Pixel XL. Ouch.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/10/04/pixel-pixel-xl-pre-orders-live-google-store/ A kilobuck for the 128 GB version with the $99 protection plan, tax, expedited delivery. :-( Cheers, Scott. (Who is waiting for reviews/teardowns of it and the LG V20.) |
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I want my e911 chip free flip phone back.
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EVLeaks on Twitter mumbled something about flip phones coming back next year.
Samsung's been working on flexible displays for a long time. Maybe they're good enough to make a product out of them now... Cheers, Scott. |
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Nice colors
Very Silver Quite Black Really Blue -- Drew |
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Heh
Nice names, pretty naff colours:  And yeah, it looks like the Google execs went "See that iPhone 6? That's a phone that people spend a lot of money on and has a premium cachet. Make our phone thing look like that." |
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Looks like these, too
Hard to say who's copying who at this point.  -- Drew |
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So, it's not a loss leader. :)
As (for now) an AAPL stockholder, thanks for the price umbrella! Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov |
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Re: Pixel XL. Ouch.
Who's it for? From here:
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They're offering a new ecosystem with very fast hardware.
Whether lots of people will be willing to pay for it is another question. 24/7 live support Directly taking on the iPhone: What makes the Pixel phones interesting, to me, is the relative lack of technical compromise. They have a fast processor. A fast camera (with improved and quicker HDR+). Fast storage (UFS 2.0). A fast fingerprint scanner. Fast software (they really are blazing-quick). Fast charging. Fast updates (seamless updates). A fast GPU (for VR). There is little about these phones you can point to and say Google cheaped out on. And isn't that what so many of us have been demanding for years? A Google phone that could be positioned against the iPhone as legitimate competition (even if the iPhone does have its advantages - and disadvantages). Nougat 7.1 Changelog Pixel product-specific Unlimited storage isn't cheap. Fast hardware isn't cheap, etc. The 7.x A/B switch "update a copy of the OS in the background and swap on next reboot" feature sounds great - waiting for OS updates to download and install is a pain. They are taking a big chance in annoying their fans. Part of the reason why they price is high is to pay for the features, but part of it must also be to show their partners that they're not trying to take the whole market (from Samsung, LG, Huawei, Lenovo, etc.). Until I know that it's fully compatible with T-Mobile, with WiFi calling and VoLTE calling, I won't agonize about the price. The hands-on and the teardowns should be interesting. It'll be good to see how it compares to the LG V20. We'll see. Cheers, Scott. |
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Eh? No they're not
It's just a very expensive Nexus phone. There's no new ecosystem here. I think Google have drastically misjudged the market here. Samsung already make a better phone (OK, it's a bit explodey at the minute, but whatever) if you like Android. And whilst you and I might find TouchWiz to be a steaming pile, it adds a lot of value for a lot of people. And if you're balls-deep in the Apple ecosystem (e.g. you've just dropped £hundreds on an Apple Watch) - well, this phone might as well not exist. The whole point of Nexus was that it put pure Android onto a not-brilliant-but-also-not-at-all-shit handset, at an affordable price point. So, given that I can get a pure-ish Android Oppo phone for $400, where's the nearly $600 of extra value here? The only thing that won't be crushed by Samsung's successor to the S7 (and the Note 7) is Google Assistant - and Samsung will roll their own anyway. I think sales figures will ultimately give you the answer (and tell you if I've just got everything wrong here). |
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Disagree.
