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Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A (theverge.com)
348 points by 0xedb on Aug 3, 2020 | hide | past | favorite | 582 comments



Has Audio Jack! (Comparison with other Pixel 4's) - https://store.google.com/magazine/compare_pixel?toggler0=Pix...


One of the biggest differences between the 4a and the older 4 and 4 XL is that the 4a has a rear fingerprint reader, whereas the 4 and 4 XL want you to use face unlock. So strange that this isn't emphasized (or even mentioned) on the comparison page.

This was actually the primary thing that kept me on a Pixel 2 for so long, since it also has a similar rear fingerprint sensor design (and I just pre-ordered the Pixel 4a today).

I can't be the only one who greatly prefers a rear fingerprint sensor to face unlock, especially in our new world order with widespread mask wearing -- but, even before! It's so much faster and less finicky.

(The new model's fingerprint sensor is also so subtle on the chassis on the phone that you can just barely make it out in the photograph of the phone's back shown on the comparison page. But if you squint, you'll see it. It's also discussed in many of the reviews.)


I recently went back to an iPhone 6s while my iPhone XS was in for repairs. Boy, did I miss FaceID (though some of the pain was also due to the change in certain key combinations and gestures between home button and notch iPhones, I had to go back in time and re-learn some old habits).

Why did I miss it? Because FaceID will unlock the notification area and its associated actions before I perform any action or even touch the phone.

Let’s say I get a text, my phone is on the night stand. I just look at it and it already unlocks, no reaching.

It lets you skip a step and start interacting with the screen before the phone has unlocked. Perhaps less of a big deal with the back-mounted fingerprint sensor, in that case I could interact with the thumb simultaneous to unlocking the back.

Using password managers was another big one. Instead of tapping the auto fill button, then tapping the fingerprint sensor, it was all one click. Opening bank apps, same thing. FaceID is always one less finger motion.

Mask wearing has thrown a wrench into it but Apple has added logic to quickly bring up the pin pad when it detects a face mask. Also, sometimes it seems to learn my masked face, but that’s less reliable.

I don’t know how this compares to Pixel face unlocking at all, admittedly.

And I never understood why Apple didn’t use the rear mounted fingerprint sensor. But I do understand why they think the benefits of face unlocking outweigh the drawbacks.

Some examples not related to the action of unlocking: when your alarm goes off, the noise gets quiet when you look at the phone. Also, the screen won’t time out and turn off while your eyes are looking at it.


Wow, I so much have the opposite experience of you

> Let’s say I get a text, my phone is on the night stand. I just look at it and it already unlocks, no reaching.

My phone is on the table while I'm working. In order for it to see my face I have to pick it up and aim it at my face. With touch id I could just put my finger on top without having to pick it up. So much faster and more convenient.

I find that quite often face id is slow or fails, even if it only fails one out of 30 times that's still one a day and when it does it's frustrating as hell. Something that should take 0.5 seconds ends up taking 10-15. I know that sounds trivial but by the time the phone has unlocked, whatever I was planning to do is often forgotten because of the distraction of trying to get face id to work and then having to manually unlock.

And of course now with mask wearing it basically might as well not exist.


Current Pixel 4 owner here, and former Pixel 2 owner, and I very much miss the fingerprint sensor.

With a fingerprint sensor, the only time my phone would have any trouble unlocking would be if my finger was wet (trivial to fix and re-swipe). Face unlock fails all the time for all sorts of reasons, and is especially useless when I have a mask on (it's nice of Apple to detect masks and bring up the PIN pad without needing an extra swipe, but that's still a weak workaround). Even without a mask, I feel like the failure rate approaches 1% to 2%, which is way too much. For me to feel comfortable using it, I expect something on the order of 0.01%.

Actually I'm not even sure it's the failure rate that gets me. Even after using face unlock for the better part of a year, I still catch myself looking at the phone thinking it's waiting for my face when it isn't, and then I have to swipe up or hit the power button or something. Yes, maybe you can call these UX problems that can be fixed with software, but with a fingerprint sensor I know that when I touch it, my phone will vibrate, and I know immediately if it succeeded or failed.

