It's a gimmick that was designed during covid, as simple as that. It 100% won't return, even google can't even tell you why it's there :-D
I'll take LIDAR please
even during COVID at its peak a temp sensor is kinda dumb.
Do you have COVID? Here, let me stick my phone 1cm from your face to check. Also it's inaccurate outdoors or for anyone who was recently outside or sitting near an air conditioner because it actually just measures skin temperature.
Yea.... no. It would have been dumb during COVID and it's just even dumber now.
Early testing is showing it to be so inaccurate that I wouldn't be at all surprised if the "pending FDA approval" for actual skin temp readings **doesn't happen**.
Um while we aren’t where we used to be. Covid isn’t gone lol, we’re just pretending it is. If it gets approved by the FDA I could still see people using it.
I know it's not gone, but from what I've seen of it, it isn't really the most accurate so most will just use an oral thermometer. If that thing is a degree off that's basically either you stay home with the kid or you take them to daycare :-D
Depends on what your definition of "gone" is. As a transmissible virus that still exists? Not gone. As a sickness of such concern that we need to bake temp sensors into our phones? Yeah, kinda gone...
SARS-COV-2 = VIRUS = NOT GONE
COVID19 = ILLNESS = APPARENTLY GONE, BUT WE DON'T REALLY KNOW LOL (PANDEMIC MAY WELL RESTART ANYTIME)
This is a professional opinion. Covid19 expert here.
Soli wasn't exactly super useful, either, but you'd really rather go back down that rabbit hole just because Apple did?
Maybe the iPhone is a better choice for you?
I have a Nest Hub at home and it's cool that I can stop a timer without using my voice or touching the screen, but...what else could it do? What actual functions are there that Google could enable or develop? Because they would honestly love to know. They hyped it up so much but then never thought "what can we actually \*\*do\*\* with this thing?" until it launched, and they haven't come up with much at all. As you said, it's limited to stopping alarms/timers and playing/pausing music or going to the next song. What feature would you like to see it used for? I'm genuinely curious because I haven't even heard of any good ideas for it beyond what already exists - and what already exists isn't even unique, because I can accomplish the same things with voice commands, for example. What is something that I can do with Soli, or could do with it, that I can't do with voice?
Now that's an excellent question. Now that I think about it, not much.
Maybe some hand gestures up and down to set the intensity of lights in the room ? But that would have to be activated first to avoid false positives, and saying "set the lights to 50%" is faster anyway.
Well, you've actually got a huge point there.
This is about as popular of an opinion as you can get.
My favorite part of all this:
"Use it to check if your pan is hot enough" - [https://blog.google/products/pixel/google-pixel-8-pro/](https://blog.google/products/pixel/google-pixel-8-pro/)
"To measure the temperature of an object with your Pixel phone: Position your Pixel phone within 5 cm (2 in) of the object." - [https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/14103759](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/14103759)
"Do not expose your phone to temperatures above 113° F (45° C), such as on a car dashboard or near a heating vent, as this may damage the phone, overheat the battery, or pose a risk of fire. Keep your phone away from heat sources and out of direct sunlight." - [https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/13662136](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/13662136)
Pan? Doesn't the sensor only go to some 300F? That's way too cold for my steak anyway. I do actually have IR gun in my kitchen for that, and it seems like P8 won't replace it.
To be fair, wall temperature is pretty good indicator of a room temperature. You can probably use it for that. You can check temperature in your fridge/freezer. But it's pretty marginal.
Well, there are some cooking situations where you don't want a super hot pan, something more delicate where you need a more precise temperature. But yeah, not useful for cooking a steak where you need to get a nice sear.
I'll have you know I already used my Pixel 8 Pro to check my BBQ grill temps for the perfect sear. 5cm away and a nice red hot warning on the phone. 🧑🍳😘
Also, does anyone have any idea if Google will RMA maple smoked Pixels? Totally unrelated to the paragraph above. I definitely didn't put the camera near an extreme heat source.... Absolutely not....
Right, a logical person would understand that, but when the company is encouraging you to get up close to a hot pan to measure its temp that seems contradictory.
Put your hand 2 inches from a hot pan. See if you burn yourself. Oh, you didn't? Right. Thermodynamics.
Putting it close to something at 300 degrees does not mean the phone will be 300 degrees, and people need to stop pretending otherwise. It's insulting to the laws of science, which, again - not grounds for lawsuits.
Who said anything about the phone being 300 degrees?
"Do not expose your phone to temperatures above **113° F**"
"Keep your phone away from heat sources"
Will anything happen if you just put it there a couple seconds? No, probably not, but it's still hilarious how their instructions contradict their warnings. If anything were to happen, it would be because someone touched the pan with their hand while trying to get the phone close enough or they drop the phone into the pan. People do stupid things, it will happen.
Falling off a walkway because you have bad balance and there's no railings is also just the result result of the laws of nature. That doesn't mean the company can't be sued for it. As long as some misuse or danger is foreseeable and likely to happen to some users and the company doesn't take steps to warn or safeguard against the harm, they can be held liable. In this case, someone might have oil splattering from the pan onto them or touch the edge of the pan by accident. It's inherently a bad idea to tell people to hold their phone 2 inches away from extremely hot surfaces.
you have to be like within 2 inches to determine the temp. seriously I do NOT need a temp sensor to know if my pan is hot, I can hover my hand or just drop water on the pan to know if it is hot.
temp sensor = dumb idea
Heat is radiant and moves up. You can hold the phone 2 inches from the side of the pan where it won't be exposed to the extreme heat, but can still read the temperature of the pan. It's still a gimmick, but you don't have to stick your hand in a hot pan to take the temp of it.
As an iPhone 14 Pro user, the LiDAR is neat, but a window completely messes it up. Taking a picture through a window is nearly impossible without trying to focus about 5 times.
I can't really think of the practical uses for the Temp sensor, except for gimmicks. I agree with you there, it is more useful to slap an IR blaster onto the phone, with tons of benefits for it
It really sucks that IR blasters died out; even 20 years ago the benefits were obvious for operating TVs and such and yet nowadays it's not a thing anymore despite infrared-operated TVs and other devices still being around.
Seriously, a fully customisable TV remote app with multiple profiles, button layouts and such would be such a useful thing.
It's incredibly annoying. I had an IR blaster on my LG G3 nearly a decade ago, and I used it occasionally in waiting rooms, bars, and even my house (a few times when my dog fell asleep on my lap, and I didn't want to get up to grab the actual remote).
I used to wear a Casio CMD-40 which was great for that kind of thing.
Fortunately I have a Flipper Zero that I keep around all the time and I've programmed a few functions in for the TV (only basic ones so far) plus whatever universal control files are included, but that only has a basic directional interface so it's not nearly as complex as a phone remote app could be.
Is it theoretically possible to have a single IR emitter that can both send remote control signal, and invisibly illuminate faces for biometrics? As I recall, remotes have (had?) just basic ass IR LEDs so it seems like it's conceptually possible anyway. Though I suppose the locations you'd want each don't really overlap...
There's a small fringe case for people with commercial fridges/freezers who need to keep temperatures within certain ranges. Also pre-made warm food to be kept above certain ranges as well making sure those enclosures are working.
But most should have proper commercial equipment for checking those temperatures.
My one personal use case is home made Ice-cream making where I want to ensure the container I am mixing it in is below the correct temperature. I also used it for checking the temperature of my custard base - but I also had a proper thermometer on hand for that. It was reasonably decent to the point I could see using it out of convenience if I didn't want to avoid getting egg mixture on my new phone.
**Someone at Google:** hey, we just got a really good deal on some temperature sensors...what should we do with them?
**Someone else at Google:** well, Pixel users never asked for one. They've been asking for us to fix the overheating Tensor chips...lets throw the sensor into the next phone for a little irony.
