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 iPhon...