Google Pixel 4/Pixel 4 XL

[Tig Bitties]

To me, it’s not just a design thing - bezels mean you have wasted space where either useable screen could’ve been, or no phone could’ve been (smaller form factor for your hands)...it impacts the user experience as comfort in the hand is hindered. Can also think of it as having an unnecessary case that adds to the height of the phone.

I would’ve much preferred if they beat Apple to a smaller notch, & with 3 symmetrical edges on the sides/bottom.That’s how you implement a secure Face ID system with an efficient screen-body ratio in 2019.

Amen 100% agree

 

[AustinIllini]

If that's accurate, that tells me Google aren't concerned with your eyes. Which are surely the most important part of facial recognition? Might be a problem.

I think attention is important but not critical. I'm not sure how likely it is someone is going to be able to unlock your device with your face.

If they can be easily spoofed, this is a bad phone.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

The lack of security for face unlock is probably being overblown. It appears the developers models don't have the settings for eyes, but assuming the consumer models do, it will probably work just like Face ID. If this didn't make it in, well that's a big omission.

 

[JPNFRK7]

interesting. do you have a link to the source? I've been a google one subscriber for a little while now, so I'd be curious what this is about.

Here is the official Google One link (https://one.google.com/about), about half way down the page is Google One rewards that explains it (click on "terms apply").

You need the 2TB package to get the 10% back. Lower tiers don't get rewards or 3%.

----

This link (https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=981291&p=6669005&viewfull=1#post6669005) is where I saw it mentioned.

----

The picture is of a cart with a 64GB Orange Pixel 4 with my new Google One account logged in. On the right is the balance that will be added in 30 days. I did talk to Google Store chat and they did say that this is in addition to the promotion (but we all know how well they do with inquiries like this).

Edit: I have confirmed that you can be eligible for both promotions.

 

[co.ag.2005]

Here is the official Google One link (https://one.google.com/about), about half way down the page is Google One rewards that explains it (click on "terms apply").

You need the 2TB package to get the 10% back. Lower tiers don't get rewards or 3%.

----

This link (https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=981291&p=6669005&viewfull=1#post6669005) is where I saw it mentioned.

----

The picture is of a cart with a 64GB Orange Pixel 4 with my new Google One account logged in. On the right is the balance that will be added in 30 days. I did talk to Google Store chat and they did say that this is in addition to the promotion (but we all know how well they do with inquiries like this).

Edit: I have confirmed that you can be eligible for both promotions.

thanks, I'll check it out. I pay for 100GB.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Google is fleecing previous Pixel owners on trade-ins

www.androidpolice.com

 

[Macalicious2011]

Google is fleecing previous Pixel owners on trade-ins

www.androidpolice.com

Terrible trade in value. Poor show by Google. However owners can easily get more through other cash for phone services.

 

[Aneres11]

I don't wanna get banned for trolling but I always felt the pixel just sucks.

I don't see the purpose, the phone has hardware issues usually, stock android is boring, they add all these useless gestures that most people don't use, still use the base 64 model, samsung screens still destroy theres and it's brighter, samsung gives better trade ins.

I liked the call screening but most people are just hanging up, they won't bother with all that. They didn't seem to improve the camera on the 4 + left out a wide area lenses + WTH why?

When apple got a base 11 with a terrible screen but all IOS, wide area lense, longer updates.. for a cheaper price?

It's DOA compared to the iphone and will be 500 on swappa but december 1st.

I do love the color orange and I hate samsung curved screens but google keeps on dropping the ball.

Also why do google upgrade gpay to support stripped readers like samsung pay does? Why doesn''t google do something to draw in more customers?

Honestly I don't think they care about the phone... and the killed off daydream and people are trying to sell their pixel 2 with daydream and it can't fetch no offers...

I stopped reading at “iPhone 11 with terrible screen”.

I mean, give me a break.

