So I’ve been messing around with a few phones lately, a nexus 6p, a pixel 3a xl, and a s21 ultra, and I’ve noticed that on the 6p and 3a xl both sound louder, punchier, and clearer when compared to the s21 ultra. They also both have that thicc notch design with a massive speakerphone which might add to the high volume levels.
you’re comparing apples to oranges here. it has nothing to do with their generations per se.
the 6p had fantastic speakers; perhaps the best non-gaming phone speakers in all of phone history. only the pixel 2 series matched it for loudness and quality.
samsung’s galaxy series really skimps on that front because they want to give you an excuse to buy their otherwise wholly unnecessary earbuds. they’ve a 2cm grill at the bottom of the phone coupled with a tinny earpiece. of course the sound from them is shit.
valid point, but you would expect a flagship phone from 2021 to at least compete with a lower end phone from 2019
Speaker technology (at least for something “old school” like stereo) hasn’t improved significantly for a very long time. That’s not to say it’s not good, we just figured out how to make a good speaker a long time ago.
DSP has improved since then but no amount of DSP will make regular speakers sound like great ones (like the nexus 6’s) of the same size or type
Man, do I miss those awesome front firing speakers on the pixel 2…
I can report that the speakers on the Pixel 8 Pro are a massive improvement. I have owned all Pixel phones since the 2.
Glad to hear it. The ones on my 6 (and the 4a before it) are just “meh”
The fingerprint reader is worse, though. So much in fact that you kinda have to develop a feeling for the exact amount of pressure and “finger rolling” to make it work. After a few days you kinda figure it out, but naturally, every once in a while it just stops working right in that awkward moment when you are not in a position to type in your password.
Overall, not unhappy with the upgrade though. I’d get it again.
Wait, worse than the 6? Because this one is pretty not great.
The back facing ones were the shit. Super fast and perfectly located.
Yes, absolutely worse than the 6. At least it was possible to get the one in the 6 to do what you want, whereas the fingerprint reader in the 8 requires the user to adjust their behavior - and that’s with already enrolling multiple fingerprints per finger etc.
It’s workable, but it requires adjustment and it does fail every once in a while in an annoying way. The 8 does have face unlock though.
Just out of curiosity, have you tried registering your prints in a darkened room?
I took your suggestion and went to a pitch black room and re-enrolled all fingerprints. No significant improvement.
That pretty much sounds like what I have to do with my 6.
Maybe I got an exceptionally bad one.