Samsung vs Google

[Vectraat]

So I'm trying to decide between Pixel, Samsung and OnePlus, but I've had shitty experiences at some point with all of these companies. I've actually probably been the most disappointed with Samsung.... but my last phone with them was the S7 Edge, so maybe things are different now?

What I'm wondering is the following: 

Does the Galaxy S25 have a dedicated Gemini button or a button I can assign to Gemini? And does it have the bar at the bottom that Pixel phones have -- which is used for a number of different functions. E.g. press and hold for circle to search or using it to switch to a different window.

[keskparane]

Don't worry, you'll have no trouble getting Gemini. It will be in your face. They recently repurposed the main power button for Gemini. Rude!

[Poinkachu]

9 minutes ago, keskparane said:

Don't worry, you'll have no trouble getting Gemini. It will be in your face. They recently repurposed the main power button for Gemini. Rude!

Well, better than Bixby still.

[Millios]

49 minutes ago, Poinkachu said:

Well, better than Bixby still.

Tell that to the middle button that takes you to the homescreen

Press it for a nanosecond too long and gemini comes in like an unwanted uncle in a family gathering

[Poinkachu]

3 minutes ago, Millios said:

Tell that to the middle button that takes you to the homescreen

Press it for a nanosecond too long and gemini comes in like an unwanted uncle in a family gathering

Ahaha yeap.
Throughout my years of using Samsung's.
My body has adapted to press it quickly enough to not invoke the shit

[Millios]

1 minute ago, Poinkachu said:

Ahaha yeap.
Throughout my years of using Samsung's.
My body has adapted to press it quickly enough to not invoke the shit

[Commodus]

5 hours ago, Vectraat said:

So I'm trying to decide between Pixel, Samsung and OnePlus, but I've had shitty experiences at some point with all of these companies. I've actually probably been the most disappointed with Samsung.... but my last phone with them was the S7 Edge, so maybe things are different now?

What I'm wondering is the following: 

Does the Galaxy S25 have a dedicated Gemini button or a button I can assign to Gemini? And does it have the bar at the bottom that Pixel phones have -- which is used for a number of different functions. E.g. press and hold for circle to search or using it to switch to a different window.

The Samsung experience has definitely changed since the S7 Edge, although some of its habits remain (pushing a lot of its services, for example). I won't rehash what others have said about AI buttons, but Samsung has a fairly close relationship with Google on this front.

 

My inclinination is toward the Google Pixel line as I love its camera prowess, "pure" Android, and its latest designs. I'm also a fan of getting new OS versions as soon as they're ready rather than waiting for the vendor to launch a customized version a few months later.

 

With that said, the OnePlus 13 is what I'd call a pleasant surprise. The cameras don't quite reach Pixel or iPhone levels, but they're consistently strong and have some eerily effective AI zoom upscaling. It's fast, of course, and the blue vegan leather variant is a standout in design. And then there's the battery life, which is superb even for a large phone. My only misgivings are OS updates and aftermarket support that won't be as strong in North America as with Apple/Google/Samsung.

[Vectraat]

4 hours ago, Commodus said:

The Samsung experience has definitely changed since the S7 Edge, although some of its habits remain (pushing a lot of its services, for example). I won't rehash what others have said about AI buttons, but Samsung has a fairly close relationship with Google on this front.

 

My inclinination is toward the Google Pixel line as I love its camera prowess, "pure" Android, and its latest designs. I'm also a fan of getting new OS versions as soon as they're ready rather than waiting for the vendor to launch a customized version a few months later.

 

With that said, the OnePlus 13 is what I'd call a pleasant surprise. The cameras don't quite reach Pixel or iPhone levels, but they're consistently strong and have some eerily effective AI zoom upscaling. It's fast, of course, and the blue vegan leather variant is a standout in design. And then there's the battery life, which is superb even for a large phone. My only misgivings are OS updates and aftermarket support that won't be as strong in North America as with Apple/Google/Samsung.

My S7 Experience was awful. The edge implementation was bad because you'd accidentally hit icons (terrible palm rejection). And there was an issue with data and WiFi on mine so I thought NOPE, It's going back. And my S3 (which was my first Samsung smartphone)....was the most buggy smartphone experience ever. I'm really not sure how that phone became an Android flagship device. So my experiences with Samsung aren't great and I recall one of my friends hating Bixby a lot. 

