Why I replaced my iPhone with the Pixel 6

When you use the same hardware and software for long enough, you forget about the flaws because you are constantly bypassing them, without thinking about them.

Avoiding this kind of glitch is one of the reasons I regularly switch from Android to iOS. At the start of 2021, I realized that I had been using an iPhone for almost two years (with a fairly recent upgrade to iPhone 12) and it was time to upgrade to the latest version of Android. .

Google’s introduction of two new Pixel phones in mid-October was the perfect excuse to revert to Android. I pre-ordered my Pixel 6, in Stormy Black (to be honest it looks gray to me) with 256GB of storage. After a few small delivery hitches (Google was apparently overwhelmed with demand), I received it on October 30 and have been using it as my primary mobile device ever since.

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This is not my first Pixel. With one of my first Pixel models, I had a hard time with Google support. I ended up getting a full refund for this device after they were unable to fix a particularly monstrous network bug.

Given this background and my lackluster experiences with these older devices, I was skeptical. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Pixel 6 is well built and has been running smoothly from day one.

In fact, it’s such a pleasure to use it that I decided it would be my primary mobile device for at least a year.

Frankly, I didn’t expect Google to achieve a combination of hardware and software that is arguably better than Apple’s smartphones. Consider these six examples to get an idea.

USB Type-C

It’s almost a quarter of the 21st century, and yet Apple still sticks to its proprietary Lightning connector technology.

Wait, I take back what I said. Apple is determined to keep this aging connector on the iPhone, even though it has adopted the more modern and deliciously interoperable USB Type-C connector on all the other products in its range. iPad? USB-C. MacBook Pro? USB-C. Even the MagSafe chargers for the Apple Watch and AirPods are USB-C.

But not the iPhone.

Either way, I love that the Pixel 6 powers up and connects to external devices using a standard USB Type-C connection. This means when I leave home I can take a single charger and cable to charge my Pixel 6, iPad Pro, laptop, and pair of headphones – without having to remember that extra Lightning cable. that works with one device.

Great camera and photo editing tools

I chose the Pixel 6 over the Pixel 6 Pro because the Pro is just too big. Therefore, I did not get the telephoto lens of the larger, more expensive model. But the Pixel 6 takes absolutely delicious photos with minimal fuss, even in harsh environments like a concert hall, and it’s especially good in low-light environments.

However, the real killer feature is in the Pixel Photos editing software, where the Magic Eraser does a remarkable job of removing distracting people or objects from a photo and smoothing out the background. It also helps get the job done quickly and efficiently.

Android’s customizable user experience

Apple has finally got support for widgets, which makes the iPhone user experience a little less claustrophobic than it used to be. But by using Android 12 on the Pixel 6, I can do a few things that Apple just doesn’t allow. One of the most useful tips is the ability to pin shortcuts to the home page. I use this feature all the time for quick access to OneNote pages and to activate scenarios for Philips Hue lighting with just a tap.

And then there is the option to completely replace the launcher. I think Google did a pretty good job with the Pixel Launcher, but after testing this app I switched to the Microsoft Launcher. It’s better organized, and I prefer the widget-based feed (the page that appears when you drag the slider to the right) over Google’s news feed.

Sleep Mode

One of my favorite features from the late Windows Phone days was the Glance display, which had a night mode showing the current time in a faint reddish font. In this setup, I kept the phone by my bedside and always knew at a glance what time it was if I woke up in the middle of the night.

Bedtime Mode, which was once a Pixel-only feature but is now available on all Android devices, does something similar. I have configured it to go off when the phone is charging during my normal sleeping hours. It turns on Do Not Disturb and changes the display to grayscale while leaving the clock visible. That’s the way I like it.

Updates for five years

One of Apple’s great advantages over the years has been its absolute control over iOS updates. In contrast, Android phones have suffered from the fact that updates are often at the mercy of carriers who lose interest in keeping phones up to date for more than a year or two.

With the Pixel 6, Google has guaranteed that updates to the Android version will be available at least until October 2024 (three years after the hardware ships), with security updates available for at least five years. , until October 2026. This is a major improvement over previous devices, which only promised security updates for a total of three years.

The right price

The Pixel 6 is a smartphone whose price is not exorbitant. My phone, with 256 GB of storage, cost $ 699. It’s $ 200 less than the iPhone 13 with a similar setup, and Google gave me a pair of Pixel Buds (Series A).

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Source: “ZDNet.com”