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Comment by SketchySeaBeast | Hacker News Reader

I don't know about that. For being a phone that touts long term support it doesn't seem terribly future proof with the amount of RAM and storage it has, as well as having a pretty regular battery that is certain to really degrade by the time support ends.

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iPhone XS ($1,000): 4GB of RAM, starts at 64GB of storage, and has a 2,658mAh battery[1]

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-...

We're comparing different ecosystems. What's good for Apple, in a tightly controlled ecosystem, may not match Android, where requirements and phone capabilities can be much less restrained, and competition for more RAM and storage is healthy.

We’re not comparing Android in general to iPhones. We’re comparing Pixel phones which Google controls with a similar care to Apple’s ecosystem. There have been reviews of Pixel phones that say they perform more smoothly than other Android phones with more RAM. Google also provides an integrated cloud storage system for Pixels that many customers consider better than Apple’s for iPhones (Google Photos is popular).

In practice, Google Photos is excellent. I don't worry about my photos: they sync to the cloud and I can delete them from the device to save space. Being able to search through my photos by person or even object ('cat') is convenient when looking for that one photo.

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.

I'd say it's a very fair comparison. Google controls the Pixel ecosystem and Apple controls the iPhone.

The difference here would be if Apple competitors made phones that worked with apple software.

Okay, so they have roughly the same specs. Have you seen the benchmark numbers? That iPhone will eat the Pixel for lunch have a galaxy for dessert. Android phones need a lot more hardware to be future proof.

"Future proof" != RAM and battery. See any Apple device. "Future proof" is works well (fast, latest updates) 3 years from now.

3 years from now is nothing. I still have old Android devices that get used as media players and "smart" displays/remotes because I could install slimmed-down OS builds to keep them running smoothly long after official support stopped.

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.

Our iPad 2 has also been mostly out of commission since iOS 9. Use it answer text messages now.

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