Pixel 3a - Hackdot

Re:Pixel 3a by linguae on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @04:42PM (#19853262)

Same here. I ended up buying an iPhone SE two years ago to replace my Nexus 5 because I did not want to spend $650 for a Pixel phone. While unfortunately it would be difficult for me to switch back to Android since I have an Apple Watch that I love using, I am very happy that Google has decided to return to the Nexus-style price point. I loved my Nexus 5, including its stock Android and its two years of updates from Google.

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Re:Pixel 3a by dmos62 on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @05:02PM (#19853426)

> it would be difficult for me to switch back to Android since I have an Apple Watch that I love

Vendor ecosystem lock-in triumphs again.

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Re:Pixel 3a by sethhochberg on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @05:16PM (#19853518)

I'll be honest though, for a long time I resisted the Apple ecosystem because I used linux heavily and was an early adopter of Android... but in the general non-running smartwatch world, the competition from Android Wear is bleak. Pebble stood a chance, but we all know how that ended up.

It felt a little weird paying more for my Apple Watch than I did the iPhone SE it is paired with, but I've grown to really love them both. Sometimes the lockin enables cool stuff.

They can pry my iPhone SE from my cold, dead hands though. I could suffer through buying a nice Bluetooth adapter for my custom IEMs if I had to, but I won't get a phone that can't physically fit into a pocket - and I own pants that can't fit an iPhone X sized device.

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Re:Pixel 3a by int_19h on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @05:28PM (#19853613)

I don't think it enables cool stuff. There's no reason why it has to be tied to be good. But if it is good, there's no reason for Apple not to tie them to squeeze the most out of it.

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Re:Pixel 3a by sethhochberg on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @05:32PM (#19853655)

Well, lets look at Bluetooth itself as an example - an open standard that tries to enable cool stuff, but which is widely loathed as unreliable and a mess to develop for because all of the vendors got involved and tried to add their own special use cases / protocol variations / etc...

I'm not saying a closed ecosystem is somehow "right" by design, but Apple's proprietary augmentation of Bluetooth sure makes me forget that the watch is using it to talk to my phone or laptop. Maybe its less that closed ecosystems enable cool stuff and more that end-to-end control makes it easier to ensure your cool stuff works properly most of the time.

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Re:Pixel 3a by dmos62 on Wednesday May 08, 2019 @10:05AM (#19858892)

> closed ecosystems

Closed ecosystems make money very directly by locking in the customer. The vendors will invest heavily in it and it will pay off, hence the "proprietary augmentation of Bluetooth sure makes me forget that the watch is using it". They will not share the tech, by working on an open standards or open tech, because that way the competition profits as well. This is just greed, anti-competitive market abuse, it's not more complicated than that.

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Re:Pixel 3a by DennisAleynikov on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @06:55PM (#19854206)

not once have I noticed my samsung watch using bluetooth, it connects magically when its near the phone and disconnects when you leave it. Doesn't even matter what phone you use, you could get an iphone. Can't speak for android wear but bluetooth is a pretty invisible protocol, especially when it comes to wearables.

apple does absolutely nothing to make bluetooth invisible and force you to pair it using an iphone based app just like any smart "thing" including apple watch, fitbit, etc.

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Re:Pixel 3a by int_19h on Wednesday May 08, 2019 @04:04PM (#19862355)

I think this is more a case of design-by-committee going haywire. It's orthogonal to whether the protocol itself is open or closed, though.

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