#fuck the new iPhone or Samsung or Pixel phone

[profound-thots]

a link to an article with more info 🍉🇵🇸🐄

[slunch]

oughhhh need to buy a new phone in the next year or so because mine is fucked. why does every smartphone suddenly fucking suck! we had removable batteries and headphone jacks and SD card expansion slots when I was in middle school and now it's like...what's taking up that space in the same-sized phone all of a sudden? "we had to take out the headphone jack to make the phone 2mm slimmer" apple and google kill yourselves challenge. i want a fucking brick that has 2TB of space and a decent camera. and TWO headphone jacks. and a stylus because why not

[kakashisthickthighs]

i am thinking about if getou and gojo really did continue talking afterwards and like the tiny intricate details and logistics of their lives.

they part in 2007. they had flip phones.

getou dies in 2016. they had iphones, instagram, snapchat, and dog filters.

when getou first goes rogue, shoko and gojo probably still have his number and are blowing his shit up. he probably has his phone off for the first days of it and turns it back on after. there’s no need to trash it out of a want to stay hidden—he won’t die unless they send an army or gojo himself.

when he turns his cell back on, he’s half-tempted to delete all his photos of jujutsu tech, with shoko, with gojo, and he gets as far as deleting maybe 15 of them in a heavy-breathed rage before convincing himself that maybe he doesn’t need to delete these. these are mementos of the said pinnacle of jujutsu, and they’ll come in handy when there are no non-sorcerers left.

he’s about to put the cellphone away before it rings. it’s satoru. he sighs. he calls once every day. it’s relentless, six or seven calls at minute intervals. getou almost laughs at it—the world’s strongest, desperate.

a month after his disappearance, he calls every night at ten. sometimes the pixels on his cell read 10:04, 10:21, the latest was 10:42. it becomes a ritual, agonizing every night wanting to finally beat gojo at something, to make him lose. but suguru finds himself holding his breath as 10pm wanders by every day, breathing easy only when his phone stops buzzing.

maybe one night he’s yet again alone in his shoebox apartment, assorted belongings littered about, convincing himself this was the best path for him. not jujutsu tech, the horrible missions, the loneliness, the taste. it feels better here, where no one else is happy.

he’s lost in a daze when his phone rings. it’s been three months and satoru won’t let up. every night. he scoffs and flips his cell open just to sneer and make a point, to feel powerful in his own mind, but once the line connects, he’s silent, mouth agape and eyes wide that he actually picked up.

he hears static from the other side, a shift of fabric, a shaky inhale. “suguru, you fucking idiot,” gojo sneers, loud on the other end, “what’d ya pick up by accident?”

getou can’t help but laugh from the bottom of his heart. his abs are burning and tears are falling by the time he contains himself, and memories flood back. selfies, dumb finds, food pics, phone bills crazy all from hours on the phone together. there’s satoru’s voice, and then there’s lofi samsung static-lined satoru’s voice. both sound like home.

“suguru—“

“satoru,” he breathes, and this is what it feels like to talk again. he’s lived in this apartment in silence for the past three months, voices only coming from his saved videos.

“come home, suguru.” they both know it’s impossible.

getou chuckles again into the speaker. he can almost see it, satoru’s spindly form, one leg propped up on a chair, elbow resting on it as he holds the phone in distaste. or maybe he’s completely prone, jolted awake by a voice he hadn’t expected to hear.

“satoru, you’ll be fine,” he chimes, hanging up. he squeezes his eyes shut and swallows a sigh, and just like that, he’s left home again.

three years later the calls have stopped. the iphone 4 comes out, and the world is awash in touch screens, app stores, and missing charging cables. it’s time for an upgrade, and getou powers off his flip phone—his youth—one last time and tucks it gingerly into a shoebox. he starts completely anew with no data to transfer.

gojo meticulously transfers every contact and double checks only one number. it’s the first call he makes on his new phone.

the number you have dialed is not in service—

he hangs up and slows his breathing. he doesn’t delete the number. suguru, the contact reads.

you’ll be fine.

[pssy-wagn]

Day 26: Android/Cyborg

“...and that’s why you’re just better off without them. Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, Dean.”

Crossing his arms, he looks at Cas in the eyes from across the kitchen table, “Then what’d I say?”

“You went on and on about why this phone is better than that phone. For the umpteenth time.”

Looking at the bill in front of him, he points to the upgrade that Castiel can now have, “You have an upgrade, Cas. You can pick any phone you want. Why in the hell will you stick with an Apple phone? You’ve got your pick from Android, my personal favorite, Google Pixel-”

“It’s just a phone, Dean.”

