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Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

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Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#491

Post by robocat »

pixelmonkey wrote: post #374
malkia wrote: post #27

Has Audio Jack! (Comparison with other Pixel 4's) - https://store.google.com/magazine/compare_pixel?toggler0=Pix...

One of the biggest differences between the 4a and the older 4 and 4 XL is that the 4a has a rear fingerprint reader, whereas the 4 and 4 XL want you to use face unlock. So strange that this isn't emphasized (or even mentioned) on the comparison page. This was actually the primary thing that kept me on a Pixel 2 for so long, since it also has a similar rear fingerprint sensor design (and I just pre-ordered the Pixel 4…

Fingerprint totally fails me on Nexus 5X if I have been working in garden: abrasion, small cuts or dirt prevents the recognition of either of my index fingers. (Temporary using old phone because broke newer phone).

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#492

Post by grishka »

wutbrodo wrote: post #335
grishka wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd have done the opposite as I never take my phone near water. But then I'm a weirdo who'd gladly pay $2000 for a 4" flagship if such a thing was for sale.

Def not a weirdo thing. I got a 4" Galaxy S 1 in 2010 and have preferred it to every other phone size since. I dusted it off not that long ago to use overseas (it was my last GSM phone), and it was still the perfect size.

Your hands didn't grow — what a surprise!

Honestly, I did try to embrace this trend by buying a Nexus 6P when it came out in 2015. I thought I'll just get used to it. I did not. Besides being a pain in the rear to use with one hand, it ripped holes through my pockets with its sharp corners. So when they then announced the (5") Pixel 1 a year later, I bought one immediately and it's still my primary phone. Still, it's a tad larger than would be comfortable, I find it that iPhone 5 (or 5S or 1st gen SE) is an ideal size for me. The only problem with these is that they run iOS.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#493

Post by Jedd »

ksec wrote: post #411
Jedd wrote: post #369

As an Australian with a Pixel XL which is still perfectly usable, just lacking 'support': > ... it’s fascinating that the most important detail is the price: $349. Local pricing on google store is A$599, despite US$349 ~= A$490. So not quite the same bargain for us, though not hugely surprising. > ... it’s worth remembering that technically, fall ends on December 21st this year. Living in a country with only a dozen…

>Local pricing on google store is A$599, despite US$349 ~= A$490. If I remember correctly, AUS has a 10% VAT. So that is $539. For the extra $60, you get an additional year of warranty and consumer protection that is offered by law.

> If I remember correctly, AUS has a 10% VAT. So that is $539.

Yup, we've got a goods and services tax (GST) that's 10%, and it's illegal, IIRC, to advertise an item to end consumers that doesn't include it.

So the AUD $599 value would include the GST - but you'd need to divide by 11, not 10, to find the GST component. Not much difference to your estimation of A$539 - the tax-free cost would be closer to A$545.

I very much appreciate the benefits of our CP laws, but unless the devices are manufactured to a different standard than those sold in other parts of the world, that cost / value isn't wrapped up into the sale price.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#494

Post by Pxtl »

pixelmonkey wrote: post #374
malkia wrote: post #27

Has Audio Jack! (Comparison with other Pixel 4's) - https://store.google.com/magazine/compare_pixel?toggler0=Pix...

One of the biggest differences between the 4a and the older 4 and 4 XL is that the 4a has a rear fingerprint reader, whereas the 4 and 4 XL want you to use face unlock. So strange that this isn't emphasized (or even mentioned) on the comparison page. This was actually the primary thing that kept me on a Pixel 2 for so long, since it also has a similar rear fingerprint sensor design (and I just pre-ordered the Pixel 4…

I'm suspicious of fingerprint readers since they seem another point of failure. I'm on a moto z play that seems to have silently forgotten its fingerprint reader exists.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#495

Post by kirrent »

userbinator wrote: post #252
malkia wrote: post #27

Has Audio Jack! (Comparison with other Pixel 4's) - https://store.google.com/magazine/compare_pixel?toggler0=Pix...

A bit sad and amusing that a physical jack is actually considered a feature now... what's next, removable battery? Expandable storage?

