Joe Maring / Android Authority
I’ve been using Pixel phones for years now, and I don’t plan on switching to another brand anytime soon. While I did own a bunch of OnePlus phones in the past and have hands-on experience with just about every major brand out there, Pixel remains my phone of choice.
Pixels aren’t perfect — no device ever is — but they have all the ingredients that make up a great phone, at least for my personal wants and needs. Here are the five key reasons why the brand is so close to my heart.
What do you like most about Pixel phones? 69 votes The software experience 62 % The design 4 % The camera system 19 % The streamlined lineup 0 % Exclusive features 9 % I'm actually not a Pixel fan 6 %
It’s all about the software
Joe Maring / Android Authority
Hardware doesn’t excite me as much as it used to. The differences between competing phones in this area aren’t that significant anymore, and a mid-range phone like the Pixel 9a is more than capable of handling everything I throw at it.
What does excite me is software, especially the latest iterations of Android that bring a fresh design and are packed with useful features. That’s one of the main reasons I have a Pixel: they get the latest version of Android on the day it launches. It’s a perk that’s almost exclusive to the Pixel line, as other manufacturers need time to customize the update with their own Android skins, whether it’s Samsung’s One UI or OnePlus’ Oxygen OS. Samsung users sometimes have to wait months before getting an update, especially if they don’t own one of the recent Galaxy flagships.
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Software is what keeps phones exciting, especially in the age of AI. The new Android 16, for example, brought a refined design language in the form of Material 3 Expressive, and it looks fantastic. Paired with genuinely useful features like new on-device creative tools, it feels like I’m using a new phone — especially when I go the extra mile and change the wallpaper and switch up my home screen.
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