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Google Android

Google Announces the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL Smartphones (phonedog.com) 66

Posted by msmash from the new-gadgets dept.
At an event in New York today, Google unveiled Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, its latest flagship smartphones. The Pixel smartphones have over the years set a new benchmark for photography prowess. So you can imagine that a lot is riding on what Google, which has in curtailed several of its hardware ambitions in recent quarters, does with the new Pixel smartphones. From a report: Google makes it a point that the majority of the primary features are the same between the Pixel smartphones, with the primary exception being the display and screen technology. That is the case this year as well, with the Pixel 4 featuring a 5.7-inch Full HD+ P-OLED display, while the Pixel 4 XL boasts a 6.3-inch Quad HD OLED screen. Both panels support a 90Hz refresh rate, though. Inside both handsets is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, and both smartphones boast 6GB of RAM. The handsets come in either 64GB or 128GB of built-in storage options, but there is no microSD card slot for expandable storage. There is a USB-C port for charging, and both handsets feature stereo speakers as well. The battery in the Pixel 4 measures in at 2800mAh, while the Pixel 4 XL has a 3700mAh battery tucked inside.

Meanwhile, around back, the real star of the show: the cameras. That's right, Google is bumping up the rear camera count to two. It starts with the standard 12-megapixel "Dual Pixel" camera, which is accompanied by a 16-megapixel telephoto lens. The rounded square camera housing also hosts a microphone and a flash. [...] And finally, the front-facing camera is equipped with a radar sensor that gives the handsets much more utility than previous models. It starts with true depth detection while using the front-facing camera to unlock the phone with a face unlock biometric feature. Google is also including a new "Motion Sense" technology, letting the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL support gestures for controlling media playback and more. The pricing for Pixel 4 starts at $799, while its bigger sibling begins at $899. Unlike previous Pixel smartphone models, the Pixel 4 and 4 XL won't offer their users the ability to upload unlimited photos in their original resolution and qualirty to Google Photos at no charge. Both the handsets, though, come bundled with a new voice recorder app that transcribes voice recording in real time for free, Google said.
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Google Announces the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL Smartphones More

Google Announces the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL Smartphones

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  • Another too big, too expensive phone, with a terrible battery life that is just a spec jump.
    Come back to me when these are $250 or have a 7 day battery life.
    There is no way in hell these are worth nearly $1000 dollars.

  • But definitely yawn-worthy.

    If it is yet another featureless slate of meh, I don't want to hear it.

    More news on modular open PC devices like the F(x)tec or better.

    Or even better: Something actually innovative for a change. Feels like ages since that happened. (No, going back to something good, is not innovation either.)

  • LOL, NO (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @11:31AM (#59309908) Journal

    "The pricing for Pixel 4 starts at $799, while its bigger sibling begins at $899"

    As I said in the title, "LOL, NO".

    For $900 I could buy a several very good phones, or one good phone and a new TV, or I could make most of a house payment.

    Fuck all if I'm going to spend $900 on a phone that Google will likely orphan in a few years, and that will (in the meantime) track me relentlessly, hoovering up all of my sweet, sweet user data.

    • Re:LOL, NO (Score:4, Insightful)

      by MonteCarloMethod ( 4940689 ) on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @11:40AM (#59309960)

      To be fair, Google has done a very good job not orphaning their Pixel line. My original 2016 Pixel is still running strong and has officially distributed Android 10. It even got a security update to 10 yesterday afternoon.

      Otherwise I totally agree. I paid $120 for this phone refurbished and I just got another one for my wife. I won't be caught dead paying more than $250 for any phone, especially one without a headphone jack.

    • I'm sure the Pixel 4a will be out in 4-6 months. You can already get the 3a on discount at less than $300 unlocked.

      • Also, don't forget that Google in years past has had some really good black Friday deals that pissed me off since I bought the phone at full price.

    • " on a phone that Google will likely orphan in a few years, .

      That right there outs you as a "never owned a Pixel" user. The pixel/nexus line has been some of the most long term supported phones in history. My wife had a Nexus 4 still getting updates when I owned my first Pixel. It's one of the major selling points that "justifies" it's price. That said, I recently tried a $200 nearly Android stock no-name phone from tmob the other day. Smart phone experience wise, it did match my $800 MSRP (not what I paid) Pixel 3. In every way except the camera. The camera blew. M

      • That right there outs you as a "never owned a Pixel" user.

