Google Pixel 5 and Pixel 5 XL

[Aneres11]

The only reason why I'm indifferent to Apple upgrading to 120hz is due to how well it performs at 60hz. You have to give Apple credit with how smooth the OS is. It's why developers gravitate toward the device, granted having less fragmentation than Android has more to do with it. But even MKBDH praised Apple for well it does with a 60hz display on a latest Verge podcast.

My point is... I understand the reservation with the "Pro" moniker, but your comparing it to the likes of Android in regards to refresh rate when they were plagued with frame rate drops earlier on during the years.

Hmm we'll agree to disagree on this one. I don't disagree that they have smooth 60hz in general, but it doesn't give them a free pass to not add it to their 'Pro' devices when they're charging £1000 minimum for them.
People will always defend it though - until 120hz does come to iPhone and then it'll be a game changer.

 

[mi7chy]

You have to give Apple credit with how smooth the OS is.

Apple slows things down to give the impression of smoothness. Take for example browser scrolling. On iOS it's annoyingly slow and too much finger work. Much prefer flick and fly on Android.

 

[Tig Bitties]

I still think, Apple being a trillion dollar company, they could have at least put a 90hz screen in the iPhone 12 Pro models, and somehow made the notch smaller, I heard rumors of a 1/3rd smaller notch, that's not a major change, but would at least show they cared and tried to slim it down a bit, which would be appreciated, and look better.

And a fingerprint scanner in the power button would be awesome as well, especially during this COVID time.

I am tempted to go iPhone and ditch Pixel, soon...but not yet. But if the iPhone 12 Pro Max had these three things as well, I would have been extremely tempted switch this Fall;

- Fingerprint scanner in power button
- 1/3rd smaller notch
- 90hz refresh rate


But one thing I need to applaud Apple on BIG TIME, is going back to a flat straight display. THANK YOU. My God I hate curved edge displays like Samsung Galaxy and the newer OnePlus phones. I don't even like the slight curved edge most modern smartphones have with the 2.5 minor radius edge, can't stand that. A perfectly flat across the board screen is the BEST. Hopefully this means 2021 Android phones will go this way as well.

 

[cuzo]

I still think, Apple being a trillion dollar company, they could have at least put a 90hz screen in the iPhone 12 Pro models, and somehow made the notch smaller, I heard rumors of a 1/3rd smaller notch, that's not a major change, but would at least show they cared and tried to slim it down a bit, which would be appreciated, and look better.

And a fingerprint scanner in the power button would be awesome as well, especially during this COVID time.

I am tempted to go iPhone and ditch Pixel, soon...but not yet. But if the iPhone 12 Pro Max had these three things as well, I would have been extremely tempted switch this Fall;

- Fingerprint scanner in power button
- 1/3rd smaller notch
- 90hz refresh rate


But one thing I need to applaud Apple on BIG TIME, is going back to a flat straight display. THANK YOU. My God I hate curved edge displays like Samsung Galaxy and the newer OnePlus phones. I don't even like the slight curved edge most modern smartphones have with the 2.5 minor radius edge, can't stand that. A perfectly flat across the board screen is the BEST. Hopefully this means 2021 Android phones will go this way as well.

smaller width with the curved screen and that's not gonna change no time soon. I think it's okay for Apple but Apple has a certain set of fans that care about specifics so they don't need to Samsung to beat Samsung since they're already beating Samsung as is.

Still considering switching to Note 20 but I really want to keep something for 3 years minimum and not change every year, after a while you use the phone for 30% of the features and skip the 70 even though you pay for 100% of the phone.

I just like Imessage alot.

 

[Carlo Aguilar Castrat]

I’m watching the Apple Event and the Pixel 5 is more exciting. ?‍♀️

I can understand if you prefer it, but how is it more “exciting” if it hasn’t shown anything new at all besides 5g which is also on the iPhones. For the same price as an iPhone 12 mini, only thing that’s better is the display size and refresh rate. Everything else seems to be inferior.

 

[Carlo Aguilar Castrat]

Apple slows things down to give the impression of smoothness. Take for example browser scrolling. On iOS it's annoyingly slow and too much finger work. Much prefer flick and fly on Android.

I don’t think that’s why they slow it down. Because even when scrolling extremely fast on iOS it’s equally as smooth

 

[Tig Bitties]

Never understood the popularity of iMessage? Like who cares, it's a text app. I use WhatsApp a lot between family where some of us are Android users and others iPhone users, and WhatsApp works so well, can send videos, and website links, and see them clearly in WA. And for everday texts I use my default Pixel 4 XL, Google Messages, which works totally fine. Really what's so special about iMessage?

