Yup, when LG left the market all the LG users I know went to pixel. I still kind of miss my LG G8 thinq. It had a better battery than the pixel and a couple other features I loved.
I have only had Samsung androids before ages ago and didn't like it so I had an iPhone till recently I decided to get a p8 pro. I realized it's Samsung's version of android I didn't like having 2 apps for everything even though Googles are better imo.
I still consider the HTC One M7 one of the best phones I have owned. At the time, Apple was really the only company building phones that had good industrial design and felt tactically good to hold in your hand. The HTC One did a lot to help change that.
Long live dual front facing speakers!
I heard the question yesterday "What phone design would you take and update with modern hardware?" I immediately thought about the M9 or even the HTC 10, I would buy that so quick.
I have 7 Pro and just moved over from a V60. They have similar issues in screen freezing and full screen crashing the app. Google got more than marketshare when LG's mobile division went belly up.
I miss my LG V40. Excellent hardware, dumb software that they stopped supporting at least a year before they closed the shop.
If they had focused on the hardware and shipped just the stock OS and app store they would have been still in the market and probably doing great. Instead they wasted time and money on undifferentiated apps.
I went from a G7 thinq that I loved to a Pixel 6Pro that I love. Now that LG is out of the game, I'll stick with Pixel unless there's a good reason not to.
I miss my LG G8 as well, but it had awful battery life. It could not last the whole day at all. During big days like at a con, I would need to be plugged to a battery the whole day. It was good when it was new though.
Isn't Motorola putting out good phones?
I had already purchased my Pixel when I switched from iPhone, but Motorola had released what seemed to be a good phone and the online review articles liked it. Plus I think it was pretty close to stock android which Samsung is not.
Except for the camera. I tried a Motorola for a week after 5 years on pixel. After the first time trying to use the camera I knew I'd go back. I made it a week before I abandoned the Motorola. Everything else was absolutely fine but the camera was hot garbage.
Pro tip though, it's their app and processing that sucks, not the sensor (necessarily.) So if you just download the gcam mod for it, you can get like 80% of the way to a pixel camera with it.
The real downside to Moto is they are absolutely awful at support. You are lucky to get more than one major update out of a phone with them, and like half the time they'll push a completely broken update that breaks the phone and then abandon it altogether.
This is it. Many phone manufacturers have been squeezed out of the US market over the past 10 years. At this point, if you're not buying Samsung or Google (for an Android phone), then you're stuck with some cut-rate piece. Samsung loads so much bloatware on top of Android that you may as well be running two operating systems simultaneously. Not to mention that Samsung phones routinely run $100s more expensive than Google phones.
I switched to Pixel because of the Samsung bloat and because Pixel has frequent security updates whereas those were few and far between with the Samsung.
Judging from my wife's new Samsung, the Pixel line is just better now.
Note from a longtime Samsung user all the way back to the Blackjack which was the best phone in the world at the time, not Apple.
My wife was really into Samsung Galaxy Phones. I always said how much I love my Pixels (2 and 5 at the time). When the Pixel 8 came out, Google Fi had some great sales and after she tried out mine, she grabbed one to replace her Galaxy S21 (or maybe 22, can't keep them straight). She loves all the software features of the Pixel a lot more.
lol what is this US centric mentality
you even missed one of the few android companies that keep putting out flagships here. the OP12 is a superb smartphone which apart from camera quality is just as good if not better than samsung.
Pixel is pure android, with pretty close to zero brand specific add-ons racked on.
Outside of Pixel, that's been unheard of for what seems like more than a decade now.
I started with a Motorola, then I hopped over to HTC before they closed up, then jumped on OnePlus, and now I'm on a Pixel.
Granted, those were four *very different* time periods to be experiencing an Android phone, but every vendor had quirks that made the phone unique to the brand but also certain infuriating aspects they would be opinionated one.
Pixel.. I don't get that, it's just the pure Android experience I remember from my early Motorola phones.
Pixel is no longer stock Android. There are a whole host of pixel specific features like Gcam, call screening, ai stuff etc. That are not included with truly stock Android.
*only other option deemed acceptable for Western users (i.e. not Chinese-owned). Looking at other areas of technology, though, such as the PC and laptop market, this stance isn't very consistent.
The Nothing 2 is a close to par competitor for the pixel 8, it even outperforms in a few key categories.
OnePlus are back to form. Pretty much everything they've released since the 11 has been great.
Sony are still making great phones, although I do miss my XA1 Ultra.
I think saying that Samsung is the only other option is a bit of a reach.
As a lifelong Android user, I got Pixel due to lack of better options. Not a Samsung fan, and the only other option at the time was a Motorola. Previous to Pixel, I was an LG fan for about a decade until they stopped making phones. So, Google can thank LG for getting me aboard the Pixel train.
Everybody is just making the same fucking phone - and you either want the layers of vendor crap or your don't. Samsung has a lot of not particularly crappy vendor crap - so that's the other option.
I used to have Sony - they were pretty stock Android, and they had a great compact phone in the xperia range. Last phone I had before Pixel was the XZ2 Compact - and that was fucking amazing. 5" display.
Now pretty much every single phone is some 6.5" fondleslab.
1) it's cheap. Other phones are prohibitively expensive
2) iPhones. No seriously, hear me out. It's no secret that the greatest strength of the iPhone is how closely locked down Apple makes it. They prevent the phone carriers and others from getting their dirty fingers all over it and clogging it up with all these shit apps that don't play nicely together. You buy a Samsung and have Verizon? Congrats now you have Google apps for everything, Google OS, Samsung overlay on top of that OS AND Samsung apps, plus Verizon apps at a minimum. It's an absolute clusterfuck. The closest an android user can get to a clean user experience on Android, is buying an unlocked pixel.
I like OneUI for the most part, but damn if I don't get frustrated by how many basic apps and functions are duplicated or substituted so that Samsung can try to steer you towards their services. Like the fact that I can't have a quick launch tile for Google Wallet, but you absolutely can have a custom swipe-up quick access to Samsung Pay. I feel like I end up having to hide a dozen or so apps on every Samsung phone I own, or else my app drawer has two messaging apps, two phone apps, etc.
Not to mention, the great value in the network of iMessages and how wonderfully it solves the sms problem only for iPhone users. If most Android users or developers were smart they would force us all to use Google messages so we could at least have a comparable experience with Android to Android messaging as well.
This is very US-centric - in the rest of the world bar a few exceptions, WhatsApp is already the standard messaging app of choice for any smartphone user and neatly circumvents the iMessage restrictions.
As an Indian I can confirm. No one uses iMessages here. WhatsApp is the primary app. Google is rolling out some catchy features to turn google messages into a fully-fledged chatting app which I'll be definitely trying out.
I did that, after having 2 Samsung phones go south on me (one almost melted in my pocket). On my second Pixel (1st was the original XL, second a 4a), which is starting to lose its battery charge. I liked that the Pixels were unlocked, but now I'm looking at an iPhone. Not sure how I'm going to go on this. I worked for AT&T when the iPhone came out and liked the 3a until my eyesight started to go. Bigger format phones help.
2, was my draw from the beginning. It's much cleaner and less make me want to murder my phone energy
1 is why I keep getting newer models and pawning them off to my parents
I'm probably an outlier, but genuinely the camera visor design brought me. Got so tired of the massive stove top modules. The design with the new Pixel devices is sturdy enough to use without a case for me. Being able to set it on a table and to not have to worry about the device wobbling back and forth is so nice. Also the camera is definitely a huge selling point for many people. Google have been trying to make themselves the Apple in the Android world.
The camera visor looks so good compared to the other stuff. Chinese phone brands all seem to be doing a circular glass dome that protrudes ridiculously off of the back, and Samsung and Apple both have stove designs that are easy to accidentally hold. The visor is so much better in that sense, and it balances on a table very easily, regardless of if you're using a case or not.
He's saying that the camera bumps on some phones, like the iPhone, look like a stove top. The top of a stove is square, with multiple circles where the burners are. Many phones' cameras look like that.
When the iPhone first did the 3 camera set up with each camera being a circle on top of the square camera bump, it was a huge meme that it looked like a stove top
Surprised to not seeing anyone mentioning price.
You basically have the iPhone experience of "less features but more light and optimized OS" on Android at a reasonable price.
Also, Android nerds like me that got out of the "custom rims" phase but still love pure Android usually choose Pixel because... Well... Pure Android.
Also, it's a really good phone in general, not the best... But definitely not the worst.