I think also part of the difference is that Pixel phones have had their fingerprint sensor on the back instead of the front, like iPhones used to have. If the phone is just lying face-up on a table (and I don't want to pick it up), then having it on the front is much easier. But, in reality, I found that was rarely the case for me; usually it'd be in my pocket, or even if it was on a table, I'd want to pick it up anyway. The act of wrapping my hand around the phone would put a finger in roughly the right position to hit the sensor anyway, so it'd be unlocked and ready to use well before I was in a position to read anything off the screen anyway.

Frankly I just really don't like face unlock when compared to a fingerprint sensor.


I have a Pixel 3 and a 2020 iPad Pro. I prefer the fingerprint by far.


The nice part of rear fingerprint sensor is that it's super natural to grab your phone out of your pocket and unlock it in one simple (blind) motion. So you are quite literally never waiting for the phone to unlock, it's always unlocked by the time you lift it from your pocket.


So, as my original comment pointed out, the two “unlock” phases are:

1. Phone standby to phone on (as you describe)

2. In-phone software actions, typically, password manager or locked/private apps (banking, etc)

For case #2, I greatly prefer FaceID. For case #1, it’s a toss up for me.


Oh, I see. But I suppose on a Pixel 4a you could configure both face unlock and the fingerprint scanner and thus get best of both worlds. I personally don't find touching the scanner to be a nuisance for case #2 since its location on a Pixel 2 or 4a's chassis is such that you can do it without fiddling with how you hold your phone (your index finger tends to be near the scanner during phone use, whether one- or two-handed, anyway).


Ok, but interactions of type #2 are probably a hundred time rarer. Personally, I rather like that I have to actively decide to authorize the use of a password.


Yeah, #2 could probably be abused by a malicious app.


My Opinion is that I want that "One More" Action. It tells / reminds me that I am doing something which requires authentication. And that is with my Touch ID.


I didn't know they'd removed the fingerprint sensor. I have a Pixel 2 and I'm happy with it. I don't have any compelling reason to upgrade, except that the screen has a small crack. I would have been disappointed if I'd splurged on a new one and had to use facial recognition to unlock it. I don't like having cameras on me. It's unsettling to interact with my devices that way. I also find that the ones I have used don't work as quickly or reliably as a fingerprint. The fingerprint motion is automatic as I pull it out of my pocket, and the majority of the time I'm glancing down at my hip to check for notifications; something like that wouldn't even work with facial recognition.

Now I'm definitely holding out to see what the 5 has, because if I can get 5G connectivity, I'm willing to switch, but I won't be jumping at it if there's no fingerprint sensor.


They'll also be producing a 4a with 5G connectivity, so there's always that option.


Pixel 3 also has a fingerprint reader in the back.


While that's fair, very few people are (nor should they) swapping out their devices every year.


I agree, but in this case, the delays in releasing the 4a mean that the pixel 3 was released 22 months ago.

(Mine is starting to die, between a bad screen crack and a battery that dies by 2pm.)


Relevant username...

Face unlock is complete BS, no disagreement there.

However... has anyone actually looked into how secure those phone fingerprint readers are?

Could very well be that the reason they're pushing face unlock so hard is they know their fingerprint tech is even worse.


I'm not sure which ones you mean by "those", but there have definitely been issues with phone fingerprint readers in general, e.g. when Samsung's Galaxy S10 would allow any fingerprint to unlock the phone when it had a screen protector on it (https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50080586).


That would definitely qualify as a those. And that is much worse than I expected.

Recent phones I've had come close to mitigating lesser concerns for me, but decide to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at the last minute.

Basically, if the password has not been entered in X time, then you must enter the password to unlock, fingerprint not accepted.

Perfect. Except instead of letting me set X to my preferred interval (30 minutes), it seems to be hardcoded to 3 days.


A fingerprint sensor is more secure than "swipe to unlock". And that already makes it a great feature for the many consumers who don't want to enter a pin or password every time.


Same with the new iPhone SE. It's a front fingerprint reader, but it still felt like a big usability upgrade from the XS I had before. It's so easy to take your phone out and already have it unlocked, or even activate Apple Pay without looking. I'm sure the Pixel's fingerprint reader is the same story. Face ID was incredibly inconvenient when I was driving with someone else and they wanted to change the music playing on my phone, but with a fingerprint reader I don't have to take my eyes off the road.


