PSA: Do Not Buy The Verizon Pixel

Oh...I should probably add...

FWIW I've been eagerly following news of the Pixel since the rumor mill started, and I was in 100%. Built by HTC? Fine. Kinda iPhone clonish? Fine. A big and a small model? Also fine. Great, in fact! I picked up the Nexus 5x -- mainly due to size and price preferences -- and never once did I regret not getting the 6P instead. (OK, that's not true -- every time I hold a 6P I sigh sadly but let's not talk about that.)

I think your (@Beardface's) point was: both Pixels are damn good phones for the price. I absolutely agree. I was all set to jump on the smaller Pixel until I heard rumors of the $650 price....NOT because I think that's an unreasonable price, but because Google had taught me to expect Nexus phones to be easier to buy.

Maybe: the industry has spent the last 3-4 years talking about the commoditization of smart-phones, so it wouldn't surprise me if the product/marketing people at Google basically said, "OK, it's time for us to manufacture some high-end phones and sell them at a price that accurately reflects the quality of the device." If that's the case I can't disagree, but it's still not an easy pill for me to swallow!

-Matt

 

I'm completely open to what I am going to get next. Currently have a Note 4, and for a very long time I have written off getting an iPhone because I had invested too much money into Google Movies and Music, and I figured if I went to Apple, I'd have to sacrifice everything, because it wouldn't port over. Well, my coworker showed me you can get the Google Movies app in the iTunes store, so my biggest worry there was gone, and its a lot easier to securely access my enterprise work functionality on the iPhone than anything else, so I've been leaning that way. But the Pixel, and the integration I can have with Home, VR, the Wifi routers, Chromecast, as well as shortly being able to get Google Fiber, it just seems like a better fit, especially with the introduction of the Assistant. I'm also preparing to dump Verizon (and an outrageous bill they charge me every month) for Project Fi, and even at its most expensive, the Pixel will pay for itself on Fi in about 10 months. For me, it just makes sense.

 

The future of Tech seems to start with the letter "G".... I'd get an iPhone but the monthly support meetings and Homecoming requirements scare me off not to mention the secret handshake.

 

Man, what on earth has everyone in this thread been smoking and can I have some?

Back in the day when the Iphone was the only big player in the game they were the forefront of smartphone innovation. I wanted one SOOOO badly, but I didn't want to switch over to AT&T.

Skip over to the present day and it's been a back and forth battle between Google and Apple in these smartphone wars.

For YEARS the very essence of owning an Android phone has been about power, customization, flexibility, price, and all the neat technical features that Iphone owners don't care about. Android phones showed that, "What ever Apple releases the isheep will always buy, even if Android had the feature 10 years ago. I can't believe anyone would make that decision when Android offers so much more"

BAM!! HERE COMES THE PIXEL PHONES!!

Google says, "F--- it guys, what are we doing?? People want an Iphone so you know what we'll give them one!! On top of that we'll go backwards in innovation and make it exclusive to one carrier. Oh and here's the $1000 price tag as well. That'll show em. People will gobble it up"

"Wait, what about all the Nexus phones? We released the 6P...P as in PREMIUM."

"F--- them... people are idiots and will instantly want to buy the newest thing possible even if it looks like crap. Look at Apple, there's been no change in the Iphone for so many years and virtually no hardware change from the 6 and still the 7 sells out"

Basically Google wants to be Apple right now. They can't understand why the Kardashians all have Iphones and not Google phones. They can't understand what the fuss is all about so they've given up and basically said, "Well you know what, if we can't beat them we'll join them"

I can't possibly be the only one to see how completely transparent Google is being right now!!

Google, do you want to gain customers?? Do this;

1)Make an aesthetically appealing phone. Curved display, awesome screen, waterproof, hell make a bezel-less display. You could make the screen stretch to around the speakers. How cool would that be?? No one else has that.

2)INNOVATE!! Make it as user friendly as possible and a pleasure to use the phone. Introduce cool new animations to when the phone rings or something to wow people and make them drool.

3)Make EVERYTHING removable. Battery, removable....Memory, removable...repair-ability, very easy or manageable.

4)Make it a price that people can afford and release it yourselves to make it work on all carriers.

I know I'm going to get reamed about this essay of a comment, but I'll be damn surprised if there isn't 1 person browsing that doesn't agree in one way or another. I'm happily sitting here with my 6P on the side hoping that Google doesn't abandon us all together.

/end rant, sorry guys.

Mod Note: Edited for language.

 

I really hate the way OP worded the thread title...

Why couldn't you have just said "PSA: Google Not in Charge of Verizon Pixel Updates"?

 

Wow, that was fast.

Best Buy offering $100 gift card and free Chromecast if you pre-order a Pixel and activate on Verizon

 

You know what else happened during this era? Apple ate Google's lunch in profits. Sure, the Android devices were great for those of us with a dev or tech background who could futz with things and customize the hell out of it and make it exactly what we want. For us that was great. You know who that wasn't great for? Google itself. Their sales have always paled in comparison to Apple and now they're trying to close that gap with a premium device that will appeal to the masses, and not the niche.

