seriously let's stop with iKnockoff news. The more we ignore them the more idiots will come to grips with reality. Android phones are cheap knockoff alternatives to iPhone, NOT iPHONES!!!!
Headlines like "Google Pixel will challenge iPhone", "Galaxy X a great contender to iPhone" etc. give the impression that these knockoff devices are real.
JUST IGNORE THEM. We never gave those cheap iPod knockoffs press so why are we doing it now???
I'm fairly certain they add terms like iPhone 8 and X for SEO reasons.
yea, truly hope Google can do way better than Pixel. Competition is good for Apple and good for consumer.
Google really can't do better than Pixel, because Pixel isn't core to their business. the mobile experience is core to Apple's existence. they have to innovate or die.
Competition is good. innovation is better. as long as Google/Samsung/HTC/ et al innovate and A/B test various interactions, Apple will be able to make fewer mistakes in their implementation.
The 8/8+ and Pixel 2... Marketing 'new/improved' releases...
We are approaching commoditization at the high end. that is why even apple is renumbering systems (no 7s), to create buzz to drive interest. the X is significant, but I would assume it's more like a 'Pro' model... it's for very early adopters, and a niche user needs class. The real kicker is the Neural engine. The question is can they start moving Siri onto that engine for local actioning vs sending that back to the mothership for processing.
We are approaching commoditization at the high end.
No we are not. We are so not approaching commoditization at the high end of the smartphone market. Apple just introduced a new phone at unprecedented price points with bespoke CPU, bespoke GPU, bespoke pioneering facial biometric system, bespoke onboard neural engine and a whole lot of other proprietary tech and your take away from all that is we are approaching commoditization?
All you people bashing the pixel fail to realize that it gave the best Android software experience. Fast, fluid and up to date software support from Google just like iPhone with apple. The only Android phone that comes close to that Apple/iPhone relationship. The pixel also had great specs for its release in comparison to other Android phones. One of the best cameras of any phone at the time, mostly due to software. It didn't sell a whole lot but not bad for a brand new line of phone in the mainstream that wasn't Samsung or Apple. The pixel 2 will bring the same pluses as the original in a better hardware package. The XL model sporting a near bezeless screen similar to LG V30. It will also have Android 8.0 out the box which is a major under the hood improvement in Android. The next couple years it will receive the latest version of Android when it's released, like the iPhone with iOS. It will also probably have an improved camera that will rival the best in phones again. It will be faster, fluid and offer great performance for it's specs..again.. In my opinion it's the Android to get and most comparable to iPhone in that regard.
We are approaching commoditization at the high end.
No we are not. We are so not approaching commoditization at the high end of the smartphone market. Apple just introduced a new phone at unprecedented price points with bespoke CPU, bespoke GPU, bespoke pioneering facial biometric system, bespoke onboard neural engine and a whole lot of other proprietary tech and your take away from all that is we are approaching commoditization?
I think you took his post in the wrong way.
I think he meant something truly new. The bespoke GPU isn't a good example because it is still a GPU and new ones will come along (as they always have done) that do the same job. The same with the CPU, SoC, biomètrics (which in this case substitute one kind for another). Now dual cameras are everywhere at the high end and dual front facing cameras are also here. The list goes on but there hasn't been much that really stands out as being truly different.
Perhaps the only truly new element is the neural engine because this and the Kirin 970 are the first two mobile examples. Beyond that I don't see much else.
In general terms, very little that could be considered truly new has been announced and it's becoming harder to stand out.
Biometrics for authentication are still just biometrics at the end of the day. Switching TouchID for FaceID doesn't really change that much because it is still biometric authentication. When TouchID was introduced it was something truly new with regards to what came before it. That isn't the case this time around because what came before it was still biometric authentication and no doubt many will still be happy to use TouchID in spite of FaceID being available on the X. The vast majority of high end handsets will still use fingerprint scanners for authentification and that includes the vast majority of new iPhone purchasers too.
I find it hard to see what else we can add to make phones stand out from each other for the technology they include. We can perfect a lot, make it smaller, faster, more integrated etc but that is logical progress, not something that represents a forward.
AR will have to prove itself useful and appeal to users in the same way instant messaging did for it to become a must have feature.
I'm of the opinion that we have reached a level of use that is catered to very well in even in the mid range and getting people to move up to a more expensive phone takes more persuasion than ever because everything people mostly want is readily available at half the price of the highest end phones.
To be fair, the Pixel wasn't a bad phone. It wasn't in the same class as the iPhone from a hardware perspective and certainly not worth the price that Google was charging.
