Technology Android

[Pittsey]

Google Pixels don't use stock Android the way the Nexus phones did and the way we understood it back then. Pixels use Android ported to the Pixel with a Google overlay and additions, just like Samsung phones use a Samsung overlay with Samsung's additions.

The main difference at this point is that Samsung preinstalls more of its ecosystem stuff. Infamously including apps that are essentially duplicates of what most people want to use, so you end up with two browsers, two e-mail clients etc. Otherwise they mostly just look different, with Pixels looking closer to stock Android and Samsung's additions go beyond what Google does on top of stock Android. This doesn't tangibly impact performance or anything like that at this point though.

But yeah the Pixel 6 is a great deal. And I miss European carrier prices. I just checked, and back in Poland you get a monthly prepaid unlimited promo plan with 15GB of 5G data for 5PLN, which is less than one dollar and fifty cents per month. Considering the local purchasing power it's the equivalent of $5.
But I also worked on a project building fiber optic Internet infrastructure, which is literally 10x+ more expensive and even more complicated (due to red tape) to build in the western countries than it is there.

Whilst I don't look into It as deeply... Pixel phones are silky smooth and I have never gotten any slowdown with a pixel device... Ever. Android 12 on my 3a was a great experience. I also get updates on day 1.

That is why I buy a Google experience phone. Samsung, to me, is Apple in a different jacket.

 

[Pittsey]

But I also worked on a project building fiber optic Internet infrastructure, which is literally 10x+ more expensive and even more complicated (due to red tape) to build in the western countries than it is there.

Construction in the US is similar to that in a third world country. Health and safety doesn't matter. People don't matter.

Not sure what it's like in Canada.

 

[Casey]

Picked up a Pixel 6 Pro and my girlfriend got the Pixel 6. Highly impressed with both. I don't think anything else in Android is competing, and certainly not at these price points.

 

[dilla]

Whilst I don't look into It as deeply... Pixel phones are silky smooth and I have never gotten any slowdown with a pixel device... Ever. Android 12 on my 3a was a great experience. I also get updates on day 1.

That is why I buy a Google experience phone. Samsung, to me, is Apple in a different jacket.

I don't know how it happened or when exactly it happened but Apple and Samsung began to pull away from the rest of the OEMs, at least in the US. Probably marketing. Apple has always been a marketing master since the Intel Macs were announced and the "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads began airing over a decade ago. They've moved away from those less-serious and corny commercials and now I see just the ads for the iPhone and they do a good job of making the viewer think that they can capture those same moments in the same quality as the videos and pictures in their ads. They even make sure to say that all of it was shot with an iPhone to make consumers think that without any skills or editing software, they too can get those amazing shots. Samsung is just incessant and the ads are more numerous and in more places. Where Apple can appeal to consumers with some slick commercial showing off the capabilities of the phone, I find Samsung's ads being a mix of poking fun at Apple for removing the headphone jack, SD card, charger, etc., and a mix of letting users know that their Samsung phones are $100+ cheaper than an iPhone. Different styles but it seems like it works for both companies. LG is dead. HTC is dead. I don't think Moto makes anything above a mid-range phone these days. Sony is niche everywhere and basically extinct in the US, as a phone OEM. I still couldn't tell you what people in the US think of the Pixel phones when they see ads for them or see them on display at the TMobile/Verizon store when they go in for an upgrade. Sure, Reddit has me believing that a lot of people are interested in the phone but Reddit is not the real world. It's still a niche phone, in the US.

Something has to give eventually. Both Apple and Samsung are destined to get too big and get up-ended by a dark horse. OnePlus was that for all of two iterations of its first two phones then just faded away as far as being competitively priced goes. And features, which are missing. Someone new should come along again. No one is too big to fail. I kind of hope MS makes real flagship phones using Android because MS doesn't quit, no matter how badly the competition stomps them. They'll just keep it afloat with money. They just can't go back to their own OS again, which still lasted longer than it should have.

