Google hardware event 2019
Discussion
OlonMusky said:
Funk said:
I still have severe misgivings about the lack of app support for face unlock. It'll mean a long period of unlocking apps like banking by reverting to PIN or pattern.
They didn't implement this AND they got rid of the fingerprint sensor? What are they smoking over there at Google?https://www.xda-developers.com/google-pixel-4-user...
https://9to5google.com/2019/10/21/pixel-4-face-unl...
https://www.androidcentral.com/these-apps-support-...
I think the omission of the fingerprint reader is daft; it's not the end of the world but it is very inconvenient. Since I've ordered my 4 XL I've been thinking more about the number of times I use the fingerprint reader not just to unlock my phone but also to access my banking and other apps and it's a lot...
Also can those of you who have your phones already give any feedback on how well Face Unlock works in very low light?
Edited by Funk on Thursday 24th October 10:38
Funk said:
OlonMusky said:
Funk said:
I still have severe misgivings about the lack of app support for face unlock. It'll mean a long period of unlocking apps like banking by reverting to PIN or pattern.
They didn't implement this AND they got rid of the fingerprint sensor? What are they smoking over there at Google?I think the omission of the fingerprint reader is daft; it's not the end of the world but it is very inconvenient. Since I've ordered my 4 XL I've been thinking more about the number of times I use the fingerprint reader and it's a lot...
Also can those of you who have your phones already give any feedback on how well Face Unlock works in very low light?
Had a Pixel 4 for 48 hours and I'm still fiddling with it but here are a few thoughts;
Good
Motion sense works well. I expected it to be really annoying but it seems quite refined already.
Face unlock works really well and I can see why Google decided to ditch the fingerprint sensor. Face unlock is the future.
Screen is excellent. Haven't noticed any of the "choppyness" that other have mentioned as it switches between 60 and 90Hz.
Camera is outstanding, way better than anything I have used before.
Sound quality from the integrated speak is excellent.
It's fast, everything from opening docs to the speed of app updates is much faster that the Samsung S9 that I also use (work phone)
Battery life has be fine, I think Google must have done a lot of work to optimise it for efficient power use, but time will tell.
Not So Good
Gesture control is taking a bit of getting used to and I miss the back/home buttons
Face unlock has yet to be integrated into a number of apps such as banking, but I'm sure that will come in a future update. I don't access these apps often so it's not a big deal.
The loss of the storage offer is disappointing but I use Google Drive to back up my home PC so tagging the phone onto that for pics is not an issue.
Bad
No LED to highlight messages etc.
Apps don't have badges that show the number of unread messages, just a dot. Seems like a really basic omission.
No 3.5mm headphone socket and no adapter in the box
Good
Motion sense works well. I expected it to be really annoying but it seems quite refined already.
Face unlock works really well and I can see why Google decided to ditch the fingerprint sensor. Face unlock is the future.
Screen is excellent. Haven't noticed any of the "choppyness" that other have mentioned as it switches between 60 and 90Hz.
Camera is outstanding, way better than anything I have used before.
Sound quality from the integrated speak is excellent.
It's fast, everything from opening docs to the speed of app updates is much faster that the Samsung S9 that I also use (work phone)
Battery life has be fine, I think Google must have done a lot of work to optimise it for efficient power use, but time will tell.
Not So Good
Gesture control is taking a bit of getting used to and I miss the back/home buttons
Face unlock has yet to be integrated into a number of apps such as banking, but I'm sure that will come in a future update. I don't access these apps often so it's not a big deal.
The loss of the storage offer is disappointing but I use Google Drive to back up my home PC so tagging the phone onto that for pics is not an issue.
Bad
No LED to highlight messages etc.
Apps don't have badges that show the number of unread messages, just a dot. Seems like a really basic omission.
No 3.5mm headphone socket and no adapter in the box
TuonoPants said:
Apple and Google are limiting the RAM so they can push there cloud storage solutions, ultimately all these platforms are gateways to subscription services. Samsung have been trying to do the same but with very limited success.
