Samsung outdoes Google on what Google does best
If there’s a truth in Android phones, it’s this: Google makes the best software and Samsung makes the best hardware. Besides Android itself, Google’s Android design is considered the best software, like the interface on the best Pixel phones. Samsung hardware is the best you can get, including the Galaxy S23 Ultra and myriad components, especially Samsung displays. Then, a strange thing happened this year. Everything switched.
Google made a foldable phone. Google has been making phones for a long time, kind of. It used to make phones called Nexus phones, but it would outsource the job of actual phone making to other phone makers. Samsung made a few Nexus phones, but some were also made by LG (eg. Nexus 5) and even Huawei (eg. Nexus 6p).
When Google started making Pixel phones, it designed its own hardware, inside and out. The phones have been okay, but they’re not the best phones you can buy, and not even the best Android phones. That’s been by design, because until recently, with the Pixel 6 Pro, Google Pixel phones were inexpensive bargains compared to premium phones like the Samsung Galaxy S23.
Google phones used cheaper materials and cheaper parts. The phones cost hundreds less than expensive Samsung flagship phones. If you bought a Google Pixel phone, it was because you loved Google’s software, not because the phone was very good.
Now, Google phones are very good. Maybe not the best phones you can buy, but very close to the top. If you really love Android, the Pixel 7 Pro is the top phone I recommend, though the Galaxy S23 Ultra is a better all-around phone for everyone, not just Android fanatics.Google made better choices on its first foldable
Google made a foldable phone, and it’s also very good. In fact, the Pixel Fold is my pick for the best foldable phone you can buy, if you want a big, folding tablet display. I use the Motorola Razr Plus more often because I love the compact size, but the Pixel Fold is a real powerhouse, and it gets a lot right.
In fact, the Pixel Fold gets things right that Samsung gets wrong; things that Samsung has been getting wrong with every generation of the Galaxy Z Fold device for years. Google revealed some fundamental flaws in Samsung’s choices, and that’s why it makes the superlative Fold.
The biggest difference is the aspect ratio of the cover display.
