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Pixel 8 Pro

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Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#771

Post by rtkwe »

kelnos wrote: post #222
thefz wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Don't you think that three phones in six years is the issue? One (P3) ended with me having it in the back pocket of my jeans and literally jumping in the backseat... yeah, not smart. Another (P4a), I tried to open to swap a new battery in and it did not end well. I'd still happily be with the 4a if it was not for my dumb self. It's perfectly working and I use it to listen to some music while biking or at the gym. I…

Would you still be with it, though? Someone upthread claims the phones just don't last. Maybe if you hadn't broken your phones, they still wouldn't've lasted much longer anyway. Having said that, I'm still using my 4-year-old Pixel 4, and it's in great shape. I'll probably get a new phone this year since it's no longer receiving security updates. Which is stupid, because I'm otherwise perfectly happy with the phone.…

I find people have wildly differing opinions on what normal wear and tear on phone is so it's hard to judge from anecdotes if it's a build quality issue or if they're rough on their phones or on the other side if I'm personally very delicate with my phones.

For my contribution to this anecdata the only Pixel phone I've had die is my Pixel 3 XL that started having weird charging issues and refuses to turn on and charge unless I let it completely passively drain then recharge it after that it only works for a bit, that happened after about 2 years maybe. Tried having it looked at by uBreakIFix and they had nothing. Other than that my Pixel 6 is doing great but I keep it in a case 99% of the time and don't abuse it.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#772

Post by bwooceli »

ethbr1 wrote: post #554
TylerE wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention what it’ll do the waterproof rating.

Do that many people need their phone to be waterproof rated? I realize it's mandatory from a marketing perspective, but how often is it used? Accidentally jumping in the pool/ocean/lake with your phone. But past that, I'm not often in submerged situations.

After working wireless retail in the early '00s, I will always choose a phone with a high IP rating. Other scenarios I've seen - Phone pushed into sink without realizing while doing dishes and walking away for an hour long phone call, parked convertible with phone in the cupholder, boob sweat, working in a greenhouse going in and out of air conditioning, leaving on a picnic table overnight while camping, water bottle leaking in purse, etc. Also there's utility in feeling confident the phone can survive if you need to wash syrup, baby food, sticky bar residue, etc off it.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#773

Post by fullstop »

delfinom wrote: post #764
fullstop wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this particular case, yes, but the update can still be blocked by the carrier. People have been successful in updating the device by temporarily putting the SIM from another carrier in the phone. My daughter's Pixel 5a update, for example, was delayed but it was purchased from Google. To be clear, the update _does_ come directly from Google but the device won't show that the update is available until the carrier g…

> People have been successful in updating the device by temporarily putting the SIM from another carrier in the phone. You can also just update the phone using the OTA Google provides on a page and ADB to side load it. https://developers.google.com/android/ota#cheetah

Yes, this comment is being sent from an Android 14 device.

The OTA image worked great.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#774

Post by rtkwe »

libertine wrote: post #396
fluidcruft wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that the segment the Pixel _a line targets? The 7a is $499...

Yes, but the 6P was the flagship. This was back in the day where a flagship phones base prices were like 600/700€. Now it's double. In 2018 the Samsung Galaxy 9 was 700€. Now a Samsung Galaxy S23 is 1.200€.

They pack a lot more stuff into phones now too. Better screens, multiple cameras, etc. Today's flagships are also just physically larger than the older phones for the differences that makes.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#775

Post by coldpie »

carlivar wrote: post #598
coldpie wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved away from Android entirely because of size. Currently on an iPhone 13 Mini, which is riiight at the very upper edge of a reasonable size. I would love to go back to Android if only someone reputable would make a reasonably-sized phone.

Is the regular Samsung model too big for you? S22 and S23. It's just the right size for me and I prefer small phones (or what used to be normal sized phones).

Wayyy too big: https://phonesized.com/compare/#2176,1863

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#776

Post by TeMPOraL »

rsynnott wrote: post #718
TeMPOraL wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Try this: don’t upgrade your phone for five years. Try that and monitor your quality of life. See if you can avoid therapy. It's not that people think they need to upgrade their phones every year, or two, or three. It's that the phones are designed for short usable life on hardware side, and on software side, neither first-party nor third-party developers give a damn about performance.

