Google may be going back to the Nexus line of thinking, and though I hate to regress, it may be necessary.
I have been a fan of the nexus phones because it provided a near flagship phone with stock android, but priced below what flagship phones were going for. It was a phone that gave up a little here or there so the price could be at a level that fans were willing to jump all over. But Google felt it was time to compete with the big boys in Apple and Samsung on the flagship level. They brought in an awesome camera and they felt they were ready to compete.
Unfortunately, that was far from the case. Pixel after Pixel felt like Google kept missing the mark. Yeah they finally gave fans a good camera, and frankly it was more than just good it was great. But that in itself does not make a flagship. In other areas such as display, RAM, internal storage space, and battery size, Google was not even on the same field at times. Phone after phone starting at the Pixel, where Google left out water resistance and a slim down bezel. The pixel 2XL suffered from a muted display, though ironically this phone may be considered one of the best Pixels as everything else was on point. Pixel 3XL the giant forehead and light on the internals still sticking with 64GB maxed out storage and 4 GB of RAM, when the competition was far exceeding that. In fact even companies like One Plus were putting out phones with twice the Ram and internal storage for a far cheaper price. And finally the last Pixel where Google just continued to show either how out of touch they were with their fan base or how defiant they were in not wanting to compete in the spec war.
Well it turns out that Google could indeed be bowing out of the flagship war and may be positioning themselves in a market they could better compete in. This is based on reports that the upcoming Pixel 5 may have a Snapdragon 765 opposed to the flagship 865. Part of me feels that if Google is going to continue the trend of releasing their flagships with underwhelming flagship specs, then they should just bow out of the flagship war. But another part is disappointed in Google because they never really put forth a real effort at making a flagship.
If companies like One Plus were able to put out the kind of phones they put out then I do not understand why Google continued to choose not to include the internals that at least somewhat matched that of the competition. Take the 4XL. Add in a little more Ram (even 8 GB would have been good), throw in a 256 internal storage option, and bump up the battery size, and we are looking at potentially the best phone of 2019.
I don’t know what Google has in store but they continue to prove why I consider them the disappointing C student. They have all the tools and the potential to put out excellent work, but instead choose to put out slightly above average. But I will admit, the way they optimize their software allows their phones to outlast and outperform devices that wiped the floor with them in the specs department.
