Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The latest phone reviews have been eyebrow raising. It's eyebrow raising for me in other ways. I have a Pixel 9a and it's been quite good with really solid battery life. It's barely 6 months old and I got it new straight from Google. A few days ago I noticed the battery started to drain much faster than usual. I also noticed at the same time Google is pushing the 10a. Nothing changed on my end. I barely use the pho…
I dont think Google is gimping your device to sell you new ones. What you probably see is Google toggling on some new AI feature, which is now doing some initial on-device computation. It will usually calm down after a few days.
I'm not sure.
Last year they ruined my Pixel 4a by pushing that battery patch to everyone (even to end of life devices).
Their official repair center replaced the battery as per Google's guidelines and offer but during the battery swap they managed to physically break other parts of the phone over the course of multiple visits. Each visit broke a new component.
Google support didn't do anything in the end, eventually ignoring me. This went on for almost 6 months with an email chain over 100+ replies.
Eventually the repair center gave me enough credit towards a new phone (this 9a) but only after I mentioned I was going to small claims court since they left me with a device that didn't function in the way it used to function before I visited them.