Pixelated - The Gang Does a Tier List

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

Welcome to episode 83 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, Abner, Damien, and Will welcome their fellow 9to5 staff members Andrew Romero, Ben Schoon, and Jordan Floyd to the show to assemble a full tier list for 2025's Android-adjacent launches. From phones and wearables to software upgrades and Gemini's improvements, we manage to rank more than 20 launches from throughout the year from the best to the rest. Check out the complete tier list at the bottom of these show notes (spoilers!). Subscribe YouTube Podcasts Pocket Casts Spotify Apple Podcasts Overcast Hosts Abner Li Damien Wilde Will Sattelberg Andrew Romero Ben Schoon Jordan Floyd Listen to more 9to5 Podcasts The Sideload 9to5Mac Happy Hour Electrek Space Explored Feedback? Drop us a line at [e-mail], leave a comment on the post, or reach out to our producer.

Welcome to Pixelated Episode 83. I'm your host, Will Saddleberg. This week, we've brought in practically the entire 9-to-5 Google team for a special year-end episode. In addition to myself, Damien, and Abner, Andrew Romero, Ben Shone, and Jordan Floyd are joining us today to assemble a tier list of all sorts of 2025 launches. From smartphones to OS upgrades, VR headsets to smartwatches, we're about to spend the next 90 minutes ranking the best and worst of all things Android-related. it's all coming up

so it's our end of year we have so it's our end of year special gang we have some special guests with us and I'm not actually going to be leading processions today it's actually going to be master of ceremonies William is going to take it from here this is a very fun episode hopefully there's going to be some fights some fallouts and we're all going to be friends at the end of it so william please give us some information about what we are

going to be doing here today on pixelate yeah um i'm excited to welcome so i'll in addition to damien and abner i'm excited to welcome uh ben shown ben say say hello hi i ben uh jordan floyd hey how are we and uh andrew ramara how's how's going uh which is, which is most of the nine to five Google crew, to be honest, we got as many of us as we could together to do a tier list. We're going to do a tier list of some products released this year, some, it's mostly hardware. There's a couple, a couple software things in there, but you know, Google and then kind of the broader Android ecosystem, just figuring out S-A-B-C-D-F tier, you know, where do we go with these things? We have 22 things. We're going to try to go

through this kind of as quickly as we can without wasting too much time on anything. So I I'm just going to jump right into it. And for future listeners, if you don't want to be swallowed, don't look in the show notes because the final photo should be there. But right now, we're getting started with, this is mostly random, I think. So we're getting started with the nothing phone three. Who wants to start debating where the nothing phone three should be? We're talking about the main flagship, right? Main flagship.

I've been using this phone since launch. I know everyone hates it, but if it was in the $500 price range, I think everyone, if it, that or if it had the Snapdragon, Atoly, I don't think everyone would be as upset as they are right now. Nothing OS4 added a little bit that helped it feel more fun, like AI generated widgets, which I know people don't like AI, but AI generated widgets are a fun way to engage with AI. I'm trying to think of the other features in there too. They made a curated store as well, so you could download community-made EQs, community-made glyphs, and camera presets, plus the AI generated widgets all inside one little storefront so you can easily find it. So they're finding their footing.

It probably would have been more useful to have these aspects at launch, but I think it's more fun of a phone than people are giving it credit for. So maybe for the general community, let's do C tier. But for me personally, it's a B-tier phone for sure. Anyone else feeling strong on C-tier? I want to argue up down? I think B. I would also say B.

Interesting. It's, I think, an objectively good phone, especially because the bar for what is a good phone in 2025 was interesting. I definitely give it. to be, especially like in the context of the pixel 10, I think if you're not buying a pixel, it's one of the better choices. That's high praise. Yeah, I think B is a perfect positioning for this, especially given the fact that a lot of people

maybe wanted it to be in that S tier. Like I think there was a lot of Jordan alluded to it. There's too much expectation placed on it. I think it just landed where it needed to land personally. Maybe it was a little bit of priced. Let's do low B then. I'll keep it on the lower side of B. Low B.

That's where we're landing. C plus. Is C plus an option? It is in our mind. Great, from the nothing phone 3 to a device that I think will need even less time to decide a category for it. The Galaxy

S-25 edge, we spun the edge out on its own primarily because it was its own months later launch compared to the rest of the S-25 series, which is coming up bundled together. I'll jump in and right away

say this I don't think can go higher than a D because this phone flopped so hard that it allegedly forced Samsung to change their 2026 plans like four months out. Do you think that I think if this was, I think if it was part of the regular S25 lineup and it was like the entry thing, I think we'd be talking about a B to your phone? Yeah, I agree. Am I wrong in that? I don't think it's like an awful phone aside from the battery life.

I think it's wildly overpriced and couldn't really find a niche to grab onto, a market demand. And Apple's seen that as well a little bit with the iPhone Air. Well, let me ask you this then. If it flop so hard and it caused Samsung to completely divert, how can it be higher than an F? I don't think... Because the hardware in itself is impressive. They execute it. Samsung has engineering prowess at the end of the day. And I think that pure engineering capability and what has been applied to the phone is what gives, saves it from an F.

Yeah. I guess we're going off the reception then in my head, but yeah, I can... So we're going D-minus. We'll go D-D-Mine. As long as it's not C is great. The phone didn't explode, you know? True.

I think it's worth to mentioning right now. That technically is the bar. I think it's worth mentioning right now that on Swapa, like the used market right now, This phone, it's less than seven months old, by the way, is anywhere from $540, maxing out at around $600 on the third-party market. So I feel like the community has spoken on how desired this is. Like, it's 10.

It's either $4.99 or $5.99 on Google Fy's store, and I still can't bring myself to buy it as a ton-off thing. Okay, we've got to go left. I mean, it's $800 a brand new one Amazon right now. I'm willing to go F. Are we saying F? I still think it's D. I still think it's D engineering talent. Yes, I agree.

It really just depends on your perspective of it. If you're looking at reception, how people have gauged it value-wise, F. But as far as the engineering goes, the idea is great. We've talked about this at length before. Let's go F for fun. F for fun. I'll keep it a deeper now. We'll come back at the end and see if we want to drop it to F after everything.

thing else. From one ultra-thin Samsung product to another, we have the fold seven as well as the flip seven. We decided, Damien Abner and I decided to combine these together just because it felt like the flip or the fold seven might completely explode to S-tier if we didn't plug it down a little bit with a perfectly fine, if boring phone. So how do we feel about Samsung's foldable efforts in 2025. A. A. And Ben, you are, as far as the Fold 7 goes, you are the person that I look for in terms of knowing how to, how to feel. Do you have any, I mean, it's still your daily driver six months in, correct? Yeah, it's still my daily driver. No, it's truly a great foldable. It is by far the best one this year. Yeah, no, it's absolutely an A. The Flip 7 is still, I don't know if the

Flip 7 is as much, like, unimpressive as it is that no one really got to spend any time with it, like, on the review side. But it's as good as any other flip has been at bare minimum, which was still good. It feels a little bit like this would be, like, S and B tier if we split them up. And so I think A makes perfect sense. But Samsung, the Fold 7, I think, really turned around the narrative around that company in a way that I was not expecting. And the market spoke, too.

Yeah. I love it. Yeah. It's great. The fold, the fold is, I think it's probably one of the few S-tier phones of the year. Yeah. But I do think the flip drags it down a little bit, which is fine. I think A's right where it needs to be an A.

And it's surprising, right? Because we're going to talk about some other Samsung products later on in this, in this pod. And it's almost like all of their innovation went into two devices that are divisive for different reasons. So, yeah, it's got to be an A. It's got to be an A to it. for these two. We have our first out of left field pick, I would say, which is

the 2025 Nest portfolio. So any Nest product launched this year, I would also include software improvements I think is a fair bet. So any Gemini applications added to existing hardware, I think could also

be, but maybe the state of Nest is a good way to say this. Who wants to jump in? Okay. So if we're looking at just the hardware, just the 2K camera revamp. I would say that's like a low A high B because they were overdue upgrades, but I don't think Google went quite far enough. I would have really liked to see an updated battery model and maybe some new form factor.

Software-wise, the Gemini for Home stuff, the voice assistant, is sorely needed. The Google Home app updates are very good, the Gemini, like, supercharge of notifications and everything else. If I were to put it all together, probably, it's probably, like, just barely an A to me.

