S9+ Blows Pixel 2 XL Out of the Water!!

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

I got your point. Just think it's wrong. That was my point. I get it though, you think people only buy them because of the logo. They had to do something right to get to that point and stay there. Just my opinion though.

No I don't think they buy it because of the logo

 

[ScottsoNJ]

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[ScottsoNJ]

TBH if I could get the Samsung Hardware with Google's Pixel Software I'd be in heaven. I miss being able to flash the latest AOSP or AOKP ROMs onto the Sammy phones. The S9 Camera was awful to me, my sister has it and posts pictures all the time and they look fine but for a phone that is supposedly revolutionizing the camera it's not impressive. My Pixel 2 XL kills it in every camera aspect except maybe lowlight and definitely slomo. Sammy finally made the software feel speedy with the S9 and I didn't hate their UI as much in this iteration (or the S8 for that matter) but in terms of how I use my phone the Pixel has more checks. The camera is better, I don't care what people say, in my testing the Pixel is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone with their Machine Learning stuff for the camera. The battery on the Pixel 2 XL is also way ahead of Samsung. My S9+ would die around midday, like 2pm or after 8 hours, but my Pixel is usually at 40-50% around then and on weekends I charge it Friday night and Sunday night and it lasts. All other things though Samsung has the Pixel beat. Hardware is much easier on the eyes, screen is WAY better, all of the extra bells and whistles are icing on the cake. Can't go wrong with either but I think if you want the best camera and if battery life matters the Pixel is the best. If you don't care about charging your phone more and taking worse, though still good, pics then get the S9.

I don't know if there was a problem with your battery because I can use my phone pretty heavy and it will last me till I go to bed about 11

 

[tadpoles]

No I don't think they buy it because of the logo

I like my Samsung phones despite the logo

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

I like my Samsung phones despite the logo

What I was trying to get across is that tying total device sales to any one feature that the phone does or doesn't have, doesn't make sense. There isn't an option to buy a S9+ with a plastic back, so we have no idea whether or not that option would outsell the S9+ with a glass back. We buy phones as a package, not based on any one feature (usually). And it'd be impossible to equate everyone's purchases with one feature, even if one person was dumb enough to buy a phone for one feature.

Saying that the glass back is what is making Samsung phones sell like hotcakes is exactly as logically sound as saying it's because of the Samsung logo or because of S-Pay or any other singular feature - which is to say that it has no basis in logic at all.

In fact, we could argue this another way - the best phone sales that Samsung has EVER had occured between Q2 of 2013 through Q1 of 2014. That's the S4 and Note 2. Both of those devices have plastic backs. If we were going to compare features with device sales, then we could say that the featureset of the S4 (and/or Note 2 and/or all the midrange and budget Samsung phones during that 9 month period) is the most highly demanded combination of features for Android, since no Android phones have ever performed better for Samsung than the devices that Samsung had for sale during that period.

This is why we don't compare device sales, in a vacuum, to the desirability of features - because they aren't even correlated, let alone in any way to where you could take the combination of features apart and attribute any increase or decrease in sales to a single feature.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

Plastic phones were continually blasted in reviews.

The public does not read reviews.

People see a plastic phone next to a glass one and I bet 9 out of 10 people pick the glass one.

There's no way to establish whether or not your bet would be valid, because no one is ever given the choice of the exact same phone with only the back material changing.

On the latest podcast they talked about how even though Samsung and Apple phones usually don't have the best battery life, people continue to buy them over phones that have better life.

Correct, because people are not choosing phones based on battery life. In general, most consumers, in the US at least, are buying whichever phone the sales person in the carrier's store tells them to get. But, even if they were making informed decisions, they still are buying a package of features, not picking and choosing which specific features that they want.

You don't have to go with it, but it seems that the majority has spoken.

See the long post above this one for why this isn't a logical conclusion.

My guess is that once they figure out the wireless charging through metal thing, you'll see more metal phones

Wireless charging is not a driver of phone sales either. We've already been through a period of most decent phones being made out of metal, Samsung was almost entirely alone in not participating. The build materials will continue to evolve and go in cycles and much of everything that is thrown out there, as explained in the same podcast, is basically a giant beta test/consumer feedback trial trying to find the set of conditions that are going to be most profitable for the OEM.

