Google Announces Pixel 3 Smartphone, 'Home Hub' Smart Speaker, and Pixel Slate Tablet

[L-Viz]

People are way to hard on Google. They can't build something super fancy, it has to be inexpensive. They don't have the resources for thoughtful design, jeez, they are just a start up. If they make some money, they can hire designers and engineers etc... maybe in 5 or 10 years.

 

[44267547]

If people complain about the XS being too incremental the same can be said for the Pixel. And tech press can no longer whine about notches and missing headphone jacks on Apple products.

Think about that for a second reference the Bolded in your post. Tech media doesn’t complain about the notch and the missing headphone jack, they are the ones that highlight the changes to make a controversial article where they elicit responses from the reader based on how they word their editorial piece. They just advocate what Apple does and blow it out of porportion, but they don’t necessarily complain about it. Because it is their ‘job’ to be neutral as much as possible, even though that’s not always the case. Even sites like Macrumors are a perfect example of what I am referring too.

 

[mthomas184]

So, why would anyone buy a Pixel slate instead of a Surface (that runs a real OS and is a productivity beast)

Wait. The Surface is a “productivity beast”? I work IT in a large healthcare enterprise who has Surfaces and they are straight garbage. Nothing but problems unless you want to do basic things.

 

[AustinIllini]

I asked for a meaningful example, not an aesthetic one.

What's more important for a phone than the screen and the usability.

You don't like my example of flawed design. Unfortunately for you, design flaws are still flaws.

 

[TallManNY]

I assume spam calls are the same as spam email. If you ignore them they don't verify you as a spammable contact. AI answering the phone seems like it would result in more calls. Even if AI answers an increased about you'd still be checking more transcribed calls which has to be annoying too.

True. But every unknown call would just go through to an AI so none of the calls would be successful for the spam caller. And the AI then ties up something on the spammers side (ideally a human operative) and bogs them down. It would be worth it. I mean someone has to do something about these robo calls. I don't mind dedicating a bit of my phone's computing power to the cause.

And sadly for me, I have a cell phone that I use for work which in certain circumstances I have to pickup unknown callers on because I can't afford to let a call languish in voicemail. So my number is already compromised in this regard.

 

[alexhardaker]

I guess most of consumers like the notch since everybody is adding them now. They day when there is no choice but to buy a notch phone will be a sad day for me.

You don’t even notice the notch after 5 minutes.

 

[wigby]

If you're going to get an Android phone, this is probably it. But I don't like the chin or the fingerprint reader on the back.

Not according to 50 million Samsung users.

Yes you can pick up while they are leaving the message.

So now they know you are screening them. That's not going to be a popular feature.
[doublepost=1539117011][/doublepost]

How accurate has Apple's voicemail transcriptions been for you? What I've seen is so bad that it's worthless.

I've had perfect transcriptions as well as terrible ones on my iPhone. It's really about the quality of the phone connection more than the AI. If Google can get around dropped syllables and words, I'll be impressed.

 

[smallcoffee]

Not according to 50 million Samsung users.

Hence why I said that I don't like it. Besides, 50 million people can make a poor decision or have poor taste.

 

[ValO]

The only interesting thing I noticed from all these products is the Smart Keyboard/cover of the slate 3. Especially the way/layout the keyboard and cover is connected to the tablet, and being able to protect the entire backside of the tablet when it is in closed position. Makes me wonder if apple has something similar up its sleeve, since the smart connector is rumored to be on the backside.

 

[alexhardaker]

At this point in time, you are a complete fool if you put anything google in your home, on your devices or utilize it for your searches on the World Wide Web.

I do wish DuckDuckGo was a lot better than it is. I have to use the !g bang all the time.

Apple should buy DuckDuckGo

 

[cmwade77]

So, why would anyone buy a Pixel slate instead of a Surface (that runs a real OS and is a productivity beast) or an iPad (that has a way more tablet specific apps and is a far better tablet)? That product is 200% DOA.

Simple:

• Because it isn't an unreliable Microsoft Product
• Because ChromeOS can run just about anything you can throw at it these days, including Linux apps
• Because it can also run all Android apps

Overall, it is a machine that makes sense.

 

[synergize]

What an ugly design. That notch. That chin. At least it has a colored power button.

The Pixel is notchin' it, not rocking' it!

 

[cmwade77]

The phones are fine but they're at least a year behind. The camera looks amazing, though.

Except for one thing that most people are ignoring from today's announcement:
Most, if not all of the new camera features will also be added to the original Pixel and Pixel 2 phones in a month or so.

Now many will ask why I say this is so important, well simply put it is important because it shows that Google is willing to continue to add features to their existing phones and not force people to upgrade to the latest and greatest every year to get any of the fancy new features. Now obviously features that require improved hardware will only work on the newest phones, but they even said that Night Sight will be added to other Pixel phones.

This is actually something that is going to be extremely important in the future as we end up with a shortage of materials to make new phones.
[doublepost=1539119254][/doublepost]

I assume spam calls are the same as spam email. If you ignore them they don't verify you as a spammable contact. AI answering the phone seems like it would result in more calls. Even if AI answers an increased about you'd still be checking more transcribed calls which has to be annoying too.

