As a bright new year beckons us, it is always a good time to reflect on the past year as everyone writes down their resolution for the next one. It has been a mixed bag for Google, with some impressive highs and underwhelming lows steered by some questionable decisions. In light of these highs and lows, we thought we could lend Google a hand with their new year’s resolution. Here is what we hope to see from Google this year.
Stop. Killing. Stuff.
For as long as I can remember, one of the most frustrating traditions of Google is killing off projects abruptly. Numerous projects have fallen victim to Google’s inexplicable policy of wielding an axe in its projects out of absolutely nowhere. And last year, much to the surprise of no one at all, Google kept at it. Of course, the headliner of this section would be Google’s Stadia, even though it technically is not dead yet until January 18. Ironically, not so long after the news of Google sunsetting Stadia broke out, Google announced their partnership with Acer, Lenovo, and Asus on Chromebooks that put cloud gaming first. The jokes write themselves.
But the list of casualties extends beyond that, with several other projects slain mercilessly by the search giant. In truth, some of these projects never really caught on and perhaps it was better to draw the curtain on them. But then, it is not a good thing if you are infamous for killing off projects — the pain of Google Plus’ demise still hurts. Now, whenever Google commits to and releases a new project, there is this unnerving thought that it will probably be discontinued. Here’s hoping that we see less of that this year.
Stop shooting itself in the foot
Another hallmark of Google is that, inevitably, Google tends to shoot itself in the foot in some way. Don’t get me wrong, Google has started to find its groove with the Pixel 7 lineup. In fact, Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai publicly stated that Google had “the highest selling week” ever back in October, referring to how the Pixel 7 lineup helped them reach new heights compared to its predecessors. Yet you can’t help but feel that the Pixel 7 lineup, specifically the Pro variant, could have been even better when viewed in comparison with its contenders, including the likes of the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the iPhone 14 Pro Max. For instance, the Pixel 7 Pro’s battery life still falls considerably short of that of the S22 Ultra or even its toned-down variant, the S22+, despite featuring a smaller battery inside. Indeed, Google’s in-built Tensor G2 SoC could have done with a bit more work in terms of efficiency, especially since it is not the most powerful chip out there in terms of raw horsepower. And when considering its price tag of 899 USD, it does not stand out as a particularly good deal. On the other hand, Google’s smaller Pixel 7 looks like the best device out there with a relatively compact form factor, thanks in big part to its more affordable price tag of 599 USD, even if its battery life also leaves something to be desired.
Moving on to another product that Google released last year, the Pixel Watch, paints a very dull picture. For starters, the Pixel Watch features an Exynos SoC that was first released by Samsung all the way back in 2018, which is not so impressive, to say the least. That, along with an absurdly thick bezel around its screen, paints a much duller picture, which only looks worse when considering its price tag of 399 USD for such an underwhelming device. Perhaps if the price was a bit lower it could have been an easier pill to swallow. But that takes away nothing from how disappointing a product it is, especially since Google is playing catch up with the likes of Samsung and Apple in this territory. Google has clearly more than shot itself in the foot here by slapping such a price tag on the Pixel Watch. Let’s hope they don’t carry on that trend with their debut in the foldable phone market this year.
Time for a Pixel Fold
It is fair to say Google tends to take its time before committing to launching a new device. For instance, despite being the architect of Wear OS, only two months ago saw Google’s entry into the wearable market with the Pixel Watch. As for the foldable phones market, we are yet to see a Pixel-branded folding smartphone. However, this looks likely to change within the next couple of months, with rumors pointing towards Google making its debut in this market next May with the much-anticipated Pixel Fold.
As usual, Google struggled to keep the phone under wraps long enough. According to several credible sources, the Pixel Fold will resemble a form factor similar to that of the Oppo Find N rather than the Galaxy Z Fold 4, purportedly coming in at 158.7 x 139.7 x 5.7mm. If these alleged dimensions are true, not only will the Pixel Fold be wider than the Galaxy Z Fold 4, but also the Oppo Find N. This is a bit of a head-scratcher since the Oppo Find N is already a bit wide, to begin with. In terms of height, the Pixel Fold falls somewhere in the middle between the Z Fold 4 and the Oppo Find N.
As for the under-the-hood stuff, the Pixel Fold is expected to be powered by the same Tensor G2 SoC found in the Pixel 7 phones, allegedly coupled with 12GB of RAM. According to the leaked benchmark scores, the Pixel Fold will be only slightly better than the Pixel 7 Pro in terms of performance but will still lag behind last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 4. This is not necessarily a bad thing — there is more to a phone than just a CPU. But given that this is last year’s Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, the gap in raw horsepower is too significant to ignore now that Qualcomm already released its successor, which will be powering the upcoming Z Fold 5.
This leads us to one of, if not the most important aspect of the phone, an area Google tended to more often than not shoot itself in the foot: the price. First, let’s start with the numbers and leaks floating around. Some rumors point towards a pretty hefty price tag, costing around 1,799 USD, which is the same price as the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Others claim that it could be a bit more affordable, pointing towards a possible list price of 1,399 USD. In case the latter is true, then this would be one of the few times Google priced its device smartly. Otherwise, it will look like Google doesn’t really want the business — bearing the price of one of the best fully-fledged foldable phones in the market would be a pill too bitter to swallow. It is not logical for Google to play catch-up with the top dogs and slap such a ludicrously high price tag despite lagging behind the competition in some aspects. This will surely deal a huge blow to their quest.
New Year. New Google, hopefully.
Ever since Google embarked on its project of making its own devices from the ground up, the general perception has always been a little underwhelming. Naturally, everyone’s expectations were through the roof once Google announced their first Pixel device, which played a big part in that. It’s not like Google has always ceased to amaze us — the Pixel 2 XL is still held in high regard by many of us to this day. Yet Google invariably kept going back to their frustrating norm, either by slaying one or more of their projects in the most mind-boggling ways or by crippling their devices with inexplicable decisions. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, they say. Let’s hope we are nearing the end of this dark tunnel of uncertainties this year.
Featured-Image: Android Police