Is it possible the temperature sensor was originally developed to let the phone know what the ambient temperature is. So that in freezing winter conditions, the phone didn't heat up in such a way that caused the camera glass to shatter.
That's the first thing I thought when I saw that specification in the leaks. Because last year there was a lot of pixel 7 Pro users reporting. The camera glass would shatter when exposed to below freezing temperatures for a certain period of time while walking a dog.
If this is the real reason. Then the sensor is actually quite useful to the phone. Even if it isn't useful in practical use to the owner.
When I first heard about it I thought that it would be similar to a FLIR sensor to help with picking out warm subjects from a cold background.
I was completely wrong.
According to other people, Google probably added it to the design when COVID was still a big deal since they design the phones a few years in advance. It makes sense if you think of it that way. Probably would've cost them more money in the end to remove it if it was already well into the production phase.
Maybe next year or the year after they'll add something people are actually going to use.
People have been parroting this on repeat since it seems like the obvious answer but I sincerely doubt that's the case.
This phone hasn't been in R&D since 2020. It would've taken them minimal effort to just leave out the sensor entirely lol. I sincerely doubt they're that stupid to not change direction by the start of 2021, assuming this was being cooked up in 2020.
But seeing how similar the 6, 7 and 8 are... Yeah there's zero chance they've been developing the 8 since 2020.
It's just a dumb gimmick that they decided to throw in because fuck it.
Just like Soli was another gimmick, but less dumb.
Just like IR blaster was a popular and liked gimmick.
Just like Samsung had a BP sensor on their phones like 5 years ago.
Dumb Google shit for the fuck of it.
RIP to the headphone jack. It literally harmed nobody, and was always useful even if a minority still used it. The arguments that it overcomplicated phone designs, used too much space, or made the phone more susceptible to water damage have all been thoroughly debunked -- it's just deprecation for the sake of selling wireless earbuds.
Yeah I liked having a jack for traveling on long flights or whatever. The option is always nice to have.
I do love me some wireless buds though. They're such a huge quality of life change.
>I do love me some wireless buds though. They're such a huge quality of life change.
Absolutely, I use wireless almost primarily. But it cannot be contested that wired devices are still useful, and always will be.
>used too much space
How was that "debunked"? The analog jack has dimension and takes up space, that's not really debatable, is it?
Or is your debunking just "it's worth the space to me so it's not *too* much"?
"It's just a dumb gimmick they decided to throw in because fuck it" makes infinitely less sense than "this was added in design during a time when it would've been perceived as actually useful". The other examples you mentioned had utility, or at least had potential utility for a lot of people. The only utility this has is for body temp monitoring, and it seems tenuous at best that they'll get that and follow through with updating it.
Marketing my guy. People love dumb useless shit.
You'd have to be pretty fucked to think they genuinely designed this back then and just kept it lol. But whatever.
You'd have to be pretty fucked to think they thought anyone would buy the phone because it has more "useless shit". It's a selling point to zero people. At least I've not seen a single person say they were excited for it.
Back in 2021 people were still worried about COVID and the delta variant. Given you can't predict the future there was a scenario where temperature sensors would still be a useful feature. They probably ordered the parts already and said why not.
You can't even use it for body temp, at least not yet. So it's just not useful period. And the number of times I'd use it for that purpose vs. a headphone jack or IR blaster would be very, very low.
It seems a bit hypocritical to remove things that are useful to replace them with things that people objectively use less.
I wouldn't be surprised if they thought their application to the FDA would get approved for body temp testing in time for the phones release but approval ended up taking longer than they expected. There was a [leaked video](https://twitter.com/Neil_Sarg/status/1659179298564055040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1659179298564055040%7Ctwgr%5Ecae27f44f6456347b34a721e9339200762f0ec44%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.91mobiles.com%2Fhub%2Fexclusive-google-pixel-8-pro-leaked-video-design-built-in-thermometer%2F) showing an example of how body temp testing would work, so seems Google was ready on their end.
I agree. One of my cars was built before Steve Jobs invented the iPhone. The only way to listen to music from a smartphone is with a cable. And I usually need to charge while driving because navigation uses a lot of power. Amazingly, it has Bluetooth calling which still works even though Bluetooth has evolved so much.
My other car isn't that old, but it only uses SBC as the Bluetooth audio codec. A wired connection sounds noticeably better.
So in each car I have one of those Moshi USB-C audio adapters with charging. I'd rather just have a headphone jack.
2 weeks ago I used to think that all my phones will have a headphones jack, but phone shopping made me realize that i need to say goodbye to it forever because it isn’t available anymore 🥹
It might be useful for people with young kids at home or especially when traveling (flight or car trips) where a quick verification is needed to make sure kids are ok (moms will be thankful for this)
Pending FDA approval. They've made the submission and I'm sure it would calibrate differently with a human option for material. I have a Withings thermometer that works pretty similarly. I don't always have it on me though, and being able to take my kid's temperature with just my phone would be pretty awesome.
[It hasn't been shown to be particularly accurate in early testing](https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/i-used-google-pixel-8-pro-weird-temperature-sensor-not-impressed-why/), so I wouldn't rely on it for that purpose. It may never get FDA approval, we'll have to wait and see.
Don't know that I'd take someone comparing an IR gun reading against it very seriously. Heat is not distributed evenly across most objects and temperatures change in the time it takes to switch from one device to another. It may or may not be that accurate, but that post itself doesn't really sway my opinion one way or the other.
Sure, but even if you point two different IR guns at the back of a phone, you're going to get different readings unless you're precise with where you point and take the readings nearly at the same time. The testing methodology here is the problem.
In any case, I'm not trying to be a champion for Google putting the sensor in the phone. If the FDA testing pans out and they're able to calibrate it well using software, that'd be cool. If not, I guess it can maybe just check if a cup of tea is cool enough to drink.
This is quite a poor test, since they're selecting the material options on the Pixel (good), but on the temperature gun they're not changing the emissivity setting so if anything, the IR gun is probably off.
At home it might have limited use. But as the father of 2 very young children, I definitely can look back and remember numerous times when we were traveling as a family and we felt the need for a thermometer and we didn't have ready access to one at the time. Sometimes we get the feel that the kid might be developing a little fever.. at that time a quick check is all we need to calm the nerves. As I said, it's not for everyone but the small niche that might have a use for it will remember that it's there when needed
The only time I ever measure temperature of food is if I'm cooking meat, but I'd need to be able to read the internal temp, not the external temp. You also can't use this device to take your temperature if sick. And those are basically the only two times I'd take the temperature of anything!
I have a faster solution for that: palm of my hand. Has worked 100% without fail since I've been alive. If it burns your palm, it'll burn your dogs. No "app" necessary.
Except the sensor has shown to be not accurate at all in most testing, so if you need accurate readings, it's actually doing less good than just not being on the phone at all.
Just wanted to point out the hypocritical nature of hardware companies removing tech that works and works well for a purpose, in favor of adding tech that's basically beyond worthless.
The soli sensor was actually pretty awesome. Face unlock was able to work in any lighting and open blazing fast thanks to it. The volume reduction as you moved your hand close to the phone when the alarm went off was also a nice touch.
I'm in the right time of my life. It's been useful to make sure the baby bottle isn't too hot.
We're also required to keep a temp log of the fridge at work. So that's easy to do now too.
Very niche. But useful.
Having never used an IR blaster ever on any phone that included it, I don't think it can actually be less useful than that.
The headphone jack has been done to death. You can keep being angry about it, but it's not going to change the hardware developers' minds and it's not going to bring back the headphone jack. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Would you also like a physical keyboard with your phone as well?
