C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
In my five years working as an Android journalist, I’ve been known as the Samsung guy. That’s been an accurate description, but it may surprise you to learn that I used to be a Nexus/Pixel fanatic, using every Google flagship from the Nexus 6 to the Pixel 3XL. That changed toward the start of 2019, when I became tired of how unreliable Pixels were for me in a few areas and started to use Samsung phones exclusively.
Recently, I got to spend a month with the Pixel 9 Pro, and after six years, it could be time for me to rejoin team Google. A lot has changed, and these are the reasons my next smartphone purchase could be a Pixel.
Would you switch from a Galaxy to a Pixel, or vice versa? 58 votes Yes — Galaxy to Pixel 50 % Yes — Pixel to Galaxy 0 % No, I like my Galaxy 12 % No, I like my Pixel 38 %
Pixel favorites
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Since my switch to Samsung phones, there have been features I’ve missed from the Pixel experience. Now Playing is something that’s easy to take for granted when you have it, but I’ve missed while using non-Pixel phones. That sums up a lot of the Pixel experience — subtle features that can seem minor in a vacuum but come together to make a more complete product.
Call Screening and all of its associated functions are another example of this. Although Call Screening debuted with the Pixel 3 and 3XL, which I owned, the UK didn’t get access to it until 2021 with the Pixel 6. Samsung may have its version now, but it doesn’t quite compare to what a Pixel can do. Hold For Me, Direct My Call, and Wait Times set Google’s phone call experience apart from what Samsung has done with One UI so far. Calling my doctor or the hospital is a prolonged experience of waiting in line for an operator, and instead of smashing my head against the wall while the horrible hold music played, I could go about my day and let the Pixel handle that for me.
Joe Maring / Android Authority
At A Glance is another one of those small but mighty features I miss when I use a non-Google phone. Sure, I can use it as a widget on my Samsung phones, but it’s not the same as having it built-in, especially on the lock screen. At A Glance shows you what you need to know when you need to know it, and its absence makes the lockscreen on my Galaxy phones feel lifeless by comparison.
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