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Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

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Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#541
post #224

I hate the trend that the "pro" versions of all these flagship phones need to be an XL Phablet monstrosity. Human hands haven't gotten any bigger. I have owned most of the Nexus & Pixel phones throughout the years. After having the Nexus 6 as my daily driver for 2 years, I have always opted for the smaller option ever since. I would totally pay flagship prices for a regular ~5.5-6" phone with flagship specs, and I'm…

https://m.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_xz2_compact-9082.php

Sony used to have a compact line with flagship hardware and a reasonable size. Unfortunately, it looks like they stopped making them

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the openness of android, and the explicit permission to root your phone. But iphones have amazing longevity. The iphone 5s you mentioned came out in 2013 - which is 8 years ago now. Back then Obama was still in his first term. Maybe it is way too slow to handle the most recent version of iOS, but I'd rather a phone vendor that releases operating system updates for 8 years than a vendor who releases updates for…

I love the iphone. I get my wife the latest and greatest every two years, and I forget about it. If she had an Android anything, I'd be spending at least an hour per week on tech support. It's absolutely worth the inflated price for me, and the fact that it's extremely limited in possible features is a bonus. Just like I used to love stick, but now an automatic tranny is great, as my enjoyment is the destination not…

As I said, I agree with most of what you said.

> Now as far as the iphone 6s being usable - that's my point. It is usable, on the old OS it was designed for.

That phone was running the latest OS when I gave it to my friend last year. I think it might have been running faster thanks to ios 13 (or whichever version improved performance). I believe you when you say your brother's iphone 5s became unusable with subsequent updates. But my 6s kept chugging along just fine, updates and all.

I'm delighted there's solutions for android phones like what you're talking about. This sort of thing is really important - I mean, they're fully fledged computers capable of way more than we're able to use today. Its crazy that people throw them out after a few years. My iphone 12 is faster than my 2016 macbook pro. And I still occasionally code on that laptop. If I could run OSX on my phone and use my laptop as a terminal for it, that would be really sweet. But I can't because Apple doesn't care, and I'm locked out of making changes like that on my own hardware. Using old phones as web / file servers would be fantastic.

Companies like Apple are actively incentivized by the market to make their old products feel worse over time. And for that reason I'm always impressed when occasionally they release an OS update that improves performance across the board.

I guess my take is, Android phones have an awful history of dropping official support for recent devices. I'm delighted the hacker community can and has stepped in to clean up android's mess. Its a shame they have to, but such is life.

I'm sad you can't do that on Apple devices, but one saving grace is that, the 5s aside, apple seems to do a much better job of official software longevity than android. I'm expecting my iphone 12 to last 5-10 years. I do wish the battery lasted all week though - that sounds phenomenal.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#543
Only problem with Google‘s Pixel phones is they are almost unrepairable. If you break their screens you total the device. For example: The Pixel 4‘s display is connected through the housing for the motherboard and battery. You need to remove quite a lot of screws and components from the phone to access the screen cable. Furthermore, this way you need to remove the seal/glue for both the motherboard housing and the screen itself: https://youtu.be/3HTeJAgBl3g

It’s unlikely but let’s hope Google has improved the repairability …

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Samsung S10 and S10+ looks to me like the place to be, flashed w/ a custom degoogled ROM. Nokia Maps (here wego), Open Camera, something like Aptoide, K9 mail. https://forum.xda-developers.com/c/samsung-galaxy-s10.8693/ I did a lot of research earlier, because I don't use a case, dropped my pixel 2xl, and the glass on the corner cracked. I ended up just putting a dab of epoxy on it instead though. I use the carbonOS…

All of that sounds good except for the phone size. I'd go for a Pixel 5, but... no 3.5mm jack is a dealbreaker. So I guess the Pixel 4a is my only real choice.

Why not 5a? Had headphone jack + other improvements for maybe 150 more...

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#545
Not knocking these phones at all -- I'm sure they're great -- but I found it genuinely hilarious that in 2021, one of the features Google chose to highlight, in the main, big "The reimagined Google phones" section, under "An all‑new Pixel experience" is "...and checks your spelling as you type."

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#546

Only problem with Google‘s Pixel phones is they are almost unrepairable. If you break their screens you total the device. For example: The Pixel 4‘s display is connected through the housing for the motherboard and battery. You need to remove quite a lot of screws and components from the phone to access the screen cable. Furthermore, this way you need to remove the seal/glue for both the motherboard housing and the sc…

I'm still using my google pixel 2 xl with no case for the whole time I've been using. I dropped many times (including some drops I definitely thought that I was gonna need a new phone instantly), but nope, it still works like a charm with only minor scratches on the corners.

