Google continues to really take their cameras to the next level. It's just a shame the rest of the hardware doesn't follow suit.
Or, are you referring to the phone industry in general, and how they're unable to make cameras that match the quality of the ones in the Google Pixel line?
The standard is Bluetooth now. It's time to take a giant leap into the 90's.
It absolutely isn't. It probably will be in a while, assuming they can get at least some of the sync issues ironed out, but it's not the current standard any more than electric cars are.
There will ALWAYS be an advantage to wired headphones over wireless: reliability and versatility.
Bluetooth headphones can be VERY finicky about who they'll connect to and with how much hassle. They also cannot be plugged into a separate DAC/Amp setup.
Perhaps if it were standard for headphones to allow the user to bypass the bluetooth DAC and run the drivers on our own signal, but I haven't really seen this on affordable headphones.
The thing that gets me is, removing the headphone provides no benefit whatsoever for the vast majority of users. A few grams and some fraction of a millimeter aren't enough for you to feel the difference in your hand. If you don't use wired headphones, you gain no advantage from removing the jack. If you do use wired headphones, there's a substantial disadvantage to removing the jack. So if it doesn't benefit anyone, why do it?
It's a telephone. It's not a giant stereo rack system with hipster vacuum tubes all around. That's where your audiophile wired headphones go.
When you remove features, there should be a net benefit to doing so.
I get that some people never used wired headphones and don't care about the headphone jack either way. It confuses me that so many people are urgently trying to make out like this is a net positive for the average user.
1 notch. Singular. Not plural.
Also, the Pixel 3 does not have a notch. That's only the Pixel 3 XL.
> small storage
wat? My Pixel 3 has 128 gig. That's quite a bit. An SD card slot would be nice to expand it, but I'm still pretty happy with 128. Stores my entire MP3 collection with tens of gigabytes left over for taking pics and recording videos.
> RAM
I'll give you this one. Having only 4 gig feels a bit dated, but I'm not sure if it's really an issue.
> Mediocre at best battery
3,000 mAh is pretty standard. And the Pixel 3 sips the battery pretty lightly. My previous phone was a Motorola Droid Turbo. Even with its 3900 mAh battery, after using GPS + Bluetooth for 90 or so minutes for my commute to/from work, plus about an hour of browsing reddit during breaks at work, I'd come home with 40% left on the battery. With my Pixel 3, with the same usage patterns, I finish the day with about 60% of my battery left.
OP said "Pixel phones". A Pixel phone has a notch, Pixel phones have notches.
This is a weird thing to nitpick about.
No, a single model of Pixel, the Pixel 3 XL, has a notch. To say "Pixel phones have notches" is misleading. Pixel 1/2 did not have notches. Pixel 3 does not have a notch. Only the Pixel 3 XL has a notch.
When someone says "I'm not getting a Pixel 3 because it has a notch", it is unclear whether they incorrectly believe that the Pixel 3 has a notch, or if they really mean the Pixel 3 XL and just left off the XL.
It seems like a nitpick, sure, but I think it's important. So much noise is created about the notch in the Pixel 3 XL that I honestly think there are a lot of people that don't realize that the smaller Pixel 3 doesn't have one.
Sort of like Intel releases i3, i5, i7 and i9 processors so consumers may choose a price and performance point it may be time for Google to differentiate handsets on more than just screen size.
I didn't find the Pixel 2 to Pixel 3 upgrade compelling enough to spend hundreds upgrading a year old phone. Had Google released a high-performance version targetting power users with the Snapdragon 850 with a larger camera element that would really be something to think about.
As it is Red will probably capture that market if they offer a decent sensor as a component, essentially stealing Google's phone-as-components concept from their now defunct Project Ara. Google doesn't seem inclined to supply outboard accesories so I'm not suggesting they do the same, instead as I mentioned earlier maybe they release a power user version of the phone with top of the line components integrated instead. It would be understood the tradeoff for higher performance and better features is battery life.
The point cloud in the "portrait camera" can also be used to map and determine whats there too and the software could decide to draw and brighten it.
What I like about it is that iOS hardware does keep up, complementing your observations about the limitations of Google's solutions.
I had to stop using my 3rd gen iPad after official updates made it so slow it was a chore to use as more than an eReader. No option to install an older or 3rd party build. No way to repurpose it for much else at this point.
I look at it like an old "smart tv" versus an old PC. The PC can always get a lightweight Linux build or something else to make it useful. The tv gets what's on it, the end.
Pixel 3 ($800): 4GB of RAM, starts at 64GB of storage, and has a 2,915 mAh
Pixel 3 looks future ready to me.
[1] Apple, supposedly the gold standard for long term smart phone support, has already added last years iPhone 8 (2,675mAh) and iPhone X (2,716mAh) to its throttling list: https://www.macworld.com/article/3317689/apple-phone/iphone-...
Also, for someone who often does informal photo sessions for friends or strangers, being able to share links to groups or albums of photos is super convenient. They can download the full album as a .zip, too.
Pair this with the Pixel's excellent camera, and I don't even miss my mirrorless M4/3rds. The only thing I find myself consistently missing is a good telephoto. I know Moment makes a case and accompanying lenses, but I use the $40 Google case.