Accessibility on Modern IOS vs Google Pixel

I too am looking to switch to Pixel, possibly next month or as soon as my upgrade eligibility becomes available. Currently not even using iOS 26 on my primary device. Sticking with iOS 18 for the time being, but I have an old backup device running iOS 26.2. I mainly use that device for testing software, and not much else. There is a rumor floating around that iOS 27 will be a major bug fix update, but I think seeing will be believing on that score. As for Pixel, there have been quite a few posts on here praising Pixel's accessibility, and it's similar UI layout to iOS.
As I understand it, if you're gonna switch from being a longtime user of iOS to Android, go with Pixel as your first Android device. Furthermore, I would recommend not buying a brand new Pixel device, but perhaps finding one online that is used or refurbished. That way you won't spend as much money, and if it does not work out to your liking, you can always resell it, and stick with your iPhone.
Finally, I would recommend you check out the website www.AccessibleAndroid.com. Lots of good stuff there about Android and it's accessibility on its various devices.

HTH. 🙂

Edit, these threads might be helpful:

https://applevis.com/forum/android/questions-about-google-pixel-accessibility-switching-iphone
https://applevis.com/forum/android/talk-me-honestly-about-what-ill-be-losing-what-ill-be-gaining-accessibility

I’m actually using a Pixel 9 Pro right now, and overall I really like it. Android has come a long way, especially with TalkBack, customization, and how open the system is. There are things on Android that I genuinely enjoy and appreciate.

That said, the biggest thing for me as a blind user is the response time between when I perform a gesture and when I hear feedback from the screen reader. That moment matters a lot. With iOS and VoiceOver, that interaction feels extremely tight and immediate. When I swipe, tap, or flick, the audio response is almost instant, and that consistency makes the phone feel predictable and efficient. I don’t have to think about whether the gesture registered — I just know it did.

On Android, even on a flagship phone like the Pixel 9 Pro, there’s still a slight delay at times between the gesture and TalkBack speaking. It’s not terrible, and it’s improved over the years, but it’s noticeable, especially if you’re someone who moves quickly and relies heavily on muscle memory. When you’re navigating fast, that extra beat can break your flow and make the experience feel a little less polished.

iOS really has that part dialed in. The gesture-to-speech pipeline feels deeply integrated into the OS, and it shows. Everything feels more fluid, especially when moving quickly through apps, the home screen, or system settings.

So for me, it’s not about “iOS vs Android” in a general sense. Both platforms have strengths, and Android does some things incredibly well. But when it comes specifically to screen reader responsiveness and consistency, iOS still has the edge. That tight feedback loop is a big reason why I continue to lean on iPhone as my primary device, even while enjoying and respecting what Android and TalkBack bring to the table.

You've confirmed my intuition, thank you!

I play around with switching to a Pixel ecosystem, but there are some reasons why I'm leaning towards no.

As Matthew said, the lag. I've experienced this on my partner's Samsung S10+, which is an older phone. I mean, I've locked him out of our joint banking account because there was a delay in typing the numbers for the passcode (luckily, he can enter using a password). I don't like the experience of typing on Android, never have (when I was low vision, it was because you couldn't magnify into the keyboard at the time). I much prefer direct touch typing on iPhone.

2. I don't use Mac or iPad, but I love my Apple Watch, AirPods, and AirTags. Not sure on how accessible WearOS watches are, like the Pixel Watch 3 or latest Samsung Watch. (Siri just ignores me constantly on my Apple Watch)
I do swear by AirTags though, they are extremely convenient. And my AirPods are just easy to bring around, though they're usually my bed earphones - I'm usually on my PC and if I'm on a plane or whatever, I've got a pair of Bose QuietComfort headphones.

