Google Pixel 6 Requirements to Succeed

 Let's get a few things out of the way, if you paid 700$ for a Pixel 5, you got ripped off. That's it.

So lets see what the Pixel 6 needs to have to even have me bother to take a look.

1. Snapdragon 875. This is a must. Flagship chip with built in 5G. 8GB of ram (since they already did do it on the Pixel 5, might as well do 8GB). 128GB of storage with an optional 256 and 512GB options. 

2. OLED High refresh rate screen. I don't care if it's 90hz or 120hz, it has to have a high refresh rate screen.

3. 4000mah Battery, is a must. They can't go back now that they have increased their battery sizes. There will be no excuses.

4. New camera hardware. The Pixel 5 is using the same IMX363 that google used in the pixel 2, 3 and 4. Heck, there is an easy replacement with the IMX577. Its also 12.3mp, but its a larger sensor and supports 4k 60fps. It's a huge sensor that so far, no one has implemented, and its been around for a while. This would be the perfect replacement. Also, a telephoto and an ultrawide is required. You can't just give us one camera one year, and swap it out for something else. Just give us all 3 and be done with it.

5. Faster charging. Google is still stuck on the USB type C power deliver 1.0 standard. USB PD 2.0 allows up to 20 volts at 6amps of current, allowing up to a crazy 100 watts of power. I can't believe google is still using 18 watt charging when OnePlus and other companies are pushing 30 or more watts of power.

6. Bring back the speakers. Seriously WHAT THE HELL. First google was all about the speakers, now its just throwing all of that away?

7. Squeeze for assistant must come back. Its BS that google took it away in the first place.

8. Face unlock. In a world where you can get both fingerprint and facial recognition, google should just do both. They forced the whole industry to support the Pixel 4 with soli, so there is zero reason to go back on it now.

9. Better haptics. The pixel 4 came out with the first truly good haptics on android. Google really rubbed it into everyone's faces how they tried to improve the feel of the vibrations, and then with the pixel 5 they scrapped it. WTF google. Premium my freaking ass.

We can also talk about the Pixel 5A. What would the Pixel 5A need to do at 350$ to succeed? Well, improve on what the Pixel 4A did. Better chipset like the Snapdragon 750G. 6GB of ram. A solid camera (using the same sensor as the flagship model, otherwise its pointless). Good battery, and a slightly better screen. At this point, 90hz screens are cheap that budget phones all across the board have them, so there is no excuse for google to not offer a good experience on a budget.

Google Pixel 5 Is A Rip Off

 The Pixel 5 is a rip off. There is literally no other way for me to put it. Let me explain why this phone (and the 4A 5G as a result) is a rip off and is not worth 700$ USD. Yes I have heard that in some regions the phone is 599$ and that is more palpable, but still, not worth it considering the actual cost of manufacturing.

Let's first start with the predecessor, the Pixel 4. I purchased a Pixel 4. I still use it. Its a nice device. With some tweaks the battery life is more than bearable for me. But this had all the flagship phone check boxes and came in at a nice 799$ price tag. This wasn't terrible considering it was every box checked except the battery. Now, remove 100$ and we step down in CPU, GPU, RAM speed, Storage speed, Build quality, we loose radar/soli and face unlock, squeeze function, front facing speaker, and the Neural core.

So you are telling me, that removing cutting edge radar tech, and stepping down to 2017 level's of performance is "only" 100$? Wow.

Also. The Pixel 4a 5G is a pixel 5, minus the water proofing, 90hz display, and "fake" metal body. And apparently that costs 200$. 

I am sorry but this makes no sense. These price differences don't make any sense at all considering devices like the Galaxy s20 FE has top end specs, checks all the boxes, has BETTER EVERYTHING for the same price as the pixel 5.

I get it. Its about the software, you get updates, etc. But really, 99.9% of people will not care. The s20FE is better in every measurable way, and you can tell me that the Pixel 5 has a better camera. Its the SAME CAMERA that has been used since the Pixel 2. You would think considering its such an outdated sensor that it would cost less. Nope.

