The Google Pixel 6a highlights the problem with the U.S. phone market
xda-developers.com
xda-developers.com
That's what's wrong with the US phone market.
No headphone jack. WHY? Over 100 years and dropped for what? No reason, just handwaves about design and 'waterproofing' that are easily debunked by the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active from 2014.
Pardon me while I go throw away my custom in-ear headphones I've had for over a decade, or my Ear Hero receiver-in-canal headphones that leave my ears open without pinching my glasses against my head like bone conduction headphones do. Where was I? oh yeah, phones getting designed to death.
No removable batteries. So glad Europe did that rule, soon we shall have something again, I am very pleased with that development, I'm happy to say.
I will grant the rant about the carriers - it's true.
What physical keyboard? What pogo pins? What microSD card? What IR blaster? Nonono we don't need all that, we just need a SLIMMER DEVICE (that you can stick in a huge case)....we just need a new instagram tiktok eating device!
Arg.
Firstly, yes, you can can get USB-C to headphone adaptors that allow charging[1]
Secondly, the scenarios where this is an issue are combinations of edge cases. You have to choose not to use wireless headphones, not have a wireless charger AND for some reason be unable to spare the 30 minutes to do a rapid boost charge.
If that's really a problem then by all means get the charger that allows both.
[1] eg, first result: https://www.amazon.com.au/UGREEN-Headphone-Adapter-Charging-...
For most people who prefer wireless (I don't think anyone actually likes wires) this is a pretty reasonable compromise.
- ethernet vs wifi? ethernet wins hands down
- headphones? corded wins hands down
Honestly, even for chargers, I still use a wired one anywhere except my home office, because it would be annoying to carry a wireless charge around.
That's a reasonable position to take.
They are all things like "oh I have to ride in my friends car who has a 3.5mm input jack but doesn't have bluetooth input and also only has the cable without an adapter".
There's another comment about how the latency on bluetooth is bad, and this is a problem because they are a music producer who presumably produces on their mobile phone. Again, it's such a small subset and the fact it is solved perfectly with a $10 adapter makes me think the complaints are way overblown.
1. In the cases I'm talking about, I want to use headphones + a USB-C charger.
2. I don't like bluetooth for sound; it's inferior in every single case I've tried.
3. I have yet to be able to configure things so bluetooth is used for media/music, but not for phone calls. And I don't want to use the car/speakerphone for phone calls when I'm in someone else's car.
Look, I get it.. with _enough_ adapters and random other things, I can jump through a dozen different hoops in order to get music out of phone. But life would be a lot simpler and easier if I just had a headphone jack. Only they removed it, and now I'm stuck with an objectively [1] worse experience.
[1] Yes, objectively; because prior to that I had both bluetooth AND a headphone jack. So there's no positive aspect of removing the jack. It is objectively worse to not have it.
I just don't understand the reasoning.
> So there's no positive aspect of removing the jack. It is objectively worse to not have it
The benefits of removing the jack form the phone are clear: less connectors mean simpler and cheaper manufacture (so cheaper devices) and larger batteries/smaller phones.
Yeah, this sounds like me when I've traveling anywhere, whether it's across the world or just into town. I'm not going to haul around a wireless charger in my backpack, and I don't have 30 minutes to sit around waiting for a charge. And that's exactly the time I want to have headphones available, not when I'm sitting at home where I might have a wireless charger handy. At home, I just use speakers connected to my computer or my home-theater setup. Why would I use headphones at home?
It has been standard on most flagship phones for a few years now.
I rarely (if ever) use the port to charge my devices anymore. They just look messy, wear out and take more time to plug in and un plug.
https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Wireless-PowerCore-Portable-Com...
I’d rather just plug a cable in.
You need a faster wireless charger. The high-power ones aren't as slow as this.
But still, you're right: wires are more efficient and faster. And the big factor is that no one brings a wireless charger traveling with them. A cable is much smaller and lighter, and the wireless charger still needs the cable and power adapter anyway.
This is strictly worse than the previous status quo.
Probably won't sway you, but it exists.
- Still more irritating to have to keep charged rather than just plug in. Still more irritating to switch back and forth between my phone and my laptop and my desktop though.
- Still more irritating (or even impossible) to share my single audio source with someone else's headphones though.
- Still more irritating to pipe into the mixer and play back over big speakers though.