Okay. Anybody else want to jump in here? I feel like Ben is the expert when it comes to to Smart Home, to Google Smart Home portfolio. This is a world that I am tangentially in, so I will see the floor. I mean, it was kind of a needed step, right? Yeah, I agree. On the software side, because we've already got other companies like Arlo has really good AI

notifications, you know, in the sense that content detection, which is something that's kind of been, you know, that hole has been left by security, at least smart home security stuff. Yeah, I feel like A is right. A's strong. And actually, I will say, I want to knock it down to B, and I only want to knock it down to B because none of it is fully rolled out. It's all early access. Right. And public prehistory.

So, like, if you don't enroll in everything, you get none of it. I am curious, though, Ben and Andrew, because I think you guys probably used it the most. Is Google Assistant officially as good or better? Or I guess the other way around. Is Gemini as good or better than the Google Assistant implementation? Like, did they do it right or no? So I only got Gemini for Home enabled on my account like a week ago because ADT slows that down for some reason, I think.

Or I just didn't get the rollout early. I have yet to use it in any capacity beyond what Assistant was. Yeah. but it works fine and that is technically better than assistant was doing it has completely broken my automations if that's worth oh really is it yeah interesting i think that that might cement it at b then yeah you know i have a my the only one of the only automations i ever call for audibly is my my good night app automation which you turns off all the lights that i want inside leaves all the outside lights on whatever pours you a glass of milk right exactly

microwaves a midnight snack and then makes me breakfast um but that has completely broken and now i have to i have to god forbid i have to go into the google home app and hit the play button next to the automation in the automation page brutal and that's a nightmare now so i i feel for you so bad it's living on the frontier over here he's roughing it But, but now it answers in an Australian accent, I set it to for some reason. Back to S. No, I'm kidding. I think B is good.

I think B feels like where we've, we've landed on that. It's a promising B though. I think that's higher than it would have been in previous years. In six months, an easy A. Yeah, as long as they stay on this, this route they're on. The PixelBuds 2A, has anyone here use these besides me? I can use them. Physically a nice object.

It is definitely a more refined take on the PixelBuds Pro 2. So I definitely like that hardware, but the lack of touchpad controls is always damning. And it's such a weird thing for companies to choose, to gate. So I think it's no higher

than a B based on that. though a very high B in my book. I would put them C because the audio is still... I agree. Quite a few lower than it needs to be. I think there is an opportunity... It depends how they handle software. But then again, what can you add to earbuds

that are going to make a real game-changer difference? If they could have one major software update that somehow manages to fix my complaints with them, then I think they could be a B and just middle of the road B, I think they are a C product all day every day, and that's fine. I think that's fine for earbuds.

Especially for this more affordable style. Yes. I do think that the affordability, I'm thinking about in comparison to what the AirPods, the AirPods for launch this year, it's cheaper than that with ANC, though then again the ANC is just fine. It's nothing to write home about.

Do you use ANC all the time? or is it like a situational thing? I only use ANC or pass-through. Yeah. Okay. Just curious. I mean, my biggest problem is, and this is why I'm putting it as a C, my frame of reference for wireless earbuds on Android is 1 plus puts pro 3.

And I talk about it as much as human as possible because they are genuinely phenomenal. They slap the AirPods Pro 2, which I don't have the new generation. Yeah. They slap them all over. and if that's my frame of reference everything else is going to be way below I think they're S tier so maybe my opinion if it's a bit skewed

but I do think that they're fine they are in much need to follow up they become part of that PixelBuds Pro 2 lineup now properly I like the fact that you can use the case with it's cross compatible with PixelBus Pro 2 so that's a happy accident so maybe that should get an STA section of its own

I don't know that. I'll film and low B. I think for me they might be a C tier too, but I'll bump it up just a bit. My biggest problem with them, you know, the audio quality is good enough. The ANC is good enough.

The pass-through is not great, but it's fine. For me, it's always inevitably when I'm wearing them, there will come a time where I reach up like I do with other earbuds to control the volume, and I remember I can't do that.

It's like, it's really their Achilles heel in my opinion. There are other cut corners, but for me, that's the biggest one. That would probably drop it down to a C for me personally.

But I think low B is probably a more well-rounded place for them to land. I have to say, well, when I read your review and you said there was no volume controls on the actual unit themselves,

I literally did not believe you. I could not believe that that features on $50 earbuds. I had to triple check myself. and that is such a if it wasn't for that I'd have zero complaints personally especially for the price

I'd have zero complaints that is too much but no I agree next up is the this is another combo pack the 1 plus 13 and the 13 R who wants to start? S it's got to be S

every day of the week S there is no two ways about it this is the 1 plus 13 alone is still the best phone of 2025 I don't care what everybody says I will fight you in the streets I agree. I think it's fantastic. I love the one plus 13 I think is hit such a high bar at the start of the year. I really loved using that phone. And I don't think anything gave me the same. I don't think a smartphone camera and I'm a little bit limited in that I mostly, I mean, 99% use phones that are released in North America. So those huge one inch sensors you can get in Europe and elsewhere are not really something that's ever in my pocket. But the one plus 13 has more than any other phone I think ever given me like those most. moments of like, oh my God, I can't believe I just took this photo. So like that alone, you know,

I have some software issues, especially with Oxygen OS16 on this device, but in terms of just sheer hardware and the joy of using it. And the style, I like the look of it. I think it's a great phone. And I think the R is like a great, like we cut a couple corners, but you're still getting a great experience for the price kind of device. Yeah. I think Jordan, you use the 13 hour, right? I think when we talk about the 13 and the 13 are, they are like perfectly complement each other at different price points. Definitely do. And I think the R series is such good value for the money.

Even though you're getting last year's processor, last year's processor is amazing. Especially if you can get the R series on sale on top of that. I can't think of a better deal in tech. Like if you're looking for the most, I hate this phrase, but the most bang for your buck, the R series,

especially during the holiday time, I really don't think you can I don't think you can get a better deal every year I compare it to the pixel which it's not a fair comparison technically because pixel is more smart while the 15

or the R series is more raw hardware but still it's nice to have great options either side you want to go with you want raw hardware the R series is perfect if you want a smartphone you know the A series is great too but oh man the R series is

that flagship killer quote unquote type device it's really good the contrast here is wild because not to to date anything but um 15 r just launched this morning north america and then 15 come out i know that's next year stuff technically um but everything you're saying 15's on this list i will say not to not to spoil but we we are going to rank the 15 we're not going to do the 15 r just because it it is just coming out but right but yeah i mean i mean yeah i i i i i agree. I know exactly we're going with this. And yeah, if you want to save it for the 15, it's that's fine. I was just going to, I mean, just to put a little pin on it, it's just, sure. What Jordan was saying is, is the complete opposite of the feelings around next year's

stuff technically. So it's just a fun contrast. Yeah. I can't wait for that part. And to wrap, to wrap this one up in a little bow and why I think it's S tier is my initial impressions of the 1 plus 13 weren't always, weren't initially like wowed, me straight away. Do you know what I mean? I think because I held the 12 in such high regard. It was almost like a sleeper special phone, if that makes sense. I think with the 13, like, they downgraded some things and I was very worried that it was going to ruin the hard work that one plus. One plus does this, right? They do that two steps forward, three back, kind of sometimes. And it felt like they were going to do that. And they've absolutely nailed it. Within the first two

months, a couple of updates, the 13, I struggled to switch back to the phones from using it. I've kept one on oxygen OS 15. I'm not going to talk about oxygen 16 because we'll save that for later. But I think that if we're judging it on oxygen OS 15 and say July last early this year, it's S tier every day of the week. Yeah. We're going to switch gears for the next next two entries. This is the fun of tier lists that it just randomizes it for me. So you never know what you're going to get. We're going to do a couple, couple software builds. This is, uh, we talked about a little bit, but nothing OS4, which is kind of just launching. But this is nothing's Android 16 update, which has been controversial, Ben.

