Pixel 3a - <AUTHOR> https://blog.google/products/pixel/io-pixel-3a/ <comment><USER3> The tech specs between the 3a and 3 don't show too much of a downgrade:

* Screen is smaller, but on the Pixel 3a XL version the screen dimensions excluding the notch appear to be the same.

* Same 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, but no 128GB persistent storage option on the 3a. 64GB is usually plenty anyway, though.

* Processor is somewhat slower: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 670 2.0GHz + 1.7GHz, 64Bit Octa-Core on the 3a. vs a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 845 2.5GHz + 1.6GHz, 64Bit Octa-Core on the pixel 3.

* 3a removes wireless charging. Never used it on my Pixel 3 XL.

* Under the sensors section, the normal Pixel 3 has "Advanced x-axis haptics for sharper/defined response" whereas the 3a does not.

* 3a only has one front facing camera instead of dual front cameras.

* 3a has a headphone jack. Personally, I adjusted pretty well to Bluetooth headsets but some people really appreciate the jack.

Overall seems like a modest downgrade for a big drop in price. Most of the stuff cut out seems like premium features where the dollar-to-user-value ratio isn't very good. The only significant downgrades seem to be processor speed and dropping the second front facing camera. It's probably also safe to assume more economical build materials and fabrication. Specs taken from Google Play store:

[https://store.google.com/product/pixel_3a_specs](https://store.google.com/product/pixel_3a_specs)

[https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_3_specs?hl=en- US](https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_3_specs?hl=en-US)

<comment><USER4> > * 3a has a headphone jack. Personally, I adjusted pretty well to Bluetooth > headsets but some people really appreciate the jack.

For me, phones lacking a headphone jack is an absolute deal-breaker; the result is that I feel that there is a limited selection for new phones. This feature alone makes the 3a a huge upgrade regardless of the other features.

<comment><USER3> A nice pair of bluetooth headphones makes a pretty big different. I got a HD 4.40BT, and it's very good. Battery life is impressive and charges quickly. I can skip tracks, pause, adjust volume without taking out my phone. I don't have to dig into my pocket when I want to listen to something. Audio quality is not noticeably different from my wired headphones at a similar price. It does mean that I have 4 pairs of headphones relegated to desktop and piano use, but the convenience factor was well worth it to me.

[https://en-us.sennheiser.com/wireless-headphones-bluetooth-h...](https://en- us.sennheiser.com/wireless-headphones-bluetooth- hd-4-40-btUS847&oq=hd440&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.727j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

<comment><USER5> Adding a battery to something that didn't have one previously literally decimated the expected time until it ends up in a landfill/the ocean.

<comment><USER6> For an actual set of headphones with a decent size battery, they can still be useful for many years even if the capacity drops to 50%. Tiny things like AirPods are crazy though. When they're brand new the battery life is barely enough, when they're a year or two old it sounds like a giant nuisance.

Apple just launched the more fitness-targeted Powerbeats Pro with a bigger battery, but the charging case to accommodate the "around ear" design is enormous compared to AirPods.

And now reviewers are excusing that saying "Yeah it's a huge case, but the battery life is probably good enough that maybe you could leave the case at home!" As if the battery life three years from now will be anywhere near 9 hours.

EDIT: Two articles posted on 9to5mac by _literally the same person_ a couple of months apart:

[https://9to5mac.com/2019/01/28/airpods-battery- life/](https://9to5mac.com/2019/01/28/airpods-battery-life/)

 _> But batteries are consumable, we all know so well now, and that's proven true for the tiny batteries inside AirPods after two years of daily use. Battery life that once exceeded five hours now struggles to power AirPods through three hours of continuous usage at the same volume. Battery life results can be cut in half if you need to play audio at a louder volume._

 _> In practice, I used to never hear the low battery alert during usage. I rarely listened to audio with AirPods for five straight hours before charging in the carrying case without thought. More recently, I've heard the bloop sound much more regularly, frequently followed by AirPods dying before I'm ready to recharge._

[https://9to5mac.com/2019/05/06/beats-powerbeats-pro-hands- on...](https://9to5mac.com/2019/05/06/beats-powerbeats-pro-hands-on/)

 _> AirPods give you up to 5 hours of power in between charges; Powerbeats Pro almost double that with up to 9 hours of power in between charges. The additional four hours might mean you only need to take the earphones out of the house for the day with the charging case left at home._

Talk about a lack of foresight.

On 9to5mac in 2021: "The batteries in my Powerbeats Pro only last four hours and I have to carry this gigantic charging case everywhere. HOW COULD I HAVE KNOWN???"

<comment><USER6> And for a comparison point versus real headphones, Sony's USB-C charged WH-1000XM3 is rated for 30 hours with noise cancellation on, 38 hours without. But those aren't something I'd carry around all the time, so I'm happy to keep using wired earbuds where battery life isn't even a question.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Apparently this phone doesn't use Gorilla Glass, but instead uses something called Dragontail glass [1] according to the Verge's review [2]. Tempted by the prospect of a great camera, a headphone jack, and an affordable phone, but there really doesn't seem to be much information about the glass out there.

I suppose if it was in the Xperia phones it can't be that bad -- I never noticed any issues with the glass on them. [1]([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragontrail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragontrail)) [2]([https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/7/18530449/google- pixel-3a-x...](https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/7/18530449/google-pixel-3a-xl- review-photos-video-specs-price-release-date-features-io-2019))

<comment><USER7> From the articles I've read, the glass is less impact resistant.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I'm really excited to see Google return to this price point. I was distraught when they discontinued the Nexus line.

<comment><USER9> Motorola continues to carry this torch with it's G-series, near-stock, sub-$300 phones.

<comment><USER10> I would also consider Nokia (HMD global).

> near-stock

I have now got a Nokia 7+ which has "Android One" (very close to AOSP) and it has been a great piece of hardware which gets updates. I think HMD Global dealt brilliantly with the security issue that affected some phones.

I agree about Moto though, in the past I have bought four Moto phones (G1, G3, G3, G4 - two were presents) and I had zero hardware faults (although they all stopped getting updates far earlier than I like). A G3 and G4 are still in daily use. One G3 broke a screen (teenager), and I can't remember who I gave the G1 to when I upgraded.

Multiple previous experiences with Nexus line have left me disappointed, and so far the Pixel's have been too expensive for me to want to learn the same mistakes again.

Hopefully the 3a will be better!

<comment><USER11> Nokias are bootlocked(nonstarter for me) and I'm not clear how reliable they are going to be on updates either.

<comment><USER10> Now older Motorola phones (e.g. G3) can no longer be unlocked: [https://support.motorola.com/us/en/solution/MS87215](https://support.motorola.com/us/en/solution/MS87215)

I also used to use your rule: if it was bootlocked then I wouldn't buy it.

However that rule has never helped me use CyanogenMod/LineageOS etc because:

Galaxy Nexus: Screen burn in (OLED blue) and obsoleted OMAP processor so didn't update, then gave to friend's kid.

Nexus 10: Kept at factory 5.1.1 for testing at work. Then tried updating this year but flash partition was too small to install gApps.

Nexus 7: Gave to family member who updated it, but it then died from slow flash hardware issue.

Nexus 5: broken frame (leading to common hardware faults) - no point updating.

Nexus 5X: Never used much - can't use as daily driver due to perceived risk of boot looping - so it is sitting in drawer at work.

Moto G1: Gave away a long time ago

Moto G3: Broken by teenager

Moto G3: Gave to friend (still in use - but can't unlock G3 any more)

Moto G4: Was a present to a friend (still in use by them, they not likely to update or want update)

Edit: Some of the devices were bought cheaply (second hand) and more than one device was paid for by work as we always need recent Android devices to test App releases on.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I had just read this and then my colleague came over and showed me his Pixel 3a. I thought they just released it?! Turns out it was delivered in an hour and it was just ordered after the announcement. Nice.

<comment><USER13> Wow where do you live?

<comment><USER12> SF Bay Area :-)

This was the service (from Google Store's checkout page): [https://puu.sh/DpgdZ/e0c4d3a068.png](https://puu.sh/DpgdZ/e0c4d3a068.png) \- it came way earlier than the quoted 4pm.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I plan to keep my iPhone 8 for a few years, but I sure hope Google sells a ton of these things so that others will start to target this price point aggressively. I don't see Apple doing it, but, hey, that's their cheese.