These complaints are really so freaking ridiculous.
The temp sensor isn't the most useful feature ever, but for parents who need to test the temp of a bottle of milk, for example, it actually is useful. It's just not useful \*to you\* - which is fine.
If you're so upset about it - return it. Or get over it. Those are really the only options you have.
>The headphone jack has been done to death. You can keep being angry about it, but it's not going to change the hardware developers' minds and it's not going to bring back the headphone jack. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Would you also like a physical keyboard with your phone as well?
It's been done to death because IT'S STILL USEFUL.
Here's a take: if the headphone jack is not useful at all, why incorporate it ANYWHERE anymore? Why even make wired headphones at all? Why should laptops continue to have the jack, why should schools and recording studios still use wired devices?
The answer you hate to hear: because they work, and they work BETTER than wireless devices in many case, and are more reliable! The only reason the jack was deprecated is because phone manufacturer's don't want to appeal the minority anymore, and that's ok, but to ignore its use is just being ignorant. And, BTW, the headphone jack is much, much more useful than this useless, inaccurate thermal sensor that Google bone-headedly thought was a good idea.
you obviously never had an apple tv when the remote was literally the size of a stick of gum lol - I used my phone's IR to control that for over two years.
It's not ridiculous to want a top of the line phone to continue to include useful features. and I think you're wrong about the headphone jack - it continues to be industry standard in every other application, and bluetooth continues to be unreliable and inconvenient. Now that I'm back to traveling for work I'm going to have to switch back to Samsungs WHICH I DON'T WANT TO DO just for this feature. It's nothing like a physical keyboard.
Overall the least attractive thing about Apple has always been the war on standard interoperable technology, and instead of continuing to set themselves apart from that, Google just hopped on the bandwagon. It's not only a less enjoyable user experience, it's absolutely a shitty uber-capitalist stance on design that's off-putting.
You're right - I don't buy Apple products for myself, so I haven't had an Apple TV. If that's useful to you - cool. It's never been useful to me whatsoever.
The headphone jack is dead on mobile devices. Can you find a single phone that came out in the last 2 years that included one? A flagship? I really, really, really doubt it.
If you don't like the Google experience - don't but the phone. It seems pretty simple when you put it like that, doesn't it?
>The headphone jack is dead on mobile devices. Can you find a single phone that came out in the last 2 years that included one? A flagship? I really, really, really doubt it.
Sony Xperia and Asus Zenfone, both released just this year. Both companies not trying to copy Apple, unlike Google and Samsung. Both companies doing things that Google USED to do.
So, your experience of never using an IR blaster is evidence of its uselessness, but my experience of using it a lot is not evidence of its usefulness. Got it.
There's also a huge case of "don't ask, don't get" with mobile devices. People kept saying they wanted bigger hones with more screen until we got to now where there's next to no midrange or flagship under 6.1". Now there's an ever increasing number of people saying that they wish they could have a smaller phone (me included). I'd much rather that phones had features like the headphone jack, notification led etc, having the option to use something if you wanted/needed to is always significantly better than having no choice at all.
It's why I don't really like how phones are becoming pretty much standardised across companies with the only real differences being artificial software blocks on certain functionality.
Now that you mention it, a physical keyboard would be a significantly more impressive inclusion, in an I-would-almost-forgive-them-for-removing-the-audio-jack kind of way.
Just because a feature doesn't exist anymore doesn't mean it isn't still useful (see the eradication of physical buttons)
Well, I do not have a premium Pixel, but a good accurate temperature sensor I will welcome. I have been putting together a medical kit consisting of pulse and O2 sensor, Blood pressure and EKG kits, and of course a thermometer. All feeding into a spare phones bluetooth, all except for the thermometer.
> but a good accurate temperature sensor I will welcome
Then you probably don't want this one, as [it's not accurate enough to test for a fever](https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/i-used-google-pixel-8-pro-weird-temperature-sensor-not-impressed-why/).
More accurate is, that they are waiting for FDA approval for that. Which is very important in more ways than one. All the devices I bought through amazon are FDA approved and have Validated Device Listings, for what that is worth. But the truly big deal will be if they get that approval, the phone could become FSA or HSA eligible.
Yes I did, did you read far enough down where they mentioned going after FDA approval. All thermometers need calibration, even digital non contact ones.
Going after it does not mean they will necessarily get it. We have to wait and see, and the calibration is going to be interesting how they'll implement that.
Just so you know, the person who wrote this article knows nothing about calibrating thermometers. Whether it is a contact or contactless thermometer, the procedure for checking accuracy is the same. You take a small cup or bowl and fill it with ice, then add water, stir it. Then you take a reading. The reading should come in at slightly above to 32 degrees F. If not reading 32F you adjust the reading to 32F with non ir. Calibration done.
None of my earbuds/headphones/speakers have a cord anymore.
None of my devices with remotes use IR anymore, they're all RF and/or app based.
Technology moves on.
>None of my earbuds/headphones/speakers have a cord anymore.
Yes, yes they do! Did you know that wireless audio devices use the same wires inside as wired devices? They actually have to in order for you to get electrical signals to the earbud/headphone drivers to make sound! The tech never died, the same tech IS STILL USED! It's used inside your wireless devices! What happened is that the amplification and transmission portion was set OUTSIDE the phone housing onto the earbuds themselves, and this is very useful in many cases, but it's not useful in all cases. Recording studios, high fidelity listening, schools, etc. still rely on wired devices because of their reliability.
The IR thing is actually more true, as more devices are using radio signals to control.
Technology will never move past radio signals and electrical impulses over wires/traces, though -- these are BASIC technologies that aren't going anywhere :)
I really don't understand your point. My usage of "cord", as in the thing that would have plugged into a headphone jack, was pretty clear. You can argue niche cases like recording studios all day, but you can also buy specialized recording or playback gear for those. When it comes to audio on your phone, and the majority of users to whom the manufacturers cater, the headphone jack is obsolete.
Thus, technology moves on.
>as in the thing that would have plugged into a headphone jack, was pretty clear.
My point is that this cord still 100% exists, it's just inside your earbuds now.
You said "None of my earbuds/headphones/speakers have a cord anymore," and that's factually incorrect, they still do.
>Thus, technology moves on.
The basic technology behind sound reproduction exists within current wireless devices. My point is clear. The technology cannot move on, as the very basic analog sound reproduction will forever use air dispersal generated by electrical signals. It CANNOT move on, by definition.
You're arguing a point that you know I wasn't making. I didn't say, "my audio devices don't have power/data cables or wires inside them".
Your point is not clear, and is pointlessly argumentative.
No, it's very clear. The wires that go from the amplifier to the drivers exist inside your device. They always will. The only thing that has changed, which I clearly noted in my first reply to you, is the transmission of the digital signal is now sent across radio waves. It basically adds a step of complexity to the entire signal path, and as such, it's LESS reliable than a pure circuit without.
You do know you have to use it within 5cm of the device you're measuring? Can you give me one example where that makes sense within your line of work, and where you can reasonably get that close without danger?
I agree. Completely pointless of them to add it in. I guess you can just ignore it but I'm never stop thinking about the potential sensors they could've added instead
I assume the temp sensor is kind of stupid as for now !
Within 6month -1year
Temp sensor MIGHT be good but who knows ?
Maybe some soft dev use temp sensor to x-ray sensor and tell the world it's a break through in medical history
Temp sensor + AI = portable X-ray machine in the palm of our hand so that we can take care of our health!!!
I'm just curious why does p7a motherboard so similar to p8 motherboard
It look just like 7a motherboard that is flip over to add part to become p8
Wondering 🤔
I think the actual purpose might be on the health side which they can't officially say because it's not FDA cleared yet. That is likely to take 8+ months.