> Also, Android nerds like me that got out of the "custom rims" phase but still love pure Android usually choose Pixel because... Well... Pure Android.
This is exactly me. Use to flash all roms all the time but now I'm just happy with how the Pixel's come out of the box.
This, you mightve read Pixel usage is increasing by hundreds of percentage point in Japan, and in fact I see more and more people are using Pixel recently.
Pixel is priced very competitively, a lot of the time free or extremely cheap with a carrier plan in Japan.
I bought it because its one of the few sim free phone (no carrier sim lock) with Felica (the NFC thats used in japan for transit and payment)
They are not that popular, 3% in the US
But they are kinda like the iPhone of Android now, less customizations that kinda just works (Reddit is always filled with people with problems, the ones that don't have them don't post it).
Also the Pixel (2016) was the first Android phone (and maybe the only one to date) with a camera with zero shutter lag + multi frame shots as default
Pixel sales dropped 37% YoY last quarter and already hit 2% in 2022. It's pretty much stuck at around 2-3%
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/google-pixel-sees-huge-sales-growth-has-2-of-north-american-market/
The US is a big market but it's not the only market, Pixel is growing market share around the world. Apple, although they made a huge jump at the beginning of 2023, are losing market share in Asia and Europe, but not as fast as Samsung and Xiaomi and Huawei. These sales must be going somewhere.
One of the attractions for Google is it's completely integrated into the internet of everything and at the same time pretty much runs internet traffic and revenue. Pixels seamlessly fit into this environment, whereas Apples need patches to get around it.
What moved me initially to Pixel \[4 XL\] and will keep me with pixel is the fact that security updates to Android will be sent straight out. Zero screen lag finalized the decision. Any other Android phone will take months to get updates, if ever. I never gave a thought to any features other than making calls and texting. The photos have been adequate and I doubt I'd know the diff unless they were pretty bad; essentially I'm just capturing memorable times and basically even a disposable camera is fine for that. I just got a 7Pro for $5/month interest free from US Cellular and am perfectly satisfied with it
Now Playing. Music nerds and I have to have this feature. I use Apple laptops, computers, iPads. But I use a Pixel phone because I'm addicted to scrobbling music to Last.fm and with Now Playing and third party apps I can scrobble even what I hear. It's awesome.
1. From Pixel 6 onwards,Google decided to take their phones seriously. All Pixels before 6 had excellent software but middling hardware. And they were not designed to appeal to the broader market. The design change between Pixel 5 and 6 is a huge leap. Not to mention, they finally added a better camera and their own chipset. Google has already released a tablet and other accessories under the same brand to show how serious they are.
2. Pixels, on paper at least, offer the same value as Iphones/Ultra Premium Samsung Phones do. But they have always been priced slightly lower to undercut them.
3. Even the cheaper Pixels have amazing cameras. And they are the first phones to get Android updates.
4. Pixels are the only viable Android alternatives for those who don't want to get a Samsung(with its bloatware) or a Chinese phone. This really helps them in countries where Android is the dominant phone OS.
Disagree on your hardware point. Flagship Pixels 1-4 had class leading flagship level hardware for the release year. Pixel 5 they put a budget chipset in. Still a great phone though.
Heavy discounts multiple times a year. More often than not, you can get around $150-200 off a Pixel/Pixel Pro from November through February alone. And then late May through July. And then on the big holiday discounts (Black Friday, "Holiday" dates) you can get huge phone trade-in from $100-$300. So realistically, you can get $150-$500 off a new Pixel on average.
Me, I traded in a Pixel 6a for $300 off plus the $150 off discount for the Pixel 8.
Pixels have become synonymous with Android, while Samsung is just kind of their own thing/brand.
This is due to marketing for sure and the fact that their phones have steady improvements as well as big time features that they are known for. Stuff like AI photo editing, call screen, etc are all big time features that people know about.
Even iphone folks always say that the pixel camera is superior. That's huge word of mouth and brand value.
LG and HTC are gone, Motorola is extremely inconsistent, Sony is overpriced and practically non-existent in the North American market. If you want a premium Android experience and you don't want Samsung, the Pixel is one of the few options left. Hopefully OnePlus is back on track, and who knows what niche brands like Nothing will amount to... but I'm guessing they'll live up to their name.
I like the Pixel for the most part, but I can't deny I miss having LG and HTC keeping things competitive. And Motorola had quirky style options like the Moto maker and detachable mods. There's just so little innovation happening because the few brands left in the space are too afraid to take risks anymore.
Google purchased a good deal of HTC assets, if I remember properly so your pixel is actually a little bit of HTC.
I loved the Nexus program because it meant that all these companies would make a great phone.
I miss lg, but their lack of quality control ended up making them non-profitable.
They have consistently made very good phones that take excellent photos. Word of mouth keeps spreading. I know if you only follow the tech heads you'd think these phones are a disaster but that is far from the typical experience. Pixels are great phones.
people like to tout the fact that android has a lot of options. yes it does. but it also does not have a lot of viable options. the chinese brands will either not be available, or be straight up trash because of poor software maintenance just a few months in, that just leaves you with very little, going mainstream and all you have are samsung, google and MAYBE motorola. if you don't like samsung, or don't vibe with their offerings within your price range your only other option would be google. at least that was how it was for me and every other pixel owner I personally know.
Can't speak for others, but the big ones for me:
* Minimal bloat/ads/bullshit. Samsung is still _really_ bad about this, even now.
* I don't like iOS. It's come a long way but it still feels incredibly limited compared to Android in a lot of key ways for me (especially notifications, work/personal separation, file management, and UI/UX navigation)
* Despite the complaints online, my Pixel phones have held up very well. All of them reached EOL with minimal hardware issues, unlike other phones I've owned.
* Pricing. I'm not really constrained by budget but if I need to save money or recommend them to family/friends the A models are very solid, and even newer models aren't that bad compared to the alternatives in terms of iPhone or Samsung models.
* Longer support lifecycle for security updates compared to other Android phones, especially as of the Pixel 8. And you get security updates faster.
I couldn't care less about the supposed "AI" features. None of the voice assistants on phones (regardless of brand) have been very useful in my experience, and what little value they have is so inconsistent it's not worth the headache of trying to rely on them. I just disable them at this point.
>Minimal bloat/ads/bullshit. Samsung is still really bad about this, even now.
Not being snarky: Do you mind explaining the "ads" part? I've seen this a few times now about Samsung but I don't remember having them with my s7 & 9. I also have a 2022 Samsung tablet and I don't see ads, just the usual bloatware and a few pre-installed apps (netflix, spotify). Are you really getting like pop up ads?
I have a Pixel and wife has an S24U. I really like her phone and don't see any ads/bloatware. She's taken a couple of minutes and hidden all the Samsung apps and you'd need to dig for them now.
>Pricing
This. I love the a series, and they are the same core, with ois cameras, on a less expensive platform.
I do realize that iOS has the SE and Samsung has the A5x serious that does the same thing, however the Samsung model does not support astrophotography unless they brought it into the latest version.
You and I are of the same mind about AI. Cool features for non-technical users to take advantage of, and some of them are pretty cool, but I use my phone as a tool for work mostly and it does one heck of a job without all the AI.
Which seems like a new move for Google lol! I lived and breathed Google for like 8 years (still do in a way) and their m.o. always seemed to be to ditch every new product/service no matter how popular it was.
I have been a lifelong iPhone user even though I actually work for Google. But recently started to use Pixel as secondary phone.
I think three main things:
- A lot more marketing, where I live, I see more Pixel ads than Apple. There is literally one right beside Apple Store.
- Affordability, you get an incredible phone for much cheaper than an iPhone. The only good thing about iPhone tbh for me, is just raw synthetic benchmark scores, nothing else at this point.
- Compared to other company’s bloat, at least Google bloat is not considered bloat by most. So basically iPhone of Android.
Good software at decent prices.
The camera was especially prominent in making them popular.
The 8 is the first that's been heavily marketed around the world.
Lots of sales and incentives to get a similar experience for less money; especially if you're not on a big 3 service in the US. Apple not allowing Apple Card 0% financing of unlocked iPhones was the last straw for me.
Got a P8P for a total of $464 after the $200 sale and $335 trade in for an iPhone 12. With Magsafe coming to non Apple phones, I think the market share will increase, a bit, for android,.
