I ordered it online. I'll give it a shot when it arrives. The customer service reps said she couldn't cancel the order and that I could just refuse delivery. But I'll see how it works out at this point. My current battery barely lasts 5 hours so it might not be a big deal.
Dang my impatience. I purchased the Moto G Stylus yesterday and I didn't realize the G Power was that much better and now I can't cancel it even though it hasn't shipped.
e: Seems the Stylus has a slightly better camera than the Power? Ah it might be worth it.
Slightly better than bad is still bad.
Personally, it’s not the choice I would have made, especially with kids, but except for the cameras you’re going to get a decent phone that’ll do the trick.
Dang my impatience. I purchased the Moto G Stylus yesterday and I didn't realize the G Power was that much better and now I can't cancel it even though it hasn't shipped.
e: Seems the Stylus has a slightly better camera than the Power? Ah it might be worth it.
Slightly better than bad is still bad.
Personally, it’s not the choice I would have made, especially with kids, but except for the cameras you’re going to get a decent phone that’ll do the trick.
I just can't really justify paying $500+ on a phone anymore when all I do is surf reddit, here, and occasionally send group text messages lol.
But I guess my other question is: Is Megapixel a bad measurement for camera quality now? Has it been diluted so much that something with 8MP and 48MP means nothing anymore? I'm looking at the specs for the G Stylus and it says:
48 MP, f/1.7, 26mm (wide), 1/2.0", 0.8µm, PDAF, Laser AF
16 MP, f/2.2, 117˚ (ultrawide), dedicated video camera (1080p)
2 MP, f/2.2, (macro)
Features LED flash, HDR, panorama
Video 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 1080p@30fps (gyro-EIS)
The rear camera on the 2 is a 12.2 MP sensor, 1.4 µm pixel size, with a f/1.8 aperture. Sensor details aside, the bigger aperture lets the camera collect more light and the larger pixels on the camera itself are also more sensitive to light.
In practice this means more detail and better indoor and low light performance. And typically less noise in photos and blur from moving subjects since it doesn't need to boost the ISO (sensor sensitivity to light, increases noise) and can spend less time collecting light for the photo (faster shutter speed = less blur).
And the photo processing on the Pixels is damn good.
Rollers are red, chargers are blue....omae wa mou shindeiru
If you bought a new phone through Google Fi and decide you want to return it, you can do so within 15 days of your phone's delivery.
So day 1 I'll be taking a bunch of photos and seeing if it's enough of a difference that I don't like it. My Pixel 2 works it's just barely holding a charge anymore. And maybe the 3a would be worth the extra $200 or so
If you bought a new phone through Google Fi and decide you want to return it, you can do so within 15 days of your phone's delivery.
So day 1 I'll be taking a bunch of photos and seeing if it's enough of a difference that I don't like it. My Pixel 2 works it's just barely holding a charge anymore. And maybe the 3a would be worth the extra $200 or so
EDIT - never mind, that's from a 3rd party seller that sucks.
If you bought a new phone through Google Fi and decide you want to return it, you can do so within 15 days of your phone's delivery.
So day 1 I'll be taking a bunch of photos and seeing if it's enough of a difference that I don't like it. My Pixel 2 works it's just barely holding a charge anymore. And maybe the 3a would be worth the extra $200 or so
You keep talking about price. If that is a major factor for you, and if you end up not liking the Moto, why not just pay to get the battery replaced? Is it ridiculous that you'll pay nearly as much as a new phone for a battery? Yes. But if you love the phone and the only issue with it is the battery, then spend the money you were going to spend anyway and just get a battery instead.
You're sticking yourself in a bit of a sunk cost fallacy because you're comparing the cost of a "phone part" with an "entire new phone" even though your current phone and its potential replacement aren't equals in performance.
To be clear it's not just the battery. When I plug my phone in it has to sit EXACTLY in the right spot or else it won't charge at all. If I bump my desk or look at it wrong it stops charging. There's really no way of fixing that as I believe it's the charging port on the phone and not the battery itself. The battery does need to get replaced as well as I barely make it a couple of hours before I get the Low Battery warning, but I don't leave the house anymore so it's not something I'm terribly concerned about.
Did you try cleaning the charging port? The first time I cleaned mine it only took a couple months to fill back up. It's lasted over a year after the second cleaning (I think, time is a looser construct right now).