I'll throw to you first, perhaps. So, yeah, I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet. I'm actually going to back to Nothing Phone 3 soon to spend some time with it. But Nothing OS4 is basically like taking some extra AI and throwing it in there, both in terms of there's like an AI dashboard, which I don't know who is asking for. and then the AI widgets, which do seem kind of neat. But also they introduced that lock glimpse feature, which is just really weird, sketchy lock screen ads, which continue to get more sketchy,

the more they're looked into. But they're only on the A series. Like, on the surface, it's a fine update, but I really feel like this is kind of the beginning of the when we look back in 1 plus and when they

you know went from the cyanogen mod days the old days of oxygen OS to the color OS days yeah I feel like

we're kind of starting down that path I agree I again I haven't had enough time to use it I don't know if you have Jordan

to meet my guts is like a low C okay Jordan because it's not It doesn't seem like objectively awful. It just there's a few little weird things in there. It's a step back without that many clear steps forward, if that makes sense.

It does. Yeah, that makes sense. That's a great way to explain it. You know, the features at nothing, this is the full Android 16 update. So, you know, nothing added maybe 10 features. And then we have all the features from the Android 16 update itself. It has a little bit of the Material 3 Expressive. in the in the notification shade and such um i agree with you that this is kind of the nothing fans

want more but at the same time they need like this minimalist uh style like they're kind of forced into it so i think that um we are going to start seeing what kind of what you alluded to like more uh help me out here this is a little off it's it's more commercial maybe it's more it's more it's less enthusiast focused and more more have to yeah it's it's kind of both what like and I don't believe nothing's a public company but like yeah it's it's what

it's what the industry wants or like shareholders would want and what will make money as opposed to like oh yeah we built this thing for the fans because we're like a which which happens to every enthusiast company like this it's the exact comparison for one plus so yeah I see feels right it's not like in like a world ending update

but it's it's not like a big step forward. It could have been more. Yeah. It could have been more. Speaking of, Oxygen OS16, I think this update is awful. I think it's, I, I, I, I, Damien, you just published a video about this. I will let you take the, the floor. I, so I think, I, so my opinion is at the heart of it, it's still good.

Yeah, that's fair. But I do not know what the obsession is. And I think I talked about it in, in a previous episode is, there seems to be an obsession for Android makers to not look internally and look at what Apple are doing.

It's like, what are you doing? Why are you? I mean, even if there's some influencers and they can say, we came up with this on our own, every single person seems to want to be doing these clear UI pains.

Like, if it worked, people would have done it 10 years ago. Why do it? They made changes for the sake of making changes in a lot of respects. And it's almost like they've, again, this is in typical one-plus fashion, undone the good work

that they did with Oxfino S-15, which I think is fantastic, and I loved its pieces. Yeah, I agree with you. This probably cannot be above a D. I agree. I don't want to put it in F only because it's still technically

Oxygen OS, it's core, but with a new liquor paint. Do you think D seems fair? I do. It didn't break anything that I liked about oxygen OS necessarily, but I would say everything it added

I felt took away from what I liked about oxygen OS. And Ben in particular can probably confirm this. But like, you know, this time last year, I was like, I was pretty big on oxygen OS on the on the one plus 13 and was like, I don't understand why you would use one UI when like oxygen OS kind of offers me. Yeah, it offers me the same like pro level tools, but, but like in a more, in a, in a layout I preferred. And I don't think that stuck around with this one. I think everything they added started to at the very least get in the way of what I liked about it, which is frustrating. So I, I, I, I, hate to say it, but I agree. I think D tier is correct for this one. With how much you guys disappoint the software, the one plus 13 being an S tier seems a bit optimistic. Yeah, it's, yeah, but this software is way after though, right? It's like six to nine months later. Like,

it's almost like, no, it's what people have to live with now. It's not, it's something like they can stay on the software version. We don't have that in this day and age. Just interesting. That's a really good point. We will come back. Yeah, we'll come back. We'll come back. We'll do a final pass at the end.

We'll do a, not on everything, but we'll do a like, does anybody want to like re-argue a point, move something? We'll come to it. We have reached the big, I would say the big category in this one. I feel like this is the one that is going to take more than the three-ish minutes we've been averaging to talk about. This is the pixel 10 series, the 10, 10 pro, pro, 10 proxel, 10 pro fold. a very divisive series of phones, I would say, across the internet. I don't know if that's so much here, but I'm excited to see what you guys think. Who wants to jump in?

So there is inherently coming from the 9, pixel 9 series to the 10 series. It's the same design. And that inherently, there's a quote, unquote, boringness to it. That's just unavoidable. It feels the same. It looks the same. the colors aren't well there's a blue color but it's whatever so there is some on the software point a somewhat meh sorry on the hardware there's somewhat of a meh to it so i think i'm

starting off there with my assessment i what do we think okay let me break it down into why i where i think each individual device lands and now maybe try and work an average on it So I think the pixel 10 addresses a lot of complaints that we've always had with the base model pixel, it gets that telephoto, it has a lot of things that have been improved. That's great and pleased for it. That alone would probably get an A tier

for the base model. I can agree with that. The pro tier isn't enough of an upgrade for most people, which is absolutely fine. I think that probably sits at B or C. The fold. The fold is the fold again, but with some minor improvements,

that's got to be C, no higher than C, if we're comparing it to last year. I can see a B minus C plus because the hinge is an underrated thing, which I think Andrew can attest to. But when we consider that... Also, the dust resistance. Yeah, that's true. When the fold exists in that space, and this is your...

You're going toe-to-to-to in North America market. For the listeners out there, I'm holding the Galaxy Z-fold 7, Z-Fold 7. when this exists, the Pixel 10 Pro fold is a really, really tough sell. I just do not think anybody should go anywhere else than this personally in a lot of markets. I mean, that's why it's the two list, right? Because we've already put, so without the flip, right? We've already set the Fold 7 as high as we can put it.

You know, the flip is the little brother you bring to a date. That's kind of, you know, putting a damper on the situation. So in comparison, yeah, the fold brings it down. those little improvements they should have made these improvements a year ago I feel they're not I don't think they're big enough to warrant and this is for the the fold I don't think they're big enough to warrant um the the bearing the weight of the entire upgrade the hinge being more dust resistant stronger battery being slightly better that was a huge thing for me personally but also the with the hinge being thinner it completely changed how the phone felt in your hand to me and I know you're giving me that look but that little like that one millimeter difference coming in making it thinner like at the face that completely changed how it how it felt holding it because it didn't feel like this one-sided device anymore like a little book with a thick spine you know it kind of just felt like like

the fold seven more or less you know definitely not as thin I still like the that outer display more, though, on this device, than the Fold 7. But that's just, that's preferential. Like, the B minus from C plus. And the hinge, the longevity should not be ignored. Like what, with the dust protection and the redesigned hinge mechanism, I think that speaks volumes for longevity.

Yeah, I won't argue a C for that. Or I won't argue against that. Okay, so if we say C for that, like, B. I'm really, really, really torn. I'm really, really torn. Yeah, I'm really torn, yeah, I'm really torn because I think it sits in that middle ground

between B and C for the entire series because there's, it's almost like they've consolidated with the Pixel 10. The entire series is consolidated. And that's not a negative. It just, do you know what I mean? I don't know. I'm trying to quantify it in my brain.

Because I mean, I'm using the Pixel 10 Pro XL and I used the 9 Pro Excel last year, but then I switched I think when did the S-25 was a phone that actually made me fully switch to Samsung for a long time so I had like a long period of time with Samsung instead of Pixel

and I can't see myself doing that this year now so in that respect maybe in my brain I'm like yeah it isn't up a B possibly but yeah I don't know I think a B I think that's where we are I think I don't think the base 10 has enough to bring it into an A though the pricing can be competitive as we're seeing this holiday season

and with the software updates with the pretty reliable software updates I think at best it's an A minus but I don't think it's bringing I don't think there's anything on the hardware front that brings that up into an A category so it's a high B probably I think my my argument for hardware is cheat and that's coming up I think we do have pixel snap as its own as it still counts here as the accessories on the accessory side

definitely I know we'll get to that but on the hardware side for the phones themselves yeah I think that Che2 is enough to at least give it that a minus just because it is like they are the first time they're the first but also just like

the experience of using the phone is so much better because it has that in it And this won't be, this is not a feeling, a sentiment that's shared among a ton of people. But once you've used for, to use Apple's term, MagSafe, you know, Che2 connectivity, it going to a different phone without it feels like night and day. It's such a big, it feels like a huge deficit. Yeah.

