I ditched Pixel for Galaxy Z Fold 7, but this broken feature irks me

I’ve carried a Pixel as my daily smartphone for years now because, often, it just provides the experience I want the most. That said, I’ve always had a soft spot for Samsung’s foldables, and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 was finally enough to replace my Pixel as my main smartphone thanks to its drastically upgraded hardware and ever-improving software. But there’s one broken Android feature that continues to irk me.

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The differences between the Android experience on a Pixel and a Galaxy device have always been, and likely always will be numerous. But, in recent years, it’s felt more and more like every base is covered no matter what you choose – at least the most important ones. With Pixel, the things you always hear about being core points include Call Screen, a clean experience, and faster updates. And yes, those are all things I value out of my phone. But, in reviewing the Galaxy Z Fold 7 last month, I realized that I was missing those things far less than usual.

Samsung’s work over the past year on One UI has really closed the gap. Where I used to constantly feel like One UI was overly cluttered and almost overwhelming, the subtle changes in design and layout in One UI 7 and One UI 8 did a lot to make the experience feel better.

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Combined with the always stellar hardware of high-end Galaxy phones, it makes for a compelling experience!

I was pretty tempted to keep using the Galaxy S25 Ultra after my review of that earlier this year, but my love for foldables kept the Pixel 9 Pro Fold as my daily driver. But the improvements in the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s hardware is really what pushed me across the finish line. On the whole, I haven’t really missed my Pixel yet. Things that felt foreign in years past on Galaxy such as the paginated app drawer, inconsistent camera performance, and more have mostly been solved. Without much modification, I can just use a Galaxy phone just like I use my Pixel.

That said, there’s a near-constant frustration that I can’t work around – notification history.

I’ve talked before about how Samsung, OnePlus, and other brands bury Android’s notification history feature, but it remains frustrating – infuriating, even – that Samsung has released two more Android updates in the time since without addressing this at all. Not only is notification history buried behind four layers of the Settings menu, but it doesn’t technically work. You can see all of your past notifications, sure, but you can’t do anything with them. Tapping on a notification simply opens the app, not the contents of that notification.

I’m sure for many, this isn’t all that relatable. Notification history isn’t the most popular Android feature, but I think that’s because Samsung has ruined it. The utility of notification history is in easy access. On Pixel, Google has made the feature more accessible than ever, making it a pretty core part of Android 16’s redesigned notification tray. But Samsung just continues to ignore it. As I’ve said before, this is a feature that sets Android apart, it’s something that iOS just doesn’t have. And it’s something that, once you know it exists and how to use it, becomes invaluable. We’ve all swiped away a notification by mistake, or hit “Clear All” by accident, or just wanted to reference back to a notification from earlier. It just kills me that Samsung continues to ruin it.

Similarly, Samsung still disables notification categories/channels by default, which is just a ridiculous decision. For an Android skin that gives you “all of the features,” taking some of the best ones by default is just wild.

Again, it probably seems minor, but this has been by far my biggest headache in ditching my Pixel for the Galaxy Z Fold 7. On the one hand, that’s huge progress on Samsung’s part, as this is the first time in years I’ve actively wanted to use a Samsung phone over a Pixel. But, at the same time, it’s things like this that frustrate me with Galaxy phones. Then again, this isn’t the first time Samsung refused to give customers a feature just because they didn’t know to ask for it.

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