Sighing, Dean stares kind of disheartened at his portion of the bill, “I still have about three months with mine.”

“And you want to trade it in so bad already. The only thing wrong with yours is the screen.”

“Protector. Screen protector. But I wanna get a new one too,” Dean whines.

“I don’t even want an upgrade. There’s nothing wrong with my phone.”

“No. Except it’s starting to drop calls, your pictures are blurry when you send shit to me, your Messenger sucks hardcore-”

“I thought it was just a software update I needed.”

“That’s Apple products for ya. They don’t give a shit. They’re just like that N’Sync song, buy, buy, buy but with a U, not like, goodbye. Anyways, that’s how they getcha.”

Looking at his phone, Cas makes a quick phone call.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Gabriel.”

“Hi, Cassie!”

Sighing, he ignores his dreaded nickname from his older brother, “Gabriel, you have an Android phone, right?”

“Talking to you on it right now. Why?”

“Time for an upgrade-”

“Oh, sweet. Yeah. There’s a reason why I ditched my iPhone. It was-”

Cas is listening to hear what’s next in his sentence but when he looks at his screen, it’s on his wallpaper of him and Dean kissing with fireworks going on in the background. Dean looks at him from his plate of eggs and bacon, “Did he hang up?”

“I think.”

Nodding, Dean tears a piece of bacon, “Or did it drop the call? Again.”

Sighing, Cas searches for Gabriel’s number in his cell. Before he even has time to hit Call, Gabriel is calling him.

“Gabriel?”

“Why did you hang up on me? I was talking for a good two minutes until I realized I was talking to nobody!”

“His phone sucks!” Dean hollers from the back as he retrieves his second mug of coffee, “Talk some sense into your brother!”

“Dean, quiet. I’m on the phone.”

“Not for long”, Dean mutters under his breath.

Cas throws him a frown, “I will spit in your coffee, Dean.”

“Oh, please. You say that so much, it’s lost all threat.”

Shaking his head, he goes back to his phone only to be shown his wallpaper again. Exhaling hard, he looks at Dean who has a smug smile on his face.

“Dropped again, huh?” Dean fishes out his phone from his hotdog pants, “Wanna use mine? I bet you can stay on the phone with Gabe’s little ass longer.”

Squinting his eyes at his husband, Cas grabs the phone from his outstretched hand, “I hate you so much right now.”

“Lost meaning too,” Dean laughs as he shoves a forkful of eggs in his mouth.

When Cas goes into the next room to make his phone call, Dean takes Cas’ phone to try to make a call.

Calling Sam, he puts his phone to his ear.

“Hey, Cas. What did Dean do this time?”

“The fuck? That’s the reason he calls you all the time?”

“Oh. Hahaha, uh, hi Dean.”

“Uh-huh. He doesn’t call just to say hi and shit?”

“He does. About two days ago we were talking about fish tacos.”

“Fish tacos?”

“Yeah. If made just right, they are pretty good but nothing compare-”

“Compared to what? Beef? Steak? Hello? Sam?”

Looking at the screen, he knows the call dropped. Laughing out loud, “Cas! Your phone sucks more dick than you!”

When he comes back into the kitchen, he slides Dean’s phone to him.

“So what did you and your brother talk about? He agrees with me, huh? It’s time to switch, Babe.”

Dean slides him his phone back. Cas looks at it, sadly, “I’m sorry, ol’ gal. I think it’s time to let you go.”

“Get the new Samsung one, Cas. That one looks awesome.”

“I’m saying goodbye, Dean!”

Putting his hands up in surrender, Dean simply rolls his eyes, “I’m gonna go get dressed. We could hit up the AT&T store before we gotta go grocery shop.”

“Fine.”

When they get to the store, Sam calls Dean. As soon as he pulls his phone out of his pocket, he drops it just outside the store; having it smash onto the sidewalk curb grill and down its drain. Both Dean and Cas look at each other, mouths agape.

“What the fuck?! My phone!”

Going on his hands and knees, Dean tries to fish it out but his arms are too big. Leaving him, Cas goes inside the store. Coming back out, a woman shines her phone’s flashlight into the drain, “Let me help you, sir.”

“Thanks.”

When she pulls it out, the phone is completely cracked. Dean tries to turn it on but hears the water sloshing around inside.

“Good thing you’re at an AT&T store, right?” The woman nervously chuckles.

“I guess.”

Walking inside, he sees Cas eyeing the display phones, “Cas? I’m getting a new one too.”

“Perfect. I’ll get the newest Apple, my husband wants the newest Android.”

