Besides the ability to copy over data at any time, the Pixel 9 has thoroughly updated the Setup and Data Transfer experience.
Google’s Paul Dunlop, who is Product Lead for Onboarding & Switching on Android, detailed the changes on launch day, calling it the “biggest release ever.”
“Back up or copy data” appears in the main Settings list and lets you “transfer as many times as you like from the same older device, either using cable, WiFi or cloud” without having to factory reset. It gives you more flexibility during the process.
During the initial out-of-box-experience, a new Express setup will only copy “media that’s not backed up to Google Photos in original quality from your old phone.” Checking file-by-file, this is said to “massively reduce the time it takes to transfer your data,” with a time estimate provided on the page. As always, you will have the ability to Customize and manually select what you want copied over.
Google says it has “rebuilt our Messages transfer infrastructure from the ground up, to make it more robust, reliable and complete.”
If you use Google Messages and have the very latest version, you’ll get a carbon copy of your Messages history when transferring using cable or WiFi.
Similarly, “more system settings, permissions and notification preferences” will be transferred, while “more apps will stay logged in.” To achieve this, Google/”Pixel has worked with top app developers globally to help reduce all those times you have to dig out your passwords and log back in.”
Additionally, “eSIM transfer during setup is supported for select carriers.”
After previously prioritizing wireless transfer, Google will “explicitly recommend switching to cable if we think the WiFi transfer will be slow.” That said, Wi-Fi data transfers are said to be “faster and even more reliable.”
In fact, you can now use both wired and wireless methods to “transfer data faster than the maximum speed possible with either method on their own.” This is called Transport Multiplexing.
Finally, during setup, you can now enable Google Photos and “Other device data” backup, while Quick Share and Car Crash Detection has also been added.
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