Back to the iPhone? (Premium)

For the past five weeks, I’ve used the Pixel 7 Pro exclusively, but now that my review is done, it’s decision time: do I stick with the Pixel, or go back to the iPhone?

There’s no reason to be coy: for now, I go back to the iPhone 13 Pro I switched to one year ago. That way, I can once again see how these two platforms stack up with fresh eyes.

But then we’ll see what happens, though as I noted in the comments to my Pixel 7 Pro review, my decision to get an Apple Watch Series 8 skews things a bit in the iPhone’s favor. That said, I didn’t have any issues using the Watch each day over the past five weeks: all my gym workouts and outdoor walks (with GPS-based maps) were recorded correctly, as were my sleep and other metrics. And because the iPhone was home, the two devices could sync up over Wi-Fi each day. (That said, should I ultimately choose to stick with Pixel, I would have to sell this thing and go back to Fitbit or maybe get a Pixel Watch.)

I switched to T-Mobile three or four months ago, and I went the eSIM route so that I could easily add and remove physical SIM cards in Mexico. This would normally make it easier than ever to move my wireless plan between phones since I could store an eSIM in each. But T-Mobile recently instituted a temporary security measure that requires customers with eSIMs to call them on the phone to make the swap, so that process is more tedious in the short term. I had gone through this process when I moved to the Pixel 7 Pro back in November, and I went through it again this past Tuesday when I switched back. It went smoothly each time, at least.

Moving back to the iPhone, I was once again struck by the fact that, in many ways, these two phones couldn’t be more different. Physically, the iPhone is a bit smaller than I’d like with its 6.1-inch display, while the Pixel 7 Pro is a bit too big and bulky with its 6.7-inch display; I feel like the 6.3-inch Pixel 7 (non-Pro) might be that perfect “Goldilocks” size, though to be fair, I’ve never actually used one. But it’s worth mentioning that the iPhone is also dense and heavy for its size. In fact, because it’s so much smaller than the Pixel, it almost feels heavier. I got used to this before, I’m sure I will again.

Other than the specific issues noted below, I’m not sure whether I prefer Android over iOS or vice versa. They both work reasonably well, each has some issues, and each has some advantages. Basically, I can live with either.

That said, I was quickly reminded of how bad the text-to-type experience is on iPhone compared to Pixel and, related to that, the autocorrect. This is a big advantage for Pixel.

I also very much prefer how Android handles notifications. I’ve written about this in the past—I mention it in my iPhone 13 Pro review, for example—but Google gets this right and Apple needs to rethink things. Notifications aren’t just broken in iOS, they don’t work at all.

Spam protection is another Google strength, and I will miss the Pixel’s Call Screening functionality. But having moved to T-Mobile, I did at least get reasonably good call and text spam protection on my iPhone from my carrier previous to the switch. They do seem to do a good job. (In one of life’s perfect moments, I received a spam text message just after writing that. I remain God’s practical joke.)

I prefer the Pixel 7 Pro’s camera system to that of the iPhone, but it’s close aside from the telephoto lens and zoom. And while the iPhone takes bland photos by default, you can use the Camera app’s Photographic Styles feature to get something close to Pixel image quality.

One of the biggest advantages to the iPhone, and something I did miss while using the Pixel, was AirPlay 2, which lets me stream audio content to any of my Sonos speakers from any app. I very much prefer this to using the Sonos app, which is lackluster, though at least one app I use regularly, Audible, does support this kind of thing on Android too. With the iPhone and AirPlay 2, however, everything just works. It’s nice. (Also, Sonos doesn’t always sync the play position for podcast and audiobook content. I very much prefer using the actual apps.)

There are some other niceties to iOS. Consider home screen folders and the respective “all apps” experience on each platform (All apps on Android and App Library on iOS). You open a folder (or the all apps experience) and open an app. Then you swipe to go back. On iOS, you always go back to where you were: that open folder or wherever you were in App Library. On Android, you go back to the home screen, so you lose whatever place you were in previously.

I hope it’s obvious why that is a big deal from a usability perspective, but consider something I do all the time: I open my Listen folder to see whether there is a new podcast episode I may want to listen to in Pocket Casts. If there isn’t, I go back to open Audible and listen to an audiobook. On the iPhone, this is seamless. On Android, I have to reopen the Listen folder and then launch Audible. It’s an extra step, but it’s also annoying. (And something Google should fix, frankly.)

Well, that’s my first 24 hours of observations. Not much, I know. But I’m curious to see whether the little annoyances on the iPhone outweigh the benefits. I suspect it will be pretty close: I would be pretty happy using either phone. Indeed, I wish it were more clear-cut.