Ask Paul: August 12 (Premium)

Happy Friday from Roma Norte in Mexico City! Here’s a bonanza installment of Ask Paul to kick off the weekend a bit early.

Also, I couldn't decide which photo to use, so I added a few extra from this trip below. Except for the last one of the super moon, which was taken with my wife's Samsung Galaxy Note 22 Ultra, all were taken with the Pixel 6a.
iPhone vs. Pixel
yoshi asks:

Has being back on a Pixel reminded you of why you switched to iPhone? Or has being back on a Pixel made you realize how much you like it compared to iPhone?

It’s fascinating how often someone will ask me a question that makes me think they’re reading my mind. I’ve not just been thinking about this whole “iPhone vs. Pixel” thing constantly since I switched to the Pixel 6a, but I’ve been thinking about writing it up. The trouble is that it’s kind of complicated and not as simple as one thing just being better than the other.

I may still explore this in more detail, but for now, I’ll just say that using the Pixel 6a has been a healthy reminder of what Google gets right (and, I guess, what Apple gets wrong) … and vice versa. There are things about the Pixel I love, and I wish worked that way on the iPhone. And there are, of course, some things I miss from the iPhone.

I’ll probably publish my Pixel 6a review Sunday or Monday, but one of the most striking things about this handset is how familiar it is, thanks to my previous experience with the Pixel 6 Pro. The biggest differences, of course, are its size and the camera system, though the latter isn’t as dramatic as many might think, the key day-to-day differentiator being the lack of a telephoto lens in the Pixel 6a.

Regarding the size, the Pixel 6a is about the same size as the iPhone 13 Pro I’ve been using, and while my eyes might appreciate a bigger display, this size seems near ideal for carrying it around and so forth. We’re in Mexico City this week, so walking around, taking photos, checking email and social media, and reading feeds, and so on is roughly the same experience I guess.

The Pixel (and, really, Android) handle notifications much better than does the iPhone. In fact, it’s embarrassing. You can swipe away email and other notifications on the iPhone, but they don’t impact the underlying notification. On the Pixel, I can archive emails right from the notification, and I can even do so by long-pressing on the app icon and then accessing its pop-up. This system is dramatically better than what Apple does.

The Pixel also handles spam calls and texts in ways that are so elegant they deserve an article of their own. Where the iPhone is laughably bad, the Pixel offers the type of hand-holding and curated experience for which Apple is famous. And when a call does get through, the Pixel can actually screen the call, which prevents it from clogging up voice mail (usually with a 3 second silent message) and messages (because Google Fi voice mails are transcribed...