I have gotten so, I've only had this little thing. I wrote about it a couple weeks ago on the site, but I've had this little magnetic puck that is magnetic on both sides for. a couple weeks now and like genuinely just like like working out and like slapping my phone up on the on the on the squat rack is so much nicer than having to be like where do I put where do leave my phone why is it on the floor where to like it's so great so like I'll hear it I'll hear I was going to argue for a B because of the 128 gigabyte starting price that's why I'm going to argue I think that should bring it down to B because there is basically this this does this

thing to pricing where what it does is, you should not buy the 128 gigabyte version because you are basically buying 20 or 2019 storage technology when there's 22 storage technology available, which is insane to say out loud again. It should be a B plus because the storage means that you have to pay that extra $100 to get the most competent version of each device apart from the Proxel. Yeah. So I think that's a two out of four device. Half of them have move to 256. Yeah, but those two have, those two, the base, the base 10, I think we should try to judge it from that.

How is the way is the competitive landscape of where everybody else is in the space? Everyone, Apple is at 256. Yeah, I was, Apple's the comparison here. Yeah, even Apple's at 256 now. That is a fair argument. I think B plus. I think B plus is fair. Everything all said and done.

I think there's a lot of, I think, I think all of us like this phone more than the broader internet does. But I don't know. I feel like they're solid releases and Google maybe just, just falls short of that A tier, I think, is where we're landing. I think there's... Which is when we logically think about that, considering it is, let's just say for all intents and purposes, it is the same phone again slightly improved.

Like the 9 plus, effectively, or 9S, whatever you want to call it, that's fantastic. To get a B plus, possibly scraping an A is phenomenal, really, considering. Because a lot of other brands don't get away with that. That's true. And also, I think a big part of it is, I feel like Google has this weird benefit of their target audience is maybe a lot more casual. Like, their target audience, I feel like they don't need the best of the best cameras, the best of the best hardware. Like, pixels don't sell based on hardware, at least to me these days.

You know what I'm saying? So for like the tech, the hardcore spec nerds, yeah, it's a B plus. But I feel like to everyone else, that just needs a normal phone that works and you get it on a simple same. that group of people will definitely think this is an A-tier phone, I feel like, or the series is A-tier all day, even though us as people who appreciate the specs definitely, you know, y'all speak for yourselves, but for me personally, I don't, for someone that appreciates specs, I'm a little bit disappointed. Well, and that's where the one plus 13 or 15 even comes in.

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. I'm happy with this. I, we'll circle back at the end, but I think, I think this is good. I think this feels. It's very, nuanced but I think it's a good spot yeah we have the we have our first wearable there's only a couple on here it's the the galaxy watch eight and the watch eight classic the ultra did not receive enough of an update this year to to qualify so just these two watches how are we feeling about samsung's wearable efforts in 2025 all i'll i'll run through the wall on this one um i i think the watch a classic might be my favorite smart watch of all time. But that's, I like the look a lot. And I know we've gone through the whole, you know, what is a squircle, cushion back

design, back and forth and all this. Does that squircle give you anything, though? Does it have a meaningfully better battery life or whatever? It's just. That's the thing is it does nothing other than give the case a little more room for battery and provide like that 3D depth look. Because if you compare the pixel watch for any pixel watch to specifically the 8th Classic, you're looking at what is rudimentarily a 2D device, what feels like a 2D device,

excluding the dome screen versus something that has more depth like an actual timepiece. and you know watch nerds will fight me on this and i get that it's not not the same as an analog or mechanical watch but at the same time it has enough of design homage to feel like a really good looking watch and then this isn't even to excuse the software because that doesn't hold it back at all in my opinion i really enjoy using one ui8 watch technically with everything they've done with it, all the improvements, they feel like they wear OS6 and that haven't really devolved into anything different, you know, than what it's

kind of just building on what it is. And I really appreciate that. And overall, I've really enjoyed it. And not even to touch on the watch eight. The watch eight is good too, but specifically I would give the classic in S. And I know that not many people agree with me on that. Interesting. That's my take. Anybody else? I have not used these, so I unfortunately can't.

I completely forgot about them. I forgot about it. I forgot they existed. I have one in my drawer. I don't know where it is. I did not use either long term. I would not super argue against S. If only the only reason I maybe would be what we'll talk about later.

So my only knocks against this watch are, I don't think, I think the design, the squirrel design looks good on the classic. I don't really like it as much on the base model. Okay. My biggest knock is genuinely just the band situation because not only did they switch from, you know, something open to a proprietary band, but they didn't even use the normal proprietary band

that they introduced a year ago. They had to make a brand new one. So like the few accessories that were building up out there immediately got thrown away and they had to start from scratch and I don't love that. That would be my main knock against it. Aside from that, it's fine.

Like the value's good. They're well priced. I will argue that if you're using bands like I do, which are just, I think it's, is it 20 millimeter or 21 millimeter pins? I mean, the proprietary band that comes with at least the classic just pops out. Yeah, but it's only the class.

classic. The base one comes with a silicone band. Right. No, that's adaptor. That's different. How do we feel about A? A tier. Yeah, I think A's a yeah. I forgot about it. Andrew loves it. Ben's in different. The other thing too is I do want to add it's not it's it's it's it is the classic and it comes as a you know addition to a lineup that already has an ultra model which is the more fitness model. The thing though is if you're paying for the classic which is a higher price. So forget the MSRP. It's not as much as the Ultra by much at all. But it still doesn't feel like a watch you'd want to use doing any of the things that it tracks.

You know? And that feels wrong in a way. Like it has the action button. I can set the action button to, you know, start a workout or a bike ride. But do I really want to do that with this watch? Because of the, you can with the, you're rotating bezel, stuff gets stuck in there. natural part of watch use you know that feels like a downside to it um and i don't know that i feel comfortable with a s is me just being yeah you know really positive well i mean i'm also

include the eight in there right and so i feel like maybe that equals out a little bit i'll also say i'm comfortable with an a just because like on paper it's objectively the best wearOS watch like right the price is really good it tracks everything you You don't have to pay a subscription. The hardware is good. You get sapphire glass. Like, objectively, it is the best. It just is a matter of taste, which is what a watch should be.

Right. I feel like the one plus watch three should also be on this tier list. Oh, man. We forgot the one plus watch three. And, Damien, you love that watch. I didn't even think about it. Oh, man. Okay.

Was that actually 2025? I think I thought that was 2024 No I think yeah I thought it was 2024 that's why is that is this 20 20 it's been a long Yeah, it was this year. Oh my god it was this year. Okay well you can do replace you a shotgun one A we're yeah where would be 30 seconds where would we put the watch three I will add it Just put it A okay I say B battery life that bulky beautiful yeah my God screen's really nice Sorry Ben you've been outvoted it's a I don't know.

It's not square enough. It really is good. The Moto Razor 2025 series. This is a photo of the Ultra, but I'm going to include the entire thing here. Mostly because I think it's, I think it's like a deeply flawed lineup. And honestly, if it was just the base model, I would argue like a tier. And the plus and the ultra weirdly bring it down. But I'm curious what everybody else thinks.

I don't know who here has used a Motorola phone. I'm just going to be honest. So personally, excuse the dogs in the background. I can't get them to shut up. I'll do my best. I would say the Razor is a strong C. Yeah. The reason I say that is because, sorry, the whole thing.

The Ultra is a good experience, but it is way overpriced. Overkill and overpriced. Yes, yeah. The base model is. is a really good deal. Yeah, I agree. But it's just a hair too slow because both of them are hindered by Motorola's increasingly iffy software.

Which I should say is the one major North American software built not on those list, mostly because I just, well, one, I couldn't find a good picture for it. And two, it's just like, I don't really have anything interesting to say other than it just doesn't, it's just not very good. I agree with you that Motorola's skin has gone from like totally like, well, And the other reason is actually because I don't know if any phone has Android 16's Motorola built yet. Nothing in the U.S.

I don't think anything in the U.S. Right. And so it was like, okay, well, we can't really talk about that. But in terms of their Android 15 skin, yeah, it's so, it's so weirdly slow and it's kind of ugly. And it's very odd because it's gotten worse, the more work they put into it. It used to feel very much like an AOSP skin, and it was fine. And the second they started like trying to screw with it, it got.

that's what I loved about it in 2024 and 3 was the fact that it didn't divert from much of what from Google was doing it was yeah it felt like I could jump in and use it and I wouldn't miss a beat and that's I hate so much that the chop gesture

and the wrist twist gesture for the camera and flashlight that they're the only ones that do that yeah there's the last some of those little things are so nice but then then you get like you know the action button or whatever it's called on this is just like their terrible AI tools and yeah I you know didn't they put like a little bit of every AI like they have chat GPT perplexity and Gemini they're like that is so

messy yes yeah and we had Ben and I at the launch event had to listen to like videos from all three CEOs oh no it is like their their software experience despite being like reasonably clean feels like the least cohesive software experience on any phone right now. And it's for no reason. Yeah. I think C's correct. Identity prices more than anything.

