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Submitted via IRC for takyon
But it's not just what's outside that matters. When it comes to Google's products, software can not only make up for lackluster hardware, but even give the company's devices an edge over competing gadgets. This year, Google delivered thoughtful software and truly helpful AI that made some of its otherwise mediocre devices surprisingly compelling.
The Pixel 3 is the best example. Physically, the phone is a more premium version of the Pixel 2. It also comes in a really nice "Not Pink" color. But aside from that, nothing about the Pixel 3's design makes me yearn for the phone. In fact, the 3 XL even has one of the biggest screen notches in the market, which some people find hideous. And yet, the Pixel 3s were still one of our favorite phones of the year, and ended up on our best gadgets list.
But if you can stomach the notch, or don't mind using the smaller phone, then boy, will you be blown away by Google's software. Let's start with my favorite -- Call Screening.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 25 2018, @09:09PM (4 children)
I'm getting rid of my smart phone this holiday season. I won't have it by the time we go back to work in January. I have used iOS and Android devices since 2012 and this entire generation of phones has been a huge disappointment. For all of the lacking security, privacy and battery life, all I've gained is mobile browsing without opening a laptop. The next phone is as close to a feature phone as I could get (it's waiting for me to set up once we're back from our trip), and it will carry me over till I can get a 3G or 4G board running on the dumbest microcontroller that will drive it for voice and sms. To be honest, I'd guess I'm about 18 months away from going full Stallman and banning mobile devices from my property altogether - sped up after having to forceably remove daughter-1 from her grandmother's google voice appliance (at least my mum now understands what authentication and authorisation means - some people have to trip and fall before they learn to look ahead).
o I don't need google involved to help me make a phone call.
o My phone doesn't need to tell me my altitude, bearing or heading.
o A web browser is the only app I need, when I choose to access the Internet.
o I don't expect to have to draw curtains and then disable the listening devices to have privacy on private property.
o My data is my own.
If they're heading further down the existing path then they're doing it without my family.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 26 2018, @02:55AM (3 children)
Welcome to a very exclusive club!
When cell phones first became "affordable" I bought one before taking a long trip. Luckily for me, it didn't work very well, had trouble roaming and also accessing the internal phone book. So when I got home I took it back, got full credit for the phone, just paid for the calls I'd made. Haven't owned a mobile phone since then.
I borrow a basic flip phone from my sister on rare occasions when being in contact makes sense (for example, looking after aging parents). For a year or so I used one of the USB-dongle cell modems so I could use a laptop on the road. I'd probably do something similar again if taking a long road trip -- mobile email and web browser would be enough to keep my consulting business alive.
Occasionally, something comes up where having a mobile phone would be helpful, but, if I made it this far (past age 60) without one, I'm probably ok without.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday December 26 2018, @04:42AM (2 children)
Well I guess since we're all bitching and moaning, does anybody want an easy mod point suggesting a recent (<= 2 yr old) smartphone model that is small and yet powerful? I'm talking 5 inches (12.7 cm) length with a little over 2.5 inches (a little over 6.35 cm) in width that doesn't look fucking gay or is grossly underpowered, and with a removable battery?
Heh, trying to Google for that information lead me to a smartphone marketed for seniors and called the "Jitterbug," a double-entendre so condescending it could have only been named by ****. Jewgle already knows I am a racist and have sent that information to Mossad, whose stateside operatives are aware, so I don't care about security. Just a phone I can hold comfortably in one hand and that doesn't look like a big heavy-ass tablet. Any suggestions?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 26 2018, @06:40AM (1 child)
I did my best to find a phone that was no more than 5'1'' and released in last 2 years and nothing turned up. I was fortunate enough that my Mi 5 was still functioning and I am using it with all the care I can, until the day it breaks and then I will get fucking angry.
You are being choosy in a famine.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday December 26 2018, @07:09AM
A famine that features an abundance of devices. Just ones that are good enough, and not the better ones I'm asking for.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MostCynical on Tuesday December 25 2018, @09:33PM (6 children)
so, when your telecommunications infrastructure is so broken you have to screen or whitelist all your calls, the answer is to give more control over your life to a private company?
Pass.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday December 26 2018, @02:40AM (5 children)
I don't see how spam is a symptom of telecom infra problems, any more so than protesters or hustlers (effectively a physical DoS) are a symptom of public sidewalk problems.
I mean, sure, telecoms could block spam, just as we can set up blockades to deter protesters, but I would argue that's not their responsibility.
Note that spam in this case means any undesired calls, not necessarily limited to Viagra marketers and the like.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MostCynical on Wednesday December 26 2018, @02:53AM (4 children)
Phone number spoofing is illegal in other countries
Do no call registers exist in other countries (with penalties for abuse)
Laws that help make phones usable are part of the infrastructure.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday December 26 2018, @04:54AM (1 child)
I'd rather live in a country with inconvenient phone laws that live in one where my house could be firebombed and my family beheaded, and then it would be me to go to jail for having dared criticized it.
Oh, wait. I live in California, I'm doubly fucked.
(Score: 3, Touché) by MostCynical on Wednesday December 26 2018, @05:59AM
Australia [donotcall.gov.au]?
