Thoughts about pixel 5

[eric002]

Honestly, I'd like to see the same things. Google, bring back unlimited Google photos cloud backup! As far as the hardware, even though the pixels are a niche phone the next pixel I would like for it to have 5G but that means the network infrastructure has to be ready for 5G.

https://www.droid-life.com/2020/02/06/what-i-need-to-see-from-the-pixel-5/

 

[Rukbat]

The phone can have 5G even if there are no 5G networks.

As far as the list in that article, these are some things I am/may be interested in:

• Latest available Snapdragon processor
• 8GB+ RAM
• plenty of stabilization tech (although the OIS is already pretty good)
  • Please include a wide-angle lens (or a true zoom lens - if the industry could produce the Westphalian zoom in the 70s [50s?] it can produce a small, thin, 6X or better zoom lens today 30mm-180mm [35mm-equivalent] would be good, 25mm-250mm or 20mm-200mm would be better)
  • 4K at 60fps video recording
• Fingerprint reader (the one on the 2 worked fine)
• 128GB base storage (with an external SD card, 64GB base is still fine - how many humongous games do you want installed?)
• Iris unlock (face unlock, even 3D face unlock, can still be fooled, iris unlock is a lot more difficult)
• Stereo speakers
• Fast, non-proprietary wireless charging (PD is non-proprietary - faster than 1C charging can result in a Note 7 bomb)
• Bigger batteries!!!!!
• Bring back an external SD card.

Don't care about:

• 90Hz+ display that you don’t have to “force on” (that's just defaulting the "force on" to "on" and removing the choice - not good for someone who doesn't want it, and wants to preserve battery)
• Multiple rear cameras (not needed if you have a good zoom with good glass and a good sensor)
• Unlimited Google Photos storage (I already have 3 backups in addition to Google Photos)
• Face Unlock is good, feel free to keep
• More, better color options

 

[eric002]

I must say that I do agree. I don't need a wide angle lens. Telephoto is fine. As far as the RAM, I'm fine with my 4 gigs I am but six gigs ain't hurt anything either. Just put up unlimited Google photos cloud backup back in place. That's why I'm so happy with my Pixel 3 XL still.

 

[PackersOwner1]

Seems that a Pixel 5 without 5G would be a seriously missed marketing opportunity. The so-called "millimeter wave" band will never be more than a gimmick, because of hard limits on propagation and the prohibitive cost of running high speed fiber backhaul to support more than a few scattered hotspots. So forget about the high band, or make a vendor-specific model that they can sell locked. I'd rather buy an unlocked phone straight from Google that has excellent low and mid-band 5G capability, no high band at all and a price tag under $1000. A name like "Pixel 5G" seems corny to me, so I'm sure that AT&T or Verizon would love to sell that to their customers.

As much as I'd like removable storage (and battery), I'd be willing to do without if the phone was waterproof (and if the non-removable battery was significantly larger on the XL). I already own still and video cameras with optics that will always beat out a skinny cellphone, so I don't need anything more than an adequate camera. I got a pocket camera with a pop-out zoom lens, and while it's a neat feature for a pocket camera, I wouldn't want that sort of fragility in my phone. Put in a dozen fixed focal length lenses if it makes people happy, just don't make the device too fragile to take places.

A fingerprint reader right where I now expect it would be ideal. Facial recognition (like putting my DNA on file when I'm not a criminal) is too "Nineteen Eighty-Four" for me.

A back made from anything but glass would be a nice change. I liked the choice of backs on the Droid Turbo 2, if Google offered something similar, I'd like that. If Google offered trick snap-in (or magnetic) backs that did double duty as a protective case, and allowed access to micro SD card & removable battery, I'd be over the moon!

 

[Morty2264]

An in-display fingerprint scanner is on the top of my list; then a smaller version (keeping in line with the Pixel 2 line); and perhaps a bigger battery.

 

[Rukbat]

The so-called "millimeter wave" band will never be more than a gimmick

That's what they said about 400MHz back when I was starting out in the commercial two-way field. One day, everything will be mm (or higher frequency) signalling, but a) I probably won't live to see it (I'm 77) and b) no one will want an "old" Pixel 5 by then.

