Anon asks: what is Google’s problem?

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tortillazaur@reddit

Are pixel phones a joke though? I heard recent ones are pretty good

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rip-droptire@reddit

Pixel 4 owner checking in, I've owned it since 2021 and replaced the battery once, still going very strong

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It's the little things. You can't Chromecast to the majority of castable devices, no micro HDMI built into the USB port either. There's other things that have made me bang my head against a wall, but I lost too many brain cells from the concussions to remember them.

The camera is fine I guess, and the phone runs fast enough. But I had an Samsung S9 before this and it was better in every way. I'll never buy, or recommend a Google phone to anyone.

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tortillazaur@reddit

i had to actively google what a chromecast is and I don't think I ever needed to connect my phone to something via hdmi

either it's me who is weird or you just need more features than the phone made for the "average user" provides

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Allsons@reddit

You understand that not giving a fuck about grammar, punctuation or spelling while typing on your phone is just an excuse for being lazy right?

Android phones used to be the best. They were like a full powered PC you could carry around in your pocket. They're getting worse now, not better.

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Bezray@reddit

I'm using an 8 and it's fine

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northbowl92@reddit

My 8 is the best phone I've had

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SoupaMayo@reddit

Honestly one of the best camera of its generation

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ecco311@reddit

Basically every Pixel has one of the best cams of its generation of Smartphones. It's what pixel is known for.

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luugi_06@reddit

I have a Pixel 4a and it's still working fine

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Chexreflect@reddit

I've heard good things about them. Pretty sure 4chan OP is just a Google hater

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Throwaway74829947@reddit

Pixels are great... but only because you can replace Google's OS with GrapheneOS.

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t0ppings@reddit

They're really popular here in the UK, half my office uses them. Every time I get a new phone I get another Pixel, not because I love them or anything, all phones are just kinda basically identical and I know what I'm getting. I've never had a problem personally but I'm also not singing their praises.

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minitrott01@reddit

I've had pixel phones for the last 6 years and loved them all. I think they slipped with the Pixel 4 and Pixel 5. But they self corrected and are making amazing phones.

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jzr171@reddit

Probably the best android phone on the market. Could easily dethrone the iPhone if Google continues trying for a change. Sadly they don't have a history of that.

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Supereater69@reddit

I've quite enjoyed the pixels I've had. I've had less problems than the other competitors

3xl and 7 pro..

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TheDeflatables@reddit

I have no complaints about the 7

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garliclemonpepper@reddit

I've got a 6 and love it

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bendbars_liftgates@reddit

I have an 8 and it's A-O-fine.

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Silentmatten@reddit

My wife and i have 7 pro's which have tons of connectivity issues. Other than that, it's pretty decent.

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matt_sound@reddit

I also have a pixel 7 pro and have never had a connectivity issue, so I guess ymmv

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Silentmatten@reddit

indeed, the thousands of searches i've done, i've found that it's just a manufacturing error that sometimes happens with the network card. Hopeful when we upgrade, it won't be a problem next time.

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matt_sound@reddit

Oh that really sucks, sorry to hear. That kind of issue is such a pain in the ass to diagnose and deal with

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Silentmatten@reddit

It's a royal pain in the ass, especially when we're in a hurry.

I'm just glad the fix for it is easy. Turning on airplane mode for a couple seconds then turning it off usually fixes the problem

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FruitChips23@reddit

I have a 7 too, it's pretty good

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Ctrl-Alt-Bingo@reddit

Had a 6a fro about 2 years until it got crushed by a can of salsa, felt brand new before it got broken. Have an 8 now, both have easily been the best phones I've ever used, everything is snappy and efficient. Really like it, my only complaint is they have touch vibration on by default

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Squawnk@reddit

I had a pixel 3 and I loved it, but eventually it took a shit and got trapped in the bootloader but was unable to boot

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Foxehh4@reddit

I kinda love my Pixel 7

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tigertoken1@reddit

I still have the 5a and it works perfectly for me

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StaryWolf@reddit

Pixel phones have been mostly good since they launched.

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genericmediocrename@reddit

Maybe I've lost perspective since I've been using them for years, but I've liked mine. I've had a 3a, 6, and now a 9, so I've liked them enough to keep buying them.

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azraelxii@reddit

They are pretty great

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Elementaris@reddit

You pay flagship prices for mid range specs that will slow down in 3 years. I believe that is the point of the post. Perhaps it will change with the 10

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KuntStink@reddit

I've had the pixel 1, 4 and now 8. Been fantastic phones, no significant slowdowns or issues. Any phone, flagship or not will seem slower after 3 or 4 years when compared to the newest ones on the market though. What are you talking about?

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Elementaris@reddit

The chip inside the recent (6-9) Pixels are very underpowered compared to the competition and will show their age much faster in the future than other phones. I guarantee you the iPhone 16 and the Galaxy S24 will age much better than the Pixel 9.

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KuntStink@reddit

I guess we'll see, but I plan on keeping this 8 for at least 3 more years. I would never buy a Samsung with all that bloat software they install.

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Elementaris@reddit

I’m not trying to shit on people’s phone choices, rather I’m trying to shit on Google for saving themselves costs by using a very underpowered chip compared to the competition and not passing the savings onto the consumer.

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james-l23@reddit

Has anyone been having the issue with static build up on them though? I have a Pixel 8 and every day my phone screen goes green and spazzes out. From what I've read, the pixels have been doing it since the 7 and always seem to happen after a few months.

