The Pixels are probably the best high-end phone, but today the selection available is all bad enough that your choice comes down to “what features can I lose?”
Even the likes of OnePlus have been shit for years. A company that literally entered the market on releasing an affordable flagship with near-stock software. Their last great phone was the OnePlus 6, before they decided to start ditching features.
I had assumed that more companies would enter the market and take over, but that hasn’t happened. You still end up with no choice, whether it’s a poor screen, an awful camera, no storage, removed ports/jacks, no NFC support, or stupid little features that no one would actually give a shit about.
The strength of early Android was that you had flagship phones that had the best new features, and experimental releases that tried new things on a budget like barcode scanners, slide-out keyboards, a desktop OS, remote features, etc. This still exists, but you’re paying even more for the pleasure of testing something in the wild.
IMO, the world could use a new mobile OS, and one grounded in reality.
I think it depends on what you are looking for in a high-end phone, as Google’s Tensor chips are not equivalent performers to the chips found in other smartphones at that price range. Consumers are being asked to pay a high-end price for the performance of a high-end phone from several years ago or an upper mid-range phone today.
I just can’t get rid of the headphone jack. Had a phone without with some good Bluetooth earbuds then went back to jack with entry level earphones and they still sounded better
A new mobile OS will inevitably end up in a similar place if it’s developed in the same shareholder value maximizing manner. This is why we don’t need a new OS. We need new firms developing Android things using a different economic model.
The Pixels are probably the best high-end phone, but today the selection available is all bad enough that your choice comes down to “what features can I lose?”
Even the likes of OnePlus have been shit for years. A company that literally entered the market on releasing an affordable flagship with near-stock software. Their last great phone was the OnePlus 6, before they decided to start ditching features.
I had assumed that more companies would enter the market and take over, but that hasn’t happened. You still end up with no choice, whether it’s a poor screen, an awful camera, no storage, removed ports/jacks, no NFC support, or stupid little features that no one would actually give a shit about.
The strength of early Android was that you had flagship phones that had the best new features, and experimental releases that tried new things on a budget like barcode scanners, slide-out keyboards, a desktop OS, remote features, etc. This still exists, but you’re paying even more for the pleasure of testing something in the wild.
IMO, the world could use a new mobile OS, and one grounded in reality.
I think it depends on what you are looking for in a high-end phone, as Google’s Tensor chips are not equivalent performers to the chips found in other smartphones at that price range. Consumers are being asked to pay a high-end price for the performance of a high-end phone from several years ago or an upper mid-range phone today.
I just can’t get rid of the headphone jack. Had a phone without with some good Bluetooth earbuds then went back to jack with entry level earphones and they still sounded better
A new mobile OS will inevitably end up in a similar place if it’s developed in the same shareholder value maximizing manner. This is why we don’t need a new OS. We need new firms developing Android things using a different economic model.
If the pixel is considered the best high end phone, we have a very low bar set.
I’ve had a few different pixels over the years because there is no phone that interests me anymore. All phones are garbage.