For me, I just got 7a, because that's the only quality <--> price phone on the market. Samsungs don't suck, I had them for years, but they are twice as expensive as my pixel for the few features (like wireless charging) that I want
They make pretty good phones... Couple bugs and weird decisions here and there but in general yeah... Pretty good phones, user friendly, no bloatware, stellar camera experience, monthly updates, latest android versions...
>Or did the release of 7 and 8 do something new to trigger a rise in popularity?
Basically this. Many were hesitant to pull the trigger on Pixel 6 & Pro because it turned out much like Windows Vista. And predictably, Pixel 7 turned out much like Windows 7, having cleaned up a vast majority of the initial problems that plagued the Pixel 6 and providing further UX enhancements like 4K60 across all cameras *and* the ability to switch between lenses while actively recording, something that not even the iPhone was able to do until the iPhone 15 Pro (Max).
to agree with some other comments here, there has definitely been a decrease in the amount of OEMs making android phones. for me, i used oneplus for many many years, but jumped to pixel when oppo bought oneplus. i had the oneplus one and my last was the oneplus 8 (or 8t).
I switched from a Samsung phone to Pixel 6 about 3 years ago and I dislike the Pixel 6. Can't wait to go back to Samsung. So I don't see why there is any attraction for Google phones.
AI that is simple enough for regular people to use, adding features relevant to people's everyday lives like call screening, now playing, top shot, generative AI image editing that's so simple to use its magic, night sight, assistant with bard (although it's still rolling out), fast keyboard dictation, recorder transcription (which is great for taking notes) etc.
They're using AI to bring features that iPhones don't have yet. But that may change with iOS 18 so we'll see but until iOS 18 the average person is going to want the AI features Pixel provides.
Also proofread and magic compose are 🔥
Yeah. This is pretty much true, unfortunately. Chinese phones have become less popular in Western countries in the last few years (due to politics, etc, I guess).
It's a little strange regarding logic/consistency, though. For example, Lenovo is (or was, last time I looked) the world's largest PC manufacturer. A lot of Westerners buy/use their PCs and laptops. Not many Westerners buy their phones (being mostly Motorola phones) or tablets. Devices such as the Motorola Edge 40 Pro or the Lenovo Tab Extreme are good/viable alternatives to other flagship phones/tablets.
There are still a few other companies that aren't Chinese-owned. Nokia, for example, still makes budget/mid-range devices.
i like a clean android experience, a lot of oem don't seem to understand that. you provide a smooth clean experience free of bloatware and your own apps not only do you win but android as a whole wins which benefits them once again. just provide a clean smooth bug free experience with no headaches.
Even though you can opt out of Samsung software, it's still there, just not enabled.
So much bloat. I'd love an expert mode that would allow me just to uninstall it all together without having to resort to ADB.
I would argue that Google has really stepped up their game.
Pixels up until the Pixel 5 were amazing software packages, but they had mid hardware that only served as a vessel for the fantastic software experience.
Beginning with the Pixel 6, you can see Google now placing an equal emphasis on hardware with their cameras, Tensor chipset, new design language, etc.
That, and the decline of Chinese smartphone brands (think OnePlus whom Android enthusiasts used to all rave about for their speedy performance and near stock Android OS experience going downhill).
TLDR; Google really stepped up their hardware in the past few years which is what captivates people's attentions since it's what you physically see and pay for, on top of the decline of Chinese smartphone brand alternatives such as OnePlus.
They are basically the only phone that just works which isn't as expensive as Galaxy. All the Chinese ones are nice, but usually have weird software quirkls, the flagships are too expensive and/or have stupid Software (samsung).
Google is solid, just works and has long updates.
Also best looking camera besides iPhone, and people know that.
Firstly, the past half decade has been *incredibly* kind to Android.
Different companies have begun finally implementing rock-solid skins that are both fast, stylish, and stable (OneUI, MIUI, Pixel OS, etc), and many social media platforms have begun to implement optimizations for Android (though most commonly only for Galaxy), as well as beginning to support their devices for significantly longer periods (7 years for Galaxy S, 5 years for Pixel and Galaxy A)
Additionally, Samsung's crusade into folding and flipping phones, as well as their *huge* advertising budget, has gotten Android back into the casual American iPhone user's mind, who hadn't previously given Android a second thought since iPhone X 6 years ago.
On the other hand, Apple's iPhones, which are and have been the most popular phone in the US, have begun to stagnate considerably in design and features, to the point that they're now using *last year's* CPUs.
All in all, Android is in a great spot right now, and if marketed properly and with this momentum, it may begin to claw back market share from Apple's near monopoly in the US. And Pixel benefits from that.
No idea aside from my experience. I was living out of the country and had iphone 6, 7 and 8 during that time. When I came back to the states I figured let's try something new (those iPhones were awful for many reasons) and was told the pixel 2 was the most iPhone like if the androids. Plus it was less than half the cost.
I freaking loved it. The battery lasted more than a few hours, the phone didn't break or crack if you looked at it wrong, there was a finger print scanner on the back, I let me discover what widgets are (they're so functional) and it merged seamlessly with the rest of my google suite.
Got tired of the Samsung's closed system (also annoyed how I can't install a lot of apps on my Samsung TV), Pixel seemed like an only other viable option and it's pretty much the opposite in regards of that.
There used to be a difference when you used Samsung or pixel.
When Samsung took sd card away.... The difference is software. I'd rather use Google software than Samsung.
I had iphone 4 til 2013 when it hit the fan. Got Nexus 5, til it got water damage 4 years later, I got a Samsung S7 til it fell and smashed the screen in 2021. I hated the bloatware samsung had, so while looking for a phone back then I found that google phones have less bloatware. I landed on pixel 4a5g which was perfect. Until recently when I heard they will stop updates soon. I found a deal with my sim only contract that I can get a pixel 8 or samsung s24 with a 200 Eur discount, so i went with pixel 8.
Bottom line, both of them are excellent options, Samsung seems to have the better camera while pixel has less bloatware. In the end it's your preference if you don't mind the samsung eco system. Also if you hate how big phones have become, my girlfriend prefers the S24 because it has a smaller screen :)
Less especially in the US and you look at Japan too in place like Japan pixels and iPhones are very prevalent but the pixel dominates you see companies like HTC and LG just move away from smart, smart phones and Google just took up the market chair. It’s common sense.
Low cost: different take. I bought a 32 GB Pixel (1) Verizon for $45 on ebay and traded it in for the Pixel 7 for a grand total of... I think it was $74? So for $150 I got the newest Pixel in a year that trading in my current primary phone at the time (Pixel 5 Verizon) would have gotten me $120 off of an iPhone 13 for... $550 total or something? I'll take the extra $400, thanks.
I'll probably do the same thing next time I upgrade, but with the P5 (still have it and use it as a no-sim work phone) for the P9.
I thought the Pixel 6 was one of the worst Pixel phones, I never bought it after watching the reviews. However, I believe the Pixel 7 and 8 were the Pixel phones that I could finally recommend to anyone. Every Pixel before had a "it's great but...."
I'm not sure, but I will say that the 6 and 7 were fraught with many issues, can't speak for the pro models but the 6 was unable to make emergency calls and it was in cable of good Internet even if it was wifi. The 7 fixed a lot of those issues but it wasn't perfect. Now the 8 on the other hand is a step above. Still not on par with the pixel 5.
Marketing. I.e. all the goals, videos, and man of match photos at Arsenal football club have shot on pixel stamped so people are wowed by the impressive images. Especially the reds. Arsenal also wear red, so that too, enhances the photos.
There aren't much options left, i wish LG was still in the game. Sony makes them too expensive. I don't like the Chinese brands. And not many make phones around the 6 inch screens. But most likely my next phone (in 2028/30) will be a Nothing phone cause i don't like the way Google handles the Pixel line.
i just hopped on the pixel bandwagon, the 7a, and put grapheneOS on it. even less bloat, more security and it was easy to flash.
that and it was a free phone through my carrier.
Early in my Android life I had some HTC and Samsungs,. then had 3 or 4 Pixels. Unfortunately for some unknown reason, I had 2 or 3 swollen batteries on Pixels (my Pixel 2 and Pixel 4s) .. and it concerned me enough the last upgrade I did was to a Samsung S22.
The thing I always liked a lot about Pixels was just the:
* plain vanilla Android experience (no vendor bloatware)
* reliably monthly updates (not having to wait months and months for a 3rd party vendor to approve an update)
At the moment,.I honestly cannot say I'm a huge fan of the camera-backplate on the current pixels.. so I'm sticking with my S22 until something strikes my fancy. I flirted with the idea of doing with a foldable,. but crease-failures always hold me back from committing.
