I'm finally fed up with my Samsung Galaxy J36V which now only lets me successfully sign in about half the time if you're lucky enough to have it wake up when you hit the power button. This summer I am going to be buying a relatively new phone that should last me through the rest of my college undergrad days (that would be 3 years.)

I am caught between the Samsung Galaxy S10 and the Google Pixel 3. I have been able to spend a little bit of time with each of these and I'm not sure which will be, for me, the better of these two. I've always been a Samsung person (cause I don't like overpaying for eye candy *cough* apple *cough cough*) but the Google Pixel 3, because of its camera and lack of a dedicated Bixby button, has caught my attention. The fact that it's cheaper does also appeal to me. However, the expandable storage on the Samsung Galaxy S10 is definitely a HUGE bonus, and the display is also nothing to sneeze at. At the moment I'm leaning toward the Galaxy S10 purely due to specs, but I would love to hear your guys' opinions on the matter.
I've used a few different phones and I definitely like the flagship samsung phones the most! I hae also been looking at the google pixel phones, but I think the s10 would be best
Good that you're not deciding between the iPhone 8/10/11; I am not a fan of iPhones, except that Game Center is a thing.
I would personally go for the S10, especially since you are already leaning toward it. The pros you have listed for the Pixel 3 are nice, but the Bixby button on the S10 can easily be disabled, and as for the camera, unless you really care that much about the camera the S10 should suit your everyday needs just fine. Also, it has a headphone jack, which may or may not be a big deal, depending on your needs.
I'd also suggest the S10, it's slightly cheaper (actually the Pixel 3 is on sale for $200 off so it's cheaper at the moment), it'll be able to handle whatever you throw at it, doesn't have an ugly notch, has a headphone jack, the Bixby button can be remapped now, and is just a nice phone in general. I'd like to add that the Pixel has a longer OS-update lifespan (3 years minimum compared to Samsung's typical 2 years of support) however, since it's Google, you're giving up just about any privacy you'd hope to have on your phone.
Doesn't just about any Android device have a ton of Google's apps and services preinstalled?
Travis wrote:
Doesn't just about any Android device have a ton of Google's apps and services preinstalled?
True, but you can disable/uninstall most of those apps/services. However, I'll bet Google still has some privacy/ tracking nightmare software built into the Pixel that you can't remove easily even with rooting (best solution I found was installing a different OS). On the other hand the Galaxy is, of course, not made by Google so I'd trust it a bit more than a Pixel.
There probably isn't any difference between the two in terms of "things that spy on you by default," given they're both licensed Android packages.

Had you asked this question yesterday I'd have pointed you at half-price Pixels which was a very nice deal.
TheLastMillennial wrote:
Travis wrote:
Doesn't just about any Android device have a ton of Google's apps and services preinstalled?
True, but you can disable/uninstall most of those apps/services. However, I'll bet Google still has some privacy/ tracking nightmare software built into the Pixel that you can't remove easily even with rooting (best solution I found was installing a different OS). On the other hand the Galaxy is, of course, not made by Google so I'd trust it a bit more than a Pixel.

It also depends on the phone, some phones come with more and some with less preinstalled. To be fair though, almost all of the preinstalled apps are probably going to be used by the average buyer anyway.
TheLastMillennial wrote:
True, but you can disable/uninstall most of those apps/services. However, I'll bet Google still has some privacy/ tracking nightmare software built into the Pixel that you can't remove easily even with rooting (best solution I found was installing a different OS). On the other hand the Galaxy is, of course, not made by Google so I'd trust it a bit more than a Pixel.


Well, the other companies (Samsung included) often like to include their own uninstallable junk, and who knows what that does. It seems to me to be a case of pick your poison more than anything.
Hands down go with the Pixel. You' won't have to wait as your carrier makes their tweaks before releasing an update. The perk here is that you'll get the security updates that much faster.

Once Google releases an update, they're done. Whereas Samsung, Sony, HTC, etc have to go through additional steps. For every update, even a security update, and it's why I'd pick a Google phone like the Pixel above anything else on Android.

ninja edit: You also get that really awesome Google Assistant Call Screening on Pixel
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/04/galaxy-s10-review-for-1000-samsung-needs-to-offer-a-more-complete-package/
Quote:
Since this is a Samsung phone, let's talk crapware! This is an unlocked phone direct from Samsung, so with no carrier involvement, this is as good as it gets. Despite being a premium, $1,000 smartphone, the Galaxy S10 comes loaded with ads, even my unlocked version. There are apps from Flipboard and Spotify as well as a unremovable version of Facebook. McAfee Anti-virus is baked into the operating system as "security," and the Samsung Gallery app wants to share my location with Foursquare. The storage management settings, which is just a simple file-cleanup app, is "Powered by Qihoo 360," a Chinese security company. A caller-ID feature built into the phone app is provided by a company called "Hiya."