 

[mi7chy]

Just came back from Best Buy with the intention of buying a Pixel 5 but it's not for sale until 10/28 but the iPhone 12 announced today is for sale but no demos to play with. Ended up blowing my phone budget on a Sony ZV-1 vlogger kit.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/combo/premium-point-shoot/25ba2756-b3da-4d70-91db-d98a2988900d

 

[Vegastouch]

Never understood the popularity of iMessage? Like who cares, it's a text app. I use WhatsApp a lot between family where some of us are Android users and others iPhone users, and WhatsApp works so well, can send videos, and website links, and see them clearly in WA. And for everday texts I use my default Pixel 4 XL, Google Messages, which works totally fine. Really what's so special about iMessage?

I never understood that either. It's a text app and the end result is you get a message and send one. Same thing. I don't care if my messages are green, blue, brown or gray. In fact I can change it to whatever I want.

 

[Vegastouch]

Just came back from Best Buy with the intention of buying a Pixel 5 but it's not for sale until 10/28 but the iPhone 12 announced today is for sale but no demos to play with. Ended up blowing my phone budget on a Sony ZV-1 vlogger kit.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/combo/premium-point-shoot/25ba2756-b3da-4d70-91db-d98a2988900d

Couldn't wait? Lol

 

[hallux]

Couldn't wait? Lol

It's not like the US release date wasn't known 2 weeks ago...

 

[mi7chy]

Couldn't wait? Lol

Wasn't the embargo supposed to be released 10/14? So, I assume it would go on sale shortly after and not way out until 10/28.

Plus, I think my issue is I research my purchases too well so when I'm ready to flash the cash it's lost its newness hype so on sale. I researched the Sony ZV-1 a few weeks ago so when I saw it for $150 off the kit plus usefulness of subject focus tracking the priority got pushed above new phone purchase. By the time my discretionary fund rebuilds hopefully the Pixel 5 will be on sale for ~$599 around Black Friday so it all works out I think.

 

[hallux]

Wasn't the embargo supposed to be released 10/14? So, I assume it would go on sale shortly after and not way out until 10/28.

Plus, I think my issue is I research my purchases too well so when I'm ready to flash the cash it's lost its newness hype so on sale. I researched the Sony ZV-1 a few weeks ago so when I saw it for $150 off the kit plus usefulness of subject focus tracking the priority got pushed above new phone purchase. By the time my discretionary fund rebuilds hopefully the Pixel 5 will be on sale for ~$599 around Black Friday so it all works out I think.

Embargo lifts on first available date, which is not the US this time.

 

[Vegastouch]

Embargo on what?

 

[noobinator]

Embargo on what?

Reviews

 

[chad.petree]

I still think, Apple being a trillion dollar company, they could have at least put a 90hz screen in the iPhone 12 Pro models, and somehow made the notch smaller, I heard rumors of a 1/3rd smaller notch, that's not a major change, but would at least show they cared and tried to slim it down a bit, which would be appreciated, and look better.

And a fingerprint scanner in the power button would be awesome as well, especially during this COVID time.

I am tempted to go iPhone and ditch Pixel, soon...but not yet. But if the iPhone 12 Pro Max had these three things as well, I would have been extremely tempted switch this Fall;

- Fingerprint scanner in power button
- 1/3rd smaller notch
- 90hz refresh rate


But one thing I need to applaud Apple on BIG TIME, is going back to a flat straight display. THANK YOU. My God I hate curved edge displays like Samsung Galaxy and the newer OnePlus phones. I don't even like the slight curved edge most modern smartphones have with the 2.5 minor radius edge, can't stand that. A perfectly flat across the board screen is the BEST. Hopefully this means 2021 Android phones will go this way as well.

Here in germany the iphone 12 128 gb costs 925 eur (it's a slap in the face that such an expensive phone still comes with 64 gb of storage) add that at least 20 eur for a decent charger and we have almost 950 eur, Id pay them if it had a 120 hz screen, the notch doesn't nother me that much, touch ID would be nice, but I dont think apple will give us both face ID and touch ID.

Also I'm sure apple will implement a 120 hz refresh rate next year... but only on the pro models, lol the iphone 12 pro costs 1120 eur, that is A LOT OF MONEY.

I'd pay up to 850 eur (heck even the 876 eur that apple is asking for the iphone 12 64 gb) for an iphone 12s with a 120 hz screen but no more than out of principle, but it looks like that isn't happening, so I guess no iphone for me in at least two years? ? But then again there is always something that bothers me too much each year that I end up deciding against buying the iphone, with the iphone xr was the awful 720p screen and meh camera, the iphone 11 the still awful screen, this year is the fact of it not having a 120 hz display, next year probably the same screen without 120 hz ...