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AWeirdMartian@reddit

Been using an 8 Pro since launch, and have no idea what you're talking about

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james-l23@reddit

Search "Google pixel screen green". First suggestion should bring up a Google help site that includes a picture of what I'm talking about.

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Teln0@reddit

Is that caused by static buildup?

Btw you just unlocked an old memory of when I got one of my first phones

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james-l23@reddit

I think it's caused by static. At least, that's what I read when I looked into it online. However, I wouldn't have a clue in the slightest if that really is the case.

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Thin-Concentrate5477@reddit (OP)

If that happened to me everyday I would be so pissed.

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Joshgg13@reddit

Yeah the Pixel 8 is pretty great. Previous Pixel phones were kinda trash though, because Google has always been better at making software than hardware

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soulscratch@reddit

Pixel 6 is the only one that was bad honestly

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Ok_Implement_555@reddit

My pixel is pretty good

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Kalyise@reddit

Been using a 6 for over two years. No complaints.

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SilianRailOnBone@reddit

Pixel 6 here, it's a nice phone

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Top_Calligrapher7011@reddit

google docs 👍

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firehawk_hx@reddit

gmail still pretty good though

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MBussard45@reddit

Nope. If you want to use any client other than their own you are forced to use imap. Maybe they will support jmap or something eventually, but until then, dogshit.

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firehawk_hx@reddit

Good thing their client is perfect and there is no need to use another.

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MBussard45@reddit

Perfect? Sure okay. I love using tags instead of folders. Sub tags are also so user friendly and not prone to errors at all. Google is just the best. They know exactly what is best for me. Folders and logical structure is just a construct made for dumb dumbs.

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firehawk_hx@reddit

If you’re nothing without your folders then you don’t deserve to have them.

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MBussard45@reddit

I mean that is fair, but it does not contribute anything to the conversation.

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thinsoldier@reddit

gmail could so very easily be so much better. Anyone who is able to clone gmail, and figures out a domain name as good as "gmail" and then implements the few things that would make it better, could steal all future email users who have yet to make a gmail.

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XDracam@reddit

Email is such a horrible technology that it's unlikely for anyone to build a better clone any time soon. At least not without throwing a medium-sized team of very talented and expensive engineers at the problem. If you think you can do better than go ahead and try.

(I'm not saying Gmail is perfect, but that every email solution is terrible)

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BeheadedFish123@reddit

What could be so much better about a free email service? It does what it says in the can

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d_101@reddit

The ui is clunky and unnecessary integrations of gsuit

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RodjaJP@reddit

question, is there a email site that has a better UI? I use outlook/hotmail as a secondary email and I hate the UI and the apps are slow and are kinda buggy (on PC it forgets I did read something unless I use the website, and on Android it logs me out and requires me to make a new password every time)

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ShortTheseNuts@reddit

I enjoy hostingers because it's super clean with zero "functionality" like weird thread forming and shit that just complicates things. It treats mail like a messenger chat.

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RodjaJP@reddit

It's funny that you say that because aside from default messaging apps I don't see many "simple" messaging apps, I especially hate Facebook's Messenger because that shit is treated like its own social media site and contains tons of worthless crap which adds nothing but a super heavy app that barely works as a chatting tool

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GillysDaddy@reddit

Fastmail is super clean. Can use your own domain too.

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TheSereneDoge@reddit

Also hate “tags” and not being able to put my mail into FUCKING FOLDERS

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cohonka@reddit

Also I'm either dumb or I don't know how to delete 3000 emails at once.

But also I do like the pixel phone

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TheSereneDoge@reddit

You can’t. You have to go page by page to delete them.

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cohonka@reddit

That is my main problem with Gmail honestly. Crazy.

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DrawingsOfNickCage@reddit

How often are you pulling g’s when emailing? Or just learn AGSM

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lucasthebr2121@reddit

Idk maybe he has a gmail kink?

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NewDemocraticPrairie@reddit

I like outlook's folders and rules. It would be nice to have that automatically built in

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ReNitty@reddit

Customizable tabs and auto filing to those tabs would be nice

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mitch_feaster@reddit

Google Inbox was light years better than Gmail. But of course Google killed it.

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secondcondary@reddit

An email service that won't send me 20 messages every time i log into a different pc

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poop-machines@reddit

It sends one message. An email.

Is that really your only gripe with it? Feels like a weak criticism.

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secondcondary@reddit

Whenever i log into my academic account on a new pc (so every time i have to pick up a new chromebook) it sends me 2 emails on my academic and main accounts, so multiple times a day i'm bombarded with 4 emails saying someone might be trying to invade my account and i can't opt out of them

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Mr_Nand@reddit

Better safe than sorry though, id much rather have that than one day losing access to my email, and any accounts linked to it being compromised.

Weak criticism indeed.

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bemo_10@reddit

I mean if they are sending him that many false positive emails I doubt they are gonna notice when they actually send them an email of someone stealing their account.

It's gonna get lost in the sea of useless emails. There must be a better way.

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Shad0w2751@reddit

Plus adverts appearing as fake emails

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StandardN02b@reddit

An email service that correctly clasifies email threads that don't break after the first.

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The_sacred_sauce@reddit

Elon wants to make an all in one app out of X like China has. So Xmail is right around the corner I imagine

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eazy_12@reddit

I can't wait the YouTube killer from Elon, maybe something like XVideos?

