Should I buy a pixel phone for my next phone and ditch Samsung?

[Mike Dee]

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My only Pixel regret is not getting the original Pixel because of the bezels, price and looking too much like an iPhone. At the time I didn't place much value on smartphone cameras and I liked the audio on the LG V20. The audio on the Pixel 2XL was solid enough to win me over and I'm loving the camera. I'm normally a manual shooter type but I'm just fine with the auto capabilities of the Pixel.
I love the Pixel software because it's an experience that I get that in the past I couldn't get without root.

 

[srgonu]

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If you are using App pair, can you switch apps on Pixel? Or can you create a App pair short cut on home screen? This is just one example how far ahead Samsung is in terms of features related to productivity. Google will take years to catch up on lot of things. If you are techie and need function over form, Samsung is awesome. If you need smoothness and updates pixel or iphones will work. I prefer function.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

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App pair isn't even a good feature lol, it's more or less a waste of time.

 

[Vega007]

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App pair isn't even a good feature lol, it's more or less a waste of time.

Most of what people do on smartphones can be seem as a waste of time. Samsung is always going to come out with new tricks that sometimes hit, sometimes miss. They will throw a lot at you, and guess what, you don't have to use them. But if you do, they are there.

I personally feel a lot like Mr Mobile does about it. If you want a phone that can do just about everything, a true jack of all trades, you go Samsung. If you prefer a phone that doesn't do as much but the things it does it does really well, go Pixel.

 

[BillLee3]

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Most of what people do on smartphones can be seem as a waste of time. Samsung is always going to come out with new tricks that sometimes hit, sometimes miss. They will throw a lot at you, and guess what, you don't have to use them. But if you do, they are there.

I personally feel a lot like Mr Mobile does about it. If you want a phone that can do just about everything, a true jack of all trades, you go Samsung. If you prefer a phone that doesn't do as much but the things it does it does really well, go Pixel.

I don't _totally_ disagree with you - out of the box. But in many cases Samsung's "features" can be added via better versions of the same idea from the play store and you get to choose best of breed utilities rather than whatever Samsung happened to add.

To me it comes down to do you want to have a very lean phone that you can add almost anything you want to or do you want a very bloated phone that you can (sometimes) disable the parts you don't like. I.e. Samsung's propensity to add their versions of calendars, clocks, etc., etc. to directly compete with Google's mandatory (and often superior) versions. If you start with Samsung's bloated phone (and it's not as bad as it once was) you should know that most of the time even the disabled apps continue to take up storage and/or system resources.

The biggest reason to use Google is because Google actually updates their software. It is just unacceptable in today's use to allow your phone to have _known_ bugs for months or years without an update available to address them. Until people quit buying from a company that doesn't provide such updates Samsung will continue to put its users at risk - they just don't have an incentive to stop.

 

[chanchan05]

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I don't _totally_ disagree with you - out of the box. But in many cases Samsung's "features" can be added via better versions of the same idea from the play store and you get to choose best of breed utilities rather than whatever Samsung happened to add.

To me it comes down to do you want to have a very lean phone that you can add almost anything you want to or do you want a very bloated phone that you can (sometimes) disable the parts you don't like. I.e. Samsung's propensity to add their versions of calendars, clocks, etc., etc. to directly compete with Google's mandatory (and often superior) versions. If you start with Samsung's bloated phone (and it's not as bad as it once was) you should know that most of the time even the disabled apps continue to take up storage and/or system resources.

The biggest reason to use Google is because Google actually updates their software. It is just unacceptable in today's use to allow your phone to have _known_ bugs for months or years without an update available to address them. Until people quit buying from a company that doesn't provide such updates Samsung will continue to put its users at risk - they just don't have an incentive to stop.

I have yet to find an app from the Play Store that is actually superior to the preinstalled apps on Samsung (with the possible exception of the messaging app).

Heck Google can't even handle their own contact groups feature and they want you to use Gmail for your contacts. Take this scenario: I want to send a tect message to one of my contact groups. I have them arranged as a mailing group on Gmail too and sync my contacts. Oh wait, you have to add them one by one to the recipienta field. On a Samsung, you tap compose, and what do you know, your Gmail groups are there. Long press on the group name them select compose.

And for the record, outside of the US, a lot of countries receive Samsung updates pretty timely. My S7 Edge had monthly updates except for the 2mo delay in September. Other than that it was smooth sailing. Sure it's 2wks to one month delayed compared to Google, often I get the patch for the previous month this month, but that's to be expected because they still have to edit the drivers and stuff and sometimes they bundle their own bug fixes.

Also, as Google themselves already said in a statement, some OEMs don't need all the patches because their own changes already essentially patched the issue in their devices.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

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but that's to be expected because they still have to edit the drivers and stuff and sometimes they bundle their own bug fixes.

This discounts the fact that they receive the information for the monthly security patches a month prior to the scheduled release date. It's not only doable, but it's rather easy for OEM's to release the MMM-01 updates on MMM-01. Several OEM's have done exactly that, including Samsung twice, but BlackBerry, TCL, Nokia (HMD), HTC, Moto (Lenovo) and others have all gotten the full suite of updates complete within the 30 day period and released on MMM-01 on the first Monday of the month, which is exactly what Google does, but they typically release the MMM-05 patch on the first Monday of the month for their own devices.

