Questions for Pixel fans

[Katrina White1]

What do you love about Pixel phones?

What don't you love?

I checked out a few P7P reviews, and I feel like I'll be underwhelmed coming from Samsung, but I wanna try something new. Apple takes more effort that I'm willing to put forth.

I will say the AI shown during the P8 reveal is interesting. Brings new meaning to the phrase "Pics or it didn't happen."

 

[YankInDaSouth]

Having both the P7P and the S23U I can say they both have their pros and cons. As to which I prefer ... It depends on the day

For me, some of the Pixel Pros over Sammy are:
* Pictures, in my opinion, are far superior. I prefer the Pixel's more natural looking approach rather than Samsung punchy/over saturated look. Plus, if you have any sort of moving subject like kids or pets Samsung sucks (and has for a while in the department) in my experience. I rarely shoot video and never do selfies, so I can't comment on those aspects. But point and shoot it's Pixel all day every day for me.
* Call screening and spam call prevention is better
* Hold for me is awesome
* Voice dictation is WAY more accurate
* Being able to say "send" to send a text messages is super handy while replying via voice and you can't use your hands
* Flip to shhh (putting phone face down evokes DND) is handy
* No duplicate apps (having two store apps to check for app updates drives me batty LOL.
* I prefer Pixle phone and contact apps

It's definitely not as feature rich and customizable as the Samsung experience ... which I can imagine being jarring for someone that's primarily used Samsung devices. You may not be able to achieve something you simply could on a Samsung device without installing a third party app on a Pixel.
But, the Pixel experience is definitely hard to explain; I think you need to dive in and give it a fair shake. It's certainly not for everyone, and that's fine ... that's the beauty of Android - choice

 

[Katrina White1]

Great summation! Especially coming from a fellow S23U owner. I'm actually looking forward to the challenge and I can't wait to get this device in hand to explore. Fresh tech!!!

And the pros you listed are BIG pros.

 

[Venetach]

I love the lack of bloatware and in my opinion, Samsung is the biggest offender.

Also hate the fact that Samsung has competing apps to Google and an app store that cannot be removed but only disabled

 

[hannsoft]

Pixel phones give us naked Android the way nature and Google intended. No obligatory software layer stuffed between Android and me. That's been the draw for me from the beginning.

 

[Bkdodger1]

Pros
Buttery smooth UI
Voice dictation next level
Spam detection.. call options including hold for me..
Google translate as long as live translate
Google photos and all the tweaks for after photos editing
Google camera solid top notch pics especially with skin tones and moving objects
Songs what's playing in the background for those interested in that option

Cons
Less customization than a Samsung phone.. I wish they would give us more options and let us decide how we want to theme the UI..
Past experience the battery has not been as great as my Samsung phones..TBD with this release and Android 14 seems to have helped
Auto brightness.. I've never liked the way Google handles it.. and I find it too low at times and I have to adjust it manually..
Outdoors brightness.. so with my latest Pixel Fold The brightness is plenty but Google has software that lowers it which I feel is too fast and keeps it lower.. also TBD with this new release and this phone will have the highest NITS of any previous phones

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Pixel phones give us naked Android the way nature and Google intended. No obligatory software layer stuffed between Android and me. That's been the draw for me from the beginning.

That is totally not true anymore. The Pixels are skinned, just like any other manufacturer. Less skinned than most, but more skinned than some.

 

[hannsoft]

That is totally not true anymore. The Pixels are skinned, just like any other manufacturer. Less skinned than most, but more skinned than some.

An example of a "skin", please?

 

[notforhire]

An example of a "skin", please?

Pixel Launcher
One UI

 

[hannsoft]

Pixel launcher is a part of Google's Android.

One ui? Where can I find that on my Pixel? Is that made by Google?

 

[mgbosshogg]

This past 12 months I have owned the Pixel 7Pro , S23U , Xiaomi 13Pro and my current daily Honor Magic 5 Pro. ( I also have an iPhone 13 )

My pixel has been in the drawer for some time. The deal-breaker for me was the battery efficiency and weak mobile signal. I don't care how good photos are if my phone is dead or I can't make a call.

The hardware mediocrity of pixels just can't be overlooked for me.

I know lots of users get hung up on SmOoTh UI or No BlOaTWeAr. But these things come a distant service to me.

As is always the pixel way , "hopefully the next one will be better"........
It does look like 8 Pro had addressed some of these issues. But not others.

I mean ..... £1000 for 128Gb of old UFS3.1 in 2023 is just embarrassing. That's iPhone type of shenanigans.


Now all of this said, anyone who might know me, I will probably order an 8 Pro shortly anyway. I kind to try things out for myself.

 

[Bkdodger1]

At the end of the day you have to try for yourself I agree 100%... And we all know you will be ordering the new phone...

 

[Maljunulo]

Samsung is full of redundant “features” which appeal to 14-year-olds, and just clutter up the phone.

Pixels have the Titan M2 chip, and they now have seven (7) years of both OS updates and security patches. The boot loader is un and re lockable, so you can run GrapheneOS if you wish.

(yust my opinion)

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Pixel launcher is a part of Google's Android.

One ui? Where can I find that on my Pixel? Is that made by Google?

No, that's part of Samsungs Android. You just proved my point by refering to "Google's Android The point is that Google's Android is not "naked Android."."

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Samsung is full of redundant “features” which appeal to 14-year-olds, and just clutter up the phone.

Pixels have the Titan M2 chip, and they now have seven (7) years of both OS updates and security pitches. The boot loader is un and re lockable, so you can run GrapheneOS if you wish.

(yust my opinion)

Yeah, 14 year olds clamour for that S-Pen. They just love taking notes by hand!

 

[hannsoft]

No, that's part of Samsungs Android. You just proved my point by refering to "Google's Android The point is that Google's Android is not "naked Android."."

Pixel launcher is not a part of Samsung. Ssmsung's software is added to Android by Samsung. Added to Android. Added to Android.

I have proven that you don't understand.

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Pixel launcher is not a part of Samsung. Ssmsung's software is added to Android by Samsung. Added to Android. Added to Android.

I have proven that you don't understand.

OK, cool story.

 

[Maljunulo]

Yeah, 14 year olds clamour for that S-Pen. They just love taking notes by hand!

Requirements may vary.

 

[YankInDaSouth]

Pixel launcher is not a part of Samsung. Ssmsung's software is added to Android by Samsung. Added to Android. Added to Android.

I have proven that you don't understand.

"Vanilla Android" is an AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROM. Which, as far as I know, no manufacturer, including Google, runs on their devices. They all put their own spin on an AOSP base, some manufacturers heavily modified things while other not so much. From what I remember way back from my rooting/ROMing days, AOSP is extremely (EXTREMELY) bare bones ...

While Google's approach is indeed minimalist it is not, by definition, a "vanilla" Android experience.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I like the pixel extras as well. The enhanced AI features and the simplicity of it appeals to me. I have a S10+ and that is wonderful to customise but every Samsung I have owned has had microphone issues that render the phone unusable for me. In the end I always go back to Pixel.