It’s difficult to break out of the Apple ecosystem. Sure, many people are comfortable with Apple because it offers an exceptionally well-designed user experience and interface, but for people who want a bit more out of a device — particularly better compatibility with Windows devices and a wider range of apps — Android is for you… if you’re OK with Android. Fortunately, Google offers the best Apple detox.
In 2022, I upgraded from the iPhone 12 Mini to the Google Pixel 6a and loved it. I immediately fell in love with Google’s app selection and the equivalent experience it offers. The search giant has perfectly mastered the intricacies of a competitive Android experience, helped by a product refresh with the Pixel 6 phones from last year. It’s no surprise why I liked the phone so much; while Samsung and Oppo are both competitive smartphone rivals in terms of performance and stats, Google has bet everything on user experience and camera mastery.
And in my opinion, this remains the secret sauce of the Google Pixel range – which I rediscovered with the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. Samsung’s phones are brilliant, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra remains my personal phone due to its immense performance. However, Google Pixels are the best iPhones that Apple doesn’t make.
Want to leave Apple? Start with a Pixel
Using the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL over the past week has been brilliant. Google’s phones remain the easiest Android devices to use, without piling unnecessary bloatware onto the operating system. The bloatware problem remains an annoying downside to phones from, say, Oppo and Asus – and to a lesser extent, Samsung.
Rather than a variety of apps from a variety of developers, Google limits itself to its own internally developed apps and doesn’t offer anything else until you go to the Play Store. The company already has the best maps app in the world, as well as what I think is the best cloud-based drive and photos app, so those bases are well covered.
On many Android phones, setup is a cumbersome tap dance between services linked to Google and services linked to the phone manufacturer. Many of the apps available to me on my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra remain unused because I simply don’t want to use the Samsung version of them (e.g. Samsung Gallery and Samsung Pay) when I can just use Google’s versions.
On a Pixel, setup is simple and requires a Google account, which you probably already have (since Gmail is the world’s most popular email service that doubles as a Google account). If you don’t have one, that’s fine too. You can use a non-Gmail account to create a Google account. It’s an extremely clean process, backed up by a really user-friendly operating system design.
And once that’s all done, you’re free to install the apps you want and enjoy greater compatibility with non-Apple devices (including Android and Windows devices). There’s absolutely nothing wrong with sticking with Apple… But the Pixel represents an easy way out.
Not only is Google an attractive alternative to Apple due to its software approach, the hardware has also become significantly higher quality in recent years.
The camera bar introduced with the Pixel 6 range gave the phones a unique and exceptionally premium look, while also introducing a new camera system that put Pixels on par with the iPhone and Galaxy S range. The Pixel 9 range includes a fairly redesigned camera bar that is much more rounded, essentially requiring the use of a case due to its protrusion.
But not everything is pixel-perfect
To be fair, Google has squandered one of the more competitive aspects of the Pixel line. A modest price jump for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro in 2023, followed by another price jump in 2024 for the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL (spurred by the launch of the Pixel 9 Pro as a separate device from the Pro XL), has made the phone significantly less competitive in terms of price.
Consider that Google’s proprietary Tensor processors, now the Tensor G4 chip in the latest phones, have historically been less powerful than the competition from Apple and Samsung. This performance gap used to be mitigated by significantly lower costs, but is now exacerbated by costs that create a more bitter rivalry with these other companies. Most people probably wouldn’t notice a performance gap, but it’s something that could annoy power users who use extremely demanding apps or play graphically demanding games.
Google has also opted against a “Titanium” model, bucking a trend established by Apple with the iPhone 15 Pro and Samsung with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Unlike higher-end Samsungs, which also went through a price hike, there’s also no vapor cooling chamber to speak of and a noticeable lack of UFS 4.0 storage (Google uses 3.1), resulting in slower read/write speeds compared to the S24 range.
So that’s my take: If you’re looking to try an Android phone for the first time, I’d highly recommend the Google Pixel 8a as an entry-level phone. If you want something more powerful, go for the Pixel 9 which has better performance, or the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL which have better photography.
If you are well versed in the Android world, I can highly recommend the Samsung Galaxy S24 series phones or many other phones.