<comment><USER15> Apple thrives on exclusively. Not specs and features.

For them, charging more money is the next step, like it or not.

The only way for them to compete, is to not. You buy Apple products for Fashion, to prove you can afford it.

Or at least, that's what has worked for a decade. Features is not what Apple brings, they bring Fashion.

<comment><USER16> I can see why it seems that way, but most people stick to Apple due to lock- in.

For me, it's Apple music. I've been using iTunes since the first iPod Nano and have an extensive library. I was planning to switch to Spotify (since the android Apple Music app is abysmal). But Spotify doesn't allow you to upload your own music (lots of mixtape songs in my library).

So eventually, I gave in and went back. I even tried Google Music since they let you upload your own songs, but the sync app kept crashing and never uploaded songs right away, but your milage might vary.

So that is Apple's play, locking in customers. I know friends who came back to Apple due to iMessage and even the Apple Watch, which is a blatant lock-in product.

<comment><USER17> Where you see lock in, I see a well functioning ecosystem. The Apple Watch is probably the best product in its category. Same with iMessage. By all accounts I've read, AirPods are also how all BT headphones _should_ work.

I don't think most people stick with Apple because they are stuck, but most Apple users simply prefer Apple devices. I used Android for over a year back in the Nexus 5 days, but switched back to the iPhone because I preferred it. Other people prefer Android which is fine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Recently my old Google Nexus 5 phone quit after five years of dutiful service, so I went looking for a new phone. I was completely blown away by how competitive the Android world has become and much prices have come down.

In the end I have decided for an Honor 9 Lite that cost me a measly _159 Euros_. The result? It is the best phone I've ever had and I am not missing anything.

So, I cannot see why anyone would want to spend more on an Android phone these days. What additional value does a Pixel 3a give me that would justify an almost 3x premium?

<comment><USER19> They (Huawei) don't have a good track record keeping their software up to date:

164 days to update, Jan. 2019 - [https://www.androidauthority.com/android-pie- fastest-manufac...](https://www.androidauthority.com/android-pie-fastest- manufacturers-update-963368/)

163 days to update, June 2018 - [https://www.androidauthority.com/android- oreo-fastest-manufa...](https://www.androidauthority.com/android-oreo-fastest- manufacturers-update-874788/)

<comment><USER20> Considering GP was still using the Nexus 5 two years after Google dropped support for it, I doubt that matters too much to him.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> The Verge says it feels noticeably slower

[https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/7/18530449/google- pixel-3a-x...](https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/7/18530449/google-pixel-3a-xl- review-photos-video-specs-price-release-date-features-io-2019)

Also, even to my bad eyes, the camera quality isn't quite as good as the Pixel 3, due to the additional processing that this phone doesn't do

<comment><USER22> Pixel 3a also lacks the Pixel Visual Core that shipped in Pixel 2 and 3, which also may explain some of the discrepancy.

<comment><USER23> I though that only affects processing time, not the end result.

<comment><USER22> Some features are Visual Core exclusive I think, so it depends on what you're trying to shoot.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Glad to see some cheaper phones from Google. The Nexus 4 and 5 were the best phones I've had.

However, I still want a headphone jack and a smaller phone. I'll be riding out the original Pixel for as long as possible.

<comment><USER25> It looks like it does indeed have a headphone jack.

[https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/07/the-headphone-jack-is- back...](https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/07/the-headphone-jack-is-back-for-the- google-pixel-3a/)

<comment><USER26> They honestly don't realize how much of a feature that is. This is literally a kill if missing feature for me. I'm not due for a phone replacement yet, but when my device does end up reaching end of life I'll probably replace it with the successor of the 3a.

<comment><USER15> Thinking the same thing. I won't be buying another OG pixel if the 3a has the aux.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> How does the blog post not even mention the headphone jack?!?

The first thing I did was a cmd+F for "jack" and "headphone" and "audio"—if there's no headphone jack, I have no interest in reading further. Since my searches came up with nothing, I assumed the headphone jack wasn't present. Would still be assuming that if not for the comments here.

</comment><comment><USER28> I don't care about bezels or absurd amounts of RAM.

All I care about in a phone is the camera and headphone jack, so I ordered one. Good move Google. I wasn't expecting to buy a phone for another 6 months or so.

</comment><comment><USER29> Can I install a mainline Linux distro and KDE Plasma Mobile or Ubuntu Touch on it? Or is it all a big pile of kernel hacks and binary blobs?

I'm getting sick of these absolutely useless, Google-tracking devices. After several of my own repairs, my ~2 year old Sony/Android is flaking out (another problem with modern phones: their shitty lifespan which just contributes to e-waste) so I ordered a Nexus 5X and plan on switching to KDE Plasma. I hope it will force me to help write any apps that are missing for it to be my daily driver and help contribute to a truly open source eco-system.

I hope the Purism 5 and Pine Phone make it through their funding/pre-orders as well. We need more real alternatives to this garbage the two big players keep feeding us.

Microsoft should just offer to unlock all their devices. UEFI+ARM would be a great start for trying to get mainline Linux running on those devices.

</comment><comment><USER30> Pushing the premium camera in the mid-range phone is genius. It probably hurts their margins because fewer people will buy the higher spec model, but this is surely a response to the Apple lineup which is basically "to get an upgraded camera at all in your next iPhone, you need to pay twice as much as you did for your last one".

I'd be perfectly happy with an iphone 7 having the iphone XR camera. I have zero use for a bigger screen, smaller bezels, faster processors etc. None. I call, read some websites and take pictures. I also want to be able to repair my screen very cheapl (No iPhone I owned has had less than 2 screen replacement due to drops).

I hope Apple will go this route too, but I'm not holding my breath - I think apples strategy to charge me $1k+ for my next iPhone camera is genius, because I'll probably do it.

</comment><comment><USER31> These look like fine phones for the price, but Google still don't know how to sell phones worldwide. Currently only available in: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States. ([https://support.google.com/store/answer/2462844](https://support.google.com/store/answer/2462844))

<comment><USER32> In India, it will be available starting 15-May. The price point in India at ₹ 39,000 is quite expensive. Most people in India go for sub ₹ 20,000 phones. I have a Moto G5s+ I bought 2.5 years ago for ₹ 12,000. It's still working fabulously well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> My experience with Android has been one of declining "helpfulness" and usability in general. I stuck with Android for a long time, (Nexus One - <USER2> 3) but with every release Google made pure Android a little worse, and simultaniously made it just a little bit harder to work around the "new" Ad delivery technologies ("Features"). Google Now, the Google search bar, Hangouts with full SMS integration (those were the days), all lost to the Big-G's quest for Ad revenue.

iOS isn't dramatically better, but it is dramatically more consistent as far as an everyday phone goes. I still keep the Pixel 3 on Fi around, hooked up to my car because Android Auto hasn't been entirely ruined yet and CarPlay leaves a lot to be desired.

<comment><USER34> I found 90% of my issues with Android were resolved by switching out the launcher. No more unhideable 'home' screen of toxic news and ads, no forced google search bar, and I can make it behave any way I want w.r.t. gestures (or not).

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Ok the cynic in me hears: "Buy this $400 phone that becomes about as useful as a Nokia candy bar phone of old if you turn off Google Web and Location services."

Does anyone know if the camera features work if you turn off the tracking bits? I realize I'm a bad data cow for kicking at the milking machine when I'm in the barn but it has become more painful for me of late.

<comment><USER36> Why would the camera not work? You won't get unlimited storage, but you can buy a non-google photo backup service.

The camera probably compares favourably with Nokia candybar-era DSLRs

<comment><USER35> > Why would the camera not work? You won't get unlimited storage, but you can > buy a non-google photo backup service.

You could ask why do any number of services that Google advertises as "phone features" not work when you disable Google's ability to track you? Google sells the data it collects, it is part of their revenue model, and the only way to enforce that you give it to them is to deny you access to things if you opt not to. It is of course their right to do so, and so they do. It just gets more and more egregious.

