**** The Official Google Pixel 4 Thread ****

Soldato
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It's going to be flagship price with mid-range specs and the usual Pixel hardware anomalies usually take a while to show up. Features-wise, it's looking interesting.

I don't understand the whole "midrange" argument. The Pixel 3 range can't be described as midrange in any sane way.

  • SoC is literally the flagship of the series that was available at the time, the 845. Mid range phones from 2018 use the 630 SoC. Yes, phones released later used the 855 but that's just down to release timings.
  • Visual core chip - you don't get this on mid range phones, it's not on the Pixel 3a
  • Flicker sensor to remove artificial light banding - you don't get that on midrange phones
  • IP68 rating - you don't get that on all midrange phones
  • Camera - main sensor and results have always been praised for best in class, with other flagships like the P30 Pro that was released later coming close
I agree in some areas it falls short such as RAM and maybe you could complain that it doesn't have multiple lenses/sensors, but I would rather have a fantastic single camera than have multiple lenses and a mediocre main lens. Look at the P30 Pro for example, great in low light but in good light the camera over processes pictures and they don't look very good at all.

It's not the engineering marvel like some phones are, but would rather have a flat screen than a curved one personally.

Horses for courses I guess. My Pixel 3 does everything I need it to, takes fantastic pictures and I don't have to wait 6 months to a year for the latest OS to get released. Only wish it had a bigger battery!
 
Soldato
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I don't understand the whole "midrange" argument. The Pixel 3 range can't be described as midrange in any sane way.

The Pixel 4 is coming with the Snapdragon 855, when there's already an 855+ version available and in other phones. 6Gb RAM might be "enough", but there again, "enough" is fine at mid-range prices. Add another dollar to the BoM and make it 8Gb with a 12Gb option - after all, Google will be expecting us to pay top whack for it. The Pixel 4's two camera lenses might produce amazing results, but this is a flagship, so why not add a third lens and also produce amazing results? After all, Google are expecting people to pay flagship prices for it. The rumoured 64gb and 128gb storage options are distinctly lower mid-range (assuming true), cloud storage or not. How about 256gb to start? Other companies make their phones stand out with nice gradient effects, or ceramic case options. They relentlessly pursue design perfection, rather than having thick upper and lower bezels. Bigger batteries, not smaller. Flagship stuff, which I'm afraid the Pixel 4 does not appear to be trying to emulate. Compromise after compromise. Admittedly 90hz is a good move, but it's a box that any coming flagship should have ticked already.
 
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The Pixel 4 is coming with the Snapdragon 855, when there's already an 855+ version available and in other phones. 6Gb RAM might be "enough", but there again, "enough" is fine at mid-range prices. Add another dollar to the BoM and make it 8Gb with a 12Gb option - after all, Google will be expecting us to pay top whack for it. The Pixel 4's two camera lenses might produce amazing results, but this is a flagship, so why not add a third lens and also produce amazing results? After all, Google are expecting people to pay flagship prices for it. The rumoured 64gb and 128gb storage options are distinctly lower mid-range (assuming true), cloud storage or not. How about 256gb to start? Other companies make their phones stand out with nice gradient effects, or ceramic case options. They relentlessly pursue design perfection, rather than having thick upper and lower bezels. Bigger batteries, not smaller. Flagship stuff, which I'm afraid the Pixel 4 does not appear to be trying to emulate. Compromise after compromise. Admittedly 90hz is a good move, but it's a box that any coming flagship should have ticked already.
855+ is just a slightly overclocked chip that will really have not much say except from in benchmarks and will consume more power. Google have their own way of doing things, similar to Apple. Main pixels are definitely not mid range phones
 
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855+ is just a slightly overclocked chip that will really have not much say except from in benchmarks and will consume more power. Google have their own way of doing things, similar to Apple. Main pixels are definitely not mid range phones

A flagship phone should have the fastest chip, else it isn't a flagship in comparison to other phones which do have the fastest chip. And you've ignored all the other points I made re: RAM, missing third sensor, storage etc etc. I get that Pixels have an enthusiastic (and small) following of people willing to overlook hardware limitations because the 'nirvana' of pure Android is for them the main reason for purchase.

Every manufacturer has their own way of doing things, similar to Apple. The trouble for Android phone manufacturers is that people will buy Apple regardless of the specs (a topic for another day). Given the tiny market share of Pixel phones, 'being like Apple' by keeping specs as low as possible isn't working too well for Google. They need a kitchen sink phone and they don't seem interested in making one.
 
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If they deem 6gb of Ram to be enough for their own OS then I'd say that's probably enough. My current phone has 6gb and never felt the need for more. Higher may look good on a spec sheet, but in day to day use, probably doesn't matter that much. The camera is already one of the best on the pixel 3 so don't really get your point about throwing multiple lenses at it for the sake of it. The stuff they are adopting with secure face unlock, soli etc is a step up for Android phones. Seems some people think to like crapping on pixel phones is cool for some reason.
 