Want more? The OnePlus 8 is 599$ (was 699$) and it has even better specs than the S20 FE. Things like 30 watt fast charging, under display finger print scanners, bigger screens, bigger batteries, etc. And now the iPhone 12 which looks to be freaking amazing and unique compared to its predecessors, is only 100$ more than the Pixel 5.

There is also this strategy, that the samsung and apple agreed to raise prices of their flagships to 1000$ so that then they could sell you mediocre 2-3 year old hardware for 700$. This is very plausible since in reality, the flagships aren't worth nor cost 1000$ and are only marginally better than their 800-900$ variants. This is pretty obvious with things like the new note and s20 series, where, the ultra is a whopping 1200-1400$ (You could buy an RTX Titan for this money and play video games at 8k) and has pretty much NOTHING but gimmicks over its 1000$ version.

We have hit the wall of diminishing returns. The only devices that are honestly worth the money are the 300-400$ price range, where, you can get a new device every year and not really feel the hit on the wallet, and still enjoy a decent experience through out said year of ownership. It really felt like phones would get better and eventually we would hold on to them longer, making the prospect of owning an android device for 2+ years viable. But alas, this is not the case with the new pricing system, which pretty much makes it pointless. Over 3 years you can either own the Pixel 4a, 5a, and 6a (if we account for the future) and it would cost you just as much as the latest flagship except you would have to hold that for 3 years and deal with the plummeting value.

Enjoy consumerism. GG well played.

No one needs 5G

I finally went unlimited. Sprint and T-Mobile have merged, and the 100$/4 Line promo for unlimited (essentials) was too good to pass up. I signed up with T-Mobile in 2016 after AT&T couldn't keep their promises and was just charging me left, right, and center, for just owning a smartphone and other bullshit. My bill went from around 85$ a month for the family, to over 250$ over night, and there was nothing they could do to fix it, and I was only getting 300mb of shared data...in 2016. In 2016 countries like Korea and Chine were rolling out LTE unlimited for almost free to everyone compared to what we had in the states. The internet, was a public commodity there, unlike in the US, were the internet was just another cash grab for big corps.

When I switched to T-Mobile, I got 4 lines, for 100$ a month (plus taxes and fees it came to 117$) for 1GB of data, per person. Eventually it was upgraded for free to 2.5gb, and then to 4gb until 2021 when they would eventually do away with the plan for ever. Sure, the service was junk in 2016, but over time it has gotten better and honestly, I just try to use my phone less because cellphone addiction, is a real problem in this world.

This brings me to 5G. My new plan includes 5G for "free" (I mean, are we seriously going to charge people for that?). I have been seeing people posting their speed tests online with 120-150mbps download speeds on their phones. And here is the issue. No one...needs 5G.

To stream 4k Blue ray you need at least 60mbps internet connection. To stream 1080p blue ray? 12mbps. So if our phones have 1080p screens, and the average user could care less about HDR...Why do we need 150mbps download speeds to a phone? Why do we need a technology that is proven to be just a giant fucking microwave for our brains? Why do we need more cellular radiation than ever? Population control? What? Tell me?

Are we seriously going to saturate the fucking bandwidth? Here is the thing, most carriers in the US throttle your internet speed when there is congestion...well guess what, the SLOWEST 1 Bar of LTE I have ever tested...was 25mbps. Which is enough to watch the absolute HIGHEST quality 1440p video stream.

You may say its for latency or for driver-less cars and all that junk...Look, if we had 110% LTE coverage in the country, we wouldn't need 5G. We have wifi everywhere, we have starlink coming in the near future...who needs 5G, or the speeds that it offers?

100% of people who needs speeds of over 60mbps are going to be using a wired connection anyway because it is more stable than wireless. Maybe I am crazy, but I have 6mbps download broadband at home...And that speed is enough 95% of the time. There are times, where I wish my steam library would update faster, but I just leave it over night and its fine. 

Have we went off the deep end of consumerism that we need 4k HDR Blueray video on a screen the size of our palm where you won't even be able to tell the difference between that and 480p? Like come on! What the actually hell is going on with this world.