My favorite example is that Google won't let you save "places" in the Google Maps application if you don't turn on location services. Apple Maps can save your locations just fine, even my Garmin in-car Navigator with no Internet connectivity at all can do that. But Google won't let you, unless you accede to letting them milk your data for their own use.

<comment><USER37> Google camera needs Google play services. If you use aosp, you lose Google camera. You are free to use other camera apps, whose output will generally not be as good as Google camera's.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> It doesn't seem competitive compared to Chinese phones (xiaomi, huawei, oneplus), is it? For instance a Xiaomi MI9 SE seems better value (dual sim, metal body, smaller with a bigger/better screen...).

<comment><USER39> Even Samsung... in the UK you can buy a S10e for cheaper than the 3A XL.

<comment><USER40> Is that some special discount on the S10e?

S10e - £669: [https://www.samsung.com/uk/smartphones/galaxy-s10/buy/](https://www.samsung.com/uk/smartphones/galaxy-s10/buy/)

Pixel 3a XL - £469: [https://store.google.com/gb/config/pixel_3a](https://store.google.com/gb/config/pixel_3a)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> 2 years ago my Nexus 5x died and I struggled a lot to find a replacement. I finally bought the exact same Nexus 5x, that I'm still using. I'm glad they finally released the rightful heir of the 5x :)

<comment><USER42> I hated that there was no real replacement. I'm on a honor 9 lite as a transition phone and it's been a worthy if flawed stand-in while I wait for the true N5X successor. (I'm not convinced the P3a is it though)

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> Why is Google completely unable/unwilling to do global roll-outs of their phones like everybody else does? Is it a production capacity problem or some sort of weird marketing strategy

</comment><comment><USER44> I'm currently using a Pixel 3, but just ordered the 3a as my new "backup" phone (replacing my OG Pixel 1 and a P1XL I bought refurbished).

I'll probably use the 3a as my primary phone for a month so I get the $100 Fi credit on my account, then move back and put the Fi data-only SIM in the 3a.

Now I just need to sell the P1 and P1XL...

<comment><USER45> Maybe don't buy a backup phone?

<comment><USER46> Yeah, if you can get a phone delivered to you next day, why would you keep an extra phone around? (Unless you need it for development/testing)

<comment><USER44> I'm not always somewhere that I can get overnight delivery.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> I just got a pixel 3a. Finally leaving apple. The fact that they have a headphone jack was the main reason.

<comment><USER48> Are you happy with the speakers? I just watched few random YouTube reviews and they all say sound on 3a is bad.

<comment><USER47> Nothing glaring about the sound , I didn't expect much but I haven't upgraded since the iPhone se and it's better

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> This is the price point I've been missing and I've go one ordered already. Sure Nokia has been pretty good in this range, even with updates I think, but Verizon is the better carrier option in my area, so they're a no go. I like the Motorola stuff in theory, but they've got that same 3rd party manufacturer updates problem. I've got a Moto G5 Plus, which is a fine phone, but it's likely stuck at Android 8.1 for the rest of its life, and even that update from 7 took a very long time(after 9 launched).

</comment><comment><USER50> When the Pixel 1 came out I bought it pretty much instantly in November 2016 and was amazed by how great the camera and the quality of the entire phone was. As someone who was very much invested in the Google eco system this was the perfect phone for me and when Google announced the Pixel 2 I was over the moon. Unfortunately the Pixel 2 was a huge disappointment. I still find my Pixel 1 to take overall better photos than the Pixel 2. The quality of the Pixel 2 also felt much cheaper. When the Pixel 3 arrived I thought initially that this was the long awaited upgrade, but again I was left extremely disappointed. In my opinion the original Pixel phone was the first device which I thought could finally contest the Apple iPhone, but since then I think this was a one off lucky shot by Google and everything which has followed was extremely below my expectations.

Today I still use my Pixel 1, but it's starting to drain battery a lot faster than what it used to a couple months ago and I'm probably going to buy a new iPhone this year again.

I've also started to rely less on Google since they started to become so unreliable in recent years. I don't use Chrome anymore (FireFox rocks again!), I use DuckDuckGo for search, I use Office365 instead of the G-Suite and I'm eyeing up a different Music provider as I think that Google Play will sooner or later get shut down too. The only things which I find difficult to replace is Google Drive and Google Cloud which I use for work related things. Funny how things quickly change and how much other products have caught up again so that the change hasn't been difficult at all so far...

</comment><comment><USER51> I have a Pixel XL, original one, and it's always been good. This makes me want to switch, partially for the smaller size. I see my Pixel has a snapdragon 821 chip, and the 3a has a 670. Can anyone comment on whether the 3a would generally be faster/better than my significantly older original Pixel XL? I don't know much about phone chips, but it generally seems that the 670 is better than the 821 from a cursory Google search.

<comment><USER52> From personal experience, a pixel 2 is significantly faster and smoother than a pixel 1, and the internet suggests the 670 chip in the 3a is slightly faster for general use than the 835 in the pixel 2, though for gaming its somewhere b/w pixel 1 and 2 as the 670 GPU is b/w the 821 and 835.

So for normal use, its definitely a upgrade to a pixel 1, and a slight upgrade over the pixel 2.

<comment><USER51> Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER53> I was recently given a pixel 3 XL, I tried so hard to get on with it but the fingerprint sensor on the back ruined it for me (and google pay on london buses is embarrassingly slow).

having the sensor on the back means you cant quickly access your phone when its sat on your desk without picking it up. its such a small thing but it made a big difference. Plus unlocking it out and about was all sorts of precarious finger gymnastics.

<comment><USER54> totally opposite problem for the iPhone in the front for me. looking at a phone beyond just finding out the time while sitting at the desk was a hassle for me. Bad angle for both phone and neck. Having the phone picked up and the censor in the front was too unnatural and required too much dexterity I didn't possess.

</comment></comment><comment><USER55> I was waiting on this for so long, but ended up with a OnePlus instead, excited to finally see them released, it will be great for the Android ecosystem.

</comment><comment><USER56> Despite claiming for years that they are working hard to bring their devices to more countries, the availability is pretty embarrassing:

Pixel 3a (1 more country than the Pixel 3 - +India)

 _Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States_

iPhone XR

 _Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guernsey, Herzegovina, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the UAE, UK, US and US Virgin Islands. Israel, Armenia, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Macau, Maldives, Myanmar, Ukraine and Vietnam._

<comment><USER57> >Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States

Doesn't that covers 80% of the major market volume ex-China?

After all Google isn't exactly a hardware company, and it doesn't seem they want to be one either.

</comment></comment><comment><USER58> I wish the OLED display used higher frequency PWM or DC dimming instead of PWM. Otherwise it seems to be a decent device.

</comment><comment><USER59> Compared to the two year old Pixel 2 this is disappointing. The screen is better but it appears to have the same cameras and a significantly slower CPU. Its radio is only cat 12 too.

You're better off buying a used Pixel 2.

</comment><comment><USER60> I am wondering how durable these plastic bodies are going to be... Seems like it would be cheaper and easier to replace a plastic body, versus metal and glass... I can't wait touch one. The price is near perfect.

<comment><USER61> All the plastic phones I had were more durable than metal or glass. They scuff a little easier but plastic absorbs the hits rather than bending (metal) or cracking (glass).

Plastic is only unpopular for social reasons -- it is seen as less "premium." But aside from that it is basically the ideal material for phones, light, durable, allows wireless charging, allows signal penetration, etc.

<comment><USER62> Not to mention that it often comes with a grippy coating that prevents the phone from sliding out of your hand.

Oh, and not to mention the fact that everyone needs to put a plastic or rubber case on their metal or glass phone, so not only do people not get to see their "premium" materials on a day-to-day basis but also it's now significantly blown up in size.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER63> Anyone noticed that Google is cheating with Google Photos backup? Only hi- resolution gets backed up. To back up original resolution one has to buy Pixel 3. I am kind of pissed of this marketing.

<comment><USER64> Kinda cheap move if you ask me.

<comment><USER65> Not giving you free GB of storage on their servers forever is a "cheap move" for 400$ phone?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER66> Does it support wireless charging? I can't seem to find any info on that and I'm addicted to that feature. Can't imaging going back to dealing with desk spaghetti.