 

[neil74]

I don’t think the 2xls build quality is bad vs the s9, infact it feels way more robust and does not scream ‘put a case on me’ like the Samsung does. I do though think it’s design is inferior.

In day to day use though even with the older SD35 it is quicker across the board than the S9 (exynos) honestly it is no contest still.

The quotes below from a recent article kind of explain it. My S9 feels no quicker than the S8 I had before it.

The Exynos 9810’s performance is puzzling. In many workloads it doesn’t provide a significant performance uplift over the Exynos 8895, despite the new SoC packing major architectural changes. To make matters worse, in general the Exynos 9810 model performs no better than most Snapdragon 835 devices released in the past year, and that definitely should not be the case.

 

[Jaycemiskel]

The public does not read reviews.



There's no way to establish whether or not your bet would be valid, because no one is ever given the choice of the exact same phone with only the back material changing.



Correct, because people are not choosing phones based on battery life. In general, most consumers, in the US at least, are buying whichever phone the sales person in the carrier's store tells them to get. But, even if they were making informed decisions, they still are buying a package of features, not picking and choosing which specific features that they want.




See the long post above this one for why this isn't a logical conclusion.



Wireless charging is not a driver of phone sales either. We've already been through a period of most decent phones being made out of metal, Samsung was almost entirely alone in not participating. The build materials will continue to evolve and go in cycles and much of everything that is thrown out there, as explained in the same podcast, is basically a giant beta test/consumer feedback trial trying to find the set of conditions that are going to be most profitable for the OEM.

We clearly have differing opinions, but I'll respond to a few of your points. I know plenty of non tech savvy people (the public) who read reviews. Maybe we hang out with different crowds. I don't think wireless charging drives sales, I didn't say that at all. However, I think Samsung kills other Android oems and they have wireless charging so in order to "keep up" with Samsung, other phone companies go in and copy that "package of features". Samsung is clearly committed to wireless charging so that automatically makes metal backs a no go for them until it's possible to use wireless charging with devices with metal backs. For the companies copying them, it means the same.

Bottom line is, the phones that offer packages of features that offer glass backs outsell whatever phone packages that include metal backs. Why that happens, is up to interpretation.

 

[jeetu4444]

Now days most people sit on forums and reads reviews from current owners and go see the phones personally to decide their purchase....many people see lot of YouTube videos as well...and people who have already had a phone with wireless charger will want to buy their next phone with that feature ...I think water resistant is one feature all PHONES or at least flagship PHONES should have

 

[mustang7757]

Now days most people sit on forums and reads reviews from current owners and go see the phones personally to decide their purchase....many people see lot of YouTube videos as well...and people who have already had a phone with wireless charger will want to buy their next phone with that feature ...I think water resistant is one feature all PHONES or at least flagship PHONES should have

I never go by reviews or what people like
I try to go to the store and have my own hands on .. I remember reading reviews in the beginning the s9 was nothing ground breaking. But when I went and played with it in the store and seen what Samsung did with upgrades made me go for it

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

Most people have no idea what a forum is. Most people have never heard of theverge or Android central or XDA. Most people do exactly zero research prior to going to the carrier store.

 

[jeetu4444]

Most people have no idea what a forum is. Most people have never heard of theverge or Android central or XDA. Most people do exactly zero research prior to going to the carrier store.

Depends on age group u talking about...

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

Depends on age group u talking about...

I don't think it does. The Verge is one of the most popular websites in the world and still has less than 3% of web users that visit it. It is easy for us to think that these types of sites are very popular and that it is normal for people to visit them because we visit them. But the total readership of Android Central represents less than 1% of mobile customers. It is approximatelyy the nerdiest of the smartphone fanatics mixed in with a couple of people, mostly on the ask a question side of things, who stumble across this site while trying to Google a solution to a problem on their phone and they asked a question and then never return to read the answer. The entire growth of tech blog industry can be explained by more consumers being added because more markets are being added to web traffic in general, but there's very little organic growth and most of the sites like this are losing readers not gaining them. The biggest growing segment of tech blogs and whatnot is on YouTube, where the sites that we could all name that we might frequent for information are among the vast minority of trafficked channels. The kinds of things that are talked about on Tech blogs are simply unimportant to the vast majority of consumers.