There is also the desire to make the phones as slim as possible for marketing purposes and cut out cost (to the manufacturer, not the consumer!) which is why so many phones seem to be memory constrained. Like others I'd happily have a little more bulk and get more memory and a bigger battery but that just isn't in the manufactures business model. 20% of Apple's revenue comes from services and the margins are double that of their hardware products.
And before someone says "get a OnePlus", I'm not interested due to the aforementioned security concerns.
They are limiting storage not RAM for this reason.There is also the desire to make the phones as slim as possible for marketing purposes and cut out cost (to the manufacturer, not the consumer!) which is why so many phones seem to be memory constrained. Like others I'd happily have a little more bulk and get more memory and a bigger battery but that just isn't in the manufactures business model. 20% of Apple's revenue comes from services and the margins are double that of their hardware products.
And before someone says "get a OnePlus", I'm not interested due to the aforementioned security concerns.
TBH it makes no difference that an iOS device has less RAM than an Android device due to the way the OS is made. I have an S10+ and an iPad Pro and notice no difference in RAM intensive use such as multi-tasking etc and the iPad is atreets ahead when doing CPU intensive processes.
From what I've seen of the Pixel 4 it is a bit of a step back. It seems to offer less bang per buck and I was suprised by the inclusion of a telephoto rather than a wide angle camera.
Edited by Tycho on Thursday 24th October 11:07
OK, so mine's rocked up this morning. It's...underwhelming if I'm honest. Have already become intensely irritated at the number of apps where fingerprint sign-in worked on the 2 XL and now I need to revert to PIN. Google are massively premature getting rid of the fingerprint, it feels like 'new phone, old method'. Once everything supports Face Unlock I'm sure things will be more tolerable.
I thought it would annoy me and it does bit it is what it is, so moving on to the rest of the phone. It's pretty much exactly the same as my 2 XL. Yes the screen's a little better but it genuinely doesn't seem any faster (or my 2 XL is just excellent for 2 year old hardware). Camera's a bit better. Dictation thing is useless to me. Better Google Assistant isn't available in the UK English yet. I have a magnet in the back of my case for dash mounting in the car - I've now realised that this means the wireless charging won't work or I have to not have the phone up on the dash (to be fair this isn't a fault of the 4 XL).
I come back to the same thing I've said for years; there's other much nicer, better hardware out there from Samsung, OnePlus etc. If I could have that hardware with plain Android I'd do it in heartbeat. So would I recommend the 4 XL? No, especially if you have a 2 XL or 3 XL - it really isn't worth the money. If you don't own a Pixel and are fed up with everything else out there it's an OK phone but you'll have to really want plain Android etc.
I get F&F discount on EE so it's a no-brainer to take a new phone at upgrade time. Perhaps what I should do is return this, get the latest and greatest Samsung which will still have held its value in 6 months' time when I can sell it on (there's a min 6-month period in the EE contract where you can't flip the phone on).
So yeah, all-in-all it's a bit meh. If it wasn't costing me just £2/month more (and I also get an extra 60Gb data per month for that) I'd definitely be returning it and sticking with the 2 XL. I'm actually considering leaving it in the box until Face Unlock is more widely supported and Google implement the 'eyes open' security they've said they will as for now I'm finding the phone more annoying than anything else.
I thought it would annoy me and it does bit it is what it is, so moving on to the rest of the phone. It's pretty much exactly the same as my 2 XL. Yes the screen's a little better but it genuinely doesn't seem any faster (or my 2 XL is just excellent for 2 year old hardware). Camera's a bit better. Dictation thing is useless to me. Better Google Assistant isn't available in the UK English yet. I have a magnet in the back of my case for dash mounting in the car - I've now realised that this means the wireless charging won't work or I have to not have the phone up on the dash (to be fair this isn't a fault of the 4 XL).
I come back to the same thing I've said for years; there's other much nicer, better hardware out there from Samsung, OnePlus etc. If I could have that hardware with plain Android I'd do it in heartbeat. So would I recommend the 4 XL? No, especially if you have a 2 XL or 3 XL - it really isn't worth the money. If you don't own a Pixel and are fed up with everything else out there it's an OK phone but you'll have to really want plain Android etc.