The only really "affordable" Nexus phone was the Nexus 4 at $350 or so. All of the ones since then have been substantially more. One can get discounts/free premiums now if price is a concern. This is the only phone (AFAIK) with the Snapdragon 821. That has to carry a premium. 1 TB of Google Drive storage is $10/month. 10 TB is $100/month. The Pixel could be a boon for people who have vast image libraries. Etc. As for sales, I don't think that Google is expecting huge sales. It's a first step along the way of getting their Assistant everywhere, and keeping (some) pressure on Apple in the phone hardware and software space. But we'll see. Cheers, Scott. |
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How to get assistant everywhere in 2 steps
1. Put it in the search bar that everyone has to have if they want to put Google Play Services on their phone 2. There is no step 2 The 821 would be dead fast. Google have downclocked it to more-or-less the same speed as the 820. 1TB of Google Drive is $10/mo. So in just 60 short months, you could make up the difference! If you were to ask Apple to go to their cupboard of fucks, they would fling the doors open, only to show you that it is bare. And anyway, Google will give up on this in a couple of years, like they do with most things that aren't search/gmail/maps. |
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Re: giving up in a couple of years
How long do you expect to keep a phone anyway? (No sarcasm.) -- Drew |
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iPhone? 4 years for many
But yeah, couple of years for me. So the $10/mo of 1TB is even less of a sweetener. |
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Google Fi FTW
Got to have a Nexus to be on it. Been using it for a couple of months now. Vastly better pricing than what I was on, and deep integration with other Google services. It could be you could do he same with other Android phones starting from scratch, and I'm only noticing because I just got a new one and accepted most of the defaults. But so far everything I've seen has been pretty well polished. -- Drew |
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It does sound appealing. I use very little data most months.
I'm at all of 400 MB with about 7 days to go this cycle. Presumably that will change when I finally have an LTE phone... Since Fi uses Sprint and T-Mobile towers, it would seem that there should be little hardware benefits to staying with just T-Mobile, but the devil's in the details. I'd want to understand all the difference from my $30/mo T-Mobile plan before switching, though. "If something sounds too good to be true..." I've seen people complain that it gets to be quite expensive if you use a lot of data every month. Cheers, Scott. |
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Yeah, you pay for all your data
But I'm mostly on WiFi, except when driving. Most of my mobile data is Maps, except for Chrome data looking up websites for places I'm visiting. -- Drew |
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The unthrottled foreign data sounds great...
I travel outside the US every year or two and trying to figure out how to get cell service that doesn't cost a fortune is maddening. Project Fi sounds great for that reason (unthrottled LTE data outside the US) alone. But I'm reading that there are issues on Fi, of course. T-Mobile has VoLTE and E911 on Band 12, but Sprint and US Cellular (the other big carriers for Fi) don't. So VoLTE doesn't work on Fi even if the phone is certified compatible on T-Mobile. Which means that E911 might or might not be problematic depending on which tower you're connected to at the time. I've also read that TV Channel 51 uses the 700 MHz Block A spectrum that T-Mobile uses for Band 12. My folks in NC are in the WFMY Greensboro service area which uses, you guessed it, 700 MHz Block A. So there's no hope of using Band12 there until the TV station transmitter is moved to a different frequency, and it seems there's little or no plans for that to happen soon. Nothing's simple. :-( It looks like switching to Fi isn't an obvious choice for me at the moment. But neither is just sticking with T-Mobile. Gotta see how things play out. It still makes sense for me to wait for the V20 reviews, but the Pixel XL does sound like a very nice phone (what with the fancy image processing via the 821 chip, fast OS updates, etc., etc.). Cheers, Scott. |
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Mossberg thinks it's a big deal.
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He's an outlier on this one
The tech press has been pretty "meh" across the board. Reading more: it seems that Google are constraining certain 7.1 features to the Pixel line, apparently just cuz. If you bought a 6P, you must be feeling a bit boned right now. Astute comment:
* This is not the same as what happens at Apple, where whilst an iPhone 5C won't have all the features of iOS 10 that my 6S+ does, it's for hardware and performance reasons |
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If you want a Pixel, avoid Verizon
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/10/psa-if-you-like-updates-dont-buy-the-google-pixel-phone-from-verizon/ All sorts of fucked-up. Snark in the comments:
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Verizon's always been evil.
