Google Pixel / Home Release

[YosemiteSam]

They must be trying to grab the smug Apple people who will spend their life savings on a phone. Especially since the iPhones are losing ground at a breakneck pace.

No way I'm paying $869 for a Pixel XL with 128GB of memory. Only a moron would pay that much for a stupid smart phone. I will take my $399 (got a discount) Nexus 5X and be damn happy with it.

I did order the Google Home though. I love my Amazon Echo and use it every single day, but Google Assistant on my phone blows it away and the Google Home is even more powerful. That's a no-brainer at $129. The Echo is normally $169, though I only paid $129 as a Prime Member Special.

I love the Google+ is in complete outrage / riot mode over the price.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

To be fair, $869 gets you like the maxed best phone on the market. Its not like they start at $869.

I agree its not nexus pricing, but nexus phones also werent ever cutting edge like this appears to be.

 

[YosemiteSam]

To be fair, $869 gets you like the maxed best phone on the market. Its not like they start at $869.

I agree its not nexus pricing, but nexus phones also werent ever cutting edge like this appears to be.

The Nexus 6P and the 5X where both very good phones and near cutting edge. (especially at their price point which was cutting edge in and of itself) If you needed raw CPU and memory, the 6P was where it was at.

Phones over $600 are dumb. This phone is intentionally price this high. It surely doesn't cost anywhere near that much to make. They tore down an iPhone 7 the other day and priced it out at $219.80 (parts only) plus $5 to assemble to make yet Apple charges close to $649 for it. That is highway robbery and it seems Google is trying to cash in too. Screw them, they can keep the phone or lower the price of it and then I MIGHT consider it.

I can't wait for a tear down of these phones come out with their prices to build. Google really disappointed me with this price point. They want to mark them up a bit and grab a nice margin? Fine, this is business and how business works, but this was stupid. Many Google users are savvy and not apt to pay moron prices, but are willing to pay some premium for a premium device.

Google is catching a backlast from hell right now for that idiocy.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

I'm not saying its priced where I want. But even the new Moto Z is in the $650 range.

Its like the budget nice phone is gone

I'm still rocking my moto x pure

 

[YosemiteSam]

I'm not saying its priced where I want. But even the new Moto Z is in the $650 range.

Its like the budget nice phone is gone

I'm still rocking my moto x pure

I would have bought the Moto X if I hadn't already had the Droid MAXX Ultra when it came out. I went with the 5X when my contract was up as I switched to Google Fi for my phone service.

 

[Reality]

 

[Reality]

Someone apparently already has a Pixel phone and answered questions about it on reddit:
https://*******/55vvmw

 

[Cowboy Brian]

Seems fairly advanced for the first generation model. Will be interesting to see if it can compete with the iPhone in a few years.

I won't be getting it.

 

[Reality]

The phone only looks good from the front and side to me. The two-textured back makes it look cheesy and cheap.

This is just like laptops all over again where Apple makes a professional and high quality looking laptop only to have PC manufacturers spend years making laptops that are 80-90% as cool looking but the remaining 10-20% just destroys whatever chance they had of looking better or even as good as an Apple MacBook Pro. They finally started making really nice looking laptops over the last couple of years, including some that look better than the MBP, but it took them years to do something so simple.

Now it is the same thing with phones. There are very few phones out there that look as good quality-wise as an iPhone. Samsung did it with their Galaxy and Note phones, but just like the iPhone, the OS is the biggest drawback. iPhone's over-simplified iOS is painfully childish in design while Samsung's need to hamstring it's version of Android is quite Apple-like. I am sure Samsung did it to try to create their own locked-in feel OS to help keep people upgrading from Samsung-to-Samsung phones every 1-2 years like people do with iPhone. That may work initially, but eventually people either get tired of feeling stuck or the same-old thing with a slightly new shiny design.

I seriously wonder what these companies are thinking sometimes. It's like they make a car, and it looks so much like a high-end, expensive car, then they slap a funky grill on it and kill the whole look.

 

[YosemiteSam]

The phone only looks good from the front and side to me. The two-textured back makes it look cheesy and cheap.

This is just like laptops all over again where Apple makes a professional and high quality looking laptop only to have PC manufacturers spend years making laptops that are 80-90% as cool looking but the remaining 10-20% just destroys whatever chance they had of looking better or even as good as an Apple MacBook Pro. They finally started making really nice looking laptops over the last couple of years, including some that look better than the MBP, but it took them years to do something so simple.

Now it is the same thing with phones. There are very few phones out there that look as good quality-wise as an iPhone. Samsung did it with their Galaxy and Note phones, but just like the iPhone, the OS is the biggest drawback. iPhone's over-simplified iOS is painfully childish in design while Samsung's need to hamstring it's version of Android is quite Apple-like. I am sure Samsung did it to try to create their own locked-in feel OS to help keep people upgrading from Samsung-to-Samsung phones every 1-2 years like people do with iPhone. That may work initially, but eventually people either get tired of feeling stuck or the same-old thing with a slightly new shiny design.