I have a pixel 2 and a pixel 4xl (don't judge me, I am a mobile dev ).

Face unlock is pretty nice ... unless you are wearing a mask.

Very infuriating to type my long password then.

On the other side of the coin, fingerprint sensor is kind of neat (well I made a deep cut on my index yesterday so there are also situations where it fails haha). I wish there were both front and back sensors though. In the screen itself for the front one, otherwise the chin would get comically large.

Also when I am baking, I just want to use face unlock.

Ideally we would have both (or something better than both I guess)


It's not just "they want you to use face unlock", but it has the hardware to a a secure face unlock (with a 3D scan) just like the iPhone. Nothing like OnePlus' face unlock that just uses the selfie camera.

Except during this pandemic where you have to wear a mask everywhere, I actually like face unlock. It's even more seamless than the finger print reader.


I'm suspicious of fingerprint readers since they seem another point of failure. I'm on a moto z play that seems to have silently forgotten its fingerprint reader exists.


The fingerprint reader on my Pixel 2 XL is still going strong.


Fingerprint totally fails me on Nexus 5X if I have been working in garden: abrasion, small cuts or dirt prevents the recognition of either of my index fingers. (Temporary using old phone because broke newer phone).


A bit sad and amusing that a physical jack is actually considered a feature now... what's next, removable battery? Expandable storage?


My personal opinion: Of course it is a feature! I can use cheap generic headphones (Blackberry headset user here) and charge at the same time. I can use the same headphones with my computer. I can also switch between phone and computer in about a second, no pairing no BS and it works reliably all the time.

I care less about the removable battery - in every phone I had I was able to change it myself, tools are cheap, the only thing you need is to watch some tutorials and calm down to have your hands steady.

Expandable storage is also great. I mean, how can it even be considered "not a feature"? You can very cheaply expand your storage - e.g. in situations you run out of storage. I don't get it, what's not to like? Honest question.


The point made by GP is that it's sad how phone makers remove things that were expected stock characteristics from all phones, and are now threatened with extinction. Almost all android phones used to have a microSD slot to add storage, and for most of them, you could also open up the phone and just slide in a new battery. Now this requires specialty tools and great care, or paying someone to do it for you...


Oh, I see. Thanks for pointing it out.

It's funny how the brain can interpret the text based on your mood and bias. Feels kinda like those optical illusions that seem to rotate in one direction, until you change your perception somehow, and then it rotates the other direction.


Notification LED.


A boy can dream, can’t he?


They're all popular enough features for Samsung to keep making the Galaxy XCover phones.


no tracking :)


Stylus and physical keyboard.


no one claimed it was a feature. it has a jack, some phones don't, so they state it does. this does not mean 'feature.'

it's a part of the spec, so they list it. it's not sad or bad or good -it just is.

for me, i want just usb-c, and no headphone port is a plus. same for sd card, same for removable battery. i thought all of those were important to me, until i realized i haven't actually used any of this in 10 years. yes, a headphone port adds just a tiny bit of thickness and weight. so does the removable battery. so does an sd reader. it all adds up, and adds a little cost. for things i don't want.

so not a feature, not advertized as one, and for a lot of people, not something they want. you do, so get the phone that suits you.


> no one claimed it was a feature. it has a jack, some phones don't, so they state it does. this does not mean 'feature.'

I wonder what you believe the word "feature" means.


well, clearly you believe on a car, the part of the spec that says 'axles: 2' is a feature. along with everything else in the spec.


Yes, and it is a good feature. I don't really want a car with 1 axles. And tires are expensive enough, so I don't want one with three axles. Just because it is not an awesome, whiz bang feature, doesn't mean it isn't a feature


It's a feature, just one you're apparently not interested in.


Anything that adds thickness is a feature to me at this point. It's already awkward enough to use phones as phones.


You should google the definition of feature


why would i google it for you -do it yourself if you don't know instead if asking people to do it for you.

hint: it does not mean 'spec.' for example, on a phone, lcd screen is not a feature. oled screen is a feature.

now, what is not a feature for most people may be a feature for you. just like if you like tap water, a restaurant filling your glass from the faucet may be a feature for you. which does not make it a feature.

edit: since the snowflake replying disabled replies.. no. it's more like claiming 'lcd screen' in the spec is a feature in the world of oled phones. so not a feature.