However, there are some reasons why I would switch:
1. I much prefer the short text-style function in Google Lookout to Seeing AI, though you can get both on Android nowadays.
2. Listening to music on a Bluetooth speaker doesn't blow out your eardums when the screen reader goes full volume through the phone speaker when you press something.
3. TikTok and DoorDash are supposedly more accessible. I'm sure other apps are too.
4. Perhaps this has been fixed now, but I remember some delay when typing using a Braille display on iOS. I will test this out, though.
5. Gemini integration, including image descriptions, is awesome. Apple Intelligence is an embarrassment. (Oh, and speaking of embarrassments: I agree Apple's accessibility has dropped the ball, but I gave up on being an Apple fangirl when I switched from Mac to Windows in 2021 because VoiceOver on Mac is hot garbage. And so was VoiceOver on the iPad and using VoiceOver on the Apple TV 4th gen)

I'm honestly looking forward for the new unihertz or the clicks communicator phones. they are android phones with black-berry style qwerty keyboard. with those, I guess there is no reason to hate typing on android anymore. also if you're tight on budget, or want to give android a fair chance, Motorola phones are the good candidate nowadays, their phones are running stock-ish android, so it should give you quite a pixel-like experience. additionally clicks is going to release clicks power keyboard that should be compatible with any kind of smartphone/tablets.

As for typing on Android, can't say I do a lot with my Galaxy S22 Ultra, in the traditional keyboard, but the Talkback Braille keyboard is absolutely fantastic. I like the Android version better than BSI on iOS. However, with that said, the phone you mention is pretty old, so not really fair to measure typing by that. While there is still a lag, I'm quite sure it's gotten much better since that phone.
Regarding watches, I don't have the latest and greatest, as I'm using a Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, and they're up to the 8 now, but for the most part, talkback does well. One key though, turn off talkback sounds. The chip in these things seems to struggle processing both speech and the talkback sounds, so you don't really need the sounds anyway, just zap 'em. It makes a world of difference. No experience with either the pixel phone or watch, though I plan on getting my hands on a pixel in the next few months. Will keep my galaxy watch and galaxy buds though. Love the galaxy buds 2 pro, as there's no stem hanging out of my ear. They went with an airpods like design on the buds 3 series, so will stick with my buds 2 pro. That is one nice thing about android, stuff still plays mostly nice together. You might miss out on a few features here and there, but it's a lot less closed off than Apple.

Much like Windows, Android gives us the freedom of having alternative screen readers on our devices. Either of the ones I'm going to list below are reportedly much more responsive than Google's TalkBack. Add the additional TTS voices such as Acappella or even Vocalizer, and I imagine you can get a pretty close experience to iOS. Not saying they would be identical, but Much better than is typically reported here.
First application would be Prudence Screen Reader (PSR):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.prudence.reader&hl=en-US

Prudence has gestures and functionality very similar to TalkBack, but it also has a built-in OCR, which as I understand even TalkBack does not have natively.

The next application is Commentary Screen Reader (CSR) a.K.a. Jieshuo:
https://accessibleandroid.com/jieshuo-screen-reader/

Jieshuo is a completely customizable screen reader. If you are someone who digs customization, then this screen reader would be for you. As I understand it, you can change just about every feature, including sounds, control scripts, gestures, etc.

Again both of these screen readers are reportedly much more responsive than Google's native TalkBack, or even Samsung's flavor of TalkBack.

Disclaimer, thanks to Trenton Matthews for the above information on PSR and CSR.

i have both CSR and prudence on my Samsung S23+, i mainly use TalkBack but CSR is more responsive, when i am out and don't have my hable i switch to CSR to type cause it's faster then talkback, you can make typing even faster by suspending screenreader gestures, i also like the sound skeems you can get for it

I've had a play with both, but much prefer Google talkback. I enjoy customization, but CSR is almost a bit too much for me, plus no Braille keyboard built in. There are other Braille keyboard apps, but I tried them, wasn't a fan, so talkback, with its Braille keyboard makes the most sense for me, but again, awesome thing about android is, we have options folks. There is no one size fits all. Use what ya like and what works better.

You can find these under Download Additional Resources. Manage them under Operation Settings.

NB.
As customizing the Up/Down/Left/Right gestures are restricted to premium users, someone (if it ain't me), should make Talkback gesture schemes with three-fingers in mind. The current gesture schemes I've found, all need premium for full functionality (particularly if wishing to use Jieshuo with web browsers.)
The above does 'nOT' affect keyboard users.

it says that in the gesture settings in opperation settings, but i have 3 fingger gesturs and they work fine, i have 3 finger left and right to switch what talkback calls the reading controls, think it's called next and previous navagation type in CSR, i have 3 finger up and down to go system tts settings and quick settings

True.