But my recent Pixel experiences with the 7a and 9...there has been an issue with WiFi where I have to toggle it on and off to load videos/images from social media at times (using data). No other smartphone has behaved like that for me in this house and I've used 3 others. In fact no other WiFi device (laptops/tablets and so forth) have issues with Wifi in this house, It's just the Pixels and I see other people complaining about shit WiFi on Reddit. 

With OnePlus I have the 8T and there's some funky software/hardware issues going on. I feel like I got 2 phones from a bad batch with the second phone being less offensive but still something really weird going on with the internal storage...a very aggressive battery notification that I cannot disable and I hear a "pop" sound after nearly every video I shoot and no way to get rid of it so I just gave the phone away. 

The issues I experience with Pixel devices have been the lesser of evils, but I don't wanna have to toggle my Wifi on/off to get stuff to load every now and then. It's much worse on my 7a than my 9 and my 9 is only like 12 days new so it could prolly get worse over time I imagine.

Is OneUI gonna piss me off like it seems to do with a lot of other people?

[Commodus]

5 hours ago, Vectraat said:

My S7 Experience was awful. The edge implementation was bad because you'd accidentally hit icons (terrible palm rejection). And there was an issue with data and WiFi on mine so I thought NOPE, It's going back. And my S3 (which was my first Samsung smartphone)....was the most buggy smartphone experience ever. I'm really not sure how that phone became an Android flagship device. So my experiences with Samsung aren't great and I recall one of my friends hating Bixby a lot. 

But my recent Pixel experiences with the 7a and 9...there has been an issue with WiFi where I have to toggle it on and off to load videos/images from social media at times (using data). No other smartphone has behaved like that for me in this house and I've used 3 others. In fact no other WiFi device (laptops/tablets and so forth) have issues with Wifi in this house, It's just the Pixels and I see other people complaining about shit WiFi on Reddit. 

With OnePlus I have the 8T and there's some funky software/hardware issues going on. I feel like I got 2 phones from a bad batch with the second phone being less offensive but still something really weird going on with the internal storage...a very aggressive battery notification that I cannot disable and I hear a "pop" sound after nearly every video I shoot and no way to get rid of it so I just gave the phone away. 

The issues I experience with Pixel devices have been the lesser of evils, but I don't wanna have to toggle my Wifi on/off to get stuff to load every now and then. It's much worse on my 7a than my 9 and my 9 is only like 12 days new so it could prolly get worse over time I imagine.

Is OneUI gonna piss me off like it seems to do with a lot of other people?

One UI 7 is a nice step up, but I don’t know that it’s a radical overhaul if you’ve used recent versions.

 

With Google and OnePlus, it helps that both brands have turned a corner in terms of design and quality. I just hope that holds in the long run.

 

 

[Vectraat]

56 minutes ago, Commodus said:

One UI 7 is a nice step up, but I don’t know that it’s a radical overhaul if you’ve used recent versions.

 

With Google and OnePlus, it helps that both brands have turned a corner in terms of design and quality. I just hope that holds in the long run.

 

 

TouchWiz 6.0 UI on the Samsung S7 Edge is the last version of Samsung's OS that I used. 

The OnePlus3T was the best smartphone I ever used, but the OnePlus8T was easily one of the worst I've used. I had 2 of them that were basically fucked, so I'm super hesitant to give OnePlus another shot. Their CS is also terrible compared to what it used to be. Can't say Google is much better in the CS department, but It's prolly an issue everywhere at this point. 

[Commodus]

20 hours ago, Vectraat said:

TouchWiz 6.0 UI on the Samsung S7 Edge is the last version of Samsung's OS that I used. 

The OnePlus3T was the best smartphone I ever used, but the OnePlus8T was easily one of the worst I've used. I had 2 of them that were basically fucked, so I'm super hesitant to give OnePlus another shot. Their CS is also terrible compared to what it used to be. Can't say Google is much better in the CS department, but It's prolly an issue everywhere at this point. 

You’ll probably appreciate OneUI 7 (and 8, for that matter) in that case. For one thing, Samsung isn’t trying quite so hard to foist its services and lets Google have some breathing room.

 

Can’t vouch for OnePlus’ current customer service, but the OP13 at least is a wonderful phone. You get the sense that the company actually listened to some complaints and addressed them, even if it’s not the best phone for everything.

 

And Google… I wish it had more retail stores, and that those shops provided Apple-like service (that is, your phone is replaced or fixed in-house for many issues), but the Pixel 9 series is at least well-designed.

