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Google Software Hardware

Google Unveils Pixel and Pixel XL, the First Phones It 'Designed Inside and Out' (www.bgr.in) 197

At an event on Tuesday, Google unveiled the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, the first phones "designed inside and out by Google." Focusing less on the hardware, the company says the biggest selling point of the phones is Google Assistant, which will be available to users wherever they go. Both Pixels have a quad-core 2.15GHz 64-bit processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB or 128GB of storage, a 12.3MP rear camera, an 8MP front camera, a fingerprint scanner on the back, and a USB-C port on the bottom. The major differences between the two are in size, display (5-inch vs 5.5-inch), and battery (2770mAh vs 3450mAh). The company says the rear camera on both phones is top-notch as well, scoring 89 on DxO, the highest ever for a smartphone. Both phones also come with "endless cloud storage," the company said. It will let users backup unlimited storage in full-resolution images and videos shot with the Pixel. Pricing starts at $649 for the smaller 5-inch Pixel, available for preorder today. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg shares the inside story of how these phones were conceived.
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Google Unveils Pixel and Pixel XL, the First Phones It 'Designed Inside and Out'

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  • #madebygoogle (Score:5, Informative)

    by sexconker ( 1179573 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @11:47AM (#53011603)

    It's not made by Google, it's made by HTC. And they just rejiggered the HTC 10. http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_10... [gsmarena.com]

    • Couldn't they just say "Designed by Google", or did Apple already copyright that?
    • by wbr1 ( 2538558 )
      And apple phones are made by Foxconn. If by rejiggered HTC 10 you mean similar case with different cpu, different screen size, different screen technology, different camera, different camera software, etc, then you may as well say the LG G5 is a rejiggered Note 7
    • by reanjr ( 588767 )

      Apple phones are made by Samsung and other mobile manufacturers. Qualcomm is one of the biggest mobile processor makers in the world, even though they are fabless. That's just the reality of modern, global industry.

  • by known_coward_69 ( 4151743 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @11:50AM (#53011625)

    because i never see it and don't know anyone who does. other than doing it for safety reasons while driving this sounds like the most stupid thing ever. and i've tried Siri and Google Now and hate both

    • by kwerle ( 39371 )

      Yup, I do.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by bano ( 410 )

      Everyone I know who does it, does it for stupid trivial shit and it still fails. It seems to be ineffective and greatly annoys those around them, but they don't seem to care when people are angrily looking at them for yelling "set timer for 10 minutes" 7 times.
      Happens to android and iOS users

      • Maybe it's an accent problem? I "OK Google" stuff all the time, including when I'm driving in my less than silent car, and have very little problem with it.

      • by blind biker ( 1066130 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @01:07PM (#53012231) Journal

        How the fuck is that possible? "Everyone"? Really? I am not a native English speaker - in fact, I have a Hungarian accent, and yet my phone understands nearly every single thing I tell it, including isotropic, peristalsis, tandem mass spec(trometry), atmospheric pressure photoionizatin, ICP plasma....

        Fuck me, if I can get my phone to recognize ICP plasma, and NONE of your friends get to be understood at all... I am at a lack of words. Unless you're full of shit. Are you? Because that would be the simplest explanation.

        • You probably have more interesting conversations with your phone than most people have with their cow orkers. Be nice to the poor sods.

          Besides, Kardashian is really hard to pronounce correctly.

          • Besides, Kardashian is really hard to pronounce correctly.

            I was searching for information about Ensign Harry Kim and dealings with the Cardassians and Google returned me information about some cosmetically-enhanced American chick.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I do that all the time - I am actually quite amazed and amused at how well "my phone understand me". It perfectly interpreted terms such as reverse osmosis, peristalsis, electrospray ionization... so yeah, I do speak to my phone because I can't be assed to type on it when it understands 99% of my words, even the ones most people don't know what they are.

    • Driving, the big key thing is driving.

      Yes yes people actually talk to their phones, and when their not driving it looks and sounds quite stupid.