“What? We’ve been over this, Cas!”

[cityofvice]

Different hours of the day will set a different tone for each picture regardless of what you capture in front of the viewfinder or iPhone screen in my case. The major down fall I’ve noticed when shooting on a cell phone camera are the pixels, if you have any interest in printing your work you’ll notice the resolution or PPi on a cellphone versus a DSLR is a big factor.

If you don’t give a fuck about the quality of the resolution on paper and just want to throw some cool shit on your wall I think cell phone camera’s are good enough now, especially iPhone. I got a chance to use one of my homies new Samsung S1 Ultra and the technology on that shit is crazy, camera is really good, but it tends to oversharpen the photos.

All these were shot with the 0.5 wide angle on the iPhone 13. Strictly L.A.

[anatheyma]

it’s a pic of me and my cousin’s baby (he’s 11 months and i’m his favourite!)

he actually changed it himself yesterday when he was kissing my phone

but i get bored of phone wallpapers all the time so i’m always changing it

i’m actually thinking of getting a new phone, is yours a pixel? (that’s the kind i’m hoping to get!)

(also thanks for asking ☺️)

-🥀

AWWW THAT'S SO ADORABLE 🥺 AWAW

me too, i keep fucking around with them lol

mine's samsung (outing myself as an android user, i'm too broke for iphones guys listen...)

[twilightofthe]

They do still make Motorolas, I'm sending this off one of their recent models haha :') your HCs about him are like spot on too! Curious what you think about Obi-Wan and/or Padmé, to complete the trio?

Ooooh thank you! Also yeah I THOUGHT they still made the Motorola ones I know my friend has one

So, character prompts from this post!

What does your blorbo's phone/laptop/car/backpack look like?

OBI WAN

Phone:

He’s got a Samsung Galaxy or a Google Pixel because his old iPhone died and Anakin convinced him not to get a new one, but he still wants a recognizable name brand smartphone because he’s not super techy and he knows that means they’ll work and won’t be overly complicated. It’s got one small line of a crack in the screen protector, he has no clue where it came from and is rather disgruntled because it’s a fairly new phone and protector, but he figures it’s something he can let be until it becomes a bigger problem.

He’s got one of those old man plain brown leather cases that has a built in wallet area where you can put credit cards and ids and stuff—but he doesn’t, thinks it’ll be easier to lose everything at once that way and keeps all that in his regular wallet. Ahsoka and Anakin regularly ask him what even the point of the wallet case is, but like hell is he admitting to being an aesthetic hoe

Lockscreen is a long battle between a landscape photo of some aesthetic city or wilderness he’s traveled to, and blurry selfies of Anakin pulling the most hideous expressions he can because Anakin knows his password and keeps breaking into his phone to set his lockscreen to them just to watch Obi Wan’s fucking done expression when he checks his phone and sees it

Homescreen is either another aesthetic photo or a screenshot of a literary quote he likes

All his apps are sitting in the standard way the phone organizes them, he doesn’t do any fiddling, but he also doesn’t have many apps to begin with

Also I need to point out that Obes is a godless heathen who keeps his ringer ON. His text and phone tones are also the standard ones that come with the phone, Anakin hasn’t dared try and change them to something jokey because he knows Obi Wan will get a special kind of revenge for embarrassing him in public and he’s waiting for the perfect opportunity to do it since he can only do it once

Laptop:

Obi Wan still has an ancient first or second generation MacBook Air and he is kinda cranky with Anakin for convincing him to change his phone to an android because now it won’t connect in any way with his laptop and he is absolutely not shelling out for a new one when this one still looks fine

He keeps a special glasses wipe for the screen because he fucking hates not being able to see shit when there’s dust and gunk all over it. Drives him nuts that the laptop just keeps accumulating it

The laptop background is an artsy map of whatever city he’s living in, but it’s blurry and pixelated because he got it off Google images and it wasn’t an HD version. It’s the same background as his LinkedIn profile.

He doesn’t have an outside case for the laptop, but he does have a carrying case for it that he can zip and unzip it out of whenever he’s transporting it places. It is plain black and squishy.

Car:

HoohooHOO :)

Okay so Obi Wan very much likes public transportation and is an avid champion of the necessity for buses and trains

He also rides a bicycle a lot!

But

Obi Wan’s got a motorcycle.

It is a nice one (I can’t say more than that cuz I also know jackshit about bikes lmao)

It’s shiny and it’s either red or black and when he needs to drive somewhere and can’t take public transport, that’s what he uses

He of course always wears a full helmet and gloves and impact jacket.