If the latest 4a date rumors are correct then waiting for that might be the best bet, gets you an extra year of patching over the 3a.
A bit less than two weeks after I bought my LG G8, Amazon dropped the price on the exact same store page by 20% to $400.
After politely asking Amazon about this, their answer was, "We don't adjust prices for this sort of thing, but would you consider returning the phone and ordering a new one? I'll request a return label for you."
So I've placed and order for another LG G8, which I'm going to replace in lieu of my identical LG G8, which I'm actually pretty fond of even if it isn't as pleasant to hold as my LG G6+.
If I wasn't financially suffering from the complete obliteration of my car between two other cars, I'd probably considering picking up a Razer Kishi as they've popped on Amazon now as well.
Did you try cleaning the charging port? The first time I cleaned mine it only took a couple months to fill back up. It's lasted over a year after the second cleaning (I think, time is a looser construct right now).
If the latest 4a date rumors are correct then waiting for that might be the best bet, gets you an extra year of patching over the 3a.
Googles teasing a phone release on the 3rd so it seems like 4a next week is pretty likely
Just to go back to the photos part, The Pixel phones don’t blow anyone’s socks off in terms of sheer camera hardware, but their post processing of pictures in software is second to none.
Most of the photo quality from a phone is in that DSP, or digital signal processing. There are hardware DSP’s built into every processor , and then a software interface at the driver level between the camera sensor, that DSP, and the phone operating system, which then takes what you shoot, and tries to turn it into the best picture it can. And from there you can use google photos to post process even more, or at an extreme level take it into another photo editing app.
You can have the best sensor in the world, but if the OEM making it doesn’t invest anything into photo processing the photos will not be as good.
For the Moto G stylus specifically, most of the reviews say that it *can* take very good photos. But the difference between that and the flagships, or the best phone cameras is the ability to “shoot from the hip.” Where the midrange phones aren’t as good at dealing with less than ideal circumstances.
How much that matters is an individual decision. I want the best camera I can find in a phone. My best friend doesn’t care so much, so he prioritizes other things.
Good screen (I'm shocked the managed to get an OLED in there), good not great battery life (though I wonder how well/poorly the small 3,100mah battery will wear), plastic but decent build, Very good camera.
The performance appears to be meh, which is probably fine today, but in a couple years I wonder. But honestly It's a very good competitor to the iPhone SE, which is what it needed to be.
Pixel 4a will have better screen, better battery, better camera than the iPhone SE. iPhone SE will have better performance, better build quality, and better/longer support from Apple than the Pixel 4a.
As long as the 4a is good enough I'll be happy. The Pixel 2's been a solid workhorse but now at nearly three years the battery life at this point is kaput.
4a also has better ram and storage than the baseline SE.
Storage is super nice, but RAM is not comparable between Android and iOS. iOS is much more efficient than Android in RAM management, so Apple devices always have less than equivalent Android devices.
Also, Google has pre-announced the Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5. the Pixel 4a 5G is coming in September for $500USD, and the Pixel 5 is coming later than that
That's literally all they announced, aside from one teaser image that shows the upper 1/3 of one side of both of the phones. The 4a 5G will likely be a larger phone, so if you are sad there's no 4a XL, that'll probably be the closest you get.
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
TBH I think the new normal is a cheap, reliable phone with a good camera, and then a tablet for when you actually want to do stuff like consume media or play games. It's something I've been thinking about doing for the past year or so, and quarantine life has really cemented for me that the real uses for having a giant screen on my phone are few-and-far between.
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
I'm still set on a Surface dual screen phone. Its productivity implications are massive.
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
I'm still set on a Surface dual screen phone. Its productivity implications are massive.
Yeah I'm really intrigued by it. I'm just not sure it's worth it to carry around something that large. At that point, I might as well just get a sling bag and shove a tablet+e-reader in there...
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
Yeah, it's certainly not a chill portable device in the way even a large current phone is. But the sheer joy of using a computer with two monitors vs a single monitor is significant enough that I feel like there's no reason the same feeling wouldn't be replicated with a dual screen phone.