Charging $5 for the privilege of installing a ringtone on your phone, etc., etc., back in the flip-phone days. The locked bootloader stuff I can sorta understand these days. People are going to have their whole lives on these things soon - banking info, medical info, files, all kinds of account info. Who knows what sorts of things might get put on these little computers if anyone can hack the OS however they want. I think it's an overblown concern for most people, but it is a concern. Everyone keeps assuming that Pixels direct from Google will have unlocked bootloaders, but I haven't seen anything official from them that that's the case (maybe I've missed it), or more importantly, that that will always be the case. Cheers, Scott. |
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Worse than the ringtone
That was at least an example of adding something new. I had a BlackBerry with GPS. Google Maps already existed, and worked correctly. Verizon disabled GPS unless I paid $5/mo to leave it the fuck alone. -- Drew |
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Oooh. I'd forgotten about that.
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I couldn't care less about the bootloader
Hell, I've got an iPhone. The very definition of not giving a shit about an unlocked bootloader :) However, the software update situation is very different. The whole point of going to a Google branded device (Nexus or Pixel) is that you're getting Android as Google envisioned it, and that you'll stay on top of OS updates until Google EOL the device. This is the secret sauce. The holy grail. The Pixel Difference, if you will. Y'know, like every supported iPhone on the planet. Ironically, it turns out that some Samsung Galaxy devices are getting software updates for longer than actual Nexus devices. That's just crazy. |
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Yeahbut...
7.x is different because of the 2-copies-of-the-OS, update-the-other-in-the-background stuff. One (apparently) can't do that on older Nexuses without repartitioning. I'm still using a Nexus 4. I know the value of getting updates directly from Google. :-) But I'm EOLed on 5.1.1. Such is life. Apparently one can put 7 on it, but there are some downsides of doing so. (E.g. there was a comment on AndroidPolice in the last day or so saying they had put 7 on the Nexus 4 but took it off because it broke their preferred adblocker, or something.) J is on Verizon and generally likes them (she gets a discount through work so it's not horribly expensive). But she hates that they won't block abusive text spam (she has to pay for texts) and they refuse to even consider doing anything about it when she complains. She and her sister can call each other for free as they're both on Verizon. I don't know if they still have that plan available any more... Yeah, waiting for updates on V would be a huge annoyance, because you know the only reason for the delay is so that they can try to force some crap on you that you don't want. Cheers, Scott. |
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Yeahbut what?
Seriously, who cares about the ability to transparently update your OS when your carrier doesn't deliver updates in a timely manner, and your OS vendor can't or won't force them to? Love or hate Apple, they got it right - if your phone is supported, it will get updates, and the carrier - no matter who it is - can't do jack about it. Updates are increasingly important in a world where our whole digital lives are on our phones. When the Pixel line was first announced, I thought that Google had finally understood that owning the whole widget was the only way to deliver the security people need. Google clearly felt unable to go toe-to-toe with Verizon, and so they folded, taking the sales (let's face it, most Pixels in the US will be bought through Verizon) because "don't be evil" and "the definition of open" are now just so much horseshit. |
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"Don't be evil"
Would that be, "Don't hide billions of your profits offshore on an island to avoid paying your fair share of taxes?" That's evil. |
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You just did "ooh look a monkey"
Whatever Apple does or does not do has no bearing on Google's shitbaggery. |
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All I'm saying is one is no better or worse than the other. The reasons may vary, but both are evil.
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So what?
I'm not talking about Apple. It literally doesn't matter to my point whether Apple pays its (few) taxes in the souls of cute enslaved children and Tim Cook drinks blood from the skull of a failed underling. The whole reason Google said "don't be evil" and "this is the definition of open" was to get moral traction. I'm simply pointing out that Google is being an arsehole in direct contradiction of its stated position; this arseholery stands on its own irrespective whether Apple is also being an arsehole. And Apple never said they weren't going to be an arsehole. Look! A shiny, shiny monkey! Whataboutery kills debate and discussion. Quit it. |
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Exactly.