I get F&F discount on EE so it's a no-brainer to take a new phone at upgrade time. Perhaps what I should do is return this, get the latest and greatest Samsung which will still have held its value in 6 months' time when I can sell it on (there's a min 6-month period in the EE contract where you can't flip the phone on).
So yeah, all-in-all it's a bit meh. If it wasn't costing me just £2/month more (and I also get an extra 60Gb data per month for that) I'd definitely be returning it and sticking with the 2 XL. I'm actually considering leaving it in the box until Face Unlock is more widely supported and Google implement the 'eyes open' security they've said they will as for now I'm finding the phone more annoying than anything else.
Edited by Funk on Thursday 24th October 15:40
Funk said:
OK, so mine's rocked up this morning. It's...underwhelming if I'm honest. Have already become intensely irritated at the number of apps where fingerprint sign-in worked on the 2 XL and now I need to revert to PIN. Google are massively premature getting rid of the fingerprint, it feels like 'new phone, old method'. Once everything supports Face Unlock I'm sure things will be more tolerable.
I thought it would annoy me and it does bit it is what it is, so moving on to the rest of the phone. It's pretty much exactly the same as my 2 XL. Yes the screen's a little better but it genuinely doesn't seem any faster (or my 2 XL is just excellent for 2 year old hardware). Camera's a bit better. Dictation thing is useless to me. Better Google Assistant isn't available in the UK English yet. I have a magnet in the back of my case for dash mounting in the car - I've now realised that this means the wireless charging won't work or I have to not have the phone up on the dash (to be fair this isn't a fault of the 4 XL).
I come back to the same thing I've said for years; there's other much nicer, better hardware out there from Samsung, OnePlus etc. If I could have that hardware with plain Android I'd do it in heartbeat. So would I recommend the 4 XL? No, especially if you have a 2 XL or 3 XL - it really isn't worth the money. If you don't own a Pixel and are fed up with everything else out there it's an OK phone but you'll have to really want plain Android etc.
I get F&F discount on EE so it's a no-brainer to take a new phone at upgrade time. Perhaps what I should do is return this, get the latest and greatest Samsung which will still have held its value in 6 months' time when I can sell it on (there's a min 6-month period in the EE contract where you can't flip the phone on).
So yeah, all-in-all it's a bit meh. If it wasn't costing me just £2/month more (and I also get an extra 60Gb data per month for that) I'd definitely be returning it and sticking with the 2 XL. I'm actually considering leaving it in the box until Face Unlock is more widely supported and Google implement the 'eyes open' security they've said they will as for now I'm finding the phone more annoying than anything else.
Sounds like the "3a" variants might still be the best Pixels then as a compromise between features and costI thought it would annoy me and it does bit it is what it is, so moving on to the rest of the phone. It's pretty much exactly the same as my 2 XL. Yes the screen's a little better but it genuinely doesn't seem any faster (or my 2 XL is just excellent for 2 year old hardware). Camera's a bit better. Dictation thing is useless to me. Better Google Assistant isn't available in the UK English yet. I have a magnet in the back of my case for dash mounting in the car - I've now realised that this means the wireless charging won't work or I have to not have the phone up on the dash (to be fair this isn't a fault of the 4 XL).
I come back to the same thing I've said for years; there's other much nicer, better hardware out there from Samsung, OnePlus etc. If I could have that hardware with plain Android I'd do it in heartbeat. So would I recommend the 4 XL? No, especially if you have a 2 XL or 3 XL - it really isn't worth the money. If you don't own a Pixel and are fed up with everything else out there it's an OK phone but you'll have to really want plain Android etc.
I get F&F discount on EE so it's a no-brainer to take a new phone at upgrade time. Perhaps what I should do is return this, get the latest and greatest Samsung which will still have held its value in 6 months' time when I can sell it on (there's a min 6-month period in the EE contract where you can't flip the phone on).
