As a Pixel user, I’m jealous of these 8 things

I have been a devoted Pixel user for some time now. Currently, I’m rocking a Google Pixel 9 Pro, and I’ve loved every minute with it. Although there are other cool phones on the way in 2025 (not to mention many other terrific Android phones available today), I wouldn’t be surprised if my next phone is a Pixel 10 Pro. What can I say: I’m nothing if not consistent.

However, I work at Android Authority, so I am constantly using phones from other companies. Although there are outliers, I find that every phone has at least one thing about it that I wish my phone had. One recent example is with the OnePlus 13 — I would love to have a 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery in my Pixel 9 Pro. Heck, I’d even take a 5,000mAh variant.

Overall, though, I tend to be most jealous of Samsung phones. But this isn’t because of hardware — Samsung has been pretty stingy with hardware upgrades over the past few years. Rather, it’s because of One UI. While I love Google’s stock-like take on Android in Pixel UI, Samsung’s One UI simply offers so much more.

With that in mind, here are the eight things I, a Pixel user, get jealous about whenever I pick up a Samsung flagship.

With the introduction of One UI 6.1 on the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung launched a feature I’ve loved ever since: an always-on display (AOD) that supports wallpapers. It’s a simple thing that doesn’t change much about the user experience. In fact, if anything, it makes the user experience worse since it almost certainly uses slightly more battery power than a typical dark screen would.

However much my pragmatic brain would love to reject wallpapers on AODs based on that alone, the other half of my brain loves them. Most of my day, my Pixel 9 Pro sits face-up on my desk while I work. If I could have a cool wallpaper appear there instead of a black screen with some text, it would make it all the more appealing.

The wild thing is that all this feature requires is an LTPO screen that can go as low as 1Hz, which my Pixel 9 Pro supports. So there’s no reason why Google couldn’t add this to my phone — it just hasn’t.

I hope we’ll finally see something similar to this with the Pixel 10 series that could eventually roll back to the Pixel 9 and Pixel 8 series (the Pixel 7 series doesn’t support 1Hz refresh rates). A man can dream.

Being able to customize the AOD wallpaper on a Pixel would be great, but Google is also lacking when it comes to customizing the lock screen. Once Apple started allowing robust customization of the iPhone lock screen, Samsung quickly followed suit.

These days, a Samsung lock screen can have customized fonts, colors, widgets, and shortcuts. Samsung gives a wide variety of choices here, too, with over a dozen clock styles, limitless font choices (you can add your own fonts), and support for all the colors of the rainbow. Changing the app shortcuts that appear in the two lower corners of the lock screen to anything you want is also a terrific perk.

To its credit, Google also offers a customizable lock screen — it’s just so much more limited than what Samsung offers. You can’t make the corner shortcuts whatever you want; Google limits your color options to only a selection it chooses based on Material You guidelines; and there’s no way to add your own fonts. I hope Google stops being so restrictive soon.

Of course, by the time this goes stable, Samsung users will have already been using DeX for nearly a decade. First introduced with the Galaxy S8 series, DeX is a desktop mode for Android. It allows you to access your phone’s files, launch apps, play games, and much more using a Windows-esque interface. All you need to do is connect your phone (either wired or wirelessly) to a monitor. Then connect a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and boom: your phone is a desktop.

I will readily admit that I probably wouldn’t use DeX a lot if I had it. I bring my laptop pretty much everywhere I go, and I can’t think of a situation in which I’d have access to a monitor, mouse, and keyboard but not also have my laptop with me. However, not having access to DeX on my daily driver doesn’t allow me to even think about alternatives. Who knows: If I had a desktop mode on my Pixel 9 Pro, maybe I wouldn’t carry my laptop everywhere because I would’ve figured out a better system using my phone.

Either way, I hope Android’s native desktop mode rolls out soon, even if I don’t end up using it often on my Pixel. The entire Android ecosystem would benefit, and I can only imagine how much fun it would be to use a gaming phone like the ASUS ROG Phone 9 Pro as a desktop-like emulation station on the go.

When I travel with my partner, we like to pass the travel time by watching movies and TV shows together. It’s great to be able to access content from my Plex server while on a plane, for example, and watch it together with Bluetooth headphones.

Unfortunately, to do this, we can’t use my Pixel 9 Pro. That’s because Pixels don’t support two simultaneous Bluetooth audio connections. Even on my Windows laptop, this is an issue — one I get around using the VoiceMeeter freeware.

Samsung users don’t need to worry about this, though. That’s because Samsung products support dual Bluetooth connectivity. If I had a Samsung phone instead, both my partner and I could connect our headphones to my phone and enjoy whatever content we want together.