 

[bluegreen1965]

I have been lucky enough to use both of them recently. I was new to both lines. There are things that I love about both and they are both amazingly fast. If you like punchy colors the S9+ will not disappoint. The squeezy sides of the Pixel are so handy for Google assistant and so well integrated; when I use the S9+ I really miss that feature. The Samsung features are pretty cool, but AR emoji needs work. I think in the very very very end, I would probably pick the S9+ over the Pixel, but the margin is so small. They are both fantastic phones.

 

[jerrycau123]

The pixel lacks in many areas!... I can't imagine a person paying a 1,000 dollars for the Pixel Xl, just for the camera! Way overpriced!..

 

[Umbrokhan]

yeah Google Pixel is overpriced. more like barebones
price would have been acceptable if Google give 5 years update, Google local store, extra software and hardware features. and had a better ecosystem.

Samsung price seem's good because it's overloaded with features, and best hardware. even you don't use all the features it feel's good to have them. plus it's easy to get a bargain on Samsung phone's on Ebay and Gumtree. also easy to re-sell.

yeah Tech YouTuber's, Tech web sites will try they very best to convince people to buy Google Pixel 3. yeah i get it you want fast updates, you want stock Android, you want boring phone. but when you have OnePlus 6 with near stock Android then you have to ask the question is Pixel worth it?

 

[mustang7757]

The pixel lacks in many areas!... I can't imagine a person paying a 1,000 dollars for the Pixel Xl, just for the camera! Way overpriced!..

I paid 600.00 brand new in the box, now that's a steal

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

yeah Google Pixel is overpriced. more like barebones
price would have been acceptable if Google give 5 years update, Google local store, extra software and hardware features. and had a better ecosystem.

Why would those be the expectations for Google, yet not be the expectation for any other OEM? The Pixels are priced and spec'd out exactly in line with their direct peers. For the first year they even copied their pricing structure directly from the most comparable phone.

but when you have OnePlus 6 with near stock Android then you have to ask the question is Pixel worth it?

How would the OnePlus 6 have any relevance to the Pixel line? The Pixels are MUCH better devices, with MUCH better hardware, software and security.

The OnePlus phones are NOT stock or near stock, they're nothing even remotely like stock. They run a completely different Android based OS, they do not get consistent security updates, they do not get quick major version updates, they don't compete on camera, they don't work for over 50% of US consumers on their carriers of choice, they have consistently taken shortcuts on hardware, etc - their entire game is playing up a spec sheet, as if the numbers were all that matter (Apple and Google have both consistently proven that the numbers are NOT the tale of the tape) and catering to the ultranerds that live at XDA and will settle for a weak device because they plan on modifying it anyways.

This isn't even apples and oranges, this is like apples and bicycles.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

The pixel lacks in many areas!... I can't imagine a person paying a 1,000 dollars for the Pixel Xl, just for the camera! Way overpriced!..

What about for the camera, the best software in the business, the best security in the business, the only OEM that isn't selling your user data (other than Apple), the fastest and longest Android update schedule, support of the latest and greatest products earliest, better day to day performance than most of their peers, more onboard storage, better battery life than most of their peers, a body that's less likely to shatter, etc? There's a whole lot to love about the S9+, but there's a whole lot to love about the Pixel 2 XL as well.

As I said earlier, it really depends on what your priorities are to say which is best for any single person, but it is completely unfounded to say one blows the other out of the water. They have MUCH more in common than the things they differ on.

 

[strikeIII]

I carry all three flagships today (S9+, Pixel 2 XL & iPhone X). For my needs Samsung will always be my primary device because I like Samsung Pay, better integration with the Gear S3, Secure Folder and few other little things. To me even the Note 8 still takes better photos than the S9+. S9+ really had the potential to have the best camera but Samsung dropped the ball with it's processing and I hope it gets fixes with the next update, which I'm hoping is the reason for the longer delay than usual. The Pixel is a great device still the smoothest and best camera of them all. Bottom line is get which ever works best for your needs. After this week I was going to switch back to my N8 because of the camera issues but since I'm carrying around the Pixel 2 XL with me I'll just use that for shots I want with better quality.

IMO, the Pixel 2 XL is definitely worth it's asking price as it gives you the flagship specs and performance but just a different experience from their competitors. That's the beauty of loving Android is we have more to choose from.