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The_sacred_sauce@reddit

That is hilarious but that is already an owned IP/trademark. You joke as if we’re not living in a clown world anymore. Not only do things not surprise me I’ve honestly been able to roughly guess the next nonsensical things that will probably happen at this point lol

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tr4v10l1_p4rty@reddit

Brother just admit you visit the "owned IP"

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ICoraxI@reddit

Bro is getting a dissertation ready to let you know that he does not know what xvideos is

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The_sacred_sauce@reddit

It’s a porn hosting site. They own that url and they have merch. Go ahead & name something xvideos then. If it gains any popularity / noterietay then just expect a letter in the mail. You guys are the ones that are clueless

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poop-machines@reddit

Sounds like an nsfw mail service.

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fattyhaha@reddit

X really is a dogshit name for branding the more I think about it

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RodjaJP@reddit

yeah, like, if he didn't buy a site that was actually popular and relevant then nobody would be able to search it on its own, is like the movie called XXX, what was thinking the idiot who gave it that name?

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lutzow@reddit

Honest question: How is his plan going? I can't remember that he rolled out any new services.

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The_sacred_sauce@reddit

Tbh I’m really not sure. I’m not a Elon fan boy. Space X is fucking amazing but I don’t really wait with bated breath for his next moves. I just remember him talking about it on rogan. Conferences he has spoken at. And brief news articles.

X has been under massive supression and hate for awhile now. With him backing trump and trump being potus things are already changing. All the big time advertisers are coming back to X. So between advertisers coming back and the government being cool with it again he’s about to put his plans in motion. He’d be stupid not to

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lutzow@reddit

Yeah, you might have a point. Would make sense to wait for Trumps second term.

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Davy257@reddit

No they couldn’t, the fact that Gmail is built into chrome and created with your google account means that for most people you’re not just asking someone to pick your new email service over Gmail, but you’re asking them to make a second account. For most people that’s not worth the effort and they’re just going to go with whatever is easiest, even if it’s clunky

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olkeeper@reddit

Hear me out... "cmail"

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robbiekhan@reddit

Unlikely, the vast majority of people like gmail because it's quick and easy, and the email address has "@gmail.com".

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GrumpyKitten514@reddit

I mean...maybe I work a lot, but I'm actually really starting to love Outlook.

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AlphaSlashDash@reddit

Gmail makes little money for its services, I don’t think anyone could make a free standalone email service nowadays that could scale similarly to Google.

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MrCockingFinally@reddit

Nope. Inbox was glorious, Gmail is trash.

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84OrcButtholes@reddit

Gmail is how Google reads every single one of your emails so they can show you ads for baby clothes after you send your grandma an email telling her you had a miscarriage.

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thatdudewayoverthere@reddit

That is absolutely not true

While Google obviously has the Technical ability to read your Mails they dont scan your Mails for data to use in advertisment

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letsgoiowa@reddit

I really don't believe that unless it can be verified many times over. It's just too rich of an opportunity not to and they don't make it free for no reason.

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thatdudewayoverthere@reddit

Well you can say the same thing about every other Email Provider

I personally believe that Google wouldn't Risk a lawsuit since they way in their own privacy agreement to not read your Mails

I think people underestimate just how much Google knows about you even without resdimg your Mails

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tearans@reddit

Inbox had so much potential. None of alternatives even paid ones match it, and it is years in past

Google cold blood murdered it.

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MrCockingFinally@reddit

I'm still salty about it.

Even just the interface was so good. Keen and honestly pleasant to work with.

I got so pissed off trying to go back to Gmail that to this day I'm still using outlook as my primary email client and provider.

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JediMineTrix@reddit

Google is bad so I use Microsoft

"Yeah man I can't get behind Jeffery Dahmer Email™ after what he did so I'm using John Wayne Gacy Email™ instead."

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MrCockingFinally@reddit

You didn't read my comments did you?

Google's UI is bad. So I'm using Microsoft. Nothing to do with privacy.

Plus no free email provider isn't stealing your data.

Maybe at some point I'll get a protonmail address. But any free service will have the same issues as the paid ones.

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DanskFrenchMan@reddit

I’m sorry but I fully disagree. Gmail is absolute trash, the UI is terrible and no matter how much I try to change the viewing of emails, they don’t follow the right order etc…

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firehawk_hx@reddit

I don’t have any issues with it on my computer. Have you tried turning it off and on?

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Smelldicks@reddit

Gmail & their suite of office tools is good.

If they could stop making me use my google account with everything else they touch that’d be great. Their demand for integration is so annoying. Leads to me just using different google accounts for different things.

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TheOneWhoReadsStuff@reddit

Gmail is replaceable.

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Markyloko@reddit

yeah i hate privacy and love the targeted ads google gives me by reading my emails

gmail is king

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firehawk_hx@reddit

if you wanna go be a weirdo on protonmail then go off, king

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Markyloko@reddit

a year ago i got into a confrontation with my health insurance and decided to drop it.

then magically i got ads for alternatives on youtube. only source google had were my emails. nothing on my web history.

so yeah, you can call me a proton weirdo.

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CartNip@reddit

For consumers yeah but they lost the enterprise market to outlook and the office suite. (granted Microsoft has been making their tools a lot longer)

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tea_1995@reddit

yeah mate the snooping, data collecting, slow email service which hounds you link your real world ID and phone number to it, complains and bitches if you don't entrench yourself in a web of multiple recovery addresses, has literally zero customer care architecture set up to assist with any issues that you run into, and will eventually spaz and lock you out of your inboxes if you use a VPN. so good

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56Bot@reddit

I have doubts about privacy though.

