If you care about always having the latest software with the latest Google features just get a Pixel. 7 years of OS and security updates: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en

Google doesn't control what other vendors do; that's the beauty of open source. (You can argue how open Android really is these days but it's still more open than iOS.)

My problem was that all the modern Samsung watches have a battery life that wont get you through the day without removing half it's features, and charging solutions that are unreliable. If half the time you want to use the watch it's dead, it stops being a product you place value on or even rely on. I found myself checking time on my phone, despite the watch being on the same hand I'd grab the phone with, because I could rely on my phone to show my something other than a dark mirror.

I used to have a gear sport, it was fine, held charge for 2-3 days, had more sensors, and was all around a good device, but all watches after were a massive step down, even if they moved from tizen to wear os.

I'll give wearables one more try if someone has a good device to recommend, but as it stands I'd prefer to just spend the extra second to pull out my phone, and for health metrics, wear a more discrete and longer battery life device.

Buying a Pixel phone seems pretty easy? I rarely upgrade and stopped looking at the others.

> I have no idea which phone or timeframe when I could see the rollout of Material 3 Expressive.

Not a problem with a pixel

> More than 10 years later, shopping for an Android phone with the latest OS is a nightmare

Not a problem with a pixel

> They will need to improve on their ecosystem commitments

Not a problem with a pixel

Buy a phone with an unlocked/unlockable bootloader, and use custom ROMs to stay up to date long after the manufacturer has stopped caring about support. Unlocked phones seem few and far between nowadays, but there's still some. Here's another not-so-subtle recommendation for the Google Pixel line.

I've been using a Moto X4 (8 years old!) with LineageOS for 6-7 years. I'll probably get an open box (for a discount) Pixel soon, and probably put GrapheneOS on it.

> at least I know that the phone will be supported for at least 4 years

It's 4 (mid) to 7 years (flagship) for Samsung.

https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-android-updates-114...

Just get the Google Pixel phones?

If you buy something from some other random manufacturer that is using the open source android code then yes you are going to have a different experience since they want to add their "special touch" which invariably is shite.

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They've been copying iOS for years, time to bring some of that Windows "consistency" into the mix.

Current "material design" is the anthesis of what "material design" was originally supposed to be.

You can expand or shrink every tile now instead of only being able to swap position of the tiles. So more tiles per page.

"This article describes yet another infuriating redesign by the Android design team who cannot seem to stick with a paradigm and improve it for more than a year before trashing it and doing something entirely new for no reason other than boredom."

Related to that lock screen "quirk", the latest UI/UX "feature" that bugs me no end is the fact that on Pixel phones you can't remove the Google search bar on the home screen... yet there is now a Gemini widget available that does much more useful things, so in order to use it, you'd have two full width horizontal bars on your home screen. I assume this is going to evolve with Android 16 releases, but it's a really dumb feature.

Still on Android.

All the Apple gear I use belongs to my employer.

You should listen to some Apple development podcasts, grass is not so green on the other side.

There are also plenty of unfinished things, some of them have turned into memes by now.

Google gave out the HTC Evo at I/O in 2010, which was what got me to switch to Android.

At the time, it had a much bigger screen than an iPhone and gave you more control over the device. It could play Flash games/apps, and let you use the apps/keyboards/etc you wanted without a company's blessing.

Apple is a lot more open now than they used to be, in ways that might have driven power users to Android before.

Funnily enough the first smartwatch that was interesting to me was a round watch, so I got the Pixel watch. I don't mind having the UI not being as usable (debatable), but I much rather have a nice looking watch, more like a classic watch. That's like, your and my opinion, everyone has their preferences.

Storytime: my partner used to be a long time Samsung fan. She had the phone, tablet, headphones and watch and probably more gear that I don't even know about. Then she moved to Canada with me. Because of how poor the QA in their ecosystem is, after an update her latest-model Samsung watch couldn't pair with her one-year-old model Samsung phone, which severely diminished its usefulness (this was a heavily reported issue at the time). So we went to a mall and entered a store with big SAMSUNG logos everywhere, and were told to go skip rocks. They would not even touch the devices with the same logos they had on their shirts, because both the phone and the watch were bought in a different country.

There was an Apple store in that mall as well, so we walked in and asked "if we buy an apple product here, and there is an issue with it while we are in a different country, would they help us in an Apple store there". The answer was "well yeah of course why wouldn't they" with a "what's the catch" tone and raised eyebrow.

Needless to say she is now fully switched over. Even after two years, she gets delighted every now and then by how smooth the experience is. I recall many "LOL Samsung could never" events.

My current Pixel 6 is my last android phone due to the UX issues that keep piling up with every single update. Last one I noticed: Turning on bedtime mode is now double (2) the clicks it used to be.

> So many people I work with (in tech) were on Android for years, and all eventually switched to iOS.

There is a curious demographic of people that worked closely on/with Android in the early years that have a particularly extreme allergy to it today.

Sundar gets a lot of deserved stick, but Andy Rubin was no saint when it came to guiding development either, as demonstrated by the memory holed Skyhook fiasco. ( https://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/536913/google-android-sk... ) JBQ resigning from the AOSP really was the sign that true believers in the Android ecosystem are simply suckers.

It is such a missed opportunity it's unbelievable. iOS shouldn't be in contention at all.

I like circular face on my Garmin Venu. Almost all their watches are round and circle'ish UI flow is used a lot in their OS.

The thing that made me switch, funny enough, is the 'budget phone' category. The Moto G line and low-end Pixel line completely abandoned the "small, 200-300 dollar phone" segment. And so I got a brand new iphone SE for $200. Havent gone back, and probably wont at this point now that I've moved over and use the family plan for apple one etc.

that annoyed me as well (pixel 8a)

but i just switched to my go-to launcher, Nova. I've used it quite a bit over the last years.

That's one of the first things I do with a new phone. Want to make a phone feel sluggish? Wait on all the stupid transition animations designers made

data-full interfaces on my small ass phone screen? no thanks!

I kinda want to know what you do for a living.

Are you gonna clarify at all how this is relevant to the original article...?