 

[michael9891]

For the same price as an iPhone 12 mini, only thing that’s better is the display size and refresh rate. Everything else seems to be inferior.

In your opinion. Spec sheets aren't everything, plus the iPhone runs iOS.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

For the same price as an iPhone 12 mini, only thing that’s better is the display size and refresh rate. Everything else seems to be inferior.

I fail to understand why people need to compare an iPhone to an Android phone. If you were comparing a Samsung or OnePlus or any Android phone to a Pixel then your argument would be valid but here it doesn't apply. iPhone vs Android is irrelevant, two different phones running two different OS.

There are many here like myself who won't buy an iPhone for various reasons. My reasons are that I prefer Google's core apps such as the Google Phone app with screen caller. I prefer Google maps over Apple Maps, Chrome over Safari, etc. I also prefer Google's updates over Apple's. I want updates to my core apps after the OS updates are a thing of the past. With Apple your core app updates are tied to a new OS upgrade and with Apple any and all browsers are tied to their webkit.

 

[bandrews]

I fail to understand why people need to compare an iPhone to an Android phone. If you were comparing a Samsung or OnePlus or any Android phone to a Pixel then your argument would be valid but here it doesn't apply. iPhone vs Android is irrelevant, two different phones running two different OS.

There are many here like myself who won't buy an iPhone for various reasons. My reasons are that I prefer Google's core apps such as the Google Phone app with screen caller. I prefer Google maps over Apple Maps, Chrome over Safari, etc. I also prefer Google's updates over Apple's. I want updates to my core apps after the OS updates are a thing of the past. With Apple your core app updates are tied to a new OS upgrade and with Apple any and all browsers are tied to their webkit.

I switch between both and there are some things I love, some things I hate about both. Luckily Apple is making it a bit easier to use third party apps as defaults so switching is less of an issue.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I switch between both and there are some things I love, some things I hate about both. Luckily Apple is making it a bit easier to use third party apps as defaults so switching is less of an issue.

For some it may not be an issue but for me I still can't get past some of the features of Android vs iOS. I still have not been sold why I need to spend more so I can get close to mimicking the real thing. For that I just as well buy an Android phone. Plus I much prefer Chrome over Safari. For one, it's far more compatible on most websites. With iOS or even macOS, Safari is tied to Apple's webkit and any 3rd party web browser must use it. So when Safari becomes useless because of no further support, all other browsers will suffer the same fate. No thanks. I'm still running the latest version of Google Chrome on a six year old Nexus 6.

Here's my list of mandatory Google apps which are all stock apps and of course Android has a useful file mgr and you can customize the hell out of Android if you so choose:

1) Phone app w/ call screening
2) Goggle Messages
3) Google Maps
4) Google Keep
5) Google Tasks
6) Google Files
7) Google Calendar
8) Contacts
9) Google Photos
10) Google Drive
11) Google Play Store

 

[michael9891]

Phone received, headphones claim put in. Funny that my Note 10+ is bigger than the Pixel 5 box.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Awesome that real people getting the phone before official reviews are allowed to be released LOL

 

[Tig Bitties]

Google Pixel 5 review: new phone, old tricks

The camera is still good, but this is a very utilitarian phone.

www.theverge.com

 

[Awesomesince86]

After watching a few of the reviews, seems to be that this is a good phone, not great. General consensus is...

- Cameras still best at point and shoot, but not as far ahead as before.
- Video has improved, but still not at Samsung or Apple flagship quality.
- Top speaker isnt good
- Performance is fine. Only notice slowdowns when doing something resource heavy like gaming or processing pictures.
- Battery life is excellent.
- Probably still overpriced especially considering what Samsung and Apple offer around the same pricepoint.

 

[5105973]

After watching a few of the reviews, seems to be that this is a good phone, not great. General consensus is...

- Cameras still best at point and shoot, but not as far ahead as before.
- Video has improved, but still not at Samsung or Apple flagship quality.
- Top speaker isnt good
- Performance is fine. Only notice slowdowns when doing something resource heavy like gaming or processing pictures.
- Battery life is excellent.
- Probably still overpriced especially considering what Samsung and Apple offer around the same pricepoint.

Thanks for providing the bullet points. That’s about what I was expecting. If it weren’t for the fact I’d lose the ridiculously juvenile but much loved Google Playground camera feature, I’d upgrade anyway. I really love that sage green. But my 3XL is still competitive so I think I’ll skip for now.