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planetrebellion@reddit

Slides is good

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AcidicQueef@reddit

I love my pixel

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CheekyChonkyChongus@reddit

Just look at what an average day of google employee looks like and you'll understand

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Thin-Concentrate5477@reddit (OP)

I think that would make another nice greentext

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shmivyo@reddit

Google drive is nice

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Arstanishe@reddit

who cares if they are a monopoly with tube and search?

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Thin-Concentrate5477@reddit (OP)

If there is one thing they have that is easy to replace is the search engine because companies in general don't give a shit if you are using google, duckduckgo or kagi. Besides, their quality dropped.

As for YouTube, it's true. They have a monopoly there.

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Uilleam_Uallas@reddit

If there is one thing they have that is easy to replace is the search engine

Which is why it has been the dominant search engine for over 20 years, and to this date still holds nearly 90% of the search market. So easy to replace.

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Uilleam_Uallas@reddit

This is yellow text.

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redenno@reddit

It's easy to look at all the things they've tried and failed at, because they've tried at SO many things. They still have a number of products that are killing the competition: Google search, maps, YouTube, drive, Gmail, chrome. And Gemini might be "losing" to chatgpt but it's still beating pretty much everyone else. Not trying to "defend" them, I don't care, I just think this is a misleading way of presenting the facts

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ablebagel@reddit

fuck google, but i can’t hate on the integration. my job doesn’t give me office rn, so i enjoy having a document editor that isn’t wordpad

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timfuzail@reddit

Pixel phones are GOAT

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Varixx95__@reddit

I love Google office. I have Microsoft license for my work and I still use Google docs and sheets

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Ayato14@reddit

Made YouTube worst? How? YouTube wouldnt be shit without Google.

I can agree they made stupid af choices like forcing Google+ into YouTube or removing dislikes but is there really anything else?

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CaptainChiral@reddit

Gmail and a lot of chromium browsers (though with chrome blocking ublock origin slot of people are leaving to Firefox)

Anon struggles to understand that Google can literally lose money in everything it touches and still turn a profit from the browser. "Google" has undergone genericide.

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Spice002@reddit

It's not their browser that makes them money. It's the sheer amount of data they pull in from their AdSense ecosystem. Almost every site has Google cookies embedded in them so Google can track your browsing habits, which it then uses to both deliver ads as well as sell demographics data to other companies. Even their random projects they have feed into this. Google is a data company first and foremost.

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lalaland7894@reddit

Yeah. But people have to use the browser / search / maps / mail and to a degree that is under fire

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Tomahawkist@reddit

google is now „generic internet“ the company. lots of things that are being used because either they‘re free, or because they‘re just so established now

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lalaland7894@reddit

no wonder it’s priced the way it is, search is at risk due to perplexity / ai in general, only great part of the business is YouTube + GCP + call option on Waymo.

Gmail and maps are good but don’t think they make material money.

thanks for helping crystallize the thesis

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CyrusFaledgrade10@reddit

Google Maps is significantly worse than it was 10+ years ago

Don't get me started on their search engine

Gmail is good

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ujelly_fish@reddit

…no it isn’t? And it’s still significantly better than Apple Maps, which seems like its closest competitor.

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fuckshitmacgee@reddit

Depends on where you are. Gmaps is the best national yellowpages, but if you are in a well surveyed area like nyc or Bay Area Apple Maps is better for traffic and directions

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ujelly_fish@reddit

If so, marginally.

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Guest65726@reddit

search something on google

gets something irrelevant

adds reddit to the end of the search prompt

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H0rnyMifflinite@reddit

ChatGPT added a search feature. This might kill search engines.

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Testing_things_out@reddit

No thanks. I still prefer not to get my search results summarized incorrectly 2-3/10.

Reading the classical snippets of the first few results is more reliable and less hassle.

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XxTreeFiddyxX@reddit

Maps

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whatup_pips@reddit

Well for starters Pixel phones ain't really a joke, and even if Android has been getting a little worse, most of the world's phones still run it. Chrome and Search, both google products, are the most used browser and search engine in the world, and, ofc, Google has a monopoly on video Sharing with YouTube, which sucks but is the one option people have.

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Snazzle-Frazzle@reddit

Gmail is leagues better than Yahoo. I look at my father's inbox and I don't know how anyone can use Yahoo. There are ads on all four sides of the screen, the top five "emails" are actually ads and then there are more fake ad emails intermixed in the actual inbox as you scroll

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IndependentButton589@reddit

i think google just does everything so its easier to use it cus no one else has that much shit

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Gardeeboo@reddit

I agree with most of this but have no idea wha anon is smoking when he says Android and Pixel suck, that shit's leagues better than Apple and doesn't have as high a bar for entry for getting into their ecosystem, not to mention the longevity of the devices is much better.

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rosso_saturno@reddit

I hate Google for its policies, but can't deny their ecosystem is super good. The apps integrate between each other seamlessly and are all free of charge and ads.

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xD3I@reddit

Gmail and maps have ads, they are embedded but they are still ads, I don't use any other Google service outside search so I wouldn't know, but chances are everything has ads. I guess calendar and meet don't have ads?

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rosso_saturno@reddit

Maps has ads? Maybe I've been using ad-blockers for so long I forgot lol

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cseduard@reddit

the places that pop up on the map are mostly "sponsored"

you have to look for specific places or they won't show up

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etheran123@reddit

Is that really true though? Like I wouldnt be supprised if some are sponsored, but I just pulled up maps for my area, and there are things that pop up, that im confident no one is paying to advertise. A few community parks, hiking trails, some landmarks, a radio beacon for aircraft, and a prison are obvious answers.

