First post. Please be gentle.
Have been tracking Pixel4XL for a while. Missed the Vodafone deal. This can be combined with a switch to Telstra with a gift card of $400/$500 based on 12/24 months of contract.
For 128GB:
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/google-pixel-4-xl-128gb-j…
Meh, people are paying nearly double that for a problematic Exynos, but 64Gb is indeed a bit 2011.
problematic Exynos
What is problematic about the Exynos?
It's gfx and battery life performance are not as good as the equivalent Snapdragon versions.
Relatedly, I have an Exynos s10e, coming up on 1 year. AccuBattery app is reporting my battery capacity at 25xx mAh, as compared to when I got the phone at 31xx mAh. Should I try to have it sent in for warranty before the 12 month battery warranty period is up
AccuBattery app
AccuBattery is notorious for being inaccurate. In fact all battery monitoring apps or hit or miss since Android won't allow accessing battery stats unless you're rooted.
Yes Snapdragon is better than Exynos but not by much. I've had both versions of the Note 10+ and outside of benchmarks the real life difference is minimal.
@So lo: Australian Consumer Law (ACL) should still cover you for the 2nd year (at least). I'd speak to Samsung or the retailer about that, regardless of the 1 year warranty (unless it was a grey import?).
It's gfx and battery life performance are not as good as the equivalent Snapdragon versions.
As someone who owns an Exynos phone, I think that the only reason why this is a big deal is because people keep comparing the Exynos and SD variants. The Exynos is actually perfectly fine as a SoC.
I actually prefer the Exynos because you can unlock the bootloader, which is not something you can do with the SD. I'm happy to give up some battery life and graphics performance for an unlocked bootloader.
Disregarding it's arguably one of the best cameras available… and the obvious benefits of stock Android and timely updates.
One of the best camera phones, for photos only. Yes. If all you want is marginally better photos, and sit there comparing photos from other phones all day long, then yes, this is your pick 100%
Agree, Apple has it for video, but year in year out the Pixel rates as the best still camera available. To some it's a big deal. I did find when comparing a 2XL to my old Note 8 it was daylight ahead in actual true to life photos.
The software is still very nice though…. can't say the same for the build quality and reliability though, I think Google cheaps out on them.
Lol 3 negs, geez people get tender when complimenting the Pixels camera. Not the first time.
@scuderiarmani: I was all over the OG Xl for "software", but quickly realised they don't really have software on it, it's just a blank slate with nothing on it. All the "software" you can get on every other android. What makes android special for me is it's ability to customize and choose appearance, Pixel is one of the most restrictive of the bunch out of the box, and offers the least features out of the box also. Coming from a note 4 to PXL, it was like going back in time to be honest. Incredible still photos, but that was it. At least on samsung you get android updates and you get Samsungs UI updates, a bit more to look forward to for me at least, and really the photos I get out of my S10e is just as good as my work P4, until I sit there and analyse them on a big screen monitor side by side.
@onlinepred: I got a S20U, no need to sell me on the benefits of their UI, it's great, 10 times better then Touchwiz.
But from a clean, non clutter point of view the Pixel is great. Not having to install 'duplicate' apps is a nice thing. I prefer most of Googles versions, with the exception of GBoard, Swiftkey is still the best IMO. Not having the unnecessary apps like Galaxy Store and all the other Samsung specific stuff….
It's also the easiest phone to sell an iphone user to Android… so I enjoy recommending it for that very reason too.
Getting Android updates much much quicker, and for longer is also a nice bonus, bit more reminiscent of Apple in that regard, though Samsung has improved in timeliness (but not longevity unfortunately) of late.
@scuderiarmani: I'll try swift key again, I find GBoard like most of googles software gets worse and worse as more updates roll out haha.
