So I’ve been going back and forth a lot on getting the S9+ vs the Pixel 2 XL. There’s things I like on both devices so I went to best buy today and played with both for quite a while. Here are my takeaways and some of this is all the obvious stuff but I need to put this all down to get it out and sort out a decision here.
My hesitation with the S9+ is the software, I’ve had a few Samsung devices, there’s always apps and services running in the background I’m not using that I don’t want that I can’t get rid of that seem to cause lag and eat the battery. This was a constant battle on my S7 and part of why I switched to the G6. But that hardware………is hard to beat. The screen is stunning, it has a headphone jack, wireless charging, expandable storage, water resistant, and the big one, great camera.
While I’m talking about it, I was very impressed with the camera. There was a big 3’x3’ “S9” sign in the Samsung area that is lit up and very bright. My G6 when pointed at that would darken everything around it in the picture. Not the S9+, it looked just like I was looking at it and you could see everything like it was your naked eye looking at the pic. I pointed both at a darker area and the S9+ blew my G6 away with how much light was there. Again just like your eye sees. Focus, speed, all great. It’s a very very nice camera.
The Pixel 2XL, the camera is really good, I think the S9+ was a little sharper and had much more natural colors. The Pixel 2XL took nice pictures but the colors were much richer than it was in real life, it made the nasty beat down brown carpet look like new in the pics. Lighting was very good, maybe not as good as the S9+ though. Again, it does a very nice job but I think I prefer the S9+ camera.
As we all know the great thing about the Pixel phones is the software. 35 apps running, that’s it (I didn’t bother trying to count on the S9+, there was a lot). Obviously updates all the time, fast, smooth software. The screen is mostly flat except the very edge making it easier to protect and on that note the screen looked perfectly fine on the demo unit.
I briefly had a Google experience with a Galaxy Nexus on Verizon so it was tainted. After that the closest I've had is AOSP ROMs on my Note 2 and a Moto G4 last year. Honestly, the G4 was really solid and even at 2GB of ram I had no issues. My kid has it now. Other than no quick toggle for volume/vibrate/silence and no battery percentage in the status bar, I liked the software and it continues to run well.
I know what I'll get with Samsung on the S9/S9+, I'll disable as much as I can and ignore the rest, put Nova on it, and love and hate it all at the same time, do a factory reset every two months and be looking to change phones as soon as I can. Or I could get a pixel 2, which is a little cheaper, runs the latest software, has a great camera and should have no issues for a long time. I'm torn, but leaning pixel 2.
My hesitation with the S9+ is the software, I’ve had a few Samsung devices, there’s always apps and services running in the background I’m not using that I don’t want that I can’t get rid of that seem to cause lag and eat the battery. This was a constant battle on my S7 and part of why I switched to the G6. But that hardware………is hard to beat. The screen is stunning, it has a headphone jack, wireless charging, expandable storage, water resistant, and the big one, great camera.
While I’m talking about it, I was very impressed with the camera. There was a big 3’x3’ “S9” sign in the Samsung area that is lit up and very bright. My G6 when pointed at that would darken everything around it in the picture. Not the S9+, it looked just like I was looking at it and you could see everything like it was your naked eye looking at the pic. I pointed both at a darker area and the S9+ blew my G6 away with how much light was there. Again just like your eye sees. Focus, speed, all great. It’s a very very nice camera.
The Pixel 2XL, the camera is really good, I think the S9+ was a little sharper and had much more natural colors. The Pixel 2XL took nice pictures but the colors were much richer than it was in real life, it made the nasty beat down brown carpet look like new in the pics. Lighting was very good, maybe not as good as the S9+ though. Again, it does a very nice job but I think I prefer the S9+ camera.
As we all know the great thing about the Pixel phones is the software. 35 apps running, that’s it (I didn’t bother trying to count on the S9+, there was a lot). Obviously updates all the time, fast, smooth software. The screen is mostly flat except the very edge making it easier to protect and on that note the screen looked perfectly fine on the demo unit.
I briefly had a Google experience with a Galaxy Nexus on Verizon so it was tainted. After that the closest I've had is AOSP ROMs on my Note 2 and a Moto G4 last year. Honestly, the G4 was really solid and even at 2GB of ram I had no issues. My kid has it now. Other than no quick toggle for volume/vibrate/silence and no battery percentage in the status bar, I liked the software and it continues to run well.
I know what I'll get with Samsung on the S9/S9+, I'll disable as much as I can and ignore the rest, put Nova on it, and love and hate it all at the same time, do a factory reset every two months and be looking to change phones as soon as I can. Or I could get a pixel 2, which is a little cheaper, runs the latest software, has a great camera and should have no issues for a long time. I'm torn, but leaning pixel 2.
and I couldn’t be happier. While the look/design of the 9+ is more appealing, I looked beyond the surface. I played around with one yesterday and while a beautiful phone, walked away still loving my XL.
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