It is a dark time for smartphone fans. The news seems glum. Apple is sinking deeper and deeper into trouble over its failure to deliver a satisfying Apple Intelligence package. Phone makers like Motorola launch brand new phones with an hour explaining the AI features, then forget to mention the phone itself.
Samsung finds itself holding hands with Google as it drops AI feature after AI feature – first it was just Circle to Search, but now Samsung has given Google Gemini the Bixby button?! Dark times indeed.
The worst part is that nobody asked for these features. I don’t want these AI features on my phone. I could already drop a screenshot image into Google Search, I didn’t need to draw a circle to search. I never looked at my iPhone 14 and thought, ‘Gee, I wish this phone could inaccurately summarize my notifications for me.’
For every great AI feature, like Google’s awesome call screening features, there are twice as many terrible AI features, like the image generators that are problematic on so many levels, or the news headline summaries that simply make up imaginary news.
Bad AI is distracting us from great phones
That’s sad, because if you took away this AI bloat, today’s phones are… really great?! Today’s Android phones have matured beyond most of the complaints I’ve held about Android: that it was too complex and lacked a coherent interface design.
To Apple’s defense, there are so many incredible features in iOS 18, especially the features that work between iPhones and bring iPhone people together, that it seems a shame Apple wasted so much of its billboard space on features that don’t even exist, yet, like the super-intelligent Siri that unfortunately failed to graduate in time.
Take the Google Pixel 9 series, for example. Google has a great new design, and the phone is more durable than ever before. That means it’s less likely to break, and you’ll be able to keep it longer than phones in the past. To back that up, Google also gives you seven years of Android updates. The phone shipped with Android 14, and it should last through Android 21!
That’s just incredible. A few years ago, we were lucky to get any software update promised from an Android phone maker. Today, Google and Samsung both promise seven years of Android updates for their top phones, and even Qualcomm promises its Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset will be supported for the next eight years by the chipmaker.
If you haven’t considered Android, or if you left the platform years ago, it’s worth a new look. Google has removed most of the confusing customization options that cluttered the home screen and app drawer. The whole interface is clean and tidy, and easier to use than ever. If you want to get complicated, you can still download a third-party homescreen launcher app, but the basic Pixel version of Android is refreshing and simplified.
Apple is just as distracted as Android
If you haven’t tried Apple’s iOS in a while, there are amazing new features that let you share between iPhones. You can share your contact information, photos, or even music playlists to let friends add songs to the party mix. You do this just by bringing two iPhones close together, and the phones do the rest using a feature called AirDrop. It works like magic, and it even has a cool magical effect on the screen to show it’s working.
Apple has also added great safety features to the iPhone that let you check in with friends and family so they can know you’re safe. If you think that iOS is too simple, think again. Apple has made it easy to completely customize and rearrange your Control Panel, and the iPhone homescreen now has the same sort of widgets, folders, and layout options you’d expect from an Android phone.
Best of all, Apple’s latest titanium build means the new iPhone is also more durable than ever before. Apple doesn’t promise seven years of iOS updates, but it has consistently delivered at least five years of iOS to every single iPhone, and recently, Apple has offered the latest software to iPhones that are even older.
While AI seems unavoidable, you can still ignore most of the latest AI features and just enjoy a great smartphone. Apple and Google are making top-notch phones in spite of their best AI efforts, so don’t let the AI marketing and buzzwords scare you away. The Pixel 9 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro are the best phones these companies have made. Hopefully, the quest for smarter AI doesn’t keep the hardware from improving as well.
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philip.berne@futurenet.com (Philip Berne)
