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Google's Pixel 2 To Feature Improved Camera, CPU and Higher Price, Says Report (9to5google.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the what-to-expect dept.

Google's Pixel smartphone was released in October last year, but we're already starting to hear about the "Pixel 2" successor. The "reliable" source told 9to5Google that the next Google flagship will feature an improved camera, faster CPU and higher price tag. Interestingly, the source notes a "budget" Pixel is in the works. 9to5Google reports: We're also now being told, however, that Google is once again focusing intensely on the camera with Pixel 2, that the device is currently being tested with improved chipsets from two different manufacturers, and that it will bring a higher price. Finally, the same source says Google has lately been testing lower-end Pixel devices which would bring lesser specs and a much lower price tag. As for waterproofing, this is a slight change in tone today from this same source that before told us the feature would "definitely" be coming with the next Pixel. Now we're told that the feature is "still on the table," which would suggest a less firm position from Google on the feature. More interestingly, we're now told that -- just like with last year's model -- the Pixel 2's camera will be a major focus for the Mountain View company. Our source says that, specifically, Google is aiming to master low light photography with the next-generation device. We're further told that the phone's camera will "not have large MP size," but will rather "compensate in extra features." Our source says that multiple Pixel 2 models are being tested now with improved chipsets: "some with Snapdragon 83X chips, others with Intel chips." We're also told that MediaTek was at one point collaborating with Google on the Pixel 2, but isn't any longer. Finally, our source has indicated to us that Google is internally testing a "few" prototypes of a device they referred to as "Pixel 2B" which would purportedly be released either "alongside or shortly after Pixel 2." This phone would bring with it a lower-price point and less powerful hardware, and would be "aimed at different markets," our source says. As for the price of the next Pixel, we're told that -- as of the time of this writing at least -- Google is expecting that there will be "eat least" a $50 USD increase in price.

20 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by frovingslosh · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can understanding wanting a better camera and an improved CPU, but why do we want a higher price?

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    1. Re:Why? by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, with respect, you're a nerd, you're not really in touch with what ordinary people want. I'm more with it, and I've been saying for a long time that I'd like to spend more than $600 on a phone. Despite this very few manufacturers are willing to sell phones costing more than that.

      Now, to be fair, most have at least started to add the features I want in a higher end phone - minus, alas, the higher price. I was glad to see Apple eliminate the headphone jack. Samsung's doing sterling work removing SD card slots, and soldering in the battery.

      ...but, I still feel, even these devices have battery lives that are just too high, their apps still too powerful, and they just don't cost enough.

      Does that make sense to you? I mean, would your rather pay $60 for a phone with lots of RAM, lots of storage, an SD card slot, and a couple of SIM card slots, with a battery that lasts all day when you could pay $800 for something that doesn't have all of those unnecessary features that'd just be confusing and are what nerds want anyway?

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  2. Ignoring Customers by Luthair · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So the number one complaint about the pixel was the cost but ignore it for the next generation? I guess its hard to hear people with your head firmly planted in your anus.

    Anecdotally most people I know used to use Google devices, now after two expensive generations no one does.

    1. Re:Ignoring Customers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This. I use to exclusively buy Nexus devices. In my house we still have two Nexus 7 (2012s), which I replaced with three Nexus 7 (2013s, three becauae we added one for my son). All my cell phones have been Nexus devices. I think my Nexus 5X will be my last. For my wifes rreplacement phone we are looking at OnePlus devices since Google clearly forgot what made their devices popular in the first place. They just want to be the next Apple. So my next reasonably priced device will be a OnePlus or Hauwei.

    2. Re:Ignoring Customers by Luthair · · Score: 2

      Interesting claims given Google has not announced sales numbers or claimed that it has outsold previous generations.

    3. Re:Ignoring Customers by Tough+Love · · Score: 2

      It would be bad business for Google to compete with independent vendors for market share. What Google wants to do instead is define the high end with high-res AMOLED, quality build, etc. So the high price is supposed to make you want it but discourage you from buying it. Far better for Google's bottom line to encourage Samsung and the rest to build similar quality devices for a better price. Google sells ads and makes 20 times as much from ads as it does from peddling phones. Knocking Android vendors in the teeth by selling at cost like they did with the original Nexus would not make any sense at all.

      I will cooperate with the master plan and not buy from Google, but more because of the missing SD slot than the price. I resent being strong-armed into Google's "just trust me" cloud zone.

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  3. Re:HIGHER price? by jonyen · · Score: 2

    There is that line that says, "Interestingly, the source notes a 'budget' Pixel is in the works." The higher-end version is probably higher priority as you can take out premium features with relative ease and sell the cheaper version after people have gotten past the initial hype.

  4. Megapixel myth by Is+Don+the+new+Ron · · Score: 2

    We're further told that the phone's camera will "not have large MP size," but will rather "compensate in extra features.

    So long as it's still in the mega-Pixel range I don't mind a drop in the raw resolution. Megapixels are the ocular equivalent of the old megahertz myth, that more is always better. I doubt an ordinary person can tell the difference between a 20 MP and a 12 MP image or even a 5 MP photo posted on their Twitter page.

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    1. Re:Megapixel myth by reboot246 · · Score: 2

      Agreed. I rarely use my phone's camera for taking real photographs. I'd rather use my DSLR with decent glass, better performance at higher ISOs, and more control over aperture and shutter speed. The DSLR even does better video than a phone.

      The phone's camera is handy for times when a real camera is not available and you have to have some kind of shot.

  5. No wireless charging, by Snufu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    no deal.

    1. Re:No wireless charging, by ukoda · · Score: 2

      Agreed, I brought every Nexus phone offered up to the Nexus 6. I refused to downgrade to Nexus 6P or Pixel. If the Pixel 2 is also missing wireless charging the its a deal breaker, no sale. I have yet to see a single new feature on recent phones that would make abandon my wireless device that never needs plugged in for one that needs plugged often.

