I agree and disagree. I switched from a Pixel to an S series and I have to say I like the Samsung better.

While the Samsung UI used to be a sore spot, I think the Pixel design language shift of the past couple years is far worse. All the big colorful pills with too much whitespace... Samsung brings back a proper notification shade with lots of quick buttons, like it used to be 3 or so versions ago with a Pixel. I put my custom launcher on and basically forgot it's Samsung.

There's spots all over Android that have been rough that Samsung just, smooths out. It's like they're actually using the phone and willing to take matters into their own hands when Google isn't, because Google is focused on AI assistants and letting everything else rot. Samsung lets you customize, whereas Pixel keeps walking you toward an iOS style experience one step at a time.

DeX, if you have a use for it, is awesome. During my lunch break at work can unplug my laptop from my dock, connect my phone, and have a personal workstation for watching videos, whatever. I also have a much better Private Folder with multiple apps. It's like Samsung understands that with one device we need separation. Google has been saying a competitor to this is coming, but at this point it's so far behind I'll believe it when I see it.

Samsung doesn't hold you hostage in format wars. My old Pixel in 20fucking23 couldn't support external storage with anything but FAT32. That's insane. It was screwing me up trying to easily back up a large file and that was no problem for the Samsung. Same with casting, Google is all in on Chromecast and nothing else, Samsung can CC but it can also Miracast. So now I can cast to any TV instead of only some.

Samsung's hardware is usually better. They try new things sooner so you have a refined ultrasonic fingerprint sensor while Pixel was still doing illuminated, depending on your version the processors are better.

Now, places where Samsung sucks are obvious and you stated a few. No unlocking is bullshit. I own the phone, I should be able to unlock it. If you're into tinkering then stay away, but Samsung's do tend to have higher resale value, so if you want to get into ROMs then you can always sell the Samsung and grab a cheap used Pixel. Samsung kept the headphone jack and uSD around a little longer, but they're both long gone on today's models so that's moot.

Samsung (and I can see where they're coming from) was concerned with how much control Google had over Android so they made their own first party apps for everything. This means a lot of duplicate apps. I will say that while some can't be easily uninstalled, they can be easily ignored. I just don't use most of them and I'm fine. They don't really force them on you or keep changing them to the default handler or anything. I'm OK with it, but I could see some people being annoyed.

That's about it honestly... Samsung reminds me a bit of the early Nexus era days. Lots of customization, interesting tech, and work being put into the OS. Google is just plodding along, content to lock people into an iPhone clone and sell AI. I say give them both a try. If you pick up used or a refurb you can save a fortune and easily switch if you don't like it without losing much if anything.