I seriously wonder what these companies are thinking sometimes. It's like they make a car, and it looks so much like a high-end, expensive car, then they slap a funky grill on it and kill the whole look.

99% of people put cases on their phone anyhow so in the end game the design on the back of the phone is moot.

Personally, I don't care about stylish. I'm a guy, I want something utilitarian, but it also must not be uncomfortable to use . We are talking about a slim phone. It just needs not be bulky or have sharp edges and it fits the bill. (not being white or pink helps too, I'm not a girl)

 

[YosemiteSam]

I just looked at the back of the Pixel. It's not all that bad. The blue phone is kind of disgusting looking though. They should keep those colors on cases only.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Seems fairly advanced for the first generation model. Will be interesting to see if it can compete with the iPhone in a few years.

I won't be getting it.

I iPhone can't compete with it today

 

[Reality]

99% of people put cases on their phone anyhow so in the end game the design on the back of the phone is moot.

Personally, I don't care about stylish. I'm a guy, I want something utilitarian, but it also must not be uncomfortable to use . We are talking about a slim phone. It just needs not be bulky or have sharp edges and it fits the bill. (not being white or pink helps too, I'm not a girl)

I always put cases on my mobile devices, but I still like knowing inside that case is a cool looking device

If phone manufacturers did not care about how their phones looked, they would only show them in external cases and not make the design and look of the phone's casing itself a focal point of their promotions. Not to mention, most consumers will not buy an ugly phone even if they could hide it with a case.

Just because you may not care about how a phone looks does not mean most people won't. If a phone's built-in case looked like a toy from the 1990s (think hard yellow plastic), even if it had a 4k screen, was super thin and could be hidden in an external case, most people wouldn't buy it.

 

[trickblue]

It's the Khan vs. Darth Vader argument again...

 

[YosemiteSam]

Clearly I'm not most people.

If I could put a case on my car, I wouldn't really care what the car looked like on the outside. I can't, so my car is fire engine red and sexy as hell.

My phone spends more time in my pocket or on the nightstand than anywhere else. It needs not be sexy. It just needs to work and it does.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

The phone only looks good from the front and side to me. The two-textured back makes it look cheesy and cheap.

This is just like laptops all over again where Apple makes a professional and high quality looking laptop only to have PC manufacturers spend years making laptops that are 80-90% as cool looking but the remaining 10-20% just destroys whatever chance they had of looking better or even as good as an Apple MacBook Pro. They finally started making really nice looking laptops over the last couple of years, including some that look better than the MBP, but it took them years to do something so simple.

Now it is the same thing with phones. There are very few phones out there that look as good quality-wise as an iPhone. Samsung did it with their Galaxy and Note phones, but just like the iPhone, the OS is the biggest drawback. iPhone's over-simplified iOS is painfully childish in design while Samsung's need to hamstring it's version of Android is quite Apple-like. I am sure Samsung did it to try to create their own locked-in feel OS to help keep people upgrading from Samsung-to-Samsung phones every 1-2 years like people do with iPhone. That may work initially, but eventually people either get tired of feeling stuck or the same-old thing with a slightly new shiny design.

I seriously wonder what these companies are thinking sometimes. It's like they make a car, and it looks so much like a high-end, expensive car, then they slap a funky grill on it and kill the whole look.

to me, motorola nailed your complaint with the Moto Z. Sexy and almost straight pure android. No stupid overlays that are clunky and slow.

 

[Cowboy Brian]

I iPhone can't compete with it today

I'm referring to its commercial performance.

 

[TheCount]

The only phone that I've seen so far this year that made me consider ditching my 2-year-old iPhone 6 Plus is the Samsung Note 7, and Samsung had to go and screw that up.

I'm sitting this year out.

I'll take Google Home over the Echo for sure, even if their unit looks like an aromatic essential oil diffuser.

 

[Reality]

Clearly I'm not most people.

If I could put a case on my car, I wouldn't really care what the car looked like on the outside. I can't, so my car is fire engine red and sexy as hell.

My phone spends more time in my pocket or on the nightstand than anywhere else. It needs not be sexy. It just needs to work and it does.

So, it doesn't have to be sexy as long as it vibrates and fits in your pocket? Got it

 

[Leadbelly]

Yeah, I'll use Google as my router. Why don't I just let them stick a probe in my skull.

In 12-18 months they'll forget they launched half the stuff they announced.

I think I'm alone in my disinterest for Amazon Echo / Google Home category of products. They seem like Sharper Image or SkyMall level products.