 

[AustinIllini]

iOS 13 has been buggy as hell for me.
Freezing camera, issues


I stopped reading at “iPhone 11 with terrible screen”.

I mean, give me a break.

Yeah, that's a bad take. No one would honestly call an iPhone 11 screen bad. It's not OLED, but it's certainly the best LCD screen in a market full of bad OLED screens.

 

[5105973]

I'm thinking the same thing, no way we can continue to give this a pass. I mean, outside of the webforums and guys like Marques and Dieter Both and these professional tech reviewers who regardless of how they really feel about the phone they really can't bash the phone too much due to Google paying them or their hardcore fans turning on them... I really feel like Google is really trolling with the Pixel.

They've been reports of a dim screen, and google doesn't address it. LG and Samsung makes the best screens and google orders the crappy version... Google gives 64 gigs of base storage running "android" and no offense to android here but IOS gets more downloads, better games and usually higher quality apps so I can see why Apple would skimp on storage because they know their apps are very good.

Android isn't in that situation so you can't skimp on space knowing you have inferior apps to your competitor, a reason samsung went 128 base this year... it's common sense...

Samsung knows androids flaws and tries to cover them up, a more apple like GUI? check, more storage due to not so good apps? Check faster wireless charging? check

google is just trolling at this point man, i don't even think they really take this stuff seriously I think they'll cancel the phone division within a few years once they realize pixels just don't sell like that.

This is the first year I’ve worried they’re getting closer to abandoning phones like they do everything else they try.

Because they didn’t improve the things customers care about as table stakes at this point. They only put effort into Soli, which I can see them wanting to license to other manufacturers eventually, just as they possibly could someday sell all their photographic data from our accounts and their computational photography. I’m just trying to figure out how they could monetize what they’ve done with moving Google Assistant onto the phone itself more.

Everything else that surely they know by now matters to customers, because it’s been talked to death in the media, they cheaped out on. Storage type and quantity. Battery. Gorilla glass. If it doesn’t have the potential to be extracted for future monetization, cheap out on it. Ignore it. Put it off.

I guess they decided there was nothing they could do in the field of video recording that they could eventually monetize as a separate entity, because they just completely ignored everything that’s mediocre about theirs. Honeybadger don’t care about videos. Really I don’t think I’ve seen video so utterly ignored in a flagship debut before. If they intend to keep making phones, I’d have expected to see some effort in this area. Look at everything Samsung and Apple put into videography this year!

This “conspiracy theory” of mine is the only reason I can come up with to explain why, for a 4th year in a row, they’ve either ignored or deprecated features and specs everybody else improves annually.

And even Apple still throws in lightning earbuds as a token they care to flatter the customer that we matter a little.

Google? Eh, screw that. Buy our buds in the spring. We are going to squeeze you for every last penny you’re worth in money and data until we’re ready to drop this gig.

Goodness I hope I’m just being paranoid. They could make something great out of smartphones if they’d stop halfazzing it. It just reminds me too much of the approach they have taken to all of the other potentially great projects they ditched.

Sorry if this post isn’t written too well. I’m coming down with a horrible cold.

 

[tonybarnaby]

I used to buy the new Galaxy every year without fail. 2 years of updates didn't matter to me, because I would get the next update when I got my new phone. Is there some technical reason why no Android even comes close to the 4-5 years of support Apple offers? I know there are still some people out there using their Galaxy S7 edge, and that's a pretty old phone at this point. It's not on Android 10, but it's also not obsolete either. I really don't think I'll ever keep a phone for even 3 or 4 years, but the lack of support is confusing to me, especially on phones like OnePlus who consistently have WAY more rain than needed at launch. OnePlus could really set themselves apart if they marketed 4 years of support. 2 years is pathetic for any flagship phone. If Google wants to be the Android version of the iPhone, they could really convert some people with longer support. Maybe they know that due to their stingy ram the phone wouldn't be good for 4 years? I dunno

 

[AustinIllini]

