I got Pixel Pass with the Pixel 6 when it released. It’s moronic that they didn’t even keep the program around long enough for people to use its main benefit.
First of all, this is good. Secondly, clearly the tech bro writing this seems to have mixed up governing bodies. The reason why the EU is taking on the tech bullshit is because the people making the moves actually are young enough to understand the problems while old enough to care.
That said, there have certainly been implementation issues such as ignoring illegal cookie banners to this day without bringing down the hammer. The site with the story served up a rare compliant one, but most consent forms do not live up to the rules and it has gone on for too long. Still, they are moving in the right direction most of the time.
Them complaining about their ad revenue dropping is cringy as fuck. Maybe if they didn't make their ads so egregious that users went looking through settings to turn them off, it wouldn't drop so much.
Never thought of seeing a piece supporting ads and decrying EU strict privacy rules (which aren’t that strict, mostly just common sense). on the fediverse but there’s a first for everything I guess.
At least as far as poo-pooing EU legislation, I've seen a decent amount of it on here and have even participated. Problem is that the Europeans don't tend to be able to handle much criticism and will dogpile anyone who brings up any concerns, valid or invalid.
That’s really scummy. A lot ofnpeopke have been paying $45 a month ans been told they woukd get a new phone at the end of it. Now they just change their mind? How is that not breach of contract? Looks like a class action is needed here!
from reading the comments, it sounds like the pixel pass bundle was just a convenient way to bundle, paying for the device as well as other Google services. It wasn’t an upgrade program. At the end of two years, you still would have to buy a new phone if you wanted to upgrade.
from the description, it originally sounded to me like you paid a little extra every month to get a free upgrade every two years, and presumably you would have to trade in the old device. that’s apparently not the case. The stuff about being on the newest pixel device every two years was apparently telling you that after two years, you could buy a new bundle, linking your phone payment and other Google services. The benefit seems like it was very dubious to begin with- basically just a promise that you could buy a new pixel phone a google service bundle after you pay off the first one.
from what I’m understanding about the announcement, people who have purchased a pixel pass, will continue paying the same price for their bundle until the phone is payed off, but once the phone is payed off the promise of being able to do it again is broken. They can still buy a new phone, but they can't bundle the payment with Google services. So, at the very least, they did break their promise. But they probably can't be sued for much of anything since there wasn't a free upgrade being offered down the road, the promise was just, if you buy this today, you can buy it again later. No discount or special deal for buying it later, everyone who would have bought a pixel pass for the pixel 8 had it been offered would pay the same price, regardless of whether they purchased a pixel pass previously. so that promise has very little monetary value since pixel pass owners weren’t accruing any future benefit with respect to upgrading.
Wow I didn't realize it didn't. That's really too bad, cables are (mostly) forever and exorbitantly cheaper than wireless counterparts.
I finally caved and got some Sony Linkbuds a little over a year ago, and recently the Linkbuds S. Overall it's the tradeoff between music all the time and having no cable, so I was able to make it work, but the last couple months the first pairs left bud have started dying very quickly and not charging. So some $150+ (at the time) earbuds died in a little over a year outside of warranty.
My Sony EX-450 H has lasted me since 2019 and they're only just now starting to give me small issues when the cable moves because I'd slept with them for the last couple years. They were $65 at the time.
I just don't understand how Bluetooth got so popular other than marketing/branding from beats. The slight convenience of not having a cable hasn't outweighed losing listening time nor the poor longevity. The biggest plus to the Linkbuds was the whole concept for why I bought them, as at the time I wanted to listen to music but still needed to hear things around me easily. They were great for that, but now they die too quick and don't charge so... That's cool.
I have to say, I missed the headphones jack until I got a portable DAC. Holy fuck, it sounds so much better than any headphone jack I've ever used, plus I can use it on my computer.
They're definitely nice. It doesn't help that most internal DACs for phones are pretty terrible.
A good DAC in a phone is pretty comparable though. The Sony Xperia DAC is pretty good, especially compared to bluetooths limitations. Though most portable DACs are probably as good or better, with the benefit of using it for more devices or extra volume control.
I think it's one of those converging aspects that leads to where we are today. Phone DACs weren't great, headphones jacks were pushed as bulky for not the best sound quality, then phone DACs aren't pushed to be as good and phones start using them less. Why bother spending extra on an internal DAC if it's just going to be seen as less good as the alternative anyway. Before we knew it portable DACs are an audiophile product and Bluetooth is the norm.
It doesn't help that amidst all this there was the ohm wars for headphones lol
One of the most frustrating things about current Google searches is when I try to look up a part for a specific car. At one time, I’d find the part number, and where I could get it. Now, I am taken to a parts website, where I have to enter the info I searched for again, just to find out that the website doesn’t have that part and will never be able to get it. Gee, Thanks for the help, Google.
Have a Z flip 5 which has the same soc as the s23 and I super love it! If you don't end up loving oneui you can always customize the heck out of it with samsung theme park or (third party) hex installer.
Tldr - no new tablet focused features in OneUI 5.1. Thats the big problem.
The author has no real issue with the tablets themselves, and also recognized the importance of support for LumaFusion, for example. So the “big” problem is the lack of new features… Garbage article
I have a tab s8 and I think if you use them how tablet (in my mind) is supposed to be used, it’s fine. YouTube, streaming tv/movies, maybe a few games here and there, browsing. The s8 heavily takes after the new iPad design so it looks and feels great too. My only thing is I hate plugging it in at night so I’m interested in the new pixel tablet and its dock.
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