One week with the Google Pixel • Hacker News Board

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#121

Post by uabstraction » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:16 AM UTC

gcr wrote: post #119

uabstraction wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond their occasional public stands such as the San Bernardino case, I don't think Apple does enough to market how this is useful to the average end user. In fact, as a free software enthusiast who has never even considered getting an iPhone, the privacy issue has me seriously considering getting one (though not the 7!) when my Nexus 5x succumbs to entropy. There are a few technical issues I need to work out before…

Apple has _always_ pushed the privacy angle in their marketing. That's why they make pages like this one: http://www.apple.com/privacy/approach-to-privacy/ Secure enclave. App sandboxing. Fine-grained revocable permissions. TouchID. Differential privacy. iMessage encryption. Find My iPhone. On-device models for photo recognition. The question is how to spin it in a positive way. The developer looks at the app sandbox…

Perhaps I've been ignoring much of it because I've always ruled out iOS due to the walled garden. On the other hand, most of these features are available on the Nexus (and other Android phones) as well. The only catch is it conveniently doesn't do anything to isolate your private info from Google (or your OEM if you screwed up and didn't get a Nexus/OnePlus). I think it would be extremely powerful marketing if Apple did a case study of the kinds and amounts of data being betrayed by competitor's phones compared to iPhones. A nice bar graph illustrating the data minded from each phone, next to a much shorter bar for the iPhone would create many converts. Demonstrating what kinds of creepy things can be extrapolated from each data set would drive the nail home even harder.

I agree that this would piss off developers who value this kind of data robbery - but Apple is in a much better position to double down on selling quality apps that treat their users as customers instead of products than Google (based on the statistic that iPhone users purchase more apps).

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#122

Post by SiVal » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:29 AM UTC

tedunangst wrote: post #96

SiVal wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Out of routine" is routine for frequent flyers. You never know when you'll end up spending the night in an airport transit lounge or you can't get into your hotel at the end of a flight around the world, or whatever. Or when driving or hiking through a somewhat remote area and something goes wrong.... When things go wrong, you need to make calls, put out fires, keep trying to reach remote towers using full radio pow…

Do frequent flyers not bring chargers in their carry on?

Sure, but they're never guaranteed a place and time for a nice recharge.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#123

Post by uabstraction » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:49 AM UTC

oridecon wrote: post #110

uabstraction wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond their occasional public stands such as the San Bernardino case, I don't think Apple does enough to market how this is useful to the average end user. In fact, as a free software enthusiast who has never even considered getting an iPhone, the privacy issue has me seriously considering getting one (though not the 7!) when my Nexus 5x succumbs to entropy. There are a few technical issues I need to work out before…

I'm in a similar position, I considered changing to an iPhone but in the end it's just half-measure. There's Ubuntu Phone, KDE Plasma, Copperhead and others but they don't feel like a good solution. The problem is always the same: no apps. It doesn't matter if I can install 99/100 apps I need but the one I can't is a messenger one of my clients requires me to use. Or if I can't really rely on a compatibility layer li…

Hell, I'd take a solid foundation with no apps (aside from a media player, browser, SMS, and dialer) in a heartbeat. What makes the alternatives so problematic is the complete lack of support from OEMs.

These OSes exist today, and I'd like to use them, but they're typically limited to a very small handful of (typically obsolete) devices. As long as this is the case, they'll have a lot of trouble finding enough developers and users.

If we could simply link our own kernels against these drivers the way we do with the nvidia driver and DKMS on desktops, it would be a revolutionary step forward for alt smartphone OSes. We could start working on userland instead of spending so much time devising hacks to simply get graphics and radio working one handset at a time. Unfortunately, the OEMs couldn't care less and would much rather our phones become e-waste than eat into next year's sales figures. Until then, we're pretty much at the mercy of Apple and Google :(

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#124

Post by wodenokoto » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 1:39 AM UTC

visarga wrote: post #40

wodenokoto wrote: post #35

He doesn't have an iPhone 7+, yet he claims that the camera on the pixel are "consistently better". I don't have any, but the side by side tests I've seen of real world pictures it is a complete wash between the two. I find it silly to say that Apple didn't present a compelling enough camera, but Google did, when they are as similar as they are.

They are probably cameras and phones assembled in the same factory.

As far as I remember, they are both Sony cameras. I don't know if Google uses Foxconn.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#125

Post by colemickens » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 3:38 AM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #72

colemickens wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's hard to tell someone they're mindlessly repeating years-out-of-date, inaccurate memey tropes without coming across as condescending.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#126

Post by colemickens » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 3:42 AM UTC

colemickens wrote: post #112

pyre wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> go figure I get downvoted for pointing it out. I really hate this "I'm only stating the truth that people don't want to see! Wake up sheeple!" attitude that some people seem to cop.

When I point out that something is out-dated and inaccurate and then someone repeats the exact same trope I'm criticizing along with a downvote... what reaction am I supposed to have? How would it go over if I wrote a blog post about how amazing iOS is now that it doesn't look all Aqua-themed despite that change happening years ago?

Jeez, iOS is just looking so old: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/IOS_5_home_sc...

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#127

Post by nowayyeah » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 8:03 AM UTC

ebbv wrote: post #15

nowayyeah wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You want to voluntarily give all that info to a company as user hostile as Facebook? He and 7 billion other people.

Seven billion people don't have Facebook handling their SMS messages.

But share photos, videos, information about who knows who, messanger and now whatsapp.

Edit: and which sites they visit and like.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#128

Post by criddell » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

Luc wrote: post #76

criddell wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You would think they would at least polish it on their primary device.

I think there's a cultural difference between the two platforms as well. The developers that are inclined to want to make their application perfect and beautiful seem to be attracted to iOS.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#129

Post by gcr » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 4:03 PM UTC

bad_user wrote: post #77

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 th…

Re: files on iOS.

Design decisions have led to the requirement that apps can only access files inside their app container sandbox.

This means if you want a "file manager" for iOS, it can only manage the files that you send into that app.

Documents by Readdle is a bit of a hack: a file manager that also includes PDF reading bits and media decoding bits and picture viewing bits, with plugins to copy to/from cloud services. Either way, the only files you get to manage are livinng inside of Documents' file system. It's not very UNIX-y, granted.

But the inability to create a "file manager" is a legitimate design decision with legitimate upsides.

Re: One week with the Google Pixel

#130

Post by gcr » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 4:18 PM UTC

tedunangst wrote: post #96

SiVal wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Out of routine" is routine for frequent flyers. You never know when you'll end up spending the night in an airport transit lounge or you can't get into your hotel at the end of a flight around the world, or whatever. Or when driving or hiking through a somewhat remote area and something goes wrong.... When things go wrong, you need to make calls, put out fires, keep trying to reach remote towers using full radio pow…

Do frequent flyers not bring chargers in their carry on?

Tell me. Where in LAX or SFO or LGA can I find an electric outlet?

Some airports make them impossible to find, highly coveted, surrounded by the territorial and ferroucious Horde, oodles of macbook MagSafe and ipad Lightning cables eminating from the wall like thin withering tentacles of some white goop monster emanating from the power grid.

Other airports lock the power sockets away behind "Employee Only" signs and caution tape, with menacing security guards patrolling the area should you even think about stealing those precious MWh from the institution.

Still other airports have rows upon rows of power outlets in plain sight, but every single one of them is dead, disconnected, dying like your phone battery.