2023 Winners and losers: Google

26 December 2023
The Pixel portfolio of devices is stronger than ever.

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Google Pixels are the greatest Android phones ever made.

Why, you ask?

They have flagship-grade hardware, and you can load them with Graphene OS, effectively removing Google bloatware and spyware, but still keeping all Google Play functionality (in a protected sandbox). None of that XDA Forums half-baked ROM bullshit where half things don't work. Graphene is easy to download, easy to install, it gets frequent updates, and your Pixel is guaranteed to get latest security updates even after Google forgets about it.

You get best of both worlds:

1) A phone that's completely your own, not owned by Google, Huawei, or your operator. You can install any app, run app as root, remove all trackers, do whatever you like.

2) A phone with super camera quality, good CPU, lots of memory, and a decent screen.

No other Android phone comes close to it. Samsung or Xiaomi with 16-core CPU, 32GB RAM and 1 TB memory, and folds out in 2 pieces? Sorry, if it doesn't support Graphene OS, then its the same Android / iOS locked down bullshit as every other phone.

    Anonymous, 27 Dec 2023You do realize that phones spend more time on standby than ... moreYes standby is important but apart from sd 8 gen 2 which recent flagship has good standby? D9000/9200 Has plenty of phones below 100H endurance so is sd 888/8/8+Gen 1.

      The Impaler, 27 Dec 2023You guys call the pixel fold a winner but still haven'... moreIt was released in May. There's no chance we gonna see a review anymore. Don't know why they wouldn't review it, after all it is Google's first foldable....maybe that's why they didn't review it...? Cause it's Google's first foldable and it's pretty bad, so they knew the review score would be disappointing so they decided not to review it so they would get free review units on Google's upcoming phones....? Just a theory

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        • Anonymous
        • 0p}
        • 27 Dec 2023

        Hemedans, 27 Dec 2023Standby time isn't battery life alone, Pixel 8 series ... moreYou do realize that phones spend more time on standby than on-screen during each battery cicle?

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          • Anonymous
          • 0p}
          • 27 Dec 2023

          Mills, 27 Dec 2023Google (or Alphabet) is worth 1.7T USD. Do they have the mo... moreSamsung Mobile is signficant % of Samsung Corporation.
          Huawei Mobile is significant % of Huawei.
          Iphone/ipads are main revenue source at Apple.

          Pixel is not even 1% of Google. Does not matter if Alphabet is worth 1, 2 or 10 trillion.
          Pixels do not generate money enough to recover all investment in-house chip would require.
          Go check how much money has Apple invested over the years to hire best ppl money can pay.

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            • Anonymous
            • NIg
            • 27 Dec 2023

            The biggest drawback is the fact that google products are still grey market items on many regions. And with hardware issues galore there're hardly a good recommendation.

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              • Anonymous
              • yat
              • 27 Dec 2023

              Anonymous, 26 Dec 2023Does the author of this article not know that smartwatches ... moreThey are definitely not to small, look at all the modern watches from Samsung and Huawei just to name two.

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                • Anonymous
                • NIg
                • 27 Dec 2023

                Pumpino, 26 Dec 2023That's good to hear.Given the battery capacity that's hardly an achievement...

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                  • AnonD-986504
                  • s89
                  • 27 Dec 2023

                  Pixel Fold is not a winner in any way shape or form.

                    Anonymous, 26 Dec 2023I highly doubt the story google is gonna design the tensyno... moreGoogle (or Alphabet) is worth 1.7T USD. Do they have the money to use TSMC? Yes, they do but they have a budget (like every other tech conglomerate/company.)

                      Anonymous, 26 Dec 2023P8 is huge loser. - Battery endurance is too low for de... moreStandby time isn't battery life alone, Pixel 8 series had good on screen score beating majority of sd 8/8+ gen 1 phones only Nothing phone 2 was clear ahead. Tensor G3 is fine only modem had issues and caused bad standby time. That's why there is huge battery life difference when using wifi or 5G.

                        The Underdog, 27 Dec 2023Still so much that stops me even considering a Pixel: Te... moreIt's basic and some do like it.

                          Anonymous, 27 Dec 2023Tensor G4 won't fix anything... it's basically ju... moreG1 and G2 were same. Snapdragon 870 level.
                          G3 is upgrade over G2. Snapdragon 8 gen 1 level.
                          Even if G4 manages to reach level of snapdragon 8 gen 2. It's fine. We don't need raw performance. Pixels aren't made for that. We need efficiency and no throttling issues. Rest things are pretty much great.

                            Pumpino, 26 Dec 2023I agree with others about the Pixel series being losers. Th... moreBattery life has improved both on Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 8 after December update. No issues whatsoever. We will have to wait for Pixel 10 Pro with Tensor based on TSMC 3nm fabrication, so that modem issues will be ironed out completely.

                              Anonymous, 26 Dec 2023P8 is huge loser. - Battery endurance is too low for de... moreAfter December update, battery has improved a lot. 7 hours of SOT easily on Wifi only, which is great for that battery capacity.

                                Anton el papi, 26 Dec 2023the worst phone of 2023 at least at the HW levelExcept Tensor and Modem comes with it, it's super fine. That will get solved next year or next to next year.

                                  The question is, will Google discontinue the Pixel before the 7 years support is up? This is Google we're talking about, they discontinued things randomly every time. 7 years is a long time, and Google doesn't really have a good track record.

                                    Pixel 8 series has to be a loser. 7 years of updates, with snapdragon 8 gen 1 performance, is just a ridiculously bad combination. They can keep that chipset and we won't care, but give 5 years of software updates instead.

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                                      • Anonymous
                                      • THy
                                      • 27 Dec 2023

                                      How can the Pixel 8 be a winner if the phone includes the processor which has been ruled as loser? IMHO, Google is turning into another Microsoft, flooding the market with cheap hardware to keep people in their ecosystem.

                                        Pixel 7a was a winner, but the 8 series are a flop.

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