
Google Announces Pixel 4 - exacube
https://store.google.com/product/pixel_4
======
jtokoph
> 3 years of security and OS updates will keep your phone performing at its
> best.

I’m still using an iPhone 6s which has gotten its last major iOS update after
owning the device for 5 years. It will continue getting security fixes for
another year until iOS 14 is released.

iPhones last twice as long as Pixel devices, which is a big plus when you must
have a secure phone.

~~~
lebrad
I'm using Google/Motorola's Nexus 6 with LineageOS, which was released a year
before your iPhone 6s and it still gets the latest updates.

Meanwhile, my mid-2011 Mac Mini was cut off from getting macOS updates after
High Sierra last year. But because it allows the installation of other
operating systems it still can dual-boot the latest Windows 10 and the latest
Debian Bullseye just fine.

The only way for any general computing device to last is if it gives the user
freedom to control the software that runs on the device. All iPhones suppress
this freedom which means game over for longevity.

~~~
jeron
with checkm8 theoretically we will see greater longevity, against apple's will
that is

------
tecleandor
Seems like Motion Sense is not working in some countries, specifically, Japan:

"²Not functional in Japan and may not be functional in other Pixel countries.
Motion Sense is functional in the US, Canada, Singapore, Taiwan and most
European countries."

"Check that you’re in a country where Motion Sense is approved. Currently,
Motion Sense will work in the US, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, and
most European countries. If you travel to a country where it’s not approved,
it won’t work."

What's up with that? Is there any regulation against moving your hands in
front of the phone?

The only thing I can think of is the "kind of" mandatory shutter noise when
using the camera on Japanese phones, to avoid up-skirt photos and the like. An
I say "kind of", because depending on who I've talked to, some say it's a
mandatory law, some others say it's a good faith agreement between
manufacturers.

Anyway, maybe, if the hand waving stuff is detected using the camera, might be
problematic on some countries as in Japan.

~~~
cbolton
It uses a radar device in the phone, so it's probably due to airwave
regulations.

~~~
krzyk
It is quite near 5g frequencies in some countries.

------
johnmaguire2013
The star tracking feature of the astrophotography mode definitely has me
interested. I'm disappointed to see the continued lack of battery capacity on
the smaller phone though. While I'd love a larger battery, I'm one of the
unfortunate ones whose small hands can already barely reach across my Pixel
2's phone screen -- much less the top section.

I'm also incredibly excited about the face unlocking feature -- I owned a
Pixel Xs for about a week before returning it, and face unlock was my absolute
favorite feature. It's very seamless especially compared to fingerprint
unlock.

As an aside, Marc Levoy, who spoke at the Google event today is a Professor
Emeritus at Stanford, and has a great series titled "Lectures on Digital
Photography" available for free on Youtube:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7HrM-
fk_Rc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7HrM-fk_Rc)

------
dhd415
Fingerprint sensors are so convenient that they have become must-have features
on my phones. Removing it from the Pixel 4 is an unfortunate step backward in
terms of everyday usability.

~~~
fetus8
How is the removal of a fingerprint sensor a step back in usability? The
facial unlock is less intrusive and requires the user to do less to interface
securely (minus any privacy concerns) with the phone.

~~~
KZeillmann
Fingerprint sensors work in the dark. Facial unlock doesn't.

Edit: looks like I'm probably wrong on this one

~~~
fetus8
Facial Unlock does work in the dark because it uses IR, and not just a camera.

~~~
angry_octet
Which tells you it can be tricked with just the IR picture.

~~~
fetus8
Mind explaining what an IR picture is?

Facial Unlocking isn't just using image recognition. Face ID, specifically,
using point mapping across a face, creating a 3D map of the face and reference
points to unlock the device. I don't think a flat 2D image, even with IR
photography, could trick a system like this.

A Hollywood grade prop mask of someone's face might be able to trick it, but
that seems like a huge outlier.

~~~
dkonofalski
Even a hollywood mask wouldn't trick it unless it had some way to simulate the
temperatures across the face. IR determines the points and the relative
temperature to make sure the face is live.

------
dharma1
I loved Marc Levoy's presentation. I wonder why no video improvements though -
dynamic range is so important in a camera, why limit it to just photos? 10bit
h265 would be nice, perhaps with some of that hdr+ tonemapping.

Would have been nice to see a wide angle lens too. The radar thing feels
gimmicky.

~~~
vicarrion
The photo improvements are a result of taking multiple pictures and processing
them into one image which you can't do with video.