I had a phone with only USB-C for a while. Sure, dongle's exist. They also get buggy and drop out occasionally, since they've got firmware. They also make it challenging to charge and listen simultaneously. They also get lost easily.
There's a lot to recommend a simple 3-wire electrical connection with a standard plug. I don't begrudge people who want to use bluetooth at all, we can all coexist, just keep the headphone jack available so we can. :-)
But yeah, the venerable 3.5mm headphone jack is simple and effective and doesn't have many of the problems that plague wireless headphones.
Any good phone should have both.
I do however have the rare bluetooth connectivity problems with laptops, even the newer ones, but that could be a problem with Linux.
Also, I've accidentally damaged my wired headphones before by walking around and the wires getting hooked onto something.
Besides, I find it convenient to keep my phone in one place and walk around while making phone calls, or listening to stuff. Like, cleaning my house while listening to stuff.
I agree that it would be better to have both BT and a headphone jack.
I'll take wired over wireless any day of the week.
Having headphones that turn out to be uncharged, or undercharged, when I try to use them even once is completely unacceptable. For what benefit, saving myself the 2 seconds of plugging a cable in?
Fuck everything about Bluetooth headphones.
That's how technology has worked since forever.
I grumble about not being able to use the buds and charge the phone at the same time, but it's a minor concern overall. The USB buds have equivalent quality and latency to 3.5mm buds, so you're not forced to take a step down like you would be with Bluetooth.
And adaptors are universally unreliable. The one my samsung phone came with works with literally NOTHING else, and the 4 or 5 I've bought have connection issues.
Also if you care about audio it's another slap in the face as the DACs in those adaptors are pretty high-noise.
To go a step further, I ordered Google's pixel earphones which are USB-C. They got to shit in a month and when I asked Google, they just sent another one and asked me to keep the older one.
Long story short, I tried very hard to use wired headphones and because I couldn't, I just lost the habit of using a headphone with mobile.
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/C/connector-conspiracy.html
connector conspiracy: n.
[probably came into prominence with the appearance of the KL-10 (one model of the PDP-10), none of whose connectors matched anything else] The tendency of manufacturers (or, by extension, programmers or purveyors of anything) to come up with new products that don't fit together with the old stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensive interface devices.
Most people are very happy with Bluetooth headphones and don’t care about the benefits of the 3.5mm jack.
This happens all the time with tech, streaming is lower quality than physical media and has ownership concerns but for the majority that’s not an issue.
That’s a clear improvement.
In the case of 3.5mm audio jacks can you really say Bluetooth really provides better audio quality?
Convince? Ok, but audio quality? No so much.
Having cables dangling is not great, but you know what's truly terrible? Having headphones with empty batteries. Having to charge them is a massive inconvenience to me.
You don’t need instructions and a glitchy pairing process to make them work. You stick them in.
You don’t keep getting asked which specific iPhone in the busy airport terminal you want to connect to. You just stick them in.
You don’t need to fumble around if you want to quickly kill the sound for whatever reason. You just unplug it.
You don’t have to turn on an insecure wireless emitting technology to make it work. You just plug it in.
New tech: internal irreplaceable battery, more drain on the phone, massive e waste. barely works
I'm using the same wired earbuds for 6 or 7 years while my friends already did 3 airpod exchanges in like 4 years because the battery keep on dying
Bluetooth Stockholm syndrome in fullforce, but hey, it's "progress" and "progress" is always good
Also the headphone jack isn't 100 years old.
1. active dongle that gets digital audio signals from the phone, and converts that to analog using an onboard DAC
2. passive dongle that receives analog audio signals from the phone, and simply converts the pinout from usb-c to 3.5mm[1]
If you try to use the latter dongle on a phone that doesn't support that use case (ie. it doesn't contain onboard DAC), it will fail to work.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C#Audio_Adapter_Accessory_...
It specifically mentioned Pixel 4 compatibility.
Yes, I think it might work on a PC too, but I've never tried that.
Technically, this is more or less the same thing as what you linked to, just in a different form factor.
Or even this: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/5-1-Channel-USB-2-0_6...
Also same thing, but likely to have a crappier DAC.
You do need to make sure you get one with a built in D/A converter (some are just pass-through).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)#Miniat...
> full sized USB
What do you mean by this?
