I just switched over to IPhone after a solid three years on a Pixel 4a 5g and am having some adjustment pains with iOS related to lack of these features. Live transcription is another super useful feature I truly value during long, annoying calls with call menu options (IRS, hospitals, etc), since it is so helpful to see what the previous options were without having to listen to the entire damn menu again.

Then there are small annoyances like not having the option to enable auto-space after punctuation like commas and periods in messages, even with third-party keyboards like swift keybaord. And not being able to set a separate ringer and alarm volume. I keep my ringer volume very low during the day, but I depend on a loud alarm. Got to work late today as a consequence of this!

I'm already considering switching back to pixel 8 once it releases next month, especially due to the increased support. Only thing holding me back is tensor chips not yet being on par until around 2025 when Google releases its first fully custom chip.

Honestly the processor speed in the Pixel 7s is plenty fast enough. I can't imagine getting any benefit from a faster processor. I'm sure faster is better in some sense but given that there's no perceptible lag or anything I'm not sure what you'd want it to be faster for. Chrome starts in around half a second, pages render quickly, etc.

Went from a Pixel 5a to a Pixel 7 (it's pre-8 bargain season!).

After a week, I do like the Pixel 7. Great camera, snappy interface, solid build.

The battery life so far is disappointing though.

Put GrapheneOS on it and watch the battery really soar.

Yeah I agree. The main one for me is being able to make all the display elements smaller (I have good eyesight). iOS seems hugely zoomed in to me and the display scaling really helps show more information in information dense apps like spreadsheets.

I also really appreciate the network diagnostics you get from an app like NetMonster.

I don't use either of those features, but the one reason I stick with Pixel phones is bloatware. The amount of useless bloatware that comes with most phones is horrid. I went with a Samsung tablet because Google (at the time) stopped making tablets. The tablet hardware is good, but even after 2 years of owning the device, I still get nagged constantly for not using samsung specific apps/features that I have zero use for. Google does do some nagging on Pixel phones for their silly features, but I have found them much easier to turn off.

Motorola phones have very little bloatware as well.

Samsung is probably the worst.

Unfortunately Motorola phones are not great when it comes to OS updates. Two major OS updates and then security patches for some time after that. Which sounds okay on paper, but man are they slow with them. I finally got Android 13 on my Edge 20 just last week! Their "bimonthly" security updates occasionally come a month late too. Maybe the experience would be different with a flagship rather than a midrange device, but I'm not willing to risk my money on such a gamble - my next phone won't be a Motorola. A shame too, their latest foldable looks quite nice.

I've been entertaining a theory that the update slowness and little bloat are somehow related - with how slow they're with updates, they probably don't have the time to code up any more bloat either.

If you are willing to use Roms you can have it earlier. My G42 is still on 12 and LineageOS at 13. Still like the phone a lot. Thinking about buying a spare one.

My single feature that keeps me on Android is notifications. I want an unobtrusive visual only (I never want my phone to vibrate or make a noise unless my wife or kid is calling) indication that there's something needing my attention. On Android a tiny icon appears in the status bar. On iOS it's an obnoxious pop up banner or nothing at all.

Has Google copied the "Focus" feature that allows you to have different notification settings for different activities?

For instance, when I set my focus to "at work" I may decide to mute all notifications for social media apps and send calls that aren't from my family straight to voice mail. When I'm at home or at the gym, I may want my notification settings to be completely different.

Without that feature the Android notification system is much less flexible.

yes....Android notifications are much better imo. I can respond to texts/whatsapp messages just by swiping down, don't even have to open the app.

> I can respond to texts/whatsapp messages just by swiping down, don't even have to open the app.

That's been true for iOS for years now, although I can't guarantee that all messaging apps support that mode of operation.

didn't know that about iOS. On android the standard messaging app, plus other apps like whatsapp allow this. It's extremely convenient.

What about privacy for notifications when the screen is locked? For example, on android, when my phone is locked, notifications pop up, but you can't see who is calling/texting. Is that the case with iOS?

I'd still be happy with just my (GrapheneOS) Pixel 3, if only it were still getting closed blob security updates.

Instead, I've had to replace it repeatedly: Pixel 3, Pixel 4a, Pixel 5, and now Pixel 6a.

Each model upgrade was a regression in size and weight. The only improvement I liked was in the cameras, but photography-wise they're still only cameraphone snapshot grade, so not a worthwhile upgrade to me. I would've rather been able to keep using the Pixel 3.

I'm looking forward to keeping the Pixel 6a awhile (once the carrier flakiness that coincided with the move the other day settles down).

(Edit: Unless there comes out some local ML model that I want that needs more processing hardware.)

I bought Pixel 6 after using Pixel 3a. "On paper" size-wise it seems nearly the same (1mm+ in each dimension) but in reality I feel like having a brick now, to the point I still prefer using my 3a on the go.

I didn't realize but 147g vs 207g makes for an enormous difference. Also 1-2mm in each dimension and now it can't fit my pockets anymore.

