picture comparison - Note 3 versus Pixel XL

I got a new phone last week - my Samsung Note 3 was constantly out of space, and even though I had an additional memory card, very few apps took advantage of it. I use a lot of apps in our traveling, and I was having to delete an app each time I wanted to add a new one...  the issue was not in keeping too much stuff on the phone as I offload pictures and videos almost every evening to the laptop... it just was out of room for programs (apps), and I could not remove the programs that I don't use (automatically loaded by Samsung and only removable if I "rooted" the phone, and I didn't want to get into that).

I had done some research. As you probably know, the newest "Note" was taken off the market because of fire issues with the batteries, so going to a new Note was not an option. I looked at the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S8, which are the newer versions of Dwayne's S5 phone, but, the S7 has a max of 32G of memory (which is what I already had on the Note 3), and the S8 has a max of 64G, but then they would have the same "bloatware" apps that Samsung thinks I need whether I want them or not...

So... I started looking at Google's Pixel phone. When I first started looking at it (in Yuma in February), they did not have the phones in the stores, so I would have to order it. I didn't feel like dealing with it at that time. But, in the past couple of weeks, I've had to uninstall apps to get a new app shoe-horned onto the Note, and I was tired of it.

I went by the Verizon store in Mechanicsville, and the rep who happened to be assigned to me knew all about the Google Pixel phones - he had been chosen as one of the early adopters and he was very happy with it. I told him my concerns (lack of app space and data usage by its "automatic backup" on WiFi) - he was able to address the app space question, and suggested that I do some additional research on the data usage - which I did. I decided that I would just not attach it to our MiFi device to avoid issues with data usage, so I went back to that store and got a Pixel XL (128G memory) a week ago Monday.

One of the things he told me was that the pictures were so much better on the Pixel. I have been pretty happy with the pictures on the Note, but I was comparing a couple of pictures I took of the "kindergartners" and can see the difference in the richness of the colors.

Note 3 picture of "kindergartners" in the field behind the house.

Pixel XL picture of the "kindergartners" in about the same place (different day and time, but I think the clarity in the picture is due to the camera difference, not the day/time difference). The picture is also more square which gives more viewing space, I think.

Zoom in with the Note 3

Zoom in with the Pixel XL

Since I've had it for a week, I've found some things that I like better (the "doc" app is better than the SNote app that I used before), some things I would like to figure out how to make it work the same as the Note (predictive typing is, so far, the hardest to get accustomed to), but overall, I'm happy with the change.