[1] https://www.apple.com/au/macbook-pro-13/specs/ (search for audio. Older ones have them too)
Of course, it still sucks not to have HDMI or full-sized USB on the laptop itself for when you're not at your desk, and that's a great reason not to buy a Mac in the first place, but I'm assuming you were stuck with that POS by your employer. My Dell has HDMI, 2xUSB3.0, and a headphone jack all on the computer, and still manages to be quite thin and light. (No, there's no wired ethernet or DisplayPort, but you don't really need those on a laptop outside the docking station.)
And that's why they don't make them like that anymore.
There are dozens of us. Dozens!
That said, Apple sells tens of millions (hundreds of millions) of phones, and the amount of data they get on customer preference must be amazing.
They clearly don't feel like the "mini" market is worth spending that much time on. I'm glad to see they offer it, but it's clearly not their key product.
The thing is, Apple lied about why they got rid of the headphone jack, and the market lapped it up and subsequently coughed up the dough for their overpriced earbuds.
My LG V35 was thinner, lighter, and faster than the equivalent iPhone, but it still had an IP68 rating while keeping both a headphone jack and an SD card slot.
...but I /do/ think the rest of y'all maniacs deserve a choice, too, even if it's utterly unhinged, so ceteris paribus I'd rather you be able to have a 3.5 than not :P
The iPad I gave my grandmother is the best specced, fastest (other tablets with similar specs are not even nearly that smooth) and cheapest thing at the same time I could get her. She can use it perfectly well (but had big problems with inconsistencies on Android). I don't have to worry about her doing something to it (whereas the Android phone, which I locked down, still had to have factory resets every year or so - and support non-existent, updates gone).
The MacBook Air M1 I got for myself is running laps performance-wise around my other computer with i9 - and it doesn't even need a fan, and I can work 2 full days (16 hours) on a single charge - doing Node.js and React Native development so nothing lightweight. The display has no competition, period - and that alone would be a reason to prefer Apple. The keyboard is the best from modern laptops too (yeah they used to have problems there, not anymore), and the sound is godlike. This computer also has much better price-performance ratio than any other option on the market, and there's not a single comparable product for that price ($1200).
The iPhone is the same story, don't want to repeat myself.
Most people I see making this argument assume that people not buying Apple’s mini offering in crazy numbers was a sign that there was no attraction to small phones. But there’s too many other variables to make that kind of assumption.
If we allow this kind of logical shortcut, smaller Google Pixels all vastly out-sold their bigger version, so smaller sizes have more attraction, right ?
It doesn’t necessarily mean a return to the classic Nokia pop off the back model. As long as it’s user replaceable a couple of screws wouldn’t be a problem. But e.g. soldering the battery to the motherboard, or gluing the case together with no reassembly prospect would be issues.
But anyway, you're missing the forest for the trees. Most folks who bemoan what you speak of simply want the option to repair their items easily in the case that something does go wrong.
You can though. Many old phones are hackable.
> There are other reasons also like replacement parts are no longer easily available.
Also doesn't seem to be true. You can still buy second hand parts and whole phones for old models for almost nothing.
> But anyway, you're missing the forest for the trees. Most folks who bemoan what you speak of simply want the option to repair their items easily in the case that something does go wrong.
You can likewise buy all parts for your 1963 Cadillac, you can buy manuals, you can repair it in a modestly equipped home-garage. Very few who complained about the computerization of cars do though, because new cars are so much more reliable and performant and relatively cheaper (in large part due to said computerization). It wasn't just a conspiracy to prevent people repairing their cars (the few who actually could repair their own cars back in the 60s even).
I accept there are real valid concerns about repairability, planned obsolescence, etc. But like I said, a lot of complaints about this stuff is wide of the mark IMO.
Having a phone with IR and headphone jack and SD cards and micro USB and replaceable screen and replaceable battery and upgradable RAM and pogo pins and physical keyboards and never-ending software updates sounds great. The reality is it will make it a much worse / more expensive product for the 99.999% of people who don't care for those features.
Lineage doesn't help you update the NDA protected binary blob drivers
Many != All. For example, up-to-date custom ROMs of LineageOS do not exist for all phones.
> Also doesn't seem to be true. You can still buy second hand parts and whole phones for old models for almost nothing.
Chances are more likely that you'll find damaged used phones with drained batteries, or low quality Chinese replacement parts. Sorry, but it does seem to be true unless you're willing gamble money on questionable eBay listings.
