Google hardware event 2019

[AJB88]

untakenname said:

Want to see the Pixel 4 in the flesh and see how good the camera is and how off putting the Bezel is, tempted by the K20 pro now it's dropped to £300 and am struggling to justify paying 3x that amount for a Pixel.

https://www.mi.com/in/redmi-k20-pro/

K20 Pro doesn't have IP68, 403ppi vs Pixel 537ppi, no 90hz screen, no NFC,

I would say the lack of NFC (china only according to what I've read), 90hz screen at a higher ppi and IP68 are the difference between a medium and premium phone.

Also do Mi offer a decent OS support? or are they one of these companies who rarely pushed OS/Security updates and you end up having to do them yourself through custom rom.

Edited by AJB88 on Friday 18th October 08:45

[AJB88]

So I might actually be pulling the trigger on one now, probably Pixel 4 XL in black (seems to have the quickest delivery time) as my mum who was supposed to be having my 2 XL off me has conveniently smashed the screen on her Wileyfox. Something I got accused of doing a lot when I was a kid (smashing phones up to get another)

[leglessAlex]

Funk said:

I disagree over the RAM for example. No phone really needs 12Gb - it's been done to go 'one better'. Why not 16Gb? 32Gb...? Even my 2 XL on a weedy 3Gb is lag-free and rapid. I do agree on the internal storage, especially now Google's nuked the full-res free storage offer - that's stingy in my view. The only way to get full-res pics out of the phone will be to plug it in and pull them off to a PC rather than via Google Photos. Unless you pay for a subscription - does that get you full-res uploads again?

Yeah, I just upped my subscription to 200GB, whch should do me. Something like $2.99 a month. It bothers me that I have to do this, but I think it's a compromise I'm willing to make for the camera, software and screen.

I could feel lag in my 3 XL, which had 4GB, and it was a small part of the reason I moved away from it, the main one being front camea issues. The iPhone XS, Oneplus 6 and Galaxy S9 all felt faster to me when I tried them, and the lag I perceived when moving back to the Pixel 3 bothered me. I agree that 12GB is a bit silly, but I think 8GB is the standard for every other phone in the top tier other than iPhones, which are a special case.

Yeah, I get that to many people, that's a really bratty and spoilt view. I guess it is a bit, but if I pay top dollar for a phone I expect it to be roughly on par with it's competitors, even if it doesn't beat them.

[AJB88]

Lag fix in the developer options is worth doing on all Android phones IMHO.

[Funk]

Huh. Apparently my 2XL has 4Gb of ram. Shows how much it bothered me to know...!

[Watchman]

AJB88 said:

Lag fix in the developer options is worth doing on all Android phones IMHO.

Can't find it. I have dev options on but can't see that in the list.

[AJB88]

Watchman said:

Can't find it. I have dev options on but can't see that in the list.

its not called "lag fix" you need to change several settings.

Change the following

Window animation scale
Transition animation scale
Animator duration scale

Set them all to 0, or decrease them but 0 is best.

[wombleh]

What's the usage model for music etc, I've got 128gig on current phone and it's maxed out. Does it offload less used stuff to Google cloud with some smarts to download/cache? Or is the intention to mainly use streaming music and cloud stored photos rather than local so you don't have anything much on the phone.

[AJB88]

I only have 64gb on my Pixel Xl 2, all my music is stored on Google Play, all my photos on Google Photos.

[wombleh]

Thought that might be the plan, seems to be how things are going.

What do you do if you're somewhere without good Internet, or on a plane etc? Have a small amount of media copied locally for those cases?

[AJB88]

wombleh said:

Thought that might be the plan, seems to be how things are going.

What do you do if you're somewhere without good Internet, or on a plane etc? Have a small amount of media copied locally for those cases?

Yes you can "save locally" for times like that, I usually save locally 6-7 albums for flights.

[ging84]

wombleh said:

What's the usage model for music etc, I've got 128gig on current phone and it's maxed out. Does it offload less used stuff to Google cloud with some smarts to download/cache? Or is the intention to mainly use streaming music and cloud stored photos rather than local so you don't have anything much on the phone.

As far as I know no one currently makes a true cloud first device where everything in the userspace is synced and managed like this.
I don't think anyone is brave enough to launch a device that automatically deletes files you put there.
But the various apps like play music and google photos will download stuff on demand then manage a local cache, but its all for the most part hands off, you can tell it to keep things offline, but then it keeps them until you tell it not to.

[Funk]

I've just sought some clarification from Pixel support on the Drive/Photos/One solutions as it really wasn't very clear to me.

