Not trying to roast, just curious. No headphone jack, low IP67 rating, no wireless charging, no dual camera, no microSD, no features. Even the Essential Phone is starting to look better. Doesn't seem like an upgrade from the previous Pixel, which had a better build quality of metal. It also broke when JerryRigEverything put it through the bend test. Was it because of hype? Or just wanted to try it out?
1. It has a headphone jack - just not one that is dedicated only for headphones. Crazy talk? No, just another changing of the times. Like when everyone had to get those darn 1/4" to 1/8" adapaters so they could use their real headphones on all the new-fangled gear, back in the day. Any old-timers out there know what I'm talking about...
2. Is IP67 going to be functionally lower for you than IP68 would be? Just in case you weren't aware, the only difference is that while the IP67 rating indicates resistance to water is fine for up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1m, the IP68 rating lets you go 0.5m deeper - for no additional time. If you are really planning on using your phone in such a way that would make that difference important, you should probably note that none of the manufacturers warrant against water damage, despite the given IP rating.
3. No wireless charging... That might be something I care about more in a few years when stations are more prevalent in cars, etc, but for now its a frill I don't care about any more than when I had the option with my N6.
4. No dual camera... Let's see... so I use the camera to capture video and pictures, and Google's single camera is widely reviewed as being as good as or better than any dual camera phone out there for the vast majority of camera purposes, and it does so while only having a single functional unit required, where having 2 cameras to remain functional means having 2 sets of equipment that could either fail. Yep, I actually prefer the single camera here. To be fair, if I highly valued telephoto shots, that would be a shortcoming for the Pixels. But I don't.
5. No micro-SD. Haven't had it in ages, haven't needed it in longer. The base 64GB is ample for me, and if it's a choice between gaining removable storage or keeping completely unlimited online storage of all media I capture (which, hey, it actually is the choice), I'll stick with the online storage. Over 30GB used up with my 2016 Pixel, so I'd say I'm well ahead of the game.
6. No features. Err... aside from the fact that there are a variety of physical features that the Pixels have over competitors, the real strength lies in their software features, which is far more important to me now - and will only continue to grow as Google continues to improve upon it over the next few years even for current buyers (or those to whom they sell the device, adding value) while competitors stagnate after getting, if they're lucky, 1 update.
7. Build quality. Unless he's using equipment that applies measured, repeatable force to exact locations on all phones he tests, bending is generally meaningless - not only could he, if he wanted, use more or less force intentionally, he absolutely will do so unintentionally. And the minimum force I've ever perceived him using on any test is far more than any I've ever applied to any of my devices.
8. Hype? Last year's Pixels blew every other Android out of the water in terms of smoothness and just plain functionality. And mine was running as smooth as it did the day I got it when I retired it yesterday. I didn't update based on hype. I updated based on track record.
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