Cameras

How Google hopes its Pixel camera will win over iPhone fans

image
Comments (96)
  1. roob.bernhard says:

    I’ll stick with the 20mp Zeiss Pureview camera on my 950XL. People are always mindblown at the quality of my images.

  2. Aniyah Rohan says:

    Google Nexus 6P was a flop, well perhaps I’m exagerating and maybe not, probably it accounts for less than 1% of all Android smartphone marketshare but that’s not enough to compete with iPhone. Lets see how many Google Pixel handsets Google sells for this Christmas season.

  3. kwilkinson says:

    “[Google] now aims to make it a mass-market phone you’ll see in stores and on the streets. Moving beyond Nexus’ niche success with developers and Google fanboys.”  Well, they ALMOST had this potential until they decided to exclusively partner with Verizon so that the other of the “Big Four” can’t sell it in their stores.  That severely limits it largely to word-of-mouth instead of a phone that store reps can recommend.

  4. Elaina Waters says:

    @nonnarb Also I read that Pixel phone can’t be rooted, so all the benefits of Rooting and installing custom Cyanogen mod ROMs on Nexus devices is gone. 

    The word Nexus meant openess, while the word Pixel is like Apple, its a walled garden, which is not bad at all since now Google controls what you can do and what you can’t do but that was the advantage of Nexus phones IMO.

  5. connor63 says:

    @visio_del_amor @nonnarb I would take that with a grain of salt since technically no phone can be rooted upon release, right?  That’s why it’s up to the hacker community to discover the vulnerability and make it possible?

  6. cloyd87 says:

    It’s all possible because Google now fully controls all the hardware and software.”

    Controlling hardware AND software?   Great idea!  Why didn’t someone think of that before?

    😉

  7. Fannie Hirthe says:

    @baconstang  Look back at the early days of computing. Apple, HP, Atari, Commodore, Radio Shack, IBM… they all controlled the hardware and software.  I include IBM because they did control the OS on the servers and tried to retake control of the OS on clients with OS/2.

  8. langosh.kelton says:

    @baconstang Because in previous Nexus devices enthusiasts of the Android OS could install custom ROMs and root their devices, but now this feature is gone from Pixel phones.

  9. Miss Joannie Hoeger says:

    @visio_del_amor @baconstang  How about the developer option that’s available in Nexus devices?

  10. Alison Larson says:

    I will feel disappointed if a pure android phone is not going to be available in the midrange  market (i.e. nexus 5 or 5x).  A lot of the growth in smartphones has been at the mid to low end and mid to low end smartphones now comprise a big majority of the market.  That’s a pretty good indicator that smartphones don’t need to be high end to do what people want them to do.  OEM’s chasing the high end brass ring are going to be running away from the core market.  They risk running off the field.

  11. Ike D'Amore says:

    @Seaspray0 I agree. However since smartphones have pretty much plateaued it is not surprising that they are all going after the premium part of the market. Once something becomes a commodity the upper end is where the money is at. 

  12. Lambert Howell says:

    @befuddledms @Seaspray0  There are plenty of commodities where the money isn’t at the upper end.  But since I can’t predict the future, I’ll just go with “we’ll see what happens.”  How about sharing a bag of popcorn and watching it unfold?

  13. Elton Lehner says:

    Maybe this was an interesting article — blotted out by that obnoxious unremovable video box.  

    Buh bye.

  14. Bart Johnston says:

    @forenz Seriously though. I can’t stand intrusive aggressive ads & videos on some sites.

  15. pquigley says:

    @forenz You can disable autoplay, and you ought to be able to close the video box, too.

  16. Ollie Heller says:

    @Shankland @forenz Huh, all I see in Chrome is an empty black box with no way to turn off Autoplay.  But in Explorer, I do see Autoplay OFF, and it works.  So I guess I’ll have to look into my Chrome settings.  Anyway, thanks!