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m50d@reddit

Do you get the square places? Those are the sponsored ones.

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cseduard@reddit

i suppose it's more relevant in large cities with thousands of gmaps listings

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PenguinBomb@reddit

Who gives a shit if Maps has ads? Its still one of, if not, the best gps out there.

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NCD_Lardum_AS@reddit

The places that are highlighted are sponsored.

Your search results also aren't unbiased

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RodjaJP@reddit

weird, i'm just checking google maps on my phone and I don't see any special highlights aside from a museum, the bank I go to, and a place that sells glass

I only see ads when I click on the options above (restaurants, shops, and malls, everything else has no ads, such as gas, hotels, and ATMs)

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BackseatCowwatcher@reddit

You say that- but I just skip to page 3, no one's paying to have their result placed there.

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bemo_10@reddit

I am 😈

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wektor420@reddit

Places that are visible in further zoom out payed more

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Mesarthim1349@reddit

Embedded? What does that mean? I've never seen ads on Google maps

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kanny_jiller@reddit

https://ibb.co/R7scPf0

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Boring-Staff1636@reddit

If I search for something like donuts I see a clearly sponsored Dunkin ad at the top of the results even though other places are closer.

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cheater00@reddit

Their productivity apps are a joke. Atlassian is a million times better for getting shit done.

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topden@reddit

They charge you by reading your emails btw

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GrumpyKitten514@reddit

I would argue and say even the ecosystem game, they got beat. Apple's whole business model depends on "the walled garden of eden".

that being said, when it comes to phones and android, after having several versions of samsung phones growing up, (last one being the S10+, i know im dated) If I ever leave the garden I'm probably exclusively going pixel for the clean android experience.

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warriorloewe@reddit

Pixel phones aren't a joke, only ones you can install grapheneos on

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Stan0t@reddit

my pixel phone is the best i‘ve ever had

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Bearrryl@reddit

Same, but had to switch to iPhone cuz I was sick of incompatibility of everyone else having an iphone

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-FriON@reddit

American problem, i guess

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Venasaurasaurus@reddit

Not even an American problem now. Apple finally joined the 21st century with RCS chats in their latest iOS version.

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-FriON@reddit

American problem because only Americans use SMS in 2024. Maybe also Canadians, idk

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MlecznyHotS@reddit

I'm from Europe and use SMS a lot with people who I'm less acquainted with, once I get to know someone is usually when we'd switch to some other form of text communication

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Ulthus@reddit

Had pixels 2-4. Idk why i stuck with them so long. I had so many reoccurring issues with them. Glad they seem to be good now

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Richiefur@reddit

Please recommeend me some alternative to Google drive and gmail.

Local sync on google drive is low-key kinda good for my work flow

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thatdudewayoverthere@reddit

If you use the Microsoft Office Ecosytem One drive is absolutely worth it

It works really well with autosaves and Integration into your normal PC

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Spice002@reddit

Proton or Fastmail for email, BackBlaze or OneDrive for cloud. If you already use Windows, honestly give OneDrive a try. People bitch and moan about how it nags you to backup (because they don't know how to dig through settings to disable it), but being able to just open a file on your laptop that's actually located on your desktop is a godsend. I'd still recommend using BackBlaze too though, because you can do entire backups of your computer and they have unlimited space, plus, if your local storage inexplicably dies, they can overnight you a hard drive with your backups on it so you can restore it.

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CruciFuckingAround@reddit

i dont want to be that guy but outlook and onedrive are pretty ok

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vannaplayagamma@reddit

Onedrive is ok but the real benefit is the 6TB total if you can split amongst 6 people

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Axe-actly@reddit

The integration of Onedrive/Sharepoint with Microsoft Office is glorious. And Microsoft Office with all its flaws is still much better than all of its competitors.

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Joshgg13@reddit

Outlook is pretty comparable to Gmail but in my opinion OneDrive is still far behind Google Drive

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eazy_12@reddit

Syncthing depending on work flow could be very good.

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neoqueto@reddit

Self-hosted, Hetzner, Buyvm, OVH or go the own bare metal route. Deploy Seafile, Nextcloud or OwnCloud for cloud storage. They all have apps or you can use WebDAV or whatever. For e-mail there's decades worth of well-maintained e-mail server software, pick something that supports maildir and a client that does too (although there are no good email clients, even mutt sucks, only less).

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Mysterious_Lab_9043@reddit

Nextcloud would be nice.

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Mongoolii@reddit

Have you tried proton?

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Isneezepepsi@reddit

every map app that isn’t google maps is unbearable to use

also YouTube will never be dethroned, Rumble is pure trash

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vaderman645@reddit

Google's determination to kill YouTube is admirable. If it wasn't literally the only reasonable option it would die so quickly they would never realize it.

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Mammoth-Pumpkin-1198@reddit

As far as map apps go, I've been using OsmAnd more and more lately. The maps are significantly more accurate and detailed than the Google Maps ones, at least in my area, and it can give directions even if your phone is offline.

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_Zezz@reddit

YouTube is one bad policy away from all creators jumping ship.

YouTube for users is fine, but most youtubers hate YouTube.

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MrGulo-gulo@reddit

Jump to where? Sure there's twitch but not everyone wants streaming.

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_Zezz@reddit

Anywhere not YouTube.

Hell, even Twitter may become an option.