Was more referring to premade gesture sets for thy three-finger gestures (like you mentioned), not currently available yet among the lists. no hard feelings for changing hem on your own though...

I put a much longer version of this in a previous android thread, linked above, but I love my pixel 9A! Yes, talkback is a bit less responsive than iOS. Yes, Android's braille support, especially considering I want to do long writing, such as novel writing, on a braille display, and talkback does not hold up as well as voiceOver. However, I do find talkback is more stable when, for example, editing text and making changes. Now, here's where we get into why I love the android, and an upcoming project.
A Potential Frankenstein Setup
Let's say, you're a user, and you don't like that talkback lags. I don't like how talkback handles the braille display. I'm trying to build a frankenstein setup with the following components.
Screenreader: Jieshuo, infinitely customizable to my liking.
Talkback braille keyboard replacement: Advanced Braille keyboard. This is also a very customizable and versatile keyboard.
Now, the braille display drivers: BRLTTY
All of that together should make a comparable, if not faster, setup than talkback's pretty package. If I am successful, I will document my findings on accessible android, and perhaps post the link to that thread here. It's definitely going to take a while, considering how long it takes to customize Jieshuo's over 100 gestures and go through every setting, translating its Engrish, (chinese-translated English), as some of the names of settings are a bit, creative.
Other than that, I find the gemini features to be useful, like the image and screen descriptions. I've also found android and accessibility, seems a lot more stable than VoiceOver! Especially recent itterations of iOS and VoiceOver, while some of the bugs, aren't huge, they slowly but surely drive me mad!

I am very curious to hear how this project goes. Let us know how it works out. 😀

I too, will be watching this closely.

Best of luck!

Thanks for the interest everyone on the potential setup. I put about ten hours total into trying to make this setup work. Needless to say, it, unfortunately, failed. I will try and outline the reasons.
The big one: BRLTTY not accepting myNLS eReader, either over bluetooth or USB. that's the biggest issue I ran into with all of this. I made sure brltty was set to use the braille display, but apparently modern android isn't allowing it. Second, brltty isn't coming up as a keyboard method, so even if I got braille to work, I still couldn't input. Then comes Advanced Braille keyboard, ruining that side of things. Yeah... I've been playing with Jieshuo settings, playing with ABK settings and it's a gigantic mess. Perhaps someone more tech-savvy than me could try it, and if they manage to figure it out... hats off to them, honestly! And if they do figure it out, feel free to reach out! Because in this sense, I'm clueless on how to fix these issues.

So, how does the rest of the Frankenstein project work, if you take Braille out of the equation? Asking because, well, I don't really use Braille. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’ve been following this post, and yeah, this iOS vs Android debate keeps popping up. Just wanted to share my take. I’ve got both an iPhone and a Pixel 10 Pro. I love them both. I use the iPhone mostly for work and daily stuff, since Microsoft apps just feel easier there. They do work on Android, but it’s just a bit trickier. The typing on iOS is also way smoother—I tried all the TalkBack tweaks, but it still feels slow. TalkBack has improved a lot, but it’s still sluggish compared to VoiceOver. I really wish it wasn’t like that, because I do love my Pixel. The AI and image descriptions are awesome. I also know some people mentioned other screen readers, but I haven’t used them since I can’t install anything besides TalkBack. Some users say those other screen readers might be faster, but for me, I stick with TalkBack, mainly for its image descriptions. Google also added this new thing—if you double-tap with two fingers on Gboard, you can start and stop dictation, which is super handy. But still, sometimes I just need to type for privacy. So yeah, I love both systems for different reasons. I adore my pixel and wish I could use it daily, but I still need my iPhone for productivity—faster typing, quicker face unlock, and my banking app works better there with Face ID. For now, the Pixel is more like a fun extra—something I experiment with. This is just my take, so it really depends on what you do with your phone. Hope this feedback helps!

