I think it's overpriced. As someone with a Note 4 I don't really see m/any killer features to upgrade to. I half considered the iphone7, being waterproof is a decent feature but I'm not comfortable carrying a phone around that costs as much as a budget car in my pocket. I'd gladly miss this upgrade cycle because in my opinion we've hit "peak phone". A smartphone is a commodity item at this stage. What I do value is not having to work a day extra to afford a phone, those extra 8 hours are now mine.
It's nice to see Google totally nail the hardware and overall experience. The camera sounds impressive.<p>The problem for me is that the $700 phones aren't twice as good as the $350 phones. The midrange (or low-high-end) has got good enough that I can't justify doubling the expense.<p>I've got a LG G4 with a faulty mic due to water damage. If I can't repair it I'm seriously considering buying another one because I can't see anything else as good at that price point and nothing that makes me want to spend more.
I was initially unimpressed by the phone...however after reading/watching the Verge review about it[0], I'm considering it as my next phone (but I'll probably get in a bit later when they have better deals on it)<p>[0] <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/18/13304090/google-pixel-phone-review-pixel-xl" rel="nofollow">http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/18/13304090/google-pixel-pho...</a>
Nah, still too big. If there's a Pixel Mini in a year and a half when I'm looking to replace this SE, then we can talk.<p>But let's be honest, the product line is a lot more likely to go Pixel -> Pixel 6 -> Pixel 6R -> Pixel 6 Max -> Pixel 7 -> Pixel One -> Pixel X or some nonsense like that.
From my perspective and talking to people who use Android phones, none of them was waiting for iPhone comparable priced Android device. For tech people: it is just assembly of generic hardware components, this time by Google. For non-tech people: it is not an iPhone, so why it is so expensive.<p>I don't think Google is trying to gouge people. It could be that half million sales of a device does not give economy of scale to price any cheaper.
<a href="https://youtu.be/mOwYlhUbsko" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/mOwYlhUbsko</a><p><a href="https://youtu.be/jJOgF15LLZk" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/jJOgF15LLZk</a><p><a href="https://youtu.be/-FCNA-RwRBQ" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/-FCNA-RwRBQ</a><p>Initial reviews seem really positive. The touch response looks much improved, and that camera is a beast. Battery life looks much better than other Android phones too.
How many years of updates will it get? I'm not spending that kind of money to only get 2 years of official updates when the iphone gets 4-5 years of support.
The issue is it's hard to imagine Apple deciding to stop making phones, it's fairly easy to imagine google deciding to drop the minor product line or stop supporting it.
Is it just me or did we have a much better selection of phones a few years back? It feels like most phone are trying to mimic the iPhone and that is precisely the phone I don't want.<p>We used to have "hacker" friendly phones with hardware keyboards etc.<p>Does anyone remember the Nokia N900?
"In most situations, I’d rather have the Pixel camera... One reason is the phone’s superior screen. The AMOLED display makes photos look better; even ones taken on an iPhone."<p>What? How does a better screen make the camera better?<p>Also, in the comparison photos, they have shown different images for the Pixel and iPhone. How can we be expected to judge for ourselves based on that?<p>Come on, WSJ. This is just amateurish.
For price-conscious potential buyers of the Pixel, the current used-phone market for non-Apple and non-Samsung phones are small enough that depreciation for such phones is rapid. Since Google is marketing the Pixel line as an iPhone competitor, it may indeed have sufficient demand that it depreciates closer to Apple and Samsung than to other Android phones. However, that remains to be seen.<p>It seems to me that limiting oneself to year-old iPhones, just after a new model is released and changing models every year strikes a nice balance between depreciation rate and usability/features.