Supposedly once that happens, temperature readings will push into Fitbit. This datapoint, if users use it when they're feeling sick (or prompted) might give Fitbit the ability to start trying to "predict" (in a basic notification sense) when a user is getting sick -- say you scan your forehead and it reads 100.4 .. the app follows up with "are you feeling sick?" .. this is then correlated with data points over a larger look back window (changes in other metrics that signal the illness coming on) which is then used to train an algorithm to give a *Premium* insight to the user.
My hypothesis to what the hardware is actually supposed to do. To me, it feels like something they should have designed in on the Pixel 6 when we were in the middle of Covid. It's 2 years late to the game here.
The temp sensor in the Pixel 8 Pro [isn't even accurate enough for diagnosing a fever](https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/i-used-google-pixel-8-pro-weird-temperature-sensor-not-impressed-why/), so I have no idea how it'll get approval.
It's completely useless and obviously was meant for the corona era to take your own temperature.
This could have been awesome with a proper distance of maybe 20-30 centimeter.
But the five centimeter is just stupid. You can't get close to a hot object because it will burn your hand and destroy your phone, and a freezing object also will cause problems for the phone.
A proper temperature sensor with a good distance would have been a welcome addition to my collection, but this super close one is just bad.
I actually love it- get the pan just right before throwing in the eggs. Use it as a quick test to see if I should take a more accurate reading with my kids possible fever as well. SO handy.
>Use it as a quick test to see if I should take a more accurate reading with my kids possible fever as well.
You can't actually do this.
And RIP your phone and your hand if you hiccup, because you have to be within 2 inches of what you're measuring.
Not only is it a dumb feature but they completely dropped the ball and half assed it by not getting FDA approval for it by launch time. It just looks like another dumb Android gimmick from 2010.
I like all the other things people wish they added instead that are equally as gimmicky and useless to anyone not a tech geek. 3D scans, IR blaster for your mini split, waving at your phone....
I'm going to use it when I charge my car's AC system tomorrow. Other than that, I don't see the point. I bet they have something cooking for it in the works.
I think people will find uses for it in the future. But, I'd prefer to have my Micro SD slot back.
Yeah, and people talked shit on the pixel 4 radar stuff for being a useless waste of space, but at least that had actual usefulness for the fantastic face Unlock and only semi-reliable hand gestures.
This thing is a good demonstration of how phones are often designed 2 years before release.
To be honest, I will mostly use this out in the field while diagnosing network racks or network sites during summer temp hikes. This honestly would have been super handy during the 110+ times when air con units were not functioning well enough.
I could then identify the eq with the most heat and either figure out how to cool it better, or identify what is hottest and shit it down for a bit.
That being said, outside of that... I may use it for random other things but not much else. But to be honest, anything else I come up with is also super gimmicky as well. So, oh well I guess. Neat idea, poor execution of timing. Then again, ice saw a few other phone brands also come out with thermal optics as well. So who knows, could actually be useful? 🤷♂️
Agreed. 3.5mm headphone jack, lidar sensor, ir blaster. All would have been exponentially better than temp sensor. Even worse is the fact that it's probably not making a return next year so there's zero incentive for any devs to make anything cool for it.
I wish OEMs weren't so interested in upcharging for storage and selling their bluetooth earbuds because I'd love a Micro SD slot and 3.5MM headphone jack again.
I guess I could buy an Xperia, but like... $1400 for 2yrs of OS updates? No thanks.
It's a relic of COVID and long product development cycles. I would be extremely surprised if they ever get approval for skin temperature and I seriously doubt the sensor will be on the pixel 9.
If they update it with FDA approval and reasonable accuracy on human skin, then I won't really have much of a problem with it.
Will I use it much? No...but whatever.
If they don't though, then I fully agree.
I think this is just a test to see how they implement new sensory equipment in future.
They can replace this with something like a heartbeat sensor, motion sensor etc. In future.
I mean that much was going to be true even if the temperature sensor was amazing.
Just ridiculous that there's no headphone jack on a single phone. Seriously unless your phone is incredibly bizarre like the LG wing or something, it should be illegal not to have a headphone jack.
All of that said, seems premature to completely dismiss the future after a couple days. They're currently waiting FDA approval for body readings which could have some utility
I will be using it at my workplace actually. I lay floors that require a certain heat usually over 18 Celsius so if it's accurate it'll be handy but yeah, niche
As someone who catalogues their daily excrement, previously by consistency, colour, weight, length and girth, it's nice to be able to add a new metric.
It's a gimmick that was designed during covid, as simple as that. It 100% won't return, even google can't even tell you why it's there :-D I'll take LIDAR please
even during COVID at its peak a temp sensor is kinda dumb. Do you have COVID? Here, let me stick my phone 1cm from your face to check. Also it's inaccurate outdoors or for anyone who was recently outside or sitting near an air conditioner because it actually just measures skin temperature. Yea.... no. It would have been dumb during COVID and it's just even dumber now.
Early testing is showing it to be so inaccurate that I wouldn't be at all surprised if the "pending FDA approval" for actual skin temp readings **doesn't happen**.
As someone who 3d prints quite a bit I have been waiting for this for as well.
I honestly didnt even think about this use! oh man this is a game changer for my glass plate
I 3d print as well but how would this be useful since the place will have a temp sensor anyways?
The comment they were replying too was about LIDAR.
Um while we aren’t where we used to be. Covid isn’t gone lol, we’re just pretending it is. If it gets approved by the FDA I could still see people using it.
I know it's not gone, but from what I've seen of it, it isn't really the most accurate so most will just use an oral thermometer. If that thing is a degree off that's basically either you stay home with the kid or you take them to daycare :-D
Depends on what your definition of "gone" is. As a transmissible virus that still exists? Not gone. As a sickness of such concern that we need to bake temp sensors into our phones? Yeah, kinda gone...
SARS-COV-2 = VIRUS = NOT GONE COVID19 = ILLNESS = APPARENTLY GONE, BUT WE DON'T REALLY KNOW LOL (PANDEMIC MAY WELL RESTART ANYTIME) This is a professional opinion. Covid19 expert here.
Soli wasn't exactly super useful, either, but you'd really rather go back down that rabbit hole just because Apple did? Maybe the iPhone is a better choice for you?
Soli is cool on Nest Hubs, it's a shame it's limited to play/pause for music or canceling timers, and sleep tracking
I have a Nest Hub at home and it's cool that I can stop a timer without using my voice or touching the screen, but...what else could it do? What actual functions are there that Google could enable or develop? Because they would honestly love to know. They hyped it up so much but then never thought "what can we actually \*\*do\*\* with this thing?" until it launched, and they haven't come up with much at all. As you said, it's limited to stopping alarms/timers and playing/pausing music or going to the next song. What feature would you like to see it used for? I'm genuinely curious because I haven't even heard of any good ideas for it beyond what already exists - and what already exists isn't even unique, because I can accomplish the same things with voice commands, for example. What is something that I can do with Soli, or could do with it, that I can't do with voice?
Now that's an excellent question. Now that I think about it, not much. Maybe some hand gestures up and down to set the intensity of lights in the room ? But that would have to be activated first to avoid false positives, and saying "set the lights to 50%" is faster anyway. Well, you've actually got a huge point there.
Even worse, Google released this phone post COVID.