    2. Re:No wireless charging, by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Remember before Samsung shipped wireless charging as standard they would at least have contacts inside the back case for it, so you could just get a 0.1mm thicker replacement back to enable it? Come on Google, at least give us the option.

      If OnePlus offered it in their phones they would be damn near perfect. Unfortunately no-one offering a pure Android experience also offers wireless charging.

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    3. Re:No wireless charging, by swillden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      no deal.

      Wireless charging is incompatible with metal bodies, and metal bodies are all but necessary for high-end CPU/GPU performance.

      The problem is that when they're working hard fast CPUs and GPUs pump out a lot of heat, and when they got hot they throttle down and performance nosedives. Good performance in occasional bursts is good for some usage patterns, but it's bad for games, bad for heavy camera usage, and bad for benchmarks.

      So in practice, phone performance is all about heat management, and the most effective way to ensure that the chips stay cool is to provide a large heat sink with a large exterior surface area to spread and radiate that heat. Spreading out the heated surface is important or you get hot spots -- potentially very painful hot spots. The Nexus 5X was terrible that way, since basically the only place it could effectively radiate was through the metal ring around the fingerprint scanner, which becomes unpleasantly hot during heavy usage.

      You can't radiate heat through the front of the phone, because it's all glass. The edges can work, and have the advantage that there's often a hand touching them during heavy usage, and the skin on that hand does a good job of carrying away excess heat (skin is liquid cooled, as long as temps don't get too high), but they're small. What works best is an all-metal body, which provides a large heat sink with excellent conduction characteristics and is exposed to air and frequently touched (unless you wrap the body in a big insulating case, of course... but even if you do that it's still a large heat sink).

      And you can't charge wirelessly through a metal body.

      I like wireless charging, but I honestly don't miss it on my Pixel XL. The reason is a combination of three things: good battery life, fast charging and USB C. Good battery life and fast charging mean that I no longer bother to charge my phone at night. I really only charge it in my car, where there's really no place for a wireless charging pad anyway. Fast charging means that if I'm in the car for 40 minutes or so per day, that's all my phone needs to stay charged. USB C's reversible connector also makes a surprising amount of difference. Mini and micro USB connectors, like type A, almost always require at least two attempts to insert correctly. USB C slides right in first time, every time because it's reversible and also somewhat more forgiving of insertion angle.

      Anyway, I don't think you're going to get wireless charging in any high-end phone for at least the next few years.

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    4. Re:No wireless charging, by lexman098 · · Score: 2

      Get this and put it under the case you'll already need to get rid of the camera hump.

  6. Re:Newer by MachineShedFred · · Score: 2

    Thanks to Apple, and their non-refreshes of Mac products and simple storage bumps in devices that are otherwise identical, that has to actually be declared these days.

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  7. Yawn.. smartphones have become mature and boring by guacamole · · Score: 2

    The smartphone gossip at the beginning of each year has become very mundane and boring. Despite being promised a "game changer", We know that every new flagship phone will come with an identical latest gen snapdragon SoC, it will have a large high resolution display, plenty of RAM and storage, and they all will look the same.

  8. They are not listening by markdavis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What I want is seemingly what a lot of people want:

    1) Smaller phone: nope
    2) SD storage: nope
    3) Wireless charging: nope
    4) SD card: nope
    5) Larger battery instead of thinner phone: nope
    6) Lower price: nope
    7) Nexus with no bloatware or lockdown: nope
    8) Removable battery: nope

    Will the Pixel 2 fix any of that?

    But what generally keeps coming out is just larger yet thinner, resolutions ever increasing past what any human can ever see, cameras with more and more resolution that isn't really needed, less serviceable, never enough battery life, never enough storage, more locked down than ever stuff with features added many don't want or care about, but removing features that are useful.... with a huge price tag to boot.

    Pixel? Pass. Nexus 6P? Pass. Nexus 5X? Pass. Nexus 6? Pass. Still clinging to my Nexus 5 and hoping....

  9. Re:Older designs and tiered pricing ... by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Informative

    They can follow the Apple model. Have three tiers of phones at different price levels. The middle tier is basically last year's design, the low tier the design from two years ago.

    They are following the Apple model. In every way except software support. A Pixel gets 24 months of software updates, followed by 12 months after that of pure security updates.

    Granted, 3 years of support is extraordinary for Android (Nexus gets 18 months from end of sale), but compared to iPhones, it's starting to be a bit... short. Apple's software support is somewhat legendary even though in later versions you really just get security updates and it does get bloated down, but Apple seems to provide a good 5 years.

  10. Re:Older designs and tiered pricing ... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

    A Pixel gets 24 months of software updates, followed by 12 months after that of pure security updates.

    That's the minimum. Since the Pixel has only been out since October, you don't know how much support it will continue to get. Based on support for older Nexus devices, it looks likely that they will get feature updates for more than 24 months.

    We need a better way of evaluating Apple's updates too. Sure, technically you can update that old iPhone 5S, but it's going to be so unusably slow they might as well have remote bricked it for you. Not upgrading means no security updates at all, unlike Google who continue to support everything back to 4.0 via Play patches to mitigate issues.

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  11. Re:Older designs and tiered pricing ... by Merk42 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's the minimum. Since the Pixel has only been out since October, you don't know how much support it will continue to get.

    People said the same thing every time a new Nexus came out. Even the Nexus 5, which Google still occasionally uses in promotional material, had its support dropped as soon as the minimum passed.

    Google uses the word minimum to fool you into your line of thinking. "No, this time, it'll be different, with this phone".... right.