Eh? I just replaced my four year old iPhone 11 Pro with a 15 Pro. The upgrade's nice, but it was a pure luxury purchase, the old phone was still running fine (mostly I wanted the 120hz display, and 5G). There was a time when a 4 year old smartphone was verging on unusable, but that's long past now.

Either I'm having bad luck with phones, or Android flagships just don't have the longevity iPhones do. I can believe the latter, as this seems to be the common belief about all Apple devices relative to competition.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#777

Post by walteweiss »

rezonant wrote: post #726
walteweiss wrote: post #647

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered replacing your battery instead? Or is it useless with the latest software updates?

Aren't you concerned about the lack of security updates for the mini super computer attached to every facet of your life and authorized to act as you?

Not at all. I am more concerned having Facebook (or any other Zuck’s spyware) installed on that very computer. I cannot imagine how anyone would hack my very phone. Also I like to decentralise devices, so none of my devices is a super-device. My go-to phone (iPhone SE with no iOS update, but with security updates) has only a few apps installed that I need for being away from home. My other smartphone (Nexus 6P with no security updates) has loads of apps installed, but I use them only when I need it. The phone has its WiFi, Bluetooth and cellular turned off all of the time. I cannot imagine the way you hack into it, tbh. And even if that would happen, I cannot imagine what a hacker would get out of it, if anything at all.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#778

Post by pulpfictional »

vmt-man wrote: post #588
OneLeggedCat wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The camera (actually cameras) on my Pixel 7 Pro is the most over-hyped mediocrity ever. I can't believe that it reviewed so well. The jpeg processing is so over-done that everything looks like cartoons and plastic. The video drops dozens of frames when zooming in and out. The raws are not real raws, but are instead just less processed pseudo-raws, and yet still have terrible dynamic range anyway. I do like the colors…

Totally agree with you. I think Google targets to housewifes (mediocre photography taste): - Bright photos - Smiling faces - Vivid unnatural colors I hate that they removed ability to disable thair **ing HDR. p.s: Pixel 6 owner

That housewife remark is uncalled for.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#779

Post by gureddio »

Alacart wrote: post #84
andrewstuart2 wrote: post #3

I'm really glad to see both the partnership with iFixit and the 7 years of support. Because everything else seems mostly meh to me, and while I'm upgrading this year from a Pixel 6 Pro, the continued diminished returns make it seem likely that 2-3 years from now I won't have as much reason to.

My experience with my own pixel 7 pro and a pixel 5 has been that these devices are an order of magnitude lower in build quality than Samsung or iPhones. I really, really wanted to be happy with them but they've been a never ending source of frustration. My pixel 5 just stopped turning on one day about 2 years in, and my pixel 7 pro had the volume and power buttons fall out about 3 weeks in (not due to a drop, after…

I agree with you about the build quality, but also from a software perspective.

I've been a long time Pixel user, and have had the Pixel, Pixel 4 XL, and currently have the Pixel 6 Pro.

On every device, there has been one or several glaring software bugs that haven't been fixed for months, or have required a really, really nasty workaround.

A good example was the bluetooth stack on the Pixel 4 XL. We got a security software update one day, applied it, and then found that the bluetooth connection to loads of devices was suddenly broken. Google took months to get the issue fixed, despite a few hundred pages of complaints on their forums. Instead someone (not from Google) worked out that if you went into developer mode, you could swap out the bluetooth stack for a previous version, and it might work again.

Is this sort of blasé approach to quality assurance and lack of urgency around fixing user reported bugs that really, really irritates me about Google's hardware devices.

The 6 Pro is an ok phone but also has it's problems (painfully slow and somewhat unreliable fingerprint unlock). I think I've had enough and I'll probably give a Samsung device a try.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#780

Post by aceazzameen »

kimbernator wrote: post #178

It's starting to feel silly, having a yearly release cycle for smartphones. So much of this product page is focused on new software functions that may have some vague relationship with the slightly upgraded hardware, but that could mostly be released to existing phones. Every new iPhone, Pixel, or Samsung phone basically claims the camera is marginally better and hey, look at these software features that have very li…

And half the time the UX somewhere gets worse. Then a year or two later it gets better again. Then worse again. It's a stupid endless cycle that was solved years ago for devices that have only one main form of input. At this point I believe most UX changes are made solely for marketing's sake.
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