This feature is hardware-dependent, so Google would need to invest significantly to bring it to Pixels. However, this is also one of those features that die-hard Samsung fans would be loath to give up. If Google wants those Samsung users to jump ship, supporting two simultaneous Bluetooth connections certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Back when Google was wholly invested in Google Assistant (before Gemini took its place on the totem pole), the company was really into promoting Assistant routines (now called Automations). These allow you to trigger multiple smart home functions through voice commands on your phone, smart speaker, smartwatch, etc. These automations can also involve smartphone functions, such as sending a text, turning your phone into Do Not Disturb mode, and more.

Despite Google pushing this hard, Assistant routines were never really smartphone-centric. They were mostly focused on smart home functions with smartphone automations as a nice extra. Samsung’s Routines function, though, is the opposite: it’s mostly about the phone and also happens to involve some smart home stuff.

Samsung’s Routines feature allows you to create If-And-Then-style formulas for your phone. For example, you could design a routine that turns your phone’s display all the way down, sets it into silent mode, and turns off all your household lights whenever you drop the phone onto a specific wireless charging pad from the hours of 9:00 PM to 12:00 AM. You could also make it so your phone automatically texts your wife that you’re on your way home whenever you get into your car in your work parking lot. The sky is the limit, really, for how useful Routines could be for you.

Google was planning to launch a generative AI-powered digital assistant just for Pixels (rumored as Pixie or Pixel Sense), but it seems that those plans were changed, and Pixie was split into Pixel Screenshots along with some Gemini additions. We don’t know if Google would ever take those Gemini integrations further, replicate Google Assistant’s routines in Gemini, or take another stab at smart, context-aware automations. For now, though, Samsung and its Routines are the clear winners in terms of smartphone automation.

Double-tapping the power button automatically opens the camera on most Android phones, including Pixels. It’s a terrific shortcut as it allows you to have your phone in your pocket, reach in, grab it, and by the time it’s out of your pocket, your camera app is open and ready to go, allowing you to nab those important shots before the moment passes.

As great as this is, there are many reasons why you might wish this shortcut did something else. Out of the box, One UI allows you to set this shortcut as pretty much anything you like. You can have it trigger one of your Routines, turn on the flashlight, start a voice recording, or launch literally any app you want. With Pixel UI, though, you’re trapped. Unless you install a third-party app to get around the limitation, all you can do with a double-tap on the power button is launch the camera…or do nothing.

I understand why Google doesn’t want this to be more complicated than it needs to be. I also understand that most people out there, even if given the opportunity, would leave the double-tap shortcut as a camera launcher (I know I would). Still, the idea that I could do something different is much better for me than being unable to. What if, for example, I carried two Pixel phones with me: one for business and one for personal use? In that scenario, I’d probably love it if double-tapping the power button did something else on my secondary phone.

I doubt Google will change this anytime soon, but it would be nice if it did.

Speaking of double-tapping things, one of the most loved features of One UI is also one of the simplest: double-tapping on any empty space on the home screen to lock the phone. Samsung allows you to turn this off if you don’t want it, but if I know anything about Samsung fans, it’s that the overwhelming majority would never want to lose out on this small but important feature.

When you think about it, it makes sense why this is so popular. If you need convincing, leave your phone flat on a table, face up. Unlock it and then navigate around the UI a bit. When you’re ready to lock it again, what can you do? On a Samsung phone, you just double-tap on your home screen (I like to use the status bar area for this), and your phone locks. On a Pixel, though, you need to hit the power button. This isn’t nearly as simple as the double-tap and can be awkward if you can’t use your left hand for some reason.

While not allowing users to control what double-tapping the power button does is somewhat understandable, it makes little sense as to why Google doesn’t support this. Even if most Pixel users didn’t use it, it’s one of those things that Samsung users wouldn’t want to give up. Google enabling this on Pixels would, if nothing else, help Samsung users be more comfortable jumping into the Pixel ecosystem.

I’ve saved the best for last. For anyone out there who doesn’t know, Good Lock is an official “store,” in a way, that supports powerful customizations for Galaxy phones. Generally, if there’s anything you can think of that your Galaxy phone doesn’t do out of the box, Good Lock probably has a solution.

Really, Good Lock is a win-win for everyone. Power users can get what they need, and Samsung doesn’t need to bloat up One UI anymore than it already does to appease the small selection of users who want to do that thing. Additionally, a large proportion of Good Lock modules are made by independent developers, taking the burden of development away from Samsung.

Good Lock is so great and so useful that it’s absolutely mind-boggling that Google doesn’t have a counterpart on Pixel phones. Pixel users are usually just as tech-savvy as Samsung users, so they’d be able to handle a Good Lock-esque system. Besides, Good Lock isn’t a thing that comes standard with Galaxy phones, but it is really easy to get. Google could do a similar setup to prevent feature creep.

Samsung has an ace in the hole with Good Lock because, once again, a huge swathe of geeky Galaxy users would never use a phone without it. That prevents Galaxy fans from switching over to Pixels, which Google should not ignore.

Those are the eight things I’m most jealous of regarding Samsung phones. Are you a Pixel user? Which of these are you most jealous about? Vote in the poll above and then tell us more about your choice in the comments!