The Best Android Phone Ever...

Oh, so maybe you thought just because I love Apple and their products I would never talk well about the competition? Well, think again because Google made their first smartphone and just proved Alan Kay right when he said: "People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware" How it went? well...

There's a divided opinion out there: Wired called it "an iPhone running Android is exactly what I've been waiting for", others like Gizmodo said "The Google Pixel Is Too Dumb and Ugly to Replace Your iPhone". So, where am I on the hate scale towards this first Google Smartphone? I think it is the best android phone out there, by quite a wide gap. I have tried out a good enough range of android phones and wanted to know what the Google approach would be like. I don't hate Android phones, but always thought that the software-hardware experience was blatantly negative in most cases. Huawei and XiaoMi were the best I had tried out so far... But wow! This HTC-Google collaboration is a great lesson to all other android phones out there.

Let's start with the bad stuff and end on a high note. I have ONE mayor issue with this all round great phone: Design. I would not care as much that the phone looks like an iPhone if they used the design choice for something... The phone's chin is for nothing... there's not one useful reason to have it, the finger print scanner is on the back, there is no physical home button... Oh! and let's talk about the home and back buttons: they're dead screen space as software buttons... A space that is lost on top of the chin... What in heavens name?! It might look light an iPhone but the fact that the form factor plays into nothing, makes their design choice elevate Apple for using the hardware in a much smarter way. At least the XiaoMI5 has a home button and makes use of that space. I am not against the finger print sensor on the back but I believe if you are going to use that, then the chin should be used for something else or significantly reduced in size. And just when you thought Apple was late to the waterproof party, well this phone is still not waterproof.

Now for the high note: I want to applaud Google's bravery for finally showing the rest of the android industry how a phone should work with their software. Yeah, Samsung literally "blew up" and with it one of the biggest android flagships, so there was no better timing for this phone to come into the market. They actually benefited from the Samsung huge error, as people wanted something new but familiar (not iPhone sadly), so the very company that makes their software came as an almost obvious option. An amazing battery life, great camera, fingerprint sensor and fast charging are just some of the reasons why this phone is a no brainer for android lovers but here's what I (an iOS junky) truly appreciate: you can FEEL the difference between an all-round Google made phone and a whatever company made hardware and Google made software. It is much faster and well thought out experience. The camera, the battery and the "ok google" assistant, could not be a better combination with the hardware and for their first shot at hardware I think the Pixel is a triumph into the market for Google.

All in all, the Google Pixel is a result of Google moving in the right direction at the right time and with the right ideas behind their product. It is, in my opinion, the best android phone out there and from here on should just learn to find its ideal form factor, as I believe this is not it.

"design isn't just the way something looks, it's the way something works"