Hard disagree. I've used Pixel phones for years and they're generally great phones. Biggest previous complaint was their software upgrade support window was too short, but now they offer 7 years of upgrades.
Pixel phones imo are like gaming on linux. Yes it’s passable, yes it’s getting better, but if you’re fooling yourself if you think it’s comparable to gaming on Windows.
Tbh as someone who's bounced between Nexus, iPhone and Pixel, I really don't think so
All ios users say the same as you the first time they use a pixel, but it's the same when an android user tries an iPhone. They're extremely different experiences, far more different than we expect (because on the surface they're both smartphones), and we mistake the differences for general shittiness.
Overall I probably prefer ios by a small margin, but people like what they're used to
Useless analogies are just useless analogies. Care to explain, with specifics, why you feel that way?
The Pixel has a fantastic camera (e.g. https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/google-pixel-7-vs-apple...), and it's "smart calling features" (e.g. better handling of spam calls, transcripts for call menus, "hold for me", etc.) are hugely important features for me.
Not GP but FWIW, I went from a 2020 Huawei P30 Pro to a 2023 Pixel 7 Pro, and the camera feels like a downgrade... I know on paper it's not, but there's just something about the tele mode in particular that is off somehow.
Pixels phones are some of the best Android phones on the market. Unlike gaming on Linux, Pixel phones run everything in the Android ecosystem quite well, as they are intended. If you're going to compare it to gaming on linux, then Pixel phones are the Steamdecks of that world;
MS threw in the towel unfortunately. Now we are stuck with Apple and trash. People desperately cling onto this false ideology that Android is good and Apple is bad when they are at fault for ignoring Windows Phone which was better with their excuses that “I need thousands is fart apps or I can’t use windows phone”
The "developers developers developers developers" company did an incompatible rewrite of their API what, 4x over? At one point even Osborneing themselves, announcing the new incompatible version of Windows Phone just before putting out the first devices that used the current version. You can only screw over your app makers so many times; sure you may not need thousands of apps, but Windows Phone didn't have YouTube, didn't have WhatsApp; at some point it's just untenable.
MS created a YouTube app. Google got upset cos it wasn’t compliant. MS removed the app temporarily and re-released it in the months later when it was compliant with Google, including new features that lacked in the older version.
The app existed for most of windows phone life. It didn’t get cut off. It was removed from the store for several months while MS fixed it. Anyone who had the app still had it.
I’m surprised Microsoft isn’t making a second go for a phone actually. With all of their WSL work, they could release a Linux / Windows phone and say this is like the original PC, but also a phone, install what you want on it, and also it integrates seamlessly with Azure for power users that want to program on their phone, and also integrates with AD for Microsoft enterprises focused on securing their corporate devices, not to mention the Office Apps and so on. They could even partner with Valve and release the Steam store on their phone, it could be similar to the Steam Deck, but a phone also… Not to mention the possible integrations with ChatGPT as a voice assistant and all of the benefits that come with that.
TLDR; the phone market is ripe to be disrupted and Microsoft is the best positioned to do so.
I'm typing this on my Microsoft Surface Duo 2. It's the best phone I've ever had for actual work. It's not all your describing, but the fact you don't know about it goes to show how far behind Microsoft is at marketing their tech.
You can plug all that stuff into iPhone and Android phones too, but very few people are excited about it. Samsung even made a laptop shaped accessory for their phones, I can’t find it but this company is making something similar: https://nexdock.com/samsung-dex-laptop/
I don’t think the power rangers transforming phone product is a good product for most people. If you asked me to choose between a regular M3 MacBook Pro and a full DeX phone based docking setup built around a top-line smartphone, I’m going to pick the MacBook’s 4x more RAM, 3x bigger CPU, 6x bigger GPU, and much better thermal dissipation. Why settle for a much less powerful device that is fiddly and annoying to “set up” for real work?
I also have a Steam Deck and the only thing I’ve ever plugged it into is a power adapter. If I was gonna plug it into a monitor, I’d use my vastly more powerful desktop PC instead.
> when they are at fault for ignoring Windows Phone which was better
Hell no it wasn't. The UI/UX was a complete unmitigated disaster, the choice of device models was ... very limited, and barely anyone made apps for it, much less games, with Microsoft not doing nearly enough to woo developers over.
Apple and Android, in contrast, had a decent UI/UX, healthy app stores, and Android a wide ranging hardware selection from "too bad to put it in a bargain bin" to "holy smokes people actually spend that much money on a phone that's not Apple?".
The UX was superior to Android and iOS. All the main apps were available. But people couldn’t live without their fart apps and all the junk in Android store.
Main issue was MS couldn’t release flagship phones world wide. Their flagship phone showed up in Asia 13 months after release. No one is going to wait year to get a flagship outdated phone.
