Mobile phones have become instant tech appendages to our daily lives. We pick them up fully charged when we wake up, glance at whatever information that didn't seep in via our dreams, let reality bite and start our day, one creaky knee at a time.
Not many of us think too hard about the devices we have until it's time to make the upgrade, maybe because battery life issues have induced mid-afternoon panic attacks or green-with-envy eyes have seen enough new phone ads to dump one's green light-streaked devices.
I have had a schizophrenic relationship with my mobile phones. Since the iPhone era came to being, I have had a 6S, then an 11 I think, then I jumped to a Pixel, then a Samsung S22, and back to an iPhone 14 Plus. The insanity has, true to history, continued its erratic pattern in spite of multiple voices of concern and biased reason. I decided to purchase a Google Pixel 10 Pro XL a month ago, and now I have sold my soul, likely eternally, to the Apple gods by buying an iPhone 17 Pro Max, it's 6 plus inches currently jostling for space in my left Bermuda shorts pocket.
Yes, just a mere month later.
Let me explain why I have decided to relinquish my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. Firstly, the full descriptor is 8 syllables long.
Kidding. My iPhone does go by one syllable less though.
Proper reason 1 - I could not migrate my Whatsapp messages. There is a function in the IOS version of Whatsapp that declares plainly "Move chats to Android" and the Pixel also had a transfer Whatsapp messages function during startup, and via Android Switch. I tried 3 times, each time the migration progress bar would hit 99% and proceed to stay there for far too long. My attempts were enough anxiety stirring for Meta/Whatsapp to lock my account for 3 hours. I could not plead my innocence as a regular human non-scammer entity either. So my life on Whatsapp had to begin anew with no content. Some might say no baggage, so I have been a little ambivalent about the psychological aspect of this tech failure.
Side note - why hasn't anyone sued Meta/Whatsapp for performing backups to iCloud only for IOS devices, and concurrently gone after Google for the same to Google Drive only? This anti-competitive behaviour reeks of collusion among 3 of the FAANG companies.
Proper reason 2 - I could not unlock the Pixel with my face in low light conditions. In the back of the taxi or while walking down a street at night, the Pixel had trouble figuring out who I was. After failing with my face, it would seek to ask for my fingers to attempt being friends. This failed too many times too. "Press harder" it would suggest and indeed sometimes this effort worked but goddamn, this relationship was tiring me out. The next level of security was entering a six digit PIN, the always effective key. This negative experience repeated itself while I was out at night along the busy streets of Hanoi trying to find my way via Google Maps back to my bed.
Proper reason 3 - an OS update removed my biometric access from some apps. Having one's biometric data eases login processes on many apps, including those from banks I have accounts with. I moved money from one bank to another, and wanted to check the balance in my receiving bank account. The biometric set up I had sorted out a week earlier didn't work, and it just so happened I forgot the password to log in. Voila, I was locked out after multiple failed attempts. I reset the password at the bank's branch in my neighbourhood. Big boo boo this one.
Proper reason 4 - Instagram went blank twice when I tried to share content. The screen was just black with no instruction, no spinning wheel, no broken robot, nothing. I thought the battery had drained completely the first time it happened.
Proper reason 5 - the increased text size function doesn't work across some apps. With age, I have found that I needed to increase the text size on my phone. With some apps on the Pixel (Telegram, Gojek), the text size remained debilitatingly tiny despite the system setting. It was frustrating, especially on the Gojek app to figure out locations and vehicle numbers. I ended up waiting for my driver at the wrong Changi Airport door.
Annoying reason 6 - the edit function on Whatsapp messages on Android is a 3-step process while in IOS it's two. Tap message - open menu at top - click Edit versus tap message - click Edit icon. I don't get why Meta/Whatsapp can't standardise this user flow across both OSs. The fact that my eyes and fingers have to move this much more, relatively, is ridiculous.
Minor reason 7 - the configurable Control Centre set up on IOS (a recent development) makes it quicker to access functions than on the Pixel.
Is that enough? I had had enough three weeks in, and proceeded sold my iPhone 14 Plus and Google Pixel to Mister Mobile after moving my life and obedience to the great, life affirming Pomme.
Reasons to have held on the Pixel:
- the camera is amazing.
- I found the lock screen view simpler and prettier. My iPhone 14 Plus could not show the time on the lock screen btw. Found out it was intentional IOS limit for non-Pro devices.
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