The Perfect Phone (Premium)

I belatedly switched back to my Google Pixel 9 Pro XL this past weekend, after hemming and hawing for over a month. The reasons I delayed doing so are many, but the result was painfully and immediately familiar, an unwelcome reminder of an age-old problem that echoes across the other personal technology products and services I rely on.

There is no perfect phone.

If there was, I’d just use that. It’s that simple. I can rationalize my switching between iPhone and Android as a requirement of my job, which is as much a lifestyle as it is a career. And there’s some truth to that. But I know many people who do what I do, and most of them seem content to stick with one or the other platform, barely giving any thought to ever switching. Or, more commonly, never thinking about it at all. They’ve made their choice and they’re done.

That sounds nice. But rationalizing further, my inability to land on a single phone platform and make it stick is both good and bad. I can be viewed through an emotional lens, and there’s a bit of that. But this is more logical than anything, because you have to consider the broader ecosystems to which each device belongs. I made the point recently that our smartphones are no longer at the center of anything from a decision-making perspective, because the most important factor that goes into this isn’t any one thing, it’s the whole thing, if that makes sense. It’s like getting married. You’re not just getting a spouse, you’re getting all the baggage that goes along with that person, from their families and friends to their life experiences. It’s a package deal, not a one-off.

It’s complicated, and, for me, this switch is always accompanied by a nearly immediate sense of regret. You gain some things, as each platform is better at certain things than the other. But you also lose some things, for the same reason. How the pros and cons stack up varies by person, of course. But for me, it’s always a toss-up, a gray area in which the flowchart doesn’t land at an obvious outcome.

There’s little point in trying to list all the issues. Plus, some come up over time, and others are just minor problems that seem to become bigger problems over time. But a few obvious examples should suffice. Starting with what is absolutely a “me” problem.

? And, yes, it is a “me” problem

I’m in Mexico. I’ve been in Mexico for three months now, and I’ve got less than three weeks to go. I use Google Fi, and I’ve not heard a peep from Google about me being outside the country for so long. I’ve heard worrying stories from others who have been warned about this, including a friend who was here in Mexico City for a few months recently.

I have a theory about why my extended stay hasn’t triggered any alarm bells at Fi, and it has to do with cell networks: Fi uses a network called Movistar in Mexico City, and in my neighborhood, at least, Movistar is garbage. I suffered with it for a few weeks, but I’ve been using Airalo eSIMs since then for data; it’s more expensive than Nomad, but Airalo connects to the Telcel cellular network here. And in my neighborhood, at least, Telcel is the best. So I’ve not used Fi for data all that much. Maybe that’s worked to my advantage.

Maybe.

I’ve switched between phones in Mexico and elsewhere while using Fi, and I’ve never had any major issues. But I was worried about poking the bear. What would it be like if I tried to activate Fi on my Pixel, it deactivated on my iPhone, and then it never completed? What if I couldn’t go back? What if I lost my phone number–and thus phone calls, text messages, WhatsApp (a stupid, stupid app when it comes to this kind of thing), and whatever security-related checks go through that number? Could I call or otherwise contact Google Fi support and clear this up?

It was worrisome. But as the days turned into weeks and then more weeks, I finally decided to go for it. So, Saturday morning, I activated Fi on the Pixel. Or, I tried to. The service disconnected on the iPhone, ostensibly a good sign, but when I looked at the Fi app, it told me that things were taking longer than expected. And then it just failed, though calls and texts worked. I figured it was the cellular network: As noted, Movistar is terrible here. And when my wife texted me to tell me she was coming home from whatever she had been doing–I got the text, a good sign–I replied with a different idea: I would meet her at the local tamale place for brunch, and then I could test the phone out in the world where maybe the signal would be stronger than in this concrete bunker we call an apartment.

I headed over the restaurant, rebooting my phone in the hope that that would do it. But it didn’t. We met, we ate, we ran an errand, and the error message persisted. I couldn’t connect to anything online, though texting and phone calls worked. I figured worse case, I could just enable the data eSIM from Airalo, but I kind of wanted this to work. So I waited on that. And when we got back the apartment and our Wi-Fi network, I rebooted again. And kept checking the Fi app.

Long story short, it sort of works now. I did enable the Airalo e-SIM for data. The error message in Fi went away. I can connect to data, poorly, using Fi/Movistar, which I test by disabling other connections. But this dual-eSIM setup doesn’t work as reliably now as it did on the iPhone. I’ve tried automatic data switching on and off, and I’ve seen it switch and then work poorly on Fi/Movistar. I can’t toggle “Roaming” on as I could on the iPhone (and as I did with the Airalo eSIM), no idea why. (I don’t think it impacts the performance/reliability so I guess it’s just on.) But twice now, I’ve been in places where I previously had no issues, and I had connectivity problems. No bueno. But I have no idea what if anything I can do to fix this. Ah well.

