Google’s Pixel phones may not boast cutting-edge hardware or top the benchmark charts. But they uniquely blend software and hardware to offer an overall enjoyable Android experience. That’s why they appeal to users like me, year after year.
1I Get the Stock Android Experience
With a Pixel, you get pure, unadulterated Android—like how Google envisions it. That clean, uncluttered experience is free from the bloatware and clunky skins that other phone makers slap on top. Of course, these proprietary UI layers add quite a bit of additional functionality but take away the simplicity and elegance of stock Android.
I’m all for custom Android launchers because they help me customize the Home screen experience to suit my preferences, but that’s that. Past the Home screen, I prefer the clean operating system.
There’s something refreshing about a phone that just works—a smooth, responsive user experience, without any unnecessary bells and whistles. On top of that, additional exclusive features that Google bakes into Pixel devices—including on the photography side—are a welcome addition.
2Google Recorder Saves Transcription Costs
As a journalist, I often find myself needing to transcribe interviews and recordings. And it’s a pain! Google’s Recorder app, exclusive to Pixel phones, is an absolute lifesaver in this regard. It not only records audio with impressive clarity but also provides on-device, real-time transcriptions with remarkable accuracy.
Before Recorder, I relied on third-party transcription services, like Otter.ai, which served me well but was an expensive subscription. Now, I can record an interview, have it transcribed instantly, and even search for specific keywords within the transcript. Certain models even offer AI-powered summarization on top of it. This feature alone has saved me countless hours and dollars over the years.
On the older models, the transcription is powered by an earlier version of Gemini Nano, the mobile-specific version of the Google Gemini large language model—and hence, Recorder struggled to transcribe recordings longer than 15 minutes. The Pixel 9 series devices, though, use an advanced model dubbed Gemini Nano with multimodality, which allows it to generate transcripts and summaries of much longer recordings.
3Live Translate Is a Lifesaver While Traveling
Google’s Live Translate feature has become an indispensable tool for me while traveling. Of course, several other translation apps exist, but none offer the seamless experience of Live Translate on a Pixel. Also, while Live Translate technically works on many Android phones, it’s optimized with Pixel devices in mind.
Thanks to the Google Tensor chip on Pixel phones, Live Translate works without an internet connection, whereas most Android phones must translate through the cloud. On-device speech recognition and translation are considerably faster as well.
The beauty of Live Translate lies in its seamless integration with Pixel’s camera and microphone. It works across text, camera, videos, podcasts, phone calls, video calls, and audio messages. For instance, when you want to read Spanish text, you can just point your camera at it. And when you want to have a conversation with someone speaking a foreign language, just put your Pixel in Interpreter Mode, and voila!
4Quick Tap Is Quite Handy for Digital Payments
In a world increasingly dominated by contactless payments, the Quick Tap feature on my Google Pixel has become an essential part of my daily routine.
With Quick Tap, I can double-tap the back of my Pixel to quickly open the QR code scanner of my digital payments app to scan and pay (QR code-based payments are ubiquitous in India, instead of NFC-based payment systems). This seemingly simple feature lets me quickly and conveniently complete transactions without fumbling to fire the scanner in my payments app.
While I’ve set it up for digital payments, you can trigger various actions via Quick Tap, like taking a screenshot, turning the flashlight on or off, or playing or pausing media.
5The AI Innovations Are Great Party Tricks
In recent times, Pixel phones have showcased Google’s cutting-edge AI innovations. Through the years, one of the marquee highlights of Pixel devices has been its exceptional computational photography capabilities. Computational photography uses AI and machine learning to overcome the limitations of smartphone camera hardware and enhance photos.
Pixel phones are packed with clever AI features—from the Magic Eraser, which can remove unwanted objects from photos to Magic Editor, which automatically reframes your photo. With the Pixel 9 series, there’s also Pixel Studio for image generation and Pixel Screenshots to summarize and index all the screenshots on your phone.
While some of these AI-powered features might seem like gimmicks at first, they often prove surprisingly useful and work quite well once you get the hang of them. They also make for great conversation starters and party tricks!
6Long-Term Software Support
The recent Pixel phones, like the Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 series, come with seven years of Android and security updates. This kind of software support is matched only by Samsung. Even in the past, Google maintained a consistent record when it came to updates. Pixel phones get the newest Android version on day one, and security patches land each month like clockwork.
This means I can keep my phone for longer, knowing it will continue receiving the latest features and security patches. Apart from software and security updates for long-term reliability, Pixel phones get better over time with Pixel Feature Drops. Google rolls them out every quarter, making me feel like I’m getting more value from my phone.
Despite the occasional shortcomings, Pixel phones offer a unique combination of software and hardware. From its pure Android experience to its stellar camera capabilities and innovative AI features, Pixel phones check all the right boxes to stand out from the rest of the Android devices. While other phones may boast flashier specs or certain software novelties, Pixel phones offer a no-nonsense and reliable Android experience.