New Zealand [canstarblue.co.nz]?
Not alot of beheadings - or firebombings.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday December 26 2018, @08:03PM (1 child)
Caller ID spoofing is illegal in the US when done maliciously. Do not call exists in the US.
No, I don't consider laws as part of the telecom infrastructure, just like I don't consider the gas tax as part of the US interstate infrastructure.
What was your point, anyway? That laws make fraudsters disappear? I almost wish I were as naive as you, except I want to keep my wallet.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday December 26 2018, @08:17PM
My point was that other countries seem to manage these issues without resorting to pre-screening or whitelisting, or giving large, privacy-hostile companies more access to information.
US laws and methods don't seem to be working (with regard to spoofing, robocalls, etc)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jelizondo on Tuesday December 25 2018, @10:57PM (1 child)
"Hell is other people" wrote Sartre, and in this case, indeed they are.
I have resisted for years getting into the bandwagon, so I have no FB, Twitter or other social media.
However, a couple of weeks ago I accepted a position where I must have Whatsapp to properly fill my role and, I had to install it. Still don't like it, but such is life.
Now for Xmas I went to visit my youngest daughter. Unfamiliar with the area where she lives, I turned to Google Maps and found it quite useful to navigate safely.
So in the end, convenience will kill security and privacy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 26 2018, @03:13PM
did you have to install it on company issued hardware? If you had to install it on your own hardware, why did you accept this violation? Make them give you the cheapest whatever with the leastest data plan to allow whatever app to function if they absolutely require your expertise to be avaialble through it.
there are situations when volunteering my time and hardware was ok when i was also using the tools i prefer. using work provided tools and their hardware yields no real complaints even if I don't like their choices. but my tolerance ends when i am demanded to install things i avoid onto hardware i own in order to save them money.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 25 2018, @11:34PM
How much did en-gag-it have to swallow for this bit off fluff from G?
"Google delivered thoughtful software"
bite me, G is the tool of Wall Street
(Score: 4, Informative) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Wednesday December 26 2018, @12:58AM
That's why their software is "thoughtful" - whatever the hell that means. The software is the trojan horse into your private life: it *has* to be sexy so people desperately want to use it and forget about the corporate surveillance it's really designed to conduct.
Well, they can keep it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday December 26 2018, @01:34AM
Please cease your assault on the English language.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by zeigerpuppy on Wednesday December 26 2018, @01:36AM (1 child)
The other thing that will be blown away by Google software is any semblance of privacy. I'll happily continue to use my Sailfish OS phone coupled to my own cloud services server thanks.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Wednesday December 26 2018, @05:41PM
Meh. This is no different a situation than using credit cards. You get a big bump in ease of use over cash for exposure of personal information. You don't think they sell that, as well as use it themselves? Google doesn't even sell it, and has a pretty good record for data security.
It's a trade. You can live your life just using cash, and you can live your life without Google. If you don't think the trade is worth it, don't use it. There are alternatives as well, each with its own features and anti-features.
I do have to mention that I find it very strange that Microsoft is not being raked over the coals for the privacy nightmare that is Windows these days.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fyngyrz on Wednesday December 26 2018, @04:09AM (4 children)
Raises hand. Also, not just hideous, but also stupid. Form over function, and then some.
<rant>
A phone can benefit from many types of sensors and ports that will do best living on the surface facing the user. Unless you're a complete and utter moron, you won't try to punch a hole in a rectilinear display to make room for them. There's literally, fundamentally, no actual need to do so. None. Zero. Nada. Zip. There are no benefits worth talking about (and no, removing a fraction of an inch of length is not a benefit worth talking about... plus it cuts down on battery space, which is uniformly bad, mmm'kay?)
Unless... unless you have a frustrated interior decorator's soul and just "feel" you must do things differently so people can point at you and say "hey, that's different" (and then go home and laugh about your idiotic choices. And feelings. They probably won't stop there, either. I sure don't.)
Is it a technical challenge to put a camera, etc., in the middle of a display? Sure it is. Is that a reason to inflict it on the users and software developers who will then have to deal with it?
Fuck, no.
</rant>
--
Having cats is like having living art.
That randomly throws up on the floor.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Wednesday December 26 2018, @05:24AM (2 children)
I don't think cats throwing up is all that random. I believe that if one had carpet covering a mere 5% of one's floorspace, one would find that the majority of puke still appeared in that area.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Wednesday December 26 2018, @06:14AM
The sig refers to the timing.
I think it is more about "I just sat down" or "let's eat dinner now", so it only feels random.
--
Life's a beach...
and then you dry.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 26 2018, @11:20AM
Just finished cleaning the carpet in my bedroom. Guess where my cat decided to throw up?
Fortunately, I had the carpet steamer hired for 24h.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Wednesday December 26 2018, @07:17AM
LineageOS. Turn off anything you don't want; limit access of "apps" to anything else on the phone.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by slap on Wednesday December 26 2018, @05:20PM
I absolutely love Night Sight! It enables taking pictures in situations where there isn't enough light for a normal shot, and a flash would be ineffective/inappropriate/create excessive glare.