Note: you can’t disable replies here. The system does it automatically when a thread gets too deep too fast to prevent flame wars. You can reply if you just wait a few minutes.


(Bluetooth) vs (Bluetooth, AUX) supported connection methods for different phones sure sounds like feature disparity to me.

Your analogy is more akin to something like a glass back vs a hard plastic back on a phone, so maybe re-assess that.


Best part of Pixel 3A too. I was wondering if I should switch to the iPhone but after playing around with an used iPhone, I decided to stick with my Pixel 3A and I'll most likely buy the 4A (since I cracked part of the screen on the 3A). I love that Google is releasing highly usable phones at a decent price range. Combined with prepaid plans, I can easily switch carriers or phones without worrying.


I was briefly considering buying an iphone for the first time ever, since I wanted a good camera phone. Scratched that idea when I learned that it didn't have an audio jack.


I ended up making this jump.

What I've found works best for me:

- In the car I have a Bluetooth audio adapter for the aux in my older car. Works great.

- In my backpack I have a pocket where I always leave a headphone adapter. I always put it back if I use it.

- Bluetooth to Aux adapter with a small battery. Costs like $20 on Amazon and also lives in my backpack. Has saved my ass many times.

Beyond that, I just own more Bluetooth headphones and I keep a few space headphone adapters attached to headphones I use occasionally.

It sucks to spend $50 on adapters and another $40 on Bluetooth adapters. But it is very usable now and I don't ever "miss" my headphone jack now that I have the proper infrastructure setup.


I mean, I have a phone with an audio jack, and I plug my headphones into the audio jack and I am happy.

How would you sell "no audio jack" to me? What's my gain here?


I don't think there's any "gain", but there's possibly not as much downside as you're thinking. I just leave my adaptor plugged into my headphones all the time, so it's really no different plugging the lighting connector in compared to plugging a 3.5mm audio connector. More hassle if you have multiple sets of headphones I suppose (and I do, but only one cabled set that I use regularly, and a bluetooth set as well).

There's still a minor downside, I can't charge my phone with my (wired) headphones plugged in - but I can get almost 2 days without charging my phone (an XR) so that's never bothered me at all.

For me, the camera on the iPhone XR is _totally_ worth the "downside" of Apple's "no audio jack" decision. That's a very personal thing (I want great low light camera performance for band/gig photos) and it's not something I'd ever tell somebody else is an important purchase decision for them. Same for you, there's no way I'd try to "sell no audio jack" to you. But I might advise that whatever _other_ feature a specific phone has for your personal use cases might possibly override the downsides of no headphone jack.


You, uh, get to work on your habit-forming because you now have more devices to charge?

I mean, practically, once they've managed to kill audio jacks we'll probably transition to HDCP-like DRM for audio so that you need Approved(tm) headphones to listen to your favourite pop music. Once we get there that will be the feature for you ...


I don't think there is one. I noticed recently that after losing the headphone jack my behavior changed and I almost never listen to music through headphones on my phone anymore. I'm not sure if that's a positive change.


It's incredibly stupid to drop them and yet here we are, with only a few phones with headphone jacks.


I'm not going to sell you on it, but I'm not the guy you responded to. Pixel 3, no head phone jack, never bothered me. I used bluetooth headphones when I still had a headphone jack.


> What's my gain here?

More choice of phones when buying one.


it's definitely not the end of the world. spend a little money on some adapters, change some habits, and it's not really a huge inconvenience.

the main issue for me is that bluetooth audio just doesn't sound very good. most of my music is in mp3, which pretty much guarantees a lossy-to-lossy transcode for bluetooth. the inline DAC adapters tend to be pretty bad as well. I don't really expect a high fidelity audio experience from a smartphone, but the official google adapter for the pixel 2 is noticeably worse than the onboard dac in my old nexus 5x. not a showstopper, but very frustrating considering how much I spent on the phone.


> it's definitely not the end of the world. spend a little money on some adapters, change some habits, and it's not really a huge inconvenience.

Or just buy a phone that has a headphone jack, and not limit your options. You can still use bluetooth audio on a phone with an aux port if you want. But there are still lots of decent phone choices that have DO an aux port, eg the new pixel 4a we're talking about, no need to limit yourself.