You know, except for the part where its only exclusive in the sense you can buy one through Verizon. You can also buy an unlocked phone through Google itself and take it to whatever carrier you desire. In fact, I'm guessing that Google hopes this kind of sales model is the future of the marketplace.

You must be new to technology. Technology and devices becoming obsolete within 12 months is absolutely nothing new in the computer sciences space. The second you purchase something, its already obsolete because something newer and better is right around the corner. Such is life.

A screen without a bezel and a screen that goes around the speaker? All jokes about the god awful battery life a device like that would have aside, you do realize how unbelievably annoying and awkward it would be to have a screen that was interrupted by sensors and the speaker, right? So you're likely always going to have at least part of the top of the phone not a screen. And I'm guessing you or someone like you would be the first on here whining that the phone looks awkward as hell with a top bezel and no bottom one. I can already see the "massive forehead" jokes now. Oh, and if you want that curved display or waterproofing, you can always try out the Note 7, though I hear it may have some heat issues. I'm sure that has nothing to do with trying to rush technology that isn't fully ready to the market, while Apple and Google decided to wait until it can be further tested. Oh, and as for the screen, I don't know about you, but a legitimate 4k screen on a 5.5 inch device seems pretty good to me.

And really, if you want a device that has all of the bells and whistles that you're asking for here, the price would be so far and away higher than what they're actually charging now that this would be the first complaint. "Oh, its such a perfect phone, but its just too expensive. I'll get the iPhone at a better price."

Funny... you must have watched a different intro video than I did. Pretty sure the countless amount of time spent going over the Google Assistant system that is baked into and which the Pixel platform was built around does just that. But you're right, a cool animation when the phone rings would be so much better than a completely different Google experience with a phone that actively works with you and more closely resembles the functionality of the computer in Star Trek than anything out there.

They tried that. Was called Project Ara. You may have heard of it, but assuming your tirade, I assume you didn't. They created it a couple years ago, and was met with an initial "wow" from everyone. Yeah, then it came time to try and see how it would come to the market and they realized the demand wasn't even close to being there to allowing it to be financially viable for them as a company so they pulled the plug. But what do industry experts know, anyway, right?

A 32GB Pixel is priced at the same price point as a 32GB iPhone7. The market has shown this is a price point that people can and will afford. Oh, and the unlocked version that you can buy through Google (hence, they released it themselves) does work on all carriers. So.... yeah....

 

Where I live, if you want to talk on the phone, you have one choice; Verizon.

 

It's so easy to quote, reply, and debate online like that, but I really don't feel like sitting here for an hour.

Watch;

I'm not talking modular in that sense. I'm talking about being able to pull the back cover off and take out the battery or some sort of thing like that. Phones used to be like that until Apple started to make the trend of backwards innovation that Google is following.

It's not hard to make a smartphone with a removable battery and removable memory. Unfortunately Apple and Google want you to pay up the ass for your phone so we have a 32gb option and a jump to 128gb. They're hoping you go, "Hmmm 32gb sounds good, but if I pay $100 I'll get a ton more room. Yes, I've decided to give them $100!!" and Apple goes, "Ha, the plan worked perfectly!! $100 for us!!!" Then Google goes, "Oh man, if Apple can get away with that then why can't we?" meanwhile last I checked a 32gb micro sd is what $10-15?

Sorry man, you're not convincing me that this brand new copy Apple direction is correct.

I'm surprised you're not jumping ship and getting an Iphone yourself. For the same price of the Pixel you're getting waterproofing and being able to use the same phone as Justin Bieber. Oh man, I got the best idea for Google. Hear me out on this;

Maybe next they can wait a little while and offer a new premium gold and silver colored Pixels so all the cool celebs can buy it and then it can be touted as rare and in demand!! I should be on Google's marketing department lol Money money!!

 

I politely disagree with several of your ^^^ points/assumptions, but you're right, it's Friday and nobody wants to sit here and quibble for hours. So I'll try and be concise: I'm not convinced that Google is emulating Apple here -- I think instead that the smartphone industry as a whole since...say, 2010...has been increasingly converging on a large number of factors, including design/functionality, marketing and pricing, and development/upgrade strategies. There are some important similarities between the iPhone and the Pixel roll-outs, but I think those are the result of comparable constraints and pressures on both companies.

There are some things (at least for me) that really set Google as a company apart from the competition, and why they'll continue to get my hard-earned $$$ for the foreseeable future. Like others mentioned earlier, I am also a HUGE fan of cross-device integration and Google does it well. I think the 20% (side-project) philosophy is a great one and I think that is a great incubator for new ideas. I love how many Google products are completely free, and I only have to shave off a small part of my soul and privacy to get those products. Probably at the top of my list of likes is Alphabet and all the exciting work that Google is doing to push immersive AI (e.g., self-driving cars).

For sure, both Apple and Google are in business to make money. But while one of the two companies has numerous examples of trying to build things that are useful and may not generate profit on Day 1 (though admittedly that may change), the other company only makes things that make money. That's a big difference.

-Matt