I actually agree with you re iPhone users, until the S10 series came out, they are a far better sell as they actually have an ecosystem to sell the iPhone users on to, while Google has no ecosystem at all. Samsung you can get the watches, Samsung buds etc, will be more familiar to being in Apple land. Also most Apple users just use the apps that come with their phone, rather than installing replacement apps so won't be an issue with duplicate apps for those use cases. I recommended someone onto a pixel 3, from an iPhone 8, and man they hated it, it didn't even perform as well for them in their use cases as their old IP8, I don't like recommending pixels to iPhone users. Pixel 4 is decent as it has acceptable amount of ram and more than a single lens though, so would consider recommending it.
@onlinepred: I've had luck with recommending Pixels to iPhone users, particularly those who aren't demanding on specs.
I also used the Google Now Launcher when it was available to other Android devices for years… that app alone had me switch several long time iphone users over happily.
I really wanted to like Gboard, but everytime I try it I find it's worse and worse. It's autocorrect is woeful. Along with the podcast app… that's another dud. But pretty much every other Google App I really like.
@scuderiarmani: DUDE> what happened to Google Podcasts, like wtf haha. Yea google launcher is nice, I prefer lawnchair v2 for it's customisations, you should try it out, it's exactly the same but offers more features.
Yea I guess the problem I had, was people would switch tasks really quickly and find that the app or web pages had to reload over and over, while they never had that with their old iphones. Again P4 is much better for this though as it actually has an amount of ram that Android can work with. The main issues I have, is that often Pixels (like android) requires factory resets now and then, and often has random Google Services battery drain issues after security patches or monthly updates. Also keep in mind that Samsungs launcher can replicate how iPhone home works, which also makes the jump less jarring for apple converts.
Anyway, I do agree with you otherwise. Google make great apps, and when they don't try and update it, they do well.
@onlinepred: Yeah I've reset my mums Pixel 2XL several times and she hardly does anything with it… also took it back once for unexplained call drops.
Actually just replaced it with the V50 deal recently, though a part of me is worried if LG's poor reliability is a thing of the past or not…. I forgot about all that when I purchased it, such was the great price.
@onlinepred: @scuderiarmani and @onlinepred
If you've the time, could you reply with a list of your essential apps for a fresh factory reset on a Samsung phone?
kthanxbi
@OhPee: Everytime I stated the Pixel has a great camera I get negged, NFI why…. It's not something that can be debated. I have never ever seen a review suggesting otherwise, sure it may not have the extra lenses… but that's not what I'm referring to. Samsung unfortunately has shown what a gimmick numbers and spec sheets are with the S20 line (coming from one who fell for it).
I'd be interested around the $700 mark I think
maybe look at the new iphone…
If you’re buying a Pixel on specs alone, you’ll be disappointed and should go for a Samsung Galaxy or similar.
If you appreciate the experience, there is nothing better on Android. There is no Android experience as tightly knit as Android on a Pixel, nothing that even comes close.
Coming from OG XL, P2XL, P3, it very much has everything to do with specs still. Poor battery life, inability to keep apps in memory, completely fluff of videos without actual good stereo mic recordings. There is plenty better PHONES on android, it's just a matter of which exact niche you are after, a year more of updates, better still photography for absolutely critical phone photographers.
@onlinepred
Thanks for the feedback.
I have the pixel 2xl, and most likely wait for the 5xl lol
Very unfortunate about the pixel 4 not having good battery life and a finger print scanner.
Besides the great camera, I think google missed the ball with the rest of the specs
I would second this comment except for the Pixel battery. Really let's the phone down.
I went from a Oneplus 6 to a Pixel 3 and while the camera is a lot better in the Pixel, I find that it suffers from a lot more slowdown/random jankiness/random freezing when switching between apps. That said, the Oneplus 6 had 6GB of RAM and so does the Pixel 4, so maybe it's better on this model.
Also the Pixel 3's video is pretty bad. Whoever decided that having the phone try to automatically detect whether it should shoot in 30fps or 60fps should be fired.