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Seems some people think to like crapping on pixel phones is cool for some reason.

Rule 1072 of internet: every discussion descends into insults by the third exchange. Well done fella.

There’s nothing cool about crapping on Pixels. I’m a potential customer and there are things I would like to see on a product if a company is expecting me to pay £899 for it. It’s a shame that Google isn’t trying to fulfil my requirements as that potential customer. No biggie for me, I’ll buy a different product.
 
Soldato
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If they deem 6gb of Ram to be enough for their own OS then I'd say that's probably enough. My current phone has 6gb and never felt the need for more. Higher may look good on a spec sheet, but in day to day use, probably doesn't matter that much. The camera is already one of the best on the pixel 3 so don't really get your point about throwing multiple lenses at it for the sake of it. The stuff they are adopting with secure face unlock, soli etc is a step up for Android phones. Seems some people think to like crapping on pixel phones is cool for some reason.

Because they lag hard and battery is mediocre at best :)

And yes I have had all 3....
 
Soldato
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The Pixel 4 is coming with the Snapdragon 855, when there's already an 855+ version available and in other phones. 6Gb RAM might be "enough", but there again, "enough" is fine at mid-range prices. Add another dollar to the BoM and make it 8Gb with a 12Gb option - after all, Google will be expecting us to pay top whack for it. The Pixel 4's two camera lenses might produce amazing results, but this is a flagship, so why not add a third lens and also produce amazing results? After all, Google are expecting people to pay flagship prices for it. The rumoured 64gb and 128gb storage options are distinctly lower mid-range (assuming true), cloud storage or not. How about 256gb to start? Other companies make their phones stand out with nice gradient effects, or ceramic case options. They relentlessly pursue design perfection, rather than having thick upper and lower bezels. Bigger batteries, not smaller. Flagship stuff, which I'm afraid the Pixel 4 does not appear to be trying to emulate. Compromise after compromise. Admittedly 90hz is a good move, but it's a box that any coming flagship should have ticked already.

So basically, you're trying to pass your opinion as fact. It's only compromise after compromise if you care about those things, obviously you care about having gazillions of GB of storage and more RAM than your average computer.

I don't care about those things because they're overkill. I've never come close to running out of storage because I stream my content and I've personally never understood the desire to store movies on a phone.

My phone is in a case so I couldn't care less about it being made out of ceramic or having a two tone colour. I would say most phones I see have cases on them too.

Whoop de whoop, the phone will have a processor that's 6 months older than the latest one out. Does the 855 do anything the 850 can't? "Zomg, it's 20mhz faster on each core and supposedly more efficient, even though you'll still charge it every night".

People value different things and I'm glad Google give a different option to Samsung & Huawei. I personally don't want all the crud that comes with Samsung phones. I mean Bixby? Why do Samsung even bother?
 
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I think if google had a better hardware design team, stuck in 8gb ram and changed the release date to Q1 rather than Q4 they would be right bang in the premium category

The pixel 4 is the same generation as the galaxy s10 which has been out the months and months
 
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The Q4 schedule used to work well for them, they were one of the first to the SD600 and SD800 back in the Nexus days. But then that changed when Qualcomm rushed out the SD810, so now it no longer fits. And Google being Google, they probably didn't want to delay their phone and try to keep the release as close to Apple's as possible.

So looking at the leaks I guess front facing stereo speakers are dead, Google was one of the last remaining manufacturers with them. Oh well, as long as the bottom firing speaker and the top speaker still are stereo then I may still consider this phone.
 
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I think
I think if google had a better hardware design team, stuck in 8gb ram and changed the release date to Q1 rather than Q4 they would be right bang in the premium category

The pixel 4 is the same generation as the galaxy s10 which has been out the months and months

Yeah probably won't have android 10 for month and months either
 
Soldato
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I think if google had a better hardware design team, stuck in 8gb ram and changed the release date to Q1 rather than Q4 they would be right bang in the premium category

The pixel 4 is the same generation as the galaxy s10 which has been out the months and months

Whilst I can't say for certain as I'm not in the know, I doubt Google are trying to compete with Samsung. If LG & Sony can't compete with their affinity with electronics, I doubt Google can succeed with such low brand equity as a mobile phone brand.

Personally I would still go with a Pixel 4 over the Galaxy S10 because facial recognition and timely OS updates are more important to me than what Samsung offer.

Don't get me wrong, the Pixel has its flaws such as battery life for the smaller Pixel models but I'm not struggling to last the day (although I was recently due to some random bug that didn't go away until I flashed the phone from fastboot). I also haven't noticed any RAM issues but that could be down to the fact I don't really game on my phone or I'm accustomed to background reloads due to using Pixels for two generations.

I actually feel like Google are the trailblazers in photography software right now, Samsung & Huawei improved night time photography modes were definitely in reaction to NightSight. There has been reports of improved NightSight for the P4 and better lens distortion correction for the wide angle lens - which might mean the remaining front lens on the P4 is still wide.
 
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