"So what?" Your point about Google back stepping it's stated goal of "doing no evil" is irrelevant in the market place precisely because Capitalism is part and parcel of doing evil. If you're going to have one of these gadgets, you're going to be doing business with companies engaged in evil. No sane person believed Google's initial claim of "doing no evil" and properly understood it to mean, "doing no evil until we get enough market share. Then, like all good Capitalists, we'll be as evil as the market allows." So, why are you complaining about Google? But, you're not talking about Apple. I'm asking, "Why not?" Your position here misses the larger point. That's all. You may not want to address it and that's fine. But taking a gander at the entire forest instead of focusing on a tree doesn't limit anything. It enhances the vision. |
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And I just told you why not.
You want to go and talk about Apple? Fine. Go make a thread. But please stop with this seagull threadcrapping whataboutery bullshit, just because someone doesn't want to frame the debate in your schizophrenic communist-in-america way. Y'know, capitalism is really bad. But what about socialism, eh? What about every other failed ideology? You haven't mentioned them! Why not? |
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Eh? I don't like Verizon.
I don't especially like any of the cell vendors in the US. They charge too much and make it too difficult for people to own and use phones of their choice. Verizon's big and has a lot of customers, so Google wants to work with them. Google doesn't sell enough phones to force anyone to do anything (and if they did, the EU would probably throw yet another antitrust suit at them). It's a temporary (and not actually) exclusive for V to have them in their stores. In a few months, other cell companies will have the Pixels on their web pages and in their stores. The "exclusive" will be gone. Apple having control of the ecosystem has its good and bad points. If one wants timely Android updates, one shouldn't be on Verizon (and quite often one shouldn't have a non-Google phone, either). It's not really that different with the Pixel. FWIW. Cheers, Scott. |
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Google doesn't need to sell phones, though.
They have something much more useful, in terms of coercing desired behaviour from carriers - Google Play Services. If Google really wanted to put the hurt on Verizon (and every other carrier), they'd simply make it a condition of the Google Play Services licence that if you want to sell a phone with Google Play Services on it, you have to deliver updates and patches on Google's timetable, no arguments. Verizon, faced with the choice of selling some iPhones and basically no Android phones, would buckle under and do what they're told. Oh, they could sell a phone without GPS. Yeah. That's definitely a possibility. A really bad and stupid possibility. But it's there. |
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But...
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/03/google-gets-more-time-to-respond-to-eu-antitrust-charges/ Alphabet (née Google) has been given yet another extension to file its respond to charges in Europe that it has misused the dominance of its Android mobile platform to lock out competition by promoting its own services over and above others. I don't think what you're advocating Google do would make it past the antitrust folks (in the EU or the USA). Things are different when you have market power in one area (you can't just use that power in other areas)... Cheers, Scott. |
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Sure
But they're already doing it. Everywhere except China. Here's your experiment. Take AOSP. Fork it. Make a phone with your fork. Now try and get a GPS licence from Google for a regular Android phone. You can't - at least while you're selling another phone with a forked version of Android on it. If you want GPS, you have GPS and you have nothing else Android-y. |
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+5, Interesting.
It looks like the US cellphone carriers have way too much power. I get updates for my Xperia from Sony - not Telstra (my carrier). I have no idea if Telstra's branding could disable Sony's updates at all or if Telstra decided they just didn't want to deal with updates and let the manufacturers do it. Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/ |
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Might be worth double-checking that
Although you get your updates from Sony, I'm pretty sure they will be approved/tested etc. by Telstra - assuming your handset is locked to Telstra. |
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No, it's not locked to Telstra.
And the update app is a Sony app and it will update over Wifi rather than the mobile data (I actually make it do all updates on Wifi). But I take your point, as the bootloader image has remained the Telstra logo. Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/ |
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Decided I just can't do it. New T-Mobile $330 LG V10 looks like a possible winner.
