950XL to Pixel 2 Experience

I thought for sure there would be some new magical Windows Phone to buy after my 950XL purchase that would keep me in the Microsoft ecosystem, but after even Microsoft announced it is time to move-on, I did... reluctantly. I thought I'd share my pretty much worthless opinions on the switch in case you are considering switching to the same phone.

After much research, I opted for the Pixel 2 to replace my 950XL and my wife's 950 for the following reasons:

Pros

• Top Notch Camera
  The #1 feature that I liked about the 950XL was the camera... it's still a worthy competitor to most flagship phones. The many, many reviews I watched regarding the Pixel 2 photo quality all stated that it has one of the best cameras you can get.
• Direct Android Updates
  I still remember when Microsoft wasn't by-passing the phone companies like AT&T and having to wait months just to get an OS update. With Windows 10 Mobile, I think we got spoiled in that OS updates often reached our phones within days... or at least that was my experience. My 950XL just got the Fall Creator's Update. In the Android world, only certain phones will get immediate Android updates, with the Pixel being one of them.
• Project Fi
  My primary reason for wanting to try Project Fi is cost... I'm hoping to save ~$30 a month over my AT&T bill since my wife and I don't use a lot of data. I haven't had the phone long enough to know if the Project Fi network is any good yet... I sure hope it is.
• "Pocketable"
  My 950XL was my first "phablet", and while I loved the large screen most of the time, the phone was very uncomfortable in my pocket and didn't fit well in my bike bag or just about any other bag or pocket designed for phones. This is the primary reason I didn't opt for the Pixel 2 XL (well, aside from the $200 price increase!)
• Apps
  Not sure I need to elaborate on this. I don't know how Microsoft is ever going to close "the app gap", even if they create some new, fancy, foldable pocket PC thingy.
• Camera
  It does take nice pictures. I guess I'm not picky enough to be able to say they're any better or worse than my 950XL, but they are good. I was convinced that I need a phone with dual cameras until I saw what the Pixel 2 can do... and watched multiple reviews of phones with dual cameras that took horrible pictures.

Cons
Unfortunately, my list of "cons" is pretty long, but I guess I'll just have to live with them :-/

• Glance Screen
  One of my favorite features on my 950XL is that it would show me the next thing on my calendar on the glance screen, as well as unread email counts, unread text counts, etc. The pixel just has this uber-tiny icons on the glance screen to notify you that something is new, but it's often hard to tell what. I haven't found any replacement apps that will show calendar event info... I hope someone creates one soon!
• No Live Tiles
  Probably another topic I don't really need to discuss much. I miss my email and calendar live tiles :-(
• Outlook for Android
  I kept hearing how great Outlook was on iOS and Android and that Windows 10 Mobile was being left behind. I personally don't like the Android version of Outlook at all.. maybe I'll warm-up to it. On Windows 10, I could have different live tiles for each email account I had (home, work, etc.), where as I only get one icon now and I have to manually switch between accounts in Outlook.
• Camera App
  The camera app is horrible and looks like it was designed by an Android newb. The screen on the Pixel 2 is already small enough and the dopey camera app reduces the view-able screen size even more with large black borders. Any suggestions for a better camera app that has ability to switch between manual and automatic modes like the Windows 10 camera does?
• No Wireless Charging
  Even though wireless charging is slow, I hate having to give-up simply dropping my phone on the charge pad at night and have it all juiced-up in the morning.
• Launcher Madness
  One of the big problems that comes with a phone that has a lot of apps is organization. By default, the Android OS is an organizational nightmare... a sea of Chiclet icons. I downloaded Microsoft's new launcher and it does organize app icons alphabetically, which is nice, but it's still no live tile replacement.

Also note that the Pixel 2 isslippery. I think you'd have to be nuts not to put a case on this phone. I had it case-free for a day and I think I dropped on on my lap 3 times.

Did you switch to a Pixel 2? If so, what are our thoughts? Have you found any decent apps to make your transition away from Windows 10 mobile a bit less painful?

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