Related to this, there are standard issues I always have switching between the iPhone and Android. I always follow Apple’s instructions to the letter–you have to disable iMessage and FaceTime, basically–and it never works right. I miss text messages, especially from iPhone-using contacts like my kids. Group texts are all screwed up, and as impossible as this sounds, others in group texts won’t get certain messages. These issues are maddening, and Apple’s fault. And they always happen.

To help with this, I disabled iMessage and FaceTime weeks earlier. The iPhone kept bugging me to turn them back on, and iCloud too, for some reason, perhaps tied to some data switching from time to time. No idea. But so far, I haven’t noticed any issues. Which means that I perhaps “solved” this problem. Or that I’m simply missing text messages and haven’t found out about it yet. The latter seems more likely.

? With us: Photography

If I had to pick just one major thing that is always better on the Pixel, is so much better that it’s actually a relief to start using this phone again, it’s photography. Don’t get me wrong, I get some great shots on the iPhone, and if you follow me on Instagram you may see that from time-to-time. But the Pixel is effortless and almost always perfect, where the iPhone … is not. It requires some work, some finessing. Not always, of course. Sometimes, the iPhone delivers the seamless point-and-click experience I want. But sometimes it doesn’t. And if there is anything worse when it comes to personal technology than something not working, it’s something that only works sometimes.

I had an interesting preview of this a few weeks back. We went to a Shakira concert here in Mexico City–she sold out a 65,000 seat stadium here for 7 nights in a row, if you can believe that–and I knew my iPhone wouldn’t be up to the task. We were in the cheap sets, literally the third row from the top of the stadium, on the side and towards the stage. So decent zoom was a requirement. (My wife’s Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, with its superior zoom capabilities, would be even better.)

Naturally, I was going to just switch Fi over to the Pixel before the concert. But I didn’t, and by the time the day arrived, I figured I would just bring both phones and use the Pixel during the show. Which is what I did. The pictures and videos seemed to come out really well as I was taking them and posting to Instagram. But it’s always difficult to know for sure until you can view them on a bigger display. So I took a bunch, posted a lot, and figured I could judge the quality better the next morning on my PC.

As it turns out, I didn’t have to wait for that. That morning, I bumped into a neighbor and friend in the building whose American and also has an iPhone. And he immediately asked me what camera I’d used for the concert photos and videos he saw me posting on Instagram. They were obviously not taken with an iPhone, and he was curious how I had done it. So I explained what I had done and was curious that someone else had noticed this. The photos and videos are fine, they’re not dedicated camera quality or whatever, but they would have been impossible with an iPhone, for sure.

Since the full-time switchover to the Pixel this past weekend, we’ve been out to restaurants and bars several times, and I’ve been taking pictures as usual. Except that it’s been better than usual, in the sense that the photos are always terrific and require no real work on my part. On several occasions, I’ve looked at photos I’ve just taken and have turned the phone to my wife because they just seem particularly good. I will no doubt just get used to this. That’s what happens when you use a Pixel for photos. I missed it.

? Against us: Battery life

Google giveth … and Google taketh away. Where the Pixel excels at photography, it lags the iPhone noticeably in three related areas: Performance, heat, and battery life. And while on the latter is problematic in a real-world sense, all three are related because all three are tied to Google’s decision to use its home-designed Tensor processors in the previous several generations of Pixel phones.

This is a terrible processor.

That Google is now on the 4th generation version with no relief in sight is problematic. That Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon processors have only gotten better during this time, further widening the gap, is even more problematic.

But it’s even worse than you think. If you go back to the original Tensor processor, announced in 2021, and re-read what Google said about it at the time, you realize that this chipset has never delivered on its promises or goals. Google allegedly made the Tensor processor so that it could enable new AI experiences that wouldn’t be as optimized using standard Qualcomm processors, but Snapdragon AI performance–just like general performance–has always been better than that of Tensor. And its efficiency is much worse, resulting in horrible battery life and more heat issues compared to other flagships phones (like my iPhone 16 Pro Max and my wife’s Samsung, both of which are notably superior).

These two things go hand-in-hand. Google–like Samsung, which is using superior Snapdragon processors–is trying to do on-device AI when and where it makes sense. But just taking photos heats up the phone. Being out in the world heats up the phone. Things slow down: When I preview a photo I just took I have to wait 1-2-3 seconds and … there it is, the AI finally got around to optimizing the shot. You can see it improve as you look at it.