~~~
dharma1
You can, Red Epic does it with what they call HDRx, Magic Lantern does it with
Dual ISO, zcam E2 do it with WDR - all more or less the same things - you take
two exposures for every frame. Doesn't always work for fast action, but for
some shots it really helps. This is a really good blog post on the topic -
[https://medium.com/@jasonzhang_22759/wdr-
of-e2-369a12d39a7f](https://medium.com/@jasonzhang_22759/wdr-
of-e2-369a12d39a7f)

Also, if your image bit depth is high enough, you can create "virtual"
multiple exposures from a single image and do exposure fusion. Google already
do this with HDR+ on stills.

The bit depth stored from the sensor could be a lot higher than the current
8bits most mobile phones use for video, if you have full control of the ISP.
Cinema cameras can process and store 12-16bit video (Red, Blackmagic, Arri).

Even Apple does this to some degree with their "extended dynamic range" video
on newer iPhones, though the saved files are still 8bit.

------
rrggrr
Not impressed at all this iteration. I may have to wait for Pixel 5, or I'm
tempted to return to the iPhone solely so I can take advantage of the Apple
Watch. I had hoped for better specs, better phone design, and most importantly
- I'd have liked the fingerprint reader to have remained. I really don't want
to be a voluntary part of facial recognition.

~~~
Hamuko
I'm currently also tempted to switch over to the iPhone for the first time
since 2012. Even though there's a pretty large number of Android phones, I'm
not sure if I'd want to buy anything other than a Google or a Nokia phone. And
unfortunately, neither of those has any offerings that I find appealing. With
other Android manufacturers I just can't trust them to deliver software
updates on time or for a prolonged period of time.

~~~
chrisjc
I've been on Android since the G1 (G1, Nexus One, Nexus Galaxy, Nexus 5, Nexus
6p, Moto Z2 Force) and recently made the switch to the iphone 11. It's been a
little difficult making the transition, but nothing compared to the hell that
I've experienced with the last couple of devices I've owned. The Lenovo and
Huawei were just disasters. 6p's hardware was utterly unreliable, and Google
couldn't care less. Motorola just gave up supporting the device, eventually
canceling the planned upgrade to 8.1. Zero security updates for 8 months.

Looking back on this Android journey I have to say that in addition the usual
diatribe about what's wrong with Android, I've grown concerned about the
disposable nature of Android devices. You effectively get 2 years of use out
of an Android if you're lucky. And once their time is up, it's off to the
landfill. That doesn't take into consideration all of the replacement devices
(3 Nexus 6P's) they sent you due to the quality issues abound.

I see family and friends still using their iphone 5s!!! And even if you
upgrade your iphone sooner, rest assured that that phone will end up the used
phone market or overseas. When I bought the iphone 11, they offered me $23 for
my Motorola. (btw, I was thinking oh well i'll just keep it and use it with my
Amazon Alexa moto-mod, but it refuses to work without a SIM card in the phone.
More E-waste!!!)

I honestly feel a little better owning an iphone, not just because it's around
a better phone, but because my e-waste footprint will be a little less.

(sorry about the rant)

~~~
Talyen42
Related, my girlfriend just bought a refurbished iPhone SE for $125. It works
flawlessly, I think they were released 3 years ago now?

You can also sell (or trade) your iPhone after 3 years for 30-50% of the
original MSRP, while android phones you can probably get zero.

------
me_me_me
Pixel 4

2800 mAh

Ughh... why can't they make a phone with bigger battery?

XL model has a decent size battery but it is way to cumbersome to use as
mobile device and 2800 mAh is barely enough to last day (not to mention
degradation over time).

Is it that i am in a filter bobble? But most of my friends and family
complains about low battery or agrees with me that they would love a phone
that last more then a day.

~~~
angry_octet
Moto G7 Power is great -- 5000mAh, and many features which consume less power
and happen to be cheaper (lower res, slower clock). Not the latest and
greatest but if you're away from power for a long time it's a good compromise.

~~~
me_me_me
Thanks for recommendation, I am actually looking for a replacement (or at
least a reason to get newer phone :D ).

------
akersten
The motion tracking / hand gestures / radar thing seems cool, but it also
screams "3D Touch" to me. It'll be really interesting to see if apps
successfully leverage it, or if it will fade away and disappear by the time
Pixel 5 comes around.

~~~
albeec13
Frankly I'm shocked at how anemic the radar chip demonstration and marketing
materials are compared to what they demoed about the chip a few years ago.

Google had video showing how they could differentiate individual finger motion
and motions like rolling 2 fingers together to adjust volume up and down.