If I don't have to buy adaptors (one for my desk at home, one for my backpack, one for my desk at work, one for my car, one for the first trip when I forget to take one...) I've saved $50-100.


So just FYI if you do want a hi fi experience from your smartphone, I recommend this: https://www.nextdrive-spectra.io/

My phone does have a headphone jack but I still use one of these. The difference is not close to subtle.


I'll be honest, this sounds like quite a set of workarounds when one can just... get this phone.


There is a little 3.5mm-to-lightning dongle that came with at least the iPhone 7. Not sure if it comes with the current model, but FYI.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35...


They don’t come in the box anymore, but are fairly affordable at $9.

Also, they’re quite effective devices: https://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/lightning-adapter-audio-qu...


They aren't durable in my experience though. Although most apple cords have issues with the connection "neck" (not sure of the actual nomenclature).


Is "strain relief" the nomenclature you're looking for?


More like the lack thereof... Apple seems to really go for form-over-function on those, and it's been like that for a long time.


Impressive! Didn’t know Ken did audio reviews too.


I have heard hardcore audio nerds say "he doesn't"... Specifically in regard to that blog post. But these are mostly the same people who pay $bignum per meter for crap like silver plated oxygen free 3mm^2 speaker cable, so I don't really place much weight in their opinions...


Cannot charge and you need a dongle.


It came with my 11 pro! Although I did immediately lose it...


Losing it is my biggest reason for needing the audio jack. I not only lose dongles I also lost my expensive Airpods even with the Find My app. I also lose my wired earbuds but at least they're cheap. I know many people that don't have as big a problem with losing things, maybe it's a personality thing.


A friend of mine semi-permanently attached his dongle to his headphones by heatshrinking over the joined headphone jack/socket (after having lost several already). Seems to be a neat/workable solution. (I've never had my dongle come accidentally detached from my headphones. Maybe the tolerances in my headphone jack and my dongle socket all serendipitously turned out "just right"...)


And you can't charge the phone while it's plugged in.


You can if you order a Chinese splitter. All it does is split your lightning into two ports: the charging pins and all the other pins. Because the sound is sent digitally from your lighting port to the splitter, then digitally again to the lightning-to-3.5mm dongle you have no quality loss from a subpar splitter chip.

Edit: to be clear, this shouldn’t be needed, but alas, we cannot steer Apple.


iPhones have had wireless charging for a while though. Not as convenient of course.


For me, it’s more of a problem with my iPad Pro.

It’s not even about charging. It’s about having to buy a USB-C hub just to plug in my headphones and midi controller to my iPad Pro.


It’s possible if you use a wireless charger


Don’t know why the parent was down voted for starting a fact.

I think the better solution if you can afford it is a Bluetooth receiver (Fiio make a nice one) for your old headphones.

If you are getting new earphones get some of the cheap Chinese BT earbuds. They are really cheap these days and work quite well for the money. I got a quite nice pair for ~$35AUD from amazon. Surprisingly good.


The Pixel cameras are supposedly incredible. My understanding is that there are usually one or two Android phones per-generation that are considered either slightly better or slightly worse than the iPhone's camera.


I have one. And I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the photos considering it has only one camera. Given the blur effects in Portrait mode are hit-and-miss once in a while (the algo blurs human hair pretty frequently). But I think it's pretty good for my use case, which is to capture memories that I can revisit.


I thought the Pixel 1's camera was incredible. I still have the photos saved from using it for a few weeks and I don't think any iPhone I've had since has been as good.


I use a Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite. Has a very nice camera and audio jack. The only drawback I can think of is 6.3" size, I'd prefer something below 6" if possible.


One day we'll have wireless earbuds with batteries that last forever and lossless audio over whatever signal format they use and Apple will be hailed as ahead of the curve for removing the headphone jack before everyone else, conveniently ignoring the fact that missing a headphone jack when wireless headphones are not perfect is just a straight up downside.


Agreed. It would be like removing the floppy disk in the 80s or the CDROM drive in the 90s and claiming it was a good move 30 years later.


I'm daily Airpods user and for me they are pretty much perfect, today. I'm happy with my phone lacking a giant port I never use.

