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Google Phone - 4th October

rad

By rad
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sted

sted

Posted
Posted
This is why I'm eyeing up the current Nokias to replace my Nexus 5.

 

not sure what their update policy is or how vanilla they are but that looks like the least worst option

jthompson

jthompson

Posted
Posted
Nokia (well, HMD) are pushing 'pure' Android as a selling point, and have said that the current phones will get updated to both Android O and Android P. It definitely feels like they've gone for the gap left by Nexus.
Arthur

Arthur

Posted
Posted (edited)

https://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2017/10/google-pixelbook-price-specs-release-date/

 

The Pixelbook is full of "firsts" for a Chrome OS laptop. It's the first Chromebook with a seventh-gen Intel Kaby Lake processor. It's the first Chromebook with the Google Assistant built-in, in the form of a hardware button and an "OK Google" hotword when the screen is turned on. And the Pixelbook is the first Chromebook with apen: an optional $99 Active Electrostatic (AES) stylus called a "Pixelbook Pen."

 

Like the Chromebook Pixels, this is a premium Chromebook with a premium price tag: the Pixelbook starts at $999. That gets you a 12.3-inch 2400x1600 3:2 display with an Intel Kaby Lake Core i5, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a backlit keyboard. You can upgrade to a 256GB SSD for $1,199, or you can jump up to a Core i7, 16GB of RAM, 512GB NVMe SSD config for $1,699.

 

Bj3HSsDrrlvCFwcveyKesp2sSFTpLiVw5500AzkfovMhz6Vino 7IdSKR3edUSbmCcrTs-y6mSx24jLX205T2=v1-rp-w1200

Edited by Arthur
Arthur

Arthur

Posted
Posted
Behind the scenes with Pixel 2 hardware, software, and testing team members. (Plus lots of untouched photo examples!)

 

 

100% of the photos + videos in this camera test were shot on the Pixel 2 / Pixel 2 XL. No color editing or post production processing was performed on the image files. Video is posted in 4K, but please note not all shots were filmed in 4K.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bG9_rE1ylo

flyinghaggis

flyinghaggis

Posted
Posted (edited)

The 5" pixel 2 looks a lot like last year's model with massive bezels and I don't think they've updated enough to justify the £630 price tag. The pixel XL 2 looks good but it really is a bit of a phablet and I personally wouldn't buy a phone that wide as I find it uncomfortable to hold.

 

Why is it buying a 5" handset these days so often means having to settle for an inferior phone :mad:

 

Also, no headphone socket which I guess we kind of expected but I didn't think Google would try and mug us for £160 for some wireless earphones! The Chromebook looks nice but again hard to justify spending that kind of money on a chrome OS device even now that it can run android apps.

 

What's everyone else's thoughts as I only skimmed over the product line and didn't watch the presentation. Anything else interesting that I missed ?

Edited by flyinghaggis
jthompson

jthompson

Posted
Posted

I stopped using Chrome and Google Search about a year ago, so I was never going to be interested in a Chromebook. There's no way that I would feel comfortable with Google Assistant, Alexa, etc. sitting in my home or following me around everywhere, so that pretty much discounts everything else as well (I consider 'helpful' as akin to stealing my soul these days).

 

I think I'll just continue reading The Circle and not buying any of these.

sted

sted

Posted
Posted (edited)
I stopped using Chrome and Google Search about a year ago, so I was never going to be interested in a Chromebook. There's no way that I would feel comfortable with Google Assistant, Alexa, etc. sitting in my home or following me around everywhere, so that pretty much discounts everything else as well (I consider 'helpful' as akin to stealing my soul these days).

 

I think I'll just continue reading The Circle and not buying any of these.

