The original Google Pixel launched in 2016 and the series changed not just Android, but the entire mobile market in the last eight years.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    26
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    This reads like a pure ad. And just in time for the pixel 9 launch event tomorrow. What a coincidence.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    224 months ago

    I’d say the Nexus phones (pure Android) were way more a game changer than the Pixels.

    • @absquatulate
      link
      English
      174 months ago

      Yes, but the nexuses did not have the courage and the vision to remove jacks and sd cards, all while getting more expensive. Fuck I miss me a proper nexus.

      • charizardcharz
        link
        English
        34 months ago

        I agree with the headphone jack, but the only Nexus with a microSD slot was first one, the Nexus One.

    • @TriflingToad
      link
      English
      14 months ago

      I hated rear fingerprint sensor tbh, didn’t help that it failed 1/3 of the time. Current location is much better imo

  • @ByteMe
    link
    English
    114 months ago

    They forgot to expand to more than 20 countries in the world

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    5
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    On the longer OS updates introduced with the Pixel 6, this article of course frames them as being part of benevolent and innovative Google’s plan to provide the best product possible for consumers (ignoring, as usual, that Fairphone did this first for real ethical reasons) but I’m not convinced this is the whole story. Smartphone sales were dropping significantly during that period due to the financial climate while AI technology was becoming an increasingly important part of Google’s business. My theory is that Google and Samsung saw the writing on the wall and decided to pivot away from handset sales and towards subscription-based revenue from their new AI tools and an expanded suite of paid proprietary services. The AI tools were introduced as free tools to get consumers hooked, but will all require subscriptions eventually. The idea here is to lock consumers into the ecosystem through a combination of longer software support and “essential” tools and services which they pay an ongoing fee for. This is also why the aesthetic design of phones has slowed so much in recent years - Google and Samsung don’t want their consumers to feel like their phone is “old” and go shopping for a new one because that runs the risk of the consumer leaving their ecosystem. They want to keep them happy and loyal to the brand (while still giving them money) so that when the eventually do look for another phone it will be another Pixel or Galaxy.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    24 months ago

    So they’ve “pushed RCS and AI into the mainstream” which are both negative developments.