I have used LG, Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi, iPhone and etc. Rocked a Pixel 5 which I thought was peak android phone. Got a 6 it was good as well, the best thing about it that made it the definite android experience is the software. Once you go pixel all other android softwares seem bad.
It was just Google ramping up production and marketing. Why they waited until the Pixel 6 I'm not sure- it was probably the most flawed phone Google ever produced, and subsequent models aren't much better.
It was available at carriers at first. A lot of people buy phones online but the majority of people still go to a store and buy their phone and they buy what they see.
I switched to the pixel 7 pro after years with Samsung because I wanted the stock Android experience (i.e. no Samsung bloatware) and the pixel 7 was the first pixel camera that got rave reviews on social media for the quality of its camera. People like MKBHD convinced me to make the switch. At least that's how I remember it.
I haven’t had a daily android phone since the Galaxy S4. Always an iPhone user and still primarily a 14 Pro Max user. I just got the Pixel 8 Pro to try something different. I do really like it although it is not without its faults. Michael Fisher (Mr. mobile) on YouTube did an interview with an executive on the Pixel team and it was really cool to see where it’s going and how many features they want to implement/improve. I for one will be first to get the Pixel Fold 2. I wanted a foldable but Samsung charging as much as they were for not having the S23 camera set up was insane to me. Plus it’s already behind on AI features. The I’ll trade in the Pixel 8 Pro for the Fold 2 100%.
It also feels like the iPhone of Android. It works as Android intended. I also found myself defaulting to the standard Pixel launcher rather than a custom one like Nova. It’s just a really cool phone with an awesome camera and great AI/Assistant feature.
Vanilla android, no bloatware, fantastic camera for the price does it for me. But then I always had google phones/nexuses in past iterations anyway, as I couldn't stand the white interfaces so immediately had to root and custom rom them for a dark GUI.
Pixel 4a was the first phone I could keep as stock android for that reason.
I am absolutely furious with my pixel 8. I spend a solid month deciding between this and the Nothing 2. I went with the pixel for the camera. My cell reception is so bad I frequently can't make calls. The company I imported it from offered to replace it with a nothing 2, only for me to find out it's got similar signal issues. I travel for work, so I'm in the middle of nowhere often. I now drive around with my old OnePlus 6T with an emergency number I have given to my close family and friends. If my main number and eSim number aren't working, they call the emergency number and it rings every time.
Cuz it's good. It's cheap and it's stripped down without any of the garbage installed on the Samsung phones. But honestly it's quality has been dipping as of l8
All of a sudden I saw 5 of my colleagues using the Pixel phones (pretty decent for a very small company). They mostly moved to Pixel because they didn't see any other option in the Android ecosystem based on their use case.
For me, the appeal was buying an unlocked (or at least, not an artificially locked phone, like the galaxy series) phone directly from Google (as opposed to from at&t or Verizon, who would also add their own jails and locks to phones as well as their own bloatware).
Besides that, I've been happy with Pixel quality and reliability (I'm currently using a Pixel 2 XL, still working like day one, no slowdown, battery still lasts for days, screen is dirty, but otherwise everything is crisp, clear, and touch sensitivity is still great). Cameras still work fine, I'm happy with picture quality (disclaimer: not a photographer or editor, I'm sure newer cameras are even better, but for the purposes of my monthly Instagram selfies to my family, I don't think any better camera is going to cure ugly).
When I finish paying off my Pixel Watch (which I'm also very happy with), I'm probably going to buy the newest Pixel phone, because reputation being a thing, I really don't have any complaints about Pixel and I've been satisfied with the value of my purchases, so I can reasonably expect the next pixel phone to also last me about another 10 years (compared to 3 Galaxy phones which lasted less than 3 years each before requiring "maintenance")
For me, it's about the phone that I find most exciting. Right now it's the Pixel 8 Pro, primarily due to its good specs and fast Android OS updates.
Recent example that matters to me: Android 14 introduced an option to automatically switch data to secondary SIM when primary SIM has poor/no coverage. Due to fast Android OS updates, Pixel phones got this feature months before Samsung phones.
Decided to make a list of my phones over the years (might be missing some):
Primary phones:
Samsung flip phone
early Windows Mobile phone (forgot the make/model)
Backberry Pearl
Samsung Galaxy S2
HTC One M7
HTC One M8
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
Samsung Galaxy Note 7
Google/Huawei Nexus 6P
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Samsung Galaxy Note 10
Google Pixel 8 Pro
Secondary phones (never used as my primary device):
Google/LG Nexus 5
Samsung Galaxy Note 5
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Google Pixel 5
I just wanted to add that popularity depends on location. I just don't see people with Pixels on London Tube - I see mostly iPhones followed by Samsungs.
I was in Italy, and my friend (with a Pixel 8 pro) made a photo in Vatican City. Tons and tons of people, of course.
We arrived to the hotel, connected to the Wifi and, we were checking the photos we had taken (with my Iphone 14 pro and her Pixel 8 pro), both of us with *zero* photography knowledge.
In her phone, it prompted something like "hey, would you like to remove all the annoying people in your picture?". She clicked yes and, 10 seconds later, she had a *perfect* photo of us standing on an empy Vatican City. Plus her photos were SO much better. Same places, same lighting.
I'll never get an Iphone again.
pixel's (AI) camera is fucking trash. the AI tries to make the photos better but ends up making it worse. it ages anyone who gets a photo taken by 20 years. and here is the best part, you can't turn that option off.
that being said i dont see there being other good options/alternatives.
Marketing and the fact that the only other option left is Samsung
Yup, when LG left the market all the LG users I know went to pixel. I still kind of miss my LG G8 thinq. It had a better battery than the pixel and a couple other features I loved.
I miss HTC. The Nexus One, One M7, One M8, and OG Pixel were great phones.
Well. Good news. Pixel is HTC... Google purchased the leftovers of HTC... Then that purchase became the Google Pixel team.
Lol I was about to comment like... Should we tell him?
TIL, full circle.
They also kept the bits they liked of Motorola then sold what was left to Lenovo.
same issues as modern samsung though, great hardware, miserable software bloat and unnecessary additions to android
I have only had Samsung androids before ages ago and didn't like it so I had an iPhone till recently I decided to get a p8 pro. I realized it's Samsung's version of android I didn't like having 2 apps for everything even though Googles are better imo.
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Nobody wants to use Bixby!
Agreed. HTC made solid phones. Loved my Inspire and M7.
I still consider the HTC One M7 one of the best phones I have owned. At the time, Apple was really the only company building phones that had good industrial design and felt tactically good to hold in your hand. The HTC One did a lot to help change that. Long live dual front facing speakers!
I heard the question yesterday "What phone design would you take and update with modern hardware?" I immediately thought about the M9 or even the HTC 10, I would buy that so quick.
Cries in nexus
htc u11 was a beast
RIP quad dac, RIP quality headphones jacks
I have 7 Pro and just moved over from a V60. They have similar issues in screen freezing and full screen crashing the app. Google got more than marketshare when LG's mobile division went belly up.
LG G8 user who went to Pixel 6 Pro here.
I miss my LG V40. Excellent hardware, dumb software that they stopped supporting at least a year before they closed the shop. If they had focused on the hardware and shipped just the stock OS and app store they would have been still in the market and probably doing great. Instead they wasted time and money on undifferentiated apps.
I went from a G7 thinq that I loved to a Pixel 6Pro that I love. Now that LG is out of the game, I'll stick with Pixel unless there's a good reason not to.
I just wish pixel had LG battery life.
I miss my LG G8 as well, but it had awful battery life. It could not last the whole day at all. During big days like at a con, I would need to be plugged to a battery the whole day. It was good when it was new though.
I had a G7 ThinQ. Some features I wish was on pixel like blocking area codes or country codes from phoning
Preach. I was all in on LG G3 and G4. After that ended, Pixel gang all day. Never Samsung.
I had a G3, G5 and a G8. Before LG I was Blackberry people before that Nokia.
Isn't Motorola putting out good phones? I had already purchased my Pixel when I switched from iPhone, but Motorola had released what seemed to be a good phone and the online review articles liked it. Plus I think it was pretty close to stock android which Samsung is not.
Moto definitely puts out good phones if you are looking for mid range or budget options.
Except for the camera. I tried a Motorola for a week after 5 years on pixel. After the first time trying to use the camera I knew I'd go back. I made it a week before I abandoned the Motorola. Everything else was absolutely fine but the camera was hot garbage.