Thank you Sara, for your thoughts and observations. My issue and experience with iOS is that, while it is super convenient, and I have lots of custom gestures and/or shortcuts to make my personal life just a touch more tolerable, the bug/glitches/errors that not only exist now, and have existed, for years, but also seemed to evolve with each new major update. I.E.iOS 17, to 18, to 26, to whatever the next version will be. One of the absolute most notorious and most frustrating issues is the one involving VoiceOver focus. It's annoying when you're trying to do something like email correspondence, or just responding to a text from somebody. Frustrating when you're trying to dial a number using your phone application'ss keypad, and you keep mis-dialing because focus decides to jump to the status bar for no reason in particular. Absolutely horrible when you're in some type of video conference, such as Zoom, or Teams, and he can't get to any of the controls such as raising your hands, or jumping into text chat, or well, doing anything that requires accessing a control within the application, because VoiceOver decides to start breakdancing across your screen, rather than following the programmed logic behind VoiceOver focus as it was intended, and not necessarily correctly implemented.
As such I am definitely guilty of participating, and even starting, iOS versus Android discussions. I want to learn as much as I can, before I drop any money on tech. One of my concerns is spending a chunk of change on something that I ultimately cannot use. 😅

Edited for typos

Hey, you’re welcome! I really hope I was helpful.

I totally get what you’re saying about those VoiceOver focus issues, especially in things like email, dialing, or meetings, that sounds insanely frustrating. I do get some focus bugs with VoiceOver too, but not as intense as what you’re describing. I can use Zoom and Microsoft Teams pretty reliably. For some reason, Teams on iPhone feels way more usable than on Android to me.

That said, I’m really starting to see that these experiences are super personal. I have a friend with an iPhone SE, and he had the exact bugs you’re describing. His VoiceOver focus was jumping all over the place, and I was trying to help him and getting annoyed too, because yeah… it’s that bad. Meanwhile, on my side, I only get occasional focus issues, like VoiceOver randomly jumping to the status bar and reading battery or whatever. It’s annoying, but it’s not constant, and it doesn’t happen when I’m doing things like texting.

That’s why I always say, these things can be really inconsistent from person to person. If I had the bugs you’re dealing with, I’d be losing my mind too. But at the same time, Android isn’t perfect either. I’ve had moments where I genuinely wanted to throw my Pixel out the window 😅 like when TalkBack starts interrupting Gemini, or when dictation gets messy because talkback starts talking, or even when things feel sluggish when I need to move fast.

One thing I will say though, something I really love on iOS is the actions in VoiceOver. They speed things up a lot for me. On Android, actions technically exist, but they’re not consistently implemented. Some apps just don’t support them, and weirdly enough, a lot of Google apps feel more optimized with VoiceOver on iOS than with TalkBack on Android. Like, I genuinely prefer using Gmail on iPhone, which is kind of ironic. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s one of those small things that adds up. Hopefully Android keeps improving there over time.

Also, a good example of how personal this all is, for some people the fact that TalkBack can feel a bit more sluggish than VoiceOver is not a big deal at all, they can work with it perfectly. For me, it is a big deal, because I need things to be fast and responsive. So yeah, even that kind of thing really depends on the person and how they use their phone.

At the end of the day, I’m just trying to be as fair and honest as possible with my experience. I really like that you’re doing your research before spending money, that’s honestly the smartest approach, especially with accessibility in mind.

Feel free to reach out if you ever want to ask anything else. I’m sure you’ll make the right decision for you,good luck and enjoy your new phone! 😉

