Should I buy a Pixel or a Samsung?
Should I buy a Pixel or a Samsung?
If I buy the best that either company has to offer (Pixel 8 pro or S23 Ultra)
Which one, in your opinion, would be the best Android experience and why? Would love to know your thoughts.
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I had a pixel 6 pro and was going to upgrade to the 8 pro when it came out, but the leaks seemed to indicate that they were gonna have the same modem/connectivity issues which was my biggest complaint about the 6 pro. My carrier (Google Fi) was running a crazy deal on Galaxy phones so I decided fuck it and got the 23 plus (I don't care for a stylus). Holy shit it's night and day, the amount of stuff that just genuinely works is such a breath of fresh air. My wireless android auto "just works" my galaxy watch "just works", setting everything up worked the first try. My fingerprint reader is way better. Apps crash less, samsung health is pretty cool (no extra subscription). I was a little leery of all the Samsung "bloatware" (I've been hearing all bad stuff since the TouchWiz days), but honestly almost everything is better than the Google version. The noteable exception is the keyboard, for whatever reason my autocorrect on Gboard seems to be way better. I was nervous I'd miss the pixel call blocking stuff, but apparently Bixby also does it so I haven't noticed any spam calls since switching.
TL;DR: galaxy S23 is super dope, if you can get it on a deal I'd highly recommend it.
I have the same experience. I find somehow the call blocking is more robust on Samsung. I had no idea that they even had that feature parity.
The perception of Samsung being full of bloat is a misnomer. Can't get rid of lots of Google apps on the pixel and can't change the photo gallery app or the camera app.
I have my own Cloud and don't want to use Google's, and Samsungs software was much more receptive in me de-googling the phone the way I wanted to with my own self hosted photo backup software.
Also I don't have a hand warmer for a phone now.
With Pixels you can install different ROMs or root your device to remove anything you want. Samsung doesn't give you that choice. Also, Samsung software has gotten so buggy over the years to the point I don't even use my Samsung anymore. Graphene OS is so light weight and stable compared to my S21+ with disabled bloatware and heavy battery optimization. Not to mention how hot Samsung phones get when using the camera.
I understand one can flash a pixel. I never want to install another rom again though. I want to buy it and have it become my daily driver with android auto and communication apps within a few hours. I have found the ROM scene to be an enormous time commitment that I no longer want to fiddle with.
I plugged in my S21+ to my Google Pixel 7 and went to the browser installer on the S21+, took maybe 5 minutes to install. Graphene OS is dead simple unlike other roms. That's why so many people use and recommend it.
I'm still desperately in love with android auto. I'd still need a phone with full android permissions and functionality. So graphene is still out.
That's really cool they smoothed the install process like that. Might try that on my old pixel as a travel phone.
I totally get that. I'd probably be the same way if my car was new enough to support android auto.
If it's not annoying I could probably use a spare old phone exclusively for android auto. But unfortunately I'm still entrenched in Google services. Slowly dragging myself out.