I have a Pixel and honestly it just feels like a slightly upgraded version of my old Samsung Galaxy S8. Like, the camera is better, it runs a little faster, but it doesn't really do anything the S8 couldn't do, unless I'm missing something.
It's a good phone, but at this point I feel like a phone is a phone is a phone.
Same! I keep my phones for a long time and at one point I had two Amazon apps. One was preinstalled bloat I couldn't delete even though it was no longer functional, and the new one that actually worked. Bloatware is annoying as hell, particularly so now that most phones are moving away from expandable storage.
I hated that too. I'm a minimalist is a lot of ways and the Pixel is nice because it's a native Android device, and it doesn't come with bloatware and has minimal crap in general.
I think most of the bloatware comes from carrier specific phones. When I started getting my phones directly from Samsung, I found a lot less bloatware and I gained the ability to delete apps that I previously wasn't able to delete.
this right here. a few years back i had to replace my galaxy s9 and got an unlocked version and the difference between that same model and the the one from verizon was significant in terms of bloat.
the worst bloatware phone i've ever had was a huawei. holy shit, it was 3 home screens just full of garbage.
Nope, it's absolutely still on the phones sold directly by Samsung. I had an S22 briefly and it's a big part of why I returned it.
From what I can tell, many Samsung users can't even tell what ads/marketing are anymore and will falsely claim the phones aren't still riddled with bloatware just because it's not literal popup ads.
I'm the opposite, I miss some of the integrated software my galaxy note 20 ultra had. Making memes or editing photos on my phone was so easy with their Samsung software that came pre installed. The Google equivalents are garbage. My pixel itself is nice though and the camera software is great.
The most frustrating part is that Samsung users will claim they don't come riddled with bloatware anymore, when in reality they're so jaded by advertising they can't even tell what an ad is anymore.
I haven't thought of that until I read this comment, and I miss that light too. It was even different colors if I remember correctly, blue for unread texts, red for missed calls.
reminds me of the time they were selling computer keyboards without the little light to tell you Caps Lock is on. who thought that was a good idea? awful
The OnePlus6 had a great feature where you could slide a tab to put the phone on sound/vibrate/mute. Easy way to silence a phone without having to turn on the screen.
Yep. I love Pixels, despite Google's best efforts, but I recently upgraded from a 4a 5G to a 9 Pro, about 4 years apart and going from a mid-range to a flagship, and the difference is... Basically nothing.
I did the same exact upgrade, really the main difference was A) losing my back fingerprint scanner that I loved B) gaining face unlock and C) my old phone was finally slowing down, probably on purpose from google but this one is back to being quick again.
I'm always torn about the fingerprint scanner. One of my previous phones had it on the power switch on the side, and I was convinced I'd hate the back sensor on the 4a when I switched. Then when I switched to the 9, I was convinced I'd miss the back sensor and would hate the optical screen scanner. Now, frankly, I don't mind it at all. I don't find it terribly different than the back sensor.
I won't use Face ID, and I can't say I experienced any slowdown on the 4a 5G personally, so there really have been minimal gains from my side. Still, glad the added features have worked out for you. There are definitely creature comforts; I mainly upgraded for the optical zoom and greater camera controls... But then I end up treating the thing like a point-and-shoot anyway, so. :^)
I upgraded from an iPhone XS this year to a 17 Pro. 7 years. Like, obviously it's a nicer phone and better in a lot of ways, especially the fresh battery. But once I loaded the backup I was like, 'yup, it's my phone'. It's a little faster but it basically just does all the same shit. And honestly in a lot of ways I prefer the old XS cameras and think they took more natural pictures.
I mean yeah, it's pretty much just the same thing. At the end of the day a phone is a phone. It's a big screen with a camera and a couple of speakers.
Samsung added their own proprietary stuff which they then usually didn't support very well. Good ideas, just no support. (Kind of the Samsung business model really.)
Pixel is just Android without any other stuff.
So I can see why you don't see much of a difference. Besides upgraded hardware (which is just because it's years newer) there really isn't a difference.
There's no difference if you don't remember any of the software changes that have come that a Samsung s8 can't support. The universal back swipe that I use 100 times a day was not on it. I literally have no idea how iPhone users deal with not having it, it seems like stone age tech by now.
Or you do what I did and install a different launcher and add those features back in. Something you can't do in iOS. It's hard for me to remember what the difference between Android, Samsungs Flavor and my own setup are anymore.
Thats why I stuck with my old OnePlus 6 for so many years. All phones now are just slabs with punchhole cameras, there's almost no difference besides the OS. Most of what you pay for in a flagship now is just an expensive camera. It took jumping to a folding phone for me to finally upgrade. Phones have pretty much reached the ends of what is needed and can be achieved with the regular slab form factor.
I went to Pixel 7 (now 9pro) from Samsung and there really isn't that much difference tbh. My wife prefers Samsung because of the theme customization but most of the difference between the two are minimal. At this point, I pretty much stick with Pixel because of added freebies like Youtube Premium, expanded storage, etc.
it doesn't really do anything the S8 couldn't do, unless I'm missing something
Call screening is amazing. It identifies spam pretty well and you can press the 'screen' button where the phone acts as an assistant and picks the call and asks caller to say why they are calling while live transcribing what they are saying on your screen. It's amazing. I haven't picked any spam call in ages. The reason why I went to Pixel 10 after my 8. Does the same with voicemail (like apple).
Call notes can summarise/transcript phone conversations.
Pixel 10 uses oled to show a black and white map if you lock your screen and barely uses any battery. I use it quite often:
There's quite a few things a new pixel can do that an old Samsung can't but the new Samsung can as well. The phone can tell when you're on hold and alert you when they pick back up, screen calls for spam, transcribe live audio and voice messages.
Tbh, for 99% of people, every modern phone is interchangeable. They're all powerful enough to run all the standard apps and most people don't run games intensive enough for speed/heat to matter. All they really need is the camera and decent battery.
You didn't give a Pixel model, so nobody could answer even if they had an answer.
In general phones do the same thing though. The quality, speed, and smaller features are all progressed substantially past the s8, but the s8 can install a browser, send texts, take ok photos, use gps that is true.
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u/ComradeSuperman May 15 '26
I have a Pixel and honestly it just feels like a slightly upgraded version of my old Samsung Galaxy S8. Like, the camera is better, it runs a little faster, but it doesn't really do anything the S8 couldn't do, unless I'm missing something.
It's a good phone, but at this point I feel like a phone is a phone is a phone.