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.

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