It is generally accepted that the ideal smartphone on Android is the Google Pixel. Saying a clean and unspoiled third-party shells operating system, long-term support and full control from Google are doing their job. But the high price tag of the search giant's branded smartphones and limited territorial availability have made them devices for geeks who are ready to rush to any extremes. Still, Pixel needs not only to be ordered from abroad, but also to be prepared for a number of other restrictions. Therefore, I personally would choose something from Samsung for myself.
Today Pixel smartphones are more of a half measure, especially against the background of Samsung
Despite the fact that until recently Samsung was a very ossified company that produced rather expensive smartphones without the slightest hint of attractiveness, they continued to enjoy popularity largely due to the authority of the brand. Most of the buyers who chose Samsung devices for themselves did so because either they themselves used them in the past, or listened to the advice of those who already once owned the devices of the Korean company. But today everything has changed, and Samsung smartphones are, at least for my taste, more attractive than 'pixels'.
Why Samsung is better than Google Pixel
You don't have to buy a flagship Samsung to get all these benefits
- Samsung smartphones are sold everywhere. To get almost any device of this brand, you can simply go to the nearest shopping center or order it in one of the domestic online stores that deliver the equipment to your home. Unlike the Google Pixel, which has to be ordered from abroad and paid a 15% duty.
- Samsung smartphones are repaired everywhere. Unlike the Google Pixel, which you won't be able to take to an authorized Google service center simply because they are not available in Russia, Samsung is really accepted everywhere thanks to the brand's extensive network of repair shops scattered around the world.
- Samsung smartphones take longer to update. Oddly enough, but it was Samsung that announced that it plans to extend support for its smartphones from two to three years. That is, now the branded devices of the Korean brand belonging to the Galaxy S, A, Fold, Flip and Note lines will receive three new versions Android, while everyone else, including the 'pixels', will receive only two.
- Samsung smartphones update the fastest. At least when it comes to security updates that Samsung releases even before Google. Obviously, to stand out from the search giant, Koreans started releasing monthly patches for next month at the end of the previous one, which is pretty nice.
Unique Google Pixel Features
As for me, these advantages would already be enough to buy a Samsung smartphone and not a Google Pixel. But, as you know, Google, in order to distinguish its devices from competitors, provides them with unique functions as part of the Pixel Feature Drop initiative, which haunts many. But Samsung – no one knows exactly how – has agreed with Google to license some of the unique features of the Google Pixel, which it has already begun gradually introducing into the firmware of its own devices.
Live Caption – Auto captioning feature
The licensing of the 'pixel' innovations began with the Live Caption feature, which creates subtitles in real time when playing any content. Turn on a YouTube video, a Netflix movie, or a Spotify song, and the artificial intelligence will automatically recognize the speech, translate it into text format, and display it. Originally conceived as part of Universal Access, over time, this feature has become widely popular with Google Pixel owners as a replacement for the automatic subtitling mechanism on various video services.
It is not yet completely clear whether Samsung will implement all the innovations that Google Pixel receives as part of the Pixel Feature Drop initiative into the firmware of its smartphones. Still, you need to take into account that it was originally conceived as a practice of supplying Google branded devices with unique functions. But since Samsung has actively started to expand the capabilities and increase the attractiveness of its devices, it is possible that at least some of the 'pixel' functions will reach Korean devices.