
The Google Pixel 3 Is a Very Good Phone. But Maybe Phones Have Gone Too Far - panic
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mathonan/google-pixel-3-review-android
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tempestn
From the actual review the article links to, I've got to say, this is pretty
cool:

 _Super Res Zoom is Google’s software that aims to make up for the missing
telephoto lens. The machine learning–powered feature makes photos taken with
digital zoom look better. Typically, photos taken with optical zoom are higher
resolution, while digitally zoomed photos look grainy and blurry.

Here’s how it works: Whenever you take a photo, your hand is never perfectly
still. It moves ever so slightly. Super Res Zoom uses those hand vibrations to
capture the image from slightly different angles to get more information from
that scene. Those angles are used to make digitally zoomed-in photos appear
more detailed and higher resolution._

~~~
diggernet
Sounds great for a static scene, but it's bound to cause problems when zooming
in on moving subjects.

~~~
londons_explore
They use optical flow to handle moving images just fine

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whorleater
I really don't know how to feel about this article, because it's barely a
review of a phone, and more of a review of phone culture. The actual review of
a phone is only a smidge more than a press release ("call screening is cool!
cameras are good!"), but then it makes some nice digressions into phone
culture, yet never seems to reach a satisfying conclusion?

I suppose this says something about the state of phones where "reviews" can
basically be anything cause all smartphones are pretty much the same now.

~~~
faitswulff
This piece shouldn't be read as just a review. I see it as a commentary on how
mundane tech can be while simultaneously undermining the fabric of society.

~~~
WillPostForFood
World looked pretty bad in the 20th century, and it (mostly) happened without
cell phones to blame.

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gsibble
You mean the century where the 2nd half of it saw the greatest acceleration of
invention amd wealth creation in history that has yet to be repeated? The most
prominent time in history? That century?

~~~
TomMarius
The first half of that one certainly was very bad.

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WillPostForFood
The Google Assistant call screening sounds really interesting. I probably get
10 spam/scam calls for every legit call. I'm curious how it will work, or if
telemarketers will end up gaming the assistant. This is the first feature
since 2007 that would get me to consider switching from iPhone.

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keyle
Someone was forced to write a review for a phone, but felt like having an op-
ed about the philosophical impact that our phones has on us? Fun read though.

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Chazprime
This is certainly one of the most bizarre hardware reviews I’ve read,
including this rather bombastic claim:

 _Our phones are radicalizing and dividing society_

Perhaps the title of this piece should be changed:

 _“Google Pixel 3, I literally can’t even”_

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carbonatedmilk
I didn't know
[https://twitter.com/nihilist_arbys](https://twitter.com/nihilist_arbys) was
doing phone reviews now too.

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confutio
This is a bizarre review that goes from "fire and brimstone smartphones are
causing genocides" to complaining that the back scratches easily. Not really
sure what it adds. It also doesn't touch on the new wellness and privacy
features that are being added to a lot of modern phones.

~~~
redial
I would say it is not what it adds, but what it expresses without attempting
anything else than having those words read. It echoes the disconnect a lot of
us feel between the power of a world-changing-device with what is being used
for, embodied I think in what I often read here on HN comments: "This era has
produced the smartest (or more knowledgeable) and wealthiest people in the
history of humanity an what are they doing? trying to make you click on ads."

The smartphone has reached maturity and very little more can be said that
hasn't been said about the technology inside of it so maybe it's time we take
a step back and rethink the place of it in our society, or maybe not or not
yet. The value of at least asking that question is what I took from the
article.

In other words, it is more a "review" not of the phone but of the people using
it.

~~~
chiefalchemist
> "This era has produced the smartest (or more knowledgeable) and wealthiest
> people in the history of humanity an what are they doing? trying to make you
> click on ads."

At first I nodded my head in agreement. Then I paused, pondered a bit, and
reworded it a bit:

We are living in a system designed for viewing ads and clicking ads; the scale
of this system is creating an unprecedented amount of wealth; the system best
rewards those who disregard guilt in order to service it; profits are the new
progress; shamelessness the new barometer of success; exploitation the new
innovation.

Harsh? Or simply blunt and honest?

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drvdevd
Blunt and honest.

But maybe you forgot: a race to the bottom?

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sAbakumoff
i mean just turn off notifications.