  17. Addison Graham says:

    Didn’t anyone else catch the ‘gotchas’ here?  The camera app stays in memory, and is always active, watching where you go, what you do, and, one must assume what you say.  This will need a HUGE battery, and a lot of RAM, and if the camera just decides you need more space, it starts uploading the photos to Google’s cloud storage, ON YOUR CELLULAR CONNECTION????  I think NOT.  All these non-specific ‘faster, ect. statements need both documentation (specs), and tests before I can credit them at all.  Frankly, I think Google knows more than enough about me without a camera watching everything I do all the time, and burning battery power to do it!  Better?  For Google, probably, for the user?  NOT.  And what idiot put the fingerprint sensor on the back?  Maximum inconvenience.

  18. Nellie Lebsack says:

    @rphunter It is not shooting the 30 frames per second unless you have brought up the camera app so your statement is incorrect.  Also based on what I read elsewhere, the phone will delete pictures that have already been uploaded to the cloud. I would assume there will be settings to allow you to upload them over the cell network if you want to but you don’t have to. As to the finger print reader on the back. Well that is where my index finger naturally goes when I pick up my phone so it is actually quite logical. I know it isn’t an iphone and you are clearly one of the apple faithful so you are obviously very biased. Just because it isn’t an iphone doesn’t mean it is a bad phone. Its camera is better than the iphone 7. I don’t like the fact that Verizon is the only carrier you can buy it from directly and I wish it didn’t look so much like an iphone but over all it looks like a nice phone.

  19. ncartwright says:

    @rphunter It really is kindof BS for project fi customers (and also Verizon customers)

    Google want to back up my 4k video for me? Great. 

    Google wants to charge me $10 per GB to upload 4k video to the cloud without my sayso? WTH? No. granted, we’ll have to wait and see if that is really true. Meanwhile your babbling about the camera being on is idiotic, and you have no idea what you are talking about. 

  20. Charlene Prohaska says:

    @rphunter  Will it?  Do you close all your apps on your smartphone when not using it?  Many do not.  Those apps sit in the background doing nothing until you pull them up again. They don’t consume any resources other than sit in memory.  That’s not all apps… there are some specific ones that can become active in the background (i.e. mail apps, notification apps, apps performing widgets) for brief periods of time.  So you can’t say for sure (neither can I).  But simple hearing “preloads into memory”?  No, don’t assume until you know.  If you find out for sure, feel free to let me know then.

  21. erika.welch says:

    @rphunter I agree with everything except about Google photos, this app is not a mandatory app, I have a Sony Xperia M4 Aqua phone with Android 5.0 and I don’t have Google photos so that app is just optional, you’re not forced to be an Android user and use that app if you don’t want, and thats what I like from Android, you’re not forced to use Google services at all. 

    In my phone the only Google app I use is youtube, everything else I have it disabled, like Hangouts, Google TV and Movies, Gmail, GDrive, etc.

  22. raina92 says:

    @rphunter It’s only circulating frames through memory when you’re using the camera app. It stays in memory, but the process isn’t necessarily active. At least as I understand it.

    I’m about 50-50 on the fingerprint sensor on the back. I use both an iPhone and a Nexus 6. On the back, it’s more convenient when getting it out of my pocket. On the front, it’s more convenient when it’s on the table next to me.

  23. Geo Balistreri says:

    @Shankland @rphunter  “… isn’t necessarily active.”  I’m asking the same question and I don’t think enough details are out there yet to get an answer.  Please keep your eyes open.

  24. howe.jovani says:

    I liked the Old Google a lot more. The New Google seems to have forsaken many of the things that used to make it cool. Now, it’s just another corporate overlord (Adobe, Microsoft, Apple, etc.) looking to capitalize on its acolytes on its way to wider profit margins.

  25. jaquan.erdman says:

    @gork_platter Just ask what Larry Page is doing is now, cut budget of Ara modular phone, cut budget for Google Fiber, cut budget for Nest, they are on the SEC sight and every penny Google looses on bad business is now going to transform into job cuts. If you ask me, there are better companies like Facebook where workers can experiment on new things, Google is not that company anymore.

  26. Deon Hoeger says:

    So expensive.

  27. Mr. Rogers Yundt says:

    @ibrocky  All the high end smartphones are this expensive or more.  And yes, it’s expensive. 