The Pixel is still out of stock with no indication of it becoming available (some are saying December). It's just too much money, and there are rumors that next year's Pixel 2 model will be "so much better!" :-/ The LG V20 is too expensive, too. So, I was looking at Spectrum Gateway again for what works on T-Mobile. I want either a branded T-Mobile phone or something that has been verified to be fully compatible with Band 12 (including WiFi calling and VoLTE) when unlocked. I don't want to be forced to buy a new service plan. I checked out eBay and Swappa. I don't want a used or "refurbished" phone - there are too many potential issues... And B&H. And what did I find at B&H? LG V10 H901 - T-Mobile Branded, Unlocked for $330. Snapdragon 808, 4 GB RAM, Lots of people screech about "bootloops" and other issues with LG phones, but I've never had that issue with this LG Nexus 4. It's worked very well for a long time (unless it gets hot, and unless the battery gets very low). This LG V10 is really, really, really tempting and I may order one Saturday evening (their cart is locked on the sabbath). It should work very well for me for a year (or two). (It's supposed to get Android Nougat in February or so.) What gives me a little pause is it is big - much, much bigger than my Nexus 4. But I want a bigger phone, and I don't/can't texting or do most other things on my Nexus 4 one-handed so that's not really an issue. If it doesn't fit my shirt pockets, we'll I'll live with it. It has gotten several very good reviews. The 1440 screen is apparently a bit of a battery hog, but that's not unexpected. And I already have to charge my 720 p Nexus 4 during the day most days (apparently because it keeps trying to find the network, and because the battery seems to fall off a cliff after about 50% remains), so it can't be worse. ;-) I haven't had the advantages of having a Nexus device for a while (it's still on 5), but apparently the LG skin isn't horrible (and may be better under 7). I can put up with a lot for a year or two. ;-) Another "complication" is that the Nexus 4 uses a micro-SIM while the V10 uses a nano-SIM. So I'll have to figure out what to do about that (many new SIM kits come pre-activated and I don't want that...). I guess I'll be doing surgery unless the T-Mobile kit came with a nano cutout already. I'll keep looking, but I'm very much leaning toward getting it at the moment... If I get it, I'll try to find the time to post a timely review. [edit:] Storage size is 64 GB, not 32 GB. Cheers, Scott. |
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New ones at eBay for $280.
eBay I'm probably still going with B-H because they include a 1 year warranty (and the eBay place only as a 30 day return policy, with possible 20% restocking fee). Cheers, Scott. |
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It arrived today.
I'm letting it warm up to room temperature now. I'll begin charging it in an hour or so. I've decided to get a SIM cutter rather than trying to do it myself. And I've got to make sure everything is backed up and that I know how to restore stuff on the Nexus 4 to the new box (this is only my 2nd Android phone). So, I'm not going to mess with it until late Friday. Anticipation!! Cheers, Scott. |
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when I get a new, the local tmobile store is happy to put a sim in for me free
always look out for number one and don't step in number two |
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Good to know.
I haven't had the greatest luck with trying new SIMs (e.g. a couple I got for Europe trips), and I don't want to mess up my plan. Just another day or so! Cheers, Scott. |
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they are as competent with their products as the applestore folks with theirs
always look out for number one and don't step in number two |
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Bah. The cutter, etc., won't arrive until Monday. Grr...
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Patience, Grasshopper! :)
Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov |
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Initial thoughts.
