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Comment by sigmar | Hacker News Reader

>Google's hardware approach sucks

What is wrong with the Pixel hardware? (Have never owned one and have only heard good things)

I bought a 1st gen Pixel in December 2016, so it's just over a year old. I'm delighted with every part of the hardware, except the screen. After around 6 months I noticed that the nav buttons are really badly burned in where the nav buttons are located([1] picture is not mine but it demonstates what I mean, I believe at this point mine is much worse than in this picture).

This is due to the nav buttons being constantly visible in most apps, an option to hide them and only spring up when required would be perfect. It's not the end of the world but it's one of those things that once you notice it you can't forget it.

[1] https://www.thenextrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/enable...

Had this problem on my (beloved) Samsung Galaxy Nexus (i9250). It was released in Oct 2011, so I'm surprised it's a problem they still haven't fixed. I suppose longevity is only a small consideration to Google.

Yeah, it's quite a shame because I've always found the Google made phones to be the best. I had the Nexus 5 for 3+ years, and never had a problem with it. I think when it comes time to replace the Pixel I will have to look at other Android phones.

> This is due to the nav buttons being constantly visible in most apps, an option to hide them and only spring up when required would be perfect.

Samsung has that on the Note 8 (the 5 still had hardware buttons, I'm not sure about the 7, or other lines, though the Note 8’s dimensions means that it is probably the phone that needs it least for real estate reasons, so I'd imagine it's across the line.)

Yeah my colleague has an S8 and it also has this function. It is possible to enable "Immersive Mode" on the pixel through an app and giving it root access through ADB. However it would be much easier if google just made it a toggleable setting.

There must be an option in Display settings, named “Display Burn-In protection”. Do you have it enabled? Just curious, because I just purchased a Pixel 1.

Nope I cannot find that setting. I previously searched for such a setting and could not find it. Nothing in the display settings relates to burn in sadly.

I have a Pixel XL if that makes a difference but I doubt it, as they are practically the same phone.

https://imgur.com/4ZWCUsR

Some people value headphone jacks, micro-SD expansion, dual-SIM support or other features that dont exist in the latest Pixels. These are all features that modern iPhones don't have either, so its a little hypocritical to call out Google if that is whats meant by the "sucks" part.

Those don't exist in the iPhone either, so I'm not sure what you're arguing for. There's a reason most flagships don't have those anymore.

+1 those few reasons mostly being water resistance (headphone jack) and compactness (everything)

I haven't heard a single good reason beyond the manufacturers' ambitions.

How about this: most users do not care. The only thing I used from what you mention was headphone jack, but with iPhone 7 I got Beats X and all I can say: good riddance. I will argue that for most iPhone users whatever earbuds they find in the box are good enough. SD cards? Why would I want that…

You forgot about Samsung Galaxy devices, which have all of that and are the most successful mobile phones right next to iPhone.

Galaxy S and Note flagship lines actually had dropped removable storage several generations ago and recently brought it back.

Only 2000 people are moving from HTC to Google, according to the article. HTC will then leave the phone market. I expect Google to continue following Apple's lead and remove more features. They also have to try to stop their IP from leaking out, and go through some culture shock working in Taiwan.

This is an opportunity for investors to hire the other HTC staff who refuse to join Google for ideological reasons (open designs, repairability) or who just didn't get hired. There's probably a few other people from iFixit, WebOS, Fairphone hanging around here.

YC Summer 2018 is open. I'm in Taiwan. Who wants to make a business plan?

Google has had a large data centre in Taiwan for ages. I suspect it's going to be more of a case of HTC staff having culture shock when joining Google.

I have no idea what I'm going to do once my OG Pixel stops being supported. The lack of headphone jack is a serious concern to me. It truly blows my mind that so many people are capable of accepting this!

I can accept the lack of removable storage and battery. But the headphone jack? That's just the end of the line for me.

You've probably heard this from other people, but I recently switched from a Pixel to a Pixel 2 and was worried about losing the headphone jack as well.

Surprisingly, it hasn't bothered me at all. The battery life is long enough (and fast chase is fast enough) that I never need to charge my phone and listen to it at the same time, and I haven't noticed any difference in sound quality using Google's provided dongle.

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