Google hardware event 2019
Discussion
I was interested in the mesh internet thing - I like the new features that it seems to have but can't say I'm keen on the price tag. I need to sort out some mesh/internet solution for my house and at £129 per unit (I'll need 3), it's looking like I'll be getting TP Link at that cost for all three.
I liked the look of the dual exposure in the camera on the Pixel, that's pretty damn clever. That zoom shot he showed of the Golden Gate Bridge was impressive too.
I liked the look of the dual exposure in the camera on the Pixel, that's pretty damn clever. That zoom shot he showed of the Golden Gate Bridge was impressive too.
I've pre ordered a 128GB 4 XL, in Clearly White.
I want it for the screen, software and camera, but mostly the camera. If it's even half as good in some of the low/uneven light situations as they're claiming, it's going to be amazing. I'm particularly curious to see how hard it'll be to recreate the milkyway shot they showed in the keynote. Will I have to be out in the southern desert in the pitch black, or will I be able to get something in the UK?
The design is meh, but at least no notch, and the battery is probably slightly in the small side. I'll see if I can live with it. I was waiting for the camera announcement and it really didn't disappoint.
Very curious about the face unlock too, is it really using the radar? It would need to have really fine definition to be able to pick out someones facial features I'd have thought.
I want it for the screen, software and camera, but mostly the camera. If it's even half as good in some of the low/uneven light situations as they're claiming, it's going to be amazing. I'm particularly curious to see how hard it'll be to recreate the milkyway shot they showed in the keynote. Will I have to be out in the southern desert in the pitch black, or will I be able to get something in the UK?
The design is meh, but at least no notch, and the battery is probably slightly in the small side. I'll see if I can live with it. I was waiting for the camera announcement and it really didn't disappoint.
Very curious about the face unlock too, is it really using the radar? It would need to have really fine definition to be able to pick out someones facial features I'd have thought.
I've ordered a 4XL in black to replace my 2XL, with an orange case, since the orange phone that I fancied is only available as a 64gb one. The missus has ordered a white one. That's 2 Christmas Chromebooks sorted for the kids at the same time! 
I do fancy the ear buds but let's see how the sound quality is before making any decisions.
I do fancy the ear buds but let's see how the sound quality is before making any decisions.
I've just read that the 4 will not come with original quality storage in Google Photos anymore. It offers free storage of 'high quality' photos, but not of 'original quality', just as with the 3a. Seeing as the 3a was far cheaper and aimed at a different market segment to the 3 and 4 premium level phones that's fair enough, but it seems tight to remove that previously included option on a phone where they make such a big deal of its camera and image prowess.
As a current 2XL owner this is a natural upgrade for me BUT... I'm not sure I like the omission of the fingerprint reader in favour of face unlock. It might be a deal-breaker for me which is a shame as the specs otherwise look great.
Every phone seems to have an Achilles heel; the 2XL's was the poor screen (although livable-with, but it's not a patch on some of the others available at that time), the 3XL's was the stupid great notch. The 4XL's is the lack of fingerprint scanner....
I'm not fussed about 5G, 4G speeds are more than enough for what I need.
Every phone seems to have an Achilles heel; the 2XL's was the poor screen (although livable-with, but it's not a patch on some of the others available at that time), the 3XL's was the stupid great notch. The 4XL's is the lack of fingerprint scanner....
I'm not fussed about 5G, 4G speeds are more than enough for what I need.
Well I didn't hold out long. My current contract is up on the 6th Nov so I had a chat with EE. They've upgraded me a few days early, waived the fee and maintained my Family & Friends 30% discount. Given that discount it's mad not to take up the offer of a new handset. It also means I can get the free Chromebook offer too.
I've gone for the 128Gb 4 XL in black (I still can't believe there's no 256Gb option on a flagship phone). Unlimited everything except data which is up from 40Gb/mo to 100Gb/mo. Comes in at £48/mo with nothing upfront although I did get upsold a wireless charging pad (it wasn't expensive so I doubt it's a fast one) and I may well get the pukka 10w Google one at some stage too. Only £2/mo more than my current tarriff so a bit of a no-brainer as I can sell the 2 XL on as well. That said, I still have my Nexus 6P somewhere...!
Hopefully I'll get used to not having a fingerprint scanner...
I've gone for the 128Gb 4 XL in black (I still can't believe there's no 256Gb option on a flagship phone). Unlimited everything except data which is up from 40Gb/mo to 100Gb/mo. Comes in at £48/mo with nothing upfront although I did get upsold a wireless charging pad (it wasn't expensive so I doubt it's a fast one) and I may well get the pukka 10w Google one at some stage too. Only £2/mo more than my current tarriff so a bit of a no-brainer as I can sell the 2 XL on as well. That said, I still have my Nexus 6P somewhere...!
Hopefully I'll get used to not having a fingerprint scanner...