Personally, I've attempted to keep old phones from 2012 usable for my parents and older relatives, but it seems less and less viable as time goes by for the reasons I've already listed. Unfortunately, it's simply not as easy as you make it out to be.
I use a newer phone (Pixel 5) that lacks a 3.5mm audio jack and removable battery. I accept that I may be on the fringe for wanting that audio jack (although I'm not sure what survey to look at to prove this), but I disagree that we as consumers are better off without it, or that it makes the phone more reliable/performant/worse.
I plugged in my headphones through the adapter and my new phone told me it wasn't compatible with that adapter.
Smartphones are a mess right now, they're used as platforms to get consumers to buy into other products and services. You don't need a headphone jack because you can buy wireless earbuds, and you don't need an SD card slot because you can back up your photos to the cloud, and you don't need a radio because you can subscribe to a streaming music service, and you don't need a charging brick because you can buy a wireless charging mat. They're very aggressively pushing people towards all this new and expensive tech.
When it stopped being funny money, I ended up buying only low-midrange devices (Motorola E4, Umidigi F1, and most recently, a Nokia G20). Once you get to like $150, you've left the absolute bottom corner-cutting segment of the market and can get a competent device. It seems like at every price increment much above there, they start doing the "hand you something while taking away something else" game. At about $300, you start losing MicroSD and 3.5mm. At about $500, once you get past Pixel territory, you lose the option for vanilla Android and have to deal with big ugly vendor packin BS. At the very top, half the phones are now less usable devices and more science-fair projects to demonstrate how hinge technology is advancing.
I suspect it's really "device as jewelry/status symbol" at this point so you need the gimmicks to close the sale.
Meanwhile, weird bottomfeeder brands like Oukitel can sell a $200-300 phone with a 10000mAh battery, but the combined engineering might of the Samsung organization seems unable to spin that particular magic even on a $1300 device.
Apple's 10 bucks USB-C DAC may be great for the price, but dongleism is one of the worst and most disgusting trends hardware has had in the past decades, "just use and carry around an adapter (two if you want to charge at the same time too) at all times with you lmao". I wouldn't even care, if it wasn't forced for the rest of us. Feels like such a weird thing to have to complain about like this, too, it's very divisive.
Not to mention continue to be debunked. I'm typing this comment on a Unihertz Titan. Ostensibly waterproof (and in my testing it seems to care very little about whether or not it‘s wet). Still has a 3.5mm jack.
they intentionally don't build things to last, because the focus always how to sell you next product for you to consoom.
one company especially bad, talk about environment while release same product every year with minor changes. changing the appearance of the OS's every year because marketing needs to give superficial illusion of newness
2. Remove headphone jack
3. $$$
Not sure exactly what your point is. I've used bluetooth for well over a decade and they are awesome. But that doesn't mean they somehow could replace the 3.5mm jack.
That’s all said I do still wish the iPhone had a 3.5mm Jack, or heck even 2.5mm would be fine as the dac on the iPhone is better then most you’ll find in a usb-c dongle.
It's cheaper. That's what it is.
Come on. USB-C to headphone jack adapters are $10, and apparently Apple's (which is universal) contains an excellent DAC.
Current 4a owner, always had Google phones, and this is precisely the reason why the next one is going to be a 1+ for me. I don't want to sacrifice all the 3.5mm devices I have for a fad like this ,and Bluetooth audio is horrible anyway.
Do you have links to actual tests?
Otherwise every other single device with a headphone amp has sounded the same, especially when you factor in normal use of an eq to get your sound system/headphones to sound good. People that say you can tell the difference between audio DACs are letting the placebo effect convince them to support a crap, cottage industry that robs people of their money lol.
Now, there are DACs and headphone amps that can put out a LOT more power than other DACs and headphone amps. Yes if you buy headphones that take a lot of power to drive a normal DAC/amp might not be able to drive them but that is an entirely different question than "my DAC just sounds better than yours" snakeoil. Also... hard to drive headphones and speakers are relatively niche and rare. There are PLENTY of """""""audiophile"""""""""" headphones and speakers that are easy to drive.
So it takes great photos and has great software, but misses what users really want, which is taking photos and using the software?
The actual point of the article seems to be on phone carriers, which are a big problem, but every country that successfully dealt with that stared with setting up strong corporate oversight. I'm not sure the US is there yet.
