Apple is about to launch the model new iPhone 16 at its “Glowtime” occasion on September 9, and it’s made me marvel what it may do to win me again. When the Google Pixel 9 vary got here out I switched to a Google Pixel 9 Professional. Having been an iPhone person all my life I used to be nervous about dipping my toes within the Android waters, however I can report that the temperature is gorgeous, come on in! Full disclaimer: my earlier iPhone was fairly previous, so it was lengthy overdue an improve, that means that the bar was set very low, however fortunately the Pixel 9 Professional simply cleared it, after which some.
To be trustworthy, after studying our Pixel 9 Professional evaluate, I used to be simply curious to search out out what a Google Pixel telephone can be like, and it grew to become readily obvious that for on a regular basis use, there’s little or no that separates a Google Pixel 9 from a brand new iPhone. Certain, they use totally different {hardware}, the haptic suggestions is barely totally different, and have totally different digital camera specs, however for on a regular basis use, it’s the expertise of utilizing the telephone that issues most. When you perceive that you just’re utilizing the Play Retailer to obtain apps, not the App Retailer, life form of carries on as regular for an ex-iPhone person. Pixel telephones have face recognition for unlocking the telephone, so there’s no change there for an iPhone person, however in addition they fingerprint recognition when it wants extra safety for funds.
All of the apps I used on my iPhone, like Fb, Threads, X, Instagram, Slack, Gmail, YouTube, and many others, can be found on the Pixel 9 Professional, and so they all work in precisely the identical method. The fundamental gestures for utilizing the telephone are comparable sufficient, and my AirPods Professional work with an Android telephone simply wonderful. I may even preserve my Apple Music subscription and Google Pay works similar to Apple Pay in retailers. Even my banking apps feel and appear the identical.
Apple Intelligence vs Gemini
There may be one space the place Google and Apple have the possibility to distinguish themselves nevertheless, and that’s with synthetic intelligence. Google has overwhelmed Apple to the punch by getting its AI assistant, known as Gemini, to market first, however in the intervening time I’d describe the Gemini execution as considerably clunky.
You possibly can inform your Pixel 9 to make use of Gemini as a substitute of Google Assistant, however there are nonetheless some issues that Gemini can’t do, so it pulls in assist from Google Assistant anyway, and it typically seems like they’re combating one another for possession of the telephone.
After I say “Hey Google, launch Gemini”, Google Assistant tells me it could possibly’t discover Gemini on the telephone after which begins to inform me in regards to the Undertaking Gemini spaceflight missions! The one technique to get to Gemini Stay (the half the place you discuss to your telephone and it talks again to you want a human) is by launching Gemini after which touching the Gemini Stay button on the telephone. It feels counterintuitive to have to the touch the telephone to get to the half the place you discuss to the telephone… However the lack of deep integration goes additional – you’ll be able to’t begin timers from inside Gemini Stay proper now, for example, and lots of the options that Google confirmed off on the launch occasion, like looking out in your Gmail inbox utilizing Gemini Stay, require extensions that haven’t launched but. Mainly, lots of Gemini Stay is ‘coming soon’. Plus, you must pay for it. You get a 12 months’s free trial with a brand new Pixel 9 telephone, however after the 12 months is up it’s going to value you $20 a month (£18.99, AU$30) to be a Gemini Superior subscriber through a Google One AI Premium Plan, which does include some good extras, like 2TB of cupboard space.
So, it seems like Apple has an opportunity to make use of Apple Intelligence to raised Gemini when it launches the iPhone 16 vary. Sadly, it’s not like Apple is about to knock Gemini out of the park with Apple Intelligence. At launch, it’s trying just like the iPhone 16 lineup, which comes with iOS 18, gained’t have any Apple Intelligence options in any respect. Now we have to attend for them to reach in iOS 18.1 when it launches in October (hopefully), then we’ve to wait till early 2025 for the total Siri 2.0 expertise.
It was once the case that I’d evaluate telephones in two methods, firstly on specs like processor, reminiscence, and digital camera, however then contemplate the working system and apps, and the way they would slot in with my present workflow. Nowadays I’m discovering the road between iOS and Android working methods has blurred sufficient that they really feel interchangeable, so now it’s right down to who nails AI. There may be one exception to the spec comparability although, and that’s RAM. RAM is integral to how properly AI performs on a smartphone, so I’ll have an interest to see how a lot RAM Apple packs into the iPhone 16 vary on September 9, after which we’ll know if Apple can win me again.