        Lol, "outs me", huh? I guess my dirty, shameful little secret is now public knowledge, oh the shame.

        Oh wait- when did I ever claim to be a Pixel owner? That would be "never".

        As far as pictures go, if that's your criteria for what makes a "good" phone, then be my guest and drop $900 on a Pixel.

  • Fingerprint reader? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by grasshoppa ( 657393 ) on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @11:53AM (#59310056) Homepage

    As a fan of the pixel line, I'm disappointed with the lack of a rear mounted fingerprint reader. That has been the best method I've ever used of unlocking my device AND auxiliary control ( you can swipe down on the sensor to pull down the notification bar ). It'so so integrated into my work flow that I'm planning on skipping this generation in the hopes that the 5 brings it back.

    I don't really understand why face-ID is such a big draw; how does the phone know the difference between me checking the time and me wanting it to unlock? It's such a stupid security mechanism for that single reason that I don't really understand why everyone wants it. The tin-foil hat, conspiracy theory part of me wonders if it's some convert government program pushing smart phone makers to get pictures of their users for "law enforcement" purposes.

    • It's such a stupid security mechanism for that single reason that I don't really understand why everyone wants it.

      I don't think this is people so much as wanting it, as it being forced down all of our throats.

    • As a fan of the pixel line, I'm disappointed with the lack of a rear mounted fingerprint reader. That has been the best method I've ever used of unlocking my device AND auxiliary control ( you can swipe down on the sensor to pull down the notification bar ). It'so so integrated into my work flow that I'm planning on skipping this generation in the hopes that the 5 brings it back.

      Ugh. I didn't notice that :-(

      When I moved from my iPhone 6 to my Nexus 6 I thought that the rear sensor was gonna be weird, but quickly found that I liked it. Still like it on my 3XL. I too hope the rear sensor returns before I need to upgrade again, but the trend across all MFGs is that once they remove something, it doesn't come back...

      • I have hope. As radical a position as this apparently is, at some point UIX design ( hardware AND software ) will be the "last frontier" smart phone manufacturers can exploit in pursuit of customers.

        The only question I have is whether MS, Android or Apple will get there first.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by _xeno_ ( 155264 )

      I don't really understand why face-ID is such a big draw; how does the phone know the difference between me checking the time and me wanting it to unlock? It's such a stupid security mechanism for that single reason that I don't really understand why everyone wants it.

      As far as I can tell, it's because Apple Did It. And Apple only did it because they wanted to remove the home button and had to come up with some other unlock mechanism, because Apple couldn't just move the finger print sensor to the back because that would be copying Android and they can't admit when Android did something better, even while they constantly copy Android features like the notification window and "Night Mode."

      How does it tell the difference between wanting to unlock and just looking at the ph

      • I doubt it: social media has made multiple images of people's faces posted publicly common enough to easily supply the government with any facial recognition data they want. No need to get 3D scans off a phone.

        It'd be more linking the person to a specific location at a specific time ( gps ).

        I didn't used to be this suspicious. I don't know if you remember, but over a decade ago there were rumors of NSA equipment in AT&T's hubs recording gobs of telephone data. I scoffed at it as conspiracy theory nonsense, along with most people. Even if they wanted to do it, we said, it wasn't technologically feasible.

        Then we found out it was real.

        So now I don't discount anything.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Luthair ( 847766 )

        As far as I can tell, it's because Apple Did It. And Apple only did it because they wanted to remove the home button and had to come up with some other unlock mechanism, because Apple couldn't just move the finger print sensor to the back because that would be copying Android and they can't admit when Android did something better"

        Might just be vanity, the finger reader would require them to move their giant ass logo.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Face unlock does indeed suck. My wife's iPhone 11 has it and it's slower than fingerprints.

      It's a usability downgrade too. If you fully unlock on face ID it does it when you don't want it, like checking notifications/time or when just moving the phone. If you enable an additional swipe to fully unlock it's more work.

      It's a big loss. I was thinking of up upgrading my original Pixel XL, but maybe not now. A 3 is fairly cheap now.