<comment><USER67> Have you used wireless charging long? I'm worried about the effect the extra heat has on the longevity of the phone's battery.

<comment><USER68> I see this concern a lot, but I can't say I've ever noticed heating issues and I always use the Pixel Stand at night.

I'm somewhat unlikely to notice battery life issues, though - my usage is very variable, and I charge a lot (combination of using android auto and habits from my previous phone)

<comment><USER67> Fair enough. You're the perfect user for a wireless charger then.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER69> I'm not from the US, what are the sales taxes (VAT) there? I mean for personal purchase.

I wonder casue $1 = 1£ once again. So the $399 US price (net) becomes 399£ (gross) which is $522 atm.

<comment><USER70> We don't have a VAT. Each state/city has its own "sales tax" rate, which is the closest equivalent, and those vary from 0% to more than 10%.

<comment><USER71> There's three tiers that I'm aware of, state, county, and city. So much fun. I don't envy anyone that has to figure this mess out.

<comment><USER72> That would be nice. I work with leasing software and you're right not to envy :-).

There's also county and city transit taxes. And if you are purchasing equipment from out of state and don't pay sales tax, some localities charge a use tax which is a parallel system with its own rates and rules. Fun stuff!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER73> This seems like the spiritual successor to the Nexus 5x.

Mid-range phone and specs with a great camera.

Also if you're a google fi customer you can get a $100 credit, that drops the price substantially.

</comment><comment><USER74> Am I the only person who insists on buying phones with micro sd card slots? Still Google's phones are useless to me.

I have a legitimate reason. It only happened on one phone, but it validated my decision. If the phone fails to boot for whatever reason I can get most of my important data out. Photos and videos were all just fine on my trusty micro sd card, no spying cloud services required.

</comment><comment><USER48> I don't really care if my phone is Android or iPhone or whatever. All I need is fast Firefox with ad blocking enabled, some messaging apps, quick camera, stereo front speakers, headphone jack, gps, quick charge, large battery, small weight, and NO bugs.

Today I find no phone can fully satisfy these criteria. Is 3a different? Let's wait a little bit for more extensive reviews.

<comment><USER75> Which of those criteria does the Nokia 8 fail to satisfy?

<comment><USER48> I never heard about that phone, sorry. I thought Nokia is out of smartphone business already many years ago. But I will check YouTube reviews, thanks. Glad they are back.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER76> The glass on the screen on my Pixel 3 is the worst I've had in recent phones (Nexus 5, Moto X4). The rest of the phone is...fine. It picks up scratches really easily, and cracked in a moderate fall onto a wood floor. Both prior phones took a lot more abuse. My wife has the same phone and the exact same experience.

<comment><USER68> Just to remind everyone that anecdote != anecdata, I've got a 3xl with one of the fabric cases. No scratches yet, and it's even been dropped a few times with nothing to show for it. In short, I think the screen is great.

It's certainly a far cry from my previous phone (Galaxy S6), which was dented and scratched within a month (maybe two? it's been a few years). I had to give in and buy a protective case for the S6, but I don't see that happening for the 3xl.

Chances are it's very dependent on what you do with your phone, as always. Mine sits on a desk/table or plugged into my car most of the time, and only ends up in my pocket (without keys!) when I'm walking somewhere.

<comment><USER76> For sure. They have a different and more easily scratchable surface though - that's fairly noticeable. I had no change in behavior between it and prior phones. Barely got any scratches from pocketing them over the years, got multiple deep scratches on this one in the first week and more since. Bad batch? Maybe? Still sucks for an $800 phone. (Which I got effectively for free via Fi, so shrug.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER77> This phone caught my attention because they added the headphone jack back in.

Unfortunately the screen is still huge, even in the non "XL" version. I'd rather not move to something bigger than my iPhone SE.

</comment><comment><USER78> store.google.com: "We aren't in your country yet"

This is bizzare. We have Apple/Samsung/Huawei/xiaomi stores on every corner somehow. At least they offer google search here.

</comment><comment><USER79> And how many years will the battery will last?

<comment> abc-xyz I suspect 2-3 and then the phone will power off after 5 minutes of usage despite having 100% battery, or power off when opening the camera app. Then you'll be stuck with a really powerful phone whose specs could easily be usable for 5-10 more years, but you're out of luck because the battery is impossible to replace..

It feels shortsighted that people are willing to buy phones that doesn't have replaceable batteries.

</comment></comment><comment><USER80> Is 3 years support the best it'll get in Android world? I've been itching to get an Android for some time now but I can't justify spending a couple hundreds for a phone that'll only last for so long and is already slow. This is in comparison to my 5S which still gets the latest iOS support since I bought it in 2013 (6 years!) while being decently fast (thanks iOS12).

<comment><USER37> At the moment it's 3. It will likely increase at some point. This is not a bad value though. Wait for some deals and you'll get to roughly $100/year cost of ownership.

</comment></comment><comment><USER81> I've been rocking an Galaxy S6 Edge+ for the last few years, would this be a worthwhile upgrade?

<comment><USER82> Coming from someone using an S7 Edge since its release, I don't think it would be an upgrade for me. I'm losing more than I'm gaining, I don't think I can go back to a non-waterproof/water-resistant phone which doesn't have wireless charging.

From an S6Edge+ perspective, if you're missing out the latest software updates and need an upgrade in the camera department, then go for it. Otherwise, there may be a better choices in the market or just go with a "premium" smartphone to future-proof for another 3-5 years.

Edit: spelling

</comment></comment><comment><USER83> my only problem with this is i feel burned by the pixel 2. I bought the blue one from verizon and the android messanger app would lose text messages from people and sometimes when I called people they couldnt hear me.

</comment><comment><USER84> $649 for the non-XL in Australia. Christ.

<comment><USER85> 400 usd to aud is about 570Aud, so is this a report to ACCC?

they should atleast be within the 570 range. 650 is a bit of piss take.

also google support in Aus is terrible at best, had a dead nexus 5x , sent back for replacement had to pay for new phone, still fighting for a refund...

<comment><USER86> Don't forget 400 USD won't include tax. So 570AUD + GST is $627.

<comment><USER57> Is baffles me, 11 years after the introduction of iPhone people are still asking the same question.

Why do these people complain and ask if they didn't want to know the answer?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER87> plastic back => replaceable battery?!

<comment><USER88> Oh - my dream phone. Headphone jack, SD card slot and a big and replaceable battery...

<comment><USER3> My Samsung Galaxy S5 from back in the day had all of those. Easy to root too.

<comment><USER87> I am looking for an S4 replacement, this seems to be the one, although i'm waiting for in-depth reviews and jerryrig video to be sure

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER89> Is it ownable (rootable)?

<comment><USER58> With exception of the Verizon model the bootloader on all Pixel devices can be unlocked (iirc) but it wipes data for security reasons.

</comment></comment><comment><USER90> Should be 300$ and 400$

</comment><comment><USER91> Oh wow! A Google phone with Google Assistant and Google Maps? Who would've thought!

</comment><comment><USER92> Anyone else thinking that google is using the cheap device to collect even more in depth user data which is how it really makes money off the phones?

</comment><comment><USER93> As an iPhone user who hasn't touched Android in years:

You could literally replace that special marketing video at the top of the page [1] with any other Android / Google phone and I wouldn't even be able to tell the difference.

Just feels like a bunch of shiny blah without telling me anything useful. Might as well replace with a toaster. Maybe that's the point...

On a less critical note though, glad Google is pressing cheaper phones. The standard for a reasonable phone is all over town these days

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc7LlUtQgNw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc7LlUtQgNw)

<comment><USER67> What specifically stands out to you about that being an ad for an Android phone instead of an iPhone? I can't see a huge differentiation.</comment></comment>


Presentation of a project: Muonium, an encrypted cloud - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/muonium/core/wiki/Presentation <comment><USER2> What French crypo laws prevent them from deploying in France? And then why can C14 do this? "Your data are encrypted using AES-256, replicated many times and stored in our 25 meter deep underground fallout shelter located in Paris, France." [https://www.online.net/en/c14](https://www.online.net/en/c14)

<comment><AUTHOR> This project use the server side encryption, therefore there is a moment where the file isn't encrypted on the server.

