Pixel 4 Specs
For the most part, the leaks around the Pixel 4 have been about as expected. There are some things that surprise me, but then there are things which seem to be disappointing to others that aren't exactly shocking to me.
The things that shocked me a bit were; triple rear-facing cameras, project Soli camera, and 90Hz refresh rate screen.
The things which didn't shock me were: only bumping the RAM up to 6GB, smaller battery, 64 and 128GB storage options, and not using the Plus version of the Snapdragon 855.
So firstly, the shockers. Triple rear-facing cameras are a shock because it more than triples the cost of the camera assembly vs. what was available in the Pixel 3. I would have expected them to do 2 lenses on the back only and try and compensate with AI beyond that. Perhaps the one thing making it less shocking would be that Google has always seemed to put a heavy focus on camera quality in the Pixel lineup. And maybe they got lazy on the AI front or didn't feel they could close the gap without more hardware.
Project Soli was a bit of a shock as well. It IS in line with Google's gimmicky past for adding differentiating features to the Pixel lineup. But, this just seems a lot more expensive hardware wise than what they did in the past. And, for something not really vetted in the market yet, it seems like a costly gamble.
The screen is another weird one. Google has tended to ship rather lacklustre screens with their Pixel phones. This has been the cause of numerous complaints. But, never really seemed to stop them. They weren't shipping bad display panels by any means. But, everyone always pointed out how they paled in contrast to other flagship phones. And while it seems like it may be a smart move to try and silence the complainers, as with the above points, it doesn't fit so well with their cost saving strategy.
And that is the bits that don't shock me, well, don't shock me.
When I bought my Pixel 2 with 4GB of RAM, there were a decent number of flagships out there with 6GB. And when the Pixel 3 came out, the situation was even worse. But they stuck with 4GB of RAM. And, generally speaking, it wasn't a huge performance problem. But, I recall that there were camera speed issues with the Pixel 3 and that people speculated it was due to the RAM constraints. Given the upping of the camera game in the Pixel 4, the expectation would automatically be more RAM. But, also adding as little extra RAM as possible.
The storage options are in the same vein. They offer 2 years of free, full resolution storage for Pixel owners. So, why not nudge them gently in that direction where the storage is cheaper for Google than to put it on the phone.
And yet again, the SoC is the same. Going up to the 855+ would make the unit more expensive. Pixel phones have never shipped with top of the line SoCs.
And then lastly, the smaller battery in the non-XL version is likely just Google taking advantage of the more efficient SoC so that they can further cut costs.
The Pixel strategy from Google has basically been to charge flagship prices for a phone which "feels" like a flagship phone, while skimping just enough on hardware to creep into Apple like profit margins.
That sounds like a complaint. And it sort of is. The truth is though, no one else is delivering a comparable product except maybe the Essential Phone. But, I really don't care for notches. I MUCH prefer the near stock Android experience on the Pixel and Nexus devices than I do anything the competition is doing. I also prefer flagship devices as I like the option to hold onto my phone as long as possible. Which also means I like regular updates.
In short, while on paper the Pixel devices may seem like a rip off... the truth is, I'd rather spend this kind of money on a Pixel device which is still running well and receiving updates 2 years later than I would on a Samsung phone which will get updates long enough for the experience to get slow and janky and then disappear.
Furthermore, the things people are complaining about aren't unexpected. And, it seems like this time around we're getting more things bumped up to, or closer to, typical flagship specs.
The only thing left is to hope that the price remains the same.
The things that shocked me a bit were; triple rear-facing cameras, project Soli camera, and 90Hz refresh rate screen.
The things which didn't shock me were: only bumping the RAM up to 6GB, smaller battery, 64 and 128GB storage options, and not using the Plus version of the Snapdragon 855.
So firstly, the shockers. Triple rear-facing cameras are a shock because it more than triples the cost of the camera assembly vs. what was available in the Pixel 3. I would have expected them to do 2 lenses on the back only and try and compensate with AI beyond that. Perhaps the one thing making it less shocking would be that Google has always seemed to put a heavy focus on camera quality in the Pixel lineup. And maybe they got lazy on the AI front or didn't feel they could close the gap without more hardware.
Project Soli was a bit of a shock as well. It IS in line with Google's gimmicky past for adding differentiating features to the Pixel lineup. But, this just seems a lot more expensive hardware wise than what they did in the past. And, for something not really vetted in the market yet, it seems like a costly gamble.
The screen is another weird one. Google has tended to ship rather lacklustre screens with their Pixel phones. This has been the cause of numerous complaints. But, never really seemed to stop them. They weren't shipping bad display panels by any means. But, everyone always pointed out how they paled in contrast to other flagship phones. And while it seems like it may be a smart move to try and silence the complainers, as with the above points, it doesn't fit so well with their cost saving strategy.
And that is the bits that don't shock me, well, don't shock me.
When I bought my Pixel 2 with 4GB of RAM, there were a decent number of flagships out there with 6GB. And when the Pixel 3 came out, the situation was even worse. But they stuck with 4GB of RAM. And, generally speaking, it wasn't a huge performance problem. But, I recall that there were camera speed issues with the Pixel 3 and that people speculated it was due to the RAM constraints. Given the upping of the camera game in the Pixel 4, the expectation would automatically be more RAM. But, also adding as little extra RAM as possible.
The storage options are in the same vein. They offer 2 years of free, full resolution storage for Pixel owners. So, why not nudge them gently in that direction where the storage is cheaper for Google than to put it on the phone.
And yet again, the SoC is the same. Going up to the 855+ would make the unit more expensive. Pixel phones have never shipped with top of the line SoCs.
And then lastly, the smaller battery in the non-XL version is likely just Google taking advantage of the more efficient SoC so that they can further cut costs.
The Pixel strategy from Google has basically been to charge flagship prices for a phone which "feels" like a flagship phone, while skimping just enough on hardware to creep into Apple like profit margins.
That sounds like a complaint. And it sort of is. The truth is though, no one else is delivering a comparable product except maybe the Essential Phone. But, I really don't care for notches. I MUCH prefer the near stock Android experience on the Pixel and Nexus devices than I do anything the competition is doing. I also prefer flagship devices as I like the option to hold onto my phone as long as possible. Which also means I like regular updates.
In short, while on paper the Pixel devices may seem like a rip off... the truth is, I'd rather spend this kind of money on a Pixel device which is still running well and receiving updates 2 years later than I would on a Samsung phone which will get updates long enough for the experience to get slow and janky and then disappear.
Furthermore, the things people are complaining about aren't unexpected. And, it seems like this time around we're getting more things bumped up to, or closer to, typical flagship specs.
The only thing left is to hope that the price remains the same.
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