Pixel 4/XL Reviewers piling on

[Mike Dee]

Flame test is kinda of a joke. He said that himself. But when your phone falls and paint chips, that would suck. Other phones use treated metal. And as far as bending, I think Nexus 6p was also bad and it bent in pockets (everyone was pissed), so it's kinda important for phone to be solid. Probably just a matter of time until we will see those crack in real world. (I could be wrong)
I mean it depends, but Google "Nexus 6p bending", you will get the idea why it's not that great to have weak points there

I think the Pixel 2XL bent as well.... Probably because of the two tone design

 

[strikeIII]

I think the current Pixels are less suited to the enthusiast type that inhabits the forums, etc, and more well suited to the 'everyday' user who wants a phone they don't have to worry about through the day (where the average user only uses 2 1/2 - 3 hours SOT), wants a phone to just do what they want it to do without giving it a lot of thought, takes great pictures, and with which they don't ever feel their security could be compromised. Google nails all of these but the first for the 4, and pretty much has them covered with the 4 XL. Where they fall short with the everyday user is marketing and the generally trained perception that a phone with lesser specs cannot be as enjoyable to use as one with greater specs.

If that's the case, then the price should also be better suited for the "Everyday" user.

 

[Mike Dee]

If that's the case, then the price should also be better suited for the "Everyday" user.

That won't happen unless they continue to lose sales based on cost vs features and then care enough to do something about it.

 

[strikeIII]

That won't happen unless they continue to lose sales based on cost vs features and then care enough to do something about it.

But isn't that what all these reviewers and people who are disappointed with the Pixel 4/XL are saying, that the features you are getting is not worth the asking price? I don't know how much it's affecting their sales but if it does then they need to either drop the price or included more features that the people are looking for in their next flagship.

 

[Mike Dee]

But isn't that what all these reviewers and people who are disappointed with the Pixel 4/XL are saying, that the features you are getting is not worth the asking price? I don't know how much it's affecting their sales but if it does then they need to either drop the price or included more features that the people are looking for in their next flagship.

I'm not in disagreement. I'm just not convinced that Google cares enough about the mobile division to react that quickly to the consumer. The 3 and 3XL had somewhat lackluster sales and we didn't see a drop pre-order pricing or a big improvement in hardware for the 4.

 

[strikeIII]

I'm not in disagreement. I'm just not convinced that Google cares enough about the mobile division to react that quickly to the consumer. The 3 and 3XL had somewhat lackluster sales and we didn't see a drop pre-order pricing or a big improvement in hardware for the 4.

That is true. Hopefully Google will finally listen. Don’t get me wrong I actually enjoy using the Pixel 4, small battery and all, but I didn’t spend my money on it either. If it were me personally buying a device I would’ve definitely looked elsewhere.

 

[Mike Dee]

That is true. Hopefully Google will finally listen. Don’t get me wrong I actually enjoy using the Pixel 4, small battery and all, but I didn’t spend my money on it either. If it were me personally buying a device I would’ve definitely looked elsewhere.

I hear you loud and clear. I'm fully convinced that they have a vision that doesn't include mobile sales being at the forefront of their priorities.

 

[mggm100]

I was thinking about adding a comment in a different thread similar to your "lemmings" comment in this thread. I am sometimes left with the impression that a reviewer felt compelled to mention all the flaws he/she found in other reviews and then add one additional flaw to show they know more than all the others.

Think of reviews of other things. How many movie reviews match your own impression?

Thinking back to when my current Pixel 2 was new, I remember being disappointed with battery life and had to top it off each afternoon. However, over the period of a few weeks, that
issue disappeared. To this day, I still get a full day easily 95% of the time. I wonder how many reviewers pull the trigger prematurely.

 

[Mike Dee]

I was thinking about adding a comment similar to your "lemmings" comment in another thread. I am sometimes left with the impression that a reviewer felt compelled to mention all the flaws he/she found in other reviews and then add one additional flaw to show they know more than all the others.

Think of reviews of other things. How many movie reviews match your own impression?

Thinking back to when my current Pixel 2 was new, I remember being disappointed with battery life and had to top it off each afternoon. However, over the period of a few weeks, that
issue disappeared. To this day, I still get a full day easily 95% of the time. I wonder how many reviewers pull the trigger prematurely.

Who's post are you addressing?

Edit: I think I figured it out.

 

[Golurk]

As several of the above posts have mentioned, it is important to discern several things about a review:

1. Is it reputable or clickbait? YouTube in particular is notorious for hundreds/thousands of reviews which are mostly (not all) clickbait and not worth looking at. Most of us know which sites are reputable and which aren’t (don’t want to seem as if I’m advertising for these sites lol).

2. Is it biased? Reviews will often have a slight bias (usually with wording and final ratings) in favour of one company or another, but this is inevitable. The reviews to avoid are the hypocritical, unapologetically/completely biased ones (great example is BGR and Forbes...the former criticised the 2 XL in every way possible even if it didn’t make sense, for example its round corners).

It’s important to note that just because you disagree with a review (usually when it comes to battery life or how ‘good’ the software is which are both dependent on the user).

3. Is it fair or realistic? The YouTube video posted on this thread isn’t what I would call realistic unless you regularly sit on your phone (inside your back pocket). Most modern phones are built to an acceptable level of durability. The usual sources of damage to phones are scratches/cracks due to them being dropped or water damage (hint: don’t get your phone wet if there is no IP rating)...’tests’ showing phones being dropped from tens of metres high, intentionally snapped/crushed or set on fire aren’t realistic.

As for ‘fair’ tests, reviewers should be more or less consistent in how devices’ performance, cameras and battery lives are reviewed across all reviews.

Hope that helps

 

[cbreze]

Some reviewers are more valuable than others in explaining the pluses and minuses of phones. I take them all with a grain of salt and the real users are what usually drives my choices the most. However one thing for sure that most reviewers are in sync about is the price. If it’s a cost versus value analysis then for me the pixel 4’s are losing it and just not worth the price of admission. Battery, face unlock and the rest is pretty subjective to each individual users preference. But there’s no getting past the big fat price tag they have put on it. I’m guessing sales being poor might generate some big Black Friday savings for those that wait.

 

[mggm100]

Who's post are you addressing?

Edit: I think I figured it out.

It was in response to the OP, but I didn't want to quote the whole thing. I see now that it was not very clear.

 

[joker#AC]

Because we all scratch and bend our phones like that. Sorry... not a fan of destructive testing by Jerry. There may be some value in the bend test for those who sit on their phones but the scratch testing doesn't tell me anything I don't already know or need to know. Oh.... And the flame test... That one kills me.

I would value him more if he did drop tests

Pretty much this