Yeah. It's weird where it's like none of, well actually I would say nobody should buy the plus because like that was just a warmed up phone to a phone from 2014 that was no longer, or 2024 that was not like on sale or discounted. But the base model and the ultra both have their like pros to them, but it's hard

to recommend either, especially compared to like the last couple years of phrasers. Andrew. Very, very fast tangent, sorry. Yeah, go for it. The Motorola software thing. Do you think they've just forgotten how to make software for phones with a good

chip in them? That's all. I'm not going to we don't have to expand on that. That's just genuinely what I'm coming to the realization of. Go move on to the other phone. The honor Andrew, this was a phone you reviewed, so we can start with you,

but the Honor Magic 7 Pro, I believe. Yeah, it's the 7 Pro. Magic 7 Pro. How do you feel? Gosh, and this is all on me, too. Yeah. Well, no, I've used the RS. I've used it.

The R.S. I've used the Purple one. That's really nice. I've used that one. Very in specs at all. I don't remember. Be close enough. Maybe a bigger battery and a ton more storage and maybe the camera is slightly better.

maybe. I can't remember off top of my head, but I do know that it was nice. I did like it. Yeah, we can combine both of those. They're close enough. Yeah, yeah, that's fine. The OS is going to hold it back for me quite a bit. It's just it's it's chunky, it's hard to use, and the reliance on AI for every little thing just is overwhelming. The other thing, too, is the camera's good, but a lot of the AI features are locked to cellular or internet connection, which is funny because a lot of this review I did out of the country. It was kind of difficult to test. So you didn't have to.

I did technically, but it was choppy at best. So a lot of the features that we were, you know, looking at like ultra zoom or AI enhanced zoom and everything. Yeah. Just wasn't working properly. And I'd say. It's expensive, too. That's the other thing. I'd say C.

Okay. It is a decent phone for Europe, which is right, because it's not here in the U.S. It's got a decent camera, really good battery. Gorgeous hardware. It's always. I will say the hardware and the internals do elevate it. The screen is incredible, I will say. It's frustrating when software, because like it's kind of the story of one plus two.

It's just, it's one of the things where it's like, I mean, in Motorola, we were just talking about. These companies need to get their software game together because it's just not keeping up with their hardware, with their exceptions to made hardware. I find myself thinking a lot, maybe it's just because I'm getting older, but I'm getting tired of all these, I don't know, it just feels like digital whiplash on some of the phones that we use, you know? Yeah. It just doesn't, there's no cohesive, you know, structure, like direction that they want to go. And that's kind of where this phone falls for me. I did like using it more than I thought I would

but there's work to be done on the software side for sure so C feels yeah but that just means I think C's an easy one because it's an easy win for them to fix a software but I don't know if Honor are going to do that I think they have a lot of hangovers from the Huawei split and Huawei ordinarily the hardware was just light years ahead of everybody else but the software was the single biggest sawpoint

and the fact that they worked so closely with Google to help create the gestures that we use in a drip pie and then 110 is insane to me because nobody at Google probably said to them, do you want to fix this? Because this looks horrendous

and you could fix it pretty easily. Yeah. But yeah, it is what it is. I think C is perfect for the Onom Magic 7 Pro. Yeah, that's fair. The nothing headphones one. Headphone one?

Headphone one? Headphone one. I'll take the lead because I had 10 minutes with these. No. I have a lot of opinions. 10 minutes. I cannot wear that in public.

Okay, the black one is passable, the dark one. But with that white one, I have no idea who the hell wears that in public. It is screaming. It is, it's fine on the phone because your hand mostly covers it. It's not like eye level. But all that, I don't think it translates well to over-the-year headphones. Maybe I'm so old now that I like the. the analogue nature of it,

there looks like two casks on either side of your ear. It's skeuomorphism. Skeuomorphism. Yeah, skeuomorphism. I like the skeuomorphic design. I'm the opposite. I think that they are... Okay, so we need to go back a little bit.

Ear one, was it ear one the first ear? Yeah. Nothing ear. Nothing ear. They were, looked great, felt great, integrated nicely with Android. Sound horrendous. Ear two, they listened to the criticism,

which I think is one thing that I, nothing do probably or have done in their infancy really, really well. A2, fantastic, as good as a pair of Bluetooth ear buds for Android that you could get. Headphone one, or headphones, because I think it's plural. I'm British, so we're plural. We have two headphones either side. These out of the box sound barely passable for the price you pay. Wow.

With a little bit of tuning, I think they are quite decent. hey, they're not going to replace your, you're not going to replace your Senheiser HD650s or a proper audio file pair of cans, but as a decent, I like the controls, I like the little roly thing. I don't know if you can even hear this on the mic.

No, you can't because it's not powered on. Yeah, it makes a nice click. There's physical buttons here that I really like and they're really well thought out. There's a sense of chunkiness to them as well that I think Abner doesn't like, but I think it's nice that you get something that doesn't feel plasticy.

It feels, there's metal there. how much are saying that 299299 299 I like the hardware side I like a lot I agree with you what do you think of the sound profile the sound profile the sound pro randous it's like if you've used in EQ with the EQ with

you know meat trimmings and then banged on it with a stick no that's far too hot that's way too harsh no when you that's harsh when you get sick When you get the EQ done, I'm interested in your tuning that you did, because I couldn't, I couldn't get them right, no matter what I. I pulled a few from Reddit.

There's a few from Reddit. Oh, okay. I want to shout out sound guys as well. Those guys did a, did a template, which is fantastic. And it does sound, it sounds decent. Okay. Hey, they're not like, they're not like 10 out of 10, 100% nowhere near it. But, but that's the thing is I, I put them on and I tried no matter what tuning, I got everything, just.

felt like it was it had to have those low ends turned all the way up you know it didn't feel like there was any relief and there was no detail in the the mids or highs and it just it felt muddy but it wasn't even like a like a warm muddy you know yeah yeah and that's where it fell fell apart it's just I love the design honestly I wouldn't wear the public I don't think but like from a hang on your wall and look at them perspective I don't have a problem without they look at all Although this is sounding like a C tier at the highest. No, I fully agree with the C tier. I think D, just in fairness.

For me, so I used them for a lot of travel this year. I think they are a, I think where I landed on them when I stopped using them at the end of the year, where I landed on them was they are a good, less expensive alternative to like the Sony line of headphones. Because the battery life is really good. Like, that is the only thing they have going for them is the battery life is phenomenal. The software on Android, the app, is very good. It's better than most of the apps. And that's something I think they don't get enough credit for. Yeah, not a good point.

The sound, once you tune it to your tastes, is still not great. It's still way too base heavy, low end heavy. But it is perfectly acceptable. because I do think the sound was their biggest misstep. The nothing ear from last year, the 2024 model, was stunning sound. It was perfect. And then this year they just decided, we want to go for like the beats audience for some reason. And they ruined it.

They did the same thing with the ear three earbuds. I would say they're a middle of the pack C just because battery, like, software design is I think I think it's nice um the controls are really good and the price is really good the only thing that really takes them down in my book is that the sound is not what it should have been are they priced for the sound quality in your opinion like does the price yeah because they're they're in the same ballpark as like JBL like they're not I don't think they're like noticeably worse than like a $300 pair of JBL headphones. They're definitely not like in the Sony ballpark, which is what I would mainly compare

them to. I think Sony sounds better, but Sony's also like $200 more if I remember. But JBL to me like seem passable. Like JBL is passable out of the box. Nothing is passable once you make your tuning. Once you tune. Yeah. I guess that's where we are going to fall apart.

