Pixel 8 Pro • Hacker News Board

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#341

Post by _ea1k » Wed, Oct 04, 2023, 9:56 PM UTC

theodric wrote: post #282

sawyna wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My pixel 4a 5g works like a charm. 3.5 years and still going fine. I used my pixel 2 for three years so badly. I used it as a hotspot every single day and the number of battery cycles were as if the phone was used for 6 years. My pixel 4a5g takes photos that are on reasonable standards, obviously they won't match match, but it doesn't make a serious difference either to me. I need three things from my phone - battery…

Whatever you do, don't take the Android 14 upgrade. Mine is dogshit slow now. I'm trying to decide if I can be bothered losing all my config and setting it up again with Android 13, or just paying Google for a new phone.

It may just need a little while to settle down. I get the feeling a lot of things get updated in the background after the initial upgrade.

I noticed that my old Pixel 5 felt really slow for the first 30 minutes or so, but it seems to be returning to normal now.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#342

Post by hamandcheese » Wed, Oct 04, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

sanswork wrote: post #215

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny because if they did not release a new phone every year, the old phones would be useful for longer. I recently had to replace my iPhone 7s plus because it was getting so slow I sometimes could not get the camera to open as it loaded the system down too much. This was despite the fact that the system said my battery was not degraded (it had been replaced with Apple Care a couple of times). Of course when it…

I don't update my phone every year but I also don't really want the progress of software or tech in general determined by the laggards.

If anything it seems to me like hardware advances are directly correlated with increasingly worse software.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#343

Post by fluidcruft » Wed, Oct 04, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

libertine wrote: post #328

Lutzb wrote: post #283

The depreciation between Pixels and iPhones is staggering. Trade-in in Germany on Google Store page: - Pixel 6 Pro 256gb ($999 on release) - 235€ - iPhone 13 Pro 256gb ($1099 on release) - 730€ While I am partial to Googles line of phones (had pretty much every Google phone since the nexus one), the loss of value is something I cannot really ignore any more when deciding to buy a phone.

What I don't get are these price tags. My last flagship phone was a Google Nexus 6P where the base model was $499. Amazing phone, too bad after 3 years it had a battery issue but the manufacturer gave me a new one. But the thing is: it was $499. That was the greatest thing about the Nexus lines - good hardware (maybe not the latest SOC) with regular updates and a good OS experience. I miss those phones. Google with t…

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

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#344

Post by oaktowner » Wed, Oct 04, 2023, 9:59 PM UTC

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…

I agree with much of this post, but I have to take issue with "it's starting to feel silly." The "you need to upgrade your phone every year" concept has been silly from the outset.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#345

Post by chromakode » Wed, Oct 04, 2023, 9:59 PM UTC

cobertos wrote: post #191

I'm still on the Pixel 3! I can't get off. I bounced off the Pixel 6. It's too big in my hand. The finger print sensor is in a weird spot. Android 13 is more restrictive. And worst? It's not faster or better. It's legitimately a hard _downgrade_ for me. I have 2 Pixel 3s now (microphone died and battery swelled) but they run everything snappy! I might just keep buying Pixel 3s off eBay, its so much cheaper. My main w…

Have you looked at the Zenphone 10? That appears to be the true Pixel 3 successor.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#346

Post by chimeracoder » Wed, Oct 04, 2023, 10:00 PM UTC

vel0city wrote: post #317

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny because if they did not release a new phone every year, the old phones would be useful for longer. I recently had to replace my iPhone 7s plus because it was getting so slow I sometimes could not get the camera to open as it loaded the system down too much. This was despite the fact that the system said my battery was not degraded (it had been replaced with Apple Care a couple of times). Of course when it…

I wonder how much of that is the software demands increasing and the flash storage itself wearing out over time. As flash storage wears it'll often go slower and slower as the error correction needs to process more to actually get you the uncorrupted bits. This is why a lot of cheap devices tend to just become unbearably slow after a while, their storage just gets to be way too slow. Flash storage doesn't last foreve…

> I wonder how much of that is the software demands increasing and the flash storage itself wearing out over time. As flash storage wears it'll often go slower and slower as the error correction needs to process more to actually get you the uncorrupted bits. This is why a lot of cheap devices tend to just become unbearably slow after a while, their storage just gets to be way too slow.

Too bad no flagship phones have removable storage anymore, because that would be a really easy fix to this problem.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#347

Post by theunixbeard » Wed, Oct 04, 2023, 10:00 PM UTC

01100011 wrote: post #208

deergomoo wrote: post #172

Comparing this to the regular Pixel 8 it doesn't look like you get an awful lot more for your extra £300, I'm surprised there's such a delta. Bigger screen (which for many is a minus not a plus), an extra 4GB RAM (still seems absurd to me that we need this much RAM on a phone) and more capable/additional auxiliary cameras. I suppose the charitable take is that £700 feels like a pretty good deal for the non-Pro one.

I'd love the telephoto camera for outdoor shots, but I can't stand the price or the size of the phone. Even with the Google Fi discount of $300, the price($500 with trade-in) is too much to justify. I guess I'll stick with my Pixel 5A.

Be warned: The Pixel 5A has a manufacturer defect where they just die out of nowhere:

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/11833075?hl=en

This just happened to me after 1.5 years of usage of my Pixel 5A.

Luckily Google extended the usual 1-year warranty to be 2-years to give free replacements (which I took advantage of and in fact was given a free upgrade to a 6A)... But be prepared for your phone to die out of nowhere.

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#348

Post by dominojab » Wed, Oct 04, 2023, 10:00 PM UTC

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…

[dead]

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#349

Post by KoftaBob » Wed, Oct 04, 2023, 10:02 PM UTC

kylecazar wrote: post #196

It's odd to me that my Pixel 7 Pro is worth less in trade-in value than iPhone 11. I'm sure there are reasons, but it stings a little.

that’s probably to incentivize iphone users to switch over

Re: Pixel 8 Pro

#350

Post by maxerickson » Wed, Oct 04, 2023, 10:03 PM UTC

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…

They are selling millions of each version. There's lots of products where the volume is more like 10,000. The waste isn't in the product that is selling millions...