Google Pixel 10 Pro XL.

[Chako]

I have been with Virgin Mobile for the past 8 or so years now. They have this feature called sweet pay. Basically you sign a 2 year contract for a phone plan, and you pay a monthly fee for a new cell phone. At the end of the 2 years you pay off the phone and it is yours.

Today I got a phone call from them reminding me it is time to upgrade. They want to lock you into a 2 year contract, and to entice you, they give very good discounts on new phones. Last time, I opted for a Samsung S24 Plus. This time I went for a Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. It comes out to the same as what I was already paying. To me, it is like getting a free phone.

I usually go with Samsung, and prior to 2000 LG before they got out of the market. I wanted change, so this will be my first Google Pixel phone. I should receive it sometime next week by mail. I was mainly attracted by Google's superior cameras.

Does anyone use their phones, and what do you think about them?

[AzteCypher]

I'm interested in hearing what you think about them.  I still have my Galaxy S22 and it's serving me well.  But I know eventually Verizon will tell me I have to upgrade as they won't support the phone anymore. 

[Chako]

I hear you. With Virgin, they want you to keep updating your phone every 2 years. Seeing that the cost remains somewhat consistent, I do not mind because they like to entice you with limited deals. So long as my monthly bills remain at a certain price point, sign me up lol. I had a run of Samsung phones for the last 3 cycles...S20, S22, and my current S24 Plus. I am very curious about Google Pixels this time around. I almost switched to an iPhone but felt that might be pushing things too far for change.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I switched to Pixel phones from Samsung phones a few years ago with the Pixel 7.  I now have a Pixel 9 Pro XL and honestly I don't see me going back to Samsung any times soon.  It took a while for me to get used to the stripped down UI, but now I love it.

And the cameras are awesome- well worth it.

Def

[Chako]

Yeah, the cameras are my primary attraction, and it was time to switch things up. Can't wait to get it  The whole North Eastern Ontario got hit with a nice snowstorm. Everything in the city and most highways were closed yesterday and today lol.

I was never a big fan of Samsung's take on Android. I tend to remove a lot of bloat ware every time I get a new Samsung.

This is my storm door which I had to open several times outwards during the night to push the accumulating snow in order to not get stuck inside. I might have to wait longer on the new phone. 

20260316_215202A by Chako, on Flickr

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah, my father is quite buried in as well.  Unfortunately he doesn't have the snowblower mounted on his backhoe, and his walk behind snowblower is blocked by his truck in the garage, and of course he doesn't have the room to get his truck out enough to get the snowblower.

Fortunately he has the bucket on the front of his tractor, so that will have to do!

Back to topic, I found the loss of things like Samsung Gallery difficult to wrap my head around when I switched to a PIxel as I was used to having pics on my phone and separately in Google Photos, and it was weird to just go back to using one app to control it all.  I only used Google Photos on my phone if I was searching for something in the past, and my most recent photos were always accessed through Samsung.  It was a surprisingly difficult thing to get used to.

I did have to install Samsung Health on my Pixel though, just because I have a Samsung smarsmurfch, and the step and health monitoring info didn't really go into anything else.  Otherwise, I have no Samsung apps on my Pixel and I don't miss them at all.

And, even though the Pixels have creeped up a bit in cost, I still find them much better priced than Samsung models.

As for the camera, Megan has a fairly new iPhone (I think the 15?) and even she will grab my phone instead of hers if she wants a particularly good photo of something.

Def

[Chako]

I hope he is ok.

The city tore up the road and dumped most of the road into my driveway. The neighbour could not snowblower it so he came over with a snow float. What a mess. Just got it all done but it took time and great neighbours. I am sure this spring, I will be picking up asphalt all over my front yard. 

I am sure there will be a learning curve once I get it. At least now I can get some mail once again. 

[AzteCypher]

So question about the photo taking and photo gallery.  Is there a native camera app or do you have to download one?  If you don't have a photo gallery, what are your options?

[Grant Lamontagne]

There is a camera app with built in AI that helps you frame shots and stuff. I find it a bit annoying, but then I usually know what I want to do and it's not what the camera wants to do.   

I'd turn it off, but I leave it on in case one days it's accidentally useful! 