I used to buy the new Galaxy every year without fail. 2 years of updates didn't matter to me, because I would get the next update when I got my new phone. Is there some technical reason why no Android even comes close to the 4-5 years of support Apple offers? I know there are still some people out there using their Galaxy S7 edge, and that's a pretty old phone at this point. It's not on Android 10, but it's also not obsolete either. I really don't think I'll ever keep a phone for even 3 or 4 years, but the lack of support is confusing to me, especially on phones like OnePlus who consistently have WAY more rain than needed at launch. OnePlus could really set themselves apart if they marketed 4 years of support. 2 years is pathetic for any flagship phone. If Google wants to be the Android version of the iPhone, they could really convert some people with longer support. Maybe they know that due to their stingy ram the phone wouldn't be good for 4 years? I dunno

We can only truly speculate. As far I know the biggest reasons are

• Carriers - Whatever the process is, most android OEMs have to go through the carriers to release over the air updates.
• Significant Driver rework - Android has to run on all kinds of hardware and Google updates the Android OS and OEMs have to update the inner workings. That takes a ton of effort on the OEM side. Some companies, like Essential, have very little in terms of actual bloat and their turnovers are fairly quick. For someone like Samsung, it would appear they need to address each phone individually
• OEM software features - Many OEMs add special features (retina scanner, under screen fingerprint scanner) which require special updates to the OEM software.

Goole is trying hard to get most of the serious updates to Android done on their end with Google Play services but the core OS still requires a fair bit of development work on a per OEM basis.

 

[mi7chy]

The lack of security for face unlock is probably being overblown. It appears the developers models don't have the settings for eyes, but assuming the consumer models do, it will probably work just like Face ID. If this didn't make it in, well that's a big omission.

View attachment 870016

Perhaps Google is still finalizing the open eyes liveness testing so it doesn't have the Face ID attention security bypass issue.

https://threatpost.com/researchers-bypass-apple-faceid-using-biometrics-achilles-heel/147109/

 

[iGeneo]

Woof, what a flop. That design, the lack of ultra wide, gimmicky swipes and crap, and techies already saying the screen isn’t as bright as Samsung or iPhone at this point.
Disappointing to say the least.
Will take another look when it’s $500-$600 in a month or 2. Google continues to swing and miss on hardware.

You left out something else they left out... "require attention for FaceID". Some rascals are going to be called out by jealous girlfriends on this one... better delete those text messages and photos

 

[trfc54]

The phone looks good, however if I had to chose between the iPhone 11 and this I would probably go neither and get an older XR or pixel 3a. Prices are too high to justify marginal at best improvements, apple and google included.

 

[iGeneo]

There is also some debate on the dual functionality. It has dual sim, but apparently the ability to use both at the same time (like iPhone) was removed by Google?

 

[slitherjef]

Finally getting around to looking more at this device and so far my thoughts are just, meh. Don't see much of a reason to upgrade, since, well, the 4 is not much of an upgrade.

Not saying this is completely off the table for me but it's a very hard sell.

What's the defining feature from the 3 or even 2? Just a couple sensors? A slightly updated assistant? I barely use it on my phones now, just pretty much to set my alarm for work.

The design? It looks alright, the forehead is better then the grand notch canyon of the 3. Kind of looks like a 3a with slightly updated internals.

I don't know. I want to be interested in phones again but I'm seriously almost to the point of wanting a dumb phone. I want to be excited for this device or even some of the others but it's really hard to. They are all the same. The only differentiators are slight tweaks and add-ons that in many cases border on gimmicks or different way to do the same thing.

I am looking forward to hearing what those who have ordered have to say once they get their devices. I'm thinking this might be another I just watch from the sidelines like I did with the Galaxy S10 as well as the note 10, which I flirted with preordering about a dozen times and finally let it slide off to the periphery of my radar.

Sigh... ?

 

[Tig Bitties]

 

[Mellofello808]

Zero regrets about opting for my note 10+ over this.