It used to be Qui Gon’s but he got injured and doesn’t ride anymore so Obi Wan took it. It’s nice, he likes it, it’s less gas and it’s not hard to ride.

He has a side car for if he’s transporting more than one person or groceries or anything.

Anakin is in love with it and firmly believes Obi Wan doesn’t deserve it and laments on the REGULAR that Obi Wan only lets him clean it/give it tune ups and won’t let him take it apart or try and make it better

Obi Wan genuinely does not get how hot he is on the bike xD

Backpack:

Obi Wan has one of those leather over the side shoulder satchels that’s all the dark academia rage lol

Regularly sticks too much shit in it, it’s surprisingly messy for a guy like him but that’s because it’s full of books his laptop extra snacks a hairbrush a spare jacket a first aid kit literally everything packed in there Just In Case

It’s also Really Fucking Heavy because of that and he’s always surprising people by handing it to them and they’re just like oof *drops from the weight*

The leather’s a little worn and cracked because he keeps so much in it, but it’s in fairly good shape because he splurged for a pricier one

I’m gonna do Padmé’s in a separate post since this is getting long!

[hasufin]

Beam me up

I just got a new phone.

Now, I’m generally not an early adopter, especially with phones - I kept my old Palm Treo until the housing had literally worn through and you could see the circuitry.

Moreover, I’ve been generally happy with my old phone - a Google Pixel 5. Unfortunately, the USB port has been getting a bit dodgy, and my carrier offered me a really good deal, so... well, I bit the bullet and got a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4.

First, the bad. I am not exactly happy with the battery life. Daily usage really eats into it fast. Fortunately, I’m well-accustomed to having phones with low battery life, and have no dearth of charging banks and cords. So NBD, but if it’s like this out of the box... well, we’re talking early iPhone levels here, you know?

And while the external screen is bigger than the prior versions, to he point of maybe being usable, it’s far from actually being useful. I have yet to figure out how to get it to display enough notification information that I don’t need to open my phone - my old phone, I could hit a single button to see what made my phone ping, now all I can get is a little dot telling me there’s something. Possibly that can be rectified, but I’ve yet to figure out how.

Perhaps more importantly, I cannot take pictures as easily. When it’s folded, your only realistic option s to take selfies, which seems... not great.

Now, a certain amount of my issues are just that it’s an unfamiliar phone and I’m getting used to it, so there’s that. And I will learn. Though I will also admit that as I get older, the less patience I have for interfaces with a learning curve - it just seems so pointless to learn all the shortcuts and find all the settings for a device I’ll replace in a few years. I wish the industry could just NOT fuck around with these things and let me have my muscle memory.

Okay. So the good.

Now, this is one of the first worthwhile phones with a flexible MOLED screen. Although you can tell where the hinge is, it’s seamless and does not detract from usage at all. Assuming this ages well, I’m quite happy with it.

The form factor is great - it fits in my pocket quite nicely, and also fits very well in even the smallest of purses. Rejoice, you can have a smartphone and a tiny handbag.

Unfolded, it’s a perfectly good, full-featured smartphone. I haven’t lost anything compared to the Pixel. The camera seems quite good, it has plenty of memory, sound quality is good... they didn’t sacrifice anything that I can tell.

The biggest plus, though, is the feel. The housing is solid, the hinge seems great.. and most of all, it closes with a satisfying little thump. Finally, I can actually hang up my phone again. I can decide I’m done with whatever I’m doing and close the phone. Not a tiny little power button, just the sound of a phone closing.

It doesn’t hurt that opening it makes me feel like I could call Mr. Scott and have him beam me up, either.

[kingjaffejoffer]

I'm stuck between getting the Google pixel 3 or 4, the newest Samsung Galaxy that comes out next week, and the iPhone 11. I know you're a fan of Google, do you think those phones are worth it compared to the others?

I know I've been saying this for years, but I'm finally hopping off the Google wave when I get a new phone.

Yall know I been an android loyalist since the beginning. I've done all the rooting and flashing ROMs, the whole nine.

Over the last few years I haven't been fucking with Google too much as a company. I don't know if I want to continue giving them my money or relying so heavily on their products.

I'm going to buy a new iPhone and use my old pixel 3 for android-exclusive apps that ios doesn't have.

I'm more privacy conscious than the average person. You'll never completely "get rid" of corporate spying but you can mitigate it a lot if you learn more about how the operating systems work and which apps can be trusted.

You can find other helpful info in this subreddit

[maryellencarter]

You know, I never wanted to be someone who keeps up with all the latest news on thousand-dollar cellphone launches. And yet, here I am, reading about the Samsung Note10 launch, because preorders start today and my job at Large Telecommunications Company means I have to be able to chitchat with customers about color options, expandable memory, screen size, processing power, and the lack of a headphone jack.

