14 DAY TRIAL // The time has come for my verdict. After three weeks with the Google Pixel 3 and without my iPhone XS, I can finally tell you that I’m unswitchable.
Let’s rewind a little bit to see what this is all about. Back in November, Google rolled out an ad called Unswitchable, basically claiming that iPhone users need just three weeks with a Pixel 3 to give up on their device and make the switch to Android.
So I decided to test Google’s claims on my own. I put my iPhone XS to airplane mode and started using a Google Pixel 3 full time, just to see how committed I can become to the Android ecosystem after only three weeks.
Android wasn’t a new world for me, as I also carry a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 with me as my second phone, but for this experience, I relied exclusively on the Google Pixel 3 to see how everything goes.
As I told you in my weekly updates, my time with the Google Pixel 3 wasn’t necessarily a struggle, but it wasn’t a flawless experience either.
The December update for some reason caused some buzzing in the lower speaker, and as I told you, I wasn’t the only one seeing this behavior. Furthermore, users online complained that they had the same crackling before the update, but the December release made everything a lot worse.
On the other hand, I simply fell in love with the camera. The Google Pixel 3 clearly has the best camera on a smartphone right now, and this is quite an achievement given that Google has to compete against manufacturers that have made the camera a priority, including here Apple and Samsung.
So after three weeks with the Google Pixel 3, I’m still unswitchable. Let me tell you my pros and cons:
The best camera on a phone – During my time with the Google Pixel 3, I found myself taking more photos with it than with my iPhone XS. I think this is because the camera just doesn’t stop to impress me. Shots in low-light conditions are stunning thanks to the Night Sight feature and I can only hope that other manufacturers would add similar features too.
Super-easy to hold in hand – The Google Pixel 3 is extremely easy to carry around thanks to its dimensions. For some reason, I find it less slippery than the iPhone XS, though, during my test, I used it in an official Google case just to make sure I wouldn’t damage it.
4GB RAM isn’t enough – Google using just 4GB of RAM on the Google Pixel 3 is shocking, to say the least. Most phone makers in the Android ecosystem are already getting ready to launch 10GB RAM phones, and Google, which should be the pioneer of Android devices, sticks with 4GB RAM. This shows that Google was focused more on software than on hardware, and this eventually compromises the entire experience.
Google is not interested in hardware – And if you still needed a confirmation that the hardware is Pixel 3’s weak point, the buzzing speakers that I told you about earlier is pretty much it. This isn’t the first time when Google ships phones with hardware issues, and despite efforts to address them with software improvements, the experience is far from flawless.
Battery life is good – One of my concerns was that battery life may not meet my expectations, but as I discovered, the Pixel 3 can get me through the day even with medium to hardcore usage.
RAW Android isn’t for me – Google Pixel 3 features with the pure Android experience developed by Google, so you won’t be getting the additional user-friendly touches from companies like Samsung. However, I just had to install Microsoft Launcher plus a series of other apps to be able to do my daily routine with the Pixel 3.
The Android ecosystem isn’t as refined as Apple’s – This doesn’t have much to do with the Pixel 3 itself, but with Android overall, but I still think that the experience with iPhone is overall much more refined thanks to the little details in iOS. Apps don’t look the same, animations are much more fluid on iPhone, and the overall feeling you get on an iPhone is that it’s a more premium device.
So that’s pretty much all. Google Pixel 3 is an excellent device, maybe the best in the Android ecosystem, but I still don’t think it can replace an iPhone. At least, not for everyone who spends three weeks with it.