Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#591

Post by jeppesen-io » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 5:45 AM UTC

GVRV wrote: post #584

Sodman wrote: 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…

This is precisely why I moved to the Samsung S10e after being a Nexus range user for years. I'm still unsure what my next phone will be: I'm _very_ tempted to go with a Unihertz, but realistically, it will probably be an iPhone Mini.

I got a Umihertz Atom. I love it, as a backup phone for off grid adventures

But there are a few issues I've had, of course your mileage may vary

1. When my primary phone broke, I had great issues getting Google Fi to work. It seems the phone/sim process often hung when making APN changes, manually or with Fi app 2. Battery life is fantastic, but by default it kills apps after five min when the screen is off. You'll need to allow for music apps or whatever you want running when screen is off

It's great for hiking though

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#592

Post by CobrastanJorji » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 5:46 AM UTC

G3rn0ti wrote: post #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 sc…

My dog chewed on my Pixel 4 display and totally broke it. I mailed it off to get repaired. Cost me $299. Not sure how much it usually costs to replace a phone's display, but as the phone was pretty new at the time, I paid it.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#593

Post by Thorrez » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 5:48 AM UTC

riversflow wrote: post #295

marcellus23 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Still: they scan photos locally - those are not cloud photos, those are local photos. They are cloud photos. I say that because: 1. The photos are in the process of being uploaded to the cloud when they are scanned 2. The result of the scan is attached to the photo only when it is uploaded to the cloud. If the photo is deleted from the cloud, or the upload is canceled, the scan result is discarded Practically, the…

>2. Apple does not already have the ability to run whatever code they want, on any of your devices, without you ever knowing This is what I don't understand about the whole argument about this CSAM debacle. I've read quite a bit of the discussion about this, as I'm someone who takes privacy fairly seriously, and it never really gets discussed. Could someone maybe point me in the direction of some literature about thi…

There are tons of academic researchers, jailbreakers, privacy watchdogs, journalists, government organizations, exploit developers, tinkerers, and hackers of all kinds who would go wild if they found Apple doing malicious stuff on iPhones.

Now if Apple developed a special update that they sent to only a few choice targets, that might be able to go under the radar.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#594

Post by jeppesen-io » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 5:49 AM UTC

Sodman wrote: 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…

Am I missing something, isn't the pro basically the same except for a few GB of ram?

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#595

Post by kelnos » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 5:49 AM UTC

It really makes me sad that every generation just gets larger and larger. I miss a phone that I could comfortably use with one hand without feeling like I'm going to drop it half the time.

Also, what is up with the gigantic camera bump on the back? It looks terrible.

I guess I'll be keeping my Pixel 4 a bit longer...

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#596

Post by soylentnewsorg » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 5:53 AM UTC

TimeBearingDown wrote: post #572

soylentnewsorg wrote: post #562

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright - I'll bite. This is a smartphone, not a windows PC with a bunch of services. There is Zero listening on any port. There is no attack surface for any kernel - the only thing there would be a bug in mms. Please share your source for kernel attacks, on any android version, that's not an attack on an app - but on the kernel. No, this is not a google play attack, or an attack on an outdated app - which are update…

Smartphones aren’t servers, but they run tons of services that interact with the surrounding world. Bluetooth, WiFi, etc… The kernel also still plays a vital and security-meaningful role in processing calls from applications. Running an out of date kernel could mean strangers ransoming your data, or could mean an attack becomes persistent and starts logging and uploading through reboots. Running an out of date kernel…

We are not talking about datacenter servers - we are talking about smartphones. you can run a 4.9 kernel with all security patches applied, just like you can run windows10 with all security patches applied. You can update bluetooth and wifi modems without going to a later kernel version. We call those drivers, not kernels.

The issue you note is only exploitable via a bug if you have an outdated version of the chrome browser. You don't need to update the kernel, in order to update an application.

Seriously, I feel like I'm talking to my wife here, who is not a tech person. Why are you and the other couple of people being purposely dense, and purposely ignoring the content of your own links that doesn't fit your viewpoint?

BTW, after you said smartphones aren't servers, you go on to talk about why an older kernel is bad on servers.

But since you asked, the latest 4.9.3 kernel running on that nexus6 from 2014, that's been compiled appears to be from the end of the year 2019.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#597

Post by Dunedan » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 5:55 AM UTC

xeromal wrote: post #528

Sodman wrote: 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…

I think a lot of it is to fit a bigger battery. No easy way to do it unless you want a 3 inch thick phone

Aren't larger displays the reason for the need of bigger batteries in the first place?

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#598

Post by lmns » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 5:57 AM UTC

EastOfTruth wrote: post #558

whichquestion wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 years of security updates, 3 years of feature updates. On the page it says on the 12th footnote, "Feature drops for at least 3 years from when the device first became available on the Google Store in the US. Your Pixel will receive feature drops during the applicable Android update and support periods for the phone. See g.co/pixel/updates for details." On https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705 it says…

> 5 years of security updates, 3 years of feature updates. It would be nice to have 8 years of security updates and 0 years of feature updates, instead. I always dreamed of having the option to only have security updates on my OSes...

They could easily do it if they wanted to, now that they have more control over the SoC. With Chrome OS they already do it. Most devices that are released now will get 8 years of security updates, which are supplied by Google.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#599

Post by lostmsu » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 6:00 AM UTC

BoorishBears wrote: post #522

lostmsu wrote: post #503

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...

The most common scenario I have is switching from RSS reader into web browser for the full article and back. This is also about 50% of what I do on the phone that's not scrolling web pages vertically.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#600

Post by petersellers » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 6:03 AM UTC

koyote wrote: post #561

n8cpdx wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quality of the basics matters. Folks like to say they don’t need a fast processor, because all they do is browse the web. If you open the messages app and browser 50x per day (which seems like a conservative estimate) and load the maps app a few times a week, the speed differential between devices adds up. Personally, I find the annoyance factor more bothersome than the raw hours of wasted human lifetime. Side by sid…

I agree with your premise that speed makes a difference and should not be ignored, but your conclusion about android seems a bit off. The pixel 4 is older and much more of a budget device compared to the iphone 12, I am not sure why you are comparing the two. That being said, my even older oneplus 6t takes around 200ms to open Firefox so I am not sure what is wrong with your pixel 4. Same on my partner's pixel 4a (wh…

> The pixel 4 is older and much more of a budget device compared to the iphone 12, I am not sure why you are comparing the two.

The Pixel 4 and the iPhone 12 both MSRP'd at $799 when they were released. Not sure how the Pixel is considered "much more of a budget device" in comparison. Technically the iPhone 12 mini is $100 cheaper than either of those, with the same basic hardware as the larger 12.