(Seriously, fuck Apple for deciding headphone jacks were outdated. Stupid fucking tech geek circlejerk.)

Oh, and apparently the power button is being changed around so I'm gonna have to figure out *another* new fancy stupid way of turning the phone off and on again on launch day. It's not like they include that information in our simulators at work, we're just as confused as you are. ;P *glares at Apple again for that power-and-volume-down stunt* Can't just turn off a phone the normal way by holding the power button, oh no precious. We has to be special, yes precious. :P

Looks like the Galaxy Fold is relaunching in September, too. Even if we don't carry it, I'm gonna have to sound knowledgeable. And there'll be a new iPhone launch, and then the Pixel 4 in October. Last year there were also a bunch of indie phones to keep track of, and I suspect that'll be the case again this year. The new Motorolas launched in June, but Motorola isn't trying to appeal to the fancyass tech innovator market, so they didn't cause much stir. $500 phones just don't have the cachet of four figures. ;P

(I have a perfectly serviceable Motorola smartphone for which I paid under $300 retail. Before that, I had a hand-me-down iPhone 5C, and before that I had a succession of prepaid flip-phones. I'm not an early adopter. But you wouldn't know it to talk to me on the clock.)

[doktorocelot]

Google Pixel 3 XL Review

The Beginning

The Google Pixel is a phone series with a cult following. It's beloved for its smooth, light stock Android experience. However, I've been hearing some major controversy about Pixel 3. My carrier has been AT&T my entire life, and they don't natively carry the Pixel; I'd have to buy it unlocked. So, I skipped on the Pixel 1 and went for a Samsung Galaxy S8+.

Unfortunately, I carelessly dropped the phone on its curved edge and completely shattered the screen. I was devastated, but the phone was nearing the end of the two-year cycle. I've used a few phones in my day: the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung Galaxy S8+ and Google Pixel 3XL. However, as a child/teenager, I didn't have to pay for my own phone, and I was very thankful to be lucky enough to receive this technology. After shattering the Galaxy S8+, I didn't have the selfishness ask my parents to buy a new phone for me; therefore, I had to make a decision on what to do next.

I considered my options. Since I wanted to purchase my own phone, I wasn't limited to what my carrier provided. This was my chance to buy a Pixel! So I went on the Google Store, full of excitement until I noticed something. A Pixel 3 started at $799! That's quite expensive for a stock Android phone; there's the Essential Phone, which starts at $499, and the OnePlus 6T, which starts at $549. I needed to figure out what the Pixel 3 had over these other phones, and some would tell you it's not worth the extra money.

I did some more research and found out that Pixel phones were indeed the first to receive Android updates; if I bought a Pixel 3, I, assumably, would experience Android 9, 10 and 11 throughout the phone's lifespan. This is huge for a software nerd like myself, and that's the deal with the Pixel phones: you're paying more for the software than the hardware. However, I don't care about how good the software is, because the prices of the Pixel phones are gross. Google had a massive chance to undercut the competition by pricing this phone lower and attract more customers, but they didn't. As a result, many people who considered the phone won't buy it because it's too expensive.

Regardless, after all of the research I did, I decided I was going to try something new, and I bought a Google Pixel 3 XL. I went with Google Store Financing, so I'll be paying for this phone for two years. I've had it for about a month and a half now, so I'm going to review the handset based on that time.

The First Impression

The packaging is premium, but I don't fucking care. I don't buy a mobile for the packaging, so I unboxed the phone and set the deluxe packaging aside, never to be seen again. The naked phone looks really good; I really like Google's two-tone style, but there's wasted opportunity with that, which I'll get into later. Anyway, I decided to put the phone into a case immediately because I can't afford to break this one, and since there isn't a curved screen, it shouldn't instantly shatter if I drop it.

The phone's setup was easy, as expected, and worked instantly with the AT&T sim card I put into it. It even came with an ejection tool, which Apple should take notes from. It also came with a headphone dongle — as there is no headphone jack — something that Apple should take notes from. Included was a charging cable with a fast-charging brick, something Apple should take notes from. At this point, some of you may be getting annoyed by my comparing the included accessories to Apple, but you've got to remember: the iPhone X🅂 starts at $999. While I still believe the Pixel 3 and 3 XL are unbelievably priced, at least they give you a damned 3.5mm audio to USB Type-C and fast charging brick.

