I’ve used an iPhone for the higher a part of 10 years, however the Google Pixel 7 is making me severely take into account switching to Android. Let me clarify why.
As a tech journalist, I’ve reviewed numerous Android telephones through the years. And whereas I beloved lots of them, none have fairly matched the simplicity and value of an iPhone.
However the Pixel 7 has modified all of that for me. Within the house of some brief weeks, the seamless integration with my Google account, the superior images and impressively good capabilities make me actually imagine that no iPhone accessible proper now could be near touching what the Mountain View-based firm has pulled off.
FYI: I’m utilizing the iPhone 13 Professional as my day by day driver proper now.
When iPhones grow to be Google silos
Simply because I’ve an iPhone doesn’t imply I routinely use all of Apple’s companies. Like many iOS customers on the market, I don’t subscribe to iCloud+ (and ignore all of the repeated prompts to pay for added storage).
To get totally roped in means you might be constrained to some bizarre apps inside the walled backyard, and to paraphrase Mabel in her 2020 banger “Dangerous Conduct,” you may’t include me. My causes come all the way down to usability of iOS apps that work together with iCloud:
- The iOS Mail app is a little bit of a UI mess in comparison with Gmail.
- Pictures is properly laid out, however you get much more performance out of Google Pictures.
- Similar with iCloud drive — I a lot choose Google Drive as a one cease store that works throughout all my gadgets.
That’s to not say that there aren’t some iCloud options I like to make use of. Shared notes throughout my iPhone and MacBook are superior, the Keychain is a godsend, and setting reminders that ping me throughout gadgets is nice for somebody as forgetful as me.
However like different iPhone customers, I’ve picked up a number of third-party apps that revolve round my Google account, making it successfully an Apple-based portal into all my stuff from the massive G.
However integration is so clean on the Pixel 7
I do know this isn’t unique to the Pixel 7. At one level, once I felt like my Apple smartphone was getting slightly too snug on this relationship with me, I took a break and acquired the OnePlus 7T Professional. Even then you might see the tighter integration with Google account companies and Android telephones I’ve reviewed within the intervening years have solely gotten higher.
Nevertheless, there’s no denying that, in comparison with different Android telephones, the Google-made Pixel 7 does a greater job of seamlessly connecting you to all of your favourite G Suite apps, whether or not it’s Drive, Docs, or another Google platform. And it frankly embarasses the iPhone on this state of affairs.
From taking your Google exercise and presenting dwell notifications (like Nottingham Forest match outcomes), or the truth that Google Pictures is the precise gallery app, to the smarter use of actionable notifications throughout my Google apps, every little thing simply feels a complete lot extra intuitive.
This even trickles all the way down to the small issues reminiscent of two-factor authentication. To approve a Gmail login with an iPhone, it is advisable to open the Gmail app and look forward to the immediate. On the Pixel 7, it’s only a case of unlocking your telephone and the immediate instantly seems. It’s been a breath of contemporary air to make that change.
And let’s not neglect concerning the extra smarts right here
To me, the iPhone 13 Professional is simple to make use of as a result of it’s been constructed to be simple. The Google Pixel 7, alternatively, is simple to make use of as a result of it’s good.
The UI is a clear, intuitive interpretation of Android — a rarity amongst many different OEMs. Inventory Android 13 with some Pixel twists is an effective look! Plus, by assistance from machine studying (because of the Tensor G2 chipset), Google pulls off some enormous comfort options. These embody dialog transcription, the ‘Now Taking part in’ operate that’s all the time listening out for background music, and my private favourite: Name Screening.
Within the latter, Google’s voice assistant can mainly take over any calls and can help you reply to them just by typing responses. For somebody as socially awkward as me, that could be a true blessing.
You gained’t see any of this on any iPhone accessible proper now. Pure and easy.
Plus, that digital camera
It’s bizarre to say {that a} Google Pixel 7 is best at iPhone-style images than the iPhone. However right here we’re in 2023, and I’m saying precisely that. The photographic type on the Pixel is just extra expressive in telling a narrative by all the vary of sunshine in a shot whereas supplying you with top-of-the-line night time modes I’ve ever seen.
Though a few of my colleagues take pleasure in a brilliant vivid look, as if somebody by accident spilt a can of inexperienced paint everywhere in the shrubbery ( you, Kim), I all the time choose true-to-life colour science with a give attention to deep, expressive distinction.
Google Pixel 7 take a look at photographs
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The iPhone does an admirable job at balancing tones and giving every shot an honest quantity of depth inside its shadows, however the Pixel 7 supplies extra element and a greater vary of distinction in each shot. It delivers punchy colours with out the hyperreal vividness you get from Samsung.
Not solely that, however the Tensor G2 chip, full of Google’s machine-learning smarts, facilitates the cameras’ unbelievable efficiency — the 50MP major snapper and 13MP ultrawide within the Pixel are able to some fairly implausible issues. And no, I’m not simply speaking about Magic Eraser.
I’m speaking concerning the unbelievable night time mode brightening up key areas of the scene whereas sustaining the pure darkness, the motion mode eliminating a whole lot of the background blur across the topic, and the portrait mode doing a tremendous job of simulating a pure bokeh. For photographs, the Pixel 7 is well superior.
iPhone 13 Professional take a look at photographs
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However it’s value noting that relating to video seize high quality, iPhones stay in a category of their very own. To not say the Pixel 7 is dangerous — it delivers an honest image high quality for the likes of Instagram tales and fast captures of the surroundings round you.
However relating to creating YouTube content material, my 13 Professional delivers a vivid, colour correct, sharp image with an honest bokeh when near the lens.
Backside line
So, whereas I’m assured in saying that to me, the Pixel 7 is a greater all-rounder than the iPhone 13 Professional I’ve proper now, that’s to not say that Apple is down and out.
The construct high quality feels extra premium, I get on higher with the curation of the iOS App Retailer, and with as much as seven years of software program help (Apple doesn’t come out and say this, however we’ve been monitoring it), this can be a couple years longer than Google’s commitments. Granted, the latter level just isn’t as massive of a differentiator that can drive folks to iPhones, however it’s value noting nonetheless.
Plus, the unpacking of my Apple ecosystem to make all of it work round an Android telephone is a ache within the ass, however it’s value doing for such a clean, tightly built-in expertise round my Google account — the first service I take advantage of on-line and throughout all gadgets.
