I just got this thing
switched from an s21 FE (used an iPhone 13mini for the past weeks because my galaxy was falling apart). it was an impulse buy, but I justify it to myself with the camera, hoping that it would reignite my passion for casual photography. and so I paid 500€ for a pristine, like-new, rose quartz or whatever, pixel 9 pro, at something you'd call a pawnshop, but in Europe. it instantly feels vastly superior, being newer and an actual flagship. haven't tested the camera much yet, but my kitchen looks great on this camera. I'm typing this on the battery cycle out of the box, energy saving disabled. and the phone is quite warm pretty much always, with occasional hotness during the sync and app installation phase, or when using the camera.
and that's fine, I get it, it's a slab of glass and metal that is intentionally double-used as a heat dissipator for the processor.
the pixel experience is slowly growing on me, the gboard integration is superb, it feels v smooth. but in some ways it resembles the iPhone I had been using the past weeks. even for it's age, it was incredibly smooth and easy to use, kudos to apple, but the limitations are significant - in terms of UI options and the constant feeling that the device is forcing you to just accept the "apple way" or in Google's case the "pixel way" to do things.
I am a bit naive and didn't research the pixel environment that much prior to acquiring this device. I now ended up realising that for most of my most beloved features from my galaxy, I now need root access for them to work on the pixel...
I can't pop apps out in freeformable windows, I cannot change the font (this one hurts especially much, as on all my Samsung devices I had the same (paid) Helvetica font). I today found out that I will NOT be able to cast Bluetooth to two different pairs of headphones at once anymore. and then there's good lock, which, if you haven't tried it, the best UI customisation app in the world. ever. period.
anyway...
here's the thing itself, taken on my veteran, neglected and resilient s21fe(along with the first ever pic I took on the pixel). I love its looks and feels anyway, but I'm really looking for ways to customise the UI, I hate the bar at the bottom, I hate the inability to actually fully customise the settings in the notification panels. why can't I just have the brightness slider there when opening up the notifications?? why do I have to slide twice for that? any suggestions on NON ROOT customisation options are very welcome.