The phone was limited by supply. The high end configurations with the most memory were in demand. Google couldn't meet that demand due their inability to acquire the required amounts of flash memory to meet the demand. They also had difficulty acquiring the OLED panels.
Apple has acquired nearly all of Samsung's high end OLED production outside of samsung mobile itself. Google doesn't have access to Samsung's superior panels at all. Instead they are turning to LG display to supply an inferior model.
Arstechnica did a review of the LG V30. Granted it is a pre-production unit. However, the quality of the display is vastly inferior to Samsung built panels. It is very doubtful that LG will be able to work out all of the issues and produce panels that rival the Samsung ones in the time frame in which they are bringing the V30 and Google is bringing the Pixel 2 to market.
It's why the LG G6 was released with the 821 chip. Granted the 835 is now much more widely available. How much so is a matter of speculation.
Samsung is still going to dominate android sales worldwide and the Chinese manufacturers in China where Google cannot sell the Pixel. Google may want to promote the stock android experience but it will never happen on anything more than a paltry scale.
They know the next big thing is coming in the realm of AR. There's little they can do about the fragmentation issues on Android that is going to make such deployment on the platform very problematic at best and impossible at worst.
Samsing has taken the Gear VR in a completely different direction, using Oculus, and off of Google's Android.
It is really only a matter of time before Samsung moves its own high end smartphones off of Android and onto Tizen offering hardware functionality no other manufacturer can begin to match thereby negating any advantage android software may have.
It is already playing out in wearables. Tizen outsells all Android wear manufacturers combined. Who cares about the availability of software titles in android when the Gear S3 lasts 3 to 4 days on a charge, accesses LTE data, Tizen runs buttery smooth and the watch itself is superior to the Android wear makes as far as fashion is concerned.
The pixel 2 itself will still be supply constrained, run on an inferior CPU with an inferior display panel to the iPhone. The Galaxy S8 and Note 8 themselves are going to outsell the Pixel 2 by a moonshot. For crying out loud, Samsung sells a boatload of Tizen based phones in the Indian subcontinent. Even the Gear S3 outsells the Pixel.
Google is obligated to try. But the effort will end in abject failure. Like all of their hardware attempts. They are so desperate that they are even purchasing HTC's mobile phone unit.
To be fair, the Pixel wasn't a bad phone. It wasn't in the same class as the iPhone from a hardware perspective and certainly not worth the price that Google was charging.
The phone was limited by supply. The high end configurations with the most memory were in demand. Google couldn't meet that demand due their inability to acquire the required amounts of flash memory to meet the demand. They also had difficulty acquiring the OLED panels.
Apple has acquired nearly all of Samsung's high end OLED production outside of samsung mobile itself. Google doesn't have access to Samsung's superior panels at all. Instead they are turning to LG display to supply an inferior model.
Arstechnica did a review of the LG V30. Granted it is a pre-production unit. However, the quality of the display is vastly inferior to Samsung built panels. It is very doubtful that LG will be able to work out all of the issues and produce panels that rival the Samsung ones in the time frame in which they are bringing the V30 and Google is bringing the Pixel 2 to market.
It's why the LG G6 was released with the 821 chip. Granted the 835 is now much more widely available. How much so is a matter of speculation.
Samsung is still going to dominate android sales worldwide and the Chinese manufacturers in China where Google cannot sell the Pixel. Google may want to promote the stock android experience but it will never happen on anything more than a paltry scale.
They know the next big thing is coming in the realm of AR. There's little they can do about the fragmentation issues on Android that is going to make such deployment on the platform very problematic at best and impossible at worst.
Samsing has taken the Gear VR in a completely different direction, using Oculus, and off of Google's Android.
It is really only a matter of time before Samsung moves its own high end smartphones off of Android and onto Tizen offering hardware functionality no other manufacturer can begin to match thereby negating any advantage android software may have.
It is already playing out in wearables. Tizen outsells all Android wear manufacturers combined. Who cares about the availability of software titles in android when the Gear S3 lasts 3 to 4 days on a charge, accesses LTE data, Tizen runs buttery smooth and the watch itself is superior to the Android wear makes as far as fashion is concerned.
The pixel 2 itself will still be supply constrained, run on an inferior CPU with an inferior display panel to the iPhone. The Galaxy S8 and Note 8 themselves are going to outsell the Pixel 2 by a moonshot. For crying out loud, Samsung sells a boatload of Tizen based phones in the Indian subcontinent. Even the Gear S3 outsells the Pixel.