They're all popular enough features for Samsung to keep making the Galaxy XCover phones.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#496

Post by Jedd »

jeffparsons wrote: post #405
Jedd wrote: post #369

As an Australian with a Pixel XL which is still perfectly usable, just lacking 'support': > ... it’s fascinating that the most important detail is the price: $349. Local pricing on google store is A$599, despite US$349 ~= A$490. So not quite the same bargain for us, though not hugely surprising. > ... it’s worth remembering that technically, fall ends on December 21st this year. Living in a country with only a dozen…

I think at this point it's just sloppy to use '$' by itself in any potentially-international context. I've worked for multiple companies where most of my colleagues consistently brushed this off. In each company, there was at least one significant budgeting stuff-up while I was there because someone interpreted a '$' number as the wrong kind of dollar. In the worst case I witnessed the "bill shock" was about 50 thous…

Oh, 'rest of world' has put up with this for years, but it's nice to complain every now and then. : )

I'd advocate ISO 8601 for everything, and it has periodicity built in -- though I happily concede "Coming in 2020-09/11" doesn't scan anywhere near as well, and would confuse way more people than it would satisfy.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#497

Post by tialaramex »

jpeeler wrote: post #461
paultopia wrote: post #446

Can someone explain to me what the user benefit of 5G is? Is there anything that people typically do on their phones/with tethering right now that LTE is insufficient bandwidth for? Or is this just a plan by the carriers to encourage more really expensive usage, like convincing people to stream on their phones/tether all the time?

Forgive me, but this sounds like the same perspective of the famous quote "640K is more memory than anyone will ever need on a computer" (no idea if Gates actually said it). People will always fill the bandwidth with something (just like memory), perhaps with something we don't even use today at all. Though note that the new usage pattern will only emerge after usage is ubiquitous, which is usually due to decent pric…

FWIW Gates never said that. There's no documentary evidence anywhere, it just shows up with no source as a claimed Gates quote years after the last point it could plausibly have been said.

And the supposed ubiquity argument for more network bandwidth is stale. People have been making this argument for decades at this point, it's roughly the same age as "When everybody with a mobile phone gets cancer you'll see" arguments.

Any time you think you see an exponential curve stretch off to infinity it just means you zoomed in too far. 16kbps was much too slow, and 16Mbps still feels a little cramped although everything works, but it turns out you have no real use for 16Gbps, even if most people you know have it too.

I believe a lot of people got the wrong idea because for them two things came along together - they got more bandwidth and Always On access together, typically as DSL or a Cable Modem. I happen to have received them separately over time, partly a quirk of fate and partly because it had been very important to me to get access to the network long before most people knew it existed.

Always On makes a huge qualitative difference. Broadband not so much. A household with Always On at 56kbps is very different from a traditional "dial-up" at 56kbps, in a way that one with 100Mbps vDSL isn't so different from one with 1Mbps ADSL or 1Gbps fibre-to-the-home. It changes how you think about using the Network, because it's always there.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#498

Post by p1necone »

sjwright wrote: post #490
p1necone wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One day we'll have wireless earbuds with batteries that last forever and lossless audio over whatever signal format they use and Apple will be hailed as ahead of the curve for removing the headphone jack before everyone else, conveniently ignoring the fact that missing a headphone jack when wireless headphones are not perfect is just a straight up downside.

If what you want is wired earbuds that connect directly to a jack on the phone, nothing has changed. Such earbuds still ship with iPhones today. If you want to use wired headphones, the $9 adapter works well. Wireless headphones are also widely available and have batteries that last all day. I realise the above doesn’t perfectly cater to all customers, but anecdotally it seems to cater well enough to enough of them.

The main issue for me personally is not being able to charge and listen to audio at the same time. The main use case for headphones on my phone for me is watching streaming video in bed and that drains the battery pretty fast.

I know there's a (kind of bulky) dongle for charging + headphones, but I'd rather buy a device that has the ports I need already.

The $9 adapter is cool though. Afaik it's pretty much the best budget usb dac around.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#500

Post by chrismcb »

dungdang wrote: post #464
justin66 wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no one claimed it was a feature. it has a jack, some phones don't, so they state it does. this does not mean 'feature.' I wonder what you believe the word "feature" means.

well, clearly you believe on a car, the part of the spec that says 'axles: 2' is a feature. along with everything else in the spec.

Yes, and it is a good feature. I don't really want a car with 1 axles. And tires are expensive enough, so I don't want one with three axles. Just because it is not an awesome, whiz bang feature, doesn't mean it isn't a feature
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