Yes, I did it. I jumped ship with the iPhone and got an Android phone. It was a difficult decision, because I have had an iPhone basically since I got rid of my old Blackberry many moons ago. I was used to my iPhone. It was comfortable. I knew how to use it. But, to be honest, I was getting a little tired of the “Apple’s way or no way” mentality.
My old iPhone 6s was getting cranky. The battery would only charge to 85% and seemed to run down awfully quickly, even when it was just sitting around idle. I was charging it three times a day, sometimes more because it was getting down to 10 or 15% battery charge. That’s not ideal.
And the Pixel was a new shiny.
What do I think? Well, if you’d asked me that a few days ago, I would have probably said I hate it! But that was before I had the chance to really use it much. I spent the first day, maybe day and a half, getting apps that I needed to replace, and setting up everything all over again. You know, all that good stuff you have to do when you get a new phone, computer, tablet, etc.
I have to say I was quite impressed with the transfer process. My Pixel came with a cable and adapter so I could hook up both phones and transfer the stuff I needed to. Honestly, I thought it would be things like music, photos, basic stuff that would be the same for both phones. I was prepared to make a list of all my apps (yikes!) so I could go hunting for them (or replacements) after. But when I hooked up the two, the Pixel picked up most of the apps that were also available from Google and downloaded them for me. That was nice, and saved me some time. There were a few it didn’t catch, and a few that I needed to find replacements for. But most of them were there and waiting for me when the transfer ended. Nice!
It’s a bit bigger than the iPhone 6, but still fits my hand comfortably. I can use it without feeling like I’ve got a mammoth in my hand. I suspect I would not like one of those really big phones.
I am impressed with the screen. Colors seem much brighter and prettier. I’ve only taken a couple photos, but I know it’s got a better camera, and the ones I took are nice. One of the biggest buggers for me was the keyboard. It was hard to type on at first. The keys seem to require a different touch than my iPhone, so I was mistyping a LOT and it was frustrating me no end. But I am getting used to it, and have less trouble now.
I have my apps arranged in folders and screens pretty much the way they were on my iPhone. I know there are Android users out there who like that massive alphabetical list of apps, but I am INTJ and I like my things organized and filed in neat, little boxes!
I have not used Google Assistant much so I don’t know how it compare to Siri for usability, though I suspect it will be fine. I wish I could have my nice British voice, though. (Ok, Google, can you get on that for me?) The BaldMan has a Pixel, so I have been around his use of Assistant, and it seems fine for what I would use it for.
It seems to work nicely as a phone, too!
Overall, I think I will like it. Probably be tweaking this and that for a little bit yet, but it’s working out for me. So, yay, Pixel.
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