Pixel has its issues and benefits, but i am not sure, how it is 2 years old. Phone was released in Oct 2019 with SD855 and SD865 phones are just coming in. If you combine the 128GB with 12 month Telstra deal, it comes to $749 ($1149 - $400).
Pixels are a generation behind on CPU when released.
No they are not. They get released in October before new SoC announced, which is still months away before new SoC actually released. The Samsung Note series also released around same time and nobody said their SoC is previous gen. Note 10 series still uses SD855 FYI and Note 20 is not released yet.
New Snapdragon usually announced at the end of the year but don't expect any actual phone with it until next year. SD855 is still 2019 SoC, SD855+ is the same thing just overclocked.
@Bigboomboom: Note is on the same release cycle as the Pixel, hence the delay. New SoC gets accounced as pixel comes out, new S series picks it up a few months after, then 10 months later new pixel comes out with the same chip as 10 month old samsung, just months away from new samsung with new chip. The cycle is real!
@onlinepred: What? Pixel is released in October and S is released in February, that's not 10 months difference. Not only that S20 is released in 2020 and not 2019. There are zero phones with SD865 in 2019. Announced and released are two different things, SD865 doesn't get released until 2020.
And again Note is same release cycle as Pixel, nobody ever complain about "old" SoC. In fact Note is the flagship of flagship for Samsung. A Note is always more luxurious than an S.
@Bigboomboom: Let me explain again, s20 released with 865 feb 2020, pixel comes out Oct same year with same CPU.
Either way, was just pointing out fact, it doesn't really matter to me. Pixel is a gen behind, as new soc is released just as pixel comes out.
@onlinepred: And what do you try to 'explain' there? SD865 is 2020 SoC, Pixel 5 later in October if released with SD865 doesn't mean it get last gen SoC. Let me try to explain that to you again, SD855 is 2019 SoC and SD865 is 2020 SoC. A 2019 phone can only get 2019 SoC as the 2020 SoC is impossible to be available. Pixel 4 has 2019 SoC because it's released in 2019.
Going by your 'explaination' the Note and One Plus T are also lagging one generation, as they both doesn't feature newer SoC generation compared to S or One Plus.
@Bigboomboom: If you release a phone right when a new CPU is released, but the phone does not have the new chip, that makes it behind a generation. Sorry if I didn't get that through.
@onlinepred: Again, new SoC isn't released until the next year. Even if you release a phone in December 2019 it's impossible to feature newly announced SoC as they wouldn't have been made available yet, commercially. Doesn't matter if within months there is a new SoC, it is still current as far as when it is released as the 'next gen' doesn't exist in a sense.
Same reason as Ryzen 2 is still current even though in 6 months we will get Ryzen 3. Ryzen 2 is still current gen CPU and in fact it couldn't be truer for laptop which is always lagging behind desktop e.g Ryzen 4000U/H/HS are actually Ryzen 3000 but for laptop.
@onlinepred: No, but do you pay top dollar for Ryzen 2 now? Yes absolutely and that's the whole point.
In October will you pay top dollar for SD865 phones? Yes because there's no SD875 yet. Note 20 will have SD865 or 865+ and that's the top dollar phone for Samsung. Do you understand?
In fact in 6 months you still pay top dollar for Ryzen 2 laptop because Ryzen 3 for laptop won't be available at launch. Mindblown I know
@Bigboomboom: I don't pay top dollar though, I am OZB. Paid $690 for a an SD S10e in Feb last year, then almost 9 months later Pixel 4 comes out with price over $1k with the same cpu. 2 months later the S20 is up for pre order with new CPU.
@onlinepred: Sure, but millions of others do. People buy Note and One Plus T, or whatever Android phone released later in the year like Huawei Mate series (same SoC as P series). Otherwise companies wouldn't sell them.
@Bigboomboom: iPhone 11 pro is the top selling single phone of 2019, does that mean it is the best? People will always buy things if they are marketed well right? We are OZB, looking at the details for the best value!
The CPU has a little over than 1 years since it was released. But 1k for any phone is too much.
