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 beautiful, come on in! Full disclaimer: my earlier iPhone was fairly previous, so it was lengthy overdue an improve, which means that the bar was set very low, however fortunately the Pixel 9 Professional simply cleared it, after which some.
To be sincere, after studying our Pixel 9 Professional overview, I used to be simply curious to search out out what a Google Pixel cellphone could be like, and it turned 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. Positive, they use totally different {hardware}, the haptic suggestions is barely totally different, and have totally different digicam specs, however for on a regular basis use, it’s the expertise of utilizing the cellphone that issues most. When you perceive that you simply’re utilizing the Play Retailer to obtain apps, not the App Retailer, life sort of carries on as regular for an ex-iPhone person. Pixel telephones have face recognition for unlocking the cellphone, so there is 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 so forth, can be found on the Pixel 9 Professional, they usually all work in precisely the identical means. The essential gestures for utilizing the cellphone are comparable sufficient, and my AirPods Professional work with an Android cellphone simply high-quality. I may even preserve my Apple Music subscription and Google Pay works identical to Apple Pay in outlets. Even my banking apps feel and look 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 crushed Apple to the punch by getting its AI assistant, known as Gemini, to market first, however for the time being I’d describe the Gemini execution as considerably clunky.
You’ll be able to inform your Pixel 9 to make use of Gemini as an alternative 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 generally looks like they’re combating one another for possession of the cellphone.
Once I say “Hey Google, launch Gemini”, Google Assistant tells me it will probably’t discover Gemini on the cellphone after which begins to inform me in regards to the Mission Gemini spaceflight missions! The one technique to get to Gemini Reside (the half the place you discuss to your cellphone and it talks again to you want a human) is by launching Gemini after which touching the Gemini Reside button on the cellphone. It feels counterintuitive to have to the touch the cellphone to get to the half the place you discuss to the cellphone… However the lack of deep integration goes additional – you may’t begin timers from inside Gemini Reside proper now, as an example, and a whole lot of the options that Google confirmed off on the launch occasion, like looking out in your Gmail inbox utilizing Gemini Reside, require extensions that haven’t launched but. Mainly, a whole lot of Gemini Reside is ‘coming quickly’. Plus, it’s important to pay for it. You get a 12 months’s free trial with a brand new Pixel 9 cellphone, 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 by way of a Google One AI Premium Plan, which does include some good extras, like 2TB of cupboard space.
So, it seems to be 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. We now have to attend for them to reach in iOS 18.1 when it launches in October (hopefully), then now we have to attend 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 digicam, however then think about the working system and apps, and the way they would slot in with my present workflow. As of late I’m discovering the road between iOS and Android working techniques has blurred sufficient that they really feel interchangeable, so now it’s all the way 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.