Actually, statistically speaking, people who waste spammer's time end up getting fewer spam calls because the spammers mark their numbers as time wasters, so other spammers know to move on to the next number. So having an AI waste their time will ultimately result in fewer spam calls in the long run.

 

[Blaze4G]

Not according to 50 million Samsung users.

So now they know you are screening them. That's not going to be a popular feature.
[doublepost=1539117011][/doublepost]
I've had perfect transcriptions as well as terrible ones on my iPhone. It's really about the quality of the phone connection more than the AI. If Google can get around dropped syllables and words, I'll be impressed.

no one knows how it really works yet apart from Google. People would perhaps have to know you even have a pixel phone in the first place. Or it can be that you were slow to pick up and caught it while it's transcribing.

 

[cmwade77]

dont take it....from security stand point i would suggest chromeOS over win10...but my god...that is laggy thing even with i5 8 gb ram, and the apps scaling from "desktop mode to tablet mode"...jesus".....so i wonder with the celeron and 4gb ram how it will work ?!?!?!??
and have to go with 16 gb ram and i7 just to hope that will work lag free...its outrageous

Umm, since it hasn't been in anyone's hands yet, how would you know?

 

[coolfactor]

omg it was embarrassing that photo is fake xs doesn't take a pic like that, never trust a company that lies, the phone is horrible, chin yuk

I don't trust that XS photo comparison, especially since they wrote it "Xs" which is not how Apple says the name should be written this time around. Amateur hour at Google.

 

[longwayh]

Google use visual core. Not the cloud.

siri is the dumbest thing ever... my echo dot does better job than siri, not mentioning google assitant...

 

[coolfactor]

What I find odd is that if they got rid of the chin, they wouldn't need the notch. That would have made a much more attractive looking device. I agree, having both is a poor choice. At least with the iPhone X, I could understand the need for the notch given all the cameras and sensors underneath.

So instead of a "chin", people would complain about a "forehead". Consumers are just so silly these days. Just appreciate the amazing technology that we have our hands on, literally!
[doublepost=1539120234][/doublepost]

siri is the dumbest thing ever... my echo dot does better job than siri, not mentioning google assitant...

Way to post an intelligent, overreaching comment. Next time, try giving a few real-world examples because these personal assistants do _so much_, and they may excel at some of those tasks, but not others. Therefore, be specific.

Siri works great in my experience and usage. Clearly your mileage varies, but that doesn't mean the Siri itself is at fault.

 

[e1me5]

It’s the same picture, just cropped a little bit different. They didn’t even bother to change the models pose to make it believable they came from two different devices. And even if they are, probably they messed with the exposure in the Xs just to state a “difference”. My 6s takes a better picture than these 2 examples in this kind of lighting.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

All the salt over the notch and chin is delicious.

 

[dgdosen]

Crostini with Linux (and ChromeOS/Android) on a Slate - IMO - looks very powerful. It might influence how Apple implements it's walled garden of Marzipan/ARM stuff. I think we'll look back on this as a moment where Apple cedes the notion of "selling laptops to developers" to Google.

I'm tempted. I'd like to see one up close - 1600 + 200 for an AmberLake PC is pretty high - even for Apple! But I think this is the direction computing is going to go for those who sling code as part of their work. (not the expensive part)

 

[coolX]

Wait. The Surface is a “productivity beast”? I work IT in a large healthcare enterprise who has Surfaces and they are straight garbage. Nothing but problems unless you want to do basic things.

what kind of problems?

 

[springsup]

Crostini with Linux (and ChromeOS/Android) on a Slate - IMO - looks very powerful. It might influence how Apple implements it's walled garden of Marzipan/ARM stuff. I think we'll look back on this as a moment where Apple cedes the notion of "selling laptops to developers" to Google.

I'm tempted. I'd like to see one up close - 1600 + 200 for an AmberLake PC is pretty high - even for Apple! But I think this is the direction computing is going to go for those who sling code as part of their work. (not the expensive part)

I very much doubt it. The indications are that Apple would like Xcode on the iPad in the near future. Xcode 9 introduced an entirely new source editor (borrowing lots of features from the Swift Playgrounds iOS app), and a preview of a new build system (using the open-source llbuild project). Xcode 10 refined those, adding better source control and activating the new build system by default.

If Xcode comes to the iPad, developers are not going to want to be limited to Swift; Objective-C (and by extension, C/C++) will have to work as well. That's part of what makes the build system such a complex component requiring extensive testing. The Swift compiler itself needs to get faster (on all platforms), and lots of work is being done in that direction.

Apple have put a big focus on coding education, trying to enable more people to write Apps. The Swift language and the Playgrounds App are notable examples of that.

I definitely expect Xcode to come to the iPad soon. They have the components in place, the hardware is (probably) capable, and it seems like they are motivated to let people develop and run their Apps on-device.

 

[ruthlessjoachim]

One of the good things about Pixel is one rear camera can do everything! I really hope Apple take note from Google and don’t put more than 2 rear cameras in the next iPhone in the future.

 

[code-m]

You don’t even notice the notch after 5 minutes.

On dark or black backgrounds not so on light elements yes. Even more reason for iOS to adopt macOS dark mode theme. Hopefully before iOS 13.