As much as I'd like removable storage (and battery)

I forgot that one. A removable battery is better than a larger one (unless they double the capacity) because I can always carry a fully charged spare without taking up much space at all.

An in-display fingerprint scanner is on the top of my list

That makes using your thumb easy, Morty - but it makes using other fingers a bit clumsy. Grabbing the phone and sticking an index finger on the scanner is natural - if the scanner is on the back. You really should have 2 well-separated fingers on each hand registered. (A cast covering your fingertips makes all the fingerprints on that hand useless. A broken finger or two means that the other end of your hand has to be used [or your other hand].)

 

[Morty2264]

That's what they said about 400MHz back when I was starting out in the commercial two-way field. One day, everything will be mm (or higher frequency) signalling, but a) I probably won't live to see it (I'm 77) and b) no one will want an "old" Pixel 5 by then.

I forgot that one. A removable battery is better than a larger one (unless they double the capacity) because I can always carry a fully charged spare without taking up much space at all.

That makes using your thumb easy, Morty - but it makes using other fingers a bit clumsy. Grabbing the phone and sticking an index finger on the scanner is natural - if the scanner is on the back. You really should have 2 well-separated fingers on each hand registered. (A cast covering your fingertips makes all the fingerprints on that hand useless. A broken finger or two means that the other end of your hand has to be used [or your other hand].)

You have a point! I just registered my index fingers on my S10. But I remember how easy it was to unlock my Pixel 2 with just a swift movement of my index finger.

Perhaps I'll revise my previous statement: if it had a fingerprint scanner or in-display fingerprint reader, I'd be game. I just think not having fingerprint biometrics in some form or another would be a huge dealbreaker for me.

 

[Laura Knotek]

You have a point! I just registered my index fingers on my S10. But I remember how easy it was to unlock my Pixel 2 with just a swift movement of my index finger.

Perhaps I'll revise my previous statement: if it had a fingerprint scanner or in-display fingerprint reader, I'd be game. I just think not having fingerprint biometrics in some form or another would be a huge dealbreaker for me.

I registered both index fingers and both thumbs on my S10+.

 

[mustang7757]

I registered both index fingers and both thumbs on my S10+.

Same here

 

[Rukbat]

You have a point! I just registered my index fingers on my S10. But I remember how easy it was to unlock my Pixel 2 with just a swift movement of my index finger.

You barely have to touch the scanner. But try it with an unregistered finger, and a hammer is easier (if more destructive).

I just think not having fingerprint biometrics in some form or another would be a huge dealbreaker for me.

The only reason I bought my Pixel 2 was to have a fingerprint scanner (the old Note 3 was doing fine, but I needed the security for a couple of apps). No fingerprint or real iris scanner, and I'd have no actual use for the phone. (Even TOF facial recognition is too easy to fake. Not that faking a fingerprint scanner is that difficult - none of them take ridge details into account, just ridges. But until we get real iris scanners in phones [they exist, just not in phones], fingerprint scanners are the best we've got.)

 

[PackersOwner1]

That's what they said about 400MHz back when I was starting out in the commercial two-way field. One day, everything will be mm (or higher frequency) signalling, but a) I probably won't live to see it (I'm 77) and b) no one will want an "old" Pixel 5 by then.

There's a big difference between the state of the art of technology that tends to progress over time, and the hard limits of the physical world that do not change. If "they" claimed in the '50s or '60s that LMR radio at 400 MHz was an unworkable thing, "they" were simply misinformed, unaware that the US and UK had been using UHF for radar as early as 1940. The frequencies around 400 MHz were assigned for federal government use in 1945, and Citizens Band Class A was assigned in 1948 at frequencies between 460 and 470 MHz. By the time I got involved in such things in the '70s, that band was in use by metro police, with the 470 MHz "T band" used by suburban police. Civilian LMR in the 450 MHz band is also popular, my dad's company had a license there in the 1970s, and one of the TV production companies that I provide engineering services to uses the same band nearly a half-century later.