 

[Pittsey]

I don't know how it happened or when exactly it happened but Apple and Samsung began to pull away from the rest of the OEMs, at least in the US. Probably marketing. Apple has always been a marketing master since the Intel Macs were announced and the "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads began airing over a decade ago. They've moved away from those less-serious and corny commercials and now I see just the ads for the iPhone and they do a good job of making the viewer think that they can capture those same moments in the same quality as the videos and pictures in their ads. They even make sure to say that all of it was shot with an iPhone to make consumers think that without any skills or editing software, they too can get those amazing shots. Samsung is just incessant and the ads are more numerous and in more places. Where Apple can appeal to consumers with some slick commercial showing off the capabilities of the phone, I find Samsung's ads being a mix of poking fun at Apple for removing the headphone jack, SD card, charger, etc., and a mix of letting users know that their Samsung phones are $100+ cheaper than an iPhone. Different styles but it seems like it works for both companies. LG is dead. HTC is dead. I don't think Moto makes anything above a mid-range phone these days. Sony is niche everywhere and basically extinct in the US, as a phone OEM. I still couldn't tell you what people in the US think of the Pixel phones when they see ads for them or see them on display at the TMobile/Verizon store when they go in for an upgrade. Sure, Reddit has me believing that a lot of people are interested in the phone but Reddit is not the real world. It's still a niche phone, in the US.

Something has to give eventually. Both Apple and Samsung are destined to get too big and get up-ended by a dark horse. OnePlus was that for all of two iterations of its first two phones then just faded away as far as being competitively priced goes. And features, which are missing. Someone new should come along again. No one is too big to fail. I kind of hope MS makes real flagship phones using Android because MS doesn't quit, no matter how badly the competition stomps them. They'll just keep it afloat with money. They just can't go back to their own OS again, which still lasted longer than it should have.

Apple and Samsung chuck a ton of money at it. Which, admittedly, Google have also done with the Pixel 6.

 

[dilla]

Apple and Samsung chuck a ton of money at it. Which, admittedly, Google have also done with the Pixel 6.

I do see Google ads from time to time, true. The hype for the Pixel 6 that I noticed came from users on the internet. Any new phone gets some attention and the Pixels of the past were no different but the comments this time around seemed to have more promise for fewer corners being cut as far as features and performance goes. I know recent Pixels were seen as mid-range phones by enthusiasts but the 6 was supposed to truly compete with the flagships from Samsung and Apple, and it looks like it does.

Anandtech did a write up on it and it seems to echo what @masta247 was saying about a month ago; because Tensor was using modified Samsung Exynos chip, it would be handcuffed to all the pros and cons of Exynos. Performance is good but the efficiency of the chip falls behind QC's SD. They said the GPU performance is lagging behind too, but I don't think I do many GPU intensive things. I don't think I'd notice it if I just stream video on YouTube or some streaming service. Maybe if I gamed on mobile, but I just play COD Mobile while on the shitter once in a while. I'm not looking fpr 4k/120 with ray tracing on my phone anyway.

It's an interesting device and I may consider it. I too like a cleaner Android even though I have zero complaints with Samsung and OneUI. I'm getting to the point where the benefits of having my devices heavily integrated with a brand is not such a bad thing anymore. I had a fear of committing too deep to Apple or Google but as more things in our lives become "smart," it's so much easier to just have devices made by the ones also making the ecosystem. And Apple's smart home stuff is not my cup of tea as I'm not investing in HomePods or using their sub-par home automation app that's built in natively to all iOS devices for HomeKit.

I'll give it some more time to see what the S22 brings about but if my carrier has some sweet deals for the Holidays as far as giving me hundreds more for my trade-in of the S10+, I'll definitely consider upgrading and I'll consider the Pixel 6 Pro. It's not longer about hardware for me and all about software and how well it works and how convenient it is. Google devices definitely have the software features that are cool and futuristic compared to other OEMs. I still haven't figured out to put Google Assistant on my iPad and have it work on it the way it does on my S10+, which leads me to believe Apple is gimping the Assistant service because it knows Siri is shit but won't admit it.

At least they allow Google Maps to be used in CarPlay. I know early on, you were restricted to just Apple Maps, which was horrible at the time. It's gotten better but I had to use CarPlay with my sister in her car yesterday and Google Maps was just so much better after she used Apple Maps a year ago in CarPlay.

