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Forums - Gaming Discussion - To Pixel or not to Pixel, that is the question.

Introducing Google's new phone, Pixel. Google has finally moved on from low-cost developer phones (Nexus line) to push out a Google designed and branded phone to directly compete with iPhone and those Android phone manufacturers who like to butcher Android.

https://madeby.google.com/phone/

 

I for one, am very excited to see this. I loved Nexus phones due to remaining pure Android, no bloatware and carrier unlocked. After owing 3 generations of Nexus phones, my current phone is actually the Moto X (2nd edition) as it is as close to Nexus as you could get, but had some really cool features that were not bloatware and did not prevent it from getting latest Android updates relatively quickly.

However, this looks too good to skip. Great camera, casing, CPU/GPU, storage, upgrades to Google services, vanilla Android and universally unlocked with the biggest selection of mobile radios I've ever seen in any phone.

Anyone else interested?

 

PSA: Don't buy it from Verizon.



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The design is like almost every other phone (which isn't a bad thing since as at least it's not ugly looking) but I'm actually looking forward to see how this does. Personally I wouldn't mind giving this a try if my phone happens to die soon lol



If you are looking to purchase a new phone, then yes buy the Pixel.

I have been using Nexus phones since the Nexus 4 and will never go back.

Features the Nexus/Pixel brands have over other Android devices: Avoiding bloatware, having all updates as they come out, new OS versions as they come out, really easy to Root, Massive Modding community, well built hardware, every feature native to Android works flawlessly, and finally if you need Stereo output over speakerphone.

Reasons not to get the Pixel: You cannot afford a phone at retail pricing and your carrier does not offer it for subsidized payment plans. You really like the mucked up OS UI that HTC/Samsung/Hawaii... offer in place of the standard Android experience.



Meh, I saw the press conference and the price tag doesn't justify it for me.

The Galaxy S7 which costs $100 less has:

Waterproofing
Wireless Charging
Micro-SD Card
We will see about the camera but it was interesting that they left out Galaxy S7 in the press conf
1440p vs 1080p (Only the Pixel XL has 1440p and that costs even more)
And the international version of the S7 has a much better CPU
Heart rate sensor and etc

The on time software updates doesn't justify the price for me cause the Galaxy S7 will still get those features at a later time and it already has features that the stock android is just now getting. (Such as Multi-Window and VR). Yea touchwiz but virtually everyone agrees that the S7 has the least amount of bloat compared to any previous Samsung phone and people can always put launchers on them + Goodlock to make it more stock android. What software won't change is the hardware abilities and the OS upgrades only have a 2 year guarantee. Heck the Nexus 6 just now got Android N and its a month late.

Overall... Meh + Skip. Its priced like a flagship but doesn't offer what its competitors do. Unless on-time software updates are really important to you, there are plenty of other phones that are just better value.



                  

PC Specs: CPU: 7800X3D || GPU: Strix 4090 || RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000 || Main SSD: WD 2TB SN850

I've been a Nexus guy since the Nexus 4. I will never go back. These look great, but my 5X is fine as is and am loving Project Fi. I will definitely go the the Pixel in the future.



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As a long time Nexus user, I would definitely buy one. But since I just got the 6P less than a year ago, I'll likely be waiting for the next generation of Pixel phones before getting a new one.



No offense but the nexus 5x/6p looked much better



 

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12/22/2016- Made a bet with Ganoncrotch that the first 6 months of 2017 will be worse than 2016. A poll will be made to determine the winner. Loser has to take a picture of them imitating their profile picture.

Captain_Yuri said:

Meh, I saw the press conference and the price tag doesn't justify it for me.

The Galaxy S7 which costs $100 less has:

Waterproofing
Wireless Charging
Micro-SD Card
We will see about the camera but it was interesting that they left out Galaxy S7 in the press conf
1440p vs 1080p (Only the Pixel XL has 1440p and that costs even more)
And the international version of the S7 has a much better CPU
Heart rate sensor and etc

The on time software updates doesn't justify the price for me cause the Galaxy S7 will still get those features at a later time and it already has features that the stock android is just now getting. (Such as Multi-Window and VR). Yea touchwiz but virtually everyone agrees that the S7 has the least amount of bloat compared to any previous Samsung phone and people can always put launchers on them + Goodlock to make it more stock android. What software won't change is the hardware abilities and the OS upgrades only have a 2 year guarantee. Heck the Nexus 6 just now got Android N and its a month late.

Overall... Meh + Skip. Its priced like a flagship but doesn't offer what its competitors do. Unless on-time software updates are really important to you, there are plenty of other phones that are just better value.

