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My Thoughts on Google’s New Pixel Phone
People know that when it comes to Android and Apple, I almost always side with Apple. Or, stated differently, when new Android announcements come out, I tend to have something of a “Meh” attitude about them.
Perhaps there’s some bias there, but I don’t think that’s most of the cause. And here’s some evidence of that.
I’m absolutely thrilled with Google’s Pixel announcement.
Not because it’s a great phone (which it definitely looks to be), but because I think (but don’t know) that Google might have made a transition.
If they in fact did this, and I really hope they did, then it means we’re about to see REAL competition with Apple for the first time.
According to the announcement and a bunch of analysis around it, it looks like Google has decided to somewhat abandon their strategy of “let the partners handle hardware”. It looks like they might be embracing the Jobsian mantra of,
If you care about software you’ll make your own hardware.
If Pixel becomes a new paradigm of building the best phones, made by Google, running the best Android software at all times, then Samsung and crew are in a lot of trouble.
And when you combine what Google is doing with their Personal Assistant, Apple is in trouble as well.
Well, maybe.
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Google has proven to me over the years that they can mess anything up from a design and experience perspective, even when the technology is superior to its competitors. So a great phone doesn’t mean they’ll be able to match Apple’s mixture of design, experience, and technology.
But if they at least agreed internally to compete against companies like Samsung to make a superior, unified Android experience then I’m 1000% elated about the news.
Google / Android has always had the potential to compete at the high-end with Apple, but it’s always been squandered through bad design and bad decisions regarding integration and ecosystem.
But maybe they’ve fixed that.
If they have, it’ll only be great for all of us.
This is why I’ve been reluctant to call myself an Apple fanboy. It’s because what I care about is the next best thing, with a future-facing vision, that puts humans first in the technology equation.
Apple’s been the only one doing that in my opinion. And if that’s changing now with Google, then they will have my full support and adoration.
Let’s hope for it.