I belatedly switched back to my Google Pixel 9 Pro XL this past weekend, after hemming and hawing for over a month. The reasons I delayed doing so are many, but the result was painfully and immediately familiar, an unwelcome reminder of an age-old problem that echoes across the other personal technology products and services I rely on.
There is no perfect phone.
If there was, I’d just use that. It’s that simple. I can rationalize my switching between iPhone and Android as a requirement of my job, which is as much a lifestyle as it is a career. And there’s some truth to that. But I know many people who do what I do, and most of them seem content to stick with one or the other platform, barely giving any thought to ever switching. Or, more commonly, never thinking about it at all. They’ve made their choice and they’re done.
That sounds nice. But rationalizing further, my inability to land on a single phone platform and make it stick is both good and bad. I can be viewed through an emotional lens, and there’s a bit of that. But this is more logical than anything, because you have to consider the broader ecosystems to which each device belongs. I made the point recently that our smartphones are no longer at the center of anything from a decision-making perspective, because the most important factor that goes into this isn’t any one thing, it’s the whole thing, if that makes sense. It’s like getting married. You’re not just getting a spouse, you’re getting all the baggage that goes along with that person, from their families and friends to their life experiences. It’s a package deal, not a one-off.
It’s complicated, and, for me, this switch is always accompanied by a nearly immediate sense of regret. You gain some things, as each platform is better at certain things than the other. But you also lose some things, for the same reason. How the pros and cons stack up varies by person, of course. But for me, it’s always a toss-up, a gray area in which the flowchart doesn’t land at an obvious outcome.
There’s little point in trying to list all the issues. Plus, some come up over time, and others are just minor problems that seem to become bigger problems over time. But a few obvious examples should suffice. Starting with what is absolutely a “me” problem.
🫤 And, yes, it is a “me” problem
I’m in Mexico. I’ve been in Mexico for three months now, and I’ve got less than three weeks to go. I use Google Fi, and I’ve not heard a peep from Google about me being outside the country for so long. I’ve heard worrying stories from others who have been warned about this, including a friend who was here in Mexico City for a few months recently.
I have a theory about why my extended stay hasn’t triggered any alarm bells at Fi, and it has to do with cell networks: Fi uses a network called Movistar in Mexico City, and in my neighborhood, at least, Movistar is garbage. I suffered with it for a few weeks, but I’ve been using Airalo eSIMs since the…