    • by rgbscan ( 321794 )

      The one and only thing I use Siri for is "Siri, take me home" at the end of an Uber shift when I'm somewhere I have no idea what the best route out of it is. Instantly navigates me home, which I usually only need for the first few turns until I'm back on the highway or whatever. For anything, it's pointless. It never plays the music I ask for, never interprets my commands to text someone correctly (Like say the pax I'm on the way to pickup). Siri sucks. Hard. To the point I get fed up and yell at her :-)

    • A friend of mine talks to his phone when sending text messages. I must admit that it's much more efficient than trying to type on a tiny soft-keyboard.
    • [do people really talk to their phones] because i never see it and don't know anyone who does. other than doing it for safety reasons while driving this sounds like the most stupid thing ever. and i've tried Siri and Google Now and hate both

      It used to be a useless gimmick, but the tech has come on massively recently. I use it a lot for certain specific tasks on my phones and tablets

      I haven't used Siri in a while, but Google Now and Cortana especially work really well for me. If I want to call somewhgere that isn't in my contacts then I use voice. "Call the Apple store on Regents Street, London" is quicker than googling for a number and dialling it. Also, for playing music, it's a ton quicker, just tell the device what you want to play and it d

    • That would be weird. But I use it all the time for general searches if I'm not going to disturb other people because it's significantly faster than typing.

    • Siri, remind me when I get home/to the office to...

      Siri, text my wife that....

      Siri, take me to home/whatever

      Siri, set an alarm for 8:00am

      Those are the things I do multiple times per week, there are other less common uses but those I find are the most useful and they work pretty much 100% of the time.

  • Price... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Espectr0 ( 577637 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @12:02PM (#53011703) Journal

    Let's see what happens when sales remain flat. Nexus had good prices (except for the nexus 6) with decent hardware. Selling the pixels starting at 649$ seems arrogant at best. For that price most people will choose the iPhone and get a faster phone to boot (1 year old iPhone 6S even beats the Note 7)

    I just hope the Nexus program lives on. If android is about choice, we should be able to have a phone with google-provided updates for 350$. I don't want to switch to Samsung, LG, or even custom roms

    • Re:Price... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @12:07PM (#53011729) Homepage Journal

      The price is very disappointing, as is the spec really. Doesn't seem to have optical image stabilization, the Achilles' heel of the 5X and 6P. No wireless charging, no SD card slot... Might as well wait for the 6P to go on sale as it is discontinued.

      • Re:Price... (Score:5, Informative)

        by wbr1 ( 2538558 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @12:28PM (#53011869)
        The video showed stabilization. They said the software sampled the gyros and the position of the rolling shutter to compensate for movement. They showed video with two cameras mounted side by side with stabilization off and on. It seemed very effective.
        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          I'll wait for independent reviews. They showed similar demos of the software stabilisation for the 5x/6p and it looked good, but the results people actually get are pretty poor.

          It's not just video. They have massive pixels for good low light performance, but if the camera is moving when you take a shot it can't really unblur the image.

          OiS is popular for a reason.

          • by wbr1 ( 2538558 )
            True enough. I still have a Moto Nexus 6, and it is fair but very slow. Not a major photographer here though, all I need the phone for is snapshots. I do some product photography for my web sales, and I use an alder DSLR for that if I need macro.
      • The Pixel's have a bunch of new VR-related sensors, as well as quick charge - supposedly 7hrs of battery life with a 15 min charge.
        Still outrageously expensive, and I definitely wont be buying any portable device without a micro-sd slot.
        • "7 hours of battery with a 15 minute charge"

          Sorry, but that's bullshit marketing at it's finest. My Note will last over 110 hours on a single charge with the battery saving features enabled, so 7 hours of battery life is like 6% of the capacity. OTOH, typical screen-on-time for even good AMOLED phones using apps with light colored backgrounds is rarely over 5-6 hours without special settings to save power. That would imply up to a 140% charge in just 15 minutes. They may as well have said it will charge up

    • Agreed. I paid £240 for my Nexus 4, which was an excellent price at the time and the main factor in my purchase. Turned out to be a good investment too, as I'm still using it now almost 4 years later, and it still does everything I need and want a phone to do. Lack of 4G isn't a problem because I don't want to stream HD movies to my phone (who does this?) and I don't play fancy games which I suspect might be a little slow on a 4 year old GPU. I don't anticipate needing an upgrade for the next year or

    • It's even worse than all that. The new phones are exclusive to Verizon. WTF??