Contrary to this project, Muonium use the client-side encryption.

Also, French laws do not authorize this kind of initiative, maybe the passphrase is just hashed in MD5 xD

And privacy haven't to cost.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Muonium Home: [https://muonium.ch/photon/](https://muonium.ch/photon/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Yea x)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> What is GAYFAM?

<comment><AUTHOR> Google Amazon Yahoo Facebook Apple Krosoft x) It represents the big centralization of these companies, which love to rape your privacy x)</comment></comment>


Side Effects of the Growth of Wealth (1999) - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/07/daily/turbo-book-review.html <comment><USER2> > _Using the Microsoft Corporation as his benchmark, Mr. Luttwak says that the > new high-tech titans produce much capital but relatively few new jobs. The > rich get richer, but those driven out of work by the computer revolution are > forced to take lower-paying service jobs. The unskilled they displace turn > rationally to criminal activity like drug dealing._

Prescient.

Facebook is a $400B corporation, one of the world's most valuable, and it employs, what, 15k people? Before, your bigcorps like Carnegie Steel and Standard Oil employed hundreds of thousands.

We no longer need labourers for factory work, to fight wars, to flip burgers or drive trucks. People say that automation will only create more jobs and freedom, but I have a hard time believing that. Automation is the ultimate triumph of capital over labour. The rich don't need Middle America any more, because most Middle Americans don't have any worthwhile skills. Americans in "flyover country" are increasingly unemployed, filing for disability, and dying of opioid overdoses. And people wonder why Trump got elected.

I'm parroting the points made in this delightful talk here, by a YC alum no less: [https://www.facebook.com/antonio.f.garcia.martinez/posts/101...](https://www.facebook.com/antonio.f.garcia.martinez/posts/10106466808735263)

<comment><USER3> I think you are right that "automation is the ultimate triumph of capital over labour," but I'd really like to point out that knowledge capital is a huge part of this. Having an employable skill these days is becoming more and more synonymous with having some sort of knowledge capital, because essentially everything that doesn't require knowledge capital can be automated away.

>Americans in "flyover country" are increasingly unemployed, filing for disability, and dying of opioid overdoses.

That's not true in general, and it implies that states like California don't face these same issues. If you look at the unemployment rate of states, the 25 states with the lowest unemployment rates are all "flyover country." [1]

I think the root of these problems are caused by structural unemployment. Living in a flyover state is a great predictor of these problems, but it is not the cause.

1\. [https://www.statista.com/statistics/200017/state- unemploymen...](https://www.statista.com/statistics/200017/state-unemployment- rate-in-the-us/)

<comment><USER2> [stupid comment, deleted]

<comment><USER4> You have this backwards. New Mexico is #1 for unemployment only if you're going for a high score. Obviously, high unemployment should match low labor participation, which is what you see.

The numbers make a lot more sense than you think.

[https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm](https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm)

compares well with your link,

[https://www.expresspros.com/Newsroom/America- Employed/Expres...](https://www.expresspros.com/Newsroom/America- Employed/Express-Releases-State-by-State-Analysis-of-Labor-Force- Participation- Rates.aspx?&referrer=http://www.expresspros.com/Newsroom/America-Employed- News-List.aspx)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > In the end, he offers no prescription for turbo-capitalism, merely predicts > that "the wave of the future could be populism," the essence of which is > always "a revolt of the less educated against elite rule, elite opinions, > elite values and the elite's consensus on how government and the economy > should be run."

Published in 1999. Sounds like he got at least some things right.

</comment><comment><USER6> > _As for Rule Three, it is for the non-Calvinists who reject Rule Two, "who > are not paralyzed by guilt and who are too uneducated to express their > resentment legally." For them "there is only one possible form of > expression: to break the law, by engaging in criminal activities such as > murder, armed robbery, violent assault, rape and the smoking of marijuana in > pipes or home-made cigarettes." Followers of Rule Three end up in prison._

This feels really out of touch. Aside from the stilted language ("home-made cigarettes" in 1999, really?), lumping people who use marijuana with rapists and murderers is absurd. Might as well lump in people who jaywalk.

<comment><USER7> Not everyone who jaywalks is following the third law, but jaywalking might be a good indication that you are! From what I can tell, the idea of those three laws is to emphasize the first two. Anyone who isn't falling for the mentality of the first two risks, by their 'out of the box' tendencies, being tossed in the clink with the rapists and murderers.

In ultra-capitalist America, they are saying, money's power is protected at the cost of some human freedoms, such as the freedom to smoke homemade cigarettes that didn't feed into the industry. If you don't make the sacrifices required by the first two laws, you might find yourself sacrificed. It's safest to conform.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> There is definitely something in it when the article links turbo-capitalism to "the destruction of authenticity".

I find that wealthy people lack authenticity and more often than not, they seem to be completely unaware of their predicament.

They've seemingly lost their ability for self-reflection (if they ever had it) - That's why many of them trust financially-motivated personal growth gurus, success coaches, high-end psychologists and advisors to guide them.

A lot of wealthy people don't seem to fully appreciate that absolutely everyone around them is constantly trying to milk them - Eventually, they get so used to it that they start to think that they're living in some pink cloud surrounded by friendly people and they forget that these so-called friends always have their skinny hands on those fat udders of theirs.

<comment><USER9> From your tone, I would guess you feel offended that other people are richer than you so you're looking for ways to find faults with them to convince yourself that it's actually you who's superior.

Perhaps you should compare who is doing the most good to other people. To me, that's a more important quality than the nebulous ones you identified - "authenticity" and "self-reflection". You can always find some arbitrary trait that makes somebody you don't like look bad. Try "diligence", "humility", "intelligence", "motivation", "non-violence", "work ethic", "laziness" and see how your wealthy family members stack up then.

<comment><USER8> I don't see myself as superior. I'm jealous of wealthy people. My real motivation for writing the previous comment is that I'm just not good at pretending and so I'm bitter about missing out on opportunities because of that.

For example, I see that the kinds of people who get funding are those who are really good at presenting themselves in a particular way. You don't need to be smart, you just need to look/act smart, talk fast and tell the prospective investor exactly what they want to hear - In the current economy, only people who are really good at faking seem to succeed.

Those who are good at faking are those who don't realise that they're faking. "Fake it till you make it" is the name of the game. Nobody can lie better than those who lie to themselves.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Turbo-capitalism's full name is "suicidal, greedy, libertarian, utopian delusions worshipping anarchy and extinction, while scapegoating sensible democratic socialism (government and commonwealth) as 'the great Satan.'"

</comment><comment><USER11> "The god of the market-worshipers that celebrate the glories of turbo- capitalism is Adam Smith, but theirs is a devotion that crucially depends on not reading him."

I found this amusing. It seems that fanatical devotion to dogmatic source texts is always predicated on not having read the source text to begin with. (Thinking the words in your head without digesting their meaning does not qualify as reading IMO.)

<comment><USER12> In fact, he warned of this very thing. No one listens.

<comment><USER13> Where, specifically?

(Genuinely curious, as I, too, strongly advocate actually reading Smith: [https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/4cyroa/adam_sm...](https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/4cyroa/adam_smiths_lost_legacy_or_why_you_should_read/))</comment></comment></comment>


Try Hy - <AUTHOR> http://try-hy.appspot.com/ <comment><USER2> It's a dialect of LISP that's compiled down to Python AST IICR.

Here's more information: [http://docs.hylang.org/en/latest/tutorial.html](http://docs.hylang.org/en/latest/tutorial.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> Well done! If anyone wants to learn more:

[http://hylang.org/](http://hylang.org/)

[http://github.com/hylang](http://github.com/hylang)

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulekCWvDFVI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulekCWvDFVI)

and a quick 5 minute lightning talk:

[http://youtu.be/1vui-LupKJI?t=16m13s](http://youtu.be/1vui-LupKJI?t=16m13s)

(Creator here)

Hack on!

<comment><USER4> Great work, man.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I did a little presentation on Hy at Pycon Canada earlier this year [1].

Hy has come a ways since then even. Shortly after that talk we added succinct syntax aliases for QUOTE and QUASIQUOTE. And we added a nice clojure-inspired core library.

