All those little features add up: The phone is fun and easy to use. And so far, there’s no serious downside. I mentioned it above; the experience is simultaneously high-end luxury yet while staying informed and in control of the device. I believe this is a very difficult mix to get right. IMO, Apple’s been drifting away from the keep-the-user-in-control value.
Maybe this sounds naive, but I’m completely surprised by how the product stands on its own. It’s not in the shadow of iOS, not playing catch-up with Apple. I’m continuously seeing common problems solved in new ways.
I’m sure we can have a civil, informed, and respectful discussion about this. To facilitate such, I’m going for a walk. With my iPhone 10, AirPods, and Apple Watch.
I made this switch a couple of months ago, leaving my Apple watch and iPhone 6+ on my nightstand forever more.
Pixel 2 isn’t perfect, but it’s at least as good as my iPhone in terms of usability, and far superior in nearly every other way. The only way that it’s worse is in bluetooth reliability (which is hard to believe given how bad the iPhone was).
Google Assistant is outstanding compared to Siri. E.g. “okay google, turn off Do Not Disturb” just worked. The camera is outstanding, and Google’s support for free cloud storage of my 200g of music and my photos means never having to choose what music I want on my phone and not having to pay to store my photos.
I miss “Find My Friends” which there is no GOOD equivalent for on andriod, and I miss my Apple Watch, but not enough to ever go back to the disaster that was my constantly breaking iPhone 6+.
What problem do you have with Bluetooth? And have you considered that it might be on the other end? (I’m no BT poweruser myself, but the things I do use, like my Sennheiser Momentum, work glitchless.)
Free? Is that somehow separate from limits on GDrive?
Pixel 2 is obviously the best of Android, its nice. iPhone is also very good. Its pretty easy to switch between the two. If I had to make a distinction based on past experiences with the two:
+ The iPhone will continue to be useful longer than the pixel.
+ Pixel linking aps together works better.
+ iPhone is much easier to get compatible accessories for, and repair.
+ Android development is less frustrating.
Pfft. What a pleb!
Get back to me once you’ve got a Vertu, some tacky diamond studded Beats headphones, and an obnoxious 48mm Dubai.Inc Swiss tourbillon.
Edited 2018-05-01 14:43 UTC
“IMO, Apple’s been drifting away from the keep-the-user-in-control value.”
Sorry… what?
There are many virtues of iPhones and Apple devices, feeling in control of them has never been one of them.
I don’t know what they mean, you use the device the way Apple let you use the device; you’re relatively safe in the walled garden but you’re in a walled garden.
I think too the pixel’s are nice phones (even though it takes twice the ram and the cpu’s to do the same things as an iphone) but the problem with android and the pixel’s, at least to me, is google.
Android is basically the way to say to google “hey, please help yourself with all my private data”. There is no way you can escape google unless you revert to AOSP which is basically useless. Google knows everything about your life with an android phone and there is no opt-out other than shutting down the phone. For most people that might not be an issue; to me it is unbearable.
I have used android for several years, but when I opened the google page where you can check all the places you have ever been with exact date and time, to me it was disconcerting. The less data I need to feed to third party to have decent services, the better; siri is way dumber than google assistant, google maps is way better than apple maps, but it all comes with a price, my private life.
Edited 2018-05-01 16:28 UTC
Actually even if you turn the phone off, unless the battery’s completely dead, it will still save your location data… the antenna never stops…
In the grand scheme of Google, it is what’s supposed to happen. It’s no surprise they don’t just look alike, but also work the same way. With half of the apps just ported from ios. Instagram, Facebook, games, no actual material language enforcement, and how stupid the back button enforcement works. There is no true separation anymore, even hardware is the same. We have reached a critical point in the smartphone industry. There is no need to differentiate.
I cringe at people who spend hundreds on a phone just to facebook, youtube and text work.
High-end consumer phones in general are dumb
Edited 2018-05-01 18:32 UTC
Outside of device security, it does have parity with Apple somewhat (though Apple has been supporting their phones a lot longer recently with firmware patches).
The only thing I would miss with them is the OS integration on macOS… which is something that Microsoft was going for, but after trying 1803, I’m not so sure Apple is that bad at all, as long as Apple keeps their promise of not monetizing users and mining their data.
Yeah, security is a big one for me. Google either doesn’t bother to try or is just not up to keeping Android free of malware. Even the official play store is full of it. Plus, I remember the SMS bug with the Pixel not so long ago, and actually being able to receive text messages is kind of important for my job. Apple had a similar faux pas with iOS 8.0.1 disabling the cell radio, but Apple fixed theirs within an hour where as the SMS bug went on for almost a month. I got to watch the few people I know with a Pixel go darn near crazy, and one of them gave up and switched back to her iPhone after about two weeks.
Apple app store also has malware, even top-grossing one, for example: http://www.osnews.com/comments/29863
It’s funny, I don’t find the back button “context sensitive” or “adaptive” or whatever word the author used – I find it to be the single most infuriating UI paradigm on Android, and one of the largest things that keeps me from switching (that and ten years of purchased app history, and macOS integration, and iMessage, and…)
Funny, the back button in the fixed position is for me the biggest reason for why I cannot switch back to the iPhone. Sure sometimes it has unexpected behaviour, but usually it just works. The Apple back button usually found in top left corner where it is hard to reach is for me the dumbest thing ever
Since Meego, BB10 and even Windows Phone/Mobile were dropped there’s no more fun for me in mobile.
Either well-polished, but very closed software on unbelievably overpriced hardware, or a data miner OS with stagnant design and more and more google proprietary stuff, but on great hardware at decent prices. None of this satisfies me.
Edited 2018-05-05 09:18 UTC