Yea the S10 released with the same CPU. Since then the S20 came out 2 months ago with a newer cpu.
Agreed regarding price, really hope iPhone SE2 shakes things up.
One week ago was 100 cheaper.
take advantage of Vodafone offer! 520ish
The Pixel 4XL is not available on Vodafone anymore
Weren't these just over $600 via Vodafone deal recently by cancelling plan? Can still get the Pixel 4 64GB there I think.
Better off waiting for the PIxel 4A release in 1-2 weeks. Probably gonna be cheaper and better in some aspects.
I will be intersted in their pricing, if it's mid range specs are going to be only $50-$100 cheaper than the iPhone SE2, will be a hard buy for many.
Really tempted to neg it as it's such an underwhelming phone & such a bad time to buy it as well.
Pixel 4A is just around the corner if you want a phone in a month's time;
Or if you have a bit more patience wait for Pixel 5 that is going to be around the same price at launch as a discounted Pixel 4
I jumped to th pixel 4xl from a note 10+ 5g and I would take the pixel every day of the week. It's an awesome, easy to use, reliable phone. To be honest the pixel 4xl I have is the best Android phone I've had. As someone who owns the phone, I think it's awesome. In saying all of that I don't think this deal is great value. Also, sorry if I hurt anyone feelings by saying I think this is a great phone.
No feeling is hurt I don't think. It's just choice of a phone not life & death. Getting the best value phone is ozbers' ultimate objective.
In fact I have been a fan of Pixel phones and using them since the Nexus 5X days (currently with a Pixel 3XL). Still my original comment stands as 4/4XL is the worst iteration out of all and should not be bought at this point with 4A/5 coming in months time.
Lastly, if for whatever reason you absolutely want a 4/4XL simply grab one from Voda for half the price of this so-called 'Deal'.
The Pixel 4XL has enough battery to last the day with reasonably heavy use. Most complaints about battery life came from the Pixel 4.
This or the iPhone SE?
New SE
Well it'd all depend on what ecosystem you prefer, ultimately nothing else matters.
Like others have mentioned, mostly depends on what platform you prefer, Android or IOS.
Haven’t owned an Android since Google Nexus 5 so my Android knowledge is lacking compared to what I know about Apple.
What the new Iphone SE2 has going for it:
Cons:
Even if you aren’t into Apple phones, just the existence and release of the iphone SE2 is going to shake up the mid range phone industry, Android phones are going to need to innovate better and lower their prices to compete. You’ll see more price drops and discounts in the near future.
Better privacy/security (due to physical T2 security chip, Best in class biometrics/fingerprint scanner, Apple software and companies stance on privacy/security.
Yeah I think that's just peddling a tired myth which may have been true once upon a time, but now? Not so much. Apple devices have had many major security flaws, even recently. And Pixels also have the Titan security chip on the device itself, along with a 3D dot projector for face unlock.
If google hadn't canned the unlimited free original quality photo storage maybe, or if they hadn't canned the expandable storage maybe, but as is buying a 64gb phone wheb the key selling point of the phone is the picture quality isn't a good move IMO.
That $150 storage upgrade is a joke. I thought apple was mocking us with their $80 upgrade on the SE.
Our android choices here have been underwhelming recently. To expensive for to little relative to other markets. Hopefully that changes a bit thanks to the SE and samsung going with stock arm cores rather then custom cores for exynos.
So many reasons why this is not a good deal. But for me the primary one is Vodafone's long running deal (but now finished) of 64GB for $639 and 128GB for $714. If it's not at that price or cheaper, no way I'm taking my hand out of my pocket in this economy, and with the competition being so hot for mid range phones right now.
Try harder Google!
I couldn't even convince myself to buy the 4XL at $714. They'll have to try much harder, however Im betting they wont.
$1k for 64gb and nearly 2 year old CPU. OUCH. I'd be interested around the $700 mark I think, would be decent value at that price.