below MSRP. You can get them new for around $500. That makes the Pixel FAR more expensive than it's SD845 brothers. Also, it's crazy to me that Apple has such a huge lead in single threaded CPU performance. They've been ahead for ye…

The Xiaomi Mi 8 has the same SOC and Sony IMX363 sensor as the Pixel 3, so if you want a cheaper device that's a good option. The only thing you really miss out on are waterproof and wireless charging, but considering its less than half the price...

The sensor isn't what makes the Pixel's camera great though, it's the Pixel-exclusive camera software.

Re: Pixel 3 Review

#43

Post by ken »

I see a bunch of numbers, a bunch of graphs, 10,000+ words analyzing them, and a bunch of photos that all look perfectly fine to me. The top two comments here say that Google and Apple, respectively, are clearly the best.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was in audiophile territory.

Re: Pixel 3 Review

#45

Post by joshschreuder »

threeseed wrote: post #35
rackforms wrote: post #23

The basic point and shoot camera tests are fascinating. A cursory glance shows the Pixel 3's camera the best of the bunch, sometimes by far . That said, as an iPhone user it's annoying to see Apple purposely hobbling itself with its overly aggressive (re: terrible) image processing. In this image, for example: https://images.anandtech.com/galleries/6731/A_iX_IMG_0308.jp... The cobblestone ground is literally left unr…

Based on EXIF data that image was taken with an iPhone X back in October. Which means the OS was 12.0 which had a widely reported bug where the image processing was interpolating images incorrectly. This has been fixed in 12.1. Would be interesting to see the photo taken again to see if the quality has improved. Also why are you comparing an iPhone X against the Pixel 3. The iPhone Xs has had significant improvements…

Pretty sure that bug only affected the front facing camera.

Re: Pixel 3 Review

#46

Post by Theodores »

jzelinskie wrote: post #32
awill wrote: post #19

I really appreciated the critical honesty here. With a Pixel you're getting an 8 month old SoC. The reason this detail is important is because the 8 month old Galaxy S9 is now selling far below MSRP. You can get them new for around $500. That makes the Pixel FAR more expensive than it's SD845 brothers. Also, it's crazy to me that Apple has such a huge lead in single threaded CPU performance. They've been ahead for ye…

I have a Pixel 1 and neither the Pixel 2 nor the Pixel 3 are a compelling upgrade for the price. I'm worried that Pixel 4 will be also be mediocre, but I'll be forced to upgrade anyway because Google will start to drop support for Pixel 1.

You have until October 2021 before you need to worry about support being dropped. Plenty can happen before then, I would be worried more about putting your phone in the washing machine than the lack of updates from Google, it will still turn on in November 2021, you just won't get Android Yummy-sweets or whatever the release will be called by then.

Re: Pixel 3 Review

#47

Post by epmaybe »

threeseed wrote: post #35
rackforms wrote: post #23

The basic point and shoot camera tests are fascinating. A cursory glance shows the Pixel 3's camera the best of the bunch, sometimes by far . That said, as an iPhone user it's annoying to see Apple purposely hobbling itself with its overly aggressive (re: terrible) image processing. In this image, for example: https://images.anandtech.com/galleries/6731/A_iX_IMG_0308.jp... The cobblestone ground is literally left unr…

Based on EXIF data that image was taken with an iPhone X back in October. Which means the OS was 12.0 which had a widely reported bug where the image processing was interpolating images incorrectly. This has been fixed in 12.1. Would be interesting to see the photo taken again to see if the quality has improved. Also why are you comparing an iPhone X against the Pixel 3. The iPhone Xs has had significant improvements…

Something I've been trying to figure out without much luck is how different the raw images are between the iPhone X and XS. Any idea where I could find a comparison?

The reason I ask is because feature such as smart HDR have shown great promise but I don't know how much is software and how much is sensor performance.

Re: Pixel 3 Review

#48

Post by ballsyballsman »

I got new Huawei Nova 3 and photos are excellent, battery life 1.5 days. Super fast with 128gb storage for (edit 3-4 times) times cheaper than pixel or any apple crap.

No wonder trumbo wants to block huawei phones from US market. Would sell like hot cakes.

Re: Pixel 3 Review

#49

Post by ndesaulniers »

awill wrote: post #19

I really appreciated the critical honesty here. With a Pixel you're getting an 8 month old SoC. The reason this detail is important is because the 8 month old Galaxy S9 is now selling far below MSRP. You can get them new for around $500. That makes the Pixel FAR more expensive than it's SD845 brothers. Also, it's crazy to me that Apple has such a huge lead in single threaded CPU performance. They've been ahead for ye…

Consider that by the time a phone arrives in your hands that the SoC has been in development for at least a year or two, and the phone has been in development for up to 18 months. The SoCs in all modern phones are years old, even if someone shipped one sooner than others. And there's much more to the phone than the SoC. Single threaded performance is one number that's easy to point to and say "up == good; down == bad" but it's a single number that's not the end of the conversation when it comes to the full experience of owning a modern smartphone, and doesn't matter that much to a majority of the smartphone market.

Re: Pixel 3 Review

#50

Post by ndesaulniers »

wcfields wrote: post #7

What I'd like to see in addition to raw stats is stacking up service and warranty. What's kept me an Apple user for high-end laptops and phones is being able to go to a brick and mortar store and walk-out with a replacement device.

I agree; it's hard to beat retail. The majority of customers don't have time to wait to mail stuff out or deal with trying to repair things on their own. They have $$$ and are willing to pay to just have their devices fixed. Making this as low friction as possible should be a priority, otherwise that's money left on the table.
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