I understand that it doesn't fit everyone though.


If what you want is wired earbuds that connect directly to a jack on the phone, nothing has changed. Such earbuds still ship with iPhones today.

If you want to use wired headphones, the $9 adapter works well. Wireless headphones are also widely available and have batteries that last all day.

I realise the above doesn’t perfectly cater to all customers, but anecdotally it seems to cater well enough to enough of them.


The main issue for me personally is not being able to charge and listen to audio at the same time. The main use case for headphones on my phone for me is watching streaming video in bed and that drains the battery pretty fast.

I know there's a (kind of bulky) dongle for charging + headphones, but I'd rather buy a device that has the ports I need already.

The $9 adapter is cool though. Afaik it's pretty much the best budget usb dac around.


I bought one of those adaptors, and whilst it worked with my charger at home, when I really needed it on a plane, my phone thought it was supposed to charge the plane :/.

I've pre-ordered the pixel 4A. My phone was dying anyway, but I'm going to like having a headphone jack again.


I understand the earbud+charging dilemma; my wife had the exact same bedtime use case issue. I bought her an Anker PowerPort Wireless 5 stand which holds the phone vertically. Its non-rapid charging speed is not an issue when the phone is charged overnight. (In fact the slow speed is probably good for battery longevity.)

As for myself, I bought Bose QC35's prior to upgrading to my first jackless iPhone so I was never affected by its absence. I almost never use earbuds.


No combination of extra dongles and devices is going to be more convenient or cheaper than just plugging in wired headphones to me.


It’s hilarious how many people have downvoted my comment without actually replying. I can’t imagine how anything I said could be construed as controversial or disagreeable, as opposed to representing a perspective.


I'll bite. As others have said you can't charge and listen to music on phones without a jack.

On the point about affordable wireless headphones, many of us have spent a lot of time and money finding a great wired headphone setup. I don't want to go spend another £300 and 20-30 hours of my time finding an equivalent setup, all because some industrial designer wants his design another millimeter thinner.

Lastly bluetooth still sucks, particularly if you change devices a lot. I've yet to see a BT setup that allows me to easily change my headphones between my laptop, my phone and my ps4 in under 2 seconds.


Thanks for the reply. As I replied elsewhere, the combination of earbuds and wireless charging was a perfect solution for my wife.

Personally I don’t know anyone who routinely charges their phone anytime other than when in bed. And personally I don’t know anyone who has an issue with all day battery life. I’ve no doubt these are still issues for some people but again, wireless charging pads are cheap.

I agree multi device Bluetooth sucks. But that’s not your only option. My QC35 are great for two-device use cases. In your scenario I’d use a wired connection for one of the three devices and your instant switching criteria is solved.

(I’m assuming you’re fine with one wired connection given that you’re criticising the removal of headphone jacks.)


Yes! I have a 3a and it has kept me using pixels mainly for this reason. #2 reason is the Polycarbonate unibody.

Happy to see they are keeping it in future iterations of the 'a' series.


> I have a 3a and it has kept me using pixels mainly for this reason

Same here - I held onto my Pixel 1 & only jumped to 3A when it came out.

Mostly it was that I had an existing wired setup fitted to my ears, but the real reason to hate BT was that I wasn't always charging them up. The airpods style charging case + a charging mat might have solved those problems, but the charger was more annoying than the wires themselves.

I happily use bluetooth in the car, which doesn't have the same sort of "did I forget to charge it?" problems.


Ironically I'm in the opposite boat where I use bluetooth almost always except for when I'm in my car and wire it to the AUX. That's probably because my car is really old but also because it's nice to not carry my phone around everywhere when I'm listening to something. With bluetooth I just leave the phone on the table and can move around the house pretty freely.


I have a 3a and it's mostly fine.

But an obvious problem is that the touchscreen is activated by my leg. I had to actually lock the lockscreen just to prevent the phone from constantly opening random apps and providing random input.


I have this issue as well. What do you mean "lock the lockscreen"


Apply a pattern or code-based lock to make it difficult to activate the phone. It's a security setting.


I have a x digit code. I need a lock screen for my lock screen - to stop me from hitting play on spotify, audible, libby, pocketcast, etc.