[Vectraat]

36 minutes ago, Commodus said:

You’ll probably appreciate OneUI 7 (and 8, for that matter) in that case. For one thing, Samsung isn’t trying quite so hard to foist its services and lets Google have some breathing room.

 

Can’t vouch for OnePlus’ current customer service, but the OP13 at least is a wonderful phone. You get the sense that the company actually listened to some complaints and addressed them, even if it’s not the best phone for everything.

 

And Google… I wish it had more retail stores, and that those shops provided Apple-like service (that is, your phone is replaced or fixed in-house for many issues), but the Pixel 9 series is at least well-designed.

Yeah, I've been checking reviews of the OnePlus13 and it does seem like a great phone... Do you have one? If so, out of curiosity does it have live wallpapers and do the font colors/UI elements change color to match the wallpaper like they do on Pixels? E.g. I select a mostly green landscape wallpaper and the menu buttons/fonts are now a similar shade of green. I really like that a lot and I think I'd miss it. 

How's the WIFi/Data connectivity/stability? I live on the WC of Canada and sometimes I wonder if I'm making a right decision going with an overseas company like OnePlus. 

My Pixel 8T had a camera issue, internal storage issue, fingerprint sensor was shit and notifications I could not disable. Hence I'm super reluctant to ever go back to OnePlus. I gave the phone to my dad (He doesn't do much on it). But just the other day I plugged it into my computer to transfer some photos and maybe 1/3 of them transferred properly, the others were somehow corrupt. The phone does weird annoying shit like that. I feel like I just got 2 phones from a bad batch of 8T's or something. And then dealing with tech support was a nightmare. I shoulda returned because I noticed some weird stuff within the 15 days but got too busy and couldn't be bothered. 

What do you feel like the OnePlus13 is lacking? 
 

[Commodus]

On 5/31/2025 at 10:27 PM, Vectraat said:

Yeah, I've been checking reviews of the OnePlus13 and it does seem like a great phone... Do you have one? If so, out of curiosity does it have live wallpapers and do the font colors/UI elements change color to match the wallpaper like they do on Pixels? E.g. I select a mostly green landscape wallpaper and the menu buttons/fonts are now a similar shade of green. I really like that a lot and I think I'd miss it. 

How's the WIFi/Data connectivity/stability? I live on the WC of Canada and sometimes I wonder if I'm making a right decision going with an overseas company like OnePlus. 

My Pixel 8T had a camera issue, internal storage issue, fingerprint sensor was shit and notifications I could not disable. Hence I'm super reluctant to ever go back to OnePlus. I gave the phone to my dad (He doesn't do much on it). But just the other day I plugged it into my computer to transfer some photos and maybe 1/3 of them transferred properly, the others were somehow corrupt. The phone does weird annoying shit like that. I feel like I just got 2 phones from a bad batch of 8T's or something. And then dealing with tech support was a nightmare. I shoulda returned because I noticed some weird stuff within the 15 days but got too busy and couldn't be bothered. 

What do you feel like the OnePlus13 is lacking? 
 

I do — it's not my main phone (I'm deep in the Apple ecosystem, so an iPhone makes more sense there), but I've used it a lot.

 

There are live wallpapers and color themes, but OnePlus uses its own customization system (which I'd say is different, not necessarily worse). It's not as direct as the Pixel customizer but also has some touches Google doesn't (at least, not until Android 16 shows up).

 

Connectivity has been rock solid, with full 5G service where I'd normally get it (including Canada, the US, and the Bahamas).

 

The OnePlus 13 is a pretty solid package, but there are areas where I'd like it to be better. The cameras aren't quite as good as the best in the market, mainly in low light. Apple is still the absolute champion when it comes to mobile video. I'd like native Qi2 wireless charging instead of needing a case, and OnePlus doesn't match Apple/Google/Samsung in terms of 6-7 years of OS updates.

 

Also, OnePlus' requirements for full-speed wired and wireless charging are a bit arbitrary. It's not surprising that you'd need special chargers (OP includes its wired brick in the box), it's that they still depend on the company's USB-A to USB-C cables. You can't just grab a spare USB-C cable and expect full speed, although third-party charging can still be quick enough.

 

I don't mind supporting an overseas company (Samsung is overseas, after all). It's more that you'll very likely end up mailing in your phone if it breaks where you can frequently race to a store or repair shop for other brands.