There is some speculation that focus jumping issues are greatly intensified if Full Keyboard Access is enabled: When I started using the Clicks case for easy typing on my iPhone, I also initially turned on Full Keyboard Access in System Settings to set up a variety of handy keyboard shortcuts. However, it later turned out that VO on the iPhones of almost all my friends works much more stable, even if they use older devices. I ended up disabling full keyboard access and VO's behavior returned to its normal state where focus jumps, while still happening, are not a critical factor when using the device. Of course, I would like this setting to not impact VoiceOver stability, but turning it off still allows you to use the hardware keyboard and all system shortcuts similar to those of macOS, which is generally the same behavior as Android devices with a hardware keyboard.
I also completely agree with Sara: having been able to actively use both the latest iPhone and Android devices, I conclude that while each operating system has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to accessibility, iOS is still significantly superior to Android. For example, the same actions on iOS are, indeed, implemented much better than in Android, and what’s even more funny, in Google’s own applications, like the already mentioned GMail, or YouTube. In the case of the latter, on iOS I can easily control the miniplayer (expand it to full screen, completely hide it, pause the video, and so on), while on Android not all the buttons are labeled there, and there are basically no Talkback actions when the focus is on the miniplayer.
To summarize, none of this is a critical stopper to using Android, but the big picture is made up of little things. And finally, for me personally, the delay when using Talkback is still incredibly noticeable: I am used to doing most actions very quickly, often significantly faster than TTS can speak what is happening, for example, this is how I use NVDA on Windows, and while iOS allows me to almost always use the device in a similar mode, then Android takes time to process most Talkback gestures, yes, with a fast TTS (like eSpeak NG) this response time is significantly reduced, but it is still noticeable, especially in comparison with the incredibly smooth user experience provided by VoiceOver.

Hi all.
To answer Brian's questions of the frankenstein setup, minus braille stuff, it does work well. Jieshuo does work on the lock screen after you restart your phone, which is great. However, if you have custom sound schemes, those will not work. I would need to test if custom gestures would work in that same area, because I have things like move to top and bottom of the screen. Jieshuo is so customizable, you can add just about anything to any gesture. There's also custom plugins, like the ask gemini thing from talkback, I haven't even looked through all of it. You can also have per-app gestures, provided you pay for Jieshuo. For example, you can set something up on youtube and youtube only, for example, if you swipe right with two fingers it'll fast forward and swipe left would rewind. The point is, you can customize practically anything and everything in Jieshuo. I think the full jaws settings center has less settings than Jieshuo. Prudence does exist, but it seems the majority of android enthusiasts flock to Jieshuo, because it's so much more customizable and faster than prudence.

I'm glad to hear that Jieshuo is as customizable and adaptive as you suggest. And yes, if I ever do make it to the Android side of the street, I will definitely go that route as well. 🙂

The screen reader itself ain't bad, though using it with its built-in voices (ESPeak & Cathrine) or a more responsive voice such as Acapela or Vocalizer, is more ideal.

If you are wanting to try Prudence for yourself, a Samsung or Pixel phone is ideal to have since ya can easily switch between them on the fly much thanks to having two accessibility hardware key shortcuts.

Though you can turn Talkback on/off with your voice too if using Gemini/Bixby.

One of the great things that Prudence and Jieshuo have over Talkback, is the ability to append what is heard copied to the clipboard. E.G, sharing social media channels to share Prudence feedback, like so:

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1817619845298829
Whatsapp: https://chat.whatsapp.com/CVnGS86DFKKEuEKJE6efsK
Telegram:
https://t.me/+tbrDVuPlpTNhZjQx
X: https://twitter.com/Song_Ji95
Line: https://line.me/ti/g/G5slCzYelD

That reminds me, I have a Prudence thread among this very forum that needs updating!
[edit] Said update is now live at:
https://applevis.com/forum/android/prudence-screen-reader-news-discussion

The one thing Prudence needs extensive clean up for sure, is their English spellings. E.G, there's 'two' L's in the word 'Links' when navigating the rotor. Also, the web support isn't up to date with Talkback's current implementation yet.

Oh! One other odd thing:

Why the 'edit menu' is 'Down the right' when the edit box is opened instead of 'up than right' is a bit odd....

FYI:

Prudence has a decent number of sound schemes now, which I myself like (including VoiceOver's iPhone sound scheme.)
Removing sound schemes is simple as doing a haptic-press on the sound scheme and choosing 'delete' from the menu.

Also, for those using hardware keyboards, they are all unassigned by default, and do not use particular modifiers for navigating, so you if ya want, you can navigate around using a number-pad if ya have one!

The way things are going, I'm likely gonna end up with a Samsung first, just because I keep finding really good deals on those right now. Not for the latest model, of course, but for S23s and S24s, for sure. And well, at this point it is absolutely a money thing. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I'd get the S24 if ya can, especially for the 7 years of updates. The S23 series only has 1 and a half years left.