The return of the audio jack is great news. I spent years hoarding 3.5mm to USB-C convertors and fight audio issues, including months without USB-C audio working for no apparent reason, and having to work around it with blue tooth headphones, which are ok when I remember to charge them...


I know lots of people will be really happy with this, but I probably would have traded the jack for water resistance


Agree, water resistance would have been nice but it's not mutually exclusive to the headphone jack. Samsung was doing both for awhile.



Sony as well! I miss my Compacts :-(


I'd have done the opposite as I never take my phone near water. But then I'm a weirdo who'd gladly pay $2000 for a 4" flagship if such a thing was for sale.


Def not a weirdo thing. I got a 4" Galaxy S 1 in 2010 and have preferred it to every other phone size since. I dusted it off not that long ago to use overseas (it was my last GSM phone), and it was still the perfect size.


Your hands didn't grow — what a surprise!

Honestly, I did try to embrace this trend by buying a Nexus 6P when it came out in 2015. I thought I'll just get used to it. I did not. Besides being a pain in the rear to use with one hand, it ripped holes through my pockets with its sharp corners. So when they then announced the (5") Pixel 1 a year later, I bought one immediately and it's still my primary phone. Still, it's a tad larger than would be comfortable, I find it that iPhone 5 (or 5S or 1st gen SE) is an ideal size for me. The only problem with these is that they run iOS.


Be aware: water resistance is not covered by warranty, at all! If you put your new phone in the water and it dies, that’s it! Read the fine print. I read it for iphone because they brag with a bigger water depth.

Also, even if when new they might be water tight, after you leave it in the sun the glue that holds the phone together and seals it will melt and age. On a samsung I discovered that above the buttons it had less than 1 mm of glue.


Sometimes you don`t have to trade. I`m using Samsung S10e with headphone jack and IP68 rating. Best compact phone ever.


Water resistance and a headphone jack are not mutually exclusive though, my Xperia Z5 managed both just fine!


Yeah do people really use their headphone jack? Most everyone that I know in my circle uses bluetooth headphones now. Some of them are quite good...maybe not audiophile level, but if I wanted to be an audiophile, I would listen on a proper AV receiver with an amp.


So, pre-covid, when I used headphones more, I used the jack a lot because I'm just awful at keeping devices charged.

I also have saved many a social music situation when someone was having bluetooth pairing issues and I just busted out my aux cable, plugged and and blammo the party has music. I'm an IT guy, could I have fixed the bluetooth pairing? Probably. But not quicker than just plugging in.

So we're out there, THERE ARE DOZENS OF US! :)


Bluetooth headphones for calls add substantial latency. I don't care about audio quality, but latency, often 1/3s round trip, makes turn taking in calls much harder.


Travel is another reason. I use my bluetooth noise cancelling Sony headphones but being able to just plug in with zero battery use feels like magic.

13 hour flight, airports, etc... fewer dongles, fewer things to charge, etc.


There is very little more frustrating to me than getting 9 hours into a 13 hour flight, and having the batteries in my noise canceller run flat. Airliners are _loud_...

(I have an inexpensive set of cabled noise cancelling earphones that run off a single AAA battery, which always gets packed in my carryon...)


That's a weird example since the model you mentioned still uses battery when you plug it in via cable. Otherwise noise canceling wouldn't work.


Yeah but with Bluetooth headphones you are paying the same price as audiophile headphones, but getting mediocre quality.

A couple of phones did have a decent dac/amp combo built in (HTC 10, and some LG phones), FWIW.


My HTC 10 died a couple of months back. I actually replaced it with a Pixel 3a (and Dragonfly Black) Loved that phone, the default audio was fantastic.


Yeah, I too used the HTC M8 and then 10, because of the audio.

Since then I have been using the NextDrive SpectraX. I highly recommend it, it sounds even better than the HTC 10, and now I can use (almost) whatever phone I want.

edit: Oops, I missed that you specified you were already using a DragonFly. Is that not as good as the HTC 10 was? I would have thought it'd be better...


It was, lost it last weekend unfortunately. Replaced it with a Speaka, which so far is basically a slightly better dragonfly black for half the price.

I still appreciate a good headphone jack though. The usb-c connectors aren't always reliable and ignoring inline controls. A phone with a solid DAC & amp would be best. Unfortunately it seems only LG make those these days and their Android skin is horrible.