I got the phone from B&H (with the 2 year drop warranty), and an Obliq Flex Pro black rubber case, a Tech Armor glass protection screen, a $40 128 GB Samsung Evo Select SD card (80 MB/s read, 20 MB/s write) from Amazon. The memory isn't the latest and fastest, but I can't see the need to spend $1/GB for the latest until I know I need it. I backed up thing with Google and transferred them with it, with LG Backup, and via copying things to the PC (Pimlical has to be transferred manually). It generally went fine (all my texts were transferred, apps too), but the "copy to PC then copy to new phone" thing occasionally burped with some generic error. Avatars for my SMS contacts weren't transferred, nor were my wallpapers - I've got to figure out how to get those over. If I had NFC on the Nexus 4, apparently the transfer would have been more straightforward. An argument for not waiting too long to upgrade to a different phone. Cutting the micro SIM down to a nano SIM was easy. I just had to take my time and use the metal standard to micro adapter in the cutter. I used a YouTube video for confirmation on how to insert the cards. The back comes off easily (lots of little snappers) and snaps into place securely. The phone is quite a change from my Nexus 4. About the same width, substantially longer, substantially thinner. It has no buttons on the side ("How do I turn this thing on??") There are up/down buttons outside the rear center button for adjusting volume, etc., as appropriate. I haven't set up the fingerprint sensor yet - some say one should do it after a case is on. It apparently works with hand contact to the metal bars on the sides, but we'll have to see about that. It boots to a T-Mobile screen and tones. The white isn't perfectly uniform on the screen, but it's not annoyingly nonuniform. It came with Android 5.1.1 but after installing the SIM I see that T-Mobile has 6.x available for it (it apparently decides on its own when to install it). I get much better reception with it than with my Nexus 4. Unsurprisingly. :-) It fits easily in my shirt pocket, even with the case. It sticks out a little over an inch from the top of the pocket (on this shirt, anyway). I used it with Google Maps on the way in this AM. I couldn't figure out how to turn off the voice directions (didn't know about the up/down buttons on the back yet). A free sound pressure meter works properly with it. On the Nexus 4 it pegs at 80 dB. Here it works for levels much higher than that, as it should. So far, I'm very happy. I haven't done much with it yet, but it seems like a great bargain at $320 (+ whatever accessories, warranty, etc., you want). Cheers, Scott. |
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heh, just got a new t-mobile android phone
alcatel PIXI4 4G LTE makes phone calls texts and does intarwebb $19.95 all in NIB :-) always look out for number one and don't step in number two |
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:-) Rub it in. ;-)
I don't get phones very often and want it to last a while. I'm happy. Cheers, Scott. |
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Any privacy concerns with Assistant on your part?
Snowden certainly is no fan. bcnu, Mikem I think religion should be treated with ridicule, hatred and contempt. And I claim that right. Christopher Hitchens. |
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Not yet.
I haven't used any of the "Ok, Google" stuff in the past - I assume the Assistant is just a fancied-up version of that. I'm almost always around a bunch of noise, so I don't really see the benefit of trying to yell at my phone or some gadget in the house, yet. My past interactions with voice recognition have almost always been less than satisfactory. E.g. being at an airport, calling an airline and getting some voice system while some announcement comes on and confuses the system. :-/ I recall someone doing a thought experiment of being on TV for New Year's (or something) and yelling out "Hey Siri, What's the best way to ...!" and trying to crash Apple's servers that way. I don't worry about the privacy stuff. There are enough important things to worry about as it is... YMMV. Cheers, Scott. |
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Voice recognition is vastly better in my new phone
Don't know if it's the hardware or the software. I suspect recognition is happening locally now, based on the speed. -- Drew |
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Agreed (vastly better) for my G6
Not sure about the local statement. My vr has problems as I drive away from my house, and wifi data disappears. 3 seconds later it works again when my non wifi data connection firms up. I actually test to see how quietly spoken, quickly (running words together), and in heavy wind noise it will work. And am amazed how well it deals with it. The visual shows a series of mistakes and then it corrects itself, showing it understands not just the sounds I make but the context in which they make sense. |
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Did some looking
Found this note on StackOverflow. "From what I can establish, Google tests the availability of a connection prior to deciding whether to use offline or online recognition. If a connection is available initially but is lost prior to the response, Google will supply a connection error, it won’t fall-back to offline." That seems to describe your testing. And I just tested, VR works in airplane mode. -- Drew |
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Thanks
While it works offline, I bet it doesn't work as well. For the vast majority of use (set alarm, launch known program, etc), local should be ok. But when doing complex dictation, I ASSUME online (with deep context analysis) would have an edge. |
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Yeah, online is actually faster
-- Drew |
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Privacy is the least of your worries on Android
The massive shambling shitshow that is the security and updates situation, that's your big worry. /flees |
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Re: Privacy is the least of your worries on Android
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Re: Privacy is the least of your worries on Android
Good point, although that's iPad-specific. The issue is really the update situation, and it's two-fold*: 1. Even Nexus devices don't get OS updates for long enough - basically every Android device on the planet drops off the support roadmap after about two years 2. Carriers are chiselling grasping bastards 3. Vendors are chiselling grasping bastards 4. Google can't or won't use the Google Play Services agreement to circumvent 2 and 3 (e.g. by enforcing a rational Android OS update programme) There's lots wrong with Apple, of course, but 2 and 3, whilst still true, don't prevent updates from getting to my phone. There's a hypothetical 5, too - the ability to tick the box that says "use unknown app sources" or whatever it's called. I'm pretty sure most people who do that in order to get App X on their phone aren't fully cognisant of the implications, and there's piss-all Google can do (short of having real-time dynamic app security analytics including static analysis - basically the security audit that's done as part of accepting apps into the Play Store - built into Android itself) to protect people. *I lied |
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Down to $300 at B&H now.