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
I wish they still made good clamshell phones with hardware keyboards. I'd honestly trade that for two screens any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
TBH I think the new normal is a cheap, reliable phone with a good camera, and then a tablet for when you actually want to do stuff like consume media or play games. It's something I've been thinking about doing for the past year or so, and quarantine life has really cemented for me that the real uses for having a giant screen on my phone are few-and-far between.
Nah. I wouldn’t necessarily call that the new normal. What the android ecosystems is turning into is what the PC/Windows ecoystem was/is. You have products in every price range to suit a wide variety of needs.
the $350 android phone is the $600 Windows laptop. It’ll be fine for a good number of people, and for some people, it’ll be all they need. Each $350 phone cuts different corners and that’ll appeal to different people. Pixel 4a prioritizes camera and OLED panel. OnePlus Nord prioritizes processor and 90Hz refresh rate. Stuff like that.
the $1000-$1200 phone is the premium ultrabook or gaming PC that sells for $1500-$2000. They exist to cater to certain users who want the best, and have very few compromises. They’re not high volume, but they are higher margin, and represent the best of what there is. And like the PC, the technology in these phones trickle down, so the things you see in a 2020 flagship phone end up in the 2022 budget phones.
the new normal is people buying the best computer that suits their needs within a budget, it just happens that for a majority of the population, the smartphone is the most important computer now.
I wish they still made good clamshell phones with hardware keyboards. I'd honestly trade that for two screens any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Samsung and a couple of manufacturers tried to revive the clamshell design a while back releasing super high premium phones but only to the South Korea market. They then in 2015 started to release budget versions, but unfortunately didn't sell well enough for a worldwide expansion.
I suspect that with future clamshell foldable devices they might release a clip on physical keyboard as an optional accessory.
The performance thing is an interesting conundrum. While I would agree that the average user won't even notice the difference between a Snapdragon 765 and 865 on day 1, what about day 600?
The argument for the higher end processors is more headroom for the future. As updates come, and we try to do new and better things with our phones, the higher end chipsets have more capability to do those things years in advance.
Apple can continue supporting the iPhone 6S 5 years after release because the A9 processor in it was so overpowered at the time that it can still run almost every new feature in the upcoming iOS14.
I don't think anyone *needs* the Snapgradon 8xx series phones the day they come out. I still haven't pushed my Note 10+'s 855 to the point where anything feels slow on the phone. It feels brand new to me, literally one year later. I know this phone will easily last me at least one more year, and I have no intention on upgrading. So yes, you do pay more, but there is the potential for more longevity than what you might get out of something running a snapdragon 6xx series, or even maybe a 730.
Buy whatever phone you can afford, and no more. That's always the advice. There are advantages to getting the high end phones, but whether they're worth the cost to you is an individual decision. For me, it usually is, but it isn't for everyone.
So Samsung's unpacked event produced everything expected (thanks to the leaks).
The biggest disappointment has to be that they made the same mistake with the Note 20 cutbacks from the Ultra that they did last year with the 10/10+. In that they have put out a near $1000 mid range phone. There is absolutely no reason to pay $999 for a plastic phone with a 1080p screen, non expandable memory reduced Spen features and camera facilities. Especially when you can get far better for that money not only elsewhere but within Samsung.
Yeah, I’m coming up on 2 years with my XS, and have been thinking of trying Android, mostly eyeing Samsung phones for a while now.
I think the Ultra sized phones are too big. And I’m not impressed at all with the Note 20. I guess I could look into deals on the S20+.
Or maybe wait for more info on the Pixel 5.
Or I’ll just stick with iOS...
If you are looking at android and Note phones, the Note 10+ is the phone I've been using and would provide the experience you would want for less than the nerf'd Note 20. The S20+ is a really good phone and probably the best out of the S range currently. Otherwise right now keep an eye out on other manufacturers, Sony's Xperia's 1 II is really good, OnePlus are solid value and then there's the Pixel 5.
I think what's annoyed me with the Note 10 and 20 is that Samsung haven't learned a thing from the days of the 'mini' or 'lite' phones they did 7 years ago. Sony, Google and Apple showed that people want a smaller version of a flagship or a budget phone but with the same capabilities as it's bigger counterpart. Just another missed opportunity.
Thanks. If the Pixel 5 is enough of a step forward, that might be worth considering. As far as other manufacturers, I think I'm kind of tunnel visioned into phones from Apple/Samsung/Google...for good or ill.
