GasBandit
Staff member
Well, it's only newer by a couple years. But I have to wonder how bad the battery useage was because of Verizon's customizations to it, and how much better it would have been on stock android.
I mean, that's really why I shelled out 500 bucks. For stock android and the casting off of any leashes to Verizon
It was nice to get a good phone out of it, too.Well there's this bit of news, too:
The Google Assistant: coming to tablets and more Android phones
...phones running 5.0 and later, that is.
--Patrick
The Google Assistant: coming to tablets and more Android phones
...phones running 5.0 and later, that is.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
The google assistant is kinda neat, I'll give it that. It's starting to approach siri levels of fluff and snark. Last night I discovered that if you ask, it will sing you a lullaby, then play sleep-inducing noise for an hour.
GasBandit
Staff member
The downside seems to be, unless I'm charging on the provided wall charger (which, as noted, is comedically australian, though I have an adapter now) it doesn't charge quickly AT ALL.
I'm charging it right now off a USB cable on my work computer, and it estimates 50 minutes left to finish charging from 89%.
I'm charging it right now off a USB cable on my work computer, and it estimates 50 minutes left to finish charging from 89%.
GasBandit
Staff member
But it charged from completely empty to completely full yesterday on the wall charger (with adapter) in less than an hour, I should mention.[DOUBLEPOST=1513288556,1513288487][/DOUBLEPOST]
I've had nickel cadmium batteries that charged faster.
They were probably smaller.
GasBandit
Staff member
Individually, yeah, but they were generally 500-1000 mAh each, and almost always used in fours. That makes 2000-4000 mAh, comparable to the pixel's 2770. Charging rarely took more than a couple-three hours, 4 for the really old ones back in the 80s.They were probably smaller.
From what I'm reading online, it's just that USB-A doesn't push enough amps for the pixel. There've been reports of Pixels going even slower, like 3% an hour.
Even USB 3 only specs out at 0.9A max draw per port, and it was only half an Amp with USB 2 and below. Phone chargers (that I've seen) are usually 1-2.5A.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Yeah. That's what I was saying. I specified USB-A, but from all accounts it's slow no matter what kind of USB you're charging off. Only the wall adapter goes fast, but it goes super fast.
Gas, I have a Pixel, and you need to investigate USB-C chargers. They vary WILDLY with what they support for voltages and such. So you can find others that support Pixel's quick charge, but you need to go looking. A regular computer USB slot, while they definitely have the power in the "box" itself, the actual connections to the motherboard (and all the way back) may not support the higher voltages you need. Some actual usb-c ports on desktops/laptops support the higher voltages, but few (if any) of the usb-a ports do. It wasn't needed, so it's not on the wires/traces in the machine.
*wattages.
I call this out solely because some "USB" ports are wired up to deliver 12VDC instead of the usual 5VDC, and plugging into those can kill your device. Most of them are labeled "12V" but some are not (though the unlabeled ones usually come from shady 3rd parties).
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Oh, the wall outlet adapter charges up fast just fine, as I said. I was just remarking on the slllllloooowwww charging from USB slots on computers.
Oh, yeah from a computer or USB hub a USB 2 port will only ever give you 500mA, or a total of 2.5W.
Some USB3 ports will supply more.
USB C ports may also provide more.
But you're going to have to get a wall charger that works with your phone if you want more than that, or look up computer specs and load the correct drivers to enable faster charging on any computer whose hardware might support fast charge (again, few do, and many of those that do only do it for certain devices - ie, apple computers will fast charge apple mobile devices).
Can't you just... buy American charging bricks if you're going to go that route?
I think there are Gigabyte boards that do it, too. They usually trumpet it pretty loudly on the cover.
--Patrick
I think I read the Pixel has its own quick charge tech, and doesn't use the same one as everyone else. I'm not sure if that's correct or not.
GasBandit
Staff member
It wouldn't surprise me if that's the case.[DOUBLEPOST=1513361082,1513360894][/DOUBLEPOST]Ok, the charger also seems to have defied its own expectations... it charged 17% in 45 minutes, almost twice as fast as it predicted. Still not as fast as the wall charger it came with, but a good deal faster than the computer's USB port.
The Pixel doesn't support the samsung quickcharge spec, nor the apple fast charging spec. Google elected to follow the USB C Power Delivery spec.
So to get fast charging you'll have to use either the pixel specific chargers, or a third party USB C PD capable charger. Usually these are labeled 29W USB C power bricks.
Notably the iPhone 8 and X also support this standard, which is nearly 3 times faster than the normal iOS fast charge (10W), and four times faster than the iOS wireless charging (7.5W), and 6 times faster than the charger that comes with the iPhone (5W).
It's also capable of charging USB C macbooks.