What they're shipping with Pixel 4 seems to have exactly one gesture: swiping
a few inches above the screen to skip songs back and forth or silence alarms
and calls.

You know what else had this feature? The 2013 Moto X. And it didn't use a
radar sensor, just a group of 4 light sensors, one at each corner of the face
of the phone.

Granted, if what they demoed a while back is accurate, the radar chip is much
more capable than a few light sensors, but what they're shipping and marketing
is not that. Either they were not able to make the proof of concept work in a
shipping device, or the final product is not as capable as it seemed.

------
madez
I bought the original Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus when they were released,
and I was excited about the device and Android. Since Snowden, the ever
increasing reliance on Google of many people and institutions via its cloud
services, and the encroachment into our private lives via constant listening
devices like Googles Nest, I want to get Google as far from my life as
possible.

In the German version of this announcement, the first thing written under the
title is that you if you order soon enough, you'll get a free Google Nest Hub
with the phone. Well, uhm, no, please don't.

Further down, Google praises itself with "Stets an deiner Seite: Google
Assistant ...", which means "Always at your side: Google Assistant ...". This
is just creepy to me now.

I'm astounded by how much my perspective of Google has changed since a couple
of years ago. Their marketing is off-putting to me now.

~~~
mehdix
Thanks to Soli now it can track your moves even if you cover the screen and
camera.

------
MattyMc
I was so ready to jump into a Pixel (long time iPhone user). I thought on-
board voice recognition would be a game changer. This had to be the most
lacklustre event I've seen:

    
    
      - Nothing on video.  
    
      - No details on the processor (or most hardware specs).  
    
      - Nothing on the forward-facing camera.  
    
      - Nothing on battery life.
    
    

It honestly felt like Google watched Apple's presentation and then cut 2/3 of
what they had planned.

Moreover, and this is purely a marketing-spin thing, the event had no energy.
There were some super cool demos, and they were received with pure silence
from the crowd. It was very weird.

~~~
dkonofalski
Let's be realistic, though... the type of thing that would be a game-changer
_and_ make a big buzz at an event like this just doesn't exist right now.
Phones have gotten so advanced that the "next big thing" needs to be paradigm-
shifting and completely redefining in order to get a sizable reaction.

Everything else right now is just iterative.

~~~
MattyMc
I really thought on-board voice would be a game changer. Not having to do the
round-trip to the cloud to determine intent, and providing a conversational
interface (i.e. "now send this to Pam") I thought would generate that buzz. It
sure seemed to when Google announced that they had reduced this ML model to
~500mb so it could run locally.

In contrast, Apple's A13 chip's contribution to extend battery power is
incredibly impressive to me.

------
cbolton
The radar chip is especially interesting. I remember being intrigued when it
was presented by the ATAP team years ago:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QNiZfSsPc0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QNiZfSsPc0)

The team showed an impressive amount of cool stuff back then, it's nice to see
one of these projects shipping on a flagship product. There's more info here
on how it's used: [https://www.blog.google/products/pixel/new-features-
pixel4/](https://www.blog.google/products/pixel/new-features-pixel4/)

EDIT: found the original presentation:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpbWQbkl8_g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpbWQbkl8_g)
. I think the touch sensitive cloth project also made it into a few products.

~~~
imagiko
It is project Soli that graduated from ATAP!

------
shujito
I'm not from the US, the store page redirects me to my region

Appending a locale parameter to the url works well [1]

[1] [https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_4?hl=en-
US](https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_4?hl=en-US)

------
sudosteph
I want a decent 5" screen phone again. I have the pixel 3, and I swear I'm
getting hand cramps because it's too big to use with one-hand. Miss the old
Nexus 5.

~~~
sunstone
I also have a pixel 3 and find I work it pretty well one handed. The pixel 2
though was a little wide.

~~~
sudosteph
How big are your hands? Do you have a special technique? I've got the one-hand
keyboard setting enabled and I still can't type with one hand. My hands aren't
big enough to hold it between my palm and finger tips with any sort of
stability while using my thumb. It works better if I stretch out my pinky and
rest the phone on top of it (not even touching the palm so the thumb has more
reach and mobility), but it still falls a lot like that so I end up always
reverting to two-hand use. And that's just for typing, I can't do light
browsing or anything else with one hand like I did on the Nexus 5

To give a hand size comparison, the length from the very bottom of my palm to
the top of my index finger is nearly equal to the height of the pixel 3. My
index finger is maybe .25" longer. I'm an average height adult woman (5'5”),
with hands proportional to that. I can play a standard size guitar just fine
(ok, some bar chords are hard), but I haven't been able to buy an
ergonomically comfortable flagship Android device in years now.

~~~
sunstone
Ah, I'm a 5'10" male with average hands for that height and I can see that
would make a big difference. Some way of moving the screen inside the phone's
physical perimeter might be helpful, anyone got an app for that?

------
rpmisms
Another maintenance release from another manufacturer. Are we just in a
stagnation cycle until 5g comes around?

