I was reading through this article and it made me think, am I one of those blind fans? We (jokingly) excuse apple fans for being sheeple and continuing to support Apple despite some of their decisions. But when you step back and we start to sweep around the Google house we begin to see some of the dirt we grew blind to. It's the old saying that you seem to be able to spot all the dirty spots in someone else's house but miss the dirty spots in your own house. There are areas that if we were to be honest, Apple handles much better than Google. For one, you are able to purchase their phones. Yeah on release day you may get backed up and have to wait a few days to a week, but other than that it's fairly easy to get one. Where as Google still struggles with stocking Pixel/Nexus phones despite their demand being less than that of the iPhone or Galaxy. The other issue that I have not ran into, but heard about, involved phone exchanges. Thankfully I personally hadn't had to deal with that. But that very issue back in 2009 was what caused me to switch from the iPhone to the Droid. But I'll be fair and say that apple have more brick and mortar stores as well as the ability to go back to either the carrier or best buy (Apple users correct me if I am wrong). Still, I personally love the Google brand and have praised their over the phone customer service on several occasions. I plan on buying the pixel 2 but I do see issues that Google needs to work on if they want to truly compete with Apple and Samsung. The question is do they truly care to make those changes or are they putting on a front to keep the nexus fans coming back willing to pay the premium price they are now demanding for their pixel line compared to their nexus line? Source: Stuck Pixel: How Google is dropping the ball with its "consumer" phone strategy (opinion) Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Considering Google doesn't make their devices "in house" I can definitely understand why it may be harder to keep stock. Apple has complete control over all their products, to my understanding. Sure they source parts elsewhere, but from manufacturing to sale, Apple is in control, or so it seems. (And please correct me if I'm wrong) The Pixel is my first Google device (not counting the Nexus 7), and although it was easy to get mine, I feel Google may have indeed dropped the ball. I understand the availability of the blue variant not being in stock as it was limited edition, but to still be in short supply of silver and black variants to this day, is surprising to me. Making a deal with Verizon as the exclusive carrier to sell the device too was another mistake. Google doesn't have the brick and mortar stores like Apple does to rely on for sales. As for lack of features for the premium price, yeah a bit disappointing, but in reality did the average consumer really have need for those features, such as water resistance? I have many friends and I myself owned an s7, yet none of us went into the pool with our phones or anything crazy like that. Was it good peace of mind, you bet, but there's also a few videos out there proving the Pixel is fairly water resistant as well. As long as my phone won't die in the rain, I'm good. I think Google's future is bright, the Pixel is a great device and imo the best Android device out now. I still have yet to find another Android device that offers as fluid an experience as the Pixel offers and in everyday use that's what counts. I booted up my s7 edge with Nougat when it first came out and it felt slow and laggy in comparison to my Pixel. I even turned off animations and everything, still felt like it would hiccup every now and then. Google should try something a bit different design-wise. This design was "too safe" and so similar to many other phones. Especially now with bezel-less or curved glass, Google needs to design something that would help them stick out. There's nothing exciting about it, but same could be said about the iPhone.