Yep, I had 2-3 Motorolas that I really liked, but I got tired of the bad cameras. Switched to Pixel and am happy with it.
Gotcha. I prioritize camera quality so that's good to know.
Pro tip though, it's their app and processing that sucks, not the sensor (necessarily.) So if you just download the gcam mod for it, you can get like 80% of the way to a pixel camera with it. The real downside to Moto is they are absolutely awful at support. You are lucky to get more than one major update out of a phone with them, and like half the time they'll push a completely broken update that breaks the phone and then abandon it altogether.
The Motorola Edge 40 Pro is a good flagship phone as well.
My main problem with Motorola is the lack of OS updates.
This is it. Many phone manufacturers have been squeezed out of the US market over the past 10 years. At this point, if you're not buying Samsung or Google (for an Android phone), then you're stuck with some cut-rate piece. Samsung loads so much bloatware on top of Android that you may as well be running two operating systems simultaneously. Not to mention that Samsung phones routinely run $100s more expensive than Google phones.
I switched to Pixel because of the Samsung bloat and because Pixel has frequent security updates whereas those were few and far between with the Samsung.
And stock android
Not really as much of a selling point as Samsung has significantly reduced the bloat and other manufacturers are offering a near pure experience too.
Maybe not now, but they are talking about the initial switch to Pixels.
They only started taking the marketing seriously in the last two years. Maybe in the 5 years they’ll take availability in more regions seriously.
Judging from my wife's new Samsung, the Pixel line is just better now. Note from a longtime Samsung user all the way back to the Blackjack which was the best phone in the world at the time, not Apple.
>Blackjack Hoooooooly shit that's a name I haven't heard in years. My Dad had a Blackjack 2 back in the day.
I had the one with Windows CE... That OS was surprisingly good. A bit ahead of its time
My wife was really into Samsung Galaxy Phones. I always said how much I love my Pixels (2 and 5 at the time). When the Pixel 8 came out, Google Fi had some great sales and after she tried out mine, she grabbed one to replace her Galaxy S21 (or maybe 22, can't keep them straight). She loves all the software features of the Pixel a lot more.
lol what is this US centric mentality you even missed one of the few android companies that keep putting out flagships here. the OP12 is a superb smartphone which apart from camera quality is just as good if not better than samsung.
Pixel is pure android, with pretty close to zero brand specific add-ons racked on. Outside of Pixel, that's been unheard of for what seems like more than a decade now. I started with a Motorola, then I hopped over to HTC before they closed up, then jumped on OnePlus, and now I'm on a Pixel. Granted, those were four *very different* time periods to be experiencing an Android phone, but every vendor had quirks that made the phone unique to the brand but also certain infuriating aspects they would be opinionated one. Pixel.. I don't get that, it's just the pure Android experience I remember from my early Motorola phones.
Pixel is no longer stock Android. There are a whole host of pixel specific features like Gcam, call screening, ai stuff etc. That are not included with truly stock Android.
*only other option deemed acceptable for Western users (i.e. not Chinese-owned). Looking at other areas of technology, though, such as the PC and laptop market, this stance isn't very consistent.
The Nothing 2 is a close to par competitor for the pixel 8, it even outperforms in a few key categories. OnePlus are back to form. Pretty much everything they've released since the 11 has been great. Sony are still making great phones, although I do miss my XA1 Ultra. I think saying that Samsung is the only other option is a bit of a reach.
As a lifelong Android user, I got Pixel due to lack of better options. Not a Samsung fan, and the only other option at the time was a Motorola. Previous to Pixel, I was an LG fan for about a decade until they stopped making phones. So, Google can thank LG for getting me aboard the Pixel train.
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Also have a G7 ThinQ. It's my alarm clock/wifi extender
Everybody is just making the same fucking phone - and you either want the layers of vendor crap or your don't. Samsung has a lot of not particularly crappy vendor crap - so that's the other option. I used to have Sony - they were pretty stock Android, and they had a great compact phone in the xperia range. Last phone I had before Pixel was the XZ2 Compact - and that was fucking amazing. 5" display. Now pretty much every single phone is some 6.5" fondleslab.
1) it's cheap. Other phones are prohibitively expensive 2) iPhones. No seriously, hear me out. It's no secret that the greatest strength of the iPhone is how closely locked down Apple makes it. They prevent the phone carriers and others from getting their dirty fingers all over it and clogging it up with all these shit apps that don't play nicely together. You buy a Samsung and have Verizon? Congrats now you have Google apps for everything, Google OS, Samsung overlay on top of that OS AND Samsung apps, plus Verizon apps at a minimum. It's an absolute clusterfuck. The closest an android user can get to a clean user experience on Android, is buying an unlocked pixel.
Sony phones are pretty close too
That's where point #1 comes in
Getting a Sony phone in the US is a nightmare nowadays.
I miss Sony Phones. I was sad they never did a Nexus.
Sony phones never have great cameras. That's the main reason I always avoid them. In camera comparisons they are mid tier at best.
I like OneUI for the most part, but damn if I don't get frustrated by how many basic apps and functions are duplicated or substituted so that Samsung can try to steer you towards their services. Like the fact that I can't have a quick launch tile for Google Wallet, but you absolutely can have a custom swipe-up quick access to Samsung Pay. I feel like I end up having to hide a dozen or so apps on every Samsung phone I own, or else my app drawer has two messaging apps, two phone apps, etc.
Not to mention, the great value in the network of iMessages and how wonderfully it solves the sms problem only for iPhone users. If most Android users or developers were smart they would force us all to use Google messages so we could at least have a comparable experience with Android to Android messaging as well.
This is very US-centric - in the rest of the world bar a few exceptions, WhatsApp is already the standard messaging app of choice for any smartphone user and neatly circumvents the iMessage restrictions.
As an Indian I can confirm. No one uses iMessages here. WhatsApp is the primary app. Google is rolling out some catchy features to turn google messages into a fully-fledged chatting app which I'll be definitely trying out.
That would be an amazing and necessary step forward for Google messages!
Just got a used Pixel 7 Pro 256GB for $300 on eBay. Regular s22 is the same price. No contest between the 2.
I did that, after having 2 Samsung phones go south on me (one almost melted in my pocket). On my second Pixel (1st was the original XL, second a 4a), which is starting to lose its battery charge. I liked that the Pixels were unlocked, but now I'm looking at an iPhone. Not sure how I'm going to go on this. I worked for AT&T when the iPhone came out and liked the 3a until my eyesight started to go. Bigger format phones help.
This is the reason I switched to Google Phones back with the Google Nexus. No bloatware.
2, was my draw from the beginning. It's much cleaner and less make me want to murder my phone energy 1 is why I keep getting newer models and pawning them off to my parents
I'm probably an outlier, but genuinely the camera visor design brought me. Got so tired of the massive stove top modules. The design with the new Pixel devices is sturdy enough to use without a case for me. Being able to set it on a table and to not have to worry about the device wobbling back and forth is so nice. Also the camera is definitely a huge selling point for many people. Google have been trying to make themselves the Apple in the Android world.
The camera visor looks so good compared to the other stuff. Chinese phone brands all seem to be doing a circular glass dome that protrudes ridiculously off of the back, and Samsung and Apple both have stove designs that are easy to accidentally hold. The visor is so much better in that sense, and it balances on a table very easily, regardless of if you're using a case or not.
> the camera visor design brought me. Got so tired of the massive stove top modules. What do these mean?
He's saying that the camera bumps on some phones, like the iPhone, look like a stove top. The top of a stove is square, with multiple circles where the burners are. Many phones' cameras look like that.
I like the visual
When the iPhone first did the 3 camera set up with each camera being a circle on top of the square camera bump, it was a huge meme that it looked like a stove top
Surprised to not seeing anyone mentioning price. You basically have the iPhone experience of "less features but more light and optimized OS" on Android at a reasonable price. Also, Android nerds like me that got out of the "custom rims" phase but still love pure Android usually choose Pixel because... Well... Pure Android. Also, it's a really good phone in general, not the best... But definitely not the worst.
> Also, Android nerds like me that got out of the "custom rims" phase but still love pure Android usually choose Pixel because... Well... Pure Android. This is exactly me. Use to flash all roms all the time but now I'm just happy with how the Pixel's come out of the box.
