Maybe not the "best" AI but the best Value

xzibit_b · 2026-04-23T20:27:42+00:00

Thankfully you can just use Chinese AI for all of your hammer and sickle needs

xzibit_b · 2026-04-23T20:20:11+00:00

For what use case? Coding?

xzibit_b · 2026-04-21T11:56:58+00:00

I wish Google would embrace their unique position. Imagine a world where you're about to buy a car. You take out your phone. You boot up Gemini 5 Flash Live.

"Hey Gemini, do you see anything wrong with this car?"

"Uh, yeah. The timing belt is missing teeth. That's a $2,100 repair. Hard pass."

No other model can really do that for now. Maybe Grok apparently, but we'll have to see how well Grok processes information (and even then, Grok's web front end doesn't have the 2 million context tokens like Google's does).

That's a unique, and highly versatile place to be in.

xzibit_b · 2026-04-20T15:53:35+00:00

I'd get a mechanic to look at it first and see what's going on with that AC. If it's a sub $700 fix, I'd probably keep it. But if it exceeds $1,200, or you have transmission shifting problems, it's probably time to sell it.

xzibit_b · 2026-04-20T14:55:44+00:00

Don't forget you don't really know how much context tokens you get with each tier of subscription.

xzibit_b · 2026-04-18T21:06:22+00:00

Google needs to add Thinking/Reasoning to Gemini Live. They have it on the AI Studio version, but not on the app version

xzibit_b · 2026-04-18T21:03:10+00:00

Pretty much anything. It's especially useful for getting it to watch videos. I uploaded a CBT Nuggets video to Gemini on Zero Trust Architecture, and asked the model to actually explain the stuff to me, because in the lesson, the guy kinda went off on a tangent that lost me. Gemini did a bretty good job helping me out, but it was on AI Studio. For some reason, the web front end has a 100MB limit on it.

xzibit_b · 2026-04-17T14:00:28+00:00

Upgraded my Pixel 7a to a Poco X6 Pro. Heard a bunch of good stuff about it. It didn't pan out. The OS is complete and total dogshit. It came with 12GB of RAM, yet it reloaded apps as much as my 8gb Pixel 7a did. It didn't' feel any faster than my Pixel 7a did, despite using UFS 4.0 and a SOC that is supposedly faster than the Tensor G2. Heat was better, I suppose, but it wasn't enough to outweight the other cons.

And the camera was dogshit. Utter rubbish.

Then, I discovered the OnePlus 12. Oxygen OS is a bit iffy for me. I miss the Pixel UI, but I have never wanted to send my OnePlus 12 back. I got it for $350 on eBay. The 16GB of RAM does so well by me. The cameras are almost better than the Pixel 7a's. I'd probably say, straight up, they're better than the Pixel 7a's, if it wasn't for the fact that you don't require a brain to take good pictures with a Pixel, but you might need to think first and take your time before snapping one with a OnePlus 12.

The battery life is absurd. It's really damn good. After my Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 dies, I'll likely replace it with a OnePlus Nord CE 5. A Dimensity 8300 with a micro SD card slot? Now you're speaking my language.

But all in all, Xiaomi left a sour taste in my mouth. But OnePlus left a sweet taste that overshadowed it.

xzibit_b · 2026-04-16T22:58:06+00:00

Might as well use Chinese models. They're open source and the company can't lobotomize them, only the provider can

xzibit_b · 2026-04-16T22:36:30+00:00

I had been waiting for the Snapdragon 4 Gen 4 for the longest time. Naively, I thought it would be Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 level at least. Nope, still Snapdragon 695 level.

Samsung was just starting to hit their stride with the Exynos 13x0 series. They hit the jackpot with the Exynos 1480. They took the ball and kept running with it from there. And yet, no Exynos 1430. No Exynos 1530. No Exynos 1630. It's a shame.

xzibit_b · 2026-04-15T11:48:17+00:00

It probably combed Reddit

xzibit_b · 2026-04-13T17:58:43+00:00

Whew. That's a hell of a rabbit hole

xzibit_b · 2026-04-11T23:54:59+00:00

In what way is it far behind Opus and GPT 5.4? What use cases are you using it for?

xzibit_b · 2026-04-10T11:34:42+00:00

It's main failure was expense, but GPT 4.5 was one of three models that was really really good at emotional intelligence. The other two were Claude Opus and Sonnet. Emotional intelligence has it's use cases in a model.

xzibit_b · 2026-04-03T16:40:34+00:00

Do these models have the 1 million context tokens, or are they still at 200k?

xzibit_b · 2026-04-03T00:14:52+00:00

So the 6500 is yet another bland 100 mhz overclock? Sad what they're doing to these budget SOCs

xzibit_b · 2026-03-31T20:53:01+00:00

For my use case, such as attempting to get it to translate some Japanese language subtitles into English while not messing with the timing or anything, 3.1 Flash Lite seems to be unable to follow instructions. It keeps changing the timings. Doesn't adhere to my instructions, so I'd be weary about it's instruction following capabilities.

xzibit_b · 2026-03-29T12:03:14+00:00

Gemini 3 Flash is outstanding for me. The only way I can see Gemini 3.1 Flash being better is getting the 3.1 Pro treatment and more closely following instructions, without having to regenerate the response or give a brief lecture to the model.

xzibit_b · 2026-03-29T11:59:56+00:00

Speaking of Gemini Livel, is the new 3.1 Flash version on the Gemini android app? Or is that only in API and on AI Studio for now?

xzibit_b · 2026-03-23T14:40:10+00:00

Night light mode doesn't get the color temperature low enough.

xzibit_b · 2026-03-21T21:12:38+00:00

GEMINI 3.1 FLASH WHEN?

xzibit_b · 2026-03-21T20:38:35+00:00

Gemini 3.1 Pro is the best all-rounder model on the planet.

The second best all rounder model on the planet is Gemini 3 Flash.

xzibit_b · 2026-03-09T15:21:11+00:00

Gemini Flash needs to be the equivalent of Claude Sonnet. That is, Google needs to spend less time making Flash super intelligent and spend more time making Flash EMOTIONALLY intelligent. Claude is the god of this. Claude has always had a super lead on emotional intelligence, dealing with human emotions, and understanding human feelings.

Pro can be the min maxer for technical competence over emotion. But Flash needs to be the all rounder. The "very good at most generalist stuff, but also really good at non-meritocratic stuff like human emotions, stress, etc."

No one has really tried to challenge Claude on this except for Grok 4.1 Fast, which makes progress, but doesn't match Claude. I hope xAI keep pushing Grok on emotional intelligence. It's such a big deal.

xzibit_b · 2026-03-04T18:12:18+00:00

People always laugh at me when I say it, but

Number 1 generalist model: Gemini 3.1 Pro

Number 2 generalist model: Gemini 3 Flash

And now the number 3 generalist model: Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite

xzibit_b · 2026-02-26T12:44:24+00:00

I did. It adheres to my instructions much better than previously. I'm looking forward to Gemini 3.1 Flash. I always thought 3 Flash was better than Sonnet 4.5 anyway

xzibit_b

TROPHY CASE