I have serious Google fanboy cred. I love the Google-verse, I am all in and have been so from the start, I crave the pure Android experience and have owned Androids from the start, I've owned Nexus and Pixel devices and I've helped Google with the development of Chrome OS. Safe to say, I am an offensive Google lover, and for the most part, I dutifully hate most everything that doesn't have a G on it.
But, a couple of years back I went AWOL and bought a Note 5. OMG - that thing was amazing. The design, build, features and that display - I was sold. Of course I made it look as much "Google" as I could and ran as many Google apps as possible. Curiously, since I pay attention to my phone and maintain it, it didn't have any experience any "Samsung Lag", like none. That N5 was a screamer. It led me to automatically to pre-order an N7, and we all know about that fiasco. I ran for the hills and was into a Pixel XL on day one.
The Pixel was a mix - I loved my return to the "pure Android experience", and the fast updates, kind of. But, for many Pixel owners, BT just didn't work, and Google could never figure it out. As with many Pixel owners, I went a year without enjoying reliable BT, and this was 2016/2017? With all of my Google love paid into the G Bank, they wanted nothing to do with those of us who had BT issues, except to give you another Pixel with broken BT. Very poor "pure Google experience".
So, move up a year and I am all in on the Pixel 2 XL - I pre-ordered like a dutiful Google fanboy and man, what a mistake. I ran head-long into the Pixel 2 XL Displaygate. I can't believe that Google released such a crappy product and at such a premium price tag. Sure, Google is trying to do their best at damage control, and they will probably push-out an update to fix one maybe two of the issues, but I don't believe that display will be "right" for a $1000 phone. This really sucks. I was going to pay a premium price for a phone that Google promised would be fixed - maybe just like they fixed BT in the past year. Sure, I love so much about Google, but I would have felt like a stooge to stay in that pre-order line. I bolted.
Enter the N8. This is where the sacrilege begins...
The N8 is in a different league than Pixel phones. The design is crazy beautiful, the build quality is exceptional, the software usability has been refined, the performance is blistering, and the display - OMG, the display is another order of magnitude from anything Google has ever offered.
What about the horrible Samsung lack of updates? I am here to tell you that Google's constant updates, in real life, are actually quite annoying with some apps being updated so often, I am digging through the update logs daily to try to figure out what has improved with each release, and it's almost never of any importance. This sounds like heresy, but Google's updates are quite oversold IMO. Sure, some security updates have benefit, but that's not the issue I am talking about here.
What about the horrible Samsung lag that eventually happens over time with all of their phones? How about we step-up and understand the impact of loading down our phones with crap apps and learn something about keeping our phones running well? Also, how about we talk about a subject that is relevant in 2017 and not 2012? Samsung has smartly scaled-down their apps, and it's just so simple to make sure things stay minimal. The performance benefits are amazing. I have never experienced any "lag" with my past Notes, and this N8 is stupid fast. And BTW, my Pixel could get bogged-down as well, but with a bit of TLC, I kept that phone running fast as well.
From being a Google fanboy that prefers Samsung phones, to questioning the real-life benefits of fast/frequent updates to not buying into guaranteed Samsung lag, there's lots of Google sacrilege here.
But man, did I mention that the N8 is incredible? I am soooo happy to be out of the Pixel world and back to a Note.
. I have had Nexus 6, 6P, 5x, pixel and Pixel XL. And yep, i confirm Note 8 is stupid fast 
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