And no problem! Glad to be of service.

Hey Trenton,

What do you think of either of these?

Samsung S24+
https://ebay.us/m/dTUpf9

Samsung S24
https://ebay.us/m/F67z2v

Either will do nicely.

It all depends on which size of phone you want. Although the S24 Plus, now has Quad HD vs Full HD on the regular S24), if that means anything....

The S24's got 5 more updates, all the way to Android 21.

I honestly do not really know the difference between the two. It sounds like I might do better with the S24, over the S24+?

Quoting Co-Pilot here:

"Full HD (FHD)
1920 × 1080
~2.07 million
Baseline sharp
Quad HD (QHD / 2K)
2560 × 1440
~3.69 million
~78% more pixels than FHD"

In other words, you're better off with the S24's (6.1 inches screen, unless you need room for braille screen ,input thanks to the S24 Plus having 6.7 inches of screen space.

so, if I remember the way high definition video is explained, we're talking 1440p over 1080p, with higher pixel density with the larger display. I mean, I can do BSI on my current iPhone, which is a 4.7 inch display (SE 2022). I am sure that larger display is really nice, for sighted folks. I'm also sure that BSI would be a breeze to work with on that display as well. I'm even sure the battery would be excellent. However, I like phones that I can actually put in my front pocket of my pants. 😛
so yeah, I think if anything, I will stick to the S24.
That second link I posted above, has a refurbished S24 in excellent condition for under $300. I think the storage size is 256 GB, same as my current iPhone. If I can swing it, I might be able to get that in a couple of weeks.
We shall see...

Edited for typos

I sometimes use a Samsung S25 next to my Pixel, but I never really talked about it much. The main reason is that there are a few Pixel exclusive accessibility features that Samsung just doesn’t have, like Guided Frame, and for me that actually matters a lot.

That said, one thing I immediately noticed is that TalkBack on Samsung feels slightly more responsive than on the Pixel. It’s not a huge difference, but you can feel it in things like gesture recognition, focus movement, and overall latency. Everything just feels a bit snappier.

Samsung ships their own customized version of TalkBack, optimized for One UI, but you can still install the Google version if you prefer.

Honestly, if those Pixel exclusive features aren’t important to you, I think you’d probably have a smoother experience on Samsung. In my case, those same features are exactly why I stick with the Pixel, even if TalkBack isn’t quite as fast.

The reason I wouldn’t switch is more about the overall software experience. There’s quite a bit of bloatware, plus you end up with duplicate apps and services. Like having Samsung Notes and Google Keep, Galaxy Store and Play Store, stuff like that. It just feels a bit messy and unnecessary.

Also, Samsung maintaining their own version of TalkBack means updates and behavior can sometimes differ from the Google version, which can be a bit annoying if you care about consistency.

All of this is fixable if you can fully tweak the phone, disable apps, clean things up, etc. But in my case, that wouldn’t really be an option, so it’s a dealbreaker.

But yeah, if none of that bothers you, or if you can work around it, Samsung is honestly a really solid option, especially with that slight edge in TalkBack responsiveness.

The customizability of Samsung are one reason I'm looking at that option. From what I have read on the Internet, not just here but other platforms, there is a whole lot one can do to customize the user experience of Samsung smart phones. That, and I am seeing really good deals on slightly older model Samsung S-series devices lately.

Can you compare the face unlock of Samsung and Pixel, is there a difference in accessibility? I think it would be interesting for you to share as a user of both brands.
What are the accessibility features of Pixel that Samsung doesn't use.
I'm wondering which phone to go for, Samsung or Pixel.

Forget the face unlock, how well does the fingerprint unlock work with guiding a blind user for finger placement in order to unlock the device. I'll take fingerprint over facial recognition any day.

Hi! So, about face unlock, it’s not bad on Samsung or Pixel, but it’s not my favorite either. I’m just way too used to Face ID on the iPhone, that thing just works. I’m not saying Android’s face unlock is bad, it’s totally usable and accessible, it’s just not on the same level in terms of consistency and smoothness.

