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

#841

Post by fencepost » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 2:44 PM UTC

vetinari wrote: post #816

fencepost wrote: post #558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nine allows you to specify a variety of security-related options including local passcodes, internal app data encryption, and whether the security policy (remote wipe capability) is applied at the application level or at the device level. I believe many of the other third-party Exchange-connecting apps have the same type of options.

Actually, when I was doing my research, Nine was the only app that allowed you to limit the Exchange policies to app-only level, not device-wide. That's the reason why I ended up using it.

TouchDown, one of the oldest (which does not automatically imply best) should also allow this, though their description isn't quite as clear: "Corporate Data Separation: TouchDown keeps your corporate data separate from your personal data. Without TouchDown, your employer can actually flatten your phone to factory defaults. With TouchDown, they can only remove corporate data belonging to them, leaving behind your personal information."

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

#842

Post by vetinari » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 2:58 PM UTC

fencepost wrote: post #841

vetinari wrote: post #816

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, when I was doing my research, Nine was the only app that allowed you to limit the Exchange policies to app-only level, not device-wide. That's the reason why I ended up using it.

TouchDown, one of the oldest (which does not automatically imply best) should also allow this, though their description isn't quite as clear: "Corporate Data Separation: TouchDown keeps your corporate data separate from your personal data. Without TouchDown, your employer can actually flatten your phone to factory defaults. With TouchDown, they can only remove corporate data belonging to them, leaving behind your per…

I might have skipped TouchDown at the time, because 1) it does not integrate with the native calendar and contacts (or at least the screenshots imply that it is a built-in functionality), 2) it looks like from Gingerbread era, 3) has separate versions for phone and tablet.

Nine had neither of these issues.

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

#843

Post by Keyframe » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 3:01 PM UTC

panglott wrote: post #840

ridgeguy wrote: post #644

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't "beleagured" the word you're looking for?

Also forgot to mention Steve Jobs/Tim Cook.

Steve Jobs/Tim Cook

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

#844

Post by dejawu » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 3:22 PM UTC

technofiend wrote: post #319

Veratyr wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

As always the most compelling thing about the phone is Google's support - fast releases and minimal carrier bloat. You have a nice list of positives and I'm not disputing them. But the feature list for what is now Googles top phone is underwhelming. 4 GB of RAM is barely adequate - it should be 6 GB like the other Snapdragon 821 flagship. No water proofing? That's the new black. Bottom-facing speakers? Complete regre…

"4GB RAM in a phone is barely adequate"

You know, I knew the day would come that we'd be saying this unironically, but in still surprised it's here.

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

#845

Post by SwellJoe » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 3:32 PM UTC

tarancato wrote: post #819

SwellJoe wrote: post #631

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every Android phone is an iPhone killer. Android owns ~80% of the market, to iPhone's ~18% [1]. Having many price points turns out to matter a lot; but, I think even people who are not price sensitive often prefer Android (I certainly do). I've loved every Nexus device I've owned...the pure Android experience is hard to beat, IMHO. 1: http://www.macrumors.com/2016/02/18/ios-android-market-share...

How many of those Android users use an Android because they can't afford an iPhone?

I dunno...but, does it matter? Price is also a feature/benefit that people consider when choosing a phone. A killer feature, even, for some consumers.

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

#846

Post by Eridrus » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 4:08 PM UTC

killerdhmo wrote: post #646

Eridrus wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nexus 5 was amazing, the 5X was acceptable, this.... makes me want another option. Maybe you care about the camera, but I barely use mine except as a scanner replacement when sending documents. All of the interesting announcements were about everything except the hardware, which IMO was extremely boring, and they've discontinued their mid-range line of phones so it's not even clear that you can get the software o…

Except, mobile phone photography is one of the fastest growing use cases: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/arts/international/photos-... Even look at Flickr's top camera usage: https://www.flickr.com/cameras (which has a selection bias towards people who take and upload certain pictures to Flickr) Think about the number of other places images are taken (and shared!) Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. etc.…

I believe it, I'm just sad that there's no option for those like me who are satisfied with the shitty 5X camera.

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

#847

Post by kalleboo » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 4:10 PM UTC

pinaceae wrote: post #573

bitmapbrother wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of the original iPhone - it was an LG Prada ripoff. I'm sure you call all phones with a white front iPhone knockoffs.

totally! i mean look at it, what is the difference? http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/06/iphone...

The iPhone looks way chunkier and chintzier

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

#848

Post by BinaryIdiot » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 4:28 PM UTC

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #730

pdxandi wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is quite honestly the exact three reasons I use Siri. I do, however, open Google fairly often to search for complicated answers. The Google voice dictation engine is so incredibly accurate.

See, 9 times out of 10 when I try this I end up getting a generic Google search result page back. It's gotten to the point where I rarely even use Google Now beyond the items parent mentioned above. Google Now is awful at conversing (unlike Siri, Echo or Cortana) by which I mean if I don't use exact syntax the other services seem more forgiving whereas Google gives me a search result page. What the hell am I ever goi…

Hmm my comment is getting downvoted but I don't understand why. Do people have a difference experience with Google Now than I do? Seemed fairly common to people I knew. I'd love to hear some feedback. For instance I've even had it open up a search page when I asked for the weather for a certain area; if the syntax isn't really really close you just get search and that's it.

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

#849

Post by sigmaml » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 4:34 PM UTC

x0x0 wrote: post #678

endisukaj wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Android app quality is much worse. Where are you basing this on? Out of some social media apps (Facebook and Snapchat) I have found that Android apps are on-par with their iOS counterparts.

I use both. Currently I have an ipad and an android phone. Android apps are neglected next to ios. Examples: * spotify is shit on android. They broke audio playback during system announcements (like google maps directions) and just didn't give a damn for two months. It's not like anybody uses spotify and maps in a car or anything. * most bank apps on android still don't take advantage of fingerprint auth to avoid typ…

> there really isn't any reader on android as nice as GoodReader

Any particular lacunae in Adobe's Reader?

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

#850

Post by ljf » Wed, Oct 05, 2016, 4:45 PM UTC

ajross wrote: post #111

ljf wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But is the giant black bar across the bottom of this screen a good use of screen> https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d1FGcK-lOXmwvt9UR7OYJwaOSTg... ?

Not in all cases. Which is why apps have an API where they can turn it off if they want to reclaim that space for their own use. Interestingly, no on ever figured out how to implement this trick when apps wanted to use their hardware buttons for extra screen space. I suspect this is a big reason for this particular compromise.

Maybe, but look at the bezel at the bottom of the Pixel, plenty of room for software buttons, we just don't have full edge to edge screens yet in all directions. So with plenty of room we are choosing to waste screen.