Those are the 2 features that stopped me as well.

However, Call Screening is now available on iOS 17 (called Live Voicemail)

I've purchased my first iPhone as of a few days ago now that they have that... I'll miss Hold for me, but it's not enough to stop me from the Pixel bugs/hardware issues I've been experiencing. The iPhone 15 is amazing so far!

I'm a long time nexus/pixel user also considering switching to iPhone. For me, it's more about wanting a good integrated smart watch, and the pixel watch seems overpriced and has a weird half-baked FitBit integration in typical Google style, and I don't want a Samsung watch or generic fitness tracker.

One thing that's been holding me back, though, is notification management. I love the little app icons at the top and the pull down shade and such. I don't have that much experience with iOS, but it seems notifications work fairly differently. Has that been an issue for you?

notification management on iOS is just different than on Android. It is a bit more hands off. Most recent notifications appear in your face and then they fall into the 'notification drawer' unless you take action on them, in which case they disappear. Once you adjust to it not behaving the same as Android, you get used to it.

On my android device, I never had many notifications as I would manage them and clear them. On iOS, I tend to clear them once a week, and the thought of returning to Android's notification system just seems like a lot of work.

iOS user here. You are correct they work quite differently. I don’t have enough android experience to tell you how, but there is no equivalent of the icons at the top of the screen for various apps.

iOS now supports live voicemails. Functionally equivalent to call screening, except a slightly different prompt.

The nice thing is this is on everything that runs ios17, instead of just the latest. Android seems to unnecessarily silo special features into just pixel phones for no apparent hardware reason. Often times you can sideload (with root access typically) the special pixel only features on any phone.

Nothing yet to compare to hold for me, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was coming soon.

> iOS now supports live voicemails. Functionally equivalent to call screening, except a slightly different prompt.

Not really. For one, the caller knows that there's someone on the other end reading it live, as opposed to live voicemail where you don't know whether your message will be seen immediately or whenever the other person decides to check their voicemails. Also call screening allows you to prompt follow up questions which you can't do with live voicemail.

I'll agree you get more features with the Google implementation, however I'm not sure it meaningfully equates to a different experience.

Unless you're worried nobody will leave a voicemail (which, I think will change over time as folks know the functionality exists), the ability to pick up if you don't recognize the number... or if someone you do know has something that's extremely urgent. Neither are navigated substanially better with the prompts Google offers.

>Unless you're worried nobody will leave a voicemail (which, I think will change over time as folks know the functionality exists),

Situation today: I get a voicemail prompt. If I leave a message it could be read anywhere immediately after I leave it or some unknown time in the future

Situation in the future: I get a voicemail prompt. If I leave a message it could be read as I record it, or some unknown time in the future

Today I'm not really inclined to leave any voicemail because it's unknown if or when it'll be read, and it's more awkward than a call or a text. I'll only leave it if there's literally no other method of communication. I don't see how having a chance that the callee will be reading the voicemail as I leave it will change this.

As it stands the main advantage of call screening is that it makes explicit that someone is on the other line. I'll admit that the advantage of being able to use follow-up prompts isn't really clear (the default prompt of "Go ahead and say your name, and why you are calling" is usually enough).

This is my personal experience, so YMMV, but the way I see it, the live voicemails/call screening is really only useful for random numbers that may or may not be spam calls. 9/10 times (or maybe higher) it's a spam call trying to sell me a car warranty, or scam me with a tech support thing. That other 1/10 it's something I care about, and it would be nice to be able to pick up immediately instead of having to navigate some phone menu when after they leave a voicemail and I confirm that I actually needed to talk to them. Businesses don't text generally, so you're left with live phone calls or voicemails. Having them say who they are and why they're calling is something you already do in a voicemail... so there's no difference.

For actual personal contacts... a text seems like it would be the easier method 99/100 times and I don't think call screening/live voicemail is better in almost any way for personal contacts. Why add some weird AI-interaction abstraction layer to conversation with your personal contacts?

Everyone changed their behaviour when scam calls became more widespread than real calls.

Everyone now texts first. Or we ring a number when exchanging contacts in person so we know the other person got it and knows it’s real.

If this becomes useful, people will start checking their voicemails and leaving them more often.

Samsung comes with screening pre-installed as well, although I think it's just partnership with third party and not in-house solution. But I imagine you can find the functionality simply on play store

While they were at it, they could have also fixed the emergency call bug that - to my knowledge - still exists, and is an instant no from me to any pixel phone.

This is not true at all, why are you spreading this bs?

I think the less advertised feature of iOS 17 “Personal Voice” is probably laying the ground work for features like this along with the “Voicemail Screening” feature people are mentioning. https://www.macrumors.com/2023/05/17/ios-17-personal-voice-f...

Call Screening is in iOS17. I agree that Hold for me would be great on iOS.

iOS 17 has added real time voicemail transcription in a way that sounds a lot like Android's call screening.

It's absolutely not the same feature.

call screening is great. Helps with spam calls. hold for me also useful but I use it less.