We need some competition in the mobile/tablet space. Apple hardware and performance is incredible. Google is inept at best and getting worse.
Hard disagree. I've used Pixel phones for years and they're generally great phones. Biggest previous complaint was their software upgrade support window was too short, but now they offer 7 years of upgrades.
All ios users say the same as you the first time they use a pixel, but it's the same when an android user tries an iPhone. They're extremely different experiences, far more different than we expect (because on the surface they're both smartphones), and we mistake the differences for general shittiness.
Overall I probably prefer ios by a small margin, but people like what they're used to
The Pixel has a fantastic camera (e.g. https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/google-pixel-7-vs-apple...), and it's "smart calling features" (e.g. better handling of spam calls, transcripts for call menus, "hold for me", etc.) are hugely important features for me.
I much prefer android. And the pixel is particularly good, much as I dislike google.
Hell no it wasn't. The UI/UX was a complete unmitigated disaster, the choice of device models was ... very limited, and barely anyone made apps for it, much less games, with Microsoft not doing nearly enough to woo developers over.
Apple and Android, in contrast, had a decent UI/UX, healthy app stores, and Android a wide ranging hardware selection from "too bad to put it in a bargain bin" to "holy smokes people actually spend that much money on a phone that's not Apple?".
Main issue was MS couldn’t release flagship phones world wide. Their flagship phone showed up in Asia 13 months after release. No one is going to wait year to get a flagship outdated phone.
I’m surprised Microsoft isn’t making a second go for a phone actually. With all of their WSL work, they could release a Linux / Windows phone and say this is like the original PC, but also a phone, install what you want on it, and also it integrates seamlessly with Azure for power users that want to program on their phone, and also integrates with AD for Microsoft enterprises focused on securing their corporate devices, not to mention the Office Apps and so on. They could even partner with Valve and release the Steam store on their phone, it could be similar to the Steam Deck, but a phone also… Not to mention the possible integrations with ChatGPT as a voice assistant and all of the benefits that come with that.
TLDR; the phone market is ripe to be disrupted and Microsoft is the best positioned to do so.
Even if you could plug a monitor, keyboard, and mouse into your phone..? Just like you can with a Steam Deck..
I don’t think the power rangers transforming phone product is a good product for most people. If you asked me to choose between a regular M3 MacBook Pro and a full DeX phone based docking setup built around a top-line smartphone, I’m going to pick the MacBook’s 4x more RAM, 3x bigger CPU, 6x bigger GPU, and much better thermal dissipation. Why settle for a much less powerful device that is fiddly and annoying to “set up” for real work?
I also have a Steam Deck and the only thing I’ve ever plugged it into is a power adapter. If I was gonna plug it into a monitor, I’d use my vastly more powerful desktop PC instead.
I don't think "we need to run a VM with a distinct OS to have a chance of being successful" is really a great basis for building a mobile phone.
It had a YouTube app briefly, but Google cut it off and stopped it working.
MS created a YouTube app. Google got upset cos it wasn’t compliant. MS removed the app temporarily and re-released it in the months later when it was compliant with Google, including new features that lacked in the older version.
The app existed for most of windows phone life. It didn’t get cut off. It was removed from the store for several months while MS fixed it. Anyone who had the app still had it.