2 week Follow up - Back on Team Pixel after years with Apple

About 2 weeks back I wrote a post outlining the differences I've had and how it's been switching back to Pixel and Google services after years with Apple. I've been in the weeds a bit longer now and have some more thoughts! Home - Google Home seems to have some frustrating limitations. Even though Apple Homekit appears more locked down, integrating Home Assistant with it is a breeze and makes it super simple to bridge in devices that aren't supported. For example my GE Air-conditioners are Wifi connected and while natively support being connected to Google Home. The support I get through Home Assistant -> HomeKit is better and less bug prone than how they've been behaving in Google Home. Additionally Google Home requiring a PIN to open my garage door is wildly more inconvenient that the dynamic button that appears on CarPlay. A very jarring change. CarPlay & Android Auto - Android Auto still feels significantly jankier than CarPlay. The inability to keep my audio going to my buds while in the car is annoying. Sometimes the audio profile will change for a Gemini prompt, but not change back for music. No Home support (see above). Weird omission I noticed developing an audiobook player (It's called Volume. It'll be on Google Play soon) is that there's no "Now Playing" app to do general controls from Android Auto. If an App doesn't support Android Auto itself, you get no playback controls. This isn't true for CarPlay. Health - I'm one of the 4 people who is actually loving the new Google Health. The AI tools in it make me feel like my fitness data is actually actionable compared to what I was able to use Apple Fitness for. Sure I can collect lots of Data with Apple Fitness, but it Google Health can provide me actual actionable points which has been very beneficial. (However I don't like that I can't continue from one tracked exercise to another on Pixel watch, Apple lets you go from say a run, straight into Strength Training. Google requires you to stop one and then start the next. A minor UX issue. Oh and I've found the Pixel watch so much more comfortable to sleep with than any Apple Watch. Not being able to connect Pixel watch to equipment the way Apple and Galaxy watches can is disappointing, but not a deal breaker. Tasks & Reminders - It is absolutely insane that you can't set reminders based on location anymore on Google services. I only used it sparingly on iOS, mainly (remind me when Im home) because the mapping services were never as good as Google, but Google has gone and ripped the functionality out completely?? Why!? Weird issues - I train at Anytime Fitness and use my phone as my access pass. Never had any issues with it on my iPhone, but the Pixel has, a number of times, failed to scan me through the door on the first, second or 3rd attempt. And this isn't even getting into how the pass can roam to the Apple Watch but not the Pixel watch. Another weird one is how the wireless chargers on the gym's treadmills seem to HATE the Pixel 10 Pro and constantly cut out. Automations - The lack of any (good) Shortcuts alternative is a bit surprising on the Pixel, yes I know Tasker exists but it just feels so jank. The lack of options for setting up modes is also weird. No option to trigger them based on anything except calendar events and schedules is just such a strange limitation. ScreenTime - The Android Screen time tools are significantly better than those on iOS. The way it is more unforgiving, making you remove a limit rather than letting you snooze it, is much better for self control. I also REALLY like that it shows an apps remaining time on the app switcher, this information is really useful when trying to cut down on certain apps. Screenshots & Editing - It's really weird that Android doesn't have a native 'copy to clipboard' option for images and I think the editing tools on iOS and Android are way too limited. The iOS ones have way more options though, the Pixel doesn't even let you put shapes over images. Docs - I'm in my 30s so didn't use Google services during my schooling but I am surprised at how much I like Docs. Document tabs? Great idea, love it! Photos - I find both shockingly bad at Photo Management and absolutely DO NOT use the Data Takeaway tool to transfer from Apple Photos to Google Photos because it will name all your copied albums as "Copy of..." and Google Photos has no support for bulk changes or macro-ing. It's a nightmare. While I do like how Google Photos will automatically section off photos based on a context, what I want is to be able to automatically generate albums based on that; who knows if that'll happen. How has your experience between the two platforms been? submitted by /u/bara_tone [link] [comments]