Pixel 3 vs Galaxy S9

[rMBA13]

Isnt Android Pie buggy?

 

[Guyinbox]

Android pie has been stable for me since the beta on the 2xl. If the camera weighs heavily in your decision, the pixel 3 will be the obvious choice. I bought the s9+ with plans of passing my 2xl to my wife, but it only took a 5 minute camera comparison for me to decide to give her the 9+.

It seemed like photos indoor or in less than perfect lighting produced soft pics on the 9, especially in skin tones. I haven't regretted keeping the 2xl at all, so I'm sure the pixel 3 with a better screen and speakers that are closer to the quality of the 9's speakers will make you plenty happy.

 

[naturalguy]

Personally I don't care about innovation, I just want my phone to work right when I need it. I've missed some good pictures and videos of my puppy because the camera was slow to open and or froze. I need the basic stuff to work right but I understand everyone has different needs/wants

I have an S8 and while the new Pixels are definitely nice and faster than my phone, it's not really enough of an upgrade imo. Nothing innovative about this iteration. I believe I'll wait for the P4.

I was really hoping this would be the year I moved to Googles Android, but it's just not enough. I'm disappointed.

 

[Bon Hernandez]

My friends and family have an s9/s9+ and I use the pixel 2. Obviously I used all the cameras when we went to a scenic place. The more reliable and ease of use was my pixel 2. But this is only if you want a good reliable camera on your phone

 

[BrendoTheKing]

I am in a similar boat. I have the Note9, and love it, but really want the P3. I love the Note but miss stock android and that camera.

 

[Nodnerb]

The S9 isn't that small

The S9 is significantly smaller than the 3 XL.

 

[sunburned]

I've had an S6, Note 5, and S7 now and although Samsung does certain little things better than stock Android, the newest version of the Samsung OS started getting really annoying. Why do I need an unclearable notification that my battery is at 100%? Why do I need one that tells me an app is running when I'm clearly using it? And the redundant apps are so pointless. Not a fan of the super long screen on the S9 either.

 

[ptkelly]

Samsung has excellent hardware. If they had a phone that ran absolutely stock Android I'd consider getting one. But, their ego gets in the way.

I've ordered the Pixel 3 but won't see it till January when my sister visits from the U.S. I prefer the size of the Pixel 3 but don't understand the rage over the "notch". Of course, I never understood the rage over bezels, either.

 

[Topweasel]

I dealt with enough OEM optimized Android phones in the past but honestly TW is probably the most invasive, most different, most bloated of all of them. I will give Samsung kudos for taking it from the dog it was to what they have now. But as someone that has been mostly Android since 2009, I will not get a Samsung phone till TW dies, even getting an Iphone over a Samsung.

 

[Caezar07]

I upgraded from an S8 to the Pixel 3 and was also torn between the S9 and the Pixel 3. The $180 price difference made it an especially tough decision, on top of the Samsung trade in program that increased the S8 trade in price to $400...so the S9 would only have cost me $220 plus tax to upgrade to.

Ultimately I decided to get the Pixel 3 with the main benefit being stock android. Constantly disabling/hiding Samsung's duplicate app store, calendar, tasks, fitness, email, photo gallery and other apps gets annoying. I found a pretty effective method to disable un-disable-able (is that a word?) apps with the app BK Manager, but every now and then apps randomly reinstall themselves as Samsung packages certain apps with updates. There's even a Facebook app installed on the phone that I have disabled but it will re-enable itself when I do OS updates sometimes. This is pretty ridiculous for an unlocked phone. I can't imagine how bad an AT&T or Verizon phone is.

Additionally, after trying a Pixel 3 in store, I was really impressed by the screen and the usability of the new Android Pie gestures. The Pixel 3 screen is better than the screen in my old S8.

In my opinion, the only negatives of the Pixel 3 vs the S9 is the higher price of the Pixel, uncertainty around how scratch prone the laser etched frosted glass back will be, and the slightly larger bezels which isn't really a negative to many if you consider that you're getting better front facing speakers, and somewhere to hold on to while watching videos in landscape mode.

 

[SteelGator]

I really like the Samsung Note 7 while I had it, but when I switched to the Pixel XL, I realized how much of my stuff got pulled into the Sammy ecosystem and that I could not use once a Sammy phone was not an option. For me, splitting my stuff between to ecosystems is not desirable and I am not ready to be all in with Samsung. There is a lot that I like about the Note 9 -- secure folder, S-Pen, Sam Pay etc. -- but I don't like them enough to deal with the bloatware and bifurcation.

I also have not been impressed with the build quality of my previous Samsung phones -- my Note 4 and Nexus both died prematurely. The newer phones seem better built, but I don't trust them.

In the end, I prefer the camera, clean Android experience and the early beta OS option of the Pixels.

 

[bhatech]

Value of Pixel is simplicity, best camera, great hardware overall even though some people like to dispute without even owning the phone, great software with fast platform and security updates.

You buy S9, if you value ton load of features, headphone jack, best display and hardware. And you don't care about what version of Android it runs etc. S9 also has a good software experience and many people like it because it's filled with features. You might also get better deals for it since it's been out of 6 months and you will also have better accessory support in terms of cases etc.

So comes down to what you want. Personally I like what Pixel provides and it'll be my first Android choice but you do what you like.

 

[Zod1010]

between these 2, pixel 3 definitely wins because of much faster software updates and clean-stock android.

As always, it's a matter of perspective. Like many, I will run Nova on any phone I buy, so "stock android" is meaningless to me. As for "faster updates", meh. That's a nice to have, but by no means a dealbreaker. Hell, I can't even recall the last time they rolled out a new feature that I simply couldn't wait to have. For me, both of these would rate well behind expandable memory and headphone jack.

 

[rviyer]

I had the same issues with the S7 I used to have.