| superchunk said: Except the Z Play is a 'Droid' device and exclusive to Verizon. I was actually waiting to see if that would come in a non-Verizon exclusive, but Moto is only doing the 'Z' model for $700 as stand-alone, which makes Pixel the best stock Android choice unless you want to go down to something like the Moto G4. I still don't see why people care that much about SD card slots. Nexus have never had those. Also, Googles upgrade policy is at least 2 years (not only 2) and that includes Nexus, but as they've demonstrated repeatedly they will keep pushing software to a device so long as it can handle it. My son recently had an LG Nexus 5 and it was on M. Not sure if it would have received N though. So it got 3 years of updates. |
I don't live in the US, so it is a normal unlocked phone here and a great option. Anyway, the Pixel phone are also Verizon exclusives in the US, unless you buy them off-contract. The Z Play can also be bought off-contract (with US warranty) in Amazon, so it's basically the same.
The reason why people care about SD card slots it's because phone manufacturers usually demand a huge extra for more storage. Usually, a jump from 32 to 64GB will demand a 50 bucks increase while the real cost is around 6 to 10 bucks. Also, we have some stupid options:
- Pixel phone have 32 or 128GB. 32 is too low for a phone without SD, so you have to jump all the way to 128GB.
- iPhone SE. Either 16GB or 64GB. As 16GB would make the phone as useful as a brick, you have to go all the way up to 64GB.
My X Play has 32GB of internal memory and supports up to 128GB in a SD. So I could get more storage than the high end pixel phone by less. I could even use a fast class 10 card and merge it with my internal memory to get a super storage. Right now, I'm rocking a simpla 16GB card not merged with my storage. I use it to put my musics, films, etc. My internal storage is basically just pics and apps. The SD card allows me to have way more memory paying less and to decide how much I want instead of depending on what the manufacturer thinks it's best for me. I really can't see why having this option is bad. I could get a simple Moto G3, a mid-end Android device, and put a 128GB card on it and it would have more memory than any Pixel phone while costing 1/4 of the price. I think that this sound pretty ridiculous as it really is.
As for updates, the Pixel site says 2 years of OS updates + 1 extra of security patches. It's quite low for a phone that promises a "fully integrated Google experience". As I said, it's basically asking a huge premium and not delivering much more than other manufacturers. I could get Moto phones for half the price with 2-year updates. A Galaxy S7 is cheaper and also includes this. The problem is that you buy the phone now and your only promise is 2 years. When we discover if it will be more or not, it will be too late to worry about this.
Google promised a revolutionary event, but I'm not really seeing any revolution. It's basically the same thing as a Samsung or LG high-end phone. If it works, it's just because Google will put heavy marketing on it. I expected much more, maybe more years of support or something like that. Next year, the S8 will arrive with a better screen, SoC, camera, etc. Hell, maybe even the S7 already beats the Pixels since its screen is better and the Exynos variant may be faster. Even the camera is a mattter of discussion since Pixel doesn't have OIS. It has a higher DxOMark score, but that tests are done with tripods, so the real-world performance may be significantly affected.