To be clear, this isn’t theoretical. It’s immediately noticeable. And while I’m in Mexico, this is problematic because we’re out in the world every day, taking pictures and doing things, and I can’t trust the Pixel to last for the duration. I would take a portable battery if we were going to be out all day, regardless. But with Pixel, I find myself babysitting battery life by keeping it on the charger when we’re home. I never thought about this with the iPhone. And when we were out on Saturday for about 7 hours because of back-to-back events, both with numerous photos, the Pixel barely made it. (I had forgotten the charger.)

This would not have been an issue with the iPhone. But at least the photos were terrific.

? It’s always the little things

Modern smartphones are more alike than they’re different. But there are little pros and cons on each side of this platform debate, or on all three sides, if you consider Samsung a third and separate option in some ways, as I do.

There are certain apps/services I can only get on the Apple side, but most of those are available on the iPad I still use, so that’s not so horrible. For example, Apple News+ is surprisingly good, and I use a news feed app called Feeeed that’s not on Android. Apple TV just came to Android, which is nice, but you can’t access your own content, just Apple TV+ shows.

On the other hand, the Pixel virtual keyboard and voice typing are both better than the nonsense Apple has. Siri is a sad joke, the less said about that the better. Home screen management is similar on both, but Pixel is better overall, and more consistent. And I very much prefer the Google Discovery feed to the left of Home than what Apple offers (basically widgets).

There are little things with app/screen scaling, some better on Pixel, some better on iPhone, and it’s weird that some Google apps–like Maps–are actually “better” (in this case, meaning “more readable”) than is the case on Google’s own phone. Another little thing: You can swipe up/down from the middle of the Home screen on Android to access the notification shade/all apps (respectively), which I love, you don’t have to be right at the edge of the display as on the iPhone.

Apple comes out ahead in some ways too. Widgets are more elegant on the iPhone, prettier and more usable. And oddly, getting the Home wallpaper to cycle between good photos of mine is easier on iPhone than on Pixel, something I would have otherwise assumed was a Google strength.

You know the drill. It’s a lot of little things.

The Apple ecosystem stuff is obvious enough, too, but in my case, I have an Apple TV and two HomePod minis here in Mexico, and using the phone to type in long searches on YouTube or whatever on the TV is nice. AirPlay is terrific, though that’s more of an issue at home, where I have Sonos equipment, than it is here.

I’d been using my Apple Watch with the iPhone, but I naturally switched back to the Pixel Watch 3 when I switched phones. Both are fine from usability and functional perspectives, and both provide dismal one-day battery life. But I very much prefer the Apple Watch. I like that its display can be fully in color, where the Pixel Watch faces all use black backgrounds with only spot color, no doubt to aid battery life. (OLED displays don’t need power to “display” black, which is really the absence of lit pixels.) And I hate Fitbit. The first night I slept with the Pixel Watch, I felt like I did pretty good given my issues, and I would have gotten a nice rating from Apple Health. But when I checked the Fitbit app, I struggled to find my sleep score before remembering why: Fitbit is so terrible at this, I hid the display (you can’t disable sleep tracking, which is bizarre). And when I found it, I was reminded why: Fitbit rated my sleep a 79, or “fair.” Screw you, Fitbit.

Some of the Pixel-exclusive features are jaw-droppingly good, though, and much better than what Apple offers (or ignores). The spam detection and interception stuff for phone calls and text messages is an obvious example. It’s amazing on Pixel and nearly non-existent on the Apple side, a true embarrassment.

? To dream the impossible dream

This all leads me to wonder. What would constitute the perfect phone?

To me, the respective OSes–Android and iOS–are almost a wash. But the Pixel-specific “helpful” features put the Google offering over the top to me. So the Pixel software, yes.

Pixel wins on the camera, too. It’s no contest. But this is an area where Samsung’s hardware is actually superior. So what I’m really looking for is Samsung’s camera hardware with Pixel’s software and AI smarts.

Which raises a related issue. Samsung also wins on hardware overall. So now we’re talking about a Samsung flagship phone but running Pixel Android. That’s the best of both worlds: A Samsung phone without any of the Samsung nonsense and all the Pixel goodness. Yes.

But how about the best of all three worlds scenario? Access to the Apple ecosystem would put this over the top, though I know such a thing is impossible. Still, access to all the Apple One apps and software, and to features like AirPlay would be amazing. Not to mention just the standard Apple fit and finish, which seems to be slightly behind on Google.

But I’m dreaming.

Today, choosing a phone is apex uncertainty for me. And I suspect that will be true for a long time to come. As always, I am vaguely jealous of anyone who is certain of whatever choice they’ve made, who never second guesses everything, as I do. But perhaps never more so than with phones.

Someday. Maybe.