Odysee also seems like a nice alternative.

If twitch adds better video options that could also be it.

TikTok if they add longer videos and horizontal videos as an option.

The only reason any big tech company hasn't made a direct competitor is youtubers not being willing to jump ship.

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HappyToaster1911@reddit

Twitter and TikTok are unlikely, since its not what their platforms are about

Most people never heard about Odysee, so its userbase is tiny

I heard that twitch pays way less than YouTube, that's why there are so many youtubers putting cuts from twitch on YouTube

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BlueSakon@reddit

If you think that any YouTuber could just jump to any other platform that isn't YouTube without losing a big chunk of their audience, I have to very much disagree with that.

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thmn1@reddit

Yeah every single Youtuber who has tried it has returned with their tail between their legs back to Youtube.

Youtube, while not being a literal monopoly on video streaming, is still a functional monopoly, which is why everyone who tries to leave ends up realizing all the other plaforms that pretened to be other choices are completely unviable in practice.

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-Kerrigan-@reddit

Streamers that get popular usually move into YouTube and not the other way around though

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jzr171@reddit

Pixel phones are amazing phones. I've used the 2, 5, 7, and 9.

The rest of this has merit.

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Spice002@reddit

Google's main income is ads and data brokerage. Everything anon listed is the equivalent to them as an ADD person hopping from hobby to hobby without ever getting too deep into it. That's why Google can kill so many products and projects and still be a multi-billion dollar company.

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Flight1ess@reddit

Can someone explain to me how/why Android is "getting worse"? By what metrics?

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Popular_Law_948@reddit

Lost the cloud to Bezos? Who TF is using Amazon's cloud system?

And since when are Pixel phones a joke?

Most of the world's mobile devices run on Android, so how are they losing there? Lol

Almost every browser is based on Chromium too.

I'm not a Google fanboy by any stretch, but anon is smoking crack if he thinks Google is failing or losing

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mschwemberger11@reddit

Bruh doesn't AWS like have 30% market share compared to the 10ish % google has. Google and azure are like 50% of the cloud market

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Popular_Law_948@reddit

Hmm, fair point. I didn't consider commerical use

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Steelflex_@reddit

Surprised to see no one mention YouTube.

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HugeCrab@reddit

Google drive is nice

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MinimumWageLOL@reddit

Why bother doing anything when you can have 2 YouTube ads on every video

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Midnight_Rising@reddit

Maps.

I really like Proton for its email (and VPN + drive + password manager) and I pay for Kagi for search, but Google Maps is still king when it comes to finding things that I want to do. Apple Maps just can't find me a good bar around me like Google Maps does.

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CounterfeitXKCD@reddit

Anon has no idea what he's talking about with Pixels and Android

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sjuskebabb@reddit

Great products are a means to an end - taking market shares and making money.

The backside of the coin is that when you’re already making money and grow, finance guys see no need to make even better products, it’s just an unnecessary risk.

Business leaders like Musk and Jobs were/are super-rare, partially due to this exact notion

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yellowodontamachus@reddit

Yeah, it’s like those leaders with big visions are the unicorns in the business world. When I was running my own firm, I noticed too many folks getting comfy with what’s safe instead of chasing what’s new. We used to experiment a lot until things got ‘stable.’ After that, it was all about maintaining rather than innovating, kinda dull if you ask me. I've seen some companies like Good and Company try similar paths, but they often get stuck. Aritas Advisors helps companies juggle these risks by offering insights on growth without risking stability.

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sjuskebabb@reddit

Yes sir, that's my experience as well. Getting comfy is a human instinct though, it's hard to suppress it for long stretches of time. It's easy to bet everything when you have nothing, and it gets increasingly harder the more you have. Requires big dick energy that most people just don't have

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yellowodontamachus@reddit

Totally agree, it's like the bigger you get, the more you cling to what you already have. When I co-founded my startup, we were all about risks and innovation until revenue made us conservative. I tried Betterment and Go:Couples for strategic growth, but Aritas Advisors ended up delivering the balance I needed. If you’re curious, check em out: aritasadvisors.com. Innovation without reckless risk isn’t easy, but it’s worth maintaining when you can.

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Cheezeepants@reddit

why do you sound like an advertisement, even aside from the actual advertising you're doing

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Thin-Concentrate5477@reddit (OP)

He is probably a poorly calibrated AI bot

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bigmt99@reddit

I think he actually thinks he’s innovating by shilling his advisory service in random comment threads on r/greentext.

Is brain rot a requirement for being a cofounder start up

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Tilted2000@reddit

Bro is shilling hard for aritas advisors lmao weirdo

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Sad-Mango-2662@reddit

Ads are getting smarter

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GMruen@reddit

pixel phones are excellent, android gets better every year. And yes, gmail is pretty good.

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anoppinionatedbunny@reddit

isn't YouTube the most visited site ever?

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JennBones@reddit

I don't understand how no single CEO or board of investors has once understood that once you put finance guys in charge, they extract all the value and leave no product.

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Wombat1892@reddit

No they realize, but they're there for the wealth extraction. Trick is to not be the one left holding the bag.

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SunderedValley@reddit

It's called perverse incentive. Investors are not encouraged to elect CEOs that don't plunder the company. It's less two wolves and a sheep voting what's for dinner and more a tumor voting for more white bloodcells. The moment your company starts to get publicly traded and it's in any kind of technological or creative field it'll start to die unless it's TURBO compartmentalized.

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neoplatos@reddit

As far as I know Pichai did Engineering from top Engineering school in India. He did his MBA from US.