But that's, that's where maybe, that's where I was thinking D, because at the end of the day, you've, you've convinced me now, Ben, that the app, the integration with Android. I like the look. I think the battery as well. I think nothing under-egged the battery life. I think what did they rate it? Some like 35 hours. And I was getting like nearly 50. I used these headphones for flying cross-Atlantic to the launch event and back. And I did not charge them. once and I don't even think I hit 50% using them like from North Carolina to London and back for all my flights for killing time in the airport it didn't even make it really a dent when you think about it yeah but I'm the same I've traveled to Japan with these one single charge and I still haven't charged them yeah and that was like I've turned them on a few times since and they still have like 40% battery yeah I think they have enough pros to outweigh that the needs a lot of tuning. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. See it is. We'll make sure at the end, but I think that's a good spot for it. For this next one, just because we're going a little long, I'm going to drop it where I assume it's going to land. And if anybody wants to argue with me, you can. And then we can say good things. It's Material 3 expressive.

It's Android 16 in general, which I'll be curious if that drops it. But I'm just going to put it in S tier for now and then see what we want to do. Who doesn't like Material 3 Expressive for Android 16? Absolutely no argument for me. Okay. None. No, no. Nope.

None. And no, it's the only one that's fresh, right? I was just going to say, quick side comment. These days, everyone's trying to liquid glassify their Android skins. Google is, I feel like the last one left that's doing something unique, doing something different in their own lane. And Material 3 expressive was a hit. So that's awesome. I figured that be easy.

That was even easier than I thought. The Galaxy S-25 trio. So this is the regular S-25, the S-25 plus, and the S-25 Ultra. My heart wants to put it lower than the pixel 10 because the pixel 10 is, I think, a better experience. But objective, it's another one of those objectively on paper. It's as good. So I think it's a B. I think the software is decent.

I think the hardware is objectively good. I think the prices are fine. Really the only downside is just that, like, they didn't do G2. They didn't make any major upgrades whatsoever. They're just boring, but they're perfectly fine. That's true. I think that's fair. I think my biggest problem with Samsung is the S-25 Ultra specifically is.

They did the bare minimum, but the bare minimum was enough to nudge them into a position where everything is like 8-9 out of 10. across the board. Yeah. And that means that it, I think, it's a little bit like the pixel in a lot of respects, but I think with what Google did, they did their software, Samsung did their software their own way. And I think that's the only major difference.

Although the screen, I keep coming back to that S-25 Ultra screen and I just stare at it. It's so good. That should be an S-tier on its own. But yeah, I think B's perfect. B's perfect. Let me ask you guys this and then we'll move on. This can just be a yes or no. Does the, and this feels 100 years ago,

does the S-Pen Bluetooth controversy drop this at all for anybody? Literally does not matter in the slightest. Great, that's what I thought. I'm putting it in B tier. The nothing phone 3A, et cetera, there's like 18 3As at this point, but how do we do about nothing's lower mid-range options this year? I think I spent the most time with these.

I think you did too, then. The 3A and 3A pro are, I would argue for a high B, They're objectively good phones. They're good prices. The software is good. The 3A light is a travesty on humanity. And on its own is an absolute F. But I think the 3A Pro, combined with the fact that the 3A light is not sold in, like, the U.S.

and a lot of other regions, I will leave them at a B. Okay. Like mid, just middle B? It is, yeah, it is exactly there. It is a little bit better than the three, the phone three, but it is not near the pixels and Galaxy S-25s. Huge disclaimer, though. Nothing didn't even send me one.

So I can see it. Huge disclaimer, though. We need to see where this lock-glimpse situation, the ads and the slot glimpse adds up. Yeah, but those are on the 3-A series. And the 4-A's, that was specifically for the bottom of the barrel-cheap ones. Oh, I thought it was on the 3-3-Pro. No, it's on there, but it's not enabled.

Hmm, okay, okay. I don't have any opinion on the 3A and nothing fun. Yeah, I think that's totally a fair placement. PixelSnap is our next thing. So this is kind of just focusing on the Che2 capabilities and the accessories within the accessories we've seen become available over the past few months, I think is fair. So just kind of our first Che2 experience on Android

outside of like random HMD devices. What do we think? So this is not PixelSnap specifically. This is just Chi-2 in the Pixel-10. PixelSnap, as well as various accessories, the experience of using PixelSnap. I think all of that kind of fits into this. It was such a big deal that it felt like

it was worth breaking out of the Pixel-10 on its own. I agree. So the Google's accessories are that the PixelStan successor, the actual Mac pixel sets cable, and that weird little stand thing which I believe Jordan you had quality issues with I haven't been using it

yeah that was happening a week after it launched a lot of issues of that so it's such a shame because it's nice but that little issue just it takes all the it takes all the appreciation out of it when the screws

are coming out yeah for real you know meanwhile while the pixel sense cable is too short at one meter, they should have at least done 1.5 or at least offered another solution. Yeah. And the stand itself is fine.

It is just fine. Yeah. I think pixel snap in its own right. I mean, maybe because we've been starved of MagSafe for so long, I think that alone makes it feel like an S-tier device, an S-tier addition, but at the same time it isn't, is it? It's basically, I think, it's B, it's B, but for us, it's an A, isn't it?

Because if it's the first device is to get them, yeah, I feel like A is fair. For me, the technology, not to just really quick, the technology itself is the thing that excites me. It's the third party open, you know, the floodgates are open, third party accessories are now usable, you know, whether they support the full 25 watts

on the pro or Excel or whatever. But the accessories that Google, it felt like they were just kind of, they needed to put something out. And that's fine because the value is in the myriads of, like, items that I can now attach to my phone or that I've been sitting around that I want to use with my device, which is nice, without a case, too. Yeah, I fully agree.

I was going to say the Chi 2 is an S, pixel snap, the first party accessories are a B. So A seems right. I like it. And I do, I do hope Google improves the accessories. side question about pixel snap. Do we think we're going to see it in the 10A and forward? Yeah, probably. Definitely forward.

I'll be curious to see about the A series. I have to imagine it makes its way in there eventually, if not, if not this year. If it does, I don't think it's an expensive enough thing to skip out on. It would be more of a differentiator in terms of not so much like the cost of the device, but Google wanting to be like, oh, like if you pay the, you know, X dollars amount more than the A series, you get one of the things you get as pixel is pixel snap but you know the leaks we've seen on the 10a leave it so similar to the 9a that I have to imagine that the upgrade is is pixel snap so I hope so um my my cat has joined us for these final five categories he's just rubbing on the

mic uh we've reached the one plus 15 uh which which is not a device I thought I would be looking at these bottom three tiers for but I I think this is a bit of a swing a miss on one plus's part uh anybody else feel similarly or different do which colors did you get i got the the gray the sandstone which i think was part of the problem that yeah i think i think that diminished my experience a little bit and i seems ridiculous to say because it picks up fingerprints and scuffs okay that's by the by judging it on its merits it's another one plus phone a fast one plus phone. Yeah.

The new chips do feel noticeably, and it seems ridiculous, but I don't know if that's because it's the 165-h-h-screen, but they do feel noticeably faster than even the 8-Elet, which is insane to say. I didn't notice a speed difference at all,

but that might just be... I felt like it was faster, but... Yeah. Now, to be clear, though, I don't think 165 activates by itself. No, it's only unspecific content. Yeah. It's, so it's, it only goes,

is it only, is it only, is it only, is it only, is it only goes up to, even if you're like a high, at least on the, on the 15. And this is just the 15, we should say, not the 15R. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But I have to imagine the experience is similar. Very similar. Yeah.

It's, yeah. Yeah. Screens goes. Um, it's, I think let's go about that two steps backwards approach that one plus seems to have. I don't think it can be a above a B. It cannot do that. The camera, the camera feels like a noticeable downgrade, even though there is some tuning elements from Hasselblad that I think they've carried over, even though there's no

hassleblad marking on it. I think when we look at it in isolation, it's fine. If we do, if we look at the, if we look at it in the broader picture, considering the 1 plus 13 came out technically in the same year in global markets, it can't be higher than a C. I think C would be really fair to it, really, really fair. Yeah, I think C is fair. I think maybe for me.