  28. zoey.metz says:

    That phone looks very similar to my iPhone 6 Plus.

  29. Dr. Kelsie Schulist says:

    @MatthewCFL  I’m not a fan of white bezels (even Samsung has some with white bezels).  My favorite is the black bezel because I like how it blends with a dark screen and doesn’t show dirt like white does.  But that’s off topic.  Yea, it does have similarities.  You’d have to get up close where you can see the detail to notice the differences.  The edge is beveled (not rounded).  There’s no big physical button in the bottom bezel.  The back doesn’t have a camera bulge.  It does have a headphone jack.  However, these are little details that can be easily overlooked which can give the impression the two are very similar.  Put them both in a case and it would even be more so. 

  30. mose13 says:

    Samsung must be pretty upset.

    Exploding phones.

    The Chinese really mad at them for being dissed.

    Now this.

  31. Jillian Hilll says:

    @Europodboy Fortunately for Samsung, they still make billions from other enterprises, which could make their recent losses seem like legitimate write-offs to their advertisement budget.

  32. shaina53 says:

    @Europodboy @DeLeon629 Their the largest investors of their government technology and military supplementation, the world’s leading semiconductor producer, in addition to having produced several key components needed to complete the assembly the last two iPhone generations…

  33. dimitri33 says:

    @Europodboy  You’re infatuated with hating Samsung (not even on topic for this article). What have they done to you personally to deserve it?  How about posting just that rather than repeatedly spew vitriol.  Because right now, you look to me like a disgruntled fanboy who can’t stand another company competing with your favorite brand.

  34. Dr. Kylee Gislason says:

    @Seaspray0 @Europodboy

    Hehe.

  35. Zechariah Crist says:

    The ONLY doubt and risk compare to iphone: Will the performance be Just SAME as NEW phone over the 2 years?

  36. haag.antonia says:

    Impressive DxO Mark score. Those Sony image sensors are hard to beat.

  37. barton.justen says:

    A mass market phone with an exclusive partnership with only 1 US carrier, Verizon? Makes absolutely no sense. After all these years, does Google not have the cloud to make it available at all US carriers? Many people want to touch a see the phone up close.

  38. carmella.morar says:

    @sjxm  That is exactly what Apple did with AT&T when the iPhone came out. 

  39. Junius Okuneva says:

    @MatthewCFL @sjxm That was at the birth of the mobile revolution though. Not a cut throat multibillion dollar market like it is today. 

  40. joshuah.adams says:

    @amirami @MatthewCFL @sjxm  Very true! I am interested to see if this works out for Google and Verizon. I know here in FL if you have Verizon it is comparative to MetroPCS, or some other low-cost / low-quality carrier. It was probably a very lucrative contract for Google.

  41. Elfrieda McCullough Sr. says:

    @MatthewCFL @sjxm No, it’s not. Verizon refused Apple’s condition for the iPhone and ATT grabbed it and made it exclusive. Verizon couldn’t forget that painful lesson. 

  42. Nicolette Kertzmann says:

    @sjxm

    It’s not an exclusive to Verizon like you think.  Verizon will be the only carrier selling the Pixel phones in retail stores.  You can still buy one from the Google store and use it on T-Mobile, ATT, etc.

  43. zjast says:

    @sjxm The phone will be available unlocked for use with any (or most) carriers.  Verizon will be the only service provider selling it directly, for now.  No big deal for Google.  Most fans of theirs will research it online and figure that out pretty easily.  Or buy it at another retailer.

  44. alfonzo55 says:

    @sjxm Verizon is a good choice, since it doesn’t overlap/compete too much with project FI, which is the other major US carrier to carry the phone… Plus, you can always buy the phone unlocked, if you want to.

  45. Jarret Towne says:

    I don’t think so google is just a bout email and maps but phone with cam ….mmmmm

  46. Dr. Sheldon Crooks says:

    I’ll stick with the 20mp Zeiss Pureview camera on my 950XL. People are always mindblown at the quality of my images.