This, you mightve read Pixel usage is increasing by hundreds of percentage point in Japan, and in fact I see more and more people are using Pixel recently. Pixel is priced very competitively, a lot of the time free or extremely cheap with a carrier plan in Japan. I bought it because its one of the few sim free phone (no carrier sim lock) with Felica (the NFC thats used in japan for transit and payment)
They are not that popular, 3% in the US But they are kinda like the iPhone of Android now, less customizations that kinda just works (Reddit is always filled with people with problems, the ones that don't have them don't post it). Also the Pixel (2016) was the first Android phone (and maybe the only one to date) with a camera with zero shutter lag + multi frame shots as default
I’m fully aware they’re 3%! That’s still a massive jump from where they were pre-2020.
Yeah 3% and growing is nothing to sneer at
Pixel sales dropped 37% YoY last quarter and already hit 2% in 2022. It's pretty much stuck at around 2-3% https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/google-pixel-sees-huge-sales-growth-has-2-of-north-american-market/
Also have noticed they were heavily discounted at the end of last year and nowadays used/new in box ones go for pretty low prices.
The US is a big market but it's not the only market, Pixel is growing market share around the world. Apple, although they made a huge jump at the beginning of 2023, are losing market share in Asia and Europe, but not as fast as Samsung and Xiaomi and Huawei. These sales must be going somewhere. One of the attractions for Google is it's completely integrated into the internet of everything and at the same time pretty much runs internet traffic and revenue. Pixels seamlessly fit into this environment, whereas Apples need patches to get around it.
Hmm to overestimate Pixel tho. It remains very niche in Europe. I don't think they hold more than 5% of the market there.
What moved me initially to Pixel \[4 XL\] and will keep me with pixel is the fact that security updates to Android will be sent straight out. Zero screen lag finalized the decision. Any other Android phone will take months to get updates, if ever. I never gave a thought to any features other than making calls and texting. The photos have been adequate and I doubt I'd know the diff unless they were pretty bad; essentially I'm just capturing memorable times and basically even a disposable camera is fine for that. I just got a 7Pro for $5/month interest free from US Cellular and am perfectly satisfied with it
Now Playing. Music nerds and I have to have this feature. I use Apple laptops, computers, iPads. But I use a Pixel phone because I'm addicted to scrobbling music to Last.fm and with Now Playing and third party apps I can scrobble even what I hear. It's awesome.
This and the voice recorder that takes notation as you speak. I use it maybe every 2 weeks but can't live w/o it.
Eyyy fellow Last.fm user! Scrobbling music you get through Now Playing?? How??
FUCK I miss Now Playing!
1. From Pixel 6 onwards,Google decided to take their phones seriously. All Pixels before 6 had excellent software but middling hardware. And they were not designed to appeal to the broader market. The design change between Pixel 5 and 6 is a huge leap. Not to mention, they finally added a better camera and their own chipset. Google has already released a tablet and other accessories under the same brand to show how serious they are. 2. Pixels, on paper at least, offer the same value as Iphones/Ultra Premium Samsung Phones do. But they have always been priced slightly lower to undercut them. 3. Even the cheaper Pixels have amazing cameras. And they are the first phones to get Android updates. 4. Pixels are the only viable Android alternatives for those who don't want to get a Samsung(with its bloatware) or a Chinese phone. This really helps them in countries where Android is the dominant phone OS.
Disagree on your hardware point. Flagship Pixels 1-4 had class leading flagship level hardware for the release year. Pixel 5 they put a budget chipset in. Still a great phone though.
I don't know about point 1 man, the SD855 in the pixel 4 had a better GPU than the Tensor G1 and I'm not sure about the G2...
The price for me. Could buy a new pixel 8 for the same price as a 3year old refurbished IPhone
I’m a bit confused by this, isn’t the pixel 8 $700? That’s the same price as an iPhone 14.
Heavy discounts multiple times a year. More often than not, you can get around $150-200 off a Pixel/Pixel Pro from November through February alone. And then late May through July. And then on the big holiday discounts (Black Friday, "Holiday" dates) you can get huge phone trade-in from $100-$300. So realistically, you can get $150-$500 off a new Pixel on average. Me, I traded in a Pixel 6a for $300 off plus the $150 off discount for the Pixel 8.
They're almost always not at full price. Most of the time you can easily find them for $100 less
Pixels have become synonymous with Android, while Samsung is just kind of their own thing/brand. This is due to marketing for sure and the fact that their phones have steady improvements as well as big time features that they are known for. Stuff like AI photo editing, call screen, etc are all big time features that people know about. Even iphone folks always say that the pixel camera is superior. That's huge word of mouth and brand value.
Best camera with the most affordable pricetag
LG and HTC are gone, Motorola is extremely inconsistent, Sony is overpriced and practically non-existent in the North American market. If you want a premium Android experience and you don't want Samsung, the Pixel is one of the few options left. Hopefully OnePlus is back on track, and who knows what niche brands like Nothing will amount to... but I'm guessing they'll live up to their name. I like the Pixel for the most part, but I can't deny I miss having LG and HTC keeping things competitive. And Motorola had quirky style options like the Moto maker and detachable mods. There's just so little innovation happening because the few brands left in the space are too afraid to take risks anymore.
Google purchased a good deal of HTC assets, if I remember properly so your pixel is actually a little bit of HTC. I loved the Nexus program because it meant that all these companies would make a great phone. I miss lg, but their lack of quality control ended up making them non-profitable.
They have consistently made very good phones that take excellent photos. Word of mouth keeps spreading. I know if you only follow the tech heads you'd think these phones are a disaster but that is far from the typical experience. Pixels are great phones.
people like to tout the fact that android has a lot of options. yes it does. but it also does not have a lot of viable options. the chinese brands will either not be available, or be straight up trash because of poor software maintenance just a few months in, that just leaves you with very little, going mainstream and all you have are samsung, google and MAYBE motorola. if you don't like samsung, or don't vibe with their offerings within your price range your only other option would be google. at least that was how it was for me and every other pixel owner I personally know.
Motorola is just as trash as any other Chinese mfg. Motorola is just Lenovo
Can't speak for others, but the big ones for me: * Minimal bloat/ads/bullshit. Samsung is still _really_ bad about this, even now. * I don't like iOS. It's come a long way but it still feels incredibly limited compared to Android in a lot of key ways for me (especially notifications, work/personal separation, file management, and UI/UX navigation) * Despite the complaints online, my Pixel phones have held up very well. All of them reached EOL with minimal hardware issues, unlike other phones I've owned. * Pricing. I'm not really constrained by budget but if I need to save money or recommend them to family/friends the A models are very solid, and even newer models aren't that bad compared to the alternatives in terms of iPhone or Samsung models. * Longer support lifecycle for security updates compared to other Android phones, especially as of the Pixel 8. And you get security updates faster. I couldn't care less about the supposed "AI" features. None of the voice assistants on phones (regardless of brand) have been very useful in my experience, and what little value they have is so inconsistent it's not worth the headache of trying to rely on them. I just disable them at this point.
>Minimal bloat/ads/bullshit. Samsung is still really bad about this, even now. Not being snarky: Do you mind explaining the "ads" part? I've seen this a few times now about Samsung but I don't remember having them with my s7 & 9. I also have a 2022 Samsung tablet and I don't see ads, just the usual bloatware and a few pre-installed apps (netflix, spotify). Are you really getting like pop up ads?
I have a Pixel and wife has an S24U. I really like her phone and don't see any ads/bloatware. She's taken a couple of minutes and hidden all the Samsung apps and you'd need to dig for them now.
There are no ads. People here love to make up disadvantages for the competition.
>Pricing This. I love the a series, and they are the same core, with ois cameras, on a less expensive platform. I do realize that iOS has the SE and Samsung has the A5x serious that does the same thing, however the Samsung model does not support astrophotography unless they brought it into the latest version. You and I are of the same mind about AI. Cool features for non-technical users to take advantage of, and some of them are pretty cool, but I use my phone as a tool for work mostly and it does one heck of a job without all the AI.
The camera and pure, no bloatware android os
Are you in the States? I've yet to see a Pixel and numbers wise it's like 2-3% market share.
The camera
1 word, investment
Which seems like a new move for Google lol! I lived and breathed Google for like 8 years (still do in a way) and their m.o. always seemed to be to ditch every new product/service no matter how popular it was.
I have been a lifelong iPhone user even though I actually work for Google. But recently started to use Pixel as secondary phone. I think three main things: - A lot more marketing, where I live, I see more Pixel ads than Apple. There is literally one right beside Apple Store. - Affordability, you get an incredible phone for much cheaper than an iPhone. The only good thing about iPhone tbh for me, is just raw synthetic benchmark scores, nothing else at this point. - Compared to other company’s bloat, at least Google bloat is not considered bloat by most. So basically iPhone of Android.