Google is obligated to try. But the effort will end in abject failure. Like all of their hardware attempts. They are so desperate that they are even purchasing HTC's mobile phone unit.
Ok, as usual Google is DOOMED. But I have a bad news for you. Android ONE is going to pick up momentum from now on - The ONLY company who can make it a success (Xioami - due to low priced handsets) HAS actually joined the Android ONE program now. And instead of ultra-low end phones that were launched 2-3 years back, they are launching proper mid-range Android One phones now, which would sell properly. The fragmentation will start to reduce from now onwards. It will be lot less in 5 to 10 years from now, as long as Xioami is committed to the program.
Another question to you - You keep saying Samsung will move away from Android to Tizen for their high-end phones. Can you please contact Samsung executives and provide a timeline for THAT? I am really really curious to know, if Samsung has any such plans. I would be more than happy as and when it happens, because Samsung is bringing lot of bad image to Android world with their lousy software optimization. Once they move to Tizen, they will sell their smartphone division to someone within a year (guess who - the DOOMED Google!!!). Then we will have Huawei/Xiaomi/Sony/HMD(Nokia???)/Moto/LG as leaders in Android world (with Samsung only being a component supplier to both Apple and Android OEMs) and that would be a better world than Samsung messing up the Android world with lousy software and being a dominant player due to hardware & marketing.
seriously let's stop with iKnockoff news. The more we ignore them the more idiots macxpress said:
Sorry, but Google's phone has never even come close to "challenging" the iPhone. In the end...its still just another Android phone.
come to grips with reality. Android phones are cheap knockoff alternatives to iPhone, NOT iPHONES!!!!
Headlines like "Google Pixel will challenge iPhone", "Galaxy X a great contender to iPhone" etc. give the impression that these knockoff devices are real.
JUST IGNORE THEM. We never gave those cheap iPod knockoffs press so why are we doing it now???
For educated people the Pixel was given a top rating beating iPhone 7 on some software features and hardware features, but it was hamstrung by supply and country availability.
Free lifetime backup of your original photos and 4k videos is excellent, and of course it's camera is well renowned to still be the best in any smartphone.
Comments
the mobile experience is core to Apple's existence. they have to innovate or die.
Competition is good. innovation is better. as long as Google/Samsung/HTC/ et al innovate and A/B test various interactions, Apple will be able to make fewer mistakes in their implementation.
The 8/8+ and Pixel 2... Marketing 'new/improved' releases...
We are approaching commoditization at the high end. that is why even apple is renumbering systems (no 7s), to create buzz to drive interest. the X is significant, but I would assume it's more like a 'Pro' model... it's for very early adopters, and a niche user needs class. The real kicker is the Neural engine. The question is can they start moving Siri onto that engine for local actioning vs sending that back to the mothership for processing.
The pixel also had great specs for its release in comparison to other Android phones. One of the best cameras of any phone at the time, mostly due to software. It didn't sell a whole lot but not bad for a brand new line of phone in the mainstream that wasn't Samsung or Apple.
The pixel 2 will bring the same pluses as the original in a better hardware package. The XL model sporting a near bezeless screen similar to LG V30. It will also have Android 8.0 out the box which is a major under the hood improvement in Android. The next couple years it will receive the latest version of Android when it's released, like the iPhone with iOS. It will also probably have an improved camera that will rival the best in phones again. It will be faster, fluid and offer great performance for it's specs..again.. In my opinion it's the Android to get and most comparable to iPhone in that regard.
I think he meant something truly new. The bespoke GPU isn't a good example because it is still a GPU and new ones will come along (as they always have done) that do the same job. The same with the CPU, SoC, biomètrics (which in this case substitute one kind for another). Now dual cameras are everywhere at the high end and dual front facing cameras are also here. The list goes on but there hasn't been much that really stands out as being truly different.
Perhaps the only truly new element is the neural engine because this and the Kirin 970 are the first two mobile examples. Beyond that I don't see much else.
In general terms, very little that could be considered truly new has been announced and it's becoming harder to stand out.
Biometrics for authentication are still just biometrics at the end of the day. Switching TouchID for FaceID doesn't really change that much because it is still biometric authentication. When TouchID was introduced it was something truly new with regards to what came before it. That isn't the case this time around because what came before it was still biometric authentication and no doubt many will still be happy to use TouchID in spite of FaceID being available on the X. The vast majority of high end handsets will still use fingerprint scanners for authentification and that includes the vast majority of new iPhone purchasers too.