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Pixel XL. Ouch.
- (Another Scott)
- (61)
- Oct. 4, 2016, 02:05:50 PM EDT
I want my e911 chip free flip phone back.
-NT
- (mmoffitt)
- (1)
- Oct. 4, 2016, 02:23:49 PM EDT
EVLeaks on Twitter mumbled something about flip phones coming back next year.
- (Another Scott)
- Oct. 4, 2016, 02:42:37 PM EDT
Nice colors
- (drook)
- (2)
- Oct. 4, 2016, 02:49:42 PM EDT
Heh
- (pwhysall)
- (1)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 03:03:03 AM EDT
Looks like these, too
- (drook)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 11:34:18 AM EDT
So, it's not a loss leader. :)
- (a6l6e6x)
- Oct. 4, 2016, 04:48:11 PM EDT
Re: Pixel XL. Ouch.
- (pwhysall)
- (12)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 03:01:12 AM EDT
They're offering a new ecosystem with very fast hardware.
- (Another Scott)
- (11)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 06:52:24 AM EDT
Eh? No they're not
- (pwhysall)
- (10)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 11:47:31 AM EDT
Disagree.
- (Another Scott)
- (3)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 11:58:01 AM EDT
How to get assistant everywhere in 2 steps
- (pwhysall)
- (2)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 12:17:19 PM EDT
Re: giving up in a couple of years
- (drook)
- (1)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 12:21:41 PM EDT
iPhone? 4 years for many
- (pwhysall)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 12:36:59 PM EDT
Google Fi FTW
- (drook)
- (3)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 12:11:09 PM EDT
It does sound appealing. I use very little data most months.
- (Another Scott)
- (2)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 01:26:47 PM EDT
Yeah, you pay for all your data
- (drook)
- (1)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 02:42:14 PM EDT
The unthrottled foreign data sounds great...
- (Another Scott)
- Oct. 18, 2016, 11:23:25 PM EDT
Mossberg thinks it's a big deal.
- (Another Scott)
- (1)
- Oct. 5, 2016, 02:21:26 PM EDT
He's an outlier on this one
- (pwhysall)
- Oct. 6, 2016, 03:06:59 AM EDT
If you want a Pixel, avoid Verizon
- (pwhysall)
- (19)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 03:19:39 AM EDT
Verizon's always been evil.
- (Another Scott)
- (18)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 08:36:33 AM EDT
Worse than the ringtone
- (drook)
- (1)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 10:21:22 AM EDT
Oooh. I'd forgotten about that.
-NT
- (Another Scott)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 11:56:01 AM EDT
I couldn't care less about the bootloader
- (pwhysall)
- (15)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 10:38:32 AM EDT
Yeahbut...
- (Another Scott)
- (14)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 11:55:41 AM EDT
Yeahbut what?
- (pwhysall)
- (13)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 02:29:17 PM EDT
"Don't be evil"
- (mmoffitt)
- (5)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 02:34:07 PM EDT
You just did "ooh look a monkey"
- (pwhysall)
- (4)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 06:05:54 PM EDT
All I'm saying is one is no better or worse than the other. The reasons may vary, but both are evil.
