Pixel 6 mmWave antenna

[Cmaier]

Looking forward to Google explaining that mmWave doesn’t work in landscape mode because “you’re holding it wrong.”

Pixel 6 teardown shows lots of heat dissipation, questionable mmWave layout — Ars Technica

The Pixel 6 has a lot of thermal tape and only one mmWave antenna?

apple.news

 

[Runs For Fun]

Is it just me or is Google constantly disappointing with the Pixel? Granted I haven’t touched anything Android in years so I’m a bit out of the loop.

 

[Cmaier]

Is it just me or is Google constantly disappointing with the Pixel? Granted I haven’t touched anything Android in years so I’m a bit out of the loop.

They’ve never really taken it seriously. They don’t design their own cpus (the new magical “tensor“ cpu was clearly designed by Samsung), they are all over the place with which market segment they are aiming for, etc.

 

[jbailey]

Looking forward to Google explaining that mmWave doesn’t work in landscape mode because “you’re holding it wrong.”

Pixel 6 teardown shows lots of heat dissipation, questionable mmWave layout — Ars Technica

The Pixel 6 has a lot of thermal tape and only one mmWave antenna?

apple.news

If anyone notices. Between the small number of mmWave sites and the generally lackluster Pixel sales it may take a while.

 

[Cmaier]

If anyone notices. Between the small number of mmWave sites and the generally lackluster Pixel sales it may take a while.

Yep. I haven't found any mmWave sites yet.

 

[Yoused]

they are all over the place with which market segment they are aiming for

ISTR someone had a concept about 5, 6 years ago called "Fonebloks" or something like that, which they were trying to kickstarter. The idea was a sort of lego phone composed of various function modules that could be swapped for newer tech. Sadly, they never gained any traction, but just imagine if they had. I mean, there are obvious weaknesses surrounding the interconnects, but damn if that would not be appealing. Get a better camera, or a bigger screen, or a newer transceiver instead of plunking down for a whole new unit (which happened to us on vacation this summer when my best friend panicked because her iPhone 7 warped half out of its case and she absolutely had to get a new 12 right now).

 

[mr_roboto]

ISTR someone had a concept about 5, 6 years ago called "Fonebloks" or something like that, which they were trying to kickstarter. The idea was a sort of lego phone composed of various function modules that could be swapped for newer tech. Sadly, they never gained any traction, but just imagine if they had. I mean, there are obvious weaknesses surrounding the interconnects, but damn if that would not be appealing. Get a better camera, or a bigger screen, or a newer transceiver instead of plunking down for a whole new unit (which happened to us on vacation this summer when my best friend panicked because her iPhone 7 warped half out of its case and she absolutely had to get a new 12 right now).

Phonebloks was an idea which gained popularity through a big social media push, and pretty concept renders which made non-engineers think it was real and practical. The goal of reducing e-waste was (and is) laudable, but Phonebloks as a method of reaching that goal never seemed grounded in reality. Lots of big promises, but no solid engineering proposals which could back up the claims.

You mentioned one of the biggest problems, interconnect. How do you make a phone with lots of block interconnection points? How's it going to be reliable, how do you seal so many connectors? How do you make the overall package small and light enough to be comfortably pocketable with all this volume overhead of connectors and seals and bulkheads? How do you make sensible decisions about standard module sizes that will pass the test of time? How do you market a phone which is inevitably far more expensive and bulky than competing phones? There's a lot of consequences of de-integrating a phone.

 

[Cmaier]

Phonebloks was an idea which gained popularity through a big social media push, and pretty concept renders which made non-engineers think it was real and practical. The goal of reducing e-waste was (and is) laudable, but Phonebloks as a method of reaching that goal never seemed grounded in reality. Lots of big promises, but no solid engineering proposals which could back up the claims.

You mentioned one of the biggest problems, interconnect. How do you make a phone with lots of block interconnection points? How's it going to be reliable, how do you seal so many connectors? How do you make the overall package small and light enough to be comfortably pocketable with all this volume overhead of connectors and seals and bulkheads? How do you make sensible decisions about standard module sizes that will pass the test of time? How do you market a phone which is inevitably far more expensive and bulky than competing phones? There's a lot of consequences of de-integrating a phone.

Remember the compaq PDA? Ipaq? Something like that. Slide on modules? I had one of those. Terrible idea.