I've been looking at the pixel 6a for Calyx but it's really not a good deal for me.
They are hard to beat on the hardware front, and will have a model at almost every size and price point. The only market they don't seem to be covering is hardcore gaming phones.
I'd choose a Pixel phone to have the software fully managed by Google (the camera being tuned to be neutral is part of the package), but I definitely don't see them (or any other maker) as a "good deal"
At almost EUR 600, I just can’t justify it though :/
It's an ok phone for the 120 euro I paid for that, I bought mine second hand for hiking. They get really long support from Samsung because they view them as an enterprise product (whether it's the enterprise edition labeled one or not!)
However, they are SLOW. The screens are kinda crap LCDs, even in direct sunlight a good OLED screen is much better. I don't know why Samsung sticks with LCDs on these. If they'd have used transflective LCD like most outdoor GPS devices I could see the point for outdoor readability but they don't, they're just cheap crap LCDs worse than what they put in their $200 budget series. OLED is better than they crap they put in these phones in every way. In the past Samsung mentioned they did this because OLED screens cracked more easily, however this cannot be a thing anymore since most OLEDs now use flexible plastic substrate, even in non-foldable phones.
The XCover Pro 6 uses the 778G chip though which is the same as I have in my Galaxy A52s and it's ok. Be aware, Samsung usually pairs this chip with very slow UFS2 flash (Snapdragon 8 models come with UFS3.1) so installing apps is tedious. But during normal use it's ok.
It's kinda cool that this phone has DeX but with only 6GB RAM and a midrange processor with slow flash I wouldn't expect too much of it.
They make you pay an extra feature license to use the side "push to talk" button with apps like MS Teams by the way so be aware of that. I'm a HAM operator so I'd like to use that but it's less interesting this way. It also stops people from building the PTT functionality in apps because nobody has the license anyway.
But I haven't seen the new Pro 6 yet no. It looks ok but yeah the prices are HIGH. And battery availability is tough, I've had a hard time finding an official battery for my 4S. Samsung doesn't sell them directly and a lot of the batteries on Amazon are fakes. Meaning the NFC stops working as this is part of the battery (Samsung WHY???), and you have questionable safety. This kind of undermines the idea of a replaceable battery, if you can't buy genuine batteries easily. Sure, it's a bit old by now, but this is exactly the time when you'd need a new battery.
But really, for 300 euro you can get a Galaxy A52s which is roughly the same phone in terms of specs. Exact same processor and ram. No replaceable battery but half the price, with a much better OLED screen with in-screen fingerprint. Put a tough case on it (I use the Spigen Tough Armor on mine, 15,99 euro on Amazon) and a good screen protector and it's just as indestructible as the XCover Pro IMO. And even if you break it and have to buy a totally new one you still spent only the same as an XCover Pro 6. The A52s still even has a 3,5mm jack like the XP6. The A53 doesn't and it has a slower exynos CPU so I'd recommend the A52s instead.
Also, don't overestimate the ruggedness of these devices. They're 'business rugged' at best. Even with the XCover 4S I used a Tough Armor case on top of it.
I can even limit the battery to 85% (to make it age slower) and still last a whole day with ease.
So I don't think this is a heavy trade-off.
I think the charitable interpretation of that part of the author's statement is "Users only need a camera that is decent enough, since there are more important things. Google focuses too much on the camera".
Even Xiaomi feels a bit borderline, they have very affordable and mass targeted phones, but anyone not caring that much would go no wrong with a Samsung, probably discounted at the same price as the equivalent Xiaomi phone.
The main beef against the Pixel phones seems to be that friend's story about the back getting hot sometimes, which is valid, but anecdotal to say the least.
It doesn't happen consistently and it seems to only happen when I'm actually driving with the navigation turned on. It's incredibly frustrating when it happens. I've tried different phone placements, even placing it directly in front of an AC vent but it still occasionally happens.
I usually don't charge it while driving but it has happened twice while charging as well.
Do you want a phone with these features for a great value? I don’t understand the article’s criticism??
This isn't a criticism of the Pixel 6a, per se. This article is not meant to be a critique of the 6a, but rather, is using it as a tool to illustrate an overall greater point. The reason you don't understand the criticism of the 6a is because it's not supposed to be criticism.