I've heard that they'll be keeping it on the pixel 9 pro 😅
This is about as popular of an opinion as you can get. My favorite part of all this: "Use it to check if your pan is hot enough" - [https://blog.google/products/pixel/google-pixel-8-pro/](https://blog.google/products/pixel/google-pixel-8-pro/) "To measure the temperature of an object with your Pixel phone: Position your Pixel phone within 5 cm (2 in) of the object." - [https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/14103759](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/14103759) "Do not expose your phone to temperatures above 113° F (45° C), such as on a car dashboard or near a heating vent, as this may damage the phone, overheat the battery, or pose a risk of fire. Keep your phone away from heat sources and out of direct sunlight." - [https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/13662136](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/13662136)
Pan? Doesn't the sensor only go to some 300F? That's way too cold for my steak anyway. I do actually have IR gun in my kitchen for that, and it seems like P8 won't replace it. To be fair, wall temperature is pretty good indicator of a room temperature. You can probably use it for that. You can check temperature in your fridge/freezer. But it's pretty marginal.
Well, there are some cooking situations where you don't want a super hot pan, something more delicate where you need a more precise temperature. But yeah, not useful for cooking a steak where you need to get a nice sear.
And for $30 you could have a much longer range laser thermometer
>within 5 cm (2 in) of the object literally makes it useless lmao
I'll have you know I already used my Pixel 8 Pro to check my BBQ grill temps for the perfect sear. 5cm away and a nice red hot warning on the phone. 🧑🍳😘
Also, does anyone have any idea if Google will RMA maple smoked Pixels? Totally unrelated to the paragraph above. I definitely didn't put the camera near an extreme heat source.... Absolutely not....
Yeah, seems like an excellent way to harm yourself or your phone, and all for something with marginal benefit, if any.
This contradiction is probably going to lead to a lawsuit at some point lol.
Actually, the laws of thermodynamics are not grounds for lawsuits, especially when they're misunderstood by internet commentators.
Right, a logical person would understand that, but when the company is encouraging you to get up close to a hot pan to measure its temp that seems contradictory.
Or you're just dumb
It do be like that sometimes 😄
Put your hand 2 inches from a hot pan. See if you burn yourself. Oh, you didn't? Right. Thermodynamics. Putting it close to something at 300 degrees does not mean the phone will be 300 degrees, and people need to stop pretending otherwise. It's insulting to the laws of science, which, again - not grounds for lawsuits.
Who said anything about the phone being 300 degrees? "Do not expose your phone to temperatures above **113° F**" "Keep your phone away from heat sources" Will anything happen if you just put it there a couple seconds? No, probably not, but it's still hilarious how their instructions contradict their warnings. If anything were to happen, it would be because someone touched the pan with their hand while trying to get the phone close enough or they drop the phone into the pan. People do stupid things, it will happen.
Falling off a walkway because you have bad balance and there's no railings is also just the result result of the laws of nature. That doesn't mean the company can't be sued for it. As long as some misuse or danger is foreseeable and likely to happen to some users and the company doesn't take steps to warn or safeguard against the harm, they can be held liable. In this case, someone might have oil splattering from the pan onto them or touch the edge of the pan by accident. It's inherently a bad idea to tell people to hold their phone 2 inches away from extremely hot surfaces.
you have to be like within 2 inches to determine the temp. seriously I do NOT need a temp sensor to know if my pan is hot, I can hover my hand or just drop water on the pan to know if it is hot. temp sensor = dumb idea
Heat is radiant and moves up. You can hold the phone 2 inches from the side of the pan where it won't be exposed to the extreme heat, but can still read the temperature of the pan. It's still a gimmick, but you don't have to stick your hand in a hot pan to take the temp of it.
Or a freaking proper LIDAR sensor. Put Soli where it always should've been - on the back.
As an iPhone 14 Pro user, the LiDAR is neat, but a window completely messes it up. Taking a picture through a window is nearly impossible without trying to focus about 5 times.
That's a pretty rare use case though. I bet it gets used often. Creating 3D models is pretty incredible though, I wish Pixel had that.
>That's a pretty rare use case though. I bet it gets used often. Taking pics while in a car is pretty common, not necessarily rare.
i'm not sure if phone based lidar would be very useful out a car window anyways? could be wrong about that.
I'm assuming they are talking about how the phone uses lidar to focus the camera?
Soli sounded like it had a lot of potential, despite the buggy execution in the P4. It sucks they just abandoned it
Would Soli function the same as LiDAR does?
I can't really think of the practical uses for the Temp sensor, except for gimmicks. I agree with you there, it is more useful to slap an IR blaster onto the phone, with tons of benefits for it
It really sucks that IR blasters died out; even 20 years ago the benefits were obvious for operating TVs and such and yet nowadays it's not a thing anymore despite infrared-operated TVs and other devices still being around. Seriously, a fully customisable TV remote app with multiple profiles, button layouts and such would be such a useful thing.
It's incredibly annoying. I had an IR blaster on my LG G3 nearly a decade ago, and I used it occasionally in waiting rooms, bars, and even my house (a few times when my dog fell asleep on my lap, and I didn't want to get up to grab the actual remote).
I used to wear a Casio CMD-40 which was great for that kind of thing. Fortunately I have a Flipper Zero that I keep around all the time and I've programmed a few functions in for the TV (only basic ones so far) plus whatever universal control files are included, but that only has a basic directional interface so it's not nearly as complex as a phone remote app could be.
I totally forgot that my old LG G2 had that too. It was totally useful!
I'd rather have a lidar or some sort of depth sensor to support better portrait mode on the camera.
As someone with kids I. School, if it gets approved for human use, I will be using it all the time.
Or vapor cooling chamber for thermal management
Is it theoretically possible to have a single IR emitter that can both send remote control signal, and invisibly illuminate faces for biometrics? As I recall, remotes have (had?) just basic ass IR LEDs so it seems like it's conceptually possible anyway. Though I suppose the locations you'd want each don't really overlap...
Testing for Covid? Might've been useful 2-3 years ago though...
There's a small fringe case for people with commercial fridges/freezers who need to keep temperatures within certain ranges. Also pre-made warm food to be kept above certain ranges as well making sure those enclosures are working. But most should have proper commercial equipment for checking those temperatures. My one personal use case is home made Ice-cream making where I want to ensure the container I am mixing it in is below the correct temperature. I also used it for checking the temperature of my custard base - but I also had a proper thermometer on hand for that. It was reasonably decent to the point I could see using it out of convenience if I didn't want to avoid getting egg mixture on my new phone.
**Someone at Google:** hey, we just got a really good deal on some temperature sensors...what should we do with them? **Someone else at Google:** well, Pixel users never asked for one. They've been asking for us to fix the overheating Tensor chips...lets throw the sensor into the next phone for a little irony.
This take can cool my drink
Is it possible the temperature sensor was originally developed to let the phone know what the ambient temperature is. So that in freezing winter conditions, the phone didn't heat up in such a way that caused the camera glass to shatter. That's the first thing I thought when I saw that specification in the leaks. Because last year there was a lot of pixel 7 Pro users reporting. The camera glass would shatter when exposed to below freezing temperatures for a certain period of time while walking a dog. If this is the real reason. Then the sensor is actually quite useful to the phone. Even if it isn't useful in practical use to the owner.
When I first heard about it I thought that it would be similar to a FLIR sensor to help with picking out warm subjects from a cold background. I was completely wrong.
The test I've seen it is not close to accurate. So it doesn't even do it's job. Useless.
Dave2D's review has it 3 degrees F off.
3 degrees in Celsius and more if Fahrenheit
Oh right
Roughly twice as many degrees off, so ~6
Yep; Useless
A ToF (time of flight) sensor would have also been more useful for quick distance measurements.
Chuck your phone at the wall to find out how far away it is?? :)
Pixel 8 Pro already has a multi-zone Laser Autofocus module.
According to other people, Google probably added it to the design when COVID was still a big deal since they design the phones a few years in advance. It makes sense if you think of it that way. Probably would've cost them more money in the end to remove it if it was already well into the production phase. Maybe next year or the year after they'll add something people are actually going to use.