 

its not just that speech recognition still sucks i keep trying to use cortana on my xbox one and every time i say faster it thinks im saying b*stard and goes into sulk mode. i cant even use it reliably to set alarms on my nexus 5x it dosent seem to understand 10 to 7 say and half the time cant pick up 7 50

 

i really wish they would sort out android apps on chromebooks im sure it was something supposed to happen ages ago but still waiting on them on mine and theres no way id pay that for a premium chromebook a dell xps13 dosent cost much more and is a full computer not just a glorified browser in a box

Edited by sted
hardtailstar

hardtailstar

Posted
Posted
its not just that speech recognition still sucks i keep trying to use cortana on my xbox one and every time i say faster it thinks im saying b*stard and goes into sulk mode. i cant even use it reliably to set alarms on my nexus 5x it dosent seem to understand 10 to 7 say and half the time cant pick up 7 50

 

i really wish they would sort out android apps on chromebooks im sure it was something supposed to happen ages ago but still waiting on them on mine and theres no way id pay that for a premium chromebook a dell xps13 dosent cost much more and is a full computer not just a glorified browser in a box

 

I have no issue with Google's speech recognition, I use it all the time and it works a treat.

sted

sted

Posted
Posted
I have no issue with Google's speech recognition, I use it all the time and it works a treat.

 

it seems to of gotten worse lately tbh a year ago i used it no problem now its just frustrating

arwen

arwen

Posted
Posted
The best product this year by far are the ear buds. They are the Babel Fish! And Google seems to be pretty much glossing over this massive selling point. They are expensive, but if I travelled more I would find it hard to not buy them for that feature.
jthompson

jthompson

Posted
Posted
The best product this year by far are the ear buds. They are the Babel Fish! And Google seems to be pretty much glossing over this massive selling point. They are expensive, but if I travelled more I would find it hard to not buy them for that feature.

 

I reckon it'd be fascinating to wear these whilst watching something like The Killing or Borgen without subtitles, and see how often it loses the plot.

gshaw

gshaw

Posted
Posted
I bet a lot of professional translators are worried for their future :D its not there just yet but its getting very close.

 

Translators were one of those "jobs that won't exist in the future" lists a while back. At the last Future Decoded the keynote speaker said he would discourage his child from learning a language as it'll be a pointless skill by the time they grow up. Controversial yes, accurate... perhaps.

jthompson

jthompson

Posted
Posted
I bet a lot of professional translators are worried for their future :D its not there just yet but its getting very close.

 

For anything high-level in business, politics or law, I can't imagine human intepreters and translaters being ditched in favour of Google Translate anytime soon. The level of correctness and nuances involved would surely call for an experienced human interpreter.

 

I guess a good test of these earbuds would be for me to do a GCSE Spanish listening mock using them and see what grade I can achieve.

TwistedHelixis

TwistedHelixis

Posted
Posted
its not just that speech recognition still sucks i keep trying to use cortana on my xbox one and every time i say faster it thinks im saying b*stard and goes into sulk mode. i cant even use it reliably to set alarms on my nexus 5x it dosent seem to understand 10 to 7 say and half the time cant pick up 7 50

 

did you go through the process of teaching it your voice? I use it everyday and its 100% for me.

mavhc

mavhc

Posted
Posted

Slight problems are both people need them. It's unclear whether the real time translation works on non pixel phones, one of the engineers seems to say it does, but the google help says it requires a Pixel.

 

The speech generation seems to be run on the phone https://deepmind.com/blog/wavenet-launches-google-assistant/ converting the text directly to audio using a neural net, not prerecorded sounds. Which would explain why it requires a really new phone.

 

I guess the translation is on the phone too for it to be fast enough. Maybe it's hybrid for more complex language.

 

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15404918

arwen

arwen

Posted
Posted

You can have one person with ear buds and one without and still translate. It just wouldn't be as fluid as far as I can see.

Say an English speaking person is wearing the buds while taking to a German person. German persons says "guten Nachmittag". Ear buds translate to "Good Afternoon". English speaker says "Same to you". English speakers phone outputs "Ihnen dasselbe" via it's speaker.

