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Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

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Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#531

Post by makomk »

usaphp wrote: post #503
sz4kerto wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. HTC10: 145.9 x 71.9 iPhone7: 138.3 x 67.1 (-7.6, -4.7 vs HTC10) iPhone7+: 158.2 x 77.9 (+12.7, +6 vs HTC10)

I see how you conveniently avoided listing their thickness. HTC 10 is 20% thicker then iPhone 7 plus.

Unlike the other dimensions, the difference between ridiculously thin and absurdly thin isn't terribly user-visible, especially given that many people will increase the thickness of their phones by more than that simply through their choice of protective case.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#532

Post by erikpukinskis »

reacharavindh wrote: post #525
erikpukinskis wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, in terms of staff UI design cred Android is in better place than iOS right now. With the Sidekick, PalmOS, and then Material Design, Matías Duarte has been consistently at the forefront of mobile UI design. Jony Ive is probably the most brilliant consumer electronics hardware designer in the world, but I have yet to see any indication that he has any idea how to lead a platform UI design project. I had issu…

I think it is a matter of personal taste. I personally don't like the material design. I enjoy the thin typography and design of iOS, and finding myself enjoying the experience of "Messages" in iOS at the moment. The "tapback" feature letting me heart/thumbs up some message is elegantly done IMO. And the knowledge that the receiver is also getting it the way I intended is great.

Design is not a matter of personal taste. It either achieves the goals of the designer or it doesn't. It can be evaluated on a purely objective basis. You're talking about style, which is about expression more than outcomes, and is received in a very personal way.

When someone reacts so negatively to material design that they won't use it, that is a failure. There's no matter of opinion there. The purpose of the design work is to make it usable.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#533

Post by livingparadox »

Gorbzel wrote: post #434
livingparadox wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use the Nexus, which runs stock android by default. This new pixel phone will probably also do so, being a direct (ish) google phone. I think its because if the cruft 3rd party OEMs have been adding that google has been making these phones. So, yes, you can buy a device with stock android. It just has to be a google phone, not a 3rd party for the most part.

This was my understanding as well. Except now, two issues: 1) More a quibble, but I'd say that people around here pushing AOSP makes the term "stock Android" a bit less clear. 2) Article claims the new Pixels will have some other variant of Android, based on current stock Nougat but with additional support baked in for things like their new VR headset and Google Assistant. Which strengthens FuzzyZeus' point: determin…

Unless google has changed paths recently, I'd imagine that the additional support is just hardware+apps. I don't think they modified the OS in any way exclusive to the Pixel. The same OS software will likely be available to any other OEM shipping that version of nougat.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#534

Post by DominikR »

Veratyr wrote: post #269
Fej wrote: post #95

What is the draw here? I have been running my Nexus 5 into the ground (soldered on a new power button when the original broke) in anticipation of the next Nexus phone. Pixel is no Nexus. Seriously, what does this have that the year-old Nexus 6P and 5X don't, other than incremental hardware improvements? And a massive price hike? Why should I buy this? (Seriously, Google? You want $650 for a phone with a 1080p screen?…

> what does this have that the year-old Nexus 6P and 5X don't, other than incremental hardware improvements? As someone who owns a 5X: - The Pixel is a premium 5" phone, not a budget one. It has a flagship SoC rather than a mid-tier SoC. - The camera is better and more responsive (the camera on the N5X is slow and annoying). - The body isn't plastic, which means there will be less issues with heat and CPU throttling…

If I'm in the market for a premium phone (and I am) then I either go with Apple which is known to deliver quality (I can buy a products without prior research because they are rarely bad) or I go with something innovative that is high quality.

The Samsung Note 7 comes to mind with its phenomenal build (except for the explosions), display and some unusual features like a stylus and microSD slot.

But what does the Pixel offer here for a premium price in comparison?

The CPU is premium but weaker than current iPhone processors. Nexus cameras have always been crap even though Google always claimed that with the new generation and some revolutionary changes they have finally "fixed" it. And they always drop support rather quickly, although they always claim otherwise when they launch a new product.