The phone also came with a set of wired USB Type-C headphones, and these things are super weird. In short, I personally don't like them, but some people do. My favourite earbuds are still Samsung OEM buds because they're very comfortable and sound great. However, I give props to Google for including a nice set of USB Type-C headphones, even if I personally find them uncomfortable.

The Elephant in the Room

I just need to get to this as soon as possible, because I really don't even want to write about it. Everybody's been talking about it, but in case you haven't noticed, the Google Pixel 3 XL has a display cutout. The notch at the top of the screen has been the talking point of many sad people who ride on controversy for views and revenue, including someone who made a five and a half minute video about it. In this video, they whine about a design on a phone they don't have to buy and then are confused why the developer options have different settings for different possible cutouts. Maybe it's for developers to test how their app works on different phones, dude. They also said that Google never justified the notch, even though the phone has dual speakers and dual front-facing cameras.

If you're like me and happen to be an adult, you'll quickly find that the notch doesn't really matter. I'm speaking for myself, but when I use my smartphone, I tend to look at the part of the phone that is the screen, not the part that isn't. Regardless, while it isn't intended for consumer use, you can use the developer options to disable the notch get a more traditional look if you desire to buy a phone with the extra screen and then not use it. However, then I hear people complain that they're losing the screen real estate when they do that. At this point, I needed to take a second to double take because I thought they didn't want the screen there. No, apparently, they want the notch area to be black, so it looks like there isn't a notch, but it still puts the status bar there. This isn't a native option in Pixel phones, but I'm just hoping Google adds this feature so they can shut up about it. Alternatively, there’s an app that does this. If you don't want the notch, you could always buy the Pixel 3, which exists. I'm telling you, though, Pixel 3 XL owners usually don't care about it.

The Screen

Now that I've finally written about the part that isn't the screen, I'll write about the screen. This is the part where I get really annoyed because the Pixel 3 XL's screen has been undergoing two bits of misinformation; I need to address these. First, a lot of people have been saying that the Pixel 3 XL is using a P-OLED screen, instead of an AMOLED screen. This incorrect assumption has led to reviewers' arbitrarily saying the screen is worse because the letters of its name are different from AMOLED. For example, there's a video from the channel, 'Learn How To Edit Stuff', where he proceeds to use a bunch of jumpcuts to get to a point where he says that he liked the iPhone's AMOLED screen better than a P-OLED display. This is such a sad example of a placebo because the Pixel 3 XL uses a Samsung AMOLED screen. This was according to a teardown of the device:

In the name of science, we opt to dismantle our display to learn from whence it came…It's a Samsung! Rumors were all over the place, but it looks like Google is going with Samsung's trusty AMOLED panels this year.

-iFixit (Source)

The Pixel 3 — you know, the small version that exists — is the one that uses a P-OLED display. I'm not sure why Google used two different screens, but whatever.

The second 'issue' I've seen going around is the display's brightness. In fact, I've seen a lot of people say that the screen is too dim. They mention how, on other phones, they keep their brightness at around 50%, but on the Google Pixel 3, they have to set it to approximately 80%, thus killing the battery life. A dim screen would really be a dealbreaker for me… but you know, it's funny; if I were to drop a considerable amount of money a phone that I'm going to use for the next two years, and I had an issue with it, I'd be sure to research it to get more information, rather than just claiming it as an issue and move on. Here's the truth: Android 9 changed the brightness slider completely. The Android developers changed it from a linear scale to a new scale that complements the human's perception of brightness. As a result, what was at 50% is now at around 80% because the slider now appears to work smoothly. The battery won't drain faster because the number is higher than before since the brightness is the exact fucking same.

The Problems

Let me break up this Google-jizzing attitude to explain that this phone, like every other phone, is not perfect. I'm going to put the negatives that I experienced because I want to be fair with this phone. However, do understand that I still find that the upsides heavily outweigh the downsides.

I've personally been having issues with the fingerprint reader. Sometimes, it just won't recognise my fingerprint at all, no matter how much I wipe down both ends. However, other reviewers have said that the fingerprint reader works every time so your mileage may vary.

The Android 9 gesture navigation has really grown on me, but there's one problem I have with it. If you swipe up from the bottom, you get to the recent apps page. If you swipe up again, you get to the app drawer. Supposedly, if you long swipe, you can get instantly to the app drawer, but I find this very difficult to do quickly. I feel like I have to bring my finger up the entire screen slowly to get it to work, and it just really breaks the flow for me.

For some reason, when I watch YouTube videos, the equalisation of the audio varies. Sometimes, I'll get bass-boosted sound when I start the video, but if I skip around the video, the equalisation randomly changes to have more treble. I don't know why it does that, and I can't seem to find anything about it online.

