I have been a contented iPhone proprietor for the reason that 3GS method again in 2009, and sure, I’ve upgraded since then. Not as soon as in these 16 years have I been genuinely tempted to change to Android or a Pixel cellphone. However watching the Google Pixel 10 launch this week was the primary time shortly that I’ve began to a minimum of entertain a non-Apple future.
Google’s new Pixels are removed from excellent, and I am nonetheless a great distance from switching. But it surely was the general tone of the occasion (from a tech perspective, somewhat than the celeb cringe-fest) that left me sensing a momentum shift in smartphones. Pixels will proceed to be area of interest in comparison with iPhones, however Google is aware of that AI is its period – and the Pixel 10 launch confirmed that its bullishness is well-founded.
The Pixels are the most iPhone-like phones on Android – rather than flashy specs and benchmark battles, they’re all about features. And it’s those features, plus Google’s surprise push into repairability and fun accessories, that caught my eye as a long-time Apple fan.
Here are the five things that I think Apple needs to respond to at its iPhone 17 launch in September.
1. Genuinely useful AI features
The big asterisk here is we don’t know exactly how well Google’s new AI features, like Magic Cue, are going to work in practice. And I’ve also lost count of the number of times Google has promised us seamless AI wizardry, only for it to fall apart on contact with the real world.
But my impression from the Pixel 10 launch is that Google has some great ideas and, most importantly, is in the best position to pull them off. Take Magic Cue, for example – it’s billed as the AI smartphone assistant we’ve all wanted for the past few years, popping up with relevant files or calendar entries when we’re messaging or phoning friends.
Even as an iPhone user, I’m still very much in Google’s world as a user of Calendar, Maps, and Gmail. I even use the Gmail app instead of Apple Mail on my iPhone. So the idea of an AI assistant that can make connections between all those services is an appealing one – and I don’t really see Apple Intelligence doing that better than Gemini anytime soon.
Obviously, there are privacy concerns, and it’ll likely be a slow-burn feature initially, but a lot of Google’s AI features, like voice translation, work well on-device. It’s long felt like Apple is playing catch-up in the AI spaces that appeal to me most, which aren’t Genmojis and Image Playground. And the Pixel 10 launch really rammed that home.
2. Foldable first steps
Google knows it isn’t a leader in foldables, but I like the fact that it’s willing to at least throw its hat into the ring and iterate. As our hands-on Google Pixel 10 Fold review concludes, it is not a reinvention and stays a few steps behind the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 resulting from its inferior weight, thickness, and cameras.
However the foldable’s existence makes the Pixel 10 lineup really feel extra thrilling. If I had been on Workforce Pixel somewhat than Apple, I might be comforted in figuring out that whereas Google is not a foldables champion, it is a minimum of refining its craft and getting the real-world suggestions it must make an important Pixel Fold in the future. Possibly.
After so a few years with Apple, I do know that is not the way it rolls with new know-how. It waits for others to publicly iron out the kinks earlier than leapfrogging everybody with the polished model they have been stumbling in the direction of. In concept, a minimum of.
Am I assured it’s going to do that with foldables? Not notably, if the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional and Apple Intelligence are something to go by. The iPhone Fold is rumored to be fixing quite a lot of foldable points (screen creases, weak hinges, and extra), however by the point it launches, I is likely to be extra enthusiastic about screen-less AI gadgets that’ll make foldables appear like a Psion Organizer.
3. AI health coach
Health and fitness is the area where I’m most excited about AI’s personalized potential. While I’ve long been a fan of open-water swimming and triathlons, I’ve by no means been a real information nerd with BPM and VO2 max – in order that’s why Google’s new AI health coach actually appeals.
Sadly, we did not hear a lot in the best way of specifics, however the idea is thrilling – a private AI well being coach, educated in your train, sleep, and vitamin information, that may make little tweaks to your plans based mostly in your metrics and the way you are feeling.
I’ve at all times struggled with the stress between coaching plans and actual life, with accidents, poor sleep, and different occasions typically clothes-lining my good intentions, and resulting in extended breaks. In concept, the brand new AI well being coach for the redesigned Fitbit app might resolve this – for instance, letting me conversationally chat with the assistant about workout routines for my stiff again or the very best various exercise for my sleep-deprived physique.
Is Apple making one thing like this? Nearly actually, with rumors about Project Mulberry just lately suggesting that an AI well being coach might be a part of a revamped Apple Well being app. However I am once more not satisfied that Apple is best-placed to win right here – Google’s AI coach is powered by Gemini, and up to now Apple Intelligence options have been underwhelming.
4. Camera consistency
I’ve long been a buyer of Pro model iPhones, because cameras are important to me – but I don’t see why telephoto cameras should be reserved for pricier models anymore. The Pixel 10 series has done away with this disparity, with even the base model now coming with a 5x telephoto camera.
This reflects well on the Pixel series as a whole. They’re much friendlier to the average photographer than iPhones, which are rumored to again be keeping their telephoto cameras restricted to Pro models on the iPhone 17 vary. At the same time as a Professional proprietor, that feels a bit imply.
This sense of constructing images accessible to everybody can be behind Digicam Coach, a brand new AI function that tells you the way finest to compose and shoot photographs. It is not a function I might use, however I just like the idea and I am glad that it exists.
That stated, I am not a fan of all of Google’s AI digicam options. Its new 100x Professional Res Zoom function (to not be confused with Tremendous Res Zoom) sounds prefer it’s overstepping the mark with regards to how a lot AI-created element is in our photographs. It does not but work on folks, and Professional Res Zoom photographs are tagged as ‘edited with AI instruments’, nevertheless it nonetheless looks like a slippery slope for a default digicam app to me.
5. The Pixel Watch 4’s repairability
I’m a longtime Apple Watch proprietor, however the brand new Pixel Watch 4 has overwhelmed it to a really cool function. So long as you have got a Torx screwdriver, you possibly can exchange its battery or show at residence.
Impressively, this much-needed function does not have an effect on the smartwatch’s waterproofing. The one draw back is that Google has needed to transfer the charging pins to the aspect of the system, which implies one more new charging dock. Nonetheless, that dock additionally seems to be fairly cool, and the repairability is total an enormous web win.
Whereas I am anticipating the Apple Watch to match the Pixel Watch 4’s different massive improve –phone-free satellite connectivity for emergencies – I am much less assured we’ll see any main design modifications to this 12 months’s Apple Watch 11.
The rumors are pointing to a major redesign for the Apple Watch 12, however there’s nonetheless nothing within the hypothesis about repairability. It is one other space the place it once more looks like Apple is lagging behind and pleased to rest on its ‘Carbon Neutral’ laurels, however I hope I am pleasantly shocked come September.
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