  47. tbalistreri says:

    Google Nexus 6P was a flop, well perhaps I’m exagerating and maybe not, probably it accounts for less than 1% of all Android smartphone marketshare but that’s not enough to compete with iPhone. Lets see how many Google Pixel handsets Google sells for this Christmas season.

  48. Dr. Dameon Schinner I says:

    “[Google] now aims to make it a mass-market phone you’ll see in stores and on the streets. Moving beyond Nexus’ niche success with developers and Google fanboys.”  Well, they ALMOST had this potential until they decided to exclusively partner with Verizon so that the other of the “Big Four” can’t sell it in their stores.  That severely limits it largely to word-of-mouth instead of a phone that store reps can recommend.

  49. theresia31 says:

    @nonnarb Also I read that Pixel phone can’t be rooted, so all the benefits of Rooting and installing custom Cyanogen mod ROMs on Nexus devices is gone. 

    The word Nexus meant openess, while the word Pixel is like Apple, its a walled garden, which is not bad at all since now Google controls what you can do and what you can’t do but that was the advantage of Nexus phones IMO.

  50. Veronica Baumbach says:

    @visio_del_amor @nonnarb I would take that with a grain of salt since technically no phone can be rooted upon release, right?  That’s why it’s up to the hacker community to discover the vulnerability and make it possible?

  51. theodora63 says:

    It’s all possible because Google now fully controls all the hardware and software.”

    Controlling hardware AND software?   Great idea!  Why didn’t someone think of that before?

    😉

  52. Vicenta Yundt says:

    @baconstang  Look back at the early days of computing. Apple, HP, Atari, Commodore, Radio Shack, IBM… they all controlled the hardware and software.  I include IBM because they did control the OS on the servers and tried to retake control of the OS on clients with OS/2.

  53. zkoch says:

    @baconstang Because in previous Nexus devices enthusiasts of the Android OS could install custom ROMs and root their devices, but now this feature is gone from Pixel phones.

  54. Norberto Swift says:

    @visio_del_amor @baconstang  How about the developer option that’s available in Nexus devices?

  55. Annabell Trantow says:

    I will feel disappointed if a pure android phone is not going to be available in the midrange  market (i.e. nexus 5 or 5x).  A lot of the growth in smartphones has been at the mid to low end and mid to low end smartphones now comprise a big majority of the market.  That’s a pretty good indicator that smartphones don’t need to be high end to do what people want them to do.  OEM’s chasing the high end brass ring are going to be running away from the core market.  They risk running off the field.

  56. mason28 says:

    @Seaspray0 I agree. However since smartphones have pretty much plateaued it is not surprising that they are all going after the premium part of the market. Once something becomes a commodity the upper end is where the money is at. 

  57. Alvina Tremblay says:

    @befuddledms @Seaspray0  There are plenty of commodities where the money isn’t at the upper end.  But since I can’t predict the future, I’ll just go with “we’ll see what happens.”  How about sharing a bag of popcorn and watching it unfold?

  58. tthompson says:

    Maybe this was an interesting article — blotted out by that obnoxious unremovable video box.  

    Buh bye.

  59. karley71 says:

    @forenz Seriously though. I can’t stand intrusive aggressive ads & videos on some sites.

  60. Neha Nikolaus says:

    @forenz You can disable autoplay, and you ought to be able to close the video box, too.

  61. Camille Stanton says:

    @Shankland @forenz Huh, all I see in Chrome is an empty black box with no way to turn off Autoplay.  But in Explorer, I do see Autoplay OFF, and it works.  So I guess I’ll have to look into my Chrome settings.  Anyway, thanks!

  62. damore.celestine says:

    Didn’t anyone else catch the ‘gotchas’ here?  The camera app stays in memory, and is always active, watching where you go, what you do, and, one must assume what you say.  This will need a HUGE battery, and a lot of RAM, and if the camera just decides you need more space, it starts uploading the photos to Google’s cloud storage, ON YOUR CELLULAR CONNECTION????  I think NOT.  All these non-specific ‘faster, ect. statements need both documentation (specs), and tests before I can credit them at all.  Frankly, I think Google knows more than enough about me without a camera watching everything I do all the time, and burning battery power to do it!  Better?  For Google, probably, for the user?  NOT.  And what idiot put the fingerprint sensor on the back?  Maximum inconvenience.