-NT
- (mmoffitt)
- (3)
- Oct. 9, 2016, 11:02:25 AM EDT
So what?
- (pwhysall)
- (2)
- Oct. 9, 2016, 11:54:13 PM EDT
Exactly.
- (mmoffitt)
- (1)
- Oct. 10, 2016, 08:13:39 AM EDT
And I just told you why not.
- (pwhysall)
- Oct. 10, 2016, 01:49:33 PM EDT
Eh? I don't like Verizon.
- (Another Scott)
- (6)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 03:34:43 PM EDT
Google doesn't need to sell phones, though.
- (pwhysall)
- (5)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 06:05:20 PM EDT
But...
- (Another Scott)
- (1)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 06:15:23 PM EDT
Sure
- (pwhysall)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 06:44:49 PM EDT
+5, Interesting.
- (static)
- (2)
- Oct. 7, 2016, 10:30:13 PM EDT
Might be worth double-checking that
- (pwhysall)
- (1)
- Oct. 8, 2016, 02:25:31 AM EDT
No, it's not locked to Telstra.
- (static)
- Oct. 8, 2016, 03:21:24 AM EDT
Decided I just can't do it. New T-Mobile $330 LG V10 looks like a possible winner.
- (Another Scott)
- (21)
- Nov. 11, 2016, 11:48:08 PM EST
New ones at eBay for $280.
- (Another Scott)
- Nov. 12, 2016, 10:35:20 AM EST
It arrived today.
- (Another Scott)
- (5)
- Nov. 16, 2016, 08:21:33 PM EST
when I get a new, the local tmobile store is happy to put a sim in for me free
-NT
- (boxley)
- (2)
- Nov. 16, 2016, 08:50:45 PM EST
Good to know.
- (Another Scott)
- (1)
- Nov. 17, 2016, 08:42:08 PM EST
they are as competent with their products as the applestore folks with theirs
-NT
- (boxley)
- Nov. 17, 2016, 08:56:46 PM EST
Bah. The cutter, etc., won't arrive until Monday. Grr...
-NT
- (Another Scott)
- (1)
- Nov. 19, 2016, 07:29:50 PM EST
Patience, Grasshopper! :)
-NT
- (a6l6e6x)
- Nov. 19, 2016, 08:57:11 PM EST
Initial thoughts.
- (Another Scott)
- (12)
- Nov. 22, 2016, 11:22:28 AM EST
heh, just got a new t-mobile android phone
- (boxley)
- (11)
- Nov. 22, 2016, 02:59:04 PM EST
:-) Rub it in. ;-)
- (Another Scott)
- (10)
- Nov. 22, 2016, 03:21:46 PM EST
Any privacy concerns with Assistant on your part?
- (mmoffitt)
- (9)
- Nov. 22, 2016, 04:48:57 PM EST
Not yet.
- (Another Scott)
- (8)
- Nov. 22, 2016, 05:15:34 PM EST
Voice recognition is vastly better in my new phone
- (drook)
- (4)
- Nov. 22, 2016, 05:36:43 PM EST
Agreed (vastly better) for my G6
- (crazy)
- (3)
- Nov. 22, 2016, 06:03:02 PM EST
Did some looking
- (drook)
- (2)
- Nov. 22, 2016, 07:36:55 PM EST
Thanks
- (crazy)
- (1)
- Nov. 22, 2016, 07:47:21 PM EST
Yeah, online is actually faster
-NT
- (drook)
- Nov. 22, 2016, 08:41:41 PM EST
Privacy is the least of your worries on Android
- (pwhysall)
- (2)
- Nov. 25, 2016, 03:23:11 AM EST
Re: Privacy is the least of your worries on Android
- (Another Scott)
- (1)
- Dec. 2, 2016, 02:49:37 PM EST
Re: Privacy is the least of your worries on Android
- (pwhysall)
- Dec. 3, 2016, 02:36:30 AM EST
Down to $300 at B&H now.
-NT
- (Another Scott)
- Nov. 27, 2016, 02:54:55 PM EST
