Among Star Trek fans, "Kobayashi Maru" is synonymous with a no-win scenario. This year in mobile tech, my "Kobayashi Maru" is the Pixel 3 review because this phone is marred by so much controversy and compromise that phone geeks will flay me for even suggesting it's worth its asking price. At the same time, the normal folks at whom this phone is aimed will see a fantastic iPhone alternative for $200 less than the 10s, and for them, the defects I call out may seem barely worth a mention. Well, as usual, reality is somewhere in between. So, this is the Pixel 3, not the larger 3 XL, and I chose it mainly to avoid the XL's prodigious notch. Well, in the bargain, I got probably the best one-handed phone around. If you're someone who's always out doing stuff and you don't always have two hands for your phone, this size is perfect. The back plate's edge finish makes it easy to slip into a pocket. It doesn't get all greasy like most glass phones, and against the skin, it feels pleasantly smooth, like it's made of chalkboard. In the looks department, this is a pleasant evolution when you compare it to the first generation Pixel of 2016. There's a sense of minimalist balance here that I quite admire. But bit by bit, the fun seems to be draining from its design. A bunch of us affectionately called last year's Pixel 2 XL the Panda because of its cheeky black and white paneling, and the year before that, there was a fetching Really Blue paint job. This year, white is white, black is black, and pink is, well, not pink. There's nothing wrong with understated design, but we already have a big tech company building understated phones. I just think the folks...
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