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Android Central

Technology

Jerry Hildenbrand

Black Friday through Cyber Monday is the best time to build a product ecosystem

Apple Google Black Friday (Topic) Samsung Amazon Android Motorola

A Samsung Experience Store with its logo and "Galaxy" on the large front glass.

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Android & Chill

One of the web's longest-running tech columns, Android & Chill is your Saturday discussion of Android, Google, and all things tech.

We're in the midst of the biggest deals of the year, and that means it's the right time to buy your tech gadgets and save a bunch of cash. Smart shopping saves you money, but it's also a way to build your own kit of gear that "just works."

You don't have to use the same brand for everything, but you might want to.

Why you might want the whole ecosystem

We all know that you can use any phone, any laptop, any tablet, and so on, and things can work together to make life a little bit easier. But there's often a benefit to buying products from the same company.

Some, like Apple's products, have features that only work with other stuff from the same company. If you want to use Siri, HomeKit, or even iMessage, you need an Apple product. Period. It feels kind of like a tech jail, I know. It also allows the company behind it all to do more.

Take iMessage as an example. Because it only works with Apple products, it can work with all of your Apple products. You can get the same messages on your phone, your tablet, and even your laptop because they were all built with that exact purpose in mind.

Apple's the first "offender" that may come to mind, but it's not alone here. Samsung, Google, and Amazon - the big players in the tech gadget and gizmo scene - each offer something that either works best with the same brand or only works with the same brand. It's been that way for a while, too.

I'm torn on how I feel about all this, and you might be too. Google famously builds services and features that are designed to work on every screen, and that's handy. But Google's products often feel lacking when it comes to the competition, and not everything from the company is built for other products to use. Maybe you want to read your SMS messages on your watch, even though they were sent to the number used for your phone. Or you want the kind of synchronicity you get between a Galaxy S25 and a Galaxy Book.

The only way to guarantee that you'll have that, and whatever comes in the future, is to buy "all Samsung" or "all Apple".

That's not necessarily a bad thing. I doubt anyone would complain if they had a Galaxy S25 Ultra, a Galaxy Watch 8, a new Galaxy Tab, and a pretty and thin Galaxy Book in their bag to use — ditto for a big stack of " Apple i-products" or a satchel full of Pixel gear. It's good stuff that works best together.

The problem arises when you didn't think of it in advance (like me) and have a Motorola phone, an Acer Chromebook, an Apple iPad, a Pixel watch, and an Amazon TV. Everything still works, just not as well as it all could. I love my phone and everything else, but I won't lie and say I don't see things from other companies that I wish I had.

This is only going to expand, too. Now that every company is throwing as many AI products at us as possible, they need to find a way to stand out; you know, just like Google does with the AI features that only work on a Pixel. Expect to see something similar from every company with the means to make it happen; we already know that Nothing has something up its sleeve, and Amazon isn't shifting to a new OS for fun.

If you care about making the most of your tech gear, sales season is a big help. Cyber Monday means you'll find gadgets from every company at super low prices. All you need to do is decide which way you want to go.

If I were going to go all in with one brand and squeeze every feature I could out of an ecosystem, I'd be looking at two specific products: a Pixel 10 Pro and an iPhone Air. Not because I think these products are better than all the others, but because they could be the foundation for something that works great together and offers something I want: access to everything Gemini or all my messages on everything I own.

When the next big sale comes along, I'd look for other products from the same company. Soon I would have the products I use most - a phone, a wearable, and a laptop - designed to work best when used as a group.

(Image credit: Andrew Myrick / Android Central)

I'm not suggesting that anyone should do this, and you chase whatever dream you have. I like using my Moto Razr and know it will work well with the Pixel Watch I ordered on Black Friday. I also know I won't be getting my messages sent to my laptop and won't have awesome Gemini photo features on my iPad. I'm OK with that. I might not feel this way if I had to start fresh, though.

It's something to think about, and right now is the perfect time to do it. If you want to make a change and go all-in with a line of products designed to build the perfect ecosystem, you'll be able to start at a big discount.