Poised, Powerful, … Pixel? (Premium)

There’s often a curious disconnect between my understanding of Google and the way it presents itself to the public. And so it is with Pixel: I’ve owned almost every Pixel handset model ever made, and I have certainly had my share of issues with many of them. And yet the Pixel portion of this past week’s Google I/O keynote had an almost triumphant air to it, with Google showing a future in which Pixel not just co-exists but excels. Is this really happening?

OK, we can’t really answer that question until the Pixel-branded products that Google just announced appear in the real world. And that won’t even start until July or August, and some of the devices it announced, like the Pixel Tablet, won’t ship until next year. But it’s still worth discussing how Pixel has matured, I think, and whether the expanded product lineup—and the growing ecosystem of products and services that complement them—can be successful.

Taking a step back, we should first consider that ecosystem. I think about—and write about—ecosystems a lot because, well, ecosystems matter. For example, back when Nokia had joined the Windows Phone platform, and ahead of its bailout by Microsoft, I was as impressed by the ecosystem of hardware accessories, unique apps, and services that Nokia brought to the table as I was by the phones themselves. Today, you can see a similar approach at Apple, with the iPhone and other products, at Samsung, with its Galaxy family of products, and elsewhere.

Google has, to date, been slower to pad out the Pixel ecosystem, such as it is. But the situation has improved in recent years, with Google moving beyond handsets with Pixel-branded laptops and tablets and earbuds, complimentary services like Google Fi, Google One, and the various Pixel Pass subscriptions, and its Nest-branded smart home products. And this ecosystem is about to take another leap forward based on what Google announced at I/O 2022, including hardware products like the affordable Pixel 6a and the ANC-capable Pixel Buds Pro, advances in its Nest smart home products, and Google’s many services, like YouTube, Translate, Maps, Workspace/Meet and much more, and improvements to Android like the new wallet and driver’s license capabilities.

Put another way, Google is today offering a fairly complete ecosystem that can compete, on paper, with what Apple and Samsung offer their customers. And that ecosystem is expanding, and improving, based on the recent announcements. It looks good to me.

How you react to that assessment, or the Google I/O 2022 announcements specifically, will depend on your perspective. I found the I/O keynote to be very interesting and almost exciting, but others came away unimpressed by some of the vaguer promises—to be fair, Google did curiously highlight some products that won’t ship anytime soon—and influenced by the memory of past broken promises.

I’m not naïve, and my own issues with various Pixel products are well documented. But my position hasn’t changed: I really like the idea of Pixel, and I mean that broadly to include the ecosystem I discuss above. But I’ve also been burned badly by some Pixel purchases, most recently with the Pixel 6 Pro, which for my wants and needs still falls short of the quality of the experience that I get with the iPhone.

But it’s so close. And the question arises, at least in my mind, whether the updates and improvements that Google is now promising could do enough to put Pixel over the top again. That I’m even considering that is interesting, as I know many of you have given up already or are ready to do so. But again, the idea is solid. If Google would simply deliver products that were as good as the marketing, I’d be happy to slip into a deep Pixel coma and never worry about rival mobile platforms—and ecosystems—again.

Also, I still have at least one foot in the Google ecosystem despite my recent iPhone conversion. I use and prefer YouTube Music, for example, and will always pay for YouTube to skip the ads. I use Google Fi and enjoy its international access and transparent pricing. We’re using a Google wireless mesh network for Internet access at home, and it works well. I prefer the Google Nest/Home ecosystem for smart home products, though our usage, for now, is pretty much limited to a Google-powered smart display (and we use Sonos, which is pretty much platform agnostic, for whole-house audio). We use Google Workspace for our work-related domains like Thurrott.com, and I actually do prefer Gmail to Outlook.

To be clear, the Pixel 6a doesn’t solve enough of my device-specific issues for me to bother: I’d get a Pixel 6 now if that were the case. And the Pixel 7 Pro, from what I can tell, won’t either: based on the pre-release imagery that Google provided, this coming handset has a curved display just like the Pixel 6 Pro, and I consider that a negative. It’s also too big. (What I’d really like, I guess, is something closer in size to the Pixel 6 or 6a, but with a flat display and the complete Pro camera setup.)

In short, I guess I’m taking a wait-and-see position. I’ll be paying close attention to the coming Pixel 6a, Android 13, and Pixel 7 family releases, of course. There will be as-yet-unknown updates to Google’s Nest hardware and various services. And probably other surprises. I haven’t checked out yet. I’m still interested. But I need to be convinced.