~~~
darkstar999
5g is already here. They are behind.

~~~
Hamuko
Here where? Because where I live, you can use 5G in two places: around the
Nokia campus and around a university. In one city, I saw 5G cover about six
blocks in the city center.

I'd say 5G is not already here.

------
baby
What are the odds that the camera block would look like the iPhone 11 pro!

Edit: a lot of sarcastic answers down there :D

~~~
xeroxeri
What are the odds that all phones are a black rectangle?

Seriously, though, some problems just have one solution.

~~~
dkonofalski
What a weird thing to say considering that the whole "rounded corners" thing
became so overblown that it's a meme at this point...

Look at Android phones prior to the iPhone and then post-iPhone. There are
definitely more solutions to phone designs than just a black rectangle.

------
armandososa
That page will not show you the Pixel 4 if it's not available in your country
(I'm in Mexico, for example), but if you're still curious here's the blogpost:
[https://blog.google/products/pixel/pixel-4/](https://blog.google/products/pixel/pixel-4/)

------
neogodless
We have some contradictions in our lives.

For example, think about computer releases. As someone who likes to build a PC
and install my own operating system, I love how these two things are somewhat
decoupled (albeit imperfectly.) So I was excited about individual component
releases, of course the CPU and GPU in particular, not to mention the rapid
advancement of storage technology! And I was happy to try out a whole new
version of Windows. (I particularly like 2000 and 7.)

Computers, on the other hand - well I've all but ignored desktops and
announcements about them my whole life. Laptops were more interesting, because
I was excited when they started to have decent internal components, nice
screens and usable battery life. (I've been less impressed with increasingly
closed systems with fewer options for upgrades.)

So back to the point at hand? I'd like to think that new phones should be
focused on performance, and in my dream world, decoupling from software. I
don't want "new gadgets" to be a thing on a phone. If I want to use it a
certain way, i.e. hand waving away my song tracks, I have to now rely on a
specific manufacturer running a specific operating system on at least the
minimum version. No real options there, though.

I'm still not sure "modular" can work for phones, or maybe it can but we're
not there yet, or there hasn't been enough market success to push
manufacturers to go that way. But even that feels mostly unnecessary. I
haven't had any complaints about my phone hardware, except for batteries
wearing out, and being difficult to replace. Cameras have been "good enough"
for my needs for several years now. Storage and computing performance has been
fine, too. (Of course, new features are compute-intensive and will require
hardware to keep up.)

If I have a point, it's that this is a boring phone release to me, but I kind
of wish all phone releases were boring at this point. I'm sure some of the
imaginative features coming out will become important, but right now, I feel
like I don't need them. What I would prefer would be an improvement in
decoupling between phone hardware and software.

------
nwah1
The better processor is appreciated, but I would prefer that it had 5G and
Gorilla Glass 6

------
jorgemf
I miss my Moto X (2gen) with the infrared sensors to detect your hand and
other stuff. It seems pretty similar to the hand gestures. Moreover I could
personalize the external materials.

------
lern_too_spel
And the best device that Google has remains the Pixel 3a XL. They continue to
remove features that people actually use and add things that nobody wants.

------
dopamean
I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up with my first iphone when my op6 kicks the
bucket (no sign of that anywhere in sight). I've just been so underwhelmed
with every Android phone release that now the main thing that matters to me is
the years of updates that the iphones get. I never thought I'd care about that
but it looks great now.

------
meerita
I'm going back to iPhone soon for privacy support and better features. I had
all Pixel/Google phones until Pixel 2 and they all died within a year and half
(Google returned me the money).

------
imagiko
Looks like the lovechild of Galaxy S9 and iPhone 11. It's good to see project
Soli graduating out of Google ATAP!

------
ojhughes
iOS has UX so well executed compared to Android in my opinion. Android may
have better specs and features on paper but falls far short when it comes to a
satisfying user journey where everything "Just Works".

------
markdog12
Love to see more devices using higher refresh rate.

------
linuxftw
> Quick Gestures uses radar to sense motion

WTF. I don't want more EMR coming from a phone. I just want a phone. All this
extra technology literally noone asked for adding to the price of a phone,
same with fingerprint readers, same with face scan.

Ultra-privacy intruding phones.