It's a cool little language. Fun to hack on. You could learn a few things if you do. And I do hope that we can start help creating documentation for the Python AST module via this project.

[1] [http://pyvideo.org/video/2328/hy-a-lisp-that-compiles-to- pyt...](http://pyvideo.org/video/2328/hy-a-lisp-that-compiles-to-python)

</comment><comment><USER6> So it just desugars into Python? I see there is a section in the documentation for macros, but there's nothing there. Does it support AST macros right now? I thought of doing something similar to this except doing some kind of static or gradual typing (that would be a larger project though).

<comment><USER3> Original author of hylang here - because lisp is homoiconic, you have _real_ macros, not AST macros; although the distinction isn't exactly clear, it's nice to have them as first-class members of the language, and allow them to avoid caring about stmt vs expr internally.

Happy to answer questions.

<comment><USER7> Can you clarify what you mean about "real" macros vs AST macros? The only obvious extension to normal AST-style macros I can think of is fexprs, which re-run the macro procedure on every invocation (rather than once at read/build/macroexpansion/whatever time).

<comment><USER3> Well, two things.

Firstly, AST visitors in Python (or whatever) are clunky and _lots_ of code to do what you say. Hell, I think that it's borderline unpythonic.

You have to consider lots of things, such as whether or not you can put an stmt where you're inserting code, and write a _lot_ of, frankly ugly, Python code to do it.

Hy macros (and really Lisp macros) that are first-class members of the language are nice, because they're a lot more clean to write.

In addition, since Hy does some nasty stuff under the hood to generate clean Python AST, you can do stuff like:

       (print (if true true flase))

(Ok, that's a lie, since it'll do "print True if True else False", but if that had a (do) around everything, it'd still work by mangling the expression - just too tired to write that example right now :) )

Fundamentally, a Hy macro _IS_ an AST macro, just on the parsed and tokenized Hy code (which turns into AST), rather then fiddling with Python AST (which isn't even a stable interface).

That answer the question? :)

<comment><USER7> Yes. Thanks.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Very nice. Surface syntax (and some semantics like interop) seem to be heavily inspired by Clojure :-)

</comment><comment><USER9> Hy is neat. I love Lisps that "compile" or are embedable within host scripting languages.

My favourite one to hack on (owing to my PHP ability) is Pharen[0]. Very neat little Lisp that compiles down to PHP, which is very fun to play with. I highly suggest giving Hy a go if you're a Pythonista, as you can learn a lot about programming in general by seeing how these sorts of languages map to the host. Very fun to hack on, too!

[0]: [http://scriptor.github.io/pharen/](http://scriptor.github.io/pharen/)

</comment><comment><USER10> To quote Dark Helmet, "What the hell am I looking at?"

</comment><comment> vezzy-fnord Not bad. Could be a very useful tool to teach Python programmers Lisp, although I don't think Python benefits much from converting its syntax to sexprs.

<comment><USER11> If this thing supports macros (and it seems to, see the pipe example in the tutorial), it may be more powerful than Python — as you'd expect from a Lisp.

<comment><USER5> It supports macros. It's a lisp-1 and they're not hygienic... but you can hack away with them.

<comment><USER12> and symbols are just strings... that makes writing macros nearly impossible. CL doesn't need hygenic macros since two symbols with the same name from different packages are not the same it's hard to accidentally shadow someone else's definitions.

P.S. The lisp-1 nature of scheme isn't why hygenic macros are important there, it's really a bit of a red-herring, since macros in common-lisp can (and do) use (flet) and (labels)

<comment><USER5> I wouldn't say it's impossible but one should be aware of the issues. And we can always use more contributors to help make it better.

Hy isn't trying to be CL or Scheme. It is still after all, Python. However a homoiconic front-end to Python has interesting implications for a language like Python. Macros in Hy are almost like a template language for Python ASTs. You could replace the namedtuple implementation with a Hy macro. If Python didn't have a `with` keyword you could implement it as a Hy macro. I'm sure there may be more.

Python's not a lisp under the hood. However it does benefit from some of the superficial features of a homoiconic transpilation. :) </cheeky>

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Apparently without TCO :(

        File "<input>", line 1, in fac
        File "<input>", line 1, in fac
        File "<input>", line 1, in fac
        RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded
        =>

</comment><comment><USER14> Heh, recognized reverse polish notation right away. One of the companies I interviewed at last year had me program an RPN calculator fed by CSV spreadsheets. Weirdest thing I've made to date by a pretty wide margin.

<comment><USER15> They had you do that in the interview?

<comment><USER14> Heh, no. It was as a take home coding project (in my earlier and dumber years, I would never do this now). This was after one business and two technical phone screeners. Then after they reviewed my code, I was brought in for a marathon interview lasting from 9:30AM to 6:30PM on a Friday. I left for a wedding when they started their company wide "pizza and demo night". I imagine after this was done they pulled out cots and handed out stuffed animals and blankies to the bro's. In the end, I was so massively frustrated that I forced myself to nail everything they threw at me just so I could have the satisfaction of turning down their job offer, which I did.

Thanks matchu for the additional info on RPN. I didn't know about the stack evaluation benefit, that is very cool.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Incredible implementation.

<comment><USER6> It's not that difficult to parse s-expressions and generate code, which is what this does.

<comment><USER17> For clarity it's generating a python AST which is an object in python. So it's doing a bit more than just raw syntactic sugar.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> What blew my mind is this actually worked on my iPod Touch and brought up the keyboard. Usually "dynamic" JavaScript keyboards or games totally fail on there..

</comment><comment><USER19> Excellent. I thought what a LISP on top of the Python runtime would be (like Clojure + JVM), didn't knew this existed already.

</comment><comment><USER20> "(defun f x (x))" gives a Python stack trace.

<comment><USER21> (defun f (x) (x))

<comment><USER20> Yes, I wasn't expecting this wrong syntax to work, just pointing out that the stack trace looks messy (e.g., leaks the absolute path to the involved Python file).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Finally my knowledge of Scheme comes in handy!

</comment><comment><USER23> Love at first sight with the presentation

</comment><comment><USER24> I think this is fucking amazing.

</comment><comment><USER25> effin' finally. now to do some serious lisping!

</comment><comment><USER26> This could be the next big thing.

</comment><comment><USER26> Is Python really that awesome?

<comment><USER27> SciPy ([http://www.scipy.org/](http://www.scipy.org/)) is really amazing if that's the corner of programming you're into.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> where's cons?

<comment><USER29> It only has pros.

<comment><USER28> \+ is overloaded (+ '(1 2) '(3)) => '(1 2 3)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> A+ for presentation

<comment><USER31> Indeed; that was fantastic.

<comment><USER32> A little off on Chrome for Linux, though.

[http://i.imgur.com/sC0xuy9.png](http://i.imgur.com/sC0xuy9.png)

<comment><USER33> It seems to depend on the window size. Full-screen 1920x1200 mis-registers it, but experimenting with different window sizes seem to make it shift around.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> Source: [https://github.com/hylang/tryhy](https://github.com/hylang/tryhy)

</comment><comment><USER35> []+1 = [] 1

[]+[] -> error ...

<comment><USER36> It's using prefix notation, so

      => (+ [] [])
      []

As in Lisp, commas aren't needed to separate list items. []+1 is parsed like [] followed by positive 1 (+1), which is why it ends up executing even though it's infix notation passed into a prefix-notation parser.

<comment><USER35> WAT. I entered 3 items to input: [] + and 1 - this it is evaluated without error, but was expecting ([] + 1) or something as a result or error. Why there is no error? Why symbol + and a number are evaluated like + was an operator?

<comment><USER36> The + in +1 is bound tightly to the number like the - in -1. Think of it as meaning "positive," not addition.

Also, Hy's lexing appears to have an interesting feature where you don't always need a space to delimit things, so []+1 is automagically broken up into [] and +1. Here are some other examples where it breaks things up:

      => []"foo"3"hey"["wakka""wakka"]
      []
      u'foo'
      3
      u'hey'
      [u'wakka', u'wakka']

      => (+[1][2][3])
      [1, 2, 3]

So without parens, []+1 is like []; +1; in Python and prints out the same result. With parens, the first token of ([]+1) is treated as a function (as would be typical in Lisp) so it tries to execute the Python [](+1), and you get the error that [] isn't callable.

