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Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

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Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#131
My pixel 3a is by far the best phone I have ever owned (across both iOS and Android).

Comparing the 4a to this it looks like a bunch of solid incremental improvements across the board.

Huge fan of basically everything here. Price, screen size, phone size.

Battery size could be a touch bigger, as my 3a has the best battery life I just wish for about 10% more for edge cases.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#132
post #30

I can only hope they will revisit face unlock in the era of face masks. I greatly prefered fingerprint unlock. I treat either of these as tamper resistance rather than actual security, but I find fingerprint unlock to be a much better experience.

FaceID is terrible when driving. I often have my passenger read and send texts for me, on my iPhone 6S I just had to grab the phone and put my thumb on it. With my iPhone 11, I need to lift it up in front of my wheel, and look directly at it instead of the road, because if you aren't looking at it then it won't unlock.

Alternatively, stop using your phone while you're driving. It's illegal to hold it in your hand while driving in many (most?) states now.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#133
post #60

Seems interesting if you want a reasonably sized phone with less bloatware, but for 30$ more the Galaxy A71 seems like a better deal, here's a comparison: https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=9995&idPhone2... > 4500 mAh vs 3140 mAh on the Pixel > microSD card slot vs no card slot on Pixel > The A71 has more cameras > 2 extra GBs of RAM on the A71

$30 more, plus you have to buy through a no-name Amazon seller. Maybe other people are okay with that, but I feel much more secure buying from Google directly (in terms of whether or not you feel secure having a Google device is a whole other story, of course...).

Checking on best buy (as a US user), the A71 actually goes for $600 if you want it unlocked and without activation [1]. So a more fair comparison is that for Americans the A71 is $250 more than the 4a, but you could get it for cheaper if you activate or buy it locked, or are willing to buy from a 3rd party on Amazon.

The A51 does seem to be available from Best Buy for $400, unlocked and unactivated, or $300 from an Amazon 3rd party, but the specs there are of course not as good as the a71.

Posting as I was excited to buy something non-Google and fully featured, but I personally don't feel the same confidence buying from some 3rd party on Amazon as I would from Best Buy or Google.

1) https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-galaxy-a71-5g-128gb-unl...

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#134

What does the "A" in 4A mean? Large? Small? Cheap? Fancy? The answer didn't appear in a skim of the first several paragraphs, and like many here I don't care enough to RTWFA

Looks like it means "Cheap" - it costs $350, and is the same size as the Pixel 4, which is $800. Here's the product page: https://store.google.com/product/pixel_4a

You mean Affordable

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#135
post #5

I held on to an old 5x for what felt like forever until the 3a came around. I've zero interest in the high end phone market, I'm sort of horrified at 6, 7, $800+ the prices, and I feel like I use fewer and fewer apps all the time. Hopefully google with the 'a' models and Apple with the SE will stick with the mid range products.

It’s possible you will get better TCO by spending more upfront if you intend to keep the phone while it is still “current” and receiving OS updates - some quick calculations below based on phones mentioned in another comment (happy to be corrected if the info is wrong).

The pixel 4a has “No guaranteed Android version updates after August 2023” according to google. $350 / 3 = $116/year.

iPhone 11 is $699 according to google. Let’s assume 5 years of support which is reasonable for Apple at this point which = $139.80/year.

Galaxy S8 seems to have been released 3 years ago and only has android 9.0. So let’s call that 3 years (might be less since I don’t know when the last update landed). Assuming the same for the $900 S10 = $300/year.

Note that I am told some phones have advertisements built in and also some manufacturers are also selling your data but not sure how to cost this in (and some people don’t care).

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that finally made me jump ship to Macbooks about 10 years ago was the fact that I needed a week and a spreadsheet to choose a PC laptop.

So if the specification weren't important for you, why did you bother? I think it's quite nice to have the choice, upgradability, price range, etc.

> So if the specification weren't important for you

That's not what OP said.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if the specification weren't important for you, why did you bother? I think it's quite nice to have the choice, upgradability, price range, etc.

> So if the specification weren't important for you That's not what OP said.

I understood it that way.

What did you understand?

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#139
post #5

I held on to an old 5x for what felt like forever until the 3a came around. I've zero interest in the high end phone market, I'm sort of horrified at 6, 7, $800+ the prices, and I feel like I use fewer and fewer apps all the time. Hopefully google with the 'a' models and Apple with the SE will stick with the mid range products.

I replaced my 5x with a Moto X4 (still using today). Both were/are rock solid phones at great prices.

Re: Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So if the specification weren't important for you That's not what OP said.

I understood it that way. What did you understand?

Menu fatigue is real, I experienced it only a few weeks ago. PC laptops often differ just enough in things like build quality processor version, RAM amounts, screen quality that you are constantly trying to balance "best" or compare A vs B vs Q, and if you care a lot about maximizing value for your budget, you end up spending hours looking at reviews, benchmarks, etc.

In contrast, with a Macbook, I know it's not perfect, but there's a clear differentiation of qualities (air, macbook, pro), and only a couple differences within those categories, so it's a lot easier to decide based on budget, or based on your needs.

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