Ditch Nexus for iPhone X?

After a week of Rohit playing with his brand new iPhone X, I asked him about his impressions. He said...

Switching between apps is a bit weird…. is not as quick as double tap on home… will take some time to get used to… but everything else is top notch.

No surprises there.

After a pause he continued…

The overall smoothness is amazing.. it’s too good. You should also move to iPhone and dump Android

I had an impulsive instinct to say yes. The iPhone X is beautiful; I’m not a fan of the notch, but even then. Then I started thinking… what will I miss if I switch? I’ve been using Google phones all these years (right from Nexus One to Nexus 5x now) and there are things I’ve gotten used to doing the Pure Android way, that I now take them for granted. I wasn't sure if it was worth trading them off for a beautiful device.

1. Notifications — I have said this always and everywhere, notifications on Android is work way better than on iOS. The glanceable notification icons, bundling, actions etc. And foremost, I can quickly swipe to dismiss them and tap to open. On iOS I may mostly miss notifications and also will have to unlearn to swipe right to open (!) and swipe left & tap multiple times to dismiss.
2. Ambient Google Assistant feed and Search — Things I need to know will come to me without me having to look for it. Also Google search is always there for me, even inside apps.
3. Setting default apps without any fuss.
4. Multi tasking quickly without having to do gestures. Double tap for swapping apps is my favorite. This is something that has improved a lot in Android over the years.
5. Installing apps from Google Play web. It’s so convenient. Also the whole app update process. It happens automatically. Android apps download just the diff for updates, not the entire app. So it’s faster.
6. Back button — I’m not very sure about this one but I think I will miss it. I think it’s very convenient.
7. Overall I like the design of Android over iOS. It’s more practical compared to iOS, which according to me is now mostly designed to fit the design of the device. Again it’s something that has changed over the years.

I have nothing against iPhone. I use one at work. It’s nothing short of an engineering marvel. Also I think Android improved because of the benchmarks set by iPhone. It’s just that I’m so used to Android that I don’t want to move. It will be too much of an unlearning for me. By the way, even iPhone users haven’t found the transition to iPhone X 100% smooth. Not even Rohit.

Finally, last week I got a Pixel 2.

It’s not the most good looking phone. It’s not bezel-less. Because its design chooses function over form; the front facing speakers to start with. This excerpt from the Verge review sums it up pretty much for me.

Google coated all that aluminum with a textured finish that hides most of the antenna lines and also makes the phones easier to grip. Google took what could have been a visually impressive design and covered it up in the name of ergonomics. It literally made a metal phone feel like a plastic one. It chose function over form.

At nearly every turn, with both the hardware and the software, Google made that design decision again and again. There have been a few times when I wish the company had risked a little more razzamatazz, but mostly I’ve been appreciating the focus on improving the basics.

“It’s not just what it looks like and feels like,” Steve Jobs once said, “design is how it works.”

The Pixel 2 works really well.

… and I’m happy :-)