The Nexus devices were at least cheap and so I could overlook this stuff, but I'm not going to spend that kind of money on a device that will probably be a Nexus device with a metal case.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#535

Post by reacharavindh »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #532
reacharavindh wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is a matter of personal taste. I personally don't like the material design. I enjoy the thin typography and design of iOS, and finding myself enjoying the experience of "Messages" in iOS at the moment. The "tapback" feature letting me heart/thumbs up some message is elegantly done IMO. And the knowledge that the receiver is also getting it the way I intended is great.

Design is not a matter of personal taste. It either achieves the goals of the designer or it doesn't. It can be evaluated on a purely objective basis. You're talking about style, which is about expression more than outcomes, and is received in a very personal way. When someone reacts so negatively to material design that they won't use it, that is a failure. There's no matter of opinion there. The purpose of the desi…

"Design is not a matter of personal taste. It either achieves the goals of the designer or it doesn't. "

But, what if I like/dislike the designers goals? In other words, if the designer painstakingly crafts a detail I don't care about, does it mean it is a good design?

Not trying to prove any point. Just trying to understand your perspective.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#536

Post by LandoCalrissian »

sandis wrote: post #337
lmedinas wrote: post #108

The interesting part will be for how long will the Phone + Software be supported. Now that the price is the same I think it's fair the support should be the same as the iPhone.

Specs page [1] states 2 years for OS updates and 3 for security patches, so not even close. [1] https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone

That's really weak.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#537

Post by [deleted] »

sandis wrote: post #337
lmedinas wrote: post #108

The interesting part will be for how long will the Phone + Software be supported. Now that the price is the same I think it's fair the support should be the same as the iPhone.

Specs page [1] states 2 years for OS updates and 3 for security patches, so not even close. [1] https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone

[deleted]

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#538

Post by fencepost »

mhomde wrote: post #478
erikpukinskis wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, in terms of staff UI design cred Android is in better place than iOS right now. With the Sidekick, PalmOS, and then Material Design, Matías Duarte has been consistently at the forefront of mobile UI design. Jony Ive is probably the most brilliant consumer electronics hardware designer in the world, but I have yet to see any indication that he has any idea how to lead a platform UI design project. I had issu…

iOS is in a tough position, the road of incremental changes is coming to an end. The icon-based home screen is showing it's age and will need a revolution rather than an evolution. You can kinda see Apple dipping it toes into the widget arena with the notifications area, yet they're probably hesitant to remake the whole home screen and risk alienating their current users. Tech savvy people won't mind a new home scree…

> The icon-based home screen is showing it's age and will need a revolution rather than an evolution.

Well, perhaps they can license Live Tiles from Microsoft. There are definitely things to like there, and Microsoft's certainly not using them on phones anymore - at least not as far as real-world usage can show.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#539

Post by CardenB »

codeflo wrote: post #482
mattmaroon wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have both a nexus 5 and an iPad. I greatly prefer stock Android. Just yesterday my girlfriend was trying to figure out how to turn her ringer off at night while still being able to hear her alarm. Little tasks like that are trivial on Android but difficult on iOS.

Flipping the mute switch on the side of the phone is difficult?

That doesn't exist on the iPad anymore.

Re: Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone

#540

Post by tjohns »

supercoder wrote: post #440
erikpukinskis wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, in terms of staff UI design cred Android is in better place than iOS right now. With the Sidekick, PalmOS, and then Material Design, Matías Duarte has been consistently at the forefront of mobile UI design. Jony Ive is probably the most brilliant consumer electronics hardware designer in the world, but I have yet to see any indication that he has any idea how to lead a platform UI design project. I had issu…

Material design is like bootstrap for mobile. Good to give devs something they can't mess up too badly, but is pretty soulless.

Material is a just a design language.

Apps that follow it will all have a similar look and feel on a platform... however, you can still make both good and bad UIs within that (or any other) framework. It doesn't alleviate the need to work with a UI designer.

There are certainly a fair number of developers who will just download a Material-styled template. But please don't assume that you can't do much more.

Take a look at some of the showcase designs on the Material Design Lite site for examples: https://getmdl.io/showcase/index.html

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