      • Face unlock does indeed suck. My wife's iPhone 11 has it and it's slower than fingerprints.

        FWIW, my buddies who work on the biometric auth team at Google say that Pixel 4's face unlock is significantly faster than the iPhone face unlock. I haven't actually used a 4 yet, so I don't have any personal comment. Normally I have the new device long before it launches, but lately I'm doing less real work and more management so I didn't need one... that's a trend I need to reverse.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          I hope so, but I can use the fingerprint reader as I'm picking up the phone so that it's unlocked and ready by the time I'm looking at it.

          It will have to be extremely fast to match that, and then you still need to swipe anyway.

          • I hope so, but I can use the fingerprint reader as I'm picking up the phone so that it's unlocked and ready by the time I'm looking at it.

            Agreed. I love the rear fingerprint scanner, moderately-good security and extremely convenient. I have a hard time believing face unlock will be as usable, but I'm reserving judgment until I have some firsthand experience.

            I can see one advantage to face over fingerprint... all of the times my fingerprint doesn't work because I'm wearing gloves, or my fingers are dirty, or wet, etc.

            • Depending on your use case, there are a few advantages. I spend a lot of time in gloves throughout the year between cycling and winter. I also do most of the cooking, so my hands are dirty or wet a lot. Tapping on the screen is no problem, but unlocking the phone is impossible in those cases.

              The other nice thing is that I have my phone on a stand on my desk in front of me. When notifications come in, the phone stays locked, and I see that the notification has come in, but few of the details (just the app na

    • The tin-foil hat, conspiracy theory part of me wonders if it's some convert government program pushing smart phone makers to get pictures of their users for "law enforcement" purposes.

      Pfft! That's nothing compared to the terabytes of facial data we provide Google every day via Google Photos.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by crt ( 44106 )

      Agreed - I've owned every Pixel since the first, but will be skipping this generation. The rear fingerprint unlock was the IDEAL no-friction security. I literally don't see any room to improve it (even front/screen fingerprint reading would be less ergonomic).
      I really hope they get this feedback loud and clear from other Pixel owners who don't upgrade (downgrade) to the Pixel 4.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • If your flagship phones are malfunctioning after 18-24 months then you're probably doing something wrong with them.

      Also there isn't going to be another flagship with a user replaceable battery.

  • Why would anyone pay $1000 with taxes and fees for a new smartphone? What compelling new features does it offer in 2019 model that are not available on older and much cheaper phones? What computing-intensive tasks are currently take too long and require faster CPU and more RAM? Are you mining bitcoin (against your will?) on your phone or compiling code?

    I am glad that in post- Moore's future there isn't a compelling reasons to upgrade expensive computing devices unless one you have reaches end of life.

    • Yes, I've never understood the obsession with RAM and CPU speed in phones. By about 2016-2017 the CPU and RAM was really enough, assuming the OS developers didn't go out of their way to add eye-candy bling that just slows everything down.

      The majority of phone games don't require top-end specs, firstly because that would limit their market share and secondly because generally the genre of most phone games like puzzles etc just aren't that taxing to run.

  • It's time I jump off Pixel Bandwagon, as Google is not interested in phone hardware anymore. Its so obvious with Pixel4 that they've stopped trying. One of the biggest complaint with Pixel3 was the battery, which I personally face every single day. How do they respond to that, reduce it even further in Pixel4. What a joke!!

  • The Pixel 4 is getting features my LG V20 had....

    • Glad I bought the LG V30 as my new phone earlier this year. Would have bought a Pixel3a but they weren't announced at the time and the rumoured specs sounded crap.

      Actually really glad I got the LG 'cause of the wide-angle lens on the camera. Very useful when taking photos on holiday.

  • Will keep my no-notch, 90fps screen, 48mp camera with 3x optical and 10x digital zoom, recharges in under an hour even if full active use, One Plus 7 Pro

  • This is a great day! Now I can finally buy the Google Pixel 3!

  • You can put all the AI spyware tinsel you want on it and you still won't sell it to me if it is missing its headphone jack. Sorry.

    • The last Google phone (sold by Google for Fi) to have a headphone jack was the LG V35, which is what is in my pocket, for that very reason.

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