The History of Google Phones and My Two Favorites
From a heavyweight beast to more of a welterweight contender
A couple weeks ago I read a great nostalgic post on the history of Google’s Nexus and Pixel phones, by Calvin Wankhede at Android Authority. As a veteran Android phone user, and a big fan of the Pixel line in particular, it got me thinking about a few things. Things like:
It was surprising to realize that the first real (meant for users, not just developers) Google phone - the Nexus One - came out 12 years ago. For some reason I thought they were a little later to the game than that. It also feels crazy to me to learn that the Nexus One ran Android 2.1 - an ancient history level version, used by the Egyptians while building the pyramids :)
It brought back very good memories of using the Nexus 6P (shown above). I had tried a couple of the earlier Nexus phones, but I am a sucker for a big/huge screen and the Nexus 6P delivered that and then some. It felt big, chunky, like a real heavyweight - not everybody’s cup of tea, but definitely mine. This was my first favorite phone from Google.
I was sad when instead of a bigger, chunkier Nexus 7/7P the first Pixel and the Pixel XL devices were smaller, although I did like the concept of the Pixel line - creating more of a unique “Google phone” feel and maybe even culture around the line. It still took a few generations for me to find a Pixel I loved using though.
Which brings me to my current (and all-time) favorite Google phone - the Pixel 7. I’ve written before about the Pixel 6 and 7 phones’ secret weapon - the bigger integration of Google Assistant and AI features that offer almost a bit of magic to the experience of using them.
The Pixel 7 has been a bit of a shock for me. It is smaller than the 7 Pro, and for many years I never took to smaller screens/phones. I am enough of a phone geek that I bought both the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, I’ve used them both a lot over the course of the last few months, and the Pixel 7 is the one I’ve been using consistently for a good while now. I’ve found that I appreciate that it is just a bit lighter than the 7 Pro and that it is much easier to use one-handed. And I’ve found that the slightly smaller screen size is fine, more than fine, and even great to use.
If you’ve read this and you’re an Android / Google phone user, do you have a favorite Google phone? Or a favorite Android phone from Samsung or one of the other Android vendors?