 

[chanchan05]

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This discounts the fact that they receive the information for the monthly security patches a month prior to the scheduled release date. It's not only doable, but it's rather easy for OEM's to release the MMM-01 updates on MMM-01. Several OEM's have done exactly that, including Samsung twice, but BlackBerry, TCL, Nokia (HMD), HTC, Moto (Lenovo) and others have all gotten the full suite of updates complete within the 30 day period and released on MMM-01 on the first Monday of the month, which is exactly what Google does, but they typically release the MMM-05 patch on the first Monday of the month for their own devices.

You do realize that every manufacturer you mentioned has nearly barebones Android compared to Samsung right?

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

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You do realize that every manufacturer you mentioned has nearly barebones Android compared to Samsung right?

I'm fine with that, because a) that has nothing to do with how these patches are implemented (unless you are referring to Samsung's habit of hardcoding all their references instead of depending on dynamic library references, in which case... they should fix that. Google fixed most of that for them a couple years ago, they should try to avoid reverting. but then again, they've always been terrible at writing software.) And b) Samsung was included in that list, so they have shown that they can do it.

 

[chanchan05]

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I'm fine with that, because a) that has nothing to do with how these patches are implemented (unless you are referring to Samsung's habit of hardcoding all their references instead of depending on dynamic library references, in which case... they should fix that. Google fixed most of that for them a couple years ago, they should try to avoid reverting. but then again, they've always been terrible at writing software.) And b) Samsung was included in that list, so they have shown that they can do it.

It would depend on what the patch is. Remember that Samsung's Android implementation has a ton more stuff on top of it. If some of Google's fixes don't conflict, they can release it early. If it does... Also one month isn't really a long time.

You get my point. Manufacturers like Samsung and LG mostly can't keep up due to the heavy skins they use. Of course project treble is supposed to change that, since it changes an underlying code allowing for easier patching. I'm suspecting that's what's causing the massive delay for Samsung and LG and maybe Huawei on their updates. Hard coded stuff needs a lot of reworking. But the heavier the skin is, the bigger the delay. Android is about choice, and every choice brings compromise.

 

[Rev Psyko]

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I have had many different Android phones. From Samsung, LG, Motorola... The pixel 2 XL is the only phone I've had without all the extra bloatware, it's fast and the features it has are rather impressive... I've had this phone since Saturday and I will say that it is the best phone I've ever had

 

[JR McKee]

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I've owned 3 Nexus/Pixel's and every Note so far, currently own Pixel 2XL, Galaxy S8+ and Note 8. Of all the devices, I prefer the Note, which is only ever so slightly better than the S8+.

In a perfect world, and I think Samsung is making a huge mistake not to implement this, I'd opt for the Samsung device with pure Android updateable by Google, coupling Samsung's world class hardware with Google's buttery smooth vanilla Android. IMHO Samsung is missing the mark with their "Touch Wiz" interface. For the most part, Samsung's displays are far superior as with their hardware. The only reason to ever buy a Google Branded phone is for the software, to date their hardware is still on par with or inferior to Samsung. I have to side load the Pixel Launcher on my Note 8 to replicate the buttery smooth experience on my "backup" Pixel 2XL I carry at all times. If you compare a Galaxy class device next to a Pixel 2XL the Galaxy is much brighter, far more vivid and visually more satisfying, side-load the Pixel Launcher and you have the best of all worlds.

 

[Mike Dee]

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Instead of addressing the OP's original post this seems to be turning into another Samsung vs. Pixel thread

 

[Thrillllls]

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Samsung has great hardware, but its software is always lacking. Software updates are few and far between (quarterly?). I have a Pixel 2 XL and I had the S9+ for a few days. I returned the S9+ just because I couldn't get past the security patch still being stuck on February 1 in mid-to-late April.

What carrier i have s9plus and its patch threw april also that is the dumbist reson ive ever herd sorry samsung note 8 is the best phone out followed but s9plus id put the pixel2 line about fourth after iphone x

 

[Thrillllls]

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My note 8 runs like butter your friends must have got the only ****y lemons

 

[Thrillllls]

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I left Samsung after years of their phones because I was constantly disabling tons of apps just to clean up the OS as much as I could in search of less lag and better battery life which I rarely got and would factory reset everything 3 months or so anyway just to keep it running fast-ish.

I'm not saying Samsung phones are bad, but they are a different experience. If you use a lot of their apps, you may want to stick with it. If you are like most of us in here on Pixel devices and you like a minimal amount of apps and mostly use Google apps and services anyway, you won't regret getting a Pixel 2. I've had my Pixel 2 for three weeks and am loving it more every day. It's never slow and the battery life is consistent day to day unlike most Samsung devices I've used and I've disabled nothing.

Nope. Sammy note 8 is way better sorry the extra ram blowes it away

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

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Nope. Sammy note 8 is way better sorry the extra ram blowes it away

You seem new here

 

[Mike Dee]

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Nope. Sammy note 8 is way better sorry the extra ram blowes it away

Thank God "way better" is a measureable means to define how good something is for everyone. Our problems have been solved.

 

[Theot]

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Nope. Sammy note 8 is way better sorry the extra ram blowes it away

Well, how can I argue with such a profound statement such as that.....

 

[Mike Dee]

Well, how can I argue with such a profound statement such as that.....

Most people don't understand that other than the specific applications that hog your RAM, bumping your RAM 2GB isn't going to increase application speed. The only thing that additional RAM DOES is allow your computer or smartphone to do more things at once, not actually make it faster.
With proper memory management the extra RAM is usually not needed, especially on a smartphone.