ranman2017

Rayz2016 said:

I have to say I'm always surprised by the paper-thin skin of the Android community. The moment they read a negative piece about their beloved platform, they sign up and post a dozen comments (usually without paragraphs or line breaks) arguing with commendable emotion but very little skill. 

What they fail to understand is that sites like this are feeding off their insecurity. If you like Android then just use it;  enjoy it! Invading Mac sites just looks like you lack confidence in your choice of platform and desperately need to convince others. I read a lot of the first or second time posters here, and with every post I thought the same thing: are you trying to convince me, or yourself?

It seems that the rate of Android invaders has stepped up across the internet over the past few weeks. I'm hoping that it's just the usual fear induced by an upcoming iPhone release, and not the symptom of a wider problem. I've only seen this level of invasive desperation twice before:

When Apple was on its knees just before Gil Amelio took over.
When IBM was just about to can OS/2

I'm sure Android isn't on its last legs, but you chaps make it look like it's circling the drain.

The chances are you're doing more harm than good. Daniel's article will be forgotten about in 48 hours; the impression left by rabid Android users will last much longer.

The irony is that the level of stretching that the author has to do to bash every single weakness AND strength of the Pixels makes him look very very insecure with his iPhone.  This is actually kind of pointless.  No one sane believes the Pixel is any real threat to iPhone sales.  Some tiny sliver of iPhone users (some of whom I know) have and will make the jump to Pixel and love it.  but most will stay locked into Apple's ecosystem and won't even consider leaving.  So why so much hate?  I would think the author would be happy that Google is applying competitive pressure.  For all the fanboys out there, NEITHER platform would where it is right now if they weren't competing with each other.  Google is good for Apple.  Apple is good for Google.  We all win.  We could write a VERY long comparison of all the stuff each side 'stole' from the other.  At the end of the day, both companies focus on slightly different things and the phones we have are frickin' awesome as a result.  I contemplated ordering an iPhone 8/X but at the end of the day, the camera and the AI features were what won the day for me. The phone is 'fast enough'.  If I see it lagging and stuttering, I'll be pissed, sure.  But from using the Pixel and knowing many people who've owned it, that seriously has not been a problem, specs or no specs.

I have been waiting for this piece to be written.  It follows the same pattern as previous AI posts.  Basically a VERY long screed made up of 
1.  Some facts that are objectively true
2.  Some facts that are objectively false
3.  Some things which  are opinion  presented as fact.
4.  Some things which cannot be proven presented  as fact
5. A heavy dose of hypocrisy
6. All of the above presented with a level of abject hatred towards all things Google.

I could go through and write a piece refuting this, but honestly it's not worth my time.  So setting aside the fact that I think the author literally wakes up hating Google and dreaming of all the nasty things he can say about their products, he misses the point entirely.  MacWorld didn't, however:

https://www.macworld.com/article/3230303/internet-of-things/hey-siri-google-assistant-is-winning-the-ai-game-and-its-not-even-close.html

The long and short is that sure, just looking at the hardware, Apple makes faster, snazzier hardware.  However, when you buy a phone these days you're buying hardware AND software.  Google has basically decided that it wanted to make hardware that was good enough to not hold back its software.  And it's done so.  If you actually WATCH The keynote, it's all about AI and Machine Learning. The devices are there to provide a portal into that.   We can benchmark and we can spec ourselves to death, but at the end of the day it's whether your phone does what you want it do quickly and efficiently.  Sometimes on device (The "Always Listening" music ID works in airplane mode because it doesn't send stuff to google...it's ON DEVICE -- something the author apparently (deliberately?) missed).  And sometimes in the cloud.  If having the absolute fastest piece of hardware with the most expensive components is what you're about, buy an iPhone.  If you want the best AI and integrated ML services, then you're probably gonna buy a Pixel.  It's honestly that simple. Just because Google is doing better in AI and ML than Apple, doesn't mean Apple sucks at it.  And just because Apple excels at making the sportscar of phones doesn't mean Google sucks at it.  They are just focused on different things.  In the end, if your phone is fast and smooth and you aren't waiting around on it, and it does cool stuff....you'll love your phone no matter what the spec sheet says.  I realize the author cannot wrap his brain around this because it's nothing bug a fog of hate.  

I would also be remiss in not calling out the hypocrisy of the  author slamming Google over the headphone jack.  First of all, as an aside, I'm in the camp that says BOTH  companies were wrong to yank it.  Lots of ink has been spilled on this so I'm not going into it.  Didn't like it when Apple did it.  Don't like it that Google did it.  But to mock Google for making hay about it last year in their ads?  Does anyone remember the Apple "thumb" ad arguing that the old small iPhones were the only suitable size for a phone because of the size of your hand/thumb?  A year later out comes the giant plus size iPhone.  Were you mocking then?  Yeah didn't think so.  EVERY company bashes what they don't got...until they add it.  

And yeah, mock the camera if you want to, I've seen the shots, and in MOST cases, it is head and shoulders better than the iPhone camera.  There are still issues with Google's bokeh, but since it's all done in software with machine learning, I won't have to wait a year for a new physical camera to see that improve.  I expect as more and more machine learning happens, the camera software will get smarter about its depth mapping and subsequent processing.  

Anyway, none of this is Apple bashing.  The Apple phones are spectacular design accomplishments and speed demons...but the AI/Assistant features which are central to Google's phone are just way ahead of Siri on my iOS devices.  If you don't care about this, enjoy your iPhone.