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Fangslash@reddit

This is another prove that every job has an average IQ of 100. Your CEO and rich investors do not care about long term results as long as their stocks are up tomorrow.

Well, until the past few year where this did start to their stock price. They are the worst MAG-7 for a reason.

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sjuskebabb@reddit

Because let’s be real - what’s the problem? 2.1 trillion market cap. All the finance guys are more than happy, people are making their bags.

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Thin-Concentrate5477@reddit (OP)

Okay, but imagine if they had overtaken OpenAI from the start. Their market cap would be much higher.

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aerodynamicsofacow04@reddit

As long as it makes them a profit, they don't care. Replacing engineers with MBA guys and finance guys in management positions is part of what killed Boeing. Until this hurts Boeing's profits, they won't care.

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yellowodontamachus@reddit

I've noticed the same thing with companies getting overly focused on finance. It often kills the creative process necessary for innovation. I've also checked out firms like Hugh Leadership Group and Midas Touch, but Aritas Advisors offers financial strategies that preserve product integrity, keeping tech firms competitive.

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SunderedValley@reddit

Gmail IS good. Also Google Maps is still not beat.

....wait Fitbit is dead?

....fitbit belonged to Google?

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Pep-Sanchez@reddit

Googles version of the Microsoft office sweet is free and better or atleast as good, google drive rocks for sharing files. I’ll admit chrome isn’t the best search engine but I like it especially cuz the extensions are intuitive and have a lot by now. They got a lot to work on but far from nothing left. They gotta fix up that ai response thing and really over monetized YouTube tho

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sm753@reddit

Pixel phones are in a pretty good place. So is Android.

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FVCEGANG@reddit

Pixels have gotten increasingly better tbh. The 9s are really good and I say that as a non- pixel Samsung user

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betafishmusic@reddit

Gmail’s ok, but I’m sure they’re scraping my correspondence. I AM irked they worsened nest.

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tigertoken1@reddit

Google is still the best search engine, nest and the home devices work pretty well actually (better than the Amazon ones imo), who cares about fitbit or GPUs that aren't from Nvidia or AMD , Google Drive and the associated document software is super useful, while Gemini isn't as good as GPT 4 it's always good to have competition, and yes Gmail is still a very good email service and interface.

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konekfragrance@reddit

Pixels are good, though. In a market where smartphones cost 1k and above, pixels are still relatively competitive, specs-wise, and way cheaper.

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veritron@reddit

google might not have a good search engine anymore but google fi has better cell phone service than at&t lmao.

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RodjaJP@reddit

I never used a chromebook, what's wrong with them? are they like running a google-made OS or are they just annoying to use and ultra limited?

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pizzadog4@reddit

Did they lose cloud though? I feel like literally everyone I know at my Uni uses Google Drive for all their schoolwork. Our school even offers free Microsoft 365 and most people still use Drive

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anakinburningalive@reddit

I’m still using Google to search for stuff so that might be a thing people are still doing if I am, in fact, a person and not a Google bot sent here to promote the Google agenda of making Reddit worse. Search for anything and your first 10 hits will be Reddit posts from 7 years ago. Now realize all the normies being funneled to this site by Google.

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sub-t@reddit

Google sheets, docs, etc. are better than Apple's Office alternative

I prefer them to OpenOffice, too.

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Totally_Crazy@reddit

I love Docs, it's like a usable version of Word and also is extremely handy for sharing when working in a group.

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wagoncirclermike@reddit

Nah, fuck Docs. None of my key commands work and it's much more diluted than Word.

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Toni253@reddit

Pixel phones are amazing though, by far the best Android phones

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ancientegyptianballs@reddit

I hated my Chromebook in highschool. 2016 ones were the cheapest of plastic and none of the buttons worked and the screen looked like it had a blurry white film over it.

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4Doffy@reddit

yeah gmail's pretty much it

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Cdog536@reddit

Obvious bait

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SerbianCringeMod@reddit

I've done something a few weeks ago that I haven't done in a long time, switched a main search engine. Still using google on the side but it's not a main one.

I got tired of their omission of relevant search results and I feel like it's manipulating me to control what I can and what I cannot see like I'm a 5 year old.

It's still the king of technical search, but anything socially l related I feel like it has an agenda

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wagoncirclermike@reddit

What did you switch to?

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Thin-Concentrate5477@reddit (OP)

I have been using Kagi and so far I like it very much.

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XboxLiveGiant@reddit

The name.

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Ycr1998@reddit

Can someone explain the SEO thing about how search works?

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m0ushinderu@reddit

Tldr google search relies on a bunch of key words in each web page's meta section to determine its relevancy. If you want your page to be seen more often, you want to use SEO which basically tries to optimize the keywords such that they come up more often in related searches. That obviously depends on how Google claims their search works, which turned out to be a lie.

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EvaInTheUSA@reddit

SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of making a website visible on Google’s search engine results. For years the process has been fairly simple & a single individual or small team could successfully create a website & code it to make it rank highly on the Google search engine mainly with website keywords. White hat SEO tactics are the “legitimate” methods of making a website rank highly, black hat SEO tactics used “illegitimate” tactics of making a website appear in the search engine results.

Google’s search engine started wising up to black hat tactics around 2016-2018. Like if you searched for baby diapers, you would be shown websites for brands that are most relevant by their use of keywords. Under the hood of the website it could be they programmed it meticulously to have the website appear based on functional keywords & tags as well as the surface website (white hat), because Google also uses the information you see on websites to affect its rank. Or the website just so happened to rank highly because the programmer spammed “baby diapers baby diapers baby diapers baby diapers baby diapers” under the hood (black hat).