On the other hand, I could just go full YOLO and get the Note Ultra and the new buds for like $800 with a trade-in...I don't think anyone else is gonna give me $550 for a 2 year old iPhone. :P
Posts
Slightly better than bad is still bad.
Personally, it’s not the choice I would have made, especially with kids, but except for the cameras you’re going to get a decent phone that’ll do the trick.
I just can't really justify paying $500+ on a phone anymore when all I do is surf reddit, here, and occasionally send group text messages lol.
But I guess my other question is: Is Megapixel a bad measurement for camera quality now? Has it been diluted so much that something with 8MP and 48MP means nothing anymore? I'm looking at the specs for the G Stylus and it says:
And the specs I found for the Pixel 2:
What about it makes it that much worse?
In practice this means more detail and better indoor and low light performance. And typically less noise in photos and blur from moving subjects since it doesn't need to boost the ISO (sensor sensitivity to light, increases noise) and can spend less time collecting light for the photo (faster shutter speed = less blur).
And the photo processing on the Pixels is damn good.
So day 1 I'll be taking a bunch of photos and seeing if it's enough of a difference that I don't like it. My Pixel 2 works it's just barely holding a charge anymore. And maybe the 3a would be worth the extra $200 or so
EDIT - never mind, that's from a 3rd party seller that sucks.
You keep talking about price. If that is a major factor for you, and if you end up not liking the Moto, why not just pay to get the battery replaced? Is it ridiculous that you'll pay nearly as much as a new phone for a battery? Yes. But if you love the phone and the only issue with it is the battery, then spend the money you were going to spend anyway and just get a battery instead.
You're sticking yourself in a bit of a sunk cost fallacy because you're comparing the cost of a "phone part" with an "entire new phone" even though your current phone and its potential replacement aren't equals in performance.
Interesting........... I like this idea. A lot. Did you go through Google's support or was it third party?
If the latest 4a date rumors are correct then waiting for that might be the best bet, gets you an extra year of patching over the 3a.
After politely asking Amazon about this, their answer was, "We don't adjust prices for this sort of thing, but would you consider returning the phone and ordering a new one? I'll request a return label for you."
So I've placed and order for another LG G8, which I'm going to replace in lieu of my identical LG G8, which I'm actually pretty fond of even if it isn't as pleasant to hold as my LG G6+.
If I wasn't financially suffering from the complete obliteration of my car between two other cars, I'd probably considering picking up a Razer Kishi as they've popped on Amazon now as well.
Googles teasing a phone release on the 3rd so it seems like 4a next week is pretty likely
Third party.
Funny story: it was a guy who typically repairs iPhones. He screwed up using the heat gun and damaged the screen. So I got a new screen out of it.
Most of the photo quality from a phone is in that DSP, or digital signal processing. There are hardware DSP’s built into every processor , and then a software interface at the driver level between the camera sensor, that DSP, and the phone operating system, which then takes what you shoot, and tries to turn it into the best picture it can. And from there you can use google photos to post process even more, or at an extreme level take it into another photo editing app.
You can have the best sensor in the world, but if the OEM making it doesn’t invest anything into photo processing the photos will not be as good.
For the Moto G stylus specifically, most of the reviews say that it *can* take very good photos. But the difference between that and the flagships, or the best phone cameras is the ability to “shoot from the hip.” Where the midrange phones aren’t as good at dealing with less than ideal circumstances.
How much that matters is an individual decision. I want the best camera I can find in a phone. My best friend doesn’t care so much, so he prioritizes other things.
Good screen (I'm shocked the managed to get an OLED in there), good not great battery life (though I wonder how well/poorly the small 3,100mah battery will wear), plastic but decent build, Very good camera.
The performance appears to be meh, which is probably fine today, but in a couple years I wonder. But honestly It's a very good competitor to the iPhone SE, which is what it needed to be.
Pixel 4a will have better screen, better battery, better camera than the iPhone SE. iPhone SE will have better performance, better build quality, and better/longer support from Apple than the Pixel 4a.
To be fair my G Stylus was set to arrive August 12th according to the site and it'll be here today. So they may be over shooting it on purpose.
Storage is super nice, but RAM is not comparable between Android and iOS. iOS is much more efficient than Android in RAM management, so Apple devices always have less than equivalent Android devices.
you can also swipe up diagonally from either bottom corner to trigger it.
