2733

No headphones on the new Chromecast, no sale.

Boooooo at my Pixel 3 trade-in value only being ~$100 through Google. Boo! Might as well stick with the thing; there’s nothing killer on the 5 that is telling me I need to upgrade. Maybe if I traveled more and thus placed a higher value on “5G”, but as it stands there’s nothing there worth $600 to me.

2734

Eh? Why would you want headphones on a Chromecast? Just use whatever it’s plugged into.

2735

Unsure if Chromecast was like Roku, but on my Roku Ultra, the remote has a headphone jack directly in it that my gf uses a lot while watching TV while I’m nearby on my PC. Way easier than stringing a cord across the room, and neither of us cares for bluetooth solutions.

2736

Sure, I get the appeal of remote headphones, though I never use them. But on the device itself? I mean, the Chromecast didn’t even have a remote until now, so it’s not like it’s a downgrade/

2737

So $349.99 on Black Friday !?!?! Right Google?

2738

I am pretty pissed about the new chromecast. I was hoping that Google would get out of their own way long enough to just create a solid streaming platform that has all the apps for everyone and a decent UI/remote. But no, Google googled-up a Google product. Again. They invented a whiz bang new home screen that doesn’t just nicely list different streaming apps but tries to index content across all of them.

Since I’m actively angry at Roku’s business practices I want someone else to provide a simple inexpensive streaming device that “just works” with a nice clean UI but nobody seems willing to do it.

2739

If you just want a list of streaming apps, any smart TV will do that just fine these days. Or a console, for that matter.

2740

I tend to keep TVs for 10-ish years and I don’t ever want to be in the position of needing to replace a TV just because the O/S is too old to support latest streaming apps. I’d rather have that function be from a separate unit that is only $50 to replace or upgrade. I also don’t want to get trapped into needing to buy from the same manufacturer for all TVs in the house or else risk having a different UI on each TV. Since I’m in a 4-person 5-TV house and I’m the designated tech support person for the household, that’s a scenario I’m very actively trying to avoid!

Right now I’m very happy from a technical and UI perspective with my solution of just plugging a Roku into each TV in the house. But since Roku is being jerks by demanding payoffs from content providers in order to host their apps, I’m trying to find a competitor that does what Roku does.

I probably had my hopes too high that the new Chromecast would be the device that I could switch all my Rokus over to.

2741

You can also use your phone and the Roku app to do the remote private listening thing. Since I never use the original Roku remote this works better for me.

2742

Well, there is a wall of apps section, and you could use the apps only mode if you really hate the UI that much, though I’m not entirely sure why you do. But it seems you lose a lot of the useful functionality if you do. But, then again, if you hate cross app indexing, maybe you don’t want that functionality anyway.

Edit: Here’s a brief video of the new UI. It looks like there’s a row of apps on the main screen, though you have to go down a row to get to it. Then on the Apps tab, you have just the apps, with various ways of organising them. I imagine you can set that tab to be the default tab.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1xBy2FLBok

2743

Have you looked at the TiVo Stream 4K at $50?

2744

No, wasn’t even aware of it. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks!

2745

Yeah, I have a small house, two kids and a wife, and my PC is in the living room. The ability to use headphones with the TV is huge.

2746

I would have already bought a TiVo Stream 4K, but I just got a new Roku Ultra a few months ago and before the HBO Max nonsense started, sigh. I think the only thing that the Tivo Stream may not have is Apple TV+, but maybe there is a workaround.

2747

Anyway, thoughts on the Pixel 5 as revealed? It’s hard to justify it on a pure hardware value basis against something like the OnePlus 8 Pro, at least until the inevitable discounts in a couple of months. But on the other hand, I really don’t want a phone as big as the Pro again, and I can’t say I’ll really miss any of the advantages it has, except storage. I’d take 90Hz and more battery life over 120Hz every time. Pending reviews of things like screen quality, there’s nothing that the Pixel 5 seems to really drop the ball on (given the price - obviously it would be nice to have a better processor and face unlock as an option). So at the moment I’m leaning toward waiting a bit more until December and picking up the Pixel for £100 less. Though if it doesn’t come down in price by then I’m probably stuck waiting a few more months to see what OnePlus come out with in spring.

2748

Turns out I was wrong. It’s not even on the new Chromecast until next year. Seriously Google?

2749

It’s not clear to me that the 5 is worth the extra $200 over 4a 5G. Same processor, same finger print unlock, missing headphone jack, slightly more RAM (8Gb vs 6Gb), slightly better screen and battery, what else?

2750

Water resistance, wireless charging, 90Hz screen, metal body. For me, water resistance alone is probably enough to justify the difference, but obviously everyone has their own priorities.

2751

Well I just upgraded from the Pixel 3a XL to a Samsung S20 FE 5G as T-mobile were basically giving me a free upgrade, just needed to pay the taxes. Here are my thoughts so far:

PROS
Slightly snappier
HDR works nicely on the screen
It’s properly water resistant
Double internal storage plus I can add a SD card
120Hz (although I can’t really see the difference)
Wireless charging (although I am not using it right now)
5G?

CONS
No headphone jack
Samsung wrapper not as conducive or user friendly as vanilla android
Samsung apps want to butt in to everything, I have shut a few of them off
Battery seems to be draining quicker although may just take a few days to settle
Not sure primary camera is as good but will need to test more

I think if I had a similar deal to upgrade inexpensively to a Pixel 4a 5G or Pixel 5 then I would be happier overall, but still a free upgrade is always good.

2752

So I’ve switched at least temporarily from an iPhone to a Pixel 4a (temporarily because I can still send the Pixel back). I’m not sure if I’ve gotten the messages issues sorted out or not yet. I like it because it is smaller than the iPhone 7plus and already went running with it more easily. Otoh, I have several minor issues that I’ll need to work through (like how do you change the screen brightness through a widget?). For me the main thing is that I don’t actually use my iPhone for anything but phone and mobile internet. I’ve never used an android before.

I like how light it is, and the podcast app already looks less like a dumpster fire. OTOH YouTube music doesn’t tempt me like Apple Music does.

OTOH it actually feels … too small in the hand, having used the Plus models for so many years. Like it actually hurts my hand slightly to hold it because it’s so small. When I hold the 7 plus sitting next to me my hand actually relaxes. This might be a problem for using it as anything but a phone.