I think I'll keep my Nexus 5X for another year or two until the specs of midrange phones surpass it, and then I'll probably go for a Sony or Motorola device, probably whatever the 2018 iteration of the Xperia X or Moto G will be (I favor Sony's hackability but Moto's aesthetic). I'll be pretty bummed to have to leave Project Fi, because it's the best carrier I've ever had, but I'm not buying a Pixel, and my 5X won't last forever.<p>What Google is asking for the Pixel is way too much money. On top of that, I absolutely cannot stand how metal-and-glass phones feel in my hands. I have sensitive skin, and every time I've held an iPhone I feel it digging in and causing me pain. Here's the thing, though: because of the iPhone's popularity, an iPhone user who doesn't like its feel can get any kind of case they can imagine. A simple Google Image Search turns up dozens, if not hundreds, of different leather and suede cases. Searching Etsy turns up options for hand-stitched leather. You can even get an iPhone case that doubles as a stuffed animal, if you really want something soft (seriously: do a Google Image Search for <i>plush iPhone case</i>). The Pixel will never reach that level of popularity. It will never be popular enough for there to be even a quarter of the cases available for it as there are iPhone cases (I'm skeptical it'll have even an eighth of the amount).<p>I also just don't trust Google to seriously make an "appliance phone". Look, Apple is very, very good at making phones that are basically consumer appliances. Google doesn't know how to do that. They've dressed the Pixel up as one, and given it a price and a fuselage to match, but they don't have the experience, and they don't have the app ecosystem. Even their first-party apps are horrendously inconsistent with one another. The reality is that if you want an appliance phone, you should buy Apple, and if you want a hackable gadget for geeks, you should get either an older Nexus phone or buy Sony.
I'm pretty sure this will be my next phone as it is available on Verizon and I <i>have</i> to get out of the Droid Turbo trap. Having gone through three Turbos (2 Turbo I and one Turbo II) I'm strongly looking to jump away<p>This is an overwhelmingly positive step forward, even if it isn't up there with, say, the iPhone (which I don't think it is in terms of looks, ease of use, app ecosystem, etc) When the rush of orders dies down a bit over the next weeks, I'm going to be placing an order to replace my Turbo II.
I've thought about replacing my Moto X, but the battery lasts two days. In fact I sometimes run out of battery because I forget I'm supposed to charge it.<p>I look at the pixel and nexus and other phones, and I see benchmarks where their battery lasts 7 to 13 hours depending on phone, and I assume those are all best case.<p>I never think about my phone. I think I'd think about it a lot, every day, when I got near the end of my active daytime period, or got home and realized my phone is still charging at work.
Preordered mine as a switch from Apple. Mostly because of the Daydream VR line, and I have found myself strongly disagreeing with a lot of Apple's vision. (Lack of VR, Lack of aux)
The Google Pixel phone makes me wish the Google Play Edition phones had caught on, because the more I think about it, the more I realize that's all I really wanted:<p>- The phone I want (an HTC One M7 or M8 at the time)<p>- No OEM bloat<p>- Continued OS and security updates<p>That's it. And unfortunately at the time it had been announced I had already purchased an M7 on-contract from Verizon, so I couldn't well get the GPE Edition.<p>It didn't continue, presumably because it didn't sell as well as they were hoping (though to be fair, none of HTC's phones for the past five years have sold as well as they were hoping). But I really liked that idea: rather than buying the Nexus, which has always had certain compromises (lack of SD card slot), buy the phone you want and Nexus-ify it.<p>After looking at the Google Pixel, I don't really want it: I'd prefer to just buy an HTC 10 that is debloated, not carrier locked, and guaranteed to get OS updates for several years.
My Nexus 5 was my favorite phone. I replaced it with a 5x but I still prefer the old form factor more. The fingerprint reader is nice and so is the camera on the 5x.<p>Google hit a sweet spot with the Nexus 5 in terms of price performance and form factor they haven't been able to replicate since.
Why is the leading contender disqualified? The Samsung Galaxy 7 is still great.. remember the burning phone as the NOTE 7 (and it's more a phablet than phone)
I really can't wait for a retro cell phone fad to be a thing.<p>Remember when you had to replace batteries instead of phones? Manually install SD cards? Type on that hard keyboard? Screens so small they didn't even fill a quarter of your man purse? Now you can live like a double naught!<p>Technology is cyclical.
I subscribe to the WSJ and the one column I have learned to never read unless I want to shake my head at the way the modern media writes tech journalism is Joanna Stern's column. It is tech advice for people uncomfortable thinking for themselves or rightfully fearful they aren't able to keep up with changing technology.<p>"Hey, grown ups, have you heard about the latest thing? Let me tell you how to Snapchat like the kids are doing!"