The reason why LMR will not keep marching to higher and higher frequencies for no good reason is because technology cannot break the laws of physics. The reason why many LMR users moved to UHF frequencies was because the steel frame construction of buildings in urban areas acted as (at least partial) Faraday cages to longer wavelengths. Once you reach a wavelength that penetrates, your problem is solved. The propagation problems of the Ka band are physical limits that cannot be "fixed" or "go away one day." Precipitation, humidity and even the air that we breathe significantly attenuate mmWave frequencies. They will never penetrate into even the flimsiest buildings. That means that this band will never be able to use for normal phone communication like the lower frequency bands are.

I remember my early AMPS portable phones, and having to go outside to make a call because cell towers were few and far between back then. That was over 30 years ago. Today most people don't realize that phones use radios to connect to the outside world They expect their phones to work indoors and out, and don't care how it works. Nor am I going to put up with the things I did as an early adopter 30 years ago. Nobody will put up with cellular service that only works outdoors, and only in clear weather, even if cellular providers blanketed the face of the earth with microcells, which would cost a fortune and drive the price of mmWave service to stratospheric levels. Every technological fix is really costly, that doesn't bode well.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I want video with decent quality and no noise. My Pixel 4XL has pretty awful video quality.

 

[eric002]

Last night I visited a local Verizon store to play with Pixel 4. Honestly, there's nothing that would make me want to buy it over my 3XL. It even feels pretty much the same as my phone. And for a thousand bucks no thank you.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Last night I visited a local Verizon store to play with Pixel 4. Honestly, there's nothing that would make me want to buy it over my 3XL. It even feels pretty much the same as my phone. And for a thousand bucks no thank you.

There wasn't much to upgrade to the 3XL from the 2XL either. I think there are more benefits every 2-3 years of upgrading over upgrading every single year.

 

[eric002]

There wasn't much to upgrade to the 3XL from the 2XL either. I think there are more benefits every 2-3 years of upgrading over upgrading every single year.

Yeah, I'd have to completely agree. I mean for a thousand bucks, doesn't seem like it worthwhile upgrade.

 

[Morty2264]

You barely have to touch the scanner. But try it with an unregistered finger, and a hammer is easier (if more destructive).

The only reason I bought my Pixel 2 was to have a fingerprint scanner (the old Note 3 was doing fine, but I needed the security for a couple of apps). No fingerprint or real iris scanner, and I'd have no actual use for the phone. (Even TOF facial recognition is too easy to fake. Not that faking a fingerprint scanner is that difficult - none of them take ridge details into account, just ridges. But until we get real iris scanners in phones [they exist, just not in phones], fingerprint scanners are the best we've got.)

Yes, it was so easy. It was almost seamless. And admittedly, it's pretty easy on my S10. But my finger still reaches for the back of the phone to unlock it, as it used to on my Pixel 2.

I agree that fingerprint scanners are the securest option we have right now. It will be interesting when that iris tech comes to phones though! I may have to acclimate.

 

[j_hansen]

I would love to see Google put the effort in and make the Pixel a flagship again, put it on steroids and mix with Galaxy Note and S, top spec iPhone, best Huawei etc..

 

[Matthew Iannacone]

5G
Huge battery - like 4000 or larger
Unlimited photo storage again
8gig RAM
128 gig storage to start
Stay consistent with camera software. Keep it the best.

 

[cowboys2000]

Battery Life. Stop sacrificing battery life for size and smaller bezels.
More onboard storage as standard. 64GB Bas storage in 2020 isn't gonna cut it for a $1,000. Especially when the OS takes up some of that space.
128GB Standard with options of 256 and maybe 512 because some people do keep a lot of data on their mobile devices.

 

[skaneria007]

My list, first priority to last:

1) Better microphones (speakerphone quality has been a huge issue for me on Pixel 3)
2) Bring back the fingerprint in some way
3) Brighter display
4) Bigger battery
5) Wide angle camera
6) Either reduce price or increase features (soli is a great concept, though Google has yet to realize it's full potential)
7) 4k 60p recording
8) 128gb/8gb base config and/or 5G support (both not necessary yet)

This wishlist is based on what I found to be lacking in the pixel 3 xl (which I currently use) and pixel 4 xl. If Google implements at least half of these improvements on Pixel 5, I'll consider upgrading. Although I highly doubt it's gonna happen, lol.