      How does this jive with Project Fi. It's like they completely abandoned the Nexus phone ideology.

    • Re:Price... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @01:01PM (#53012187)

      I don't know who's paying $600+ for their phones, but it seems that there's a lot of people doing it. Because manufacturers keep producing phones at this price. The most I've ever spent on a phone was $300, and my last one was $200. For $200 I think I'm getting a pretty good experience from my phone. Certainly things couldn't really be 3 times better with a $600 phone. I only see myself spending less and less in the future as low end phones become more powerful. I paid $600 for my last desktop computer, and it sure does a lot more than my phone. No only that, but it's easily repairable, so I'll probably have the majority of the components for a decade. I'm currently replacing cell phones about every 2 years. At that rate, who can afford $600 phones. Even if it lasts 3 years it still isn't worth it to me.

      • The most I've ever spent on a phone was $300... I'm currently replacing cell phones about every 2 years. At that rate, who can afford $600 phones.

        People like you that buy a new phone every 4 years.

      • at these prices, seems that after next year when i get the last android OS, i will have to resort to custom roms to get the latest versions. I only upgrade phones to get the latest OS anyway. For my use (texting, calls and some browsing) the 5X will serve me good for a while

      • Like, the very people who buy Galaxy S7/iPhone 7 and make them successful phones? Yeah, those.

    • The Note and the Edge are better all around phones just from what I've seen so far.

      Especially at that price.
    • For that price most people will choose the iPhone

      Some how I think the people who chose iPhones over Androids flagship phones, and vis-versa couldn't give a rats ass about the price.

    • by xfizik ( 3491039 )
      It's not a choice between the iPhone and the Pixel, it's a choice between the Pixel and a cheaper Android phone, e.g. OnePlus3.
      • Or the OnePlus 4 when it debuts because it will likely have better specs and a lower price than the new Pixel.

    • The 5.5" QHD version with a decent amount of storage (no SD slot) is > $850. The camera can't be that compelling. There's nothing else about it that every other manufacturer hasn't done already a year ago for much cheaper.
    • To be honest, you're exaggerating the importance of the performance in the smartphones. A three year old Nexus 5 has enough power to provide smooth web browsing, video playback, and so on. I think the only demographic that really cares about the SoC power is the mobile gamers.

      Given the same price, I personally will still choose Google phone over LG, Samsung, etc (and don't get me started on the iPhone). Why? Google phones come with a relatively lean software setup. A typical Nexus phone had something like 5

  • Where's the Google page for this? I don't see it in the store or at /pixel.

    I'm assuming it has no SD card slot, CDMA reception, or a battery that can be quickly removed for security, but I'd like to at least look. I'm really surprised it has no more RAM than my four year old phone, though.

    • by Krojack ( 575051 )

      It supports Project FI thus both CDMA and GSM bands. Also Verizon is selling this in their stores.

      How much RAM do you want or expect in a phone? What do you use that needs more than 4gigs of RAM?

      • by swb ( 14022 )

        More RAM would be useful for switching between apps so the app and its state stay in RAM, avoiding a swap out penalty for those that save their state, a swap in penalty for reloading that state, and worse, going to the network when the state isn't saved completely, or worse yet, those that just reset to a "just launched" mode whenever they get swapped out.

    • Re:Google Page? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by nmb3000 ( 741169 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @01:40PM (#53012555) Journal

      Where's the Google page for this? I don't see it in the store or at /pixel.

      It's at the adorable madeby.google subdomain [google.com]. Because of course that makes sense.

