421–430 of 1001 posts
The previous camera bulge was questionable but this one looks horrendous
All camera bulges are a poor design. Just make the battery thicker. Either way people are throwing a case on to make the back straight again.
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> One of the big problems with Pixel phones is their lack of thorough testing. You upgrade and suddenly you encounter strange Bluetooth issues, call problems, or other features that were working fine before but suddenly stop functioning. Tons of people will be complaining about this in forums, and you won't receive any updates to fix them for months. IMHO all Pixel phones are just developer devices and you can't seri…
More than once, pixel devices were left unable to call emergency services - 911. Just imagine, you are in a life or death scenario and your literal phone has a bug preventing you from calling help. All other issues are minor. I cannot forgive a bug of this nature.
> All other issues are minor. I cannot forgive a bug of this nature.
Does that mean you will never use Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile, all of which have had carrier-wide 911 outages? Will you never visit the state of Massachusetts, which had a state-wide 911 outage, affecting all carriers, just six weeks ago?
This type of failure is bad, but it's unfortunately a lot more common than you think.
I was initially excited at the announcement of the "fold" phone, but then I saw it's effectively two phone screens, instead of one folded in half. Sigh... I have a Pixel 3a, and it's still larger than I'd like. I realize that the market for folks who would prefer something smaller is, well, small. But, I look at the phone landscape, and I hate every one of them. I like the Pixel, because it's stock Android. I wish th…
One of the folding Samsung phones is the "single screen that folds in half like a flip phone" style! Played with one for a minute in Best Buy and it was pleasantly compact.
I have to log in with a google account to view the product in their store? Kthxbye.
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How much is the subscription for the Garmin device? I'm curious because I bought my parents a personal locator beacon, since they are retired and hike constantly. It costs more up front but has no subscription, and I didn't want to gift something with a high recurring cost. There's no communication option, it's all or nothing - if it's activated they send the helicopters. On the plus side, it has a fixed 7 year batte…
It's not cheap, about $12/month is cheapest plan, https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/837461 . Pay 0.10c for tracking points, you have 10 text messages a month. If you use it a lot, you'll start to increase your fees, I'm on the next higher plan which I think is $35/m. I should revisit that, it's a lot over a year ;-) They have the basic devices (connect with phone, or emergency button), I have the one with maps built in.…
It blows me away that people will spend $1k for a phone when there are good options for $500 or less. I will grant that Google's phone is probably the best. But in my experience the difference in quality does not correlate to the difference in price. Apple has a monopoly and they set price expectations. Also, I think buyers think if you have a cheaper phone strangers may think you are poor. Personally I want people t…
People use their phones probably more than any other single item besides their home and bed. It’s not really that crazy, especially if you factor in camera upgrades for people that care about it.
I personally try to get flagship phones, but used a few years after their release. That, and avoid upgrading my phone as much as possible :P I'm jealous of Apple folks here, they support their devices for eons longer than Android!
I'm kind of sad that the world seems to have given up on the smaller phones. The marketing of the masculine hand holding the larger phone is amusing to me, and I can understand wanting to have a larger screen. I do not like the amount of space these things take in my pocket, though.
Pixel 9 also says satellite emergency support ("Satellite SOS"). Search for info gets you to https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/15254448?hl=en&... It looks like it's coming "later this year". Lots of chatter about it, see a few details at https://www.androidauthority.com/pixel-9-satellite-sos-34676... * apparently coming with android 15, but they are shipping android 14 * turning on satellite sos later, but…
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This was a major issue that drove me away from Android. In addition to first party bugs, I got tired of 3rd party accessories not working correctly. My theory was iPhone probably got tested on most 3rd party accessories. However, the fragmentation in the Android space meant I’d have no idea what devices they actually tested with. This is further compounded by the fact that Android isn’t really an open platform, at le…
There's also only one Bluetooth stack on Apple's platforms (presumably shared), so testing is more straightforward. And if so inclined, there's also the Made for iPhone program that requires validation, but again that's with one device in two form factors. It's not a fair challenge comparing Android device support because the task is bigger, though Google could probably do some stuff to make that less painful.
Saying it's not fair to compare them is like saying it's not fair to compare a minivan to an SUV when making a car purchase. They're different, but similar enough.
Pixel 9 also says satellite emergency support ("Satellite SOS"). Search for info gets you to https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/15254448?hl=en&... It looks like it's coming "later this year". Lots of chatter about it, see a few details at https://www.androidauthority.com/pixel-9-satellite-sos-34676... * apparently coming with android 15, but they are shipping android 14 * turning on satellite sos later, but…
Plus Garmin devices use the Iridium network which has truly global coverage (as opposed to Globalstar which is only in select areas of the world) as well as other features useful for non-emergency backcountry travel. I won't be dropping my Garmin InReach any time soon.
Personally, I'd stick with the better known option, and like another commenter said - the battery life on the Garmins are pretty amazing, and it doesn't weight much.