starmanAnon thinks about Google
Old Jimmy TwodicksBring back Google Wave, goddammit!
fartsparklesThat thing was killer. I used it throughout university with my classmates to build the best notebook covering all our lectures, tutorials, etc. We had a habit of dropping in polls for distant sections so we could decide which notes were best to keep etc or needed more work, etc.
Docs is so weak in comparison.
ZloubidaI hate Google and try not use it anymore but there’s still one thing I can’t do without : Google Maps.
Have you tried open street maps? I suggest organic street maps for your phone
I can never stick with those alternatives, the traffic conditions feature is simply too good to miss
SanctusI’d be okay with Google dwindling all the way down to just Google Maps.
SturgiesYrFaseI find Waze quite good for traffic conditions. The only thing it always tries to steer me wrong with is that there’s 2 main routes home from work, around the North East of the city, and on the bypass around the West/South of the city. It always wants to take me on the bypass as when I’m at the exit for the other route, traffic is way lighter. However by the time I’m halfway home on the bypass traffic has brought itself to an essential standstill. And there’s no real ways cutting across the city that avoids the high traffic section of the bypass that doesn’t take longer than sitting in traffic. Also…the NE route is at most 15mins longer due to speed limits, but it’s 20ish km shorter.
Surprise! Waze is owned by Google :-(
FUCK.
Well, here’s hoping they don’t kill it like they kill everything good they’ve ever made…
Goddammit
Waze isn’t technically difficult to replace, but it is going to be difficult to replace because the replacement needs critical mass to become useful. There’s no point using it over some other navigation app if people don’t report stuff.
leekleakOrganic Maps are great, however if you’re looking for shops and restaurants (or rather their reviews) Google Maps are second to none.
Facts, Google maps drive mode is also super handy
Drive mode = turn by turn, like the regular get directions and tap to begin navigation?
It’s like the map from an angle without a specific destination. Helpful for showing the surrounding map area.
If you’ve driven a car with a built in map display, it’s basically that but for your phone.
OSM can technically replace Gmaps for shops and restaurants if enough people were using and updating it.
However, Gmaps in unbeatable for public transportation :( no alternative at all
Oh, I’m well aware of that, got almost 100k changes myself over the years, but there are so few cities that have been mapped to the degree to compete with gmaps, that I doubt we ever will reach that level.
Also reviews. I’m not sure if there even is a way to fix that without creating a separate program with a separate ecosystem in the process…
Unfortunately the reviews at GMaps are becoming less and less reliable though, as many businesses begin to have bad reviews removed through lawyers.
I’ve had it happen to a couple of mine, where Google forwarded the request of a law firm to prove I had actually been at a restaurant more than 5 years ago (where I reviewed it with 3*).
Even if you can prove it, most people won’t and in that case the restaurant went from 3.8 stars to 4.6, which is a shame really. It confirms a hunch that just as with Amazon the reviews get a lot less reliable.
Gmaps in unbeatable for public transportation
citymapper
Ooh, nice. Thanks for making me discover it! I would have liked a FOSS alternative, but this is pretty good.
HolyhandgrenadeIn Europe you can usually download an app for the public transit in that specific country/city. However, Google Maps is the only one that will show you how to get to a specific address (not just the train/bus station).
dunzI use Transportr for that. It integrates with the different local metro systems. Works great in Sweden at least🙂
Cool, thanks for the tip!
In Europe at least I had some minor functionality with OSMAnd… but Google beats it out no contest, in terms of speed, accuracy, and being up-to-date… which is depressing but that’s the reality.
it’s the only reason I haven’t stopped using Maps
I have tried using it for a while but a few updates ago the search functionality was kinda messed up (and still is) so I had to switch back to gmaps :(
OSM is great in some places. But outside of the more techy areas, it’s a barren land. I something do my part with streetcomplete, but anyway, it’s not there yet (in most places)
stinermanYeah I contribute to OSM but apps like OsmAnd are a far cry in features from Google Maps. The paths are very much not optimized. If I tell it to go back to my hometown it takes me about 15 minutes out of the way. And I can’t tell it to go to a certain house because the houses aren’t mapped yet.
Should I help map them? Yes. But for your average user that’s not going to work.
OsmAnd blows google maps out of the water in terms of features, but google does better with less. It’s easier to use and it has everyone contributing to traffic analysis without them even realizing.
I tried it but in my area it doesn’t have a lot of places on it. Especially the satellite view being so old it’s hard for me to figure out how to contribute
Like everything else, advertising pressure has ruined it. You can still search, but just zoom in and look over an area to see what is there? So many businesses missing, because they don’t pay Google to advertise. Apple Maps shows them all, because they don’t make money from advertising.
Open Street Maps are ok, but my area has a lot of businesses missing. If you know the address you need to go to, then it’s great for routing.
My personal hobby horse with Google killing things is Reader.
I feel dumb using Google Maps and seeing all the ads. Should’ve known from day one that was the game plan.
