This is the first phone since the iPhone that triggers an "I want that" feeling. Why the negativity?
What's the reason? Do you just like the design? I don't really get why this is special or interesting.
Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
211–220 of 255 posts
Re: Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
#212Andy has been able to get together a stellar team in such a short time
Re: Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
#213I find the Home product more interesting than the phone: https://www.essential.com/home
I find the Home product to look essentially vapor-grade. The mock UI is awful, no indication of size on the site, no indication of who their voice vendor will be (Google? Amazon? home made?), no realistic roadmap... Just product renders and optimistic statements.
I have a feeling the phone will be obscure in a year or two, and the Home will be even less popular.
Of course, in an alternate future, some enterprising HNer will quote this comment... I'm prepared for that.
Re: Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've come to the conclusion that neither I, nor the majority of HN, have any clue what sorts of consumer electronics will actually succeed. I was annoyed when Google killed the Nexus line and replaced them with Pixels and hoped it would fail so that we would get the Nexus line back, but they've been unable to keep up with demand. Similarly this page spends a lot of time talking about cameras, which I have zero intere…
> I was annoyed when Google killed the Nexus line and replaced them with Pixels and hoped it would fail so that we would get the Nexus line back, but they've been unable to keep up with demand. In what way is it meaningful that Google calls it a Pixel instead of a Nexus?
None, but they also approximately doubled the price. I suppose Nexus may also have a sort nostalgic glow around it, too, as developer's device - I have had an N1, N4, N5 and now an N6P.
Re: Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
#215Ok, a new phone made by the creator of Android which claims to be extremely well built. However, since most phones now tend to reach the "good enough" level, my main question is about software and left unanswered. What version/flavour of Android does it run? How will updates be planned? For how many years will updates be provided? What's the size of the security team at Essential? Providing an up-to-date Android with…
I used to think the same about being "good enough", but unfortunately my nexus 5x still struggles to give me a day of battery life, despite the fact that I only check e-mail and chat on it. It's slowness is a little annoying, but definitely good enough.
I don't have battery problems with my 5x. If I'm not using mine much, it will last two days on a charge. Sounds to me like you may want to consider replacing your battery. A $5-10 new battery and ~15 minutes of your time, may be worth it.
Re: Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
I already said it, social engineering will work regardless whether someone hides their identity. Government knows who works for who. IRS is a good source, so this is a myth that hiding photo can save someone's security. No it is a false sense of security. When I said it's a myth it's satirical
The less information available about the infosec and (more importantly) the sys admins the better. Nation states are like any organization. They are resource and time constrained. If you set the bar high you will eliminate the low hanging fruit adversaries. Force them to put the work in... Plus if you show them you are very careful and watching everything you will force them to be extra careful, as not to tip off any…
That's false sense of security you and many have. It takes very little time for nation states to identify who works for XYZ company.
If what you suggested is the right practice, then why is Google Zero Project members a public thing? A lot of them are publicly known. If infosec people are vulnerable, isn't your building security guard vulnerable? We got tens of thousands of hackers attending DefCon, Blackhats, and other security events every years and shouldn't we be worried? We got some of the most respected hackers and security engineers on planets attending them. How do you think government (FBI) recruited an anonymous hacker to work for them? Aren't your network engineers not vulnerable? Let's not kid ourselves with this ridiculous and quite frankly stupid obfuscation. If people are easy to fall for social engineering, let's find a solution that address the problem. Your impression of hidhing behind the curtain is basically the sterotype of hackers in basement. History has taught us the only famous computer programmer yet to be revealed is the creator(s) of Bitcoin. We don't knod if any nation states know who created Bitcoin. Otherwise, the government has pretty good hand in finding people. Resource constraint is a joke. If government wants to hack into Verizon they would have the resource assigned.
Sorry to be harsh but this is again false sense of security. Most startups would have developers have access to production so developers are just as vulnerable as infosec folks. Then why reveal the rest of the team? That counters your argument malicious actors would have a harder time to social engineer. So let's really not pretend we are doing better without revealing infosec because that's just nonsense in practice unless you are working on a project that may have serious retialation such as defeating Wanna worm then I understand masking your identity.
Re: Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I was annoyed when Google killed the Nexus line and replaced them with Pixels and hoped it would fail so that we would get the Nexus line back, but they've been unable to keep up with demand. In what way is it meaningful that Google calls it a Pixel instead of a Nexus?