Once you run through setup and connect to Wi-Fi, the phone spawns an undismissable "Secure Wi-Fi" notification, which, it turns out, is an ad for McAfee VPN subscription service. I tried blocking the notification—it's not blockable—but it turns out you can open the advertisement, carefully consider subscribing to McAfee VPN, say "No," and then it will go away. Cool.
Tari wrote:

Quote:
Since this is a Samsung phone, let's talk crapware! This is an unlocked phone direct from Samsung, so with no carrier involvement, this is as good as it gets. Despite being a premium, $1,000 smartphone, the Galaxy S10 comes loaded with ads, even my unlocked version. There are apps from Flipboard and Spotify as well as a unremovable version of Facebook. McAfee Anti-virus is baked into the operating system as "security," and the Samsung Gallery app wants to share my location with Foursquare. The storage management settings, which is just a simple file-cleanup app, is "Powered by Qihoo 360," a Chinese security company. A caller-ID feature built into the phone app is provided by a company called "Hiya."

Once you run through setup and connect to Wi-Fi, the phone spawns an undismissable "Secure Wi-Fi" notification, which, it turns out, is an ad for McAfee VPN subscription service. I tried blocking the notification—it's not blockable—but it turns out you can open the advertisement, carefully consider subscribing to McAfee VPN, say "No," and then it will go away. Cool.


Wow, this is the kind of stuff that makes me think, "just get an iPhone." You will never see a problem like that on an iPhone.
But between the two, the pixel.
So, at first it sounded like the S10 was getting the most support but just recently everybody seems to be pointing towards the Pixel 3.
Quote:
Hands down go with the Pixel.

I'm hearing all the reasons, and I do think that the Pixel 3 would be able to handle everything I need it to. Slightly more specific question: Does the Pixel 3 run regular android apps? I'm just not exactly sure what the OS on it is. I've been developing an android app and testing it on my phone so I would like to know if that would still work on the Pixel 3. For some reason I'm not able to really find out one way or the other.

But in other news, I will be getting this phone much earlier than I anticipated because my Galaxy J36V just bit the dust today. I still want to make an informed decision, but there's a chance I will get whichever one I decide on Sunday. Not a 100% chance, but a chance.
Yes, the Pixel is on the same version of Android as the S10 (Android 9 Pie). As far as updates go, you will definitely get more updates for the Pixel because Google makes Android updates available instantly, while Samsung takes a notoriously long time. Also, the Pixel 3 is currently on sale for only $600 on the Google store, which is a pretty good deal.
Jeffitus wrote:
Also, the Pixel 3 is currently on sale for only $600 on the Google store, which is a pretty good deal.


Do you know for how long? It doesn't say on their website.
Botboy3000 wrote:
Jeffitus wrote:
Also, the Pixel 3 is currently on sale for only $600 on the Google store, which is a pretty good deal.


Do you know for how long? It doesn't say on their website.


According to the Verge, until May 6.
Yeah, while I currently have a Samsung tablet and a Samsung phone (the former because Google didn't seem to have its own brand tablet and the latter given as a gift), I've been considering myself going to Google's own offerings like the Pixel next time around, because aside from the more prompt updates, Google itself would offer a pure Android experience the way it was meant to be used. The problem with Samsung is that they heavily modify the system, and while some might like the changes, it also means they tend to take the liberty to modify and even remove (or make a lot worse) features that are supposed to be in that version of Android. Some popular tweaks and hacks do not work on Samsung-flavored devices, and there tends to be a lot of extra annoying junk installed (including what I feel are essentially pointless duplicates of Google's own apps which often aren't even as good).

But since I haven't spent much time using stock Android, I don't know for sure which would really be better in my view. It's just a thought I've been toying with. But for some reason, I find myself trusting Samsung quite a bit less than Google.
Ok, so from what I'm hearing, the Pixel is the way to go. I'll probably be at the Verizon store tomorrow, so as of now, that's what I'm going with, but if you have any other opinions, I'd love to hear them. It's just a case of "speak now or forever hold your peace" type deal. Razz
  
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