2016: The personal preference year?

[syspry]

Basically the only thing I get from the great Pixel vs iPhone debate of 2016 on Android Central about which phone is faster, more fluid, responsive is the same thing I've seen everywhere else. Zero consensus. That alone tells me that both phones are blazing fast. So what it'll come down to for me is which phone has the least hardware/software issues and it's way too early to tell that. I will say one thing as an Android phone but Apple tablet user - I've had far more nasty unpleasant surprises crop up on new Android updates after purchase than I have on iOS.

The on-again off-again battery drain shenanigans the last couple of years of Android updates have really left a sour taste in my mouth. I've been staring at the Nougat update notification on my Nexus 6P for weeks now and I'm ignoring it because I'm tired of that game. I also wasn't happy to learn that HTC was the "runner up" to build the Pixel phones. Google approached HuaWei first since they did such an awesome job on the 6P but talks broke down when HuaWei refused to concede on agreeing how branding would appear on the back of the phone, and also HTC was only given 9 months to develop the Pixel rather than the standard 18 that nexus phones historically got.

That combined with lesser speakers and smaller screen than the 6P halted any desire I have to switch phones from the Nexus 6P this year, and Apple's deletion of the headphone jack squashed any iPhone temptations I may have had. All 3 of those are huge for me. Since I finally dusted off my wallet to buy a fancy new dedicated camera for vacations a month ago, that blew the improved camera argument out for me as well. Safari on my iPad continues to shame Chrome Browser on my Android phone OR iPad. Ditto for texting. I'm happy for you guys who picked up either the Pixel or iPhone this year, and I'm sure you'll enjoy them, but for me, 2016 was not an upgrade at all. I'm going to have to chalk 2016 up to being the year of the personal preference #YMMV

 

[osubeavs728]

I have a 6P and a pixel XL. I'd take the pixel build and quality over the 6p everyday of the week. Also, just because the speaker isn't forward facing doesn't mean it sounds worse or is quieter. I'd say the speakers are pretty much the same between the two phones, which says a lot more about the 6p's speakers than the pixel's

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

This is the year in mobile that I was waiting for. When you have a stock Android device with flagship hardware up against the iPhone with stock iOS what would it look like? Which would I deem a better fit? This year I got to explore that question. And I chose the Pixel. Android as an operating system and Google and it's services are better than Apple and iOS and all the services that come with iOS in my opinion.

 

[Tf407]

I think the iPhone 7 may win out with many because of the water resistance however for being the first by Google. This was a hell of a start

I cannot stand ios but I really do admire the look and feel of the iPhone 7. It's very nice to hold just a little too small for me. At the same time I really don't like the iPhone 7+ for some reason just feels like a brick compared to my note 7

I feel like next year and the year after Google is going to really start commanding more of the cell phone market