  63. ybailey says:

    @rphunter It is not shooting the 30 frames per second unless you have brought up the camera app so your statement is incorrect.  Also based on what I read elsewhere, the phone will delete pictures that have already been uploaded to the cloud. I would assume there will be settings to allow you to upload them over the cell network if you want to but you don’t have to. As to the finger print reader on the back. Well that is where my index finger naturally goes when I pick up my phone so it is actually quite logical. I know it isn’t an iphone and you are clearly one of the apple faithful so you are obviously very biased. Just because it isn’t an iphone doesn’t mean it is a bad phone. Its camera is better than the iphone 7. I don’t like the fact that Verizon is the only carrier you can buy it from directly and I wish it didn’t look so much like an iphone but over all it looks like a nice phone.

  64. lyla.mohr says:

    @rphunter It really is kindof BS for project fi customers (and also Verizon customers)

    Google want to back up my 4k video for me? Great. 

    Google wants to charge me $10 per GB to upload 4k video to the cloud without my sayso? WTH? No. granted, we’ll have to wait and see if that is really true. Meanwhile your babbling about the camera being on is idiotic, and you have no idea what you are talking about. 

  65. gpfannerstill says:

    @MargonTheGodless I’ll bet you’re a blast at parties!!!

  66. Donny Wyman II says:

    @rphunter  Will it?  Do you close all your apps on your smartphone when not using it?  Many do not.  Those apps sit in the background doing nothing until you pull them up again. They don’t consume any resources other than sit in memory.  That’s not all apps… there are some specific ones that can become active in the background (i.e. mail apps, notification apps, apps performing widgets) for brief periods of time.  So you can’t say for sure (neither can I).  But simple hearing “preloads into memory”?  No, don’t assume until you know.  If you find out for sure, feel free to let me know then.

  67. mcdermott.bret says:

    @rphunter I agree with everything except about Google photos, this app is not a mandatory app, I have a Sony Xperia M4 Aqua phone with Android 5.0 and I don’t have Google photos so that app is just optional, you’re not forced to be an Android user and use that app if you don’t want, and thats what I like from Android, you’re not forced to use Google services at all. 

    In my phone the only Google app I use is youtube, everything else I have it disabled, like Hangouts, Google TV and Movies, Gmail, GDrive, etc.

  68. Carolanne Thiel says:

    @rphunter It’s only circulating frames through memory when you’re using the camera app. It stays in memory, but the process isn’t necessarily active. At least as I understand it.

    I’m about 50-50 on the fingerprint sensor on the back. I use both an iPhone and a Nexus 6. On the back, it’s more convenient when getting it out of my pocket. On the front, it’s more convenient when it’s on the table next to me.

  69. bayer.elfrieda says:

    @Shankland @rphunter  “… isn’t necessarily active.”  I’m asking the same question and I don’t think enough details are out there yet to get an answer.  Please keep your eyes open.

  70. Alexandria Nolan says:

    I liked the Old Google a lot more. The New Google seems to have forsaken many of the things that used to make it cool. Now, it’s just another corporate overlord (Adobe, Microsoft, Apple, etc.) looking to capitalize on its acolytes on its way to wider profit margins.

  71. dora.wehner says:

    @gork_platter Just ask what Larry Page is doing is now, cut budget of Ara modular phone, cut budget for Google Fiber, cut budget for Nest, they are on the SEC sight and every penny Google looses on bad business is now going to transform into job cuts. If you ask me, there are better companies like Facebook where workers can experiment on new things, Google is not that company anymore.

  72. Earlene Franecki says:

    @gork_platter Not sure expanding into hardware per se will expand profit margins — internet services can be pretty plump.

  73. altenwerth.gage says:

    So expensive.

  74. Dr. Green Upton says:

    @ibrocky  All the high end smartphones are this expensive or more.  And yes, it’s expensive. 