So []+1 ran, but not for the obvious reasons. I'm basically poking at the REPL like you to try and puzzle this out; if you want to dig further, you could look at Hy's docs or source or contact the folks that wrote it.

Edit: an additional detail, not sure if it's informative or just confusing-- "\+ 1" is apparently lexed by Hy as two items, not as positive 1:

      => [] + 1
      []
      Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
      NameError: name '+' is not defined</comment></comment></comment></comment>


A guide to mathematical emotions - <AUTHOR> https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2017/01/25/a-guide-to-mathematical-emotions/ <comment><USER2> I thought with a title like that, that this would be a guide on how to calculate emotions and numerical presentation of emotions. But it's pretty pictures.</comment>


Ask HN: What are your favorite stocks for 2014 - <AUTHOR>

I figured I'd ask my fellow HN'ers what are your favorite stocks for 2014?  And why?<p>disclaimer: don't take anybody's favorite stock as investing advice.  Rather, do you own due diligence and make your own decisions. <comment><USER2> Bitcoin</comment>


What does a 142-day-old Happy Meal look like? - <AUTHOR> http://www.thestar.com/news/article/854355 <comment><USER2> We had this here before:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1256516>

I sometimes wonder why people expect every food item to dissolve into green goo.

<comment><AUTHOR> _We had this here before:_

Yeah, it's dead; that's why this submission came through.

 _I sometimes wonder why people expect every food item to dissolve into green goo._

I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect something that would decompose in one's stomach to be decomposable by other living things (bacteria and insect larvae).

<comment><USER2> Well, it is. It's a bit silly to expect a dry, outside environment to be as bacterial fecund as the insides of your stomach, though. This is almost "area woman builds shrine to immortal fast food" territory.

I guess it's partly because we've got tinned food and fridges all over the place, so we aren't exposed to older methods of preserving food anymore.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, as the poster below suggests, leave an apple out for a few days (or even a peace of bread, as long as it's from a real bakery, not a supermarket), and see how long it lasts in its pristine state.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> This would make the least interesting time-lapse video possible.

<comment><USER3> Agree, but the time-lapse video would suddenly be interesting if it had some other food next to it (like an apple) for comparison.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good point. It could be a McDonald's vs WholeFoods bun.

I wouldn't want to run this half-year-long experiment at home, though.</comment></comment></comment>


Space is Pretty Big - <AUTHOR> http://i.imgur.com/frLHu.jpg <comment><USER2> Actually, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy says it in its introduction.

"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space. Listen ...". So, there.

</comment><comment><USER3> The bombastic claim

"The large galaxy pictured here contains 8 times as many stars as our own Milky Way Galaxy. It is so large, it technically shouldn't exist"

has a much saner description here:

[http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2005/28/fu...](http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2005/28/full/)

It appears to be "too young" according to the expectations of those used to look at the "closer" things.

So not that impressive, compared to what had to happen before: According to our current knowledge, the whole universe must have grown up 10 to 78 th power times in volume (!) in only 10 to -32 th of second (!), so I'm not that impressed that there existed some big galaxy somewhere the whole 800 million years after the inflationary period! Why not?

</comment><comment><USER4> It's overwhelming to try to comprehend how much space there actually is and how small we are.

<comment><USER5> The Total Perspective Vortex is allegedly the most horrible torture device to which a sentient being can be subjected. When you are put into the Vortex you are given just one momentary glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation, and somewhere in it a tiny little mark, a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot, which says, "You are here."

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_in_The_Hitchhiker%27...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_in_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Total_Perspective_Vortex)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Are these slides from Luis Giglio?

</comment><comment><USER7> Boo for the JPEG. Would've been better executed as a PNG :(

</comment><comment><USER8> Impressive... but does not really affect our life.</comment>


Show HN: SwiftyState is a state engine with an on-device GUI - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/mrtksn/SwiftyState <comment><AUTHOR> Recently I started using Swift to develop for iOS and as someone used to deal with the web technologies, it felt quite an opaque process when I am away from the XCode's debugger. I also missed Redux, it was so easy to simply open the developer tools and see what's going on and rewind the state when something funny happens.

To fix this, I created a library that somewhat works like the Redux library and created a UI for debugging the state that runs on the iOS independently from XCode. Shake the device to open the debugger, quite useful when you are testing the device in the wild.

I wanted XCode to continue helping me out with it's autocompleting so paid attention to that too.

After a while, I had this state management library that was working very well for me so decided to pack it as a framework and open source it so that others can benefit too.

In essence, SwiftyState provides you with a central source of truth across your app, the truth in the source can only be changed through actions that you create and you can subscribe to state changes to update your UI or do something when a value in the state changes.

SwiftyState also gives you out of the box functionality to save the state on disk, export it as JSON or load it.

The debugger that can be opened by shaking your iPhone currently shows actions that were run, the complete state and state history. You can use the slider to go back in time and load any previous state.

I hope you like it and if you do so it would be great if you contribute. I want to turn the debugger into a full-blown "developer tools" for iOS and make the native app development process a bit more independent from XCode(or your favouriteIDE)</comment>


Virtual Reality Version of Second Life with Open Source Code - <AUTHOR> https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2019/01/windows-mixed-reality-firestorm-sl-vr-open-source.html <comment><USER2> Linden labs had produced a VR version of secondlife at least for the oculus DK2. There was also another viewer, ctrl-alt-viewer. Linden seems focused on an altogether new VR platform, Sansar, though that fails to get traction. i guess it s nice to have it, but then you need take off the glasses to chat.

</comment><comment><USER3> Any ideas if that terrain would be released? It along with the building represents a lot of work and instructive material. And the code includes many .h files. It would be great to see those also.</comment>


New board in the Arduino Family: Esplora - <AUTHOR> http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardEsplora <comment><USER2> It's always good to see new stuff from Arduino. Especially when I'm not expecting it. This seems to be very specifically for use a controller. Not sure if it's meant for robots or if they are going after the MakeyMakey market since it is based on the Leonardo. The lack of an Xbee or similar RF socket makes it seem more like the latter than for remote control applications. But I'm sure it would be trivial to add your own but that doesn't really seem like the point of this board.

That being said it can be very helpful for prototyping to already have onboard sensors like accelerometer, temp, buttons, and pots.

I tried to buy it, but the link on the page goes to a blank page and I cannot find it in the Arduino store when I look. I wonder what happened with that. I would like to try one out!

EDIT: The "Buy from Arduino Store" button has now been removed from the page and the "Buy from Distributors" button returns a 503 error. Looks like the Esplora may be going the way of the Nexus 4

<comment><USER3> <http://arduino.cc/en/Main/BuyEsplora> "At the moment the Arduino Esplora is available only at your local RadioShack shops."

<comment><USER2> wow, just wow...

<comment><USER4> Radioshack still has a great hobbyist section. It's just hidden behind all the warranties and cellphones.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is quite a functional piece of hardware. They've provided a package shaped like a game system with joystick and four-way buttons, plus RGB LED, temp sensor, loudness sensor, light sensor, analog slider, and TFT LCD connector. I fully expect Adafruit or another maker company to come out with kits with this, a plastic case, and screen before long.

</comment><comment><USER6> Does this mean Arduino is stepping away from the all modular, shield based boards towards more complete, all-in-one boards? Also, I'm wondering how the Esplora is going to be better than a standard Arduino board, with added shields. I mean, I can see the point of an Arduino based game controller, but why the extra sensors?

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just curious about the decision making progress!

<comment><USER7> I imagine the success of the rasperrypi and other all-in-ones is scaring the arduino people.

Look, I'm the perfect demographic for arduino, but I never bought one. I just don't want to have to buy tons of shields, ribbon cables, lcd displays, etc to get a basic device that I can have some fun with. Its also a little intimidating for beginners.

>but why the extra sensors?

Why not? We're talking a minimal amount of money added to the board. You can always get the vanilla arduino if you want one.

