Saying No to Pixel (Premium)

For the first time in over five years, I won’t be purchasing one of Google’s fall handset releases. And no, it’s not because it’s not a real flagship: I really appreciate Pixel’s new direction to the mid-market, and I would be happy to use such a device if it met my needs otherwise. But the Pixels that Google will announce next week—the Pixel 4a 5G and the Pixel 5—most definitely do not meet my needs.

This is a weird era of personal tech uncertainty for me. In addition to figuring out my next smartphone—and looking forward to a future in which that device will have a folding display like the Samsung Z Fold2—I’m also struggling to find a new wearable, which could be a fitness tracker or a smartwatch, for my Fitbit.

Normally, these would be two separate issues, and I will certainly be writing more about my wearable issues later. But they’re also related. In the past week or so I’ve ordered an Apple Watch Series 6 only to later cancel the order … twice. I even ordered a Solo loop in expectation of the Watch’s arrival. Which I’m now returning.

The issue with the Apple Watch, of course, is its exclusivity to Apple’s broader ecosystem. I’m no fan of that lock-in, and that always weighs heavily on me when I think about going in this direction. But it’s a direction I may still go in, we’ll see. If the new iPhones happen to meet my needs, for example, I’d consider betting both an iPhone and an Apple Watch, even though I generally prefer Android, which is more open and doesn’t suffer from Apple’s lock-in issues.

But that’s for another day. Let’s discuss the Pixel.

As you may recall, Google was originally expected to offer a Pixel 4a and 4a XL in May, and it would have announced these devices at Google I/O as it had their predecessors a year earlier. I was a huge fan of the Pixel 3a XL and figured an updated XL with an improved two-lens camera system, a slightly better processor, and more storage would be a no-brainer. But Google canceled I/O because of COVID-19 and then it delayed the release of the Pixel 4a for reasons that have not yet been uncovered. And there was no XL version.

And go figure, I really do like the Pixel 4a. I just wish it had the bigger display and the dual-lens camera that, to me, is the minimum these days for an acceptable smartphone camera rig; a triple-lens system with some form of optical zoom is vastly preferable.

For the Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5, Google is really blurring the lines between its smartphone generations. The Pixel 4a, 4a 5G, and Pixel 5 are all mid-level handsets, which is fine, but it begs the question of why we need all three of them. There isn’t a single XL model between them, either, which is especially troubling given that most people do prefer larger displays. I think selling a small and large version of otherwise identical smartphones is the way to go, similar to what Apple’s been doing for the past few years with its flagship iPhones.

The Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 will, at least, have dual-lens camera systems, and the second lens will be an ultra-wide lens, which his the right choice if you can only have two. Google really screwed up last year by choosing a telephoto lens for the second Pixel 4 and 4 XL camera lens; an ultra-wide lens is more commonly needed and thus preferable. Again, all three lenses would be ideal, but I get that we’re cutting costs here.

When it comes to purchasing a smartphone, I often talk about a matrix of decisions, that there isn’t any one feature that a phone needs but rather some large combination of features. And that this matrix will be different for everyone. Some people like small screens, some like larger displays. Some live and die on camera quality, some literally don’t care. And so on.

My own matrix has evolved over the years and is still evolving this year. I used to very much prefer a fully Google Fi-compatible handset, which was very limiting. But this year I switched to Mint Mobile, which has been both great and much more affordable, and now that’s no longer an issue. Looking ahead, I could see a day in which a folding display will become a requirement. We’ll see.

Pixel—and before that, the Nexus 6P and 5X—dominated in smartphone photography, one of the key things I’m looking for in a smartphone. But those days are long over. By the time the Pixel 3 family arrived in late 2018, Huawei had seized the crown. By late 2019, Apple showed up the iPhone 11 Pro family, offering a major upgrade to its photographic capabilities and catapulting the handsets into the top 3 or 4. And Samsung, which struggled for years to finally deliver a multi-lens camera system with an ideal mix of computation photography capabilities, finally did it this year with the Note 20 Ultra. These are all great choices.

But the Pixel?

Google has used the same main lens on every single Pixel since Pixel 2 arrived in 2017. That means that the Pixel 2, 2 XL, 3, 3 XL, 3a, 3a XL, 4, 4 XL, 4a, 4a 5G, and 5 all have exactly the same camera hardware. All that’s changed is the software, and, starting with the Pixel 4, the addition of a second lens on only some models (4 and 4 XL and, soon, the 4a 5G and 5). So what started out as impressive—oh, how we used to brag about how nice Pixel photos could be with only a single lens—has become sad and outdated. Yes, Pixels can still take great photos. But they’ve been surpassed by so many competitors that they’re not even in the game anymore.

Of course, when you’re talking about handsets that sell for $350 (Pixel 4a) to $600 or $700 (the expected price of the Pixel 5), you need to level-set a bit on expectations. While the Pixel 4/4 XL hardware might have been embarrassingly out of date for a flagship, it’s a bit more acceptable on the lower cost 2020 Pixels. A bit. And I get that.

But the problem is that there are other mid-market handsets that offer better value than the new Pixels. And the one that comes to mind most obviously is the Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition (FE), which retails for $700. The thing is, it’s already on sale for $600 at several retailers. And since Samsung will give me $350 for my Pixel 4 XL on trade, I can get one direct from Samsung for just $350.

Assuming I hear good news about the camera system, that is. Unlike the Pixel 4a/5, the Galaxy S20 FE does have a triple-lens camera system with main (wide), ultra-wide, and telephoto lens. The specs look good on paper, but I need to know for sure before I buy it.

In the meantime, I’ll continue using the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra until Samsung asks for it back. And I will, of course, look forward to the OnePlus 8T and new iPhone launches coming next month. But given my happiness with the Note 20 Ultra, I could see moving further into the Samsung ecosystem. And the Galaxy S20 FE seems like a great choice … for me.

Unlike any Pixel that Google will release this year. Ah well.