These are some of the minor issues I've been having, but nothing so far has really stuck out to me as significant. So far, my experience with this phone has been pretty solid, and I'm really enjoying it.

The UI

Remember, I was on a Samsung phone before they had One UI, so the change to stock Android was really drastic. Instantly, I felt like the whole phone was just prettier and smoother. The UI was flat, beautiful and, dare I say, gradient-free! I've always had a soft spot for Material Design, so it was finally nice to have my phone be using it for almost everything.

The Pixel launcher is really lovely, too. It's snappy and easy to use. The Google feed to the left is handy, and I appreciate the choice to put a Google search bar at the bottom for easy access. The top of the launcher shows the time and weather, and when a calendar event is coming up, it shows that event and the time remaining until it occurs.

The Not Bloated System

I love the fact that this phone doesn't come with stuff I don't need. In fact, it was the biggest reason I wanted this phone. Yes, I know rooting exists, but I didn't want to do it. This phone comes with the bare essentials, and gone are the days of having two calendar apps because Samsung insists that I use theirs, even though it's shit. I don't have to hide apps anymore with a third-party launcher. Some people say it's weird to brag about fewer features, but in this case, less is more. If I want an app, I'll go to the Play Store and grab it.

The Missed Opportunity

I need to go back to the negatives because I want to talk about something important. Many people may laugh at Energizer's hyperthick phone, but I think it's crucial for smartphone companies to start experimenting with more innovation. This is where Google's two-tone design can be taken advantage of: it's perfect for adding a user-replaceable battery. The Samsung Galaxy S5 showed that it's possible to have a water-resistant phone with a user-removable battery so this could have been Google's chance to add in a great feature that a lot of people miss. If they did that, as well as cut the price down a bit, then I think a lot more people would have a higher interest in buying this phone.

The Conclusion

I didn't go into every little detail about the phone, but I just wanted to give a general review a few things and also to refute some arguments against the phone. There's the big question which asks 'should I buy the Google Pixel 3?' The truth, however, is something I haven't heard any other reviewer say: I don't know what you want. You know what you want. If you're looking to buy a phone, you need to weigh all of the pros and cons of the phones and see which one works for you.

For example, a Pixel 3 doesn't have expandable memory, but if you don't care about that, then it isn't going to bother you. The other bit of the reality is that many of the big tech reviewers switch phones every two weeks or so. Average consumers like you and me usually keep their phones for a minimum of two years. We buy the phone, look at it and say 'this is going to be my smartphone for the next two years or so', and that really changes perspective. Things take time to grow on you, and the Pixel 3 XL really grew on me. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful week!

[transienturl]

One of my friends asked me on Facebook to elaborate on the strengths and weaknesses of some smartphones.

Challenge fucking accepted.

You asked for it! Here's a comparison of 9 fairly current high-end smartphones (not at all exhaustive, there's also Moto/excellent Chinese phone companies/excellent previous-gen stuff/etc, but cmon).

Display Size

4.7": Apple iPhone 7 5.0": Google Pixel 5.2" + vertical stretch = 5.8": Samsung GS8, LG G6 5.5": HTC U11, Google Pixel XL, Apple iPhone 7 Plus, OnePlus 3T 5.5" + vertical stretch = 6.2": Samsung GS8+

The LG and Samsung phones this generation have taller screens than usual. This makes them have large sizes when measured by the diagonal but about the same width as the previous generation. I've quoted their equivalent size (the size their width would normally indicate) as well as their actual diagonal.

Display Quality (besides colors)

All are very good. High-end phones no longer have poor displays (thank god). The OnePlus has a bit lower resolution than the others; the rest are in "too high to notice" territory.

The Samsung, Google, and Oneplus displays are OLED. The HTC, LG, and Apple are LCD. Both panel types have their strengths and weaknesses (different color shift, potential for burn-in, etc) but honestly most people can't tell the difference.

(Samsung does a weird thing with their panel that annoys the nerd in me but don't worry about all that)

Display Color Accuracy

Some devices make colors more colorful than they actually are (like many TVs). This makes their displays look better when side by side in a store but some people dislike it (i.e. me).

The Apple devices ship with extremely accurate colors.

The Samsung, Google, and OnePlus devices ship with inaccurate, overblown colors but have settings to change that if desired.

The LG G6, as far as I can tell, is stuck with inaccurate, overblown colors.

No idea about the HTC U11 yet.

Performance

The Apple devices are far and away the fastest smartphones you can buy.

