GRcade

My Nexus 5x actually seems to be running pretty well, even with Oreo.

No one interested in these new Pixel phones then? They have squeezable sides and no headphone jack.

massimo wrote:No one interested in these new Pixel phones then? They have squeezable sides and no headphone jack.

strawberry float that shite.

massimo wrote:No one interested in these new Pixel phones then? They have squeezable sides and no headphone jack.

They just seem very samey plus availability is limited and they are very pricey even by flagship standards. I have a Nexus 6p and I'm more likely to wait for the next Galaxy phone than go out of my way to secure a Pixel 2XL.
The Pixel Buds earphones and that translation demo was the closest thing the conference had to a wow moment for me.

Thank strawberry float it has front facing speakers.

I hate the way phones (mostly Samsung and Apple) are moving towards form over function, and thank god someone 'big' is bucking the trend somewhat. I want bezels on my phone, otherwise you end up hitting the screen by accident. I'll happily sacrifice some real estate for speakers better than the tinny bottom firing pieces of gooseberry fool on most phones. The fingerprint sensor on the back is literally the best place to have it, but of course Apple will do away with it altogether rather than admit someone else did something better.

Too bad it's missing the headphone jack. I wouldn't be buying it anyway (my 6P is still perfect), but that's pretty annoying. Also the price. Eye watering.

I ahve the s8+ and can't say I've got the screen by accident once, it just doesn't happen unless you are holding your phone in a very odd way.
Speakers don't bother me as I very very rarely have my phone volume up, and I've been exclusivity Bluetooth for headphones for a long time because it is better than having bloody wires trailing.

That said the pixel 2 doesn't look worth it, and the screen estate wastage on the non XL seems excessive, why is it not just a smaller version of the XL!

Lagamorph wrote:

massimo wrote:No one interested in these new Pixel phones then? They have squeezable sides and no headphone jack.

strawberry float that shite.

I bought the Mi6 which has no headphone jack. I thought that it wouldn't really be an issue, you can just use the attached dongle and it's really been made out to be something it isn't.

Well bollocks to that. It's a total pain in the arse, I'm always hunting high and low for the damn thing and the sound quality is absolutely dreadful. I won't make that mistake again.

Bluetooth headphones are the future. I bought a pair of Bose Soundsport last week and I'm a convert.

I don't want to charge my headphones, and I don't want to have to fiddle with whether my phone is bluetoothed to my car or my headphones.

And sometimes I want to use headphones at the same time as charging my phone, like when I'm listening to YouTube at work and the battery is running low.

Winckle wrote:I don't want to charge my headphones, and I don't want to have to fiddle with whether my phone is bluetoothed to my car or my headphones.

This.

I can't see any personal benefit to Bluetooth headphones. If I'm using headphones, my phone will always be either on my desk or in my pocket.

Lagamorph wrote:And sometimes I want to use headphones at the same time as charging my phone, like when I'm listening to YouTube at work and the battery is running low.

You can't use Bluetooth headphones at the same time as charging your phone?

Lets not forget the bluetooth vulnerability in the last 3 weeks that allowed remote access to your device.

The real benefit of Bluetooth headphones is to the manufacturer, you will inevitably lose one.

Lagamorph wrote:

massimo wrote:No one interested in these new Pixel phones then? They have squeezable sides and no headphone jack.

strawberry float that shite.

Loving this after the pot shots Google were taking at Apple last year in their Pixel ads Not being that many hot takes everywhere either.

Bluetooth headphones are ace. Got a pair at Christmas and wondered why I'd waited so long to get some. Only takes one touch to select which Bluetooth device you want to switch to and they've got a 7-8 hour battery life with a quick charge thing that gives you 2 hours from a 5 minute charge.

I'm sure Bluetooth headphones are the eventual future and stuff like the Pixel Buds show why but I don't think any manufacturer has yet shown a great reason for getting rid of the standard headphone jack right now. Google, Motorola and Apple have all had a crack at it but it's a move that currently feels like their bottom line is being prioritised over what the consumer wants. That obviously happens all the time in product development but it feels a bit too obvious here.



On a side note it looks like Razer might unveil their phone, essentially an updated Nextbit Robin, before the end of the year. The Robin was a generally well received phone so I'm hoping we just end up with an updated version of that and not something that's been overly Razerfied.

Knoyleo wrote:

Winckle wrote:I don't want to charge my headphones, and I don't want to have to fiddle with whether my phone is bluetoothed to my car or my headphones.

This.

I can't see any personal benefit to Bluetooth headphones. If I'm using headphones, my phone will always be either on my desk or in my pocket.

Lagamorph wrote:And sometimes I want to use headphones at the same time as charging my phone, like when I'm listening to YouTube at work and the battery is running low.

You can't use Bluetooth headphones at the same time as charging your phone?

I don't want to use Bluetooth headphones. What I mean is that I can't charge my phone at the same time as using some stupid adapter that lets me plug headphones in.

Can you even use Bluetooth headphones on a plane?

Like many have pointed out the technology just isn't there yet to be removing headphone jacks. Wireless charging needs to be ubiquitous and fast. Bluetooth earphones need to be cheaper and looks less ugly, and have batteries that last ages. There needs to be some better solution for pairing between multiple devices.

Add to that I like being tethered to my phone, so if I'm for example on a train with my eyes shut listening to music, no one can swipe my phone off the table without me knowing.

smurphy wrote:Like many have pointed out the technology just isn't there yet to be removing headphone jacks. Wireless charging needs to be ubiquitous and fast. Bluetooth earphones need to be cheaper and looks less ugly, and have batteries that last ages. There needs to be some better solution for pairing between multiple devices.

The new Beats range has the pairing thing sorted, pair with one device and it's automatically paired with every other device on the same iCloud account. 40 hour battery life in the Solo 3 ones too

It's like someone made a bot that learned to write from my post history....

Great post John. Can tell us what phone you using? Sounds like it work very well! I want to buy one!

I'm looking at a sim-free budget phone to tide me over after finishing my iPhone contract in Japan and being undecided as to what I'll be doing in August next year (monthly phone contracts here are always two years).

I was looking at the Moto G5 range after seeing some recent reviews say it was the best budget phone on the market. Specifically the Moto G5 (which I can get for £134), the G5 Plus (£208) or the G5S Plus (£270).

Does anyone have any of them? I'm using an iPhone 5S at the moment so I'm well behind the technological curve. Ideally the phone would be futureproofed to the point where, regardless of what I do next year, I would immediately want to upgrade. Though obviously I'm going to be more forgiving of upgrading a £134 phone in the next year or so than a £270. I'm wondering how long all three would remain decent options.

And if the different in RAM and processing speed across the three will make any noticeable difference if I'm not a massive phone buff or always up to date with the technology.