While I do really love pixel, I do think they are not putting enough effort into building a functional eco system around the phone, sharing files is such a pain in the ass and the "sharing nearby" feature never works on this phone, and everytime I needed to transfer files I have to use a cable, that's why I'm switching to iPhone. But I do like what they've shown about the new pixel phone tho.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#547

I couldn't wait any longer so I purchased a very expensive Samsung S21 Ultra ($1200) because no Google phone could lure me away from my fading Pixel 2 XL. My mistake, because the Samsung phone had preloaded software that took considerable effort to remove (more than most people could/would deal with). It wasn't the software itself that bothered me, but rather that there were notifications for apps I don't use that I…

I've only ever had Nexus and Pixel phones, and I've purchased most of the releases, starting with the original T-Mobile G1, which, along with the 6P, will have a special place in my heart. I finally switched to Samsung S20 last year, and my wife to OnePlus 8T. They were more expensive, but we got better hardware and noticeably better battery life. On the software side, the Samsung S20 is not only bloated, but buggy.…

> I was pleasantly surprised with the OnePlus. Little bloat, compared to Samsung, hardware is very solid, didn't notice any glaring software issues, no weird stuff. I'm not sure how open it is to flashing another ROM, but to me it feels like a higher end Nexus phone.

OnePlus is one of the two (the other being Google) manufacturers with absolutely stellar custom ROM support IMHO (if there are others I'm missing, I'd love to know) (:

And even their stock ROM is pretty damn clean and good as well, last I checked. It's really impressive.

Literally, the OnePlus 9 Pro (latest model) has an official LineageOS release. I don't doubt there are plenty of ROMs for the 9 as well and there will soon be an official 9 LineageOS release. Hell, the OnePlus One has an Android 11 official build on LineageOS's website.

I've been daily driving a OnePlus 6 for the past three years. After OxygenOS 10, I switched to LineageOS for Android 11 and the phone is just as fast and smooth as ever. Extremely, extremely satisfied with my OnePlus phone, although I may be trying Google this time around because the Pixel 6 is cheap.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#548
post #224

I hate the trend that the "pro" versions of all these flagship phones need to be an XL Phablet monstrosity. Human hands haven't gotten any bigger. I have owned most of the Nexus & Pixel phones throughout the years. After having the Nexus 6 as my daily driver for 2 years, I have always opted for the smaller option ever since. I would totally pay flagship prices for a regular ~5.5-6" phone with flagship specs, and I'm…

There are many reasons I’m in Apple’s walled garden but a sane phone size is simply the biggest. I sometimes think about what I’m going to get after 12 mini that I’m using is done for :) Because there are reports that Apple is done with this screen size segment.

It's a tough market. The majority of people who want a smaller phone do so because phones aren't so important to them. And those people probably expect a cheaper device.

I think Apple would make a better selling product if they could chop an extra $100–200 from the price of the mini. A single rear camera, fewer SKUs (say, two colours and two capacities), and maybe a binned version of the A16 chip with one fewer GPU core.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you live without Android's back button/gesture behavior?

I mostly develop for Android devices and use iOS. I have literally never missed not having a "always-back" button. Where would I want it that a way to go back isn't baked into the flow? I mean half the Android apps out there have broken backstack implementations anyways so pressing back on Android will do anything from send you back one screen to set your hair on fire and everything in between so...

As another cross platform mobile dev that mainly uses iOS, this is how I feel too. It’s much easier to mentally model things with intra-app and inter-app navigation being entirely separate.

Navigating within apps is frustrating enough between apps that intentionally implement wonky custom stuff for no reason and cross platform apps that don’t obey conventions by nature, the last thing I want is those same apps mucking up otherwise consistent app switcher behavior.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#550

I couldn't wait any longer so I purchased a very expensive Samsung S21 Ultra ($1200) because no Google phone could lure me away from my fading Pixel 2 XL. My mistake, because the Samsung phone had preloaded software that took considerable effort to remove (more than most people could/would deal with). It wasn't the software itself that bothered me, but rather that there were notifications for apps I don't use that I…

What apps are you referring to? Bixby? I've also got the S21 and never get Bixby notifications once I switched them off.
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