For fingerprint unlock, I actually like it and that’s what I mostly use. It does fail sometimes, but I think that’s on me because I use a screen protector. I do have the screen protector mode on, so overall it works fine, just not perfect.

When it comes to Pixel’s accessibility features, I’m mainly talking about the camera. It has some really cool stuff, especially Guided Frame. Also, the TalkBack image descriptions on the Google pixel are really cool. You don’t really get the same experience on Samsung. Other brands using Google TalkBack can have those features, but Guided Frame is basically a Pixel exclusive.

Also, quick heads-up if you’re thinking about getting a Pixel. This depends a lot on where you live.

I’m in Europe, and my experience with Google support here has been honestly terrible. I’ve heard it’s much better in places like the US, Canada, or the UK, but here it’s just not great.

I love my Pixel, but if I had known how bad the support situation was, I wouldn’t have bought it directly from the Google Store.

So if you’re in Europe, I’d really recommend buying it from Amazon instead. Their support is way more reliable from my experience.

Just to be clear, this isn’t about the phone itself, it’s about the repair centers Google uses in Europe, and yeah… not great. Nothing like Apple’s support and repair experience.

If you’re not in Europe, you can probably ignore this part.

As for Samsung, I’ve never had any issues, but I also never needed support or repairs, so I can’t really say much there.

Just wanted to share in case it helps 🙂

I played with the Samsung S24 camera and it also has a guided frame for selfies which surprised me and works better than the 16 Pro Max.

Hey! So, the guided frame is actually a Pixel-exclusive feature. Samsung doesn’t have anything like that—it just tells you how many faces it sees, but it’s super basic. It’s more like the iPhone approach, just a simple guide to let you adjust your phone—nothing like the Pixel’s guided frame system.

Thanks for the clarification, yes, on the Samsung it's like on the iPhone but with a small difference that it says the directions left, right, up, down. I have time to decide which one to get.

I am curious, and I don't think anyone's done a video on this, but I am curious about the difference between Guided Frame on the Pixel phones vs the camera on the iPhone (where it says centred, 1 face upper right edge etc). I really miss one of my childhood hobbies (doll photography) but I kinda doubt Guided Frame can help with that... Still, I am curious.

Hi,

Here's a handful of videos to get you started. Enjoy. 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29nLzUd1oys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0I9CF6HZ6o&t=3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfIOcz51Zyg

Thanks. I don't have a Pixel, I'd love to upgrade to one but hesitant. And very jealous because the Pixel 10 pro is the phone my bf wants to upgrade to. We upgraded his mum's phone from an LG V20 or something to a Pixel 8 Pro and she loves it. (Both sighted, though, and don't care about ecosystems etc)

I got a friend, her and her hubby both have the Pixel 9 Pro. They absolutely love them. They're always trying to get me to switch to Android, especially to Pixel, because they absolutely hate Apple. Lol
Both are sighted, although she does use slight magnification because she cannot read small print.

Hey Brian,
So things could be better on newer phones, but I will say, since you have no physical home button on android phones, like you do on your iPhone SE, hitting the under screen sensor can be iffy at times. Not impossible mind you, but definitely takes some getting used to. I'm still on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and I still have times where I miss it. Face unlock on the S22 Ultra is not very reliable at all. This could be better on other newer devices, but yeah, there's a lot more that goes in to Apple's Face ID, so don't expect those kind of results from Android face unlock.

Hi Justin,

When I got to play with my friends Pixel 8 Pro a few years back, she created a profile for me on that device, and even help me create a thumbprint so I could test out that feature. Once I figured out where to place my thumb, it worked really well. That would've been Android 14 at the time, if memory serves. So, I'm not too worried about that. I get what you mean though, everything is, just a little different, on the Android side of the street. 😉

What a useful informative thread. I’m bookmarking this because I’ve considered switching to android. Thank you guys. I appreciate all of the useful information here. At this point, I’m probably gonna wait till the next pixel phone to see. And I’m also very interested in the next version of talkback. Seems like it’s time to switch over but not quite yet.

I can't wait to see the new changes/additions for Android 17, once that has been released.