Less than a day with the new SE so far, and I've realised it's not Android I'm attached to, but Google.
I've still a sh*t ton of setup to do with all the apps I've downloaded, and a load more inbuilt ones to get rid of or offload, but so far all is good.
I'm sure I'll miss a few of the integrated Google niceties I used to have on the Pixel, but all of the Google apps I've downloaded so far seem to work together just as they did on Android. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting but it's a relief!
I'll see how I feel in a week, but for now, it's a good move...if only for the form factor. F*** me, it's a beautifully engineered thing.
As an update on this, after less than a week, it was boxed up and then returned for a full refund.
Why?
1. It turns out that my Pixel 2 XL charging port hadn't bust again; seeing someone else's fluff they'd picked out of their USB-C port prompted me to do the same and, hey presto, it worked fine again, a nice positive click, strong retention.
2. Screen size. Nope. Maybe if I didn't occasionally have to resort to reading glasses I'd have gotten along with it...but it really is a major drop down sizewise and just too much of a compromise for me.
3. Notifications. WTF? No amount of playing about could get this aspect of the phone to make any sense to me...like there being 3 ways to open an app from a notification. Why?!
4. Apple's lack of integration of rival apps. Yeah I could get all my Google things running along in harmony, but adjust text size on them to tweak it up and compensate for the smaller screen? Not happening.
5. I really missed the squeeze of the phone's sides to initiate my Google Assistant. Like loads. I never realised how much I used that until I was without it. By comparison, and even with voice summoning, Siri and its abilities just doesn't cut it.
So, the A13 Bionic can do one. I'm now back with my trusty Pixel 2XL and loving it.
I'm glad I tried, but Apple carplay in my bimmer will have to wait....