Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone • Hacker News Board

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

#691

Post by jstanley » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 4:43 AM UTC

CaptSpify wrote: post #267

neals wrote: post #208

I don't like Google because they're gonna use my data against me. I don't like Apple because it's a walled garden and millions other reasons. I don't like Samsung because they bloat Android. I don't like Huawei because I don't trust the Chinese government to not do stuff to it. I don't like LG and HTC because the smartphone market is slipping away from them. Am I just getting old?

I'd kill for an actual linux phone. I hear good things about Ubuntu's phone, but I've yet to try it.

I run Ubuntu Touch on a Nexus 4, have done for about 6 months now.

It's tolerable, and refreshingly non-intrusive compared to Android. At one point I started craving Snapchat and put Android back on, but all the intrusive nag screens put me off and I went back to Ubuntu.

It crashes a lot but that might just be my Nexus 4, it used to do it on Android too.

It's a bit slow, the camera app is rubbish, there's no Snapchat, the email client has some weird bugs, there's no adblock. But it has Telegram, and it can do calls and texts, the web browser is OK, and the terminal app is good.

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

#692

Post by jstanley » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 4:46 AM UTC

confounded wrote: post #679

CaptSpify wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd kill for an actual linux phone. I hear good things about Ubuntu's phone, but I've yet to try it.

Purism are working on a Debian phone! https://puri.sm/ (I wish them luck...) I bought the BQ Ubuntu tablet. I hate to say it, but it's terrible. You have to set up a cloud account with Canonical to download or update apps (no reason given). Most of the apps are pretty bad. It's constantly pinging YouTube and news websites to show me stuff I don't care about, and can't turn off. No easy way to set up a VPN. No CalDAV,…

> No easy way to set up a VPN.

That's not true, it's right there in the network settings. I use it. Maybe it just doesn't support the type of VPN you want to use?

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

#693

Post by ubernostrum » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 4:52 AM UTC

kefka_p wrote: post #281

cholantesh wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, and I personally like Cyanogenmod and OxygenOS a lot, too. In fact, I think Touchwiz is the only (major) Android iteration that I haven't enjoyed using. Frankly, I don't get all the hype about iOS' user experience - every time I've had to use an Apple device, I've found just about every task much more cumbersome.

Frankly a lot of people don't get the hype about having to install custom ROMs to make their phones behave in a tolerable way. People are always going to find computing on devices they don't normally use to be more difficult than computing on devices they normally use, yet to you this is proof Android is better?

Also it's worth noting how many comments' worth of debates there are in this thread over specific processors, phones they come in, and software configurations, when the competitor's answer is "we put out a phone once a year, just get the latest whenever you feel like upgrading and it'll be the fastest one out there".

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

#694

Post by stouset » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 4:57 AM UTC

julianpye wrote: post #354

Last week we tried to launch an Android-first app at a major startup conference with 5000 visitors. 95% of the visitors (startups, entrepreneurs, investors, executives) had iPhones. We later confirmed this by looking at the network stats and couldn't believe it. In a country where Android statistically has 80% marketshare. The Android users loved the product, but we failed because we couldn't generate word-of-mouth.…

Out of curiosity, why Android-first?

Pretty much all the data indicated that iOS users will readily pay for apps and content, while far fewer Android owners do. Attribute this to whatever reason you want, but it seems foolish to chase after a market that costs more to develop for (due to fragmentation), more to maintain for (due to ancient versions of Android), and won't actually net you as much revenue.

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

#695

Post by monochromatic » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 5:06 AM UTC

An autoplaying video with sound and a broken pause button? No thanks.

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

#696

Post by r00fus » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 5:07 AM UTC

fizzbatter wrote: post #366

czhiddy wrote: post #8

“The difference with this device is that we started from the beginning,” says Dave Burke, who runs Android engineering. Started from scratch, yet the end result looks like a iPhone knockoff from a random Chinese shanzhai company? http://i.imgur.com/LlqaAPO.png

I love my Nexus phones, i also have already ordered a Pixel XL. With that said, i hate the look of this phone compared to the Nexus 5 and 5X. I really felt the 5 and 5X were a good, unique and fitting feel for Nexus. The Pixel doesn't seem to have any identity of it's own. Frankly, with Apple already having sued over phone designs.. i'm shocked this is so blatantly similar to the iPhone. Only thing that feels unique…

You're probably going to put a case on it anyway right?

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

#697

Post by monochromatic » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 5:09 AM UTC

joshstrange wrote: post #411

geodel wrote: post #86

I think it is just me but I find this 'book me a concert and fancy dinner' schtick rather boring. May be well off people are so busy and book these things so often that these virtual assistant really save time if price is of no concern to them.

I use Siri for 3 things: * Quick conversions "How many Tablespoons are in a Cup" * Setting Reminders "Remind me at 9:30am today to pay my rent" * Setting Timers "Set a time for 10 minutes" Anything else and I can normally do it faster. That's not to say Siri couldn't beat me at doing something but that I have to repeat myself or I get the dreaded "I search the web and found this..." Not only are the results normally…

"Pause playback."

"I paused the playback."

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

#698

Post by SapphireSun » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 5:09 AM UTC

kogepathic wrote: post #65

adamweld wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Now, Google is no Samsung, but they're a long way from Apple or even Microsoft on the UX front. Not sure I agree with this. I've been on android for a while, so I'm sure I'm biased, but stock AOSP Android is pretty much perfect for me. Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable.

> I've been on android for a while, so I'm sure I'm biased, but stock AOSP Android is pretty much perfect for me. Very minimal and aesthetically beautiful, but still powerful and customizable. You can get AOSP on a lot of phones, you just have to be comfortable flashing a custom ROM. I don't understand why anyone would pay iPhone prices for an Android phone. Even if the hardware quality is similar (which it won't be,…

> Android app quality is much worse.

Good thing that offline web apps will start making most native apps obsolete in a few years.

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

#699

Post by frik » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 5:10 AM UTC

Stock Android is pretty broken in China.

A lot of things like connecting to a public WiFi (which tries to connect to a Google page which doesn't work), Google PlayStore, Google Maps, email apps, etc.

In China you need an Android that doesn't come preloaded with Google stuff or an iPhone which just works fine incl the AppStore.

It's very strange that Google doesn't offer at least basic support there.

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

#700

Post by Gustomaximus » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 5:11 AM UTC

The main reason I see/hear people coming across from Apple to Android is they get a quality handset at half the price. Given this pricing is inline with Apple, I cant see as something that will seriously threaten other than crowding the market a bit more.

I still dont understand why Google didn't keep pushing the mid-range nexus. They were onto such a sweet spot.