Google threatened tech influencers unless they 'preferred' the Pixel | Hacker News Reader

Google threatened tech influencers unless they 'preferred' the Pixel

theverge.com

55 pointsluu19 comments

“When asked, Google communications manager Kayla Geier told The Verge that “#TeamPixel is a distinct program, separate from our press and creator reviews programs. The goal of #TeamPixel is to get Pixel devices into the hands of content creators, not press and tech reviewers. We missed the mark with this new language that appeared in the #TeamPixel form yesterday, and it has been removed.”

Those terms certainly caused confusion online, with some assuming such terms apply to all product reviewers. However, that isn’t the case. Google’s official Pixel review program for publications like The Verge requires no such stipulations

The first part of the question is formed so weasely. "You acknowledge that you are expected to...".

Sure, I can acknowledge that GOOG is expecting me to do stuff, but other than me acknowledging the request, it's not asking me to fulfill its expectations (yet). Can you acknowledge me saying "Go fuck yourself" to your expectations?

Obviously the second part is less weasely...

Google should sell their phone division to MS.

Why? The Pixels have been fine, if boring. But that's what I wanted: a boring, stable Android phone with regular updates.

Lol. Google knows they can't win in hardware, search or AI anymore. Now you will see more and more evil stuff from the once "do no evil" company abusing its monopoly power.

Last good google phone was the nexus 5 until it boot loops. Life sucks get used to it with google.

Yup. I bought a brand new Pixel 7 because I loved the old HTC made Pixels. The P7 stopped receiving calls for whatever reason at random times. Twice it missed emergency calls and that's when I decided to pull the plug.

So that is why they are threatening influencers now. But nothing will come of it. They will lose albeit slowly because monopolies are allowed in our country.

The Pixel phones have been generally quite good, especially if you stick to the lower end ones and wait for a good deal. The photo software is great, the support period is good, and there's just no real big complaints about the rest.

Probably the only brand or tool from Google I actually have good feelings about these days.

What about Nexus 6P?

I personally liked that one quite a bit, until it started hitting the issue with shutting down at ~30% battery (on top of the battery already being weak in the first place) and bootlooping.

Sadly, those problems started just about a year into owning the device, and they were widespread enough that Google just started sending brand new Pixels as a replacement for free.

> Google knows they can't win in hardware

cameras on pixels tend to rank well compared to competitors, so it's arguable that they are winning in that regard. maybe not in the camera hardware itself, but the pictures the hardware+postprocessing produce

and frankly the camera is one of the most important parts on a phone. whether it has 8gb or 12gb of ram or 60hz or 120hz display is kind of irrelevant to most people

Just buy a compact camera. I have a Sony ZV-1 (though the RX100 is more geared towards photography if that's your preference) that I carry in my pocket, usually instead of my phone. It costs less than top it the line phones with way better picture quality.

Seriously, if you care that much about your camera, don't buy a phone as your camera. Cheap out on your phone instead.

Nobody in their right mind is carrying a separate camera with them everywhere they carry their phone.

I guess me and my Fuji X-E3 are out of our minds then.

I like taking good photos, so I carry a camera.

idk cameras can get kind of expensive and have a bunch of accessories

phones are simple and low fuss

Phones can get expensive and have a bunch of accessories too. I don't get your point honestly.

Did you look at either of the cameras I mentioned? The class of camera is called a "point and shoot"[0] for a reason.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-and-shoot_camera

I think there's a lot of manipulation of public opinion in the camera processing as well. I got rid of Pixel (6 Pro) because of its camera - it does quite well for landscapes, but on people's faces it's really bad - I used to get gray skin, eye color turning blue to black etc. This usually happened in low / incandescent light. Never seen something like this on other phone cameras. I guess it's just overreliance on AI which then just "guesses" wrong.

BLUF:

* The program seemed intended for influencers of the non-reviewer and non-press variety.

* Nonetheless, a fair number of reviewers were in the program, and the reviewers are the ones who've spoken up about the language.

Google's statement here in essence implies total blindness to the fact that there were tech reviewers in the program ("#TeamPixel is a distinct program, separate from our press and creator reviews programs. The goal of #TeamPixel is to get Pixel devices into the hands of content creators, not press and tech reviewers. We missed the mark with this new language that appeared in the #TeamPixel form yesterday, and it has been removed.").

^^This all makes it look even worse in my opinion.

Why? Are you against the program in principle or how it was executed (ie. reviewers got in the program)? I don't see any issues with giving out free phones in exchange for good publicity, as long as it's properly disclosed. The execution was suboptimal but I don't see any evidence of malice either.

Well, to be fair, Google clearly designated content creators they thought they could threaten into silence as their literal marks, so accidentally letting tougher audiences see the language is "missing the mark".

Honestly, every corporate apology is just "sorry you caught us, next time you won't."

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