Awesome, I'm in Chicago. Now when I have dead pixels or terrible screen on my next Pixel phone I can be treated like an idiot and be told to try to reboot into safe mode in person rather than by phone.
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Pixel 3/Pixel 3 XL
- Thread starter nviz22
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Agree. Many here begrudge the Apple retail experience but for all its faults, knowing I have the option to visit a physical storefront for either purchases or more importantly, customer service/technical support is invaluable to me personally. I’ve had to visit the Genius Bar a number of times over the past 10 years and every time I’ve received exceptional support and occasionally been pleasantly surprised by service I didn’t necessarily expect (i.e. a couple devices with cracked screens repaired/replaced at no charge, 1st Gen Apple TV with a failed hard drive replaced out of warranty without even turning it on to verify it, etc).
Just having the peace of mind knowing that I’ve most likely leaving the store the same day with either a repaired or replaced device is a huge reason I stick with many Apple products. I’d love to eventually have the same option with Google hardware. It may take a while to get there but have to start somewhere.
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Goodness: https://9to5google.com/2018/08/16/google-pixel-3-xl-leak-public-notch/
Look at the status bar... What the heck...
Look at the status bar... What the heck...
This will throw a spanner in their business model with Android. If they compete directly with other Android OEM partners then there’s a very good chance that the partners will look for alternative solutions.
Samsung is building their own OS for some time now. Other smaller OEMs might not switch immediately but necessity has always been the reason for innovation. So you never know. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There are a few options right now. https://itsfoss.com/open-source-alternatives-android/
That’s a catch 22 situation. More users will bring more developers and vice versa. If Google is really serious about hardware business like Apple is then other OEMs will have to make it work for themselves. It will really be a fight between Samsung and Google to begin with and Samsung does have the financial power to take on Google in terms of marketing/ branding.
Users won't go to a platform with no apps. See: Windows Phone
Yes I agree but users will also not buy Google hardware devices either, see the sales of Google hardware over the years. Samsung is powerful in terms of marketing and hardware manufacturing.
Because nobody cares about Googles hardware, they just want the app store and other Google apps. I mean, even people on iOS crave those apps.
Indeed! Exactly what I’m saying. It’s a catch 22. Samsung provided a good middle ground and that’s why they’re the only company making as much money in the Android landscape. Every other Android OEM aren’t even close.
So you think a hardware company like Samsung is going understand software?
Not likely; tiZen, gear os, and touchwiz shows that their just not ready.
Samsung’s splintering from android would only benefit Apple.
Samsung is not splintering though. If Google is looking to compete directly with the OEM partners then that’s clearly conflict of interest.
Samsung, as a company, is more than capable of doing their own OS & running with it. They’ve been investing behind their own platform. I hope they can turn around and come up with something really good rather than cutting corners and doing cheap replica of iOS.
Another major player in this market will be solid.
How would this be different from aspects of Microsoft's business model, providing the OS used on an overwhelming majority of the world's yet also selling their own hardware that directly competes with their OEM partners?
I don't think people are appreciating just how weird the status bar looks:
Seriously...
Notches are already a stupid idea. They don't actually save much space and actually eliminates room for status bar icons and info. Not to mention, all the supposed space you save becomes moot the moment you go into full screen mode and black bars appear to fill out the notch area.
But this, this takes it to another level.
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Microsoft is going through the exact same issue. Microsoft made mistakes with windows phone and dumped the whole business line. Their trying with surface but sales figures show that they’re not really competing yet. Satya Nadela is an intelligent man. He understood windows phone was too late to the party. Microsoft is now focussing on completely different type of projects, especially trying to invent new product categories.
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Yes but if it didn’t work for Nokia the largest phone company at the time and Microsoft, what makes you think Samsung can pull it off?
At this point in time, no one, including Google, should be seriously concerned with Samsung splintering off with their own OS. This hasn't happened in all the years Google has been creating smartphones starting with the Nexus line -- what is that now, something like ten years?
And this reeks of yet another excuse for Google's poor hardware decisions.
Google has decided to make hardware. They've been testing pop-up stores and now may even have a proper retail store. They make other good hardware (Google Home Max, for example). Even when the day comes that they make good smartphone hardware, they'll still be known as Google the software/AI company and search giant.
None of this has to dictate that Google should make mediocre hardware and design. And continuing to argue for it is as folly as arguing, for example, that Samsung's slow software updates can be excused away because they're primarily a hardware company.
Google is already competing directly with OEM partners. What we're saying is, they should compete better.
And this reeks of yet another excuse for Google's poor hardware decisions.
Google has decided to make hardware. They've been testing pop-up stores and now may even have a proper retail store. They make other good hardware (Google Home Max, for example). Even when the day comes that they make good smartphone hardware, they'll still be known as Google the software/AI company and search giant.
None of this has to dictate that Google should make mediocre hardware and design. And continuing to argue for it is as folly as arguing, for example, that Samsung's slow software updates can be excused away because they're primarily a hardware company.
Google is already competing directly with OEM partners. What we're saying is, they should compete better.
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