So as far as I can tell, people are moving to the USB C PD standard anyway, and all the chargers I buy in the future will be of that kind.
I've been looking at USB C Power Delivery devices, and they aren't dirt cheap yet, but they aren't terribly expensive. Many of them are available with micro USB to USB C cables, so they should work for you out of the box. Many of them also include a regular USB A port so you charge other devices as well, but so far as I understand the USB C PD isn't available over the USB A port.
The deal with the PD spec is that you can't increase the current the cables carry without thicker wires, which consumers don't want. But you can increase the voltage, which has the same effect of increasing total power to the device. Laptop manufacturers, particularly Apple, wanted to power their laptops through USB C, so the USB C PD spec allows the powered device to request higher voltages, so it can charge faster.
So you can get up to 100W over USB C PD adaptors, when the devices requests it the adaptor will supply 20V at 5A over the cable. The device has to ensure the cable is capable of that current, though, so there are additional considerations and issues, including cable detection (which apple has had since the early days of their mobile devices, and why apple cables are more expensive, they each contain a security/ID chip).
While this is all tied to USB C because it was introduced at the same time, the reality is that this specification also works over the standard USB A, B, and Micro B/AB connectors. Finding a power adaptor that follows this spec is hard, though, so people and manufacturers have kind of associated it with C.
http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/PD_1.0_Introduction.pdf
So to get fast charging you'll have to use either the pixel specific chargers, or a third party USB C PD capable charger. Usually these are labeled 29W USB C power bricks.
Notably the iPhone 8 and X also support this standard, which is nearly 3 times faster than the normal iOS fast charge (10W), and four times faster than the iOS wireless charging (7.5W), and 6 times faster than the charger that comes with the iPhone (5W).
It's also capable of charging USB C macbooks.
So as far as I can tell, people are moving to the USB C PD standard anyway, and all the chargers I buy in the future will be of that kind.
I've been looking at USB C Power Delivery devices, and they aren't dirt cheap yet, but they aren't terribly expensive. Many of them are available with micro USB to USB C cables, so they should work for you out of the box. Many of them also include a regular USB A port so you charge other devices as well, but so far as I understand the USB C PD isn't available over the USB A port.
The deal with the PD spec is that you can't increase the current the cables carry without thicker wires, which consumers don't want. But you can increase the voltage, which has the same effect of increasing total power to the device. Laptop manufacturers, particularly Apple, wanted to power their laptops through USB C, so the USB C PD spec allows the powered device to request higher voltages, so it can charge faster.
So you can get up to 100W over USB C PD adaptors, when the devices requests it the adaptor will supply 20V at 5A over the cable. The device has to ensure the cable is capable of that current, though, so there are additional considerations and issues, including cable detection (which apple has had since the early days of their mobile devices, and why apple cables are more expensive, they each contain a security/ID chip).
While this is all tied to USB C because it was introduced at the same time, the reality is that this specification also works over the standard USB A, B, and Micro B/AB connectors. Finding a power adaptor that follows this spec is hard, though, so people and manufacturers have kind of associated it with C.
http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/PD_1.0_Introduction.pdf
GasBandit
Staff member
Apparently one of the "power saving" features of the Pixel is that it doesn't check my damn email very often. Seems every day, I get an email notification 10 or 15 minutes later than the e-mail actually arrives. Sometimes it happens with hangout messages, too. There will be no notification, and then I'll pick up the phone and suddenly "oh hey here's a notification you got a hangouts message 12 minutes ago."
I downloaded a "push notification fixer" to try and address this, and reset the heartbeat on the check from 15 minutes (android's apparently new default) to 2 minutes. Lesse if that screws up battery useage too badly.
I downloaded a "push notification fixer" to try and address this, and reset the heartbeat on the check from 15 minutes (android's apparently new default) to 2 minutes. Lesse if that screws up battery useage too badly.
GasBandit
Staff member
Just wanted to update the thread and say I'm still really happy with my Pixel. Battery life is great, rapid charging is fast AF. My only gripe is if I'm playing music when it connects/disconnects from wifi, the music hiccups once or twice, but that's a paltry complaint.
Well, that and it doesn't have an IR transmitter, so I can't use it to control televisions. Also barely a complaint.
Everything else is beautimous.
Well, that and it doesn't have an IR transmitter, so I can't use it to control televisions. Also barely a complaint.
Everything else is beautimous.
I see Chromebooks/iPads/phablets eventually replacing what people currently use “laptops” for right now. Maybe not right away like that whole “What’s a computer?” thing, but I fully expect your handheld whatever-it-is will handle the essentials, and for the stuff it can’t handle it will also be a thin client connection to your “real” computer back home’s display like steam link or RD.
—Patrick