I think for me. Yeah, that's what, yeah, that's kind of what I'm getting. It's, the thing is that like, the battery life experience is so wild to me that I think I have a hard time, even though I'm disappointed by this device, I would have a hard time putting it in D because, because the battery life was kind of its killer feature where I was, you know, halfway through day three and at like 24%. And I'm like, this is great. And there's a lot of people out there that you could, you could suggest this phone just on battery life. a hundred and it'd be valid if anybody bought this because they don't care about what android skin or you know they're using and and don't really care about cameras or whatever you know the cameras in this are fine enough they're not bad they're just a step down if all you were interested in is a phone that will last you days at a time and then can recharge in 30 minutes or even just get a usable charge in 10 this is that phone so i think

to be fair though on that you could just do the the r version and technically that's true similar that's true same yeah the the r the 15 r feels very similar to like the 13 r to the 13 where it's kind of like a lot of the things that were good about the regular 15 are still there a lot of the things that were not so good are still there and it's just a couple of cut corners to to bring that price down um okay we have our last software update this is this is one ui this one's a little complicated it's it's one ui 8 but also kind of one ui 7 because this was a weird year for Samsung, but mostly one UI8. But these were so similar to each other that I think it's kind of worth taking in,

you know, in a bundle together. So what do you guys think about Samsung's software experience of 2025? One UI7, when it came out, felt like a really good, really needed refresh. Yeah, I agree. that was quickly realized to be not enough of a refresh. It does feel different and feels better than 1UI 6 did, but not enough. And then 1UI8 came and is kind of just the same thing. Yeah.

And now 1UI8.5 is in beta and is now adding some liquid glass crap. So it's, Samsung's software feels so directionless right now. Yeah. It's like they cannot decide between three paths, and those three paths are their own path, which is where 1UI 7 was going. Liquid glass, which is where 1UI 8.5 is leaning towards. And then they're just completely ignoring the third path of just do Material 3 that looks great has been basically universally praised. Right. And they could absolutely modify it to their own tastes, and it would probably look pretty good. Like Google has given Android such a unique identity, and Samsung's kind of just ignoring it.

On principle, that feels like a C to me. It's funny how, because I had the same experience with Samsung software this year, Ben, where I thought 1UI7 actually felt like a step forward for the company, and then by the time 1UI8 rolled around, I was like, ugh, this again. And I think it was Material 3 expressive. I think once we saw that and we saw Samsung not chase after it

it was like oh well I could be having that experience over there why am I having this experience over here when it's noticeably better over there I think that kind of screwed up some of the goodwill that this update had I also wonder how much of the goodwill was us just happy that 1UI 7

got a vertical app door but I don't know that's not that's true that is very true I was happy about it I'm the opposite I really rated one I really rated one UI 7 and I think 1UI 7 alone was an A tier because it, it righted some of the things that really frustrated me about Samsung's direction

with one UI in general. They were like kind of throw everything and not have a cohesive experience. I'm not one of those people who care about those like one millionth of a animation frame when I closed an application. But they're there. They do help. I do think they do help on a smooth screen. There was a lot of changes that they made of

I quite, I think it's going to sound ridiculous, but I actually quite like the split quick settings panel that they added which I don't I guess is yeah I think

I probably I think C feels fair I think C feels fair too like you both have alluded to once material expressive is introduced

it feels stupid for something to diverge so far away from Google in a lot of respects because obviously like they

they can stand on their own two feet a little bit because obviously Google's not going to ever match them in sales figures. So Samsung can kind of lead from the front and be like, hey, they could almost steal Google's homework and be like, zero three expresses is our thing kind of and put their own spin on it. I don't know why they don't do that because, yeah, I, there is elements of liquid, liquid glass, is it liquid glass?

Yeah, with one UI seven, I've always felt there was derivative of iOS, of the previous version of iOS. So like everything from the how the app switcher, the recent menu multitasking, that always felt so derivative to me. And I found it wild that people liked it because it was just so derivative. Maybe that breath of fresh air,

I just think it was so derivative. So, yeah, I have no idea why people liked it. It was just Android enough for me. But it was continuing what they did. They've always done this. they've always copied common iOS elements and I just thought that was the name of the that kept it up in seven. It made me forget for a minute because it was decent enough to make me forget for a minute.

And then I don't know. I haven't, I don't have a massive amount of experience with some of the changes that made. But for me, somehow they somehow, yes, they were derivative of iOS. But at the same time, things like the app door switching felt more like Android than Samsung had felt in a bit. Like it felt like they were finally acknowledging, hey, we're an Android phone. Let's do Android things. We're not just Samsung. But like I said, they have three paths.

They're not going down. They're leaning back towards like, hey, let's just copy iOS again. Yeah. I think CTIR is fine. It's not doing anything egregious. And I think it's certainly better. than like what we've seen from from nothing which we also have in the C tier that we have we have lower at the moment um i think i think that's fair though i think this was this was what appeared to be

promising on the tin uh at the start of the year was was maybe not so much also abner reminded me that like the weather app was a straight up like before one u iate was still a straight rip off of of ios like i completely forgot that there were elements like that same with the app switcher yeah I think C is fair. The Pixel 9A, our last smartphone on this list, the Pixel 9A. I love this thing. I would, I love it too. And I would, if I could, I would use it over the 10 pro.

I agree. I doesn't have the AI features. Yeah. Yeah, this is. It's a great phone. Layla went on sale for $3.50, which is... It's a steal. Really good for this device.

Yeah. I think it's an 80. tier, to be honest with you. I think it's a little bit better. I really like the design. I know people had an issue with it being, you know, generic. My argument has been from the jump that a camera bumpless design is more user-friendly. It's not my problem. It's Google's problem to worry about brand recognition, not mine. This is a better experience than having a big camera bar stick out of your pocket. I think this thing's great. I think it's probably a tier. Does anybody disagree? Is there a case for S?

What's the case against S? I really like this film. The Bezels? I think. People don't like the bezels? I think the bezels do hold it back a tiny bit. I didn't have a problem with the bezels, but maybe that. When you think about the price range, yeah, I don't like the bezels, but for $3.50 or, you know, what's it, $4.99, normal?

Yeah, it's not too bad. I think they could have done a little bit more with the camera, but I know that they're working on a bit of a budget. I think that probably does. hold it back a tiny bit because you could, I mean, just being logical for a second, you could get last year's flagship phone at launch probably, sorry, at the launch period of the 9A for competitive prices, so for sake of like an extra hundred dollars, you could get a, do you know what I mean? So, I don't know, maybe that was a very, very, I think upper A is very where it should be. The A series always seems to slap and this one was a absolute slaper.

Yeah, I was a huge fan of the 8A too. It was the 7A was the last time I didn't like one of these but that was more of a tensor g2 problem than anything uh yeah i i like that next year it will be going back down well yeah we'll cross that bridge in 12 months the uh our last wearable now the pixel watch uh four uh of it of both its sizes how do we how do we feel about google well i know how abner feels about google's wearable experience this this year but uh any i mean we can start with you Screen is jarring. Going back to a flat screen is absolutely jarring. To what Andrew was saying about a mechanical watch feel,

there are some mechanical watches that curve, not too much, but this feels like an opinionated thing that puts it in a step above, honestly, the other stuff. So it is definitely an A, and my thinking is whether it's an S. It feels more substantial without that. I can make one. I think it's probably going to fall in S,

but if you guys will allow me to make the one argument that maybe would hold it back, I would say it is a little annoying that they changed charges again. That's my one argument. I don't even, I'm not even saying that's enough to drop it from an S, but that would be my argument towards A.

I was super skeptical of the charger and also very annoyed that they changed it again. And I was reminded of that when I took a trip and had to pack a charger for mine and for my wife's swatch. But I think the charger is excellent because it's so fast. No, I personally very much think this is an S because I think they have finally achieved the vision they wanted from the first one. Absolutely agree. In terms of the performance, the design, the display, like it's just great.

and the work they're doing with it is great. Like the gestures, the new pinch gestures, and then also just race to talk to Gemini genuinely makes this a more useful product. I think it is the first time in years I have felt like I have a reason to wear my smart watch beyond just notifications and fitness. Yeah, that's fair.

Does that change between the two models for you? Or is that asked for both? No, I think it's as for both. It's just what you want. The size difference is just, you know, what do you like and do you care about, you know, maybe sacrificing easy battery life? Yeah.