I find it hard to see what else we can add to make phones stand out from each other for the technology they include. We can perfect a lot, make it smaller, faster, more integrated etc but that is logical progress, not something that represents a forward.
AR will have to prove itself useful and appeal to users in the same way instant messaging did for it to become a must have feature.
I'm of the opinion that we have reached a level of use that is catered to very well in even in the mid range and getting people to move up to a more expensive phone takes more persuasion than ever because everything people mostly want is readily available at half the price of the highest end phones.
The phone was limited by supply. The high end configurations with the most memory were in demand. Google couldn't meet that demand due their inability to acquire the required amounts of flash memory to meet the demand. They also had difficulty acquiring the OLED panels.
Apple has acquired nearly all of Samsung's high end OLED production outside of samsung mobile itself. Google doesn't have access to Samsung's superior panels at all. Instead they are turning to LG display to supply an inferior model.
Arstechnica did a review of the LG V30. Granted it is a pre-production unit. However, the quality of the display is vastly inferior to Samsung built panels. It is very doubtful that LG will be able to work out all of the issues and produce panels that rival the Samsung ones in the time frame in which they are bringing the V30 and Google is bringing the Pixel 2 to market.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/09/lg-v30-hands-on-lgs-oled-displays-still-have-quality-issues/
To complicate matters, the flash memory situation hasn't improved and the Snapdragon 835 itself may still be in short supply.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bensin/2017/01/23/the-lg-g6-wont-have-snapdragon-835-because-the-galaxy-s8-has-first-dips/#7db51ca0565e
It's why the LG G6 was released with the 821 chip. Granted the 835 is now much more widely available. How much so is a matter of speculation.
Samsung is still going to dominate android sales worldwide and the Chinese manufacturers in China where Google cannot sell the Pixel. Google may want to promote the stock android experience but it will never happen on anything more than a paltry scale.
They know the next big thing is coming in the realm of AR. There's little they can do about the fragmentation issues on Android that is going to make such deployment on the platform very problematic at best and impossible at worst.
Samsing has taken the Gear VR in a completely different direction, using Oculus, and off of Google's Android.
It is really only a matter of time before Samsung moves its own high end smartphones off of Android and onto Tizen offering hardware functionality no other manufacturer can begin to match thereby negating any advantage android software may have.
It is already playing out in wearables. Tizen outsells all Android wear manufacturers combined. Who cares about the availability of software titles in android when the Gear S3 lasts 3 to 4 days on a charge, accesses LTE data, Tizen runs buttery smooth and the watch itself is superior to the Android wear makes as far as fashion is concerned.
The pixel 2 itself will still be supply constrained, run on an inferior CPU with an inferior display panel to the iPhone. The Galaxy S8 and Note 8 themselves are going to outsell the Pixel 2 by a moonshot. For crying out loud, Samsung sells a boatload of Tizen based phones in the Indian subcontinent. Even the Gear S3 outsells the Pixel.
Google is obligated to try. But the effort will end in abject failure. Like all of their hardware attempts. They are so desperate that they are even purchasing HTC's mobile phone unit.
Ok, as usual Google is DOOMED. But I have a bad news for you. Android ONE is going to pick up momentum from now on - The ONLY company who can make it a success (Xioami - due to low priced handsets) HAS actually joined the Android ONE program now. And instead of ultra-low end phones that were launched 2-3 years back, they are launching proper mid-range Android One phones now, which would sell properly. The fragmentation will start to reduce from now onwards. It will be lot less in 5 to 10 years from now, as long as Xioami is committed to the program.
Another question to you - You keep saying Samsung will move away from Android to Tizen for their high-end phones. Can you please contact Samsung executives and provide a timeline for THAT? I am really really curious to know, if Samsung has any such plans. I would be more than happy as and when it happens, because Samsung is bringing lot of bad image to Android world with their lousy software optimization. Once they move to Tizen, they will sell their smartphone division to someone within a year (guess who - the DOOMED Google!!!). Then we will have Huawei/Xiaomi/Sony/HMD(Nokia???)/Moto/LG as leaders in Android world (with Samsung only being a component supplier to both Apple and Android OEMs) and that would be a better world than Samsung messing up the Android world with lousy software and being a dominant player due to hardware & marketing.
For educated people the Pixel was given a top rating beating iPhone 7 on some software features and hardware features, but it was hamstrung by supply and country availability.
Free lifetime backup of your original photos and 4k videos is excellent, and of course it's camera is well renowned to still be the best in any smartphone.