Apparently the phone they are trying to sell for $500 goes for $120 on Alibaba. Reminds me of all the people in the early Kickstarter days trying to sell indie consoles that were just flipping chinese microconsoles already available in bulk, but now with a political aspect to the grift.
A new product, Poligrift!
rei
3116
They don’t want freedom. They want freedom to oppress those who don’t look like them. Fuck them all.
JD
3117
Pixel 6 - design and some other details had already leaked a while ago.
Rather than releasing all the details on its new Android phones, Google is instead putting the focus on the new system on a chip (SoC) that will be inside the new Pixels. It’s called the Tensor SoC, named after the Tensor Processing Units (TPU) Google uses in its data centers.
Tensor is an SoC, not a single processor. And so while it’s fair to call it Google-designed, it’s also still unclear which components are Google-made and which are licensed from others. Two things are definitely coming from Google: a mobile TPU for AI operations and a new Titan M2 chip for security. The rest, including the CPU, GPU, and 5G modem, are all still a mystery.
The Pixel 6 Pro will have a 6.7-inch QHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate. That screen is very slightly curved at the edges, blending into shiny, polished aluminum rails on the side. It has three cameras on the back: a new wide-angle main sensor, an ultrawide, and a 4X optical-zoom folded telephoto lens. Google isn’t sharing specs on the camera beyond saying the main wide-angle sensor takes in 150 percent more light.
The regular Pixel 6 has a 6.4-inch FHD+ screen with a 90Hz refresh rate. Its screen is perfectly flat, with matte-finished rails. It also loses the telephoto camera.
Can’t say I’m overly excited to see Google go back to the flagship race again because I don’t see myself spending that much on a smartphone. But I also get that this is a first in a new hardware line for them, so they want something with ‘oomph’ for the debut. Am not in the market for a new smartphone anyway since I’m happy with my Pixel 4a, and once that is out of date, Google may have something going in the mid-tier price range again.
If I hadn’t bought a Pixel 5 I’d be very glad they’re going flagship, though I do wish they hadn’t upped the screen size again. But I’,m hoping not to be in the market for a phone for at least another two years.
Well those phones are way the fuck too big :/
I like everything I hear about the next Pixel and would be willing to pay fair price for it, except the ridiculous size. I’ll need to hold one to convince myself it’s way to fucking big.
Soma
3122
I feel like Qualcomm would be quietly losing their marbles over this announcement. What if the next version of Android will be optimised on Google’s own SoC but not Qualcomm’s? Or the next after next version of Android? If there is a market for Google’s own SoC from handset manufacturers because of software advantage, Google won’t say no to extra bags of money.
I liked my Pixel 2, but nothing Google did after that appealed to me. Finally gave in and went to the dark side with an iPhone 12 Pro. Damn thing is amazing, though, so I may be away from Android for a while…
It really really pains me to say this about an American tech company that is competing with a bunch of Asian tech companies in this space, but Qualcomm can die in a fire. Their business practices are so ugly and for many years they competed with lawyers and patents and abusing a near-monopoly status.
As opposed to working on product innovation and breakthroughs.
There’s a good reason every cell phone manufacturer of size has decided they can get a cheaper/better processor by making their own instead of buying from Qualcomm. But they are still paying Qualcomm because it’s basically impossible to make a phone SoC without being threatened by Qualcomm for patent infringement.
Yeah, everything I’ve ever read has been pretty consistent in describing Qualcomm as “Oracle, but mobile.”
Oracle is actually worse. Their treatment of customers seem to have come from a bunch of executives sitting in a room and watching the famous Lily Tomlin AT&T sketch from SNL and thinking: “That’s a good idea, but let’s turn it up to 11!”
Mmm, fair. I’ve shared my personal Oracle stories elsewhere, and that tracks.
I dislike the raised black bar on the back, alot.
I prefer the uniform bar across the entire width of the phone compared to the weird corner box in most these days. It ensures it lays even on a table.
JD
3130
Also, both Brownlee as well as The Verge noted that the phone design looks better IRL than it does in photos.
corkeh
3131
I might be in the market for a new phone if a new USB board doesn’t fix my Note 10+'s issue of not charging. Might be time to switch carriers too, since the T in T-mobile apparently stands for terrible prices.
Latest rumor in my feed is the Pixel 5a will be released late this month for $450.