      I'd also like to know why it's so difficult for Slashdot editors to include a link to the Google page. Shitty link farms like BGR obviously don't link back to Google but it would be nice if Slashdot would hold itself to a higher standard.

  • Pricing starts at $649 for the smaller 5-inch Pixel, available for preorder today. That number scales up to $749 with 128GB of onboard storage, $769 for the larger Pixel XL with 32GB, or $869 for the XL with 128GB. Google gives a choice between black or silver for color, with an exclusive "really blue" option in some markets, such as with Verizon in the US.

    Holy crap, $650? Did I miss a memo, or is that outrageously high?

    • I know! you'd think with all the ads they would be throwing in my face with my phone browsing they'd have a way to subsidize the cost a little bit.

      I'm also a little skeptical about this "google assistant". It sounds one step removed from Clippy "It looks like you're trying to buy IED supplies, would you like me to find some local wholesalers and notify local authorities?"
  • by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @12:19PM (#53011803)
    The live stream started with a Google rep talking about how important it is for Google to be involved in both the hardware and software of the phone. I suppose the parallel being how Apple benefits from having control over both hardware and software. Yet everything in the stream after that was all about software that can run on any Android device, not just Pixel.
  • Did they mention any possibility of Project Fi support with these new phones, or is it time to look at the older 5x / 6p models once they go on sale?

  • 89 (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ThatsNotPudding ( 1045640 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @12:24PM (#53011845)

    The company says the rear camera on both phones is top-notch as well, scoring 89, the highest ever for a smartphone.

    "89? 89 what?"
    "I don't know, but you have to admit, it sounds like a lot of them."

  • by Artem S. Tashkinov ( 764309 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @12:28PM (#53011871) Homepage
    The features you'll get:
    • The biggest bezel to dollar ratio in the industry
    • Insane prices only rivaled by Apple which actually has a premium status
    • Very strange nerdy names, much much worse than Nexus
    • Look too much like iPhone 5(s)

    Now at the same price bracket as Note 7/SGS7 here's the list of features you will not get:

    • Wireless charging
    • Dual front speakers
    • Dual lens cameras
    • Optical image stabilization
    • Rapid laser focus/Dual Pixel autofocus
    • Hardware HDR
    • Dual SIM slot
    • SD card slot
    • Meaningful support of any kind: a phone line, brick and mortar stores to examine the device before buying, etc.

    Updates to new major Android versions will be ceased just 24 months after the release. Google is out of their minds.

    • by Artem S. Tashkinov ( 764309 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @12:42PM (#53011997) Homepage
      Here's an incomplete list of devices which our-Androided Google who used to say, "Nexus is the benchmark for Android at an affordable price". Nope, this is not a benchmark, this is pure greed which will fail just like Nexus 6 failed (it was introduced for $650 and proved to be wildly meh for people who wanted to buy a pure Android phablet).
      • OnePlus 3, $400
      • ZTE Axon 7, $400
      • Lenovo ZUK Z2 Pro, $389
      • Heh. I picked up a moto G4 for $130 with sales tax from that deal that Amazon is offering. It came with ads/bloatware but I was able to remove them with a readily available tool.

        It technically does have a 5.5" 1920x1080 screen, a large battery, 2 gigs of RAM, and a quad core processor. It's also technically slow as a snail compared to the phones you listed, equivalent to a good phone probably at least 2 years old. ...But it works fine. You can browse the web. Use maps. Send texts. Answer phone calls.

  • I couldn't find anything on that. That's why you take out the headphone jack.. and also, cause you don't need it.
  • Since this is Google we're talking about, can we assume there is no microSD? Overpriced internal storage and small capacities on the cheapest models, with no external storage, was the biggest failure of the Nexus line, and the main thing that turned me off. Google continued to push slow, cumbersome cloud storage while people bought scads of Samsung and other phones with expandable storage. Is this Google as usual, or have they seen the light? These new phones sound amazing, but I can't get by with 32GB and
  • I'd like to think if they're going to go with the "smallest addressable display element" as the name of the thing that one of the versions would actually be small, but i guess not.

