Google's Pixel 3 Conference

Today, Google announced their newest lineup of flagship products. Pretty much everything was leaked before the event. In fact, a little while back, someone actually managed to buy the Google Chromecast announced today at a Best Buy. Google tried to play off the leaks by saying we know nothing, but nothing could be further from the truth.

So you think you know… Tune in tomorrow to see for yourself. https://t.co/4zTwRXcn1x #madebygoogle pic.twitter.com/3IO3xaMaP8

— Made by Google (@madebygoogle) October 8, 2018

Needless to say, reactions were mixed. One of my hardcore Android friends switched to an iPhone X because they hated what the Pixel 3 leaks were showing. The Pixel 3 has its ups and downs. For starters, that notch is huge. I think that Call Screen thing is a nice feature. My only gripe with it is that it's basically a glorified voicemail message. In 2018, most people will just let an unknown caller go to voicemail.

I'm sure the camera holds up on the Pixel 3, but that image they said an iPhone XS took was definitely not untouched. At the very least, they turned down the brightness slider in the viewfinder. It should be common knowledge that no quality smartphone takes a photo that bad in the middle of the day.

I'm not a fan of the design of Google's Home Hub. It looks like a toy. But I do like that they didn't put a camera on it. The one thing that has kept me from buying an Echo Spot is the fact that it has a camera. Amazon can put as many microphones in my place as they want at this point. I really have stopped caring, but I don't like the idea of cameras that I will never use in any room of a house.

Finally, I just want to touch on the Google Pixel Slate. Why is Google still hung up on tablets? It seems that the general consensus of Android users don't want Android tablets, mostly because the apps are just scaled up phone apps. You look at the iPad and apps are made from the ground up to take advantage of the larger screen size. And then you hear the presenter go on about how you don't want your tablet to be a desktop, but you do at the same time. Oh, it was a mess. It's weird to say you can buy an iPad for cheaper than the Pixel Slate, and you'll probably have a better experience.

If you couldn't tell lately, I have been very critical of Apple. But one of the main reasons I do that is because pretty much every big player in the tech industry is a fish out of water right now. No one is really in the lead. And because of that, it feels more of a "I just have to outrun you" situation. No one's innovating, they're just increasing specs. And that's odd for 2018. We're living in an era where self-driving cars are already on our streets and we can casually send Teslas into space, but our smartphones are getting more and more predictable. We need to ask more of Silicon Valley, because there has been a lower standard for sometime now.