I’ve used Google telephones up to now (earlier than they have been referred to as Pixel). Out of the lot, I cherished my Google Nexus 5, which LG developed. Nonetheless, in recent times, Samsung has taken over my main telephone charging, with an iPhone as my secondary telephone. Proper now, though I personal a Galaxy S26 Extremely, I take advantage of the Galaxy S24 Extremely, as a result of, for my part, it’s the best-looking Extremely telephone from Samsung for now, and is a {hardware} beast even in the present day.
However the One UI interface is a bit too colourful for me, and I needed the clear, minimalist vibe of the Google Pixel. What adopted have been hours of UI tweaks, third-party app installations, and de-bloating of pointless stuff from my telephone. However after the mud settled, I spotted that faking the Google expertise wasn’t value it, and I ought to’ve purchased a Pixel as a substitute.
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The phantasm of “Inventory Android” customization
A technique of grinding
Credit score: Sagar Naresh/MUO
Step one to Pixel-ifying my Samsung Galaxy telephone was eliminating the producer’s heavy software program pores and skin, which for me was One UI. I really like One UI, and it is among the finest OEM skins obtainable on the market, with the newest One UI eight including a bunch of recent options. Nonetheless, it doesn’t make your telephone look critical.
The principle downside of not solely Samsung’s One UI but in addition with all different Android skins is that you’ll discover duplicate apps. As an illustration, for Google Messages, Samsung has Samsung Messages; for Google Play Retailer, there’s a Samsung Galaxy Retailer, for Google Calendar, there’s Samsung Calendar, and so forth.
On prime of this, Samsung additionally has Bixby, Good Swap, Samsung Cloud, Samsung Information, Samsung Climate, and whatnot. Sadly, fundamental hiding received’t do a lot, as background processes will proceed to eat your battery. To get a clear setup, I seemed up the way to take away bloatware on Android with out rooting and took a deep dive into the developer choices.
Then I put in Shizuku and Canta to surgically take away pointless bloatware from my Pixel-like setup. With Shizuku, you may achieve elevated permissions to behave as a bridge, permitting apps to make use of ADB, whereas Canta makes use of this bridge to uninstall apps.
Launchers are solely pores and skin deep
It’s time for cosmetic surgery
After eradicating the undesirable apps, it’s time to get the proper garments, i.e., clear pores and skin. The launcher is the largest visible change you can also make in your Pixel-ifying your telephone. However the course of is just not that straightforward, as there are such a lot of apps that promise you the Pixel look.
After hours of looking and attempting, I made a decision Lawnchair is the closest factor to a Pixel Launcher. It has a search tablet on the backside, and a vertical app drawer. Nova does provide granular tweaking capabilities, however for that, you want a whole lot of endurance.
Whereas the interface was virtually taken care of, the largest concern got here up — the Pixel At a Look widget. For many who don’t know, it’s a widget that exhibits your upcoming calendar occasion and the climate. For that, you may long-press on the house display screen, choose Widget, select Google, after which add the Add a Look widget, or use Smartspacer, which provides you a bit extra choices than Google’s official widget.
However that’s simply scratching the floor; setting the whole lot up, granting permissions, linking accounts, and tweaking show settings require a whole lot of time and effort.
Substitute each default app with Google’s
That is the step that may make or break your mindset for this course of
Credit score: Sagar Naresh/MUO
Upon getting uninstalled all of the duplicate Samsung apps, it’s time to set up the Google equivalents. You must set up Google Telephone, set it as default, after which repeat the method for different apps, together with Messages, Calendar, Keyboard, Pictures, Contacts, and extra.
A few of them set up cleanly, however for others, you must bend the principles. They might ask you to switch the information out of your supply to that specific app, and many others.
However after going by means of all of it, I ended up with a telephone that runs Google’s stack. Then I needed to get the Pixel icons, and by the point I assumed I used to be prepared, a notification simply broke the dream.
As quickly as I pulled down the notification shade or the Settings menu, I used to be thrown again into Samsung’s One UI ecosystem. The fonts weren’t constant; the animations have been completely different (because of the third-party launcher), and in lots of apps, the icons simply weren’t there.
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You simply can’t pretend a Pixel
Putting in the GCam mod was one of many details that made me assume I used to be solely losing my time. The ultimate nail within the coffin was the Pixel-only options that you just simply can’t get on any telephone apart from a Google Pixel.
You received’t get Magic Eraser, Greatest Take, Picture Unblur, Audio Magic Eraser, or Video Increase. There’s a complete checklist of Pixel-only options I missed, though Samsung has its personal tackle most of them. On the finish, I used to be utilizing a telephone that was sporting Google Pixel garments on prime of a Samsung physique.
The telephone I made after spending hours was good, however not Pixel-nice. And it didn’t take me a couple of minutes to resolve to return to creating my telephone what it was initially.
My take, you shouldn’t trouble customizing
I am not saying customization is pointless. I actually customise my telephone to my liking and current it in a approach that makes it seem as an extension of me. However I by no means thought-about making it seem like a distinct telephone. That simply takes away the enjoyable of the unique telephone, leaving you in the midst of nowhere.
It will be finest to get a Google Pixel telephone should you actually need to expertise a clear Android expertise. The price of a Pixel A-series telephone is just not out of price range and could be a nice secondary telephone. The very best half is that many of the Pixel options now work on older and price range fashions too. So, you don’t should get the newest flagship to get the magic. All in all, it’s higher to purchase a model’s telephone and persist with what they provide to really perceive what’s in retailer for you.