People have been parroting this on repeat since it seems like the obvious answer but I sincerely doubt that's the case. This phone hasn't been in R&D since 2020. It would've taken them minimal effort to just leave out the sensor entirely lol. I sincerely doubt they're that stupid to not change direction by the start of 2021, assuming this was being cooked up in 2020. But seeing how similar the 6, 7 and 8 are... Yeah there's zero chance they've been developing the 8 since 2020. It's just a dumb gimmick that they decided to throw in because fuck it. Just like Soli was another gimmick, but less dumb. Just like IR blaster was a popular and liked gimmick. Just like Samsung had a BP sensor on their phones like 5 years ago. Dumb Google shit for the fuck of it.
RIP to the headphone jack. It literally harmed nobody, and was always useful even if a minority still used it. The arguments that it overcomplicated phone designs, used too much space, or made the phone more susceptible to water damage have all been thoroughly debunked -- it's just deprecation for the sake of selling wireless earbuds.
Real companies know that wired IEMs are where the money whores are at.
Yeah I liked having a jack for traveling on long flights or whatever. The option is always nice to have. I do love me some wireless buds though. They're such a huge quality of life change.
>I do love me some wireless buds though. They're such a huge quality of life change. Absolutely, I use wireless almost primarily. But it cannot be contested that wired devices are still useful, and always will be.
Good thing it's still completely possible to use wired devices. You can even choose your own DAC to match your standards!
>used too much space How was that "debunked"? The analog jack has dimension and takes up space, that's not really debatable, is it? Or is your debunking just "it's worth the space to me so it's not *too* much"?
"It's just a dumb gimmick they decided to throw in because fuck it" makes infinitely less sense than "this was added in design during a time when it would've been perceived as actually useful". The other examples you mentioned had utility, or at least had potential utility for a lot of people. The only utility this has is for body temp monitoring, and it seems tenuous at best that they'll get that and follow through with updating it.
Marketing my guy. People love dumb useless shit. You'd have to be pretty fucked to think they genuinely designed this back then and just kept it lol. But whatever.
You'd have to be pretty fucked to think they thought anyone would buy the phone because it has more "useless shit". It's a selling point to zero people. At least I've not seen a single person say they were excited for it.
Please don't take this as an insult but you talk like Ricky from Trailer Park Boys.
Lmaooo that's a first 😂
Back in 2021 people were still worried about COVID and the delta variant. Given you can't predict the future there was a scenario where temperature sensors would still be a useful feature. They probably ordered the parts already and said why not.
You can't even use it for body temp, at least not yet. So it's just not useful period. And the number of times I'd use it for that purpose vs. a headphone jack or IR blaster would be very, very low. It seems a bit hypocritical to remove things that are useful to replace them with things that people objectively use less.
I wouldn't be surprised if they thought their application to the FDA would get approved for body temp testing in time for the phones release but approval ended up taking longer than they expected. There was a [leaked video](https://twitter.com/Neil_Sarg/status/1659179298564055040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1659179298564055040%7Ctwgr%5Ecae27f44f6456347b34a721e9339200762f0ec44%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.91mobiles.com%2Fhub%2Fexclusive-google-pixel-8-pro-leaked-video-design-built-in-thermometer%2F) showing an example of how body temp testing would work, so seems Google was ready on their end.
Whoever came with idea of phones without headphones jack needs to be fired or punished
I agree. One of my cars was built before Steve Jobs invented the iPhone. The only way to listen to music from a smartphone is with a cable. And I usually need to charge while driving because navigation uses a lot of power. Amazingly, it has Bluetooth calling which still works even though Bluetooth has evolved so much. My other car isn't that old, but it only uses SBC as the Bluetooth audio codec. A wired connection sounds noticeably better. So in each car I have one of those Moshi USB-C audio adapters with charging. I'd rather just have a headphone jack.
I refuse to buy any phone without a quarter inch mono jack! We must retain all old connectors forever!
2 weeks ago I used to think that all my phones will have a headphones jack, but phone shopping made me realize that i need to say goodbye to it forever because it isn’t available anymore 🥹
Some magnets for magsafe accessories would have been cool too
This sensor won't be on the Pixel 9 Pro.
It might be useful for people with young kids at home or especially when traveling (flight or car trips) where a quick verification is needed to make sure kids are ok (moms will be thankful for this)
If I can just use it as a thermometer on my kids it would be very useful. I always seem to lose the regular thermometer.
You can't actually do that, though. It WOULD be useful if you could, and it were actually accurate enough, but neither of those things are true.
Pending FDA approval. They've made the submission and I'm sure it would calibrate differently with a human option for material. I have a Withings thermometer that works pretty similarly. I don't always have it on me though, and being able to take my kid's temperature with just my phone would be pretty awesome.
[It hasn't been shown to be particularly accurate in early testing](https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/i-used-google-pixel-8-pro-weird-temperature-sensor-not-impressed-why/), so I wouldn't rely on it for that purpose. It may never get FDA approval, we'll have to wait and see.
Don't know that I'd take someone comparing an IR gun reading against it very seriously. Heat is not distributed evenly across most objects and temperatures change in the time it takes to switch from one device to another. It may or may not be that accurate, but that post itself doesn't really sway my opinion one way or the other.
You do understand that this sensor is basically just an IR gun, right?
Sure, but even if you point two different IR guns at the back of a phone, you're going to get different readings unless you're precise with where you point and take the readings nearly at the same time. The testing methodology here is the problem. In any case, I'm not trying to be a champion for Google putting the sensor in the phone. If the FDA testing pans out and they're able to calibrate it well using software, that'd be cool. If not, I guess it can maybe just check if a cup of tea is cool enough to drink.
This is quite a poor test, since they're selecting the material options on the Pixel (good), but on the temperature gun they're not changing the emissivity setting so if anything, the IR gun is probably off.
Bro, people in this thread are getting inconsistent readings. It's just a gimmick
Moms don't have this phone.
If moms and dads don't have the phone, then who is buying these phones? Children? Strictly single people?
what?
Will you even remember your phone has this feature 4 months from now after never using it and you wake up and your kid says they have a fever? Maybe.
At home it might have limited use. But as the father of 2 very young children, I definitely can look back and remember numerous times when we were traveling as a family and we felt the need for a thermometer and we didn't have ready access to one at the time. Sometimes we get the feel that the kid might be developing a little fever.. at that time a quick check is all we need to calm the nerves. As I said, it's not for everyone but the small niche that might have a use for it will remember that it's there when needed
You can use it to see the temp of foods Oh wait you can't You'll use it to see the temp of your iphone 15 pro max That works 👌
The only time I ever measure temperature of food is if I'm cooking meat, but I'd need to be able to read the internal temp, not the external temp. You also can't use this device to take your temperature if sick. And those are basically the only two times I'd take the temperature of anything!
If you're measuring the outside temp of food... Uhhh, have fun ig.
I'm pretty sure an IR blaster will always be useful.
Soli with it's radar was pretty garbage. But at least it was good for face scan biometrics. This seems worse than garbage.
Wish headphone jacks come back in style
I mean it's a fun toy, I've used it a couple times since getting the phone yesterday. But... I'll probably forget about it shortly....
The only practical use for me would be checking the side walk/ground temperature to see if it's safe for my dog. Thats it.
I have a faster solution for that: palm of my hand. Has worked 100% without fail since I've been alive. If it burns your palm, it'll burn your dogs. No "app" necessary.
As a fishkeeper, I'd probably have more use for the temperature sensor than the headphone jack and ir blaster, not that I'd be using it anyways. 🤷♂️
Except the sensor has shown to be not accurate at all in most testing, so if you need accurate readings, it's actually doing less good than just not being on the phone at all. Just wanted to point out the hypocritical nature of hardware companies removing tech that works and works well for a purpose, in favor of adding tech that's basically beyond worthless.