 

[dilla]

https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s22_design_to_remain_mostly_unchanged-news-51660.php

There aren't any benchmarks for the Exynos-AMD chipset yet, are there? I'd love to see what that looks like and how it performs. We also won't be getting it in the US but after just saying that I don't care about GPU performance on a phone, I still want to see how much better mobile gaming is with an AMD chip and if QC gets kind of blindsided by it.

 

[Pittsey]

I do see Google ads from time to time, true. The hype for the Pixel 6 that I noticed came from users on the internet. Any new phone gets some attention and the Pixels of the past were no different but the comments this time around seemed to have more promise for fewer corners being cut as far as features and performance goes. I know recent Pixels were seen as mid-range phones by enthusiasts but the 6 was supposed to truly compete with the flagships from Samsung and Apple, and it looks like it does.

Anandtech did a write up on it and it seems to echo what @masta247 was saying about a month ago; because Tensor was using modified Samsung Exynos chip, it would be handcuffed to all the pros and cons of Exynos. Performance is good but the efficiency of the chip falls behind QC's SD. They said the GPU performance is lagging behind too, but I don't think I do many GPU intensive things. I don't think I'd notice it if I just stream video on YouTube or some streaming service. Maybe if I gamed on mobile, but I just play COD Mobile while on the shitter once in a while. I'm not looking fpr 4k/120 with ray tracing on my phone anyway.

It's an interesting device and I may consider it. I too like a cleaner Android even though I have zero complaints with Samsung and OneUI. I'm getting to the point where the benefits of having my devices heavily integrated with a brand is not such a bad thing anymore. I had a fear of committing too deep to Apple or Google but as more things in our lives become "smart," it's so much easier to just have devices made by the ones also making the ecosystem. And Apple's smart home stuff is not my cup of tea as I'm not investing in HomePods or using their sub-par home automation app that's built in natively to all iOS devices for HomeKit.

I'll give it some more time to see what the S22 brings about but if my carrier has some sweet deals for the Holidays as far as giving me hundreds more for my trade-in of the S10+, I'll definitely consider upgrading and I'll consider the Pixel 6 Pro. It's not longer about hardware for me and all about software and how well it works and how convenient it is. Google devices definitely have the software features that are cool and futuristic compared to other OEMs. I still haven't figured out to put Google Assistant on my iPad and have it work on it the way it does on my S10+, which leads me to believe Apple is gimping the Assistant service because it knows Siri is shit but won't admit it.

At least they allow Google Maps to be used in CarPlay. I know early on, you were restricted to just Apple Maps, which was horrible at the time. It's gotten better but I had to use CarPlay with my sister in her car yesterday and Google Maps was just so much better after she used Apple Maps a year ago in CarPlay.

I'm in too deep with Google now. I've decided they can know everything about me, as they already do. I'll just stay away from every other company and not then know anything. Although Amazon does have access to all my buying habits

 

[dilla]

I'm in too deep with Google now. I've decided they can know everything about me, as they already do. I'll just stay away from every other company and not then know anything. Although Amazon does have access to all my buying habits

Same. Early on in Android, I gave everything willingly. Then a few years ago when the Cambridge Analytics stuff came out, I swung the opposite way and tried to lock my info down. Now I'm swinging back. The convenience is worth it. Life is too short to worry about who has my browsing and shopping habits. I don't mind the likes of Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc. having that info. Worse they'll do is show me ads to buy related things, some of which I might actually be interested in. I still try to keep away from Facebook only because they're in the news more often for more nefarious things. Firefox has a built-in Container feature that locks FB out of other information like cookies and stuff on your browser, and I don't know how well it works but I keep it enabled. But that's about it. I use a VPN just to download torrents because my ISP is a slut about that stuff.

Our home automation is almost strictly Google Home and we got several Minis for free so that was taken care of. Lights, thermostat, etc. are all controlled through voice or occasionally their respective apps. Amazon has my home security with Ring and Blink and my home internet via Eero. I don't care anymore. I'll take the convenience over the them having my info. I'm more worried about dying to a nationalist or some inner-city kid than I am from being figured out by big tech.