The phone costs a lot, and a lot more than most other devices that are in a similar boat of "mid-range". It has a lot of bells and whistles that normal consumers won't necessarily care for, because it doesn't matter how great the camera is when a lot of people are just using their phones for the likes of Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. A Nothing Phone, Nord 2T etc will get 80% of the way there in the camera department after the photo is on social media, and most people won't care for the difference.
However, the primary argument of the article is not to critique the Pixel 6a. Far from it. The problem is how the reason it's considered good value is because of the US carrier market. This article is primarily taking aim at the US carrier market and not the Pixel 6a. It's just a tool being used to illustrate a point.
To the headphone jack argument... started flying for work again this year and had my BT headphones go dead halfway through a flight. Options..? Stare out the window. I will continue to be a strong advocate for that missing item.
Thanks.
Though I am happy now with my 5a and its brief return to headphone jack.
Carry a battery pack. Have a backup set of cheap old-style tethered Bluetooth earbuds, if you don't have any others. And most importantly, charge your headphones in your pre-flight routine.
I'm a curmudgeonly type who has clung to all of those fading amenities: headphones jack, removable battery, micro SD. And I can say that the headphone jack has mattered the least by far.
Some phones have reverse charging, so if you have a earbuds case that supports it, you can charge them.
I'd be buying one if my phone died today.
not sure if serious or i just dont understsnd your brand of sarcasm.
i dont want a custom rom i want security patches for the life of the phone, whixh is longer than the 3 years i got.
Probably not true now, if it ever was.
Send your _old_ Pixels my way. I'll put LineageOS on and enjoy them a few more years.
Security is more important than you're framing it here.
My bluetooth headphones give around 3 hours of use from 15 minutes of charging. Apple iPods supposedly give 1 hour of use after 5 minutes of charge. Annoying to have it happen in the middle of a flight, but it doesn't mean I have to forgo music for the rest of the flight.
The original incarnation of the pixel was incredible: It bucked all of the stupidity and was a game changing device.
Nowadays pixel is just a yawn inducing device series that is attempting to be as cool as possible by being tone deaf to the desires of consumer; a goal at which they are excelling at.
Pixel’s edge is the fact that it’s a relatively stock Android ROM, at least compared to the likes of Samsung. It’s really the only choice if you want a relatively stock ROM, good update support, and you don’t want a Chinese phone.
People don’t buy new phones if you make too good one with replaceable battery and expandable storage. Phone is also cheaper to manufacturw when removing parts but not adding anything special.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.“
The American market for a lot of things is extremely lucrative on a per-capita basis. So you go and base your business on serving it. And then a growth industry turns into a mature industry, and all your fat margins disappear.
The American smartphone market is mature. The American smartphone market is becoming boring. The number of people getting a new phone every year (or two or three) is rapidly declining. For a growing number of Americans, all phones are good enough.
Fixing the “problem” of the carriers in the US isn’t going to move the needle:
If you get paid by getting a lot of American clicks on breathless articles about new phone features or new phone software, your revenue is in an irreversible decline. Americans largely don’t care!
Pivot or die
>They offer financing, carrier-specific features like Wi-Fi calling and VoLTE, and even phone-specific features at times if you buy the phone through their stores.
What's going to happen when carriers shut down their 3g networks by the end of 2022[1]? VoLTE is mandatory if you want voice on 4g. If you don't have it, your phone drops down to 3g when on a call. Obviously that won't work if carriers shut down 2g/3g service.
[1] https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/plan-ahead-phase-out-3g...
When they turned off their 3G, I had to get a new phone to replace my newish 4G phone that works fine on volte on any other carrier (it actually worked fine on ATT for a bit until they caught on that the phone was not on their special list). I have to stay with ATT though, because they are the only ones who provide coverage in this one area where coverage is critical for me. I tried an mvno on ATTs network, but ATT gives all of them 2nd or 3rd tier service.
Let's look at the Pixel 2: 145.7 x 69.7 x 7.8 mm, 143g, released in 2017.
Let's take a look at phones released since 2018 which have a full HD screen, are less than 145g -- it seems like a reasonable way to say "small phone": https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2018&nWeightM... this is it. These 14 are your entire selection over four years. If you restrict this to 2021 or later, the selection drops to a grand total of two: https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2021&nWeightM... The Carbon 1 MK II is circumventing my "small phone" search by using a larger carbon fiber body. The iPhone Mini is about to be discontinued if rumors are to be believed. https://9to5mac.com/2022/08/02/iphone-mini-going-away-upgrad...