They are to me, that's why I only consider a Nexus or an iPhone. Got burnt too many times by android manufacturers and their pathetic post-release software support. Lack of SD card and pseudo-wireless charging never bothered/interested me, waterproofing can be useful in some scenarios but as a stand-alone feature, it never swayed me to any direction. 

For now, I'll keep my iPhone 6S, a very satisfying experience so far (my first iPhone was iPhone 6). Next year, it is either a Pixel 2 or an iPhone 8. 



Captain_Yuri said:

Meh, I saw the press conference and the price tag doesn't justify it for me.

The Galaxy S7 which costs $100 less has:

Waterproofing
Wireless Charging
Micro-SD Card
We will see about the camera but it was interesting that they left out Galaxy S7 in the press conf
1440p vs 1080p (Only the Pixel XL has 1440p and that costs even more)
And the international version of the S7 has a much better CPU
Heart rate sensor and etc

The on time software updates doesn't justify the price for me cause the Galaxy S7 will still get those features at a later time and it already has features that the stock android is just now getting. (Such as Multi-Window and VR). Yea touchwiz but virtually everyone agrees that the S7 has the least amount of bloat compared to any previous Samsung phone and people can always put launchers on them + Goodlock to make it more stock android. What software won't change is the hardware abilities and the OS upgrades only have a 2 year guarantee. Heck the Nexus 6 just now got Android N and its a month late.

Overall... Meh + Skip. Its priced like a flagship but doesn't offer what its competitors do. Unless on-time software updates are really important to you, there are plenty of other phones that are just better value.

exactley Google is not a Hardware company. I would take anything from electronics companies over this imo



LurkerJ said:
Captain_Yuri said:

Meh, I saw the press conference and the price tag doesn't justify it for me.

The Galaxy S7 which costs $100 less has:

Waterproofing
Wireless Charging
Micro-SD Card
We will see about the camera but it was interesting that they left out Galaxy S7 in the press conf
1440p vs 1080p (Only the Pixel XL has 1440p and that costs even more)
And the international version of the S7 has a much better CPU
Heart rate sensor and etc

The on time software updates doesn't justify the price for me cause the Galaxy S7 will still get those features at a later time and it already has features that the stock android is just now getting. (Such as Multi-Window and VR). Yea touchwiz but virtually everyone agrees that the S7 has the least amount of bloat compared to any previous Samsung phone and people can always put launchers on them + Goodlock to make it more stock android. What software won't change is the hardware abilities and the OS upgrades only have a 2 year guarantee. Heck the Nexus 6 just now got Android N and its a month late.

Overall... Meh + Skip. Its priced like a flagship but doesn't offer what its competitors do. Unless on-time software updates are really important to you, there are plenty of other phones that are just better value.

They are to me, that's why I only consider a Nexus or an iPhone. Got burnt too many times by android manufacturers and their pathetic post-release software support. Lack of SD card and pseudo-wireless charging never bothered/interested me, waterproofing can be useful in some scenarios but as a stand-alone feature, it never swayed me to any direction. 

For now, I'll keep my iPhone 6S, a very satisfying experience so far (my first iPhone was iPhone 6). Next year, it is either a Pixel 2 or an iPhone 8. 

It is of course, always a personal preference thing so if you do think that on-time software updates is enough to justify the high price tag, then in your case, it makes sense. To me though, iphones offer more than just software updates to make it worth the price tag. They always have the best CPU and GPU on the market at the time of their release, their app store is excellent and has apps that the Play Store doesn't and most importantly, Apple supports their iphones for 3-4 years. And there are a few other things here and there.

A nexus/pixel phone on the other hand doesn't offer things like that for it to make sense for me however. If you go on their website for example, it says that "2 years of OS updates." That means that the Pixel phones won't get supported as much as iphones will. And then you look at a nexus phone that is just about at the end of its life which is the Nexus 6, the update for it got delayed by a month. So really, its not even on time even in that 2 year time range. That + all the stuff its missing that other flagships have makes it hard for me to justify a Nexus. If touchwiz was as bad as it once was, I could kinda see it but it isn't anymore. And galaxy devices has had stuff that Nexus phones are just now getting (S4 had multi-window and S6 had VR and S7 had Vulkan) so it makes it easy for me to wait.

Also the fact that my car has wireless charging so I don't have to fiddle around with the cable and since it rains in canada as frequently as a whore gets wet makes the S7's features worth it for me. The thing that made the Nexus phones worth it was that its price tag was less than its flagship competitors so justifying its lack of features made sense but this time the price is the same as other flagships so for me, it doesn't. If software updates was this important to me that it doesn't matter what features other flagships have, I would rather get an iphone cause at least it would be supported for longer.



                  

PC Specs: CPU: 7800X3D || GPU: Strix 4090 || RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000 || Main SSD: WD 2TB SN850