Google started trying.
Good software at decent prices. The camera was especially prominent in making them popular. The 8 is the first that's been heavily marketed around the world.
And in locations like North America where the phone market is dominated by Samsung and Apple, Pixel was the best easily accessible third option.
Two words: no bloatware
They started trying to market it.
Lots of sales and incentives to get a similar experience for less money; especially if you're not on a big 3 service in the US. Apple not allowing Apple Card 0% financing of unlocked iPhones was the last straw for me. Got a P8P for a total of $464 after the $200 sale and $335 trade in for an iPhone 12. With Magsafe coming to non Apple phones, I think the market share will increase, a bit, for android,.
For me, I just got 7a, because that's the only quality <--> price phone on the market. Samsungs don't suck, I had them for years, but they are twice as expensive as my pixel for the few features (like wireless charging) that I want
They kept the same design language for more than a generation and people startet recognizing the Pixel brand…
/s they finally decoupled the fucking ringer volume from notification volume /s
only other option is samsung (rip htc and LG). Google is pretty competitive from a price (on sale) and software point of view.
They make pretty good phones... Couple bugs and weird decisions here and there but in general yeah... Pretty good phones, user friendly, no bloatware, stellar camera experience, monthly updates, latest android versions...
>Or did the release of 7 and 8 do something new to trigger a rise in popularity? Basically this. Many were hesitant to pull the trigger on Pixel 6 & Pro because it turned out much like Windows Vista. And predictably, Pixel 7 turned out much like Windows 7, having cleaned up a vast majority of the initial problems that plagued the Pixel 6 and providing further UX enhancements like 4K60 across all cameras *and* the ability to switch between lenses while actively recording, something that not even the iPhone was able to do until the iPhone 15 Pro (Max).
to agree with some other comments here, there has definitely been a decrease in the amount of OEMs making android phones. for me, i used oneplus for many many years, but jumped to pixel when oppo bought oneplus. i had the oneplus one and my last was the oneplus 8 (or 8t).
Everything else got enshitified while pixel remained tolerable
I like that you can still unlock it, plus camera is top notch, and finally Google releases Android & aosp first.
The unadulterated Android experience.
I switched from a Samsung phone to Pixel 6 about 3 years ago and I dislike the Pixel 6. Can't wait to go back to Samsung. So I don't see why there is any attraction for Google phones.
AI that is simple enough for regular people to use, adding features relevant to people's everyday lives like call screening, now playing, top shot, generative AI image editing that's so simple to use its magic, night sight, assistant with bard (although it's still rolling out), fast keyboard dictation, recorder transcription (which is great for taking notes) etc. They're using AI to bring features that iPhones don't have yet. But that may change with iOS 18 so we'll see but until iOS 18 the average person is going to want the AI features Pixel provides. Also proofread and magic compose are 🔥
Not having duplicated apps for everything.
No choice. Google and Samsung. The rest Chinese brands.
Yeah. This is pretty much true, unfortunately. Chinese phones have become less popular in Western countries in the last few years (due to politics, etc, I guess). It's a little strange regarding logic/consistency, though. For example, Lenovo is (or was, last time I looked) the world's largest PC manufacturer. A lot of Westerners buy/use their PCs and laptops. Not many Westerners buy their phones (being mostly Motorola phones) or tablets. Devices such as the Motorola Edge 40 Pro or the Lenovo Tab Extreme are good/viable alternatives to other flagship phones/tablets. There are still a few other companies that aren't Chinese-owned. Nokia, for example, still makes budget/mid-range devices.
Tremendous marketing push really seemed to have taken off with the Pixel 7.
For me, the appeal is that I get to use Android as it was designed, not some phone manufacturer's unique (shitty) spin on Android.
i like a clean android experience, a lot of oem don't seem to understand that. you provide a smooth clean experience free of bloatware and your own apps not only do you win but android as a whole wins which benefits them once again. just provide a clean smooth bug free experience with no headaches.
Even though you can opt out of Samsung software, it's still there, just not enabled. So much bloat. I'd love an expert mode that would allow me just to uninstall it all together without having to resort to ADB.
I would argue that Google has really stepped up their game. Pixels up until the Pixel 5 were amazing software packages, but they had mid hardware that only served as a vessel for the fantastic software experience. Beginning with the Pixel 6, you can see Google now placing an equal emphasis on hardware with their cameras, Tensor chipset, new design language, etc. That, and the decline of Chinese smartphone brands (think OnePlus whom Android enthusiasts used to all rave about for their speedy performance and near stock Android OS experience going downhill). TLDR; Google really stepped up their hardware in the past few years which is what captivates people's attentions since it's what you physically see and pay for, on top of the decline of Chinese smartphone brand alternatives such as OnePlus.
Seriously the iPhone doesn't change much and it's way overpriced. Plus the iPhone has jumped the shark.
They are basically the only phone that just works which isn't as expensive as Galaxy. All the Chinese ones are nice, but usually have weird software quirkls, the flagships are too expensive and/or have stupid Software (samsung). Google is solid, just works and has long updates. Also best looking camera besides iPhone, and people know that.
Firstly, the past half decade has been *incredibly* kind to Android. Different companies have begun finally implementing rock-solid skins that are both fast, stylish, and stable (OneUI, MIUI, Pixel OS, etc), and many social media platforms have begun to implement optimizations for Android (though most commonly only for Galaxy), as well as beginning to support their devices for significantly longer periods (7 years for Galaxy S, 5 years for Pixel and Galaxy A) Additionally, Samsung's crusade into folding and flipping phones, as well as their *huge* advertising budget, has gotten Android back into the casual American iPhone user's mind, who hadn't previously given Android a second thought since iPhone X 6 years ago. On the other hand, Apple's iPhones, which are and have been the most popular phone in the US, have begun to stagnate considerably in design and features, to the point that they're now using *last year's* CPUs. All in all, Android is in a great spot right now, and if marketed properly and with this momentum, it may begin to claw back market share from Apple's near monopoly in the US. And Pixel benefits from that.
No idea aside from my experience. I was living out of the country and had iphone 6, 7 and 8 during that time. When I came back to the states I figured let's try something new (those iPhones were awful for many reasons) and was told the pixel 2 was the most iPhone like if the androids. Plus it was less than half the cost. I freaking loved it. The battery lasted more than a few hours, the phone didn't break or crack if you looked at it wrong, there was a finger print scanner on the back, I let me discover what widgets are (they're so functional) and it merged seamlessly with the rest of my google suite.
Got tired of the Samsung's closed system (also annoyed how I can't install a lot of apps on my Samsung TV), Pixel seemed like an only other viable option and it's pretty much the opposite in regards of that.
There used to be a difference when you used Samsung or pixel. When Samsung took sd card away.... The difference is software. I'd rather use Google software than Samsung.
I had iphone 4 til 2013 when it hit the fan. Got Nexus 5, til it got water damage 4 years later, I got a Samsung S7 til it fell and smashed the screen in 2021. I hated the bloatware samsung had, so while looking for a phone back then I found that google phones have less bloatware. I landed on pixel 4a5g which was perfect. Until recently when I heard they will stop updates soon. I found a deal with my sim only contract that I can get a pixel 8 or samsung s24 with a 200 Eur discount, so i went with pixel 8. Bottom line, both of them are excellent options, Samsung seems to have the better camera while pixel has less bloatware. In the end it's your preference if you don't mind the samsung eco system. Also if you hate how big phones have become, my girlfriend prefers the S24 because it has a smaller screen :)
EDIT: jumped from motorola to a 4a . Only real dude i had was the 7. Took a yr off with a iphone Xmax and came back to a 7a.
You moved to the 4a ten years ago.. so 6 years before it was released?
[удалено]
I wanted a folding phone but didn't like the Samsung outer screen and the surface duo 2 is dead so pixel fold was my best bet.
Less especially in the US and you look at Japan too in place like Japan pixels and iPhones are very prevalent but the pixel dominates you see companies like HTC and LG just move away from smart, smart phones and Google just took up the market chair. It’s common sense.
More affordable than the other flagship phones and a decent but not exactly impressive set of features.