Rather than have a seperate gallery app (like Samsung Gallery) you have Google Photos.

When you go to share a photo from there, it also offers to use the AI to enhance it for you first.  Sometimes I prefer to leave the original settings, sometimes I use the enhanced photo.  It's pretty easy to switch back and forth so no big deal

Def

[Chako]

Just got the phone and transferred everything over. Now I keep double tapping the screen to shut it off to no avail. Guess that is a Samsung thing.

[Chako]

Found an App that fixes that. 

[AzteCypher]

Nice!

The wife and I have been talking more about phones since we have the Galaxy S22 and security updates will end next year for it.  Right now, Verizon is offering an S26 for $0 if we trade in our old Samsungs with some additional restrictions I'm sure.

I just hate having to let go of a perfectly good device because the company does not want to continue maintaining it.  The older I get, the more this annoys me.   

[Chako]

I think you get 7 years of updates with the S24 Plus and with this new phone,

Do you have Virgin Mobile in your area? I think they have one of the best deals with their 2 year contracts and great deals on cell phones.

20260319_122344A by Chako, on Flickr

20260319_122500A by Chako, on Flickr

I am slowly getting used to the OS. I can see how much Samsung differs from a pure Android experience.

The selfie camera is worth the change. My first shot with it is amazing.

 PXL_20260319_193443218A by Chako, on Flickr

[AzteCypher]

Wow!  That's very impressive for a selfie camera.  I think I'm going to do more research on the Pixel.  I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.  I think the biggest thing is having to get used to the pure Android experience.

[Chako]

I installed an App to give me double tap the screen to turn it off. I could not live without that. Everything else is similar. I can see what Samsung did to their OS to make the Android experience different from Googles.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I just hate having to let go of a perfectly good device because the company does not want to continue maintaining it.  The older I get, the more this annoys me.   

THIS!

I couldn't agree more.

Admittedly not so much with phones as very few survive more than two years with me, but I have a pile of "obsolete" equipment that is perfectly functional otherwise.

Def

[Chako]

I do not mind with cell phones because the battery does show signs of not lasting as long per charge, and it is a device I use daily.

[Chako]

Oh boy! finding my contact list was entertaining. Samsung has an icon for it. Google buried it in a pull down menu. Easy to find now that I know how to access it lol. 

[AzteCypher]

Are you able to make it a home screen short cut?

[Chako]

Yes. I just can't access it like I could with the Samsung via the phone icon. Everything is there, just a little different.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Little things like that were the hardest part of getting used to a Pixel, at least for me.

Once I got used to it though, all I see now when I look at a Samsung phone is bloat and a big price tag.

Def

[Chako]

I cannot agree with you more. I am quickly adapting. It will just take time.

[Whoey]

So there are little things that I miss from my Samsung S22. mostly that I had invested on other Samsung devices to stay in one platform. So in spite having a Pixel 10 pro, I still have Samsung buds 2 Pro, a Samsung watch, and my tablet for sofa surfing is also a Samsung.

as mentioned in the other thread, the Samsung quick bar thing, but the panels app fixed that.

I don't miss double apps (Samsung/google) for browsers, calendar, notes, photos, etc etc even if I usually downgraded and disable the ones I didn't use on the Samsung.

Camera has been pretty great so far... I barely scratched the surface of what it can do and I'm quite happy (it was the main convincing factor to go back to a Google device)

I always preferred the cleaner Google system even if it is not 100% stripped down at all.

The annoyance with wifi/sim data selector on the quick panel both being on one button causing me to have two steps to switch off wifi might be split in an upcoming update, something I will be happy to see implemented as I miss this from the Samsung, at least give me the choice! I use this a lot as at work the wifi blocks certain apps from working which is annoying as hell (bank app is one), also I have 2 sims one e-sim one physical, a perk of EU phones. I believe the US ones are all e-sim.

mine came with 1 year of Google AI pro, which I am having some fun with. I will likely cancel once the free plan runs out though.

I would love to leverage it for some work related tasks but our corp policy won't let any apps (especially AI) outside the Office suite use data, so stuck with copilot there, and I don't want to enroll my personal device as a managed device. They will soon close the door on any unmanaged device access too, so not like it would matter for long.