Edited by Funk on Thursday 17th October 14:58
I'm looking around at phones as my contract is up at the end of November (S8 bought in Black Friday sales 2 years ago), I'm not sure whether to wait for this year's Black Friday offers or not. The phone will probably be a Samsung or a Pixel, as I'm not sure which other brands properly support Android Auto on their phones, Sony might, but I'm not certain on whether its all of them, or certain phones.
leglessAlex said:
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Very curious about the face unlock too, is it really using the radar? It would need to have really fine definition to be able to pick out someones facial features I'd have thought.
The reviewers I've watched have described the radar as being like a dome around the phone, and when it detects a hand within it's range it primes the face unlock to be ready to activate, and that's why it's so quick (it's obviously far more complex than that, but that's the gist of it I picked up)Very curious about the face unlock too, is it really using the radar? It would need to have really fine definition to be able to pick out someones facial features I'd have thought.
stevoknevo said:
leglessAlex said:
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Very curious about the face unlock too, is it really using the radar? It would need to have really fine definition to be able to pick out someones facial features I'd have thought.
The reviewers I've watched have described the radar as being like a dome around the phone, and when it detects a hand within it's range it primes the face unlock to be ready to activate, and that's why it's so quick (it's obviously far more complex than that, but that's the gist of it I picked up)Very curious about the face unlock too, is it really using the radar? It would need to have really fine definition to be able to pick out someones facial features I'd have thought.
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https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/15/20908071/googl...
I've looked at all of the contracts from EE and Three etc and none of them can get close to buying it outright and paying Smarty £18.75 a month for unlimited everything. Most of them work out at about £1000 for the phone when its £829 to buy outright.
Still don't know whether to hold out for the 5G version or not haha.
Still don't know whether to hold out for the 5G version or not haha.
Edited by AJB88 on Thursday 17th October 17:51
Honestly I don't think 5G's really going to be relevant for another few years at least, not until there's widespread coverage anyway. I already get 80-100Mbit download on 4G where I am and there's nothing that ever needs to come down faster than that...
To be blunt I think it smacks of the mobile industry needing a 'new drum to bang' to give people some sort of reason to upgrade. The reality is that most phones/TVs/cars/whatever are so broadly competent and more than most people need so more and more aren't upgrading. In TV-land it's the same with 8k - most people won't be able to tell the difference but "..8k is more than 4k so it must be better..." The same happened with camera megapixel wars - more MUST be automatically be better etc and this isn't the case.
I saw a lot of the tech reviewers saying, "....the Pixel 4 XL only has the Snapdragon 855, not the 855+...." - but it really matters not one iota. The 855 will be way more than most people will ever need (unless that 0.12Ghz speed increase per core and the 87Mhz increase in the GPU really matters to you...) so do even hardcore geeks see it as a reason not to buy a P4XL...?
To be blunt I think it smacks of the mobile industry needing a 'new drum to bang' to give people some sort of reason to upgrade. The reality is that most phones/TVs/cars/whatever are so broadly competent and more than most people need so more and more aren't upgrading. In TV-land it's the same with 8k - most people won't be able to tell the difference but "..8k is more than 4k so it must be better..." The same happened with camera megapixel wars - more MUST be automatically be better etc and this isn't the case.
I saw a lot of the tech reviewers saying, "....the Pixel 4 XL only has the Snapdragon 855, not the 855+...." - but it really matters not one iota. The 855 will be way more than most people will ever need (unless that 0.12Ghz speed increase per core and the 87Mhz increase in the GPU really matters to you...) so do even hardcore geeks see it as a reason not to buy a P4XL...?
Funk said:
Honestly I don't think 5G's really going to be relevant for another few years at least, not until there's widespread coverage anyway. I already get 80-100Mbit download on 4G where I am and there's nothing that ever needs to come down faster than that...
To be blunt I think it smacks of the mobile industry needing a 'new drum to bang' to give people some sort of reason to upgrade. The reality is that most phones/TVs/cars/whatever are so broadly competent and more than most people need so more and more aren't upgrading. In TV-land it's the same with 8k - most people won't be able to tell the difference but "..8k is more than 4k so it must be better..." The same happened with camera megapixel wars - more MUST be automatically be better etc and this isn't the case.
This is spot on. The 5G standards aren't even finished yet and there will be several iterations over the next few years, there is no guarantee that what you buy today will work in a couple of years. 5G signals have very poor range and struggle to penetrate buildings so there will need to be massive build-out, including a lot of indoor base stations and supporting fibre infrastructure, to get anything like decent coverage. It's a solution to a problem that hasn't yet been identified outside of marketing. I wouldn't bother looking at 5G hand-sets and paying the premium for at least another couple of years.To be blunt I think it smacks of the mobile industry needing a 'new drum to bang' to give people some sort of reason to upgrade. The reality is that most phones/TVs/cars/whatever are so broadly competent and more than most people need so more and more aren't upgrading. In TV-land it's the same with 8k - most people won't be able to tell the difference but "..8k is more than 4k so it must be better..." The same happened with camera megapixel wars - more MUST be automatically be better etc and this isn't the case.