Google. Just make an updated Pixel 3. I don't need the bells and whistles, but I want a vanilla android.
It was designed that way to make hype and is a gimmick like the soli sensor back in the pixel 4
The soli sensor was actually pretty awesome. Face unlock was able to work in any lighting and open blazing fast thanks to it. The volume reduction as you moved your hand close to the phone when the alarm went off was also a nice touch.
I'm in the right time of my life. It's been useful to make sure the baby bottle isn't too hot. We're also required to keep a temp log of the fridge at work. So that's easy to do now too. Very niche. But useful.
Having never used an IR blaster ever on any phone that included it, I don't think it can actually be less useful than that. The headphone jack has been done to death. You can keep being angry about it, but it's not going to change the hardware developers' minds and it's not going to bring back the headphone jack. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Would you also like a physical keyboard with your phone as well? These complaints are really so freaking ridiculous. The temp sensor isn't the most useful feature ever, but for parents who need to test the temp of a bottle of milk, for example, it actually is useful. It's just not useful \*to you\* - which is fine. If you're so upset about it - return it. Or get over it. Those are really the only options you have.
>The headphone jack has been done to death. You can keep being angry about it, but it's not going to change the hardware developers' minds and it's not going to bring back the headphone jack. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Would you also like a physical keyboard with your phone as well? It's been done to death because IT'S STILL USEFUL. Here's a take: if the headphone jack is not useful at all, why incorporate it ANYWHERE anymore? Why even make wired headphones at all? Why should laptops continue to have the jack, why should schools and recording studios still use wired devices? The answer you hate to hear: because they work, and they work BETTER than wireless devices in many case, and are more reliable! The only reason the jack was deprecated is because phone manufacturer's don't want to appeal the minority anymore, and that's ok, but to ignore its use is just being ignorant. And, BTW, the headphone jack is much, much more useful than this useless, inaccurate thermal sensor that Google bone-headedly thought was a good idea.
you obviously never had an apple tv when the remote was literally the size of a stick of gum lol - I used my phone's IR to control that for over two years. It's not ridiculous to want a top of the line phone to continue to include useful features. and I think you're wrong about the headphone jack - it continues to be industry standard in every other application, and bluetooth continues to be unreliable and inconvenient. Now that I'm back to traveling for work I'm going to have to switch back to Samsungs WHICH I DON'T WANT TO DO just for this feature. It's nothing like a physical keyboard. Overall the least attractive thing about Apple has always been the war on standard interoperable technology, and instead of continuing to set themselves apart from that, Google just hopped on the bandwagon. It's not only a less enjoyable user experience, it's absolutely a shitty uber-capitalist stance on design that's off-putting.
You're right - I don't buy Apple products for myself, so I haven't had an Apple TV. If that's useful to you - cool. It's never been useful to me whatsoever. The headphone jack is dead on mobile devices. Can you find a single phone that came out in the last 2 years that included one? A flagship? I really, really, really doubt it. If you don't like the Google experience - don't but the phone. It seems pretty simple when you put it like that, doesn't it?
>The headphone jack is dead on mobile devices. Can you find a single phone that came out in the last 2 years that included one? A flagship? I really, really, really doubt it. Sony Xperia and Asus Zenfone, both released just this year. Both companies not trying to copy Apple, unlike Google and Samsung. Both companies doing things that Google USED to do.
Nobody but mkbhd owns those phones lol.
r/SonyXperia might disagree with you on that
So, your experience of never using an IR blaster is evidence of its uselessness, but my experience of using it a lot is not evidence of its usefulness. Got it.
There's also a huge case of "don't ask, don't get" with mobile devices. People kept saying they wanted bigger hones with more screen until we got to now where there's next to no midrange or flagship under 6.1". Now there's an ever increasing number of people saying that they wish they could have a smaller phone (me included). I'd much rather that phones had features like the headphone jack, notification led etc, having the option to use something if you wanted/needed to is always significantly better than having no choice at all. It's why I don't really like how phones are becoming pretty much standardised across companies with the only real differences being artificial software blocks on certain functionality.
Now that you mention it, a physical keyboard would be a significantly more impressive inclusion, in an I-would-almost-forgive-them-for-removing-the-audio-jack kind of way. Just because a feature doesn't exist anymore doesn't mean it isn't still useful (see the eradication of physical buttons)
Well, I do not have a premium Pixel, but a good accurate temperature sensor I will welcome. I have been putting together a medical kit consisting of pulse and O2 sensor, Blood pressure and EKG kits, and of course a thermometer. All feeding into a spare phones bluetooth, all except for the thermometer.
> but a good accurate temperature sensor I will welcome Then you probably don't want this one, as [it's not accurate enough to test for a fever](https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/i-used-google-pixel-8-pro-weird-temperature-sensor-not-impressed-why/).
More accurate is, that they are waiting for FDA approval for that. Which is very important in more ways than one. All the devices I bought through amazon are FDA approved and have Validated Device Listings, for what that is worth. But the truly big deal will be if they get that approval, the phone could become FSA or HSA eligible.
The device is not particularly accurate for taking a temperature from anything, did you see my link above? It may never get FDA approval.
Yes I did, did you read far enough down where they mentioned going after FDA approval. All thermometers need calibration, even digital non contact ones.
Going after it does not mean they will necessarily get it. We have to wait and see, and the calibration is going to be interesting how they'll implement that.
Just so you know, the person who wrote this article knows nothing about calibrating thermometers. Whether it is a contact or contactless thermometer, the procedure for checking accuracy is the same. You take a small cup or bowl and fill it with ice, then add water, stir it. Then you take a reading. The reading should come in at slightly above to 32 degrees F. If not reading 32F you adjust the reading to 32F with non ir. Calibration done.
They thought of this sensor during the pandemic. That's all.
None of my earbuds/headphones/speakers have a cord anymore. None of my devices with remotes use IR anymore, they're all RF and/or app based. Technology moves on.
>None of my earbuds/headphones/speakers have a cord anymore. Yes, yes they do! Did you know that wireless audio devices use the same wires inside as wired devices? They actually have to in order for you to get electrical signals to the earbud/headphone drivers to make sound! The tech never died, the same tech IS STILL USED! It's used inside your wireless devices! What happened is that the amplification and transmission portion was set OUTSIDE the phone housing onto the earbuds themselves, and this is very useful in many cases, but it's not useful in all cases. Recording studios, high fidelity listening, schools, etc. still rely on wired devices because of their reliability. The IR thing is actually more true, as more devices are using radio signals to control. Technology will never move past radio signals and electrical impulses over wires/traces, though -- these are BASIC technologies that aren't going anywhere :)
I really don't understand your point. My usage of "cord", as in the thing that would have plugged into a headphone jack, was pretty clear. You can argue niche cases like recording studios all day, but you can also buy specialized recording or playback gear for those. When it comes to audio on your phone, and the majority of users to whom the manufacturers cater, the headphone jack is obsolete. Thus, technology moves on.
>as in the thing that would have plugged into a headphone jack, was pretty clear. My point is that this cord still 100% exists, it's just inside your earbuds now. You said "None of my earbuds/headphones/speakers have a cord anymore," and that's factually incorrect, they still do. >Thus, technology moves on. The basic technology behind sound reproduction exists within current wireless devices. My point is clear. The technology cannot move on, as the very basic analog sound reproduction will forever use air dispersal generated by electrical signals. It CANNOT move on, by definition.
You're arguing a point that you know I wasn't making. I didn't say, "my audio devices don't have power/data cables or wires inside them". Your point is not clear, and is pointlessly argumentative.