So yeah, all-in-all it's a bit meh. If it wasn't costing me just £2/month more (and I also get an extra 60Gb data per month for that) I'd definitely be returning it and sticking with the 2 XL. I'm actually considering leaving it in the box until Face Unlock is more widely supported and Google implement the 'eyes open' security they've said they will as for now I'm finding the phone more annoying than anything else.
Edited by Funk on Thursday 24th October 15:40
Surely the upgrade is costing significantly more than £2 per month too given you could drop a £10-£20 SIM only into your 2XL rather than signing up for a brand new contract on a 4XL which I assume will average out at at least £40 per month (including any upfront costs)
My usual day shift routine with the Pixel XL 2 was unplug at 05:50 go to work, 6 mile drive to work phone would loose 1-2% with wifi and bluetooth turned off, use at my desk all day and by about 1700 the phone would be on about 20-15% so I would charge it ready for the rest of the night.
Did the same routine with the Pixel 4 XL yesterday and left the office at 1820 with 48% still left. I've just put it on charge now with 5% left. That is with 90mhz forced in developer options.
My day shift usage is mainly Facebook, Instagram, Web surfing and Whatsapp.
Did the same routine with the Pixel 4 XL yesterday and left the office at 1820 with 48% still left. I've just put it on charge now with 5% left. That is with 90mhz forced in developer options.
My day shift usage is mainly Facebook, Instagram, Web surfing and Whatsapp.
Had a 4xl for a day and not entirely convinced, it is very nice just not as good as expected. Had a Oneplus 6T before this.
Good
Screen is nice, no issues so far
Face unlock just works, impressed
Battery life seems fine but need more time to be sure
Camera seems good, got some good garden shots in the dark last night
Not so good
My banking app doesn't support face unlock yet so inconvenient
Gestures nowhere near as good as Oneplus ones. Trying to pull out the draw from left side of screen is infuriating. What were google thinking?
Motion sense a bit gimmicky, like how the alarm goes quieter when reaching for phone but trying to swipe to snooze or turn off is near impossible
New google assistant doesn't work in UK yet
No earbuds, TPU case or headphone adapter in the box. A bit stingy on a super premium phone.
If I didn't get such a good deal I think a Oneplus 7T would be much better value and probably superior in all respects apart from the camera.
Good
Screen is nice, no issues so far
Face unlock just works, impressed
Battery life seems fine but need more time to be sure
Camera seems good, got some good garden shots in the dark last night
Not so good
My banking app doesn't support face unlock yet so inconvenient
Gestures nowhere near as good as Oneplus ones. Trying to pull out the draw from left side of screen is infuriating. What were google thinking?
Motion sense a bit gimmicky, like how the alarm goes quieter when reaching for phone but trying to swipe to snooze or turn off is near impossible
New google assistant doesn't work in UK yet
No earbuds, TPU case or headphone adapter in the box. A bit stingy on a super premium phone.
If I didn't get such a good deal I think a Oneplus 7T would be much better value and probably superior in all respects apart from the camera.
I've seen a few messages of the New Assistant not supporting UK English.
It's nearly two years ago now, so this might be outdated, but I have my primary device language set as UK English, and a secondary language as US English.
You can then enter the settings screen in the Assistant app and just choose US English for the Assistant.
Worked a charm for me because at that time it opened up more functionality/commands for the Assistant.
Not sure if it's still possible on the 4, but might be worth checking. I did it upon suggestion from a Google Support rep at the time.
It's nearly two years ago now, so this might be outdated, but I have my primary device language set as UK English, and a secondary language as US English.
You can then enter the settings screen in the Assistant app and just choose US English for the Assistant.
Worked a charm for me because at that time it opened up more functionality/commands for the Assistant.
Not sure if it's still possible on the 4, but might be worth checking. I did it upon suggestion from a Google Support rep at the time.
cb31 said:
If I didn't get such a good deal I think a Oneplus 7T would be much better value and probably superior in all respects apart from the camera.
I've had the 7T a few days, I think I'm getting marginally better results with gcam, but I'm pretty impressed with the camera. My biggest complaint with the phone is there's a little vibration when the speaker plays audio which I've not noticed before in other handsets. Pretty minor quibble really.Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff