I will assume I’m not going to change your mind with my comment, but anecdotally I was a pixel user for years (Nexus 5 (boot loop break) Pixel 2, Pixel 3, tried to order a Pixel 6 but the site didn’t work on launch day) before switching to the iPhone 13. I build applications for both Android and iOS. My wife has been an iPhone user for years. Both iPhones she has owned are still in use by someone in our extended family (iPhone 7, X)
My pixel phones did not take high quality videos without crashing and over heating. This iPhone can do 4k 60fps for an hour without a hiccup. The build quality of this phone feels like it came from an alternate reality to me. Pixels in the same price point do not hold up against it on any metric that matters to me (stability, battery life, software reliability, hardware longevity)
Again, this is just anecdotally and I try not to be an Apple fanboy, but being the family tech point person, Apple has made my life marginally easier.
Funny thing is that my first smartphone was an iPhone but after replacing it 3 times because of dead pixels, I switched to a Samsung Galaxy S3 or 4, can't remember. You're right that the Pixels are lacking in build quality but I think your experience is a bit unlucky like my own experience with iPhones.
I'm a bit behind on the times, but it seems to me that for build quality Samsung is still the best. They've always been ahead with stuff like Super AMOLED, thin bevels (even curved edges), microSD slot, etc. But software matters more to me these days which is why I like the Pixel 3a. It was dirt cheap and has decent microG support. In my own very personal, biased, subjective experience, iPhones have had mediocre build quality and the worst software.
When I spoke of inferior experiences, I was referring to the Pine Phone, not the Pixel 2. I'm sorry that wasn't clear!
That said, the iPhone 8 is still supported by Apple (probably for the last year), while the Pixel 2, like the Pixels 3, 4, and 5, are no longer supported by Google. This likely doesn't matter to someone not running standard Google-supplied AndroidOS, though!
My use of the closed-source iPhone is not solely based on feature quality, and I've got no illusions that every feature is the best in class.
P.S. Just before clicking the reply button, I decided to do the search myself, curious. The iPhone 8 was a weird model; that was the year they released both the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X, because (IMO) they lacked the courage to switch things up in their flagship product so much in one year. (Okay, and maybe also supply issues?) Still, when I DDG'd "pixel 2 iphone 8", I got results[0] that seem to not be the same as yours. The first doesn't really make any determination, the second is mealy-mouthed but seems to give an edge to Pixel 2 based primarily on price ("the Pixel 2 is a better value, starting out at about $50 and £70 cheaper than the iPhone 8" vs "you'll actually get more bang for your buck with the iPhone 8"), and the third, well, it's right in the title: "iPhone 8 vs. Pixel 2: Why Apple Beats Google." So I don't know, I bought an iPhone X that year rather than an iPhone 8, and just replaced that with an iPhone 14 Pro this year after five years of faithful service. But choosing a 2017 phone today, either one, while very clearly a step up from Pinephone for all the of the reasons mentioned in the article, maybe still reflects a but of compromise in service of wanting to run LineageOS. In 2017, was photo quality the same when running LineageOS rather than Google's own camera software? Maybe it was after that they started to apply more and more AI to the photo-taking process, I'm not sure.
I said I'd try getting my Pixel 4a running again to do a comparison, but I'm feeling lazy and found this video comparing the 5a and the iPhone 13. So it's not exactly the comparison I had been making in my comment, but I think the video demonstrates a lot of the issues I saw between the 4a and iPhone 13.
IMHO, Apple's phones were considered fantastic for a few reasons, in order: brand (perceived quality, luxury status, pricing, "Apple"), software lock-in (iMessage, iCloud), and privacy (also a branding thing since they still use Google for Safari search). The hardware and camera were usually matched or exceeded by top-tier Android manufacturers. Now, Apple-designed CPUs are leaving their competitors in the dust, and provide, perhaps for the first time in a long time, hardware superiority. I don't think consumers quite understand the actual performance gap yet. But once it gets out, it's probably going to be second or third in the list for why people buy iPhones.
I'm going to switch from a Pixel to an iPhone this year. The CPU is just clearly better, and seems to actually matter for taking photos and web browsing. (The Pixel still takes like 5 seconds to post-process a photo. iPhones do it instantly.)
I find the Pixel experience to be superior. But I took each of the areas where Pixel is better, item by item, and scored their value, and came out with a score recommending I keep the iPhone: https://www.arencambre.com/iphones-are-inferior-to-android-p...
Context: I made that right after I got an iPhone 12 Pro Max. It was running iOS 14. iOS 15 may bias the score towards Apple even more with the current phone, and iPhone 13 biases it a bit more.
We’re not comparing Android in general to iPhones. We’re comparing Pixel phones which Google controls with a similar care to Apple’s ecosystem. There have been reviews of Pixel phones that say they perform more smoothly than other Android phones with more RAM. Google also provides an integrated cloud storage system for Pixels that many customers consider better than Apple’s for iPhones (Google Photos is popular).
The processor is one of the only thing Apple has a clear lead in over Android flagships. (Others being customer support and longevity)
Android hardware and software are fully stable now. Android phones have better cameras and match apple in most other hardware metrics (display, speakers, antennas, build, touch response)
Software wise, it comes down to preferences. Both have a few things they do well, and others they stumble on. iOS12 is from what I have heard, smoother as butter. However, top flagships from Samsung, Google, OnePlus all run Android without any stutter at stable 60fps too.
All of my daily apps/usecases are at parity with their iOS. I don't know if the app ecosystem complaints are valid in 2018. (Apart from snap chat, because they have some wierd hate for Android)
I can respect your choice of wanting an Apple device. Especially if you are invested in their hardware and software ecosystem. But to someone who isn't, the iPhone does offer enough to switch from Android.
That may be true but here is the issue. An iPhone is an iPhone is an iPhone for the most part, the same cannot be said for Android. I don't have a Pixel but I have a Samsung phone to test with that makes me want to pull my hair out but a similarly old iOS device doesn't. The older iOS device might be slower than a new one but it still outperforms the Samsung.
Overall experience feels better on android. Few things that make difference for me.
1. Notifications are leagues ahead of anything on iOS.
2. Little accessibility features like sound search, automatic caption, text selection from any screen/pictures, better integration with google assistant adds up.
3. Customizability. Yes, even now iPhone is super limited in the layout you can have on home screen or the new app launcher. You can't group things or put them wherever you want on the screen. This is ridiculous.
4. Android phones have higher refresh rates. Almost any flagship in 2020. The punch hole camera feels better than the notch. Face ID = problematic in the pandemic with masks. Though, I like it generally but apple could have given touch ID on the same device as well.
5. For tinkerers, it has better support again. Youtube vanced, tachiyomi, advanced adblockers, "real" firefox with extensions, etc are only available on android.
The best part is you can get the pixel 4a for $300 with some carriers. 3 years of updates which is what typical upgrade cycle looks like for iPhone users even if they get "updates" for longer.
To test your hypothesis I just googled the articles Pixel 2 vs it's competitor iPhone 8. In both the top two search results the Pixel (narrowly) bested the iPhone, so looks like maybe a bit of rose-tinted brand-owners perspective in your case?
Apple goes to great lengths to make their case, absolutely. And yet still, even leaving aside your comment which seems to attribute the perception of difference to marketing rather than actual quality, still we get this response: "This question is silly. The Pixel or any top-end Samsung is equivalent or better than the iPhone in hardware."
The poster clearly believes what they are saying, despite other commenters pointing out the counter-evidence for the statement.
So GP is right: many people simply can't tell the difference, despite Apple's best efforts.
That's very relative and subjective, ie Apple users consider their devices beautiful, I personally find them a fugly cheap looking brick. I know I am a tiny minority, and that's fine. Pixel has generally OK design and there are reasons for it, no phone is perfect these days.
CPU doesn't matter, all the users do these days is consume content using native apps, what "heavy" web sites do you use on daily basis on your phone? I wasn't talking about specs at all, but it's nice to see iPhone users using specs to defend their choice for once (but remember, it still doesn't matter how much memory iPhone has). Yes animation and scroll speed does indeed make modern Androids feel significantly faster, that's a very common complaint for people switching to iOS on Reddit and same reason I couldn't do it.
Also, sensor doesn't matter, what matters is millions of people watching MKBHD channel think Pixel 6a makes better photos than 14 Pro Max, regardless of sensor.
For $400 you can buy a touch ID SE with 60Hz screen and camera that is ages behind what $350 Pixel 6a will give you. Ultimately it doesn't matter what you use I just hate the Kool aid "Apple has no competition" thinking, it's not like that and never was since at least 2016. Even price alone there are more expensive android flagmans than iPhones and some people go that way, so it's not just poor people choice or whatever Apple elitists tend to think.
I own a Pixel 7 Pro (and owned the Pixel 6 Pro), and I regularly have iPhones of friends/family in my hands.
Especially for the flagship Android phones like the Pixel Pros, I really don't think there is a noticable difference. They have excellent build quality, camera quality is so similar to iPhones that I couldn't tell which one is better, and on the software side I think it's a matter of being used to it (where I'm a lot more comfortable on Android).
Where does Apple/iOS/iPhone objectively shine over Android, and especially Pixel? And I am not talking in a synthetic-benchmark way but in a "this is actually helping users" way.
Not every way possible. The pixel is a great device, but in some small areas it can't even compete with the iPhone. For example, haptics. the current iPhone has haptics so much better than anyone else it's not even funny. And on the software side, they have the ridiculously user-friendly airDrop.
My pixel phones did not take high quality videos without crashing and over heating. This iPhone can do 4k 60fps for an hour without a hiccup. The build quality of this phone feels like it came from an alternate reality to me. Pixels in the same price point do not hold up against it on any metric that matters to me (stability, battery life, software reliability, hardware longevity)
Again, this is just anecdotally and I try not to be an Apple fanboy, but being the family tech point person, Apple has made my life marginally easier.
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