- is google releasing the new pixel on an annual basis? if so, i can easily hold out for the 5.
- what is the fatal flaw with the 4?
Google releases the Pixel every fall. They also started to release the Pixel "a" series in the spring. The "a" series is a mid-range phone with the same camera as the main Pixel series at about half the price.
There is not one fatal flaw, but a series of poor decisions. The 4 is just not well thought out. I wouldn't even consider the smaller Pixel 4 as the battery life has been described as the worst battery of any phone in the last 5, maybe 10 years. They simply didn't put a large enough capacity battery in there so no amount of optimization will fix that. It's odd too because the Pixel 3a has some of the best battery life.
So I would only consider the 4XL. But starting at $900 for a 64GB model, it's impossible to recommend. While everyone else has gone to three cameras, Google went with two, which would be fine, except that their second camera is a telephoto and not a wide angle lens. Google's computation photography is so good that there is little need for a telephoto lens, so I'm not sure what they were thinking. The good news is that Apple's new cameras have made great strides in catching up with Google, so as long as I have The Brand around, I can use her iPhone 11 when I need a wide angle lens, but I shouldn't have to do that. In addition, Google made no advances on the video front, while Apple has made huge advances, including the ability to switch between the lens rather seamlessly. There is no comparison there. I should mention that the Google phones cannot do 4K 60fps, but I don't think that's important, though others do. I have a GoPro for that.
Google also has problems right now with it's personal free accounts and G-Suite accounts. Many of their advances in AI apply only to personal accounts, which is fine, but now if you have a G Suite account on your phone you cannot take advantage of these features. There is a new version of Assistant that does most of the computations on the phone and not in the cloud, however, if you have a G Suite account (like my work email) you cannot use the new version. This is a compromise I can't make, and frankly I shouldn't have to. I can't imagine what went into that thought process that would cripple paying users experiences that exist for it's free tier. Anyhow, you've been around me enough to know how integrated into my every day life Google Assistant is, not being able to use the newest and best after spending that much money on a phone irks me to no end. Like "I'm considering going to work there to fix all of these decision making problems" mad.
They also upgraded to a 90mhz screen, which is awesome. Except they only let users use it some of the time based on the content and other environmental factors (brightness, etc). However, once you've seen a 90Hz screen you notice 60Hz. There is a way to enable the 90Hz screen at all times in the developer options, but it crushes your battery and see above about why that won't work.
The face unlock is great (say goodbye to your fingerprint sensor), the Soli Radar sensor helps there but is limited and just a gimmick when used elsewhere. But at $1000 for an XL with 128GB of storage (did I mention you no longer get free unlimited storage in Google Photos with the Pixel 4?) and all of these limitations, there is no way I'm buying one at that price. It's going to take coming down to $600 before I pull the trigger.