I've ordered a 4, my only reservation is the battery capacity but I'm hopeful that it will be OK as the phone does not need to support a load of handset vendor bloat-ware as Android runs native. My Samsung S9 battery is only 200mAh bigger and that lasts OK. And a free Chromebook is a nice bonus.
Looks like the face detect can unlock the phone even if your asleep/dead/unconscious which imo isn't very secure
https://twitter.com/thisisFoxx/status/118416062020...
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/
https://twitter.com/thisisFoxx/status/118416062020...
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/
untakenname said:
Looks like the face detect can unlock the phone even if your asleep/dead/unconscious which imo isn't very secure
https://twitter.com/thisisFoxx/status/118416062020...
Just like a fingerprint reader.https://twitter.com/thisisFoxx/status/118416062020...
The Samsung S10 fingerprint reader has been revealed as being totally insecure, any finger can unlock it... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50080586
The answer is not to leave your stuff lying around so people can fiddle with it.
Funk said:
I saw a lot of the tech reviewers saying, "....the Pixel 4 XL only has the Snapdragon 855, not the 855+...." - but it really matters not one iota. The 855 will be way more than most people will ever need (unless that 0.12Ghz speed increase per core and the 87Mhz increase in the GPU really matters to you...) so do even hardcore geeks see it as a reason not to buy a P4XL...?
I think they do, I know a couple that had their eye on the 4 XL and were put off by the specs. On the one hand, I've ordered one, and to me it doesn't have any real effect on whether I buy the phone or not. My personal priorities are camera, software and screen, in that order. As long as the rest isn't too far out of line, I won't care.
On the other hand, £1,000 is a huge amount, and I see why people might be upset with a phone that has just been released and lacking features. 6GB of RAM when a lot of phones are offering 8-12GB. Max 128GB of storage when many people are offering 256GB+. Two cameras when the standard is three. No under screen fingerprint scanner. No headphones or even dongle included in the box.
By the looks of it, this will be a little bit of a nerd/specialist phone. I'm really looking forward to mine arriving, but I think I would find it hard to recommend someone get this over a Oneplus 7 Pro, unless they were REALLY into an amazing camera and Google's version of Android.
I've just put a pre order through for a White XL, I really like the look of it, quite unilitarian, from various reviews, it feels great in the hand apparently, with the aluminium band and Matt glass, it's not very slippy (I have a one plus 7 pro at the moment which is like a bar of soap to hold!) Great phone though.
The soli radar looks interesting, in one video, it demonstrates the radar, it can see your hand about to pick it up, then activates the face scanner, by the time you've picked it up it's open ready to go, no lock screen.
The top bezel doesn't worry me too much, and is holding quite a few sensors, also I would much prefer that than a notch...
Great that it's got the 90hz screen refresh as well, after having it on the OnePlus 7, I don't think I could go back to a 60hz, so smooth to scroll.
Very much looking forward to it arriving and having a play!
The soli radar looks interesting, in one video, it demonstrates the radar, it can see your hand about to pick it up, then activates the face scanner, by the time you've picked it up it's open ready to go, no lock screen.
The top bezel doesn't worry me too much, and is holding quite a few sensors, also I would much prefer that than a notch...
Great that it's got the 90hz screen refresh as well, after having it on the OnePlus 7, I don't think I could go back to a 60hz, so smooth to scroll.
Very much looking forward to it arriving and having a play!
Edited by jamesbilluk on Thursday 17th October 22:03
leglessAlex said:
Funk said:
I saw a lot of the tech reviewers saying, "....the Pixel 4 XL only has the Snapdragon 855, not the 855+...." - but it really matters not one iota. The 855 will be way more than most people will ever need (unless that 0.12Ghz speed increase per core and the 87Mhz increase in the GPU really matters to you...) so do even hardcore geeks see it as a reason not to buy a P4XL...?
I think they do, I know a couple that had their eye on the 4 XL and were put off by the specs. On the one hand, I've ordered one, and to me it doesn't have any real effect on whether I buy the phone or not. My personal priorities are camera, software and screen, in that order. As long as the rest isn't too far out of line, I won't care.
On the other hand, £1,000 is a huge amount, and I see why people might be upset with a phone that has just been released and lacking features. 6GB of RAM when a lot of phones are offering 8-12GB. Max 128GB of storage when many people are offering 256GB+. Two cameras when the standard is three. No under screen fingerprint scanner. No headphones or even dongle included in the box.
By the looks of it, this will be a little bit of a nerd/specialist phone. I'm really looking forward to mine arriving, but I think I would find it hard to recommend someone get this over a Oneplus 7 Pro, unless they were REALLY into an amazing camera and Google's version of Android.
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