My 2XL came with free original quality uploads to Photos (which at the time also showed up in Drive). They've since divorced the Drive and Photos products and I wanted to know what I needed to do if I wanted to continue to have my photos uploaded in original quality from the 4XL. Seems that One is the way to do this, it sort of covers Drive/Photos/Gmail as an umbrella. All the pics uploaded in OQ will continue to stay that way. The guy also said that the 4/4XL come with 3 months' free 100Gb One.

I've been thinking and I will probably not use the face unlock until they make it more secure ie. it can't be unlocked with eyes shut or whilst asleep - it seems like a ridiculous security flaw. All that tech and development expense and I'm going back to a good old-fashioned (but very secure) PIN... On that note I also think the radar stuff will be useless too - some of the reviews are saying it's hit-and-miss as to whether it works every time which would get irritating quickly...

Edit: Google 'Pixel face unlock' and EVERY result is a negative one about it being a 'security flaw'! Not the response Google would want I'm sure. They need to fix it with an update, and quickly. Whoever thought making it work on sleeping/unconscious/dead people needs fking shooting.

Edited by Funk on Saturday 19th October 12:31

[Baldchap]

AJB88 said:

Watchman said:

Can't find it. I have dev options on but can't see that in the list.

its not called "lag fix" you need to change several settings.

Change the following

Window animation scale
Transition animation scale
Animator duration scale

Set them all to 0, or decrease them but 0 is best.

Just done this. Makes a massive difference. Wonder why they don't ship with these options this way?

[AJB88]

Baldchap said:

Just done this. Makes a massive difference. Wonder why they don't ship with these options this way?

I think it makes the animations a lot less "flashy" looking.

I've so far used it on Nexus 6P, Nexus 5, Pixel XL 2, Pixel 2, Wileyfox, Samsung S5,6,7,8,9,10 and a few Huawei and its made them all better.

[alorotom]

AJB88 said:

Watchman said:

Can't find it. I have dev options on but can't see that in the list.

its not called "lag fix" you need to change several settings.

Change the following

Window animation scale
Transition animation scale
Animator duration scale

Set them all to 0, or decrease them but 0 is best.

Blimey that does make a difference doesnt it!

[TuonoPants]

Funk said:

..... it can't be unlocked with eyes shut or whilst asleep - it seems like a ridiculous security flaw......

Edited by Funk on Saturday 19th October 12:31

I'm struggling with all the fuss about this, what is the situation where this is an issue?

[Baldchap]

TuonoPants said:

Funk said:

..... it can't be unlocked with eyes shut or whilst asleep - it seems like a ridiculous security flaw......

Edited by Funk on Saturday 19th October 12:31

I'm struggling with all the fuss about this, what is the situation where this is an issue?

I think it's people not trusting who they sleep with or die near.

At a push I guess someone could knock you out to steal your phone, but in the case of theft they'll just factory reset anyway, surely?

[Funk]

Baldchap said:

TuonoPants said:

Funk said:

..... it can't be unlocked with eyes shut or whilst asleep - it seems like a ridiculous security flaw......

Edited by Funk on Saturday 19th October 12:31

I'm struggling with all the fuss about this, what is the situation where this is an issue?

I think it's people not trusting who they sleep with or die near.

At a push I guess someone could knock you out to steal your phone, but in the case of theft they'll just factory reset anyway, surely?

In my mind the issue is that there is now a way someone can access your phone, passwords, banking application etc all without you knowing or having to disturb you in any way.

Put it this way; under what circumstances is a sleeping/unconscious/dead person going to want to unlock their device? It seems daft to have removed the option to require 'eyes open' in the settings menu when there are considerable downsides to doing so. For all their (many) issues, this is one thing Apple have got right in my opinion.

[TuonoPants]

Funk said:

Baldchap said:

TuonoPants said:

Funk said:

..... it can't be unlocked with eyes shut or whilst asleep - it seems like a ridiculous security flaw......

Edited by Funk on Saturday 19th October 12:31

I'm struggling with all the fuss about this, what is the situation where this is an issue?

I think it's people not trusting who they sleep with or die near.

At a push I guess someone could knock you out to steal your phone, but in the case of theft they'll just factory reset anyway, surely?

In my mind the issue is that there is now a way someone can access your phone, passwords, banking application etc all without you knowing or having to disturb you in any way.

Such as an intruder in your house standing over you while you sleep, unlocking your phone? I don't think having your phone unlocked is going to be your biggest concern in this scenario.