We've reached our final product. It's one I'm going to throw to Avner to directly because he is, he might be the only person who's used it. That might not be true. Jordan has it. Jordan, what's your thoughts on it? All right, all right, we'll start with Jordan. We and Damien have talked for a long, long,

long time about this stupid product, the Galaxy XR headset. Oh, my God. Behind the scenes, no viewers know how much me and Damien have talked about it and, you know, shared opinions trying to, you know, talk out what this device actually is. So, uh, did you have a question, Will? No, I just, I, I, I, tell me, tell me about your time with it, Jordan. Because I have, I, I, I, I, let's start with, I've, you know, Abner has been on, on, on podcast. to talk about it with me. You have not. So let's start with you. How is your time with the Galaxy XR? So for me, I think I have four main takeaways from this device. Things I've learned after I've used it almost every day for a full month and a half, which one, this is basically

an Android desktop PC that you strap to your face. Like everyone thinks of VR is like this hard to grasp concept, especially if you haven't used it, but it's literally a desktop operating system. If you put it on a laptop, it would work very similarly. Like it's a, um, it's meant for productivity, not just for gaming. Yeah. Um, the second, uh, takeaway a half from that is that, um, Damien made this video. It's gonna, it's gonna, it's gonna bomb or what was it? What was the title? I forget, uh, dead on arrival. And he is partially right. immediately people might not jump into it, especially for $1,800.

But the VR space desperately needs competition. Right now, it's only meta and Apple that are like gigantic names when it comes to VR. And Steam. Yeah, you have Valve coming up with their new headset. Because of that, Google has to release the Galaxy XR. This is kind of my third point. Google has to have a-

Well, Samsung. Google, Samsung. Android has to be represented in the Android XR space because that, according to just some research I've done, apparently it's supposed to be a hundred billion dollar market by the end of the 2020s. And Google and Android cannot miss out on that opportunity. And then the third example, which is what Abner brought up in his review is, to me, Android XR is the perfect third computing device. I feel like right now a lot of people want a laptop and a phone and a tablet. But the tablet you know guys correct me from wrong tablets aren't uh that much different of an experience

but xr xr is a completely different experience still in the world of android so to me it's like a perfectly valid you know third computing device so for me it's an it is an a tier it's an a tier device because also the displays inside are so sharp like i can put the headset on the displays in the are better than any display I have in the house right now. You don't wear glasses, right? I do not wear glasses. So that would probably be a big pain for somebody for sure. But I wear glasses and I bought correct.

Good sense. Yeah, yeah. Okay. How did those work? Seamless. I never think about them. So A, you had A there. In terms of...

I was just one last thing. Maybe it is a B because the controllers were not available at launch. Yes, this is a productivity device, but people want to game on it. Yeah. Controllers were not available at launch. I think they're still not available one month later. They're $250, not bundled in. So the way I see it, and the conclusion I've come to is instead of paying $250 and waiting two months for the controllers to come in, I will pay $350 for a used MetaQuest, and I will beat that up for gaming and all the junk that I want to do on the MetaQuest. You know, 100 bucks more for a dedicated device

just to beat it up like that, I'm totally fine with. So that's my last point, Admin, what do you got? Even the 3S really quickly, like the Quest 3S has been $2.50 this entire holidays either. Like, it's the exact same price as the controllers, which I just think is funny. No reason not to get that medic device.

Specifically for gaming, there's no reason not to get it. But for productivity, GalaxyXR's awesome. To Damien's video, the DOA video, I think that this is not meant to be a market device. If it were a mass market device, it was not doing well. If Samsung wanted it to be a mass market device, they would have started cutting the price to make it competitive when they saw

that people aren't buying it. So they are well aware that this is not a mass market device. My thinking was around a sea, actually, because with that in mind, this device is just putting their stake in the ground. It is not meant to be a consumer device. It is not meant to be a successful consumer device. It is just a tech getting test hardware out there. And I say this with the hindsight of being able to use X- Wheels Project Ola, because I think that is too optical paths to AR versus the camera stuff. And I think Jordan, once you get to use that, I also think that if we were, we should have gotten that one instead of the Samsung. headset.

Really? Which is, yeah, it is optical pass to. It's very competitive. So I'm at a C, open to a low B, but I think, so maybe what's bringing me to a B would be that this is not a Vision Pro copycat. The Samsung generally had some clever ideas in terms of making it light, the plastic, not going for that race. the open design

where you can see the world by just looking down that's generally good so I from the fact that it's not a vision pro copy cat that they had generally good ideas they made it at a

I think a significantly a price point in Division Pro that to me I can see it in the B I think low B is fair Jordan do you feel do you feel good about that

yeah I think I think low B is fair I'll have to look into this X reel if I knew more about the X reel I trust Abner on that. So if he says X-Real is somewhat above and beyond Galaxy X-R, I trust him on that insight. So, yeah, low B, high C, totally fair.

Once the price comes down, you know, $1,000, just saying, probably a great device at that point. Well, that's why I'm so excited for what Valve is doing, because they have said it's going to be cheaper than the index, and the index was 1,000. And even as something that is, you know, gaming or entertainment focused, that has my name. written all over it.

Yeah, I'll be buying it. Especially because SteamOS is still, it's just Linux. So you can still use a desktop interface. It's just not going to be the same thing. Yeah. Yeah. Guys, that's, that's all of them.

I'm going to, I'm going to run down. Actually, you know what? Let's do this. So I will say, Abner's thought on oxygen OS 16 has not left my brain this entire time. I think we have to move the one plus 13 and 13R down a bit. Boos. I think that's fair.

I think A, I think A tier is totally acceptable. I think if 1 Plus had not sort of, as we've all agreed, it's in D tier, botched a bit of oxygen OS16, that would probably still be an S tier. But I think that's totally fair. But I think our A tier phones of the Fold 7 with the Flip 7, the, you know, pixel 9A and the 1 Plus 13 and 13R, that's a great little lineup of phones right there. I think I feel good about that. Is there anything else you guys feel should be changed? And then I will, I will, uh, maybe read out just for the audio listeners, uh, where, where everything landed and we can wrap up.

No. No F. I feel pretty good about this. No F's. I know. It's, I'm kind of surprised. Um, you know, my guess is on, on what would end with F were kind of, what was, the 3A light was on this list.

It'd be F. It'd be F. If, which one? The 3A light. If that was on this list by itself, total F. We don't mean, it wouldn't, it, it doesn't deserve to be on the list. Like, truly. There you go.

That's fair. That's fair. Yeah, and we left off, you know, I'm sure if we really thought about it, we could come up with some, with some more smaller releases that could maybe fit in F or even just like product launches. But I think overall, this has been like a decent year for consumer tech. It's just a matter of, were there any like huge, there weren't as many huge S tier products either. You know, everything was kind of like, yeah, this is pretty good, which is not a terrible place for the market to be. Yeah Okay, let me

I think it's fair Let me read this out real quick And then we'll wrap up In the S tier we have Material 3 Expressive slash Android 16 And the Pixel Watch 4 In A tier we have the Fold 7 and Flip 7

The Pixel 9A The 1 plus 13 and 13R The Galaxy Watch 8 and 8 classic And pixel snap In B tier we have the Pixel 10 series, the GalaxyS 25 series Ness 2025 portfolio the one, or excuse me, the nothing, Freudian slip there, the nothing three A series, phone

three A series, the nothing three, the buds two A, the pixel buds two A and the galaxy XR. In C tier, we have one UI seven slash eight. We have Motorola's Razor series for this year. We have the honor magic seven pro. We have the one plus 15, nothing headphone one, nothing OS4, and then in D-tier, our last two, we have Oxygen OS-16 and the Galaxy S-25 Edge. Wow, God, the longer I went in that, the more I was like, I am screwing these up. There we go. Damien, do you want to take us out? And also, thank you guys for joining me, because this has been a blast.

This was fun. Yes. I think we've set the world to rights this year. There's a lot of more products, like you say, Will, that we missed. Hopefully you've enjoyed this little bit of a... I guess it's been a party atmosphere. We've been at loggerheads with things, but nothing too drastic.

We haven't fallen out with each other, have we guys? What about you and me? We're going to argue about Galaxy XR. I was waiting for you to get in there, man. No, no, no, no. We could, but maybe that's another podcast. Another podcast. There we go. Yeah.

I just want to say thank you, everyone, for listening this year. We really appreciate your time and patience with us and listening to us. We can work out. If you have the opportunity, you rate us, share with your friends. It means the world to us. And I want to just say thank again, happy holidays, happy new year, happy Christmas, whatever you're celebrating right now. And we will be back early in the new year, ready to set the world to rights again for

2026. We go again, as always. So thanks for joining us, guys. And thank you, team. I'll speak to you all soon as well. Bye, guys. We're all going to have to say bye at the same time. Bye. See you. Bye. Thanks for listening to Pixelated, a 9-to-5 Google podcast. If you enjoyed the show, we ask that you rate and review it on the podcast platform of your choice and help spread the word by sharing the show with friends or on social media.