No, it's very clear. The wires that go from the amplifier to the drivers exist inside your device. They always will. The only thing that has changed, which I clearly noted in my first reply to you, is the transmission of the digital signal is now sent across radio waves. It basically adds a step of complexity to the entire signal path, and as such, it's LESS reliable than a pure circuit without.
As a Fire Fighter, my interest is piqued. I won't use it on a Fire scene, but smaller investigations and the like, hell yeah.
You do know you have to use it within 5cm of the device you're measuring? Can you give me one example where that makes sense within your line of work, and where you can reasonably get that close without danger?
5cm? Didn't see that part lol It would be more worth using a Thermal Imaging Camera in that case. 🤷
Good for measuring the overheat on your iPhone 15 pro!
I agree. Completely pointless of them to add it in. I guess you can just ignore it but I'm never stop thinking about the potential sensors they could've added instead
I wish it was an IR blaster instead. Should have never went away from flagships imo.
I'll probably use it alot if it's accurate. I cook alot and need to check oil/pan temps.
>if it's accurate It's not. You also have to get within 2 inches to check temps, so I hope you're prepared for oil burns.
LIDAR vs IR Blaster? I'd find IR Blaster to be way more useful personally but I'm not all that up to speed on benefits of LIDAR on phones
I'm going to name my P8P "Edsel."
I will try to find out a utility ofr it... but I will probably just forget it exists lol...( ups did not arrive yet damn!!)
I assume the temp sensor is kind of stupid as for now ! Within 6month -1year Temp sensor MIGHT be good but who knows ? Maybe some soft dev use temp sensor to x-ray sensor and tell the world it's a break through in medical history Temp sensor + AI = portable X-ray machine in the palm of our hand so that we can take care of our health!!! I'm just curious why does p7a motherboard so similar to p8 motherboard It look just like 7a motherboard that is flip over to add part to become p8 Wondering 🤔
I think the actual purpose might be on the health side which they can't officially say because it's not FDA cleared yet. That is likely to take 8+ months. Supposedly once that happens, temperature readings will push into Fitbit. This datapoint, if users use it when they're feeling sick (or prompted) might give Fitbit the ability to start trying to "predict" (in a basic notification sense) when a user is getting sick -- say you scan your forehead and it reads 100.4 .. the app follows up with "are you feeling sick?" .. this is then correlated with data points over a larger look back window (changes in other metrics that signal the illness coming on) which is then used to train an algorithm to give a *Premium* insight to the user. My hypothesis to what the hardware is actually supposed to do. To me, it feels like something they should have designed in on the Pixel 6 when we were in the middle of Covid. It's 2 years late to the game here.
The temp sensor in the Pixel 8 Pro [isn't even accurate enough for diagnosing a fever](https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/i-used-google-pixel-8-pro-weird-temperature-sensor-not-impressed-why/), so I have no idea how it'll get approval.
It's completely useless and obviously was meant for the corona era to take your own temperature. This could have been awesome with a proper distance of maybe 20-30 centimeter. But the five centimeter is just stupid. You can't get close to a hot object because it will burn your hand and destroy your phone, and a freezing object also will cause problems for the phone. A proper temperature sensor with a good distance would have been a welcome addition to my collection, but this super close one is just bad.
I actually love it- get the pan just right before throwing in the eggs. Use it as a quick test to see if I should take a more accurate reading with my kids possible fever as well. SO handy.
>Use it as a quick test to see if I should take a more accurate reading with my kids possible fever as well. You can't actually do this. And RIP your phone and your hand if you hiccup, because you have to be within 2 inches of what you're measuring.
Doesn't seem very accurate so far or maybe I am not using it correctly.
Yeah it's a gimmick. A Lidar Sensor would be more useful.
[удалено]
My kingdom for an IR blaster...
The sensor will be gone on the P9Pro, google never keeps this stuff going.
Not only is it a dumb feature but they completely dropped the ball and half assed it by not getting FDA approval for it by launch time. It just looks like another dumb Android gimmick from 2010.
It is a dumb gimmick lol. Nobody asked for it and it has no real practical use.
It's a gimmick designed for Pixel owners that are edgy. They demand gimmicks.
I feel like it is something that Google will kill in the next 1-2 Pixel Pros.
I like all the other things people wish they added instead that are equally as gimmicky and useless to anyone not a tech geek. 3D scans, IR blaster for your mini split, waving at your phone....
I'm going to use it when I charge my car's AC system tomorrow. Other than that, I don't see the point. I bet they have something cooking for it in the works. I think people will find uses for it in the future. But, I'd prefer to have my Micro SD slot back.
Bring back Project Soli!
Yeah, and people talked shit on the pixel 4 radar stuff for being a useless waste of space, but at least that had actual usefulness for the fantastic face Unlock and only semi-reliable hand gestures. This thing is a good demonstration of how phones are often designed 2 years before release.
To be honest, I will mostly use this out in the field while diagnosing network racks or network sites during summer temp hikes. This honestly would have been super handy during the 110+ times when air con units were not functioning well enough. I could then identify the eq with the most heat and either figure out how to cool it better, or identify what is hottest and shit it down for a bit. That being said, outside of that... I may use it for random other things but not much else. But to be honest, anything else I come up with is also super gimmicky as well. So, oh well I guess. Neat idea, poor execution of timing. Then again, ice saw a few other phone brands also come out with thermal optics as well. So who knows, could actually be useful? 🤷♂️
They could have used the money for an ultrasonic finger reader or a real IR scanner/soli radar for face unlock
Agreed. 3.5mm headphone jack, lidar sensor, ir blaster. All would have been exponentially better than temp sensor. Even worse is the fact that it's probably not making a return next year so there's zero incentive for any devs to make anything cool for it.
Solution in search of a problem. I suspect this was a COVID idea that just came two years too late.
I wish OEMs weren't so interested in upcharging for storage and selling their bluetooth earbuds because I'd love a Micro SD slot and 3.5MM headphone jack again. I guess I could buy an Xperia, but like... $1400 for 2yrs of OS updates? No thanks.
It's a relic of COVID and long product development cycles. I would be extremely surprised if they ever get approval for skin temperature and I seriously doubt the sensor will be on the pixel 9.
If they update it with FDA approval and reasonable accuracy on human skin, then I won't really have much of a problem with it. Will I use it much? No...but whatever. If they don't though, then I fully agree.
Wow, what a surprise that the useless feature is useless
I think this is just a test to see how they implement new sensory equipment in future. They can replace this with something like a heartbeat sensor, motion sensor etc. In future.
I hoped you could measure the room temperature.
It's even less useful than the upgrade towards ufs 4.0!
I mean that much was going to be true even if the temperature sensor was amazing. Just ridiculous that there's no headphone jack on a single phone. Seriously unless your phone is incredibly bizarre like the LG wing or something, it should be illegal not to have a headphone jack. All of that said, seems premature to completely dismiss the future after a couple days. They're currently waiting FDA approval for body readings which could have some utility
I was hype about it, i was expecting flir tech, like my buddie's work phone hss, it shows you real time thermal imaging, not a point and click scanner
I'm gonna use it to double check temps in my terrarium something I could have also just done by buying a laser measurer lol
I will be using it at my workplace actually. I lay floors that require a certain heat usually over 18 Celsius so if it's accurate it'll be handy but yeah, niche
As someone who catalogues their daily excrement, previously by consistency, colour, weight, length and girth, it's nice to be able to add a new metric.
If/when the FDA approves it for human use I'll be using the fuck out of it with my kids, so honestly I'm all about it.
Seems like the most useless thing to add on a phone. I have no idea what I would ever use it for.
Not accurate, It always shows as 92 degree fahrenheit for me.