 

[masta247]

I gotta say all the issues with the Pixels are always more interesting than with any of the bigger brands:

Some Google Pixel phones are randomly calling people on their contact list - GSMArena.com news

The reddit stories are basically my nightmares, lol:
My Pixel 6 phantom called someone again : GooglePixel (reddit.com)

 

[dilla]

I gotta say all the issues with the Pixels are always more interesting than with any of the bigger brands:

Some Google Pixel phones are randomly calling people on their contact list - GSMArena.com news

The reddit stories are basically my nightmares, lol:
My Pixel 6 phantom called someone again : GooglePixel (reddit.com)

That's what I was worried about. I know every brand has its fuck-ups and none quite as bad as the Note 7 blowing up but I feel that every Pixel has had some god-awful bug in the software and then a few months later there's a hardware issue.

I also read something about the charge speed being heavily restricted and that it scales back the watts much earlier than other phones.


Jon Prosser has been leaking some S22 stuff and mentioned a release date around mid-February. But, at the same time, he says the hardware won't see too many changes from the S21. We'll see when it gets unveiled but if it really is a minor upgrade, it'll be much easier to keep the S10.

 

[Pittsey]

Seen no issues here.

At first my fingerprint sensor was pretty decent too. But it doesn't seem to be as responsive now.

 

[dilla]

We were discussing this a couple of weeks ago about what UI the Pixels run and if it's stock Android anymore, or not: https://www.androidpolice.com/google-needs-to-give-its-android-skin-a-public-name/

 

[masta247]

We were discussing this a couple of weeks ago about what UI the Pixels run and if it's stock Android anymore, or not: https://www.androidpolice.com/google-needs-to-give-its-android-skin-a-public-name/

At this point I feel like tech reviewers are just stealing from this thread, lol

 

[dilla]

At this point I feel like tech reviewers are just stealing from this thread, lol

Our thread is a gold mine. I really don't think anything else compares to it. It's one thread since 2009? 2008? Basically the advent of Android and spans 12 years since. You can even see my first few posts in here where I asked for advice on which Android device to buy when Android finally came to Verizon with the Moto Droid and HTC Droid Eris. And then every complaint, praise, hope, and wish we had for Android since then.

I don't think the Android subreddit has even been around as long as this thread.

It's a really neat time capsule and it's all in one thread. That's the key. All the info in 10k posts in here are in one place where on reddit it would be 20k submissions filled with 90% shit posts and occasional some useful stuff. Someone can just crack open a bottle of whiskey. Or 10. And start from post #1 and enjoy the ride through 10,000 more posts fill with all our hot takes and predictions.

I don't think any posts were lost when SH went down for an extended period of time a few years ago, right? I think the database got corrupted or something and we lost members post counts and stuff but the posts themselves were still there.

I am nearing the 12th year of having an Android phone. I think it was mid-November when I got my Droid Eris. I might just go through this thread for the hell of it after taking some Adderall lol.

 

[Pittsey]

Seen no issues here.

At first my fingerprint sensor was pretty decent too. But it doesn't seem to be as responsive now. Maybe

We were discussing this a couple of weeks ago about what UI the Pixels run and if it's stock Android anymore, or not: https://www.androidpolice.com/google-needs-to-give-its-android-skin-a-public-name/

Google hardware always seems better matched to the software than other manufacturer phones. You also get updates on the day of release. That gets my vote

 

[dilla]

Seen no issues here.

At first my fingerprint sensor was pretty decent too. But it doesn't seem to be as responsive now. Maybe



Google hardware always seems better matched to the software than other manufacturer phones. You also get updates on the day of release. That gets my vote

Yeah, I think I mentioned a few weeks back that Google has some services and features that are just for Pixel devices and don't seem to make their way to Samsung and other OEMs. It's usually software stuff and uses AI or some other "smart" thing, probably as a result of Google having so much access to our data and analyzing it over the past ten years for patterns. So it knows what we usually want or usually go, etc. I don't think Google shares that info with other OEMs, and why would they? Might be a legal thing but even if it isn't, it's such a big leg-up for them over the competition to have all that info.

 

[dilla]

https://www.reuters.com/article/samsung-elec-usa-idUSKBN2I000K


Good news, right?

 

[Pittsey]

https://www.reuters.com/article/samsung-elec-usa-idUSKBN2I000K


Good news, right?

Not for me. Haha

 

[dilla]

Not for me. Haha

Do you work in the field? Or for Samsung?