Generally professional SEO programmers started exclusively using white hat tactics to not be punished by Google, since Google made their web spiders more sophisticated to detect black hat tactics. So SEO programmers became even more invested in learning what Google’s search engine prioritized & listening to Google’s explanations of how their search engine ranked results. What they would come to find out later down the line is Google was actually consistently providing false or outdated information, evidence of favoritism of brands, ads, sponsored search engine results, demoting the websites of smaller competitors to bigger brands even if the website for the smaller brands was coded & optimized with white hat tactics better than the website of the bigger brand. So if you’re selling baby diapers & have a website that is coded by the best SEO programmers, but you are a small brand. Huggies will probably be a top 1-3 search result while your website is still on the 12th page.

This showed SEO programmers that Google is not a search engine company or tech company, they’re an advertising company.

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sirbananajazz@reddit

Flood US schools with chromebooks that make kids despise computers

Nah that one's real. Fuckin hate chromebooks.

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Thor_ultimus@reddit

Google has well, Google.

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ScTiger1311@reddit

Pixel phones are good, android still way better than iOS, Gmail, google docs, sheets, drive, etc. Are still the best version of those services for everyday users.

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Sylux444@reddit

Android has been kicking apples ass for like a decade now 😂

Also the cloud tech used in Google is vastly superior in work spaces than any other tech

Anon is a chud that lives underground with his apples

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Thin-Sand-2389@reddit

Wouldn’t say kicking when their stock price has got up

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Sylux444@reddit

Stock price is the most useless way to track how good something is, that's faith not utility

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Thin-Sand-2389@reddit

Ok then how do you track success

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Sylux444@reddit

Dude, literally just watch reviews

Watch videos of people using it, people that aren't paid to show it off.

Watch videos and pay attention to their setups when using something and how they like it. Compare that to as many other people as you need to and compare THE ACTUAL SPECS and how they can be used as a final product.

There's a lot of buzzwords so you'll need to find more than just 2 videos.

We have acrual literal proof that can be documented for your eye balls to see.

Look for the good reviews, look for the bad reviews.

Actually SEARCH like Jesus Christ don't be dumb

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Thin-Sand-2389@reddit

This is dumb you track success of a company by people reviewing a product? Not by sales or net revenue just reviews

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bigbadbillyd@reddit

I invested $5k into google about 2 years ago and the return has been pretty good so far. But the amount of stuff that they've either abandoned or made worse makes me think I should pull that out and move it into something else while the getting is still good.

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Chodor101@reddit

Wrong title, anon asks what ISN'T

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Markyloko@reddit

google has google, gmail, youtube and the best ad platform on the internet.

it's all shit but normies love it. google isn't going anywhere.

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Thin-Sand-2389@reddit

YouTube is slowly becoming bad with the ad blocker shit and the 120 second unskippable ads

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Markyloko@reddit

like i said, it's all shit and it's not going anywhere.

youtube alternatives are a joke.

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ConnorOfAstora@reddit

Android is getting worse to be fair but it'll always beat iOS due to having more freedom without needing to jailbreak the device and the fact that android phones are far more affordable.

Like seriously I will never understand anyone trying to justify spending four figures on a phone.

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Cheezeepants@reddit

"because nobody will like me if i have green bubbles :( "

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jaiden_roselvet@reddit

next stop:

.>tried to have a go at competing with Microsoft at desktop OS

.>failed

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dendudes123@reddit

Pixel with vanilla android and quick updates is still good

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SyedHRaza@reddit

Ads for search

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ConstanteConstipatie@reddit

Indian CEO

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LordSaltious@reddit

Being the search engine.

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KuntStink@reddit

Pixel phones are fantastic and they always have been for me.

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naga-ram@reddit

As much as I hate Google, I really love the pixel phones. They're the least bullshit android phones out there. Better than iPhone in terms of "random building you need to set up to make it work".

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bayala43@reddit

Google drive is pretty useful. Spreadsheets is like a shitty Excel, Docs is like a shitty Word, and they also have their own shitty version of PowerPoint. It’s not as good but it is free, and it helped me a lot over the years. Granted most of my life I have had all these Microsoft services for free anyways, whether it be through college or work where I’m getting the service and someone else is paying for it.

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Thenderick@reddit

Honestly Google is a jack of all trades in the purest definition of the saying. It does a bit of everything decently and allows for easy integration and compatibility between many of their products. I honestly love the SSO that it provides so I don't have to make 100 accounts for every site that requires one to authenticate their user for things like voting or verifying their age

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pututski@reddit

I mostly hate their hardware/software support and the fact that they kill their own products so fast. I couldn't even buy an original pixel buds case from them 2 years after I originally bought them because they stopped making the case. So I had earbuds with no case and all I could find were eBay ones for ½ the price of the whole headphones.

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lsm-krash@reddit

Gmail, maps, Translator and YouTube are the only the only services that are still really used, and of these four, maps is the only one they seem to care and make something good out of it. YT has become a shadow of itself and what it could have been. Gmail is so simple that I doubt that more than two people really work on it. Same as Translator.

And the thing is that all of them can be so easily substituted that I really can't understand how there is NOT a new YouTube over somewhere. Like c'mon Amazon, with all their mighty techs, how they never looked to YouTube and decided to just take the market and bully them

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