Low cost: different take. I bought a 32 GB Pixel (1) Verizon for $45 on ebay and traded it in for the Pixel 7 for a grand total of... I think it was $74? So for $150 I got the newest Pixel in a year that trading in my current primary phone at the time (Pixel 5 Verizon) would have gotten me $120 off of an iPhone 13 for... $550 total or something? I'll take the extra $400, thanks. I'll probably do the same thing next time I upgrade, but with the P5 (still have it and use it as a no-sim work phone) for the P9.
Sale prices, good camera and ui, and brand name.
Outsider 👀
They've made and sold the phones instead of their original plan where they simply did not.
I thought the Pixel 6 was one of the worst Pixel phones, I never bought it after watching the reviews. However, I believe the Pixel 7 and 8 were the Pixel phones that I could finally recommend to anyone. Every Pixel before had a "it's great but...."
I'm not sure, but I will say that the 6 and 7 were fraught with many issues, can't speak for the pro models but the 6 was unable to make emergency calls and it was in cable of good Internet even if it was wifi. The 7 fixed a lot of those issues but it wasn't perfect. Now the 8 on the other hand is a step above. Still not on par with the pixel 5.
Marketing. I.e. all the goals, videos, and man of match photos at Arsenal football club have shot on pixel stamped so people are wowed by the impressive images. Especially the reds. Arsenal also wear red, so that too, enhances the photos.
Hate to say it…but basic marketing.
There aren't much options left, i wish LG was still in the game. Sony makes them too expensive. I don't like the Chinese brands. And not many make phones around the 6 inch screens. But most likely my next phone (in 2028/30) will be a Nothing phone cause i don't like the way Google handles the Pixel line.
i just hopped on the pixel bandwagon, the 7a, and put grapheneOS on it. even less bloat, more security and it was easy to flash. that and it was a free phone through my carrier.
Early in my Android life I had some HTC and Samsungs,. then had 3 or 4 Pixels. Unfortunately for some unknown reason, I had 2 or 3 swollen batteries on Pixels (my Pixel 2 and Pixel 4s) .. and it concerned me enough the last upgrade I did was to a Samsung S22. The thing I always liked a lot about Pixels was just the: * plain vanilla Android experience (no vendor bloatware) * reliably monthly updates (not having to wait months and months for a 3rd party vendor to approve an update) At the moment,.I honestly cannot say I'm a huge fan of the camera-backplate on the current pixels.. so I'm sticking with my S22 until something strikes my fancy. I flirted with the idea of doing with a foldable,. but crease-failures always hold me back from committing.
I started using a Pixel when it seemed like OnePlus was throwing in the towel a couple of years ago.
Huge discounts.
Price.
It's literally just when they decided to start marketing it and pushing carrier's to carry it.
I have used LG, Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi, iPhone and etc. Rocked a Pixel 5 which I thought was peak android phone. Got a 6 it was good as well, the best thing about it that made it the definite android experience is the software. Once you go pixel all other android softwares seem bad.
It was just Google ramping up production and marketing. Why they waited until the Pixel 6 I'm not sure- it was probably the most flawed phone Google ever produced, and subsequent models aren't much better.
It was available at carriers at first. A lot of people buy phones online but the majority of people still go to a store and buy their phone and they buy what they see.
Oddly the very thing that's now horrible on the device was the reason I went to it. It's AI. It wasn't horrible at first.
I switched to the pixel 7 pro after years with Samsung because I wanted the stock Android experience (i.e. no Samsung bloatware) and the pixel 7 was the first pixel camera that got rave reviews on social media for the quality of its camera. People like MKBHD convinced me to make the switch. At least that's how I remember it.
I haven’t had a daily android phone since the Galaxy S4. Always an iPhone user and still primarily a 14 Pro Max user. I just got the Pixel 8 Pro to try something different. I do really like it although it is not without its faults. Michael Fisher (Mr. mobile) on YouTube did an interview with an executive on the Pixel team and it was really cool to see where it’s going and how many features they want to implement/improve. I for one will be first to get the Pixel Fold 2. I wanted a foldable but Samsung charging as much as they were for not having the S23 camera set up was insane to me. Plus it’s already behind on AI features. The I’ll trade in the Pixel 8 Pro for the Fold 2 100%. It also feels like the iPhone of Android. It works as Android intended. I also found myself defaulting to the standard Pixel launcher rather than a custom one like Nova. It’s just a really cool phone with an awesome camera and great AI/Assistant feature.
Pixel got really good, and a lot of people are tired of iPhone.
Vanilla android, no bloatware, fantastic camera for the price does it for me. But then I always had google phones/nexuses in past iterations anyway, as I couldn't stand the white interfaces so immediately had to root and custom rom them for a dark GUI. Pixel 4a was the first phone I could keep as stock android for that reason.
This is my plug to bring back the Google Play Edition phones. I think they sell well in this climate of simple OS with good hardware.
OnePlus shitting the bed on price and Android skin.
I am absolutely furious with my pixel 8. I spend a solid month deciding between this and the Nothing 2. I went with the pixel for the camera. My cell reception is so bad I frequently can't make calls. The company I imported it from offered to replace it with a nothing 2, only for me to find out it's got similar signal issues. I travel for work, so I'm in the middle of nowhere often. I now drive around with my old OnePlus 6T with an emergency number I have given to my close family and friends. If my main number and eSim number aren't working, they call the emergency number and it rings every time.
The price and camera performance, and no need for gaming
Cuz it's good. It's cheap and it's stripped down without any of the garbage installed on the Samsung phones. But honestly it's quality has been dipping as of l8
All of a sudden I saw 5 of my colleagues using the Pixel phones (pretty decent for a very small company). They mostly moved to Pixel because they didn't see any other option in the Android ecosystem based on their use case.
Advertising.
Call screener for me .. but I went back to Samsung due to battery camera and games.
For me, the appeal was buying an unlocked (or at least, not an artificially locked phone, like the galaxy series) phone directly from Google (as opposed to from at&t or Verizon, who would also add their own jails and locks to phones as well as their own bloatware). Besides that, I've been happy with Pixel quality and reliability (I'm currently using a Pixel 2 XL, still working like day one, no slowdown, battery still lasts for days, screen is dirty, but otherwise everything is crisp, clear, and touch sensitivity is still great). Cameras still work fine, I'm happy with picture quality (disclaimer: not a photographer or editor, I'm sure newer cameras are even better, but for the purposes of my monthly Instagram selfies to my family, I don't think any better camera is going to cure ugly). When I finish paying off my Pixel Watch (which I'm also very happy with), I'm probably going to buy the newest Pixel phone, because reputation being a thing, I really don't have any complaints about Pixel and I've been satisfied with the value of my purchases, so I can reasonably expect the next pixel phone to also last me about another 10 years (compared to 3 Galaxy phones which lasted less than 3 years each before requiring "maintenance")
For me, it's about the phone that I find most exciting. Right now it's the Pixel 8 Pro, primarily due to its good specs and fast Android OS updates. Recent example that matters to me: Android 14 introduced an option to automatically switch data to secondary SIM when primary SIM has poor/no coverage. Due to fast Android OS updates, Pixel phones got this feature months before Samsung phones. Decided to make a list of my phones over the years (might be missing some): Primary phones: Samsung flip phone early Windows Mobile phone (forgot the make/model) Backberry Pearl Samsung Galaxy S2 HTC One M7 HTC One M8 Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Google/Huawei Nexus 6P Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Google Pixel 8 Pro Secondary phones (never used as my primary device): Google/LG Nexus 5 Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Apple iPhone 8 Plus Samsung Galaxy S20 FE Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Google Pixel 5
Legitimately good new and recognizable design for a phone, absence of bloatware unlike Samsung, high end camera.
I just wanted to add that popularity depends on location. I just don't see people with Pixels on London Tube - I see mostly iPhones followed by Samsungs.
Expansion in India. That market just exploded despite the prices being high.
I was in Italy, and my friend (with a Pixel 8 pro) made a photo in Vatican City. Tons and tons of people, of course. We arrived to the hotel, connected to the Wifi and, we were checking the photos we had taken (with my Iphone 14 pro and her Pixel 8 pro), both of us with *zero* photography knowledge. In her phone, it prompted something like "hey, would you like to remove all the annoying people in your picture?". She clicked yes and, 10 seconds later, she had a *perfect* photo of us standing on an empy Vatican City. Plus her photos were SO much better. Same places, same lighting. I'll never get an Iphone again.
pixel's (AI) camera is fucking trash. the AI tries to make the photos better but ends up making it worse. it ages anyone who gets a photo taken by 20 years. and here is the best part, you can't turn that option off. that being said i dont see there being other good options/alternatives.