<comment><AUTHOR> I recently just brought both and have been playing with them, as well as reading on the forums. There are some things that raspberry pi is better at, such as video media or computer vision. You will never get to run Quake on Arduino.

However, there is stuff that arduino is better at. Most people have difficult time driving servos with the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi. In addition, with the default image of Ubuntu, which is not an actual real-time OS, will cause timing problems in the PWM (pulse width modulation) signals controlling the servos, resulting in jittery servos when an interrupt happens. Currently, the arduinos are better at that, plus they've been around longer, with a larger community, and accessories. Anyway, that's where it's at now.

As for the future trajectory, I can only really guess, but from where I'm standing as a beginner choosing between platforms, while they seem to be targeting education, they're targeting different use cases.

<comment><USER8> Not to quibble with the overall point, but the "default image" is Debian- based, but not derived from Ubuntu, I don't believe. Maybe they thought Raspian sounded better than Rasbuntu...

<comment><USER9> The ARM port of Ubuntu is targeting ARMv7, but RaspberryPi has an ARM11 (ARMv6) processor, so it wouldn't run correctly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> This is going to be ALL OVER art games installations (which are definitely picking up steam the past couple of years, and hey, LA Gamespace got a quarter million funding...). I expect we'll see digital arts galleries littered with these within months.

Good idea too. Seems like also-but-not-quite MakeyMakey competition, because the makeymakey was "Make buttons out of anything". This comes with the buttons but also all of the other sensors you'd expect in controllers these days, except you don't have to wait for someone to reverse out everything and then write drivers for your platform.

</comment><comment><USER11> Anyone working with this is going to have "Dora, Dora, Dora the Esplora" stuck in their heads to the point of insanity. And also any one who reads this. Add a malfunctioning card swiper into the mix and there'll likely be a murderous rampage.

<comment><USER12> Every time I read the name I think about Ice Cube, hacking away on his "two- tone Ford Esplora"

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> This is cool, but I don't like the fact they've essentially forced you into a particular key layout with this design. I thought the whole point of an Arduino board is how modular it is?

What if I'm trying to build out a controller for a PS2 emulator on my phone? I don't have all the requisite buttons. I also don't have them in the layout I'd expect. That's kind of a bummer.

<comment><USER14> I think this is for people rapidly prototyping robots and devices that need RC-like functionality (hence the name "esplora") -- judging from that, this is meant to be a time-saver for a very specific purpose: creating remote controls for vehicles, which generally only require a similar button layout. I think it will be a success, mainly because that seems to be a common task for people using Arduino boards for robotics-type projects.

<comment><USER6> I also think that's their initial idea. What I don't get is this: why would you build an entire Arduino-based robot, only to buy an almost-ready RC- controller. Which isn't actually an RC-controller, because you'd have to have a separate transmitter shield for it...

<comment><USER15> I don't think it's intended to -just- be a controller, but rather a game console unto itself(hence the socket for color TFT screen) . It certainly could be used as just an input device, though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I welcome the addition, but I see the word "fragmentation" has yet to be used in this thread. This board is a true departure from previous designs, but it's my experience that Arduino tutorials are getting harder and harder to "plug and play" thanks to the many various boards out there.

<comment><USER16> While I agree that Esplora is a true departure from previous designs, I don't think "fragmentation" is really an obstacle here. As always, users just need to choose the board model under Tools -> Board menu. As the underlying library and code, I believe are still the same.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Can anyone comment on how hard it will be to drive the LCD over TFT with an ATmega?

<comment><USER18> Well, you can't actually drive a TFT with an ATmega. Speeds don't add up.

What they are talking about is connecting a TFT over SPI, which is to say a display that has a very high-level chip on it that does the actual driving and that you can talk to over a protocol to do various things like draw lines or set a pixel.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> That looks awesome! I would love to use that in my Arduino Uno that I've ordered for Christmas.

</comment><comment><USER20> Any one knows of any board that supports HDMI input?

<comment><USER21> Asus make a whole line of various boards that support HDMI. Google mobile ITX</comment></comment>


Show HN: Trigger – Voice assistant that you don't need to ask, a widget app - <AUTHOR> http://triggeru.com <comment><AUTHOR> Hello world, hope you would like this app.

<comment><USER2> I'm not sure I'm ready to install it, is there a description of what it does and how it works?

<comment><AUTHOR> I suggest you watch the demo video in the website with the sound turns on. It can give you a brief feeling of how the app works.</comment></comment></comment>


Anonymous Money needs Anonymous Exchange (Bitcoin) - <AUTHOR> http://bitcoinweekly.com/articles/anonymous-money-needs-an-anonymous-exchange

<comment><USER2> kiba, do you think there's some kind of limit to how many bitcoin articles you can reasonably submit?

<comment><AUTHOR> As long it is not spam and it is interesting content.

<comment><USER3> But the fact that BitCoin does not need an exchange still stands. Just familiarize yourself with Forex and understand that if the banks thought they could make money on trading BTC, they would add it to the exchange along with the major currencies, exotics, derivatives & metals. And for that you would need volume as without volume you do not have a market.

See: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_market></comment></comment></comment>


Our Internal Blog - <AUTHOR>

Hey guys,
I'm the founder of The Point (www.thepoint.com), a startup that launched a few months ago for organizing collective action and helping people make things happen.
We've got a staff of 10 or so, including 5 or 6 developers.  For the last several months, we've been communicating in part using an internal, password-protected blog, mostly as a stand-in for what would normally go into group emails.
Looking at it recently, I noticed there's nothing in there that's really worthy of secrecy.  And while most of it is uninteresting to the public, it's kind of a window into how our team works together.  I would have liked to have that kind of perspective when I was getting started, so I thought I'd at least let you know it exists.  Some of you voyeuristic types might find it interesting.
We won't be promoting it on our site or accommodating an external audience in anyway, but here it is for anyone that cares: http://internal.thepoint.com
Anyone else doing something like this?
- Andrew <comment><USER2> Reading the day-to-day story of The Point is entrancing to me, an ambitious yet too passive person. Entrancing in a way similar to that of watching awesome Salsa dancers in a Latin club about a year ago. Entrancing enough to get me to start taking lessons and eventually step out onto the public dance floor. Maybe The Point's story will entrance more of us to get out there and start our start-ups. Thank you for recognizing some of us who really want to know what lies ahead and beneath the romanticism of a real start-up.

<comment><USER3> +1 for salsa/latin dancing. It's a lot of fun and a great way to meet women, and build up your confidence.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Curious how much you paid for that domain...

It's not just curiosity driving me; I'm trying to decide how much I'm willing to put down to save 1 letter and a syllable. :-P

<comment><AUTHOR> twenty thousand-ish. Finding a domain was painful. First we wanted tipit.com, but we couldn't even get the squatter that owns it to respond. Then we wanted hotpotato.com (god I'm so glad that didn't work out) -- the dude wanted like $80,000.

Luckily, once we thought of thepoint, not only did it become our favorite, the guy that owned it was cool and reasonable and not in the business of making a buck off of domains.

<comment><USER5> Wow.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think this is great. Not necessarily something every company would do, but it does let someone get to know you extremely well. I think this will be useful when it's time to hire more people. Anyone prospective employee can look and make sure your company is a place they want to work. I think this is an important difference from the typical "company blog" used for marketing and SEO.

</comment><comment><USER7> Why don't you use the Point as your platform for discussions etc. It sounds like you guys are trying to do something you can't do alone by working on thepoint.

Chow your own dogfood.

I like the idea that you are showing the world whats happening inside your company. Its kinda like 37 Signals and their blog

</comment><comment><USER8> We can't expose everything in our internal blog, but the blog tool we use (<http://b2evolution.net/>) lets us share some of it. Not much there yet but we hope to add regularly: <https://dev.youdevise.com>.

</comment><comment><USER9> While I don't have a blog for my projects, I do appreciate the fact that you're letting us in to this area of your startup. I'm sure it will be of use to others who wish to observe the inner-workings of a startup, and hopefully inspire others to begin projects of their own.

</comment><comment><USER10> You might note that the links to the wiki require a username/password. This appears to be a private area for ThePoint.

</comment><comment><USER11> Hey Andrew. I really, really like the site design and overall presentation. Best of luck moving forward.</comment>