None, but they also approximately doubled the price. I suppose Nexus may also have a sort nostalgic glow around it, too, as developer's device - I have had an N1, N4, N5 and now an N6P.
> they also approximately doubled the price
I paid $699 for a 64GB Nexus 6. The Pixel XL with 128 GB is $869. I don't know what they were charging for the 6P but based on the 6, they definitely didn't double it, though clearly the price did increase.
Re: Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
#218I like the idea of tougher phones, but to me it misses the mark to talk about the titanium phone case surviving corner drop tests, it's the glass that's the problem. The number of people I've seen wandering around with cracked phone screens from drops is quite high, and is the reason I put a case which covers the front on every phone I buy. So having no phone case here just means you get the usual after market screen…
Most of the time I see a cracked display it is on an iPhone. Is there a reason Android phones don't shatter as easily? Is it the elasticity of the plastic frame that causes this?
I've had a couple Android phones that had pretty bad cracks on the display. My partner always purchases iPhones and they seem about the same, in terms of damage when there's no case. Having handled both, the phones do seem roughly similar in terms of flex and hardness (Apple, Samsung, Motorola).
My data is entirely anecdotal, but they seem about the same to me.
Re: Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
#219Here are some angrily and hastily written observations:
- No microSD card slot. Yes, 128GB internal storage -- and it being an UFS, which is fast -- is a lot, but there are people who carry data on their phones and require portability and speed. There's honestly no excuse not to have a microSD these days.
- Small battery; 3040 mAh, seriously, shouldn't the OEMs have learned by now? Android is a battery eater, Google doesn't seem interested in making the OS more efficient and keeps thinking of half-assed "solutions" like the Doze mode which is basically "if it's the night and the phone hasn't moved in an hour, please cripple its functions until the owner picks it up", heh. For Android you'd best go for the absolute minimum of 3500 mAh or just admit you're after a quick buck. If you're serious about an Android phone, better just put 4500 mAh or more in your device and then I'll take you seriously.
- No 3.5mm audio jack. Yeah, keep dreaming, Andy Rubin. Parties with rich friends who tell you "things they hear" are not a good indicator about market needs. And you dare call your hardware "essential", lol.
- Display is not AMOLED. Heard about actually having a black color on your display? Guess not. Heard about dynamically turning off parts of the screen to save power while not losing any part of the image (because the turned off part is black)? Guess you haven't heard of that either, nor energy efficiency for that matter.
- No word on planned maintenance period -- 1 year, 2, 4, how much? It's a crucially important element nowadays, how can Android's creator be unaware of that?
- Cameras look good on paper but we all know it's the camera app which makes the real difference. I bet it'll be some default vanilla app which won't make a good use of at least 50% of the device's camera functions.
Overall -- overpriced pretty device. What else is new? The guy is pulling a popularity card to get away with yet another mediocre device and entice naive people to buy it because of his supposed prestige as Android's creator.
Re: Essential Products – Andy Rubin’s new hardware company
#220It doesn't seem premium Android phones have something spectacular to differentiate. Sure, you can spice up the camera, make the body more glossy, and add a beautiful screen. But the software is just another commodity that would be available for 1/3rd the price. That's why Google Pixel would always feel exorbitant even when the price is almost close to Apple iPhone. Seeing Essential's price tag, I have the same viscer…
I just want a phone that: - Lasts a full day - Looks nice That's all. Currently I can buy various 8mm phones with various bad-to-OK cases. Give me a beautiful 16mm phone and software updates and I'll give you my 700 bucks.
Here you go: Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom ZE553KL [0]
Some specs [1]:
Dimensions: 154.3 x 77 x 8 mm (6.07 x 3.03 x 0.31 in)
Weight: 170 g (6.00 oz)
Battery: 5000mAh
Size: 5.5 inches (~70.2% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution: 1080 x 1920 pixels (~401 ppi pixel density)
Price: Starting at $329USD [2]
I don't own the phone, but came across it the other day and was surprised by the large battery size.
[0]: https://www.asus.com/us/Phone/ZenFone-3-Zoom-ZE553KL/
[1]: http://www.gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_3_zoom_ze553kl-8509.php
[2]: https://www.amazon.com/ZenFone-storage-Unlocked-Warranty-ZE5...