 

[5105973]

You downloaded latest update? Can’t say I’ve had any issue

I've got it but looking at the latest news I am not sure my problems are due to iOS. It looks like they have been having service issues. Another forum member has the latest update and still has the same odd email issues I and my daughter's iPhone XR have been having. Some people couldn't get into iMessages at all. I think mine are working. It's rather hard to sort out.

I'm typing on my Pixel 3XL. I just took it off the charger a few minutes ago after making sure it was fully updated. Goodness it's already down to 94%. Down from 95% when I started this post. I keep turning the brightness down and auto brightness keeps putting it back up. I thought I'd turned off auto brightness. I forgot how wonky auto brightness is on pixels.

I hope those of you who get Pixel 4's will have good news for us about auto brightness being much improved.

 

[mjschabow]

Most of us want to have good income but don't know how to do that on Internet there are a lot of methods to earn huge sum, but whenever Buddies try that they get trapped in a scam/fraud so I thought to share with you a genuine and guaranteed method for free to earn huge sum of money at home anyone of you interested should visit the page. I am more than sure that you will get best result best Of Luck for new Initiative...Here For MORE INFO PLEASE just COPY AND PASTE this SITE...............www.v88.ca/3ce1

THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!

 

[jamezr]

THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!

i know right! Nice of her to post a link so we can get our computers infected with malware....possible enter personal information to have our identities stolen and leaked all over the internet! Man...sign me up!

 

[JaySoul]

This forum, like every forum, is going by the exact same playbook as always:

- hyped
- product gets announced
- "Why didn't it include this and this and this?!"
- "Meh"
- Not hyped anymore
- Forgets about it
- Reviews come out
- "Hmm, now I'm more intrigued"
- Discounts come along
- "Hmmm I think I'll give it a try!"
- "Hmmmm, this is now my daily driver!" or "Hmmmm, I liked it but returning to my _______"

I'm waiting for reviews and waiting for any early issues to be ironed out. As soon as prices drop, I'll likely make the Pixel 4 the replacement for my Pixel 2 XL. But not assuming anything right now, especially based off the usual YouTube reviewers doing early hands-on videos (there's still an actual embargo, they can't say anything of worth).

 

[5105973]

This forum, like every forum, is going by the exact same playbook as always:

- hyped
- product gets announced
- "Why didn't it include this and this and this?!"
- "Meh"
- Not hyped anymore
- Forgets about it
- Reviews come out
- "Hmm, now I'm more intrigued"
- Discounts come along
- "Hmmm I think I'll give it a try!"
- "Hmmmm, this is now my daily driver!" or "Hmmmm, I liked it but returning to my _______"

I'm waiting for reviews and waiting for any early issues to be ironed out. As soon as prices drop, I'll likely make the Pixel 4 the replacement for my Pixel 2 XL. But not assuming anything right now, especially based off the usual YouTube reviewers doing early hands-on videos (there's still an actual embargo, they can't say anything of worth).

I'm right there between "Hmm, now I'm more intrigued" and "Discounts come along." 😆

Good grief I'm watching my 3xl battery plummet, though and I've barely touched it since my last post. If the battery on the 4 and 4XL is bad I will likely bow out.

Poor battery life is one of those pet peeves I think I can dismiss until I actually have to deal with it.

 

[michael9891]

I'm right there between "Hmm, now I'm more intrigued" and "Discounts come along." 😆

Good grief I'm watching my 3xl battery plummet, though and I've barely touched it since my last post. If the battery on the 4 and 4XL is bad I will likely bow out.

Poor battery life is one of those pet peeves I think I can dismiss until I actually have to deal with it.

No matter how much I like the phone, if the 4XL has truly terrible battery life, I won't be able to keep it.

And for those that say (of any phone) you can just keep topping it off during the day, I shouldn't have to in 2019. Not when plenty of phones have all day and then some batteries. Google themselves proved they can make long lasting phones with the 3a XL.