Here's What I (a Google Fan) Dislike about my iPhone 14

In the Android vs. Apple debate, I’ve always been in the minority corner (Android). While I haven’t loudly carried the flag for Android, I’ve defended my stance on many occasions. That opportunity always comes up when texting with an iPhone user. 

It has always been playful ridicule and comes from all angles – friends, coworkers, family, etc. No matter how hard I try to convince my attackers that it only makes sense to experience Gmail, Google Search, YouTube, Chrome and other Google-made software on a Google-made phone*, I was never taken seriously.

*Let me clarify here that I am more of a Google fan than an Android fan. That especially goes for phones. In the past, I tried Samsung and Motorola phones that operated on Android but didn’t realize how bad they were until I used a Google Pixel phone. With the Pixel, there are no duplicated browser apps, photo gallery apps or other bloatware like you find on a Samsung. I think that’s one of the bigger dents against Android in the eternal debate. 

Very recently, I caved. I had enjoyed my Google Pixel 3A (2019) right up to the fall of 2022. I decided to give the just-released iPhone 14 a try. The instant regret I felt upon powering-on the iPhone has subsided a bit in the 3 months since then but I thought now would be a good time to list the things I really miss about my Google phone. 

This is a very informal list and in no particular order.

iPhone 14		Google Pixel 3A
Extremely lacking	Wall Paper Selections	Google allowed access to beautiful, rich photos made available from professional users of Google Photos. I don’t use family photos as wallpapers because I don’t want to have an app covering my kid’s face, for example.
In the event I wake up before an alarm goes off, I cannot disable or skip the alarm in advance. The alarm must be completely deactivated, running the risk of not being re-activated.	Clock Alarms	Offers a simple “dismiss” feature that does not permanently turn off the upcoming alarm.
You cannot remove a text thread from your list of messages. So, the one text you sent to a coworker last summer will remain in your list of messages until the end of time unless you completely delete it.	Archiving Texts	With Google Messages, users can archive (not delete) text threads to keep the list of current conversations clean and manageable.
Users must open the weather app to view info	Weather – Quick Access	Actually, the same number of steps are needed to access this info but I’ll say the process seems much more simple on the Pixel.
VERY lacking. I get that Apple is way, way behind the curve on widgets but their selection of features is laughable. For example, the only widget option available for the Clock is….a few varieties of an analog clock. I’ve noticed some apps on the iPhone don’t even offer widgets.	Widgets	So much more variety.
When on its back (camera down) the iPhone 14 rocks back and forth like a table at McDonalds due to the camera lenses.	Camera bulge	I won’t knock Apple to much here because newer Pixels may very well have the same camera bulge. But my 2019 phone did not!
Not available. And let me say that Face ID is not a better option. I find that Face ID works very poorly in dark settings, when I’m wearing my glasses, if I don’t have the phone lined up directly in front of my face, etc. Unlocking my iPhone 14 takes too many steps. (And, I have to use Face ID due to some work apps)	Fingerprint sensor	I could unlock my phone before I looked at it. Think about that.
Way, way, way too complicated. Navigating my iPhone 14 does not feel natural. There are way too many “sub sections” within the Settings app.	General Navigation	It just makes more sense. Enough said.
No waving off phone calls, no wrist gestures to turn the flashlight on/off, etc. Long-time iPhone users will not think this is a big deal as they don’t know what they’re missing.	Gesture Commands	I really, really miss being able to double-tap the power button to open my camera.
The amount of spam texts and spam calls I have received since switching to an iPhone has increased by 400%. I am not exaggerating one bit.	Spam calls/texts	My Pixel had an amazing screening feature. I used it so much that it “learned” what I deemed to be spam. It was very rare to receive a spam call and 10x as rare to receive a spam text.
Frequently an issue, especially with the keyboard in Messages. I even downloaded Gboard thinking that would help. Even Gboard is different on an iPhone.	Fat Fingers	Never really an issue. Also, my Pixel’s predictive text feature was VASTYLY better than what I experience with the iPhone 14.
I tried to “Googlefy” my iPhone as much as possible. Part of those steps involved making Google Photos my go-to photo gallery. But the iPhone won’t let me text photos directly from Google Photos. This is a bigger pain that I initially realized and bigger than you might think.	Messages and Google Photos	No problem whatsoever.
3 months later, I’m still adjusting to the iPhone volume buttons being on the opposite side of the phone.	Volume buttons	Under the power button, where I’ve come to love them.
For as great as everyone thinks iPhones are, the silent mode switch seems very dated.	Silent Switch	Press the volume rocker once then tap the silent option to silence your phone. No archaic, manual switch needed.
So much heavier. Feels certain that it would shatter if dropped from any height. I can just look at it and tell it is the least durable phone I’ve ever used.	Weight and feel of device	One of the lightest phones I’ve ever owned and has near Nokia-level durability. I dropped this phone all the time on all kinds of surfaces and it never blinked.

I’m not a photographer or influencer. I really just use my phone to text and to use a few apps. So, overall, these 2 phones aren’t that different. They really are not, from my standpoint. The only difference boils down to iMessage. Please watch this video for a non-biased recap of green and blue bubbles.

That really is the only difference. Think about that – a person’s opinion of another person can be swayed by the color of a text bubble. But, want to know the real kicker? Since getting my iPhone, I have received very few – almost zero – texts from the people that busted my chops the most over the years for tainting their text threads with green bubbles.

You better believe my next phone will be made by Google.