I'd give the HTC U11 a small edge in performance from what I've read but all of the Android devices mentioned are fairly similar in speed. (They all use similar Qualcomm Kryo CPU cores, for one, with the HTC and Samsung having one generation newer processors.)

Software

LG and Samsung add a lot of software over stock Android. A lot of it is not worth using and I prefer to have as little extra stuff on my phone as possible. The others are all quite good.

Google and Apple have the edge in timely software and security updates, of course.

Camera Quality

You can compare reviews and test images. Like the display quality thing, high-end phones no longer have poor cameras. Megapixels don't matter at all.

Some of these have really high-end features like RAW capture if you're a serious photographer.

Camera Gimmicks

The iPhone 7 Plus can zoom in really well. The LG G6 can zoom out very well. Both are because of having 2 cameras.

Battery

I can't find a site that comparatively reviewed many of these, so I dunno. (Different sites' numbers cannot be compared with each other.)

You can compare battery capacities, but engineering dictates power efficiency, so they won't translate to battery performance.

MicroSD Storage Expansion

Yes: HTC, Samsung, LG No: Google, Apple, OnePlus

3.5mm Headphone Jacks

Yes: Samsung, LG, Google, OnePlus No: Apple, HTC

They all come with compatible headphones in the box, of course, and USBC/Lightning headphones are slowly becoming available, but only phones with a 3.5mm jack will be compatible with the headphones you already have.

Internal Speakers

The HTC U11 specifically advertises its built-in speaker quality, a traditional HTC strength. I didn't look up specific comparisons.

Wireless Charging

Yes: Samsung, LG No: HTC, Google, Apple, OnePlus

Fingerprint Sensors

All of them have fingerprint sensors. I didn't compare reviews to find the most reliable/fastest.

Water Resistance

Yes: HTC, Samsung, Apple, LG No: Google, OnePlus

Don't go swimming with any of these, obviously, but the IP67/IP68 rated devices should be splashproof and even survive a dunk in water just fine.

Design/Aesthetics

Ah, this is the important one. Let's be honest: None of that above stuff really matters since they're all fine. The phone for you is the one you like to hold and use.

The Google, Apple, and OnePlus devices are aluminum-backed, while the HTC, Samsung, and LG devices have glass backs. But each is really quite different in shape and appearance.

The LG G6 has rounded screen edges. This is kinda cool, but kinda strange too. (I've heard it's a bit ragged-edged on close inspection.)

The Samsung devices have even more rounded edges, as well as curved screens. This is kinda cool, but kinda strange too. They look stunning but I personally dislike the corners.

Most of these devices have flat backs; HTC has stuck to their curved back design. You'd have to hold them in a store to be sure which felt best, I think.

Some of these are smaller than you'd expect based on their display sizes, especially the Samsung and LG devices.

Price (approx)

440 OnePlus 3T

650 Apple iPhone 7 650 Google Pixel

700 HTC U11 700 LG G6

750 Samsung GS8

770 Google Pixel XL 770 Apple iPhone 7 Plus

850 Samsung GS8+

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If I were to get a new phone, I would personally choose... none of these, and buy a previous-generation HTC 10. I like the curved back but don't want a glass-backed phone.

[shslshortie]

Okay so I'm getting a new phone

(I've literally put this off for almost a year because of what a piece of shit my HTC 626S was, and because I'm poor and lazy. Fun fact, apparently the motherboard or the brain of the phone or whatever fucking fried.) With my budget/the deals I can get between now and Sunday, and the possible new plans I will be getting, I have like 3 options. An IPhone 7, a Samsung Galaxy S7, or a Google Pixel 2. (I'm absolutely done getting these cheap ass android "smartphones" when they only work properly for about a month or two, and then literally give me panic attacks because the don't work, lag, don't have storage, or can't do things I need it to. For my mental health [especially since I don't have a laptop! and I do 90% of my work on a phone or my 8 year old iPad] I literally need a working quality phone.) The iPhone is the leader in the clubhouse, and apparently there is a sale on Sunday at Best Buy, so that's what I'm leaning towards. I literally almost had a panic attack in both Best Buy and Sprint while I was trying to get the Samsung Galaxy S7 to work or give me any display besides "Samsung pay" so I honestly probably won't get that, especially since it's unnecessarily more expensive than the Iphone7???? But does anyone know anything about the Google Pixel or Pixel 2? I'd rather not pay for a phone monthly since I have the money now, but it's a really good deal where it would basically only be $300 for the phone instead of $679. So I'm curious about it. Help, cuz I'm gonna be researching and try to compare while in airports for layovers tomorrow.