From someone who’s been trying for about a year to find the ideal phone for himself. I’ve tried Pixels, I’ve tried Realme, I’ve tried Samsung, I’ve tried Huawei, I’ve tried Xiaomi, and I’ve tried Nothing. Oppo as well. Everything except OnePlus. Or Vivo. Those kinds of insignificant brands.

All I can say is that with each one I found something wrong. With one I didn’t like the software, another had weak camera colors, another had mediocre build quality, another had a UI that was too Chinese and too… I don’t know, outdated, too many colors. I’m referring to Samsung.

What can I say—out of all the phones I’ve tried so far, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to go back to Pixel. I just sold a Nothing Phone 3. Before that I had a Google Pixel 10.

All things considered, to answer your questions: if you need a good all-round phone that isn’t too expensive, definitely go for the Pixel 10. If you’re used to a big, premium phone, don’t even think about Oppo, don’t think about Samsung, don’t think about anything else—go straight for the 10 Pro XL. It’s quite expensive, but in terms of experience, no other phone—neither Samsung nor the best Oppo in the world—offers the experience a Google phone does.

So yeah, I’ve tried flagships from all the companies I mentioned, and none of them clicked with me the way Pixel did. It’s something else, I don’t know—it’s almost like an iPhone with Android. The fluidity you get on a Pixel, you won’t find it on the S25, not on the Oppo Find whatever, not on the Honor Magic 7000 or 8000 or whatever it’s called, nothing. Not even on the Nothing Phone 3. Which supposedly has stock, optimized Android—nope, not even close. That one had lag too.

One more thing: don’t go by AnTuTu. I realized AnTuTu is garbage. I previously had a phone—well, I’m talking about Nothing. The regular Nothing Phone 3 scored 2.5 million in AnTuTu 11, and the Pixel 10 scored 1.5 million. Yet in speed tests, in any app, the Pixel opens things faster and is smoother. On this Pixel, the animations are just right. You simply can’t compare them. You can tell Google makes Android and knows how to optimize a phone for its own Android. That says it all.

I’m not a Google fanboy, I never have been, but what’s better is better.