  75. baby07 says:

    That phone looks very similar to my iPhone 6 Plus.

  76. Dwight Gorczany says:

    @MatthewCFL  I’m not a fan of white bezels (even Samsung has some with white bezels).  My favorite is the black bezel because I like how it blends with a dark screen and doesn’t show dirt like white does.  But that’s off topic.  Yea, it does have similarities.  You’d have to get up close where you can see the detail to notice the differences.  The edge is beveled (not rounded).  There’s no big physical button in the bottom bezel.  The back doesn’t have a camera bulge.  It does have a headphone jack.  However, these are little details that can be easily overlooked which can give the impression the two are very similar.  Put them both in a case and it would even be more so. 

  77. Gideon Abbott says:

    Samsung must be pretty upset.

    Exploding phones.

    The Chinese really mad at them for being dissed.

    Now this.

  78. Ruth Dicki says:

    @Europodboy Fortunately for Samsung, they still make billions from other enterprises, which could make their recent losses seem like legitimate write-offs to their advertisement budget.

  79. Dr. Dean Kulas says:

    @Europodboy Like Hotpoint and LG then? We get it, you hate Samsung and LOVE Apple.

  80. Fausto Fritsch says:

    @Europodboy @DeLeon629 Their the largest investors of their government technology and military supplementation, the world’s leading semiconductor producer, in addition to having produced several key components needed to complete the assembly the last two iPhone generations…

  81. Stephania Shields says:

    @Europodboy  You’re infatuated with hating Samsung (not even on topic for this article). What have they done to you personally to deserve it?  How about posting just that rather than repeatedly spew vitriol.  Because right now, you look to me like a disgruntled fanboy who can’t stand another company competing with your favorite brand.

  82. Prof. Rory Dooley III says:

    @Seaspray0 @Europodboy

    Hehe.

  83. dominic.hagenes says:

    @Seaspray0 @Europodboy He’s always been a troll….

  84. Prof. Mason Runolfsdottir says:

    The ONLY doubt and risk compare to iphone: Will the performance be Just SAME as NEW phone over the 2 years?

  85. Kolby Parker says:

    Impressive DxO Mark score. Those Sony image sensors are hard to beat.

  86. kemmer.addie says:

    A mass market phone with an exclusive partnership with only 1 US carrier, Verizon? Makes absolutely no sense. After all these years, does Google not have the cloud to make it available at all US carriers? Many people want to touch a see the phone up close.

  87. stephanie46 says:

    @sjxm  That is exactly what Apple did with AT&T when the iPhone came out. 

  88. lula.crona says:

    @MatthewCFL @sjxm That was at the birth of the mobile revolution though. Not a cut throat multibillion dollar market like it is today. 

  89. champlin.reid says:

    @amirami @MatthewCFL @sjxm  Very true! I am interested to see if this works out for Google and Verizon. I know here in FL if you have Verizon it is comparative to MetroPCS, or some other low-cost / low-quality carrier. It was probably a very lucrative contract for Google.

  90. omer19 says:

    @MatthewCFL @sjxm No, it’s not. Verizon refused Apple’s condition for the iPhone and ATT grabbed it and made it exclusive. Verizon couldn’t forget that painful lesson. 

  91. Mr. Merle Fahey says:

    @sjxm

    It’s not an exclusive to Verizon like you think.  Verizon will be the only carrier selling the Pixel phones in retail stores.  You can still buy one from the Google store and use it on T-Mobile, ATT, etc.

  92. Miss Burdette Thompson says:

    @cpearlm @sjxm Just can’t use JUMP!

  93. Serenity Larkin says:

    @sjxm The phone will be available unlocked for use with any (or most) carriers.  Verizon will be the only service provider selling it directly, for now.  No big deal for Google.  Most fans of theirs will research it online and figure that out pretty easily.  Or buy it at another retailer.

  94. Daryl Hackett says:

    @sjxm Verizon is a good choice, since it doesn’t overlap/compete too much with project FI, which is the other major US carrier to carry the phone… Plus, you can always buy the phone unlocked, if you want to.

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