    It seems that i'll have to go with one of Sony's Xperia Compact phones if i actually want small size with decent hardware, but despite owning a PS4 the notion of getting computer hardware from Sony makes me a little uneasy.
  • I've been using iPhones since 2008 since my work pays for them. At this point I have tons of apps that I've purchased (and that I use) that I would not want to repurchase if I moved to Android. If google was to say "if you purchase a Pixel, and if the iOS apps you own also exist in the play store, we will pay for the apps, this is a one time deal between this date and this date" then I'd jump on over.

    • Speaking purely financially: A top of the line Apple you can find similar specs on Androids frequently for $200 less. If anyone has $200 worth of apps then they have other problems!

      If you prefer Apple it doesn't really matter if you could switch to Android for less though.

      • Why would having $200 worth of apps be a problem? Just a really good dictionary app (with great etymologies) can cost $30. I have a great personal wiki app that cost $6. I use anki, and while I can't recall the cost it was somewhere in the $30 range. I have tons of boardgame apps and each of those costs around $5. Getting up to the $200 range after nearly 10 years of having a smartphone is very easy.

  • I wonder if the phones will be rootable. And if they can be rooted, I wonder, (given that they're made by HTC), if users will be able to truly root them.

    I rooted the last HTC phone I had, then proceeded to delete Facebook, Twitter, and the rest of the shovelware I had no use for. On the next hard reset, all the crap was back. Repeatedly. I never could find the file(s) from which they restored it - I suspect it was in an unaccessible boot location. Also, custom ROM's weren't available, because on this partic

  • "Though manufactured by HTC, both smartphones feature the âGâ(TM) logo and are touted as âMade by Googleâ(TM)."

    As if this were any different from "though manufactured by Samsung, the phones feature the Apple logo and are touted as 'made by Apple'."

    Asshats.

  • G designed it inside and out, except it's just another Snapdragon platform. G didn't make their own ARM SoC, which is the heart of any Android device.

    • Google's arrogance is incredible. They are the last to release their 2016 smartphone based on SD820/821, and a very long while after the releases of spec-by-spec pretty similar products from Samsung, LG, HTC, Oneplus, etc. They advertise this as something new and revolutionary and demand a premium price.

      • Sorry, but they're one of the first ones to release on 821. If you're going to lump 821 with 820, you may as well say Google is the last to release a phone on the 800s.

        • We can safely lump those 821 and 820 together. 821 is using the same "Kryo" compute cores and the same Adreno GPU as 820, clocked slightly higher. Nothing revolutionary there AT ALL.

          Of course, we can't lump all the 800s together. However, the situation is quite similar to say the relationship between Snapdragon 800 and 801. The same cores, core count, and GPU. The 800 came out first, and then 801 came out with a slightly higher clocked CPU and GPU. I had phones based on 800 and 801, and there was practicall

  • So much closer to anything they have offered since the Nexus 5, but still not a suitable replacement for my Nexus 5 because of the first two negatives.

    - I want wireless charging option.
    - I want a reasonable price- this is too high.

    I could even overlook the price if it has wireless charging. I just do not want to give up that incredibly convenient feature. Here are the positives and don't cares:

    + I want lots of battery life. This has it.
    + I want a freaking 3.5mm headphone jack. This has it.
    + I want a decen

    • With such a long list of deal-breaking requirements, I don't think you will ever buy a new smartphone. Meanwhile the prices for 32GB Nexus 5X have dropped to well below 300USD since this summer, and I suspect the 6P will also drop down by the holidays.

    • by msevior ( 145103 )

      "- I want wireless charging option."

      yeah, me too. I have a great wireless charger in my car. I drop in my phone and drive. It is just so convenient. I don't know why they dropped the wireless charging feature. Looks like I'll be keeping my Nexus 5 a for another year or two.

  • So... the Nexus 5x and Nexus 6P are deleted? EoL? Just like that?? They're only *just* one year old, and even their cases and accessories have vanished from the Play Store along with the old Nexus devices...

If all else fails, lower your standards.

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