Pray Apple keeps their hardware sales up.
SubArcticTundraDocs is good too
That copy & paste block thou, never again for me
Chloé 🥕apple maps works quite well for me
but tbh, between apple and google, it’s really just picking your poison
OSMAnd beats out Google Maps, if you are a trail climber etc. Google’s entries are so lacking, whereas OSM content has near exact coordinates and paths for sooooo many routes.
Pixel phones are a joke? They’ve been the best phones I’ve owned.
K0W4L5K1Yeah I like them the most as well and funnily enough they are the easiest phone to degoogle
SynapseGrapheneOS FTW
Literally the only reason to get a pixel!
You’re wrong. CalyxOS >
candyman337So to name a few issues:
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pixel 1: headphone jack issue so bad they needed to issue a recall, audio would just FULLY stop working, loud speaker as well.
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pixels 2, 3 (and theorized 4 and 5): using cheap ram that literally just died within 3 years. They refused to issue a recall claiming that was “fine for the expected life span of the phone”
Pixels 1-4: if you let them discharge long enough, they don’t charge anymore, ever!
Pixel 4/a and 5/a: lemon units. Bad ram, bad flash storage, things like that. Some would be very slow and others would be fine. My pixel 5a died in 7 months.
During this period of time from the 4 though 6 lines they were notorious for trying to deny your warranty replacement any way they could. It took me 5 months to get a new pixel 5a.
Pixel 6: buzzing coming from loud speakers (not sure if recall issued)
Pixel 6 and 7: first 2 tensor chips, known for draining battery too quickly and overheating.
Pixel 8: OLED issues, I think random likes showing up on the display. They have issue a recall tho.
So in sum:
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In the older pixels there some shitty cost cutting measures they used in order to recoup cost of development of the phones.
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their warranty service around this time was also piss poor
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QC issues with just about ever pixel phone released.
Where we stand today:
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their warranty replacements are much better I’ve heard.
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There are significantly less glaring issue with the pixels, and they’re still reasonably priced
So, back in the day, if you got lucky you got a decent phone for a good proce, if you got unlucky you got a shit phone and they probably wouldn’t replace it. Now, you’ll probably get a good phone, with some semi useful AI features and a decent warranty.
I’m sorry but you could easily find facts like this about every phone company from the past as of now they are great phones but cannot comment on the AI tools because I remove those
The shitty ram thing is especially egregious and was not the industry standard at the time, especially for your flagship phone.
The weird audio issues on multiple devices is also out of the norm.
Current pixel phones are pretty good! But it’s clear that for at least the first 4 gens they had some QC and quality of parts issues.
Na I have a 2XL that I let sit for two years and it still charged fine.
Must be nice, I have a pixel 1, straight up won’t turn on, I have a bunch of stuff that wasn’t backed up on there. The flash chip is fine I just can’t turn it on
As much as like to shit on Apple because of many other reasons, they’ve had fairly few mishaps. Even counting bending phones, “you’re holding it wrong” etc., their track record is still decent compared to the competition.
Yeah but they’ve got their own issues. They’re so anti right to repair and their OS is so much more restrictive. That’s how it is under capitalism, kind of just have to pick your poison :/
I like that Google supplies repair parts straight to iFixit back to the Pixel 2. It would be nice if it didn’t require melting glue to get to half of the components, but hey, baby steps. And the latest models out finally have a decently long support period for security updates.
This and grapheneos were the two big reasons I got a pixel 8 after I broke my 5 on a small drop. The third was I got it for basically perfect condition for $350 on ebay which is so baller.
Yes exactly my point, there are other reasons to sit on Apple, but their phones hardware is pretty good quality. I’ll throw in long software support as well.
You got the Fairphone as an option though, also within the capitalistic system.
Their phone virtual-keyboards enrage me. I just can’t take them any more.
irelephant [he/him]🍭The ai tools are thankfully just an app. I could easily remove it. Unlike google assistant your phone had to be unlocked to do anything basic like pausing music.
audio would just FULLY stop working, loud speaker as well.
Skill issue
You have a visualizer, use your imagination for once come on
My 5a just shut off while I was using it and wouldn’t turn back on one month after warranty period. Google was going to deny a replacement until I bitched that each previous pixel I had had died or became unusable and I was going to move to iphone. They gave me a “one time exception” and sent me a replacement. I traded it for a 7 but if this one dies I’m done.
I can’t speak from experience outside my own issues with my 5a but supposedly they’re better about that stuff now. One reason I’m interested in the 8 is the unlocked bootloader and their smallish form factor. I have a Zenfone 9 RN and I went to put lineageOS only to find out they locked the bootloader down six months after release 😭
Can you not unlock it yourself easily?
I don’t think so, unless I’m missing something
Guess I’ve been lucky 3 phones in a row. And any issues I did have they solved very quickly and easily. Ymmv
Totally true, every word…
Sent from my STILL working Pixel 3XL.
Only maintenance was swapping the battery last year.