That's a bad criteria. It excludes the recent zenfone 9 (and its predecessor zenfone 8) which is around the same size as the pixel 2. The xiaomi 12x also fits the bill if you don't mind the 7mm of additional height.
https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/Asus-Zenfone-9,Google...
> For example, the Google Pixel 5 had the Snapdragon 765G and the Pixel 6 series has Tensor with all of its inefficiencies.
The author lost me right there. They are either unable to understand the difference between a midrange snapdragon and a state-of-the-art custom chip with 5 year support, or they are playing out a narrative that supports their argument.
The 5-year support is nice but I want to say... Finally? It's good that Samsung is making the effort and that the Pixel line benefits from it, but if Google was serious about this issue, it'd also strongarm Qualcomm and other SoC makers into mandatory 5-year kernel patches.
Benchmarks place the Tensor chip at 1.6X to 3X compared to the 765G [1]. Again, my point is, if someone is willing to "bend the truth" to support their narrative, then they have already lost the reader's trust. What value can one possibly place to any subsequent claims they make ?
[1] https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-google_tensor-vs-q...
> However, time and time again, particularly with its flagships, there has been some kind of compromise.
The Snapdragon 765G in the Pixel 5 is a compromise (if you paid the sticker price, otherwise it wasn't an unreasonable choice).
The Tensor is also a compromise. Good SoC on paper, but not so true in practice: it isn't competitive against the Snapdragon 888, and it offers terrible network connectivity, which a complete showstopper for a lot of people.
She keeps going back to them though because the camera smokes the competition (according to her).
But you should know that 5G only really shines in really crowded places like sports stadiums and music festivals.
The other noticable difference is the faster battery drain; I disabled 5G entirely on my Pixel 6.
If you buy a phone, first make sure you know what bands it supports, as the 5G bands are all over the place, and the millimeter bands only do well line of site with no obstructions.
Carriers offer "deals" on new phones, like the Pixel 6a. For $10 a month over 2 years, BUT you have to sign up for a more expensive plan for more gigabytes than most people need - an extra $22.50 a month making the real price of the phone $780.
Having had to replace screens from time to time, replacement screens for the newest Pixels are in the $200 range.
Pixel 4a's can be found in the $200-300 range and the replacement screens are reasonably priced.
The mid range OnePlus phones have a number of disgruntled reviews - a shame because OP offers reasonably priced parts directly.
Too bad Fairphone is unavailable in North America.
Gimmicky but worth it, $150 each to get brand new phones that check all the boxes.
Can't modern modems simply support all bands? How hard is that?
One big difference might be the mmWave support which is pushed by some US carriers and that'd be completely lacking otherwise (no antenna).
https://www.androidauthority.com/phone-update-policies-16586...
They're probably not as fast as Google at releasing security updates, though.
I don't think anyone is thinking that AT&T certification (beyond blocking actively harmful devices) is an unpopular opinion tbh.
I just had a friend hit an issue where his dual SIM Xiaomi phone can roam on AT&T network on a European SIM, while AT&Ts own SIM next to it refused to connect because the carrier said the phone is "not compatible".
TBF this is from my personal experience, so I'll probably ask my carrier why.
I'm happy with that risk so I often buy used electronics, but I can understand why other don't.
no stupid punch hole or notch. apple and Google designers must be blind or stupid, can't decide which.
They are all almost the same, I'm not interested in finicky foldable that will break, because I have seen how finicky thr Zflip is, and the Fold is stupidly expensive, and I dont use my Phone for anything productive anyway, that's what a computer is for.
After switching to a Pixel 4 XL, I can't literally switch back, because I use CalyxOS, and may switch to GrapheneOS.
However other than the OS choice, the Camera still takes better photos than new Samsung phones, the OS is so much better than anything Samsung or all the Chinese iOS clones will design in the next 100 years.
The updates are fast, the battery life is good, and the design is good too, what is annoying though is absolutely the crappy screen, the green shade on lower brightness is annoying, but other than that, no reason to upgrade.
I will probably upgrade around the time security updates stop, oh did I mention how good Pixel software support is?
Chinese OEMs don't need it and nobody wants to end up like Huawei.
Tried to read this article, but the absolute predominance of ads and the screen constantly shifting caused me to give up. How has this sort of web page become remotely acceptable to readers?
Oxymoron.