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Google Pixel 4/Pixel 4 XL

Tig Bitties said:
Face Unlock for apps? I don't have any apps I use that need my fingerprint or Face.
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Really? I have at least a dozen, likely more than can authenticate using FaceID instead of me manually inputting a password. Most importantly, every time I fill-in login credentials to an app or website using iCloud Keychain or 1Password, it verifies using FaceID, else I’d need to manually enter a password every time. I likely use this functionality dozens of times per day.

As @Awesomesince86 mentioned, password manager integration is much more seamless on iOS and one of the primary reasons I use it day to day over my Pixel 3XL.
 
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tbayrgs said:
Really? I have at least a dozen, likely more than can authenticate using FaceID instead of me manually inputting a password. Most importantly, every time I fill-in login credentials to an app or website using iCloud Keychain or 1Password, it verifies using FaceID, else I’d need to manually enter a password every time. I likely use this functionality dozens of times per day.

As @Awesomesince86 mentioned, password manager integration is much more seamless on iOS and one of the primary reasons I use it day to day over my Pixel 3XL.
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Yes, log-in authentication is just on another level on iOS. I loved it with TouchID on my 7 Plus but on my 11 Pro with FaceID it just flies, I never have to fiddle when logging in to anything anymore, be it apps or sites. On my 6T just 6 months ago this was still consistently unreliable and a pain in the ass.

The Safari reading mode is another little everyday thing I love on iOS. Long press the icon top left in the address bar and all the web muck just goes away. Samsung browser has a reading mode too but I found it more unreliable and most importantly not as clean and good looking, with arbitrary shades of purplish blue for links and highlights which would disturb the look and glow too bright when reading in a dark room.

All in all though, iOS vs Android remains a choice between different ways of doing things, rather than good/worse ways of doing things. It just comes down to preference overall. I miss some things from Android, like being able to tap the share icon in any app and have my girlfriends WhatsApp contact show up as first thing for immediate sharing. I can only get iOS to do that with iMessage contacts.

Currently my 11 Pro is making me forget all other phones I ever owned. I'd love to use a Pixel in the future, but there's a quite long row of iOS functionality bits that I need Android to implement before it'll happen.
 
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michael9891 said:
That's a tiny amount of apps that work with Face Unlock.

As for apps being better quality on iOS, personally I think that's a load of crap. They're just as good on Android. The only difference is some of the actual apps only being on one OS or the other.
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I have to agree with @drinkingtea ios apps are better quality and way more pleasant to use on Ios than Android.
90% of the time apps gets on ios first because it's just more easier to develop for ios. Android have 100's of different devices and it's hard to get it right for every devices, Apple have way fewer devices so the experience is almost if not the same on every Apple devices. Im a hybrid user and hands down ios apps are more enjoyable to use on ios in my opinion. I still loooove android don't get me wrong love my pixel 4xl to death!!
And android 10 got a lot more polished. One day they will be on par.
 
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Lava Lamp Freak said:
It looks like Pixel 4 will be discounted $200 for all models for Black Friday.

9to5google.com

[Update: Starts Nov 24] Google Store taking $200 off Pixel 4 for Black Friday

After last year, waiting for the holidays to buy a new Google phone is wise. A Google Store ad suggests that the Pixel 4 on Black Friday and Cyber Monday...
9to5google.com 9to5google.com
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That’s not bad. But I’ve decided to skip it for the holiday season. Even for putting it on a Christmas wish list. I am liking the Samsung S11e rumors and may trade the 3XL in for that. I don’t want to trade my Note in for anything other than another Note as it is indispensable at home.

But I would not mind a second small phone to carry with me. I don’t think the Pixel 4 is going to be that for me. Currently my Pixel 2 reclaimed that spot and will hang onto it until next year. Who knows, maybe the S11e won’t be able to unseat Snowball, either. 😲
 
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mi7chy said:
Not really a surprise but Google Assistant is much smarter, quicker and hands-free than Siri.

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Despite all the Siri complaints people have, I’m quite impressed that it was able to do most of what Google Assistant could do. I was expecting a lot worse, TBH.
 
drinkingtea said:
Despite all the Siri complaints people have, I’m quite impressed that it was able to do most of what Google Assistant could do. I was expecting a lot worse, TBH.
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That wasn't a comprehensive test. Even compared to previous Google Assistant on older Pixel device Siri is about half as capable.

 
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drinkingtea said:
Despite all the Siri complaints people have, I’m quite impressed that it was able to do most of what Google Assistant could do. I was expecting a lot worse, TBH.
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Siri has been pretty capable for me. But I admire the fact Google has its Assistant running on the phone now. I’ve been places where I had no WiFi and no signal and couldn’t use Siri to do basic functions for my phone. If that has changed very recently then I’m not aware of it.

Edit: just checked by putting my phone in airplane mode. Yeah Siri is not available.
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Heh, I just realized my Pixel 2 can't get the November security patch either. Must not just be a Pixel 4 problem. I have the sim still in it.
 
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I don’t fault Siri for being dumber because Google harvests your data in order to make the Assistant smarter. Trade offs on both platforms Assistant-wise.
 
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drinkingtea said:
I don’t fault Siri for being dumber because Google harvests your data in order to make the Assistant smarter. Trade offs on both platforms Assistant-wise.
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but...this is what you want it to do to make the digital assistant better. I mean it has to have more information to do more things.
I guarantee you the better Siri gets means the more information siri is collecting from you.
How else does digital assistants get better?
 
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I’ve just never been that interested in voice control/assistants on phones. I occasionally ask Siri to play a playlist I made and it works. So that’s nice.
 
drinkingtea said:
I don’t fault Siri for being dumber because Google harvests your data in order to make the Assistant smarter. Trade offs on both platforms Assistant-wise.
Click to expand...

The fact that Google Assistant is continually improving its off-line capabilities with, for example, full speech recognition in airplane mode as confirmed in the post above yours while Siri requires online so it's Apple that harvests more data.
 
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GrumpyMom said:
Siri has been pretty capable for me. But I admire the fact Google has its Assistant running on the phone now. I’ve been places where I had no WiFi and no signal and couldn’t use Siri to do basic functions for my phone. If that has changed very recently then I’m not aware of it.

Edit: just checked by putting my phone in airplane mode. Yeah Siri is not available.
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Heh, I just realized my Pixel 2 can't get the November security patch either. Must not just be a Pixel 4 problem. I have the sim still in it.
Click to expand...
Siri does the basics well for me...if I want intelligent answers I use my google home...I do not ask my phone for any tasks apart from via Apple Watch or to read out texts etc...

i dont see the appeal in assistants on phones in the sense of making me use a phone over The other
 
How do you control screen brightness on your Pixel 4 / 4 XL?

To help battery life, I have read that Ambient display or Adaptive Brightness and that EQ thing too, can be a bit of a battery drainer, and it's best to just set your brightness yourself.

But there's no easy quick way to do that it seems? Other than going into Settings - Display, and sliding the bar up or down to get the specific % you want.

Is there an app, or what are you guys doing?
 
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