Zoom7000

Zoom7000

Posted
Posted

Is anyone else not slightly flabbergasted by the $999 (Probably £999) price tag for the Pixelbook? Doesn't it go against everything Chrome OS stands for? Firstly, it simply doesn't make sense having a Core i7, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD on a Chromebook (And that one is priced at something like $1649). Secondly, no matter how good it looks, why would anyone want to spend $999 when pretty decent similar models go for under £400. I'm shocked that they haven't learnt from the original Chromebook Pixel.

 

Some of the reviews have said that they're pricing this up against the MacBook, Dell XPS, Surface etc, but those are full fat regular devices, whereas Chrome OS is technically a glorified web browser!

 

Don't get me wrong, I love G Suite for Education and the potentials and Chromebooks in general, just not at a ridiculous price like that!

Lonix

Lonix

Posted
Posted
Is anyone else not slightly flabbergasted by the $999 (Probably £999) price tag for the Pixelbook? Doesn't it go against everything Chrome OS stands for? Firstly, it simply doesn't make sense having a Core i7, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD on a Chromebook (And that one is priced at something like $1649). Secondly, no matter how good it looks, why would anyone want to spend $999 when pretty decent similar models go for under £400. I'm shocked that they haven't learnt from the original Chromebook Pixel.

 

Some of the reviews have said that they're pricing this up against the MacBook, Dell XPS, Surface etc, but those are full fat regular devices, whereas Chrome OS is technically a glorified web browser!

 

Don't get me wrong, I love G Suite for Education and the potentials and Chromebooks in general, just not at a ridiculous price like that!

 

Nope. A company that originally was about providing a service has fallen in to the same trap they all do - avoid taxes and maximize profits.

 

The real weird part is, in todays unsure economic climate - people will still buy it. They will spend a fortune on something that gets used for skiing on the interwebs, texting, calls and emails. Occasionally they may find a small App that's entertaining.

 

Why would anyone spend $999? I often wondered why anyone would replace their current good condition that does everything iPhone with the latest one that offers nothing new. Same reason why people upgrade their car every few years. It's all a toy. Same reason I love my BMW over my previous Ford.

 

We like to claim we are poor and can't afford much... but truth be told.. we are far better off than we're willing to admit.

mavhc

mavhc

Posted
Posted
Is anyone else not slightly flabbergasted by the $999 (Probably £999) price tag for the Pixelbook? Doesn't it go against everything Chrome OS stands for? Firstly, it simply doesn't make sense having a Core i7, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD on a Chromebook (And that one is priced at something like $1649). Secondly, no matter how good it looks, why would anyone want to spend $999 when pretty decent similar models go for under £400. I'm shocked that they haven't learnt from the original Chromebook Pixel.

 

Some of the reviews have said that they're pricing this up against the MacBook, Dell XPS, Surface etc, but those are full fat regular devices, whereas Chrome OS is technically a glorified web browser!

 

Don't get me wrong, I love G Suite for Education and the potentials and Chromebooks in general, just not at a ridiculous price like that!

 

You're assuming they're trying to sell lots of them though. Half of it is a machine for their own employees, half for crazy rich people, and half to show other manufacturers what's possible.

localzuk

localzuk

Posted
Posted
Is anyone else not slightly flabbergasted by the $999 (Probably £999) price tag for the Pixelbook? Doesn't it go against everything Chrome OS stands for? Firstly, it simply doesn't make sense having a Core i7, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD on a Chromebook (And that one is priced at something like $1649). Secondly, no matter how good it looks, why would anyone want to spend $999 when pretty decent similar models go for under £400. I'm shocked that they haven't learnt from the original Chromebook Pixel.

Some of the reviews have said that they're pricing this up against the MacBook, Dell XPS, Surface etc, but those are full fat regular devices, whereas Chrome OS is technically a glorified web browser!

Don't get me wrong, I love G Suite for Education and the potentials and Chromebooks in general, just not at a ridiculous price like that!

Not really. A lot of the stuff that is happening on the web uses Javascript, which can be a beast when it comes to resources.

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