“Behind the camera, I was invisible. When I lifted it up to my eye it was like I crawled into the lens, losing myself there. and everything else fell away.”
― Sarah Dessen, Dreamland
Probably, this is my first gadget review article. It’s my phone, Google Pixel 4 XL. It has been my daily driver since the end of the last year. Here are some stories behind my new phone and lenses.
I used to be a loyal Huawei user. I enjoyed three generations of Huawei devices, including Nexus 6P (co-developed by Google), Huawei P10, and Huawei Mate 10 Pro. I’m still using their tablet (Huawei MadiaPad M5 Pro) for photo-editing purposes. But somewhere along the way, I decided to fully dive into the Google ecosystem by purchasing Pixel 4 XL at the end of the last year after having purchased several ‘Made by Google’ products, such as Google Home, Nest Hub, and Chromecast.
There were mainly two reasons why I switched to the Google phone: Moment and China.
First off, I love photography. And when it comes to a smartphone camera, Google’s Pixel series has been enjoying a good reputation among Android users. It was so good that it even influenced other phone manufacturers, including Apple, Samsung, and Huawei in terms of camera quality. Its night-vision was highly regarded by tech reviewers.
And its already good camera is even more enhanced by attaching extra Moment lens attachment. Moment started as lens manufacture for phones but they are now making camera gears and develop apps as well (unfortunately, they dropped their camera app for Android due to Android fragmentation and their lack of resources). They create lenses for a select few models, such as iPhone, Galaxy, One Plus, and Pixel. Since they offer a wide variety of lenses for phones, I sometimes even think that my Pixel is just more than enough. But still, it isn’t fully enough to replace my Canon DSLR yet.
There are, however, things that make me concern as a Pixel owner, such as the recent report of Marc Levoy (the mastermind behind Pixel’s camera) leaving Google due to a split within the Pixel team according to the Information. Not only that, Pixel line’s hardware quality has been heavily criticized for many years. I, personally, agree with them. When compared to my previous daily driver, Huawei Mate 10 Pro, its overall quality is apparently worse: for instance its battery life and other daily usages. Even so, I prefer Pixel to Huawei devices for the following reason…
So, here is the second reason why I switched to Pixel from Huawei: China. As you may have already heard, Huawei lost its access to Google Mobile Services (GMS) last year due to the Trump Administrations’ bold move by adding the manufacture into their so-called “entity list”. Also, the rumor has been going on for quite a while that implies the dark relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Even though Huawei has been completely denying its alleged deep-ties with CCP, it’s almost impossible for them to convince the majority of Western consumers to believe its innocence. Considering China’s notorious history of human rights abuse against their ethnic minorities, I felt even ashamed of myself for investing my hard-earned money on the Chinese-brand’s ecosystem. Additionally, Huawei announced that they’re going to create HarmonyOS and their own ecosystem, ditching GMS; I’m not sure how many western consumers are willing to buy the Chinese brand’s products and services.
Despite their top-quality hardware in the smartphone industry, it’s too risky to keep using their devices, considering the aforementioned reasons. Additionally, Moment didn’t create lens cases for Huawei. So as a photography lover, it wasn’t as attractive as it used to be, considering the fact that there are many other options.
So among many other options, Pixel met lots of my criteria. But one thing I have to be aware of is the fact that Pixel is an American product, and I’ve been investing in Google’s ecosystem. The question is: should I trust them? I know I mentioned the Chinese regime’s arrogant attitude not only within their country but also towards the outside world. At the same time, I know what Edward Snowden did back in 2013, exposing NSA’s spy program. Oh and not to mention, Julian Assange -Wikileaks founder – kept warning us about widespread surveillance on our phones and computers.
Since I grew up in a world that is heavily influenced by Americans, I was willing to be “brainwashed” by them. I know they value democracy, freedom of speech, and basic human rights. On the other hand, those basic principles of our democracy could be just an illusion when I think about the fact that what was done by Arrange and Snowden was hard to ignore.
This should be a gadget-review but somewhat it ended up being a political argument. Anyways, what I want to point out here is that it’s almost impossible to ignore the global political climate when we discuss technology.
Here are some shots of Pixel 4 XL and Moment’s Pixel case and lenses.
And here are sample shots I photographed with Pixel + Moment lenses in Yokohama and Tokyo.