That's literally all they announced, aside from one teaser image that shows the upper 1/3 of one side of both of the phones. The 4a 5G will likely be a larger phone, so if you are sad there's no 4a XL, that'll probably be the closest you get.
Yeah I'm really intrigued by it. I'm just not sure it's worth it to carry around something that large. At that point, I might as well just get a sling bag and shove a tablet+e-reader in there...
Nah. I wouldn’t necessarily call that the new normal. What the android ecosystems is turning into is what the PC/Windows ecoystem was/is. You have products in every price range to suit a wide variety of needs.
the $350 android phone is the $600 Windows laptop. It’ll be fine for a good number of people, and for some people, it’ll be all they need. Each $350 phone cuts different corners and that’ll appeal to different people. Pixel 4a prioritizes camera and OLED panel. OnePlus Nord prioritizes processor and 90Hz refresh rate. Stuff like that.
the $1000-$1200 phone is the premium ultrabook or gaming PC that sells for $1500-$2000. They exist to cater to certain users who want the best, and have very few compromises. They’re not high volume, but they are higher margin, and represent the best of what there is. And like the PC, the technology in these phones trickle down, so the things you see in a 2020 flagship phone end up in the 2022 budget phones.
the new normal is people buying the best computer that suits their needs within a budget, it just happens that for a majority of the population, the smartphone is the most important computer now.
Samsung and a couple of manufacturers tried to revive the clamshell design a while back releasing super high premium phones but only to the South Korea market. They then in 2015 started to release budget versions, but unfortunately didn't sell well enough for a worldwide expansion.
I suspect that with future clamshell foldable devices they might release a clip on physical keyboard as an optional accessory.
No worries, this happens.
Except now, none of my messaging apps work. Not even Messages
I hope the solution isn't buying a new phone, but it seems to be pointing that direction
Edit: Looks like there was an update that needed to run. It's working now
The argument for the higher end processors is more headroom for the future. As updates come, and we try to do new and better things with our phones, the higher end chipsets have more capability to do those things years in advance.
Apple can continue supporting the iPhone 6S 5 years after release because the A9 processor in it was so overpowered at the time that it can still run almost every new feature in the upcoming iOS14.
I don't think anyone *needs* the Snapgradon 8xx series phones the day they come out. I still haven't pushed my Note 10+'s 855 to the point where anything feels slow on the phone. It feels brand new to me, literally one year later. I know this phone will easily last me at least one more year, and I have no intention on upgrading. So yes, you do pay more, but there is the potential for more longevity than what you might get out of something running a snapdragon 6xx series, or even maybe a 730.
Buy whatever phone you can afford, and no more. That's always the advice. There are advantages to getting the high end phones, but whether they're worth the cost to you is an individual decision. For me, it usually is, but it isn't for everyone.
The biggest disappointment has to be that they made the same mistake with the Note 20 cutbacks from the Ultra that they did last year with the 10/10+. In that they have put out a near $1000 mid range phone. There is absolutely no reason to pay $999 for a plastic phone with a 1080p screen, non expandable memory reduced Spen features and camera facilities. Especially when you can get far better for that money not only elsewhere but within Samsung.
I think the Ultra sized phones are too big. And I’m not impressed at all with the Note 20. I guess I could look into deals on the S20+.
Or maybe wait for more info on the Pixel 5.
Or I’ll just stick with iOS...
If you are looking at android and Note phones, the Note 10+ is the phone I've been using and would provide the experience you would want for less than the nerf'd Note 20. The S20+ is a really good phone and probably the best out of the S range currently. Otherwise right now keep an eye out on other manufacturers, Sony's Xperia's 1 II is really good, OnePlus are solid value and then there's the Pixel 5.
I think what's annoyed me with the Note 10 and 20 is that Samsung haven't learned a thing from the days of the 'mini' or 'lite' phones they did 7 years ago. Sony, Google and Apple showed that people want a smaller version of a flagship or a budget phone but with the same capabilities as it's bigger counterpart. Just another missed opportunity.
On the other hand, I could just go full YOLO and get the Note Ultra and the new buds for like $800 with a trade-in...I don't think anyone else is gonna give me $550 for a 2 year old iPhone. :P