I too, enjoyed having it builtin with the HTC 10, but having basically zero choice in phones became a serious problem.

One thing with the 10 was that security updates were basically nonexistent. You got one or two major OS updates, but nothing in between, and nothing after. Lots of phones have this problem, but then again some don't.

Worse than that, the Oreo update completely broke my phone. I went from 2-3 days of battery life with my typical, light usage to something like 12-16 hours with NO usage, screen completely off the entire time. Fixing that required downgrading to Nougat, which required S-OFF, which required me physically mailing my phone to a hacker group and paying around $35. And of course this left me a year or more behind in security patches.

Based on the xda thread about this, it affected lots of people, but was never acknowledged or fixed. Consider yourself lucky :)

The LG phones are, one would hope, not this bad. But still, my takeaway from the experience is that tethering (heh) oneself to a single model or line or phones is really, really bad. The inconvenience of the dongle is, in retrospect, only slightly annoying in comparison.

And there can be significant cost savings. My Moto G6 and SpectraX together cost less than one of LG's phones, and I expect to reuse the SpectraX with my next phone as well. Buying a new DAC/AMP every 1-3 years doesn't really seem right, does it?


The main reasons I like a headphone jack are:

1) My car stereo doesn't have Bluetooth.

2) Very few earbuds fit my ears comfortably. After a lot of experimenting I've found a couple wired models that do fit my ears fine. Given the cost and limited selection of wireless earbuds, finding a good pair will be a chore, if I even can.

3) Once in a while having two ports is handy.

There are probably dongle solutions to 1 and 3, and maybe I can find some that fit my ears well. But that all sounds like way more hassle than just not buying phones that have been designed to exclude some pretty basic functionality.


> 1) My car stereo doesn't have Bluetooth.

This you can fix easily with a $30 dongle that stays in a car, some of them will power on and start playing from where you left off when power is applied (i.e., when you start the car, provided you leave it plugged in).

I don't use Bluetooth headphones, but for the car, it's perfect.


Not sure if joking but to serious users this is really important - you can just plug in your headphones and it works - you don't need to worry about which device the phones are connected to this time (I pair my bt headphones with many devices) or signal noise (I still have this problem when using wifi and bluetooth at once). There are even Android devices dedicated for audophiles like new Sony Walkman!


Excellent, this is now a top option for me!


Rightful king of the top comment.

I got a phone that is just usb-c. Carrying around the adapter sucks, and Bluetooth is an even bigger pain in the ass.


The 3A also has an audio jack. I frankly never use it, and sort of wish it weren't there. I wish they would maybe ship it with a thing you can put in the hole that closes it up to make it seamless, but can be removed.


And I'm over here wishing I could pay an extra $350 to get a Pixel 5 with a headphone jack. To me, the Pixel 4a is pretty much a headphone jack with a free low-powered smartphone attached. Haha.


You mean, like those things ? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0832JRZZK


Be careful with these things. They can trap moisture that would otherwise evaporate and cause corrosion.


I'd prefer one made by Google that just matches the phone and the curvature of the end. I don't know why I was downvoted...but some people don't need the headphone jack, but still want a reasonably priced phone. A simple fix is to just sell a plug that matches the phone.


> some people don't need the headphone jack, but still want a reasonably priced phone. A simple fix is to just sell a plug that matches the phone.

Well, no, the simple fix is to ignore the headphone jack. If your needs are "reasonably priced phone", there's no reason to plug the jack. You'd have to have some other need, like "and it can't have a headphone jack".


I just did a quick amazon search - there are many versions of these plugs, there may be one that works well with the pixel.

I actually realized I can get usb-c / lightning covers as well, which is great as all my phones get lint in there, eventually causing problems with charging.


It's really quite simple to make yourself. Just put some epoxy in there and shape it to the Phone.


How on Earth would you remove an epoxy plug?


You don't. The poster in question said he doesn't use it and wishes it wasn't there. Epoxy is an easy and permanent solution to that problem.


The post said he/she doesn't care about the port and would rather buy one without it. That means it doesn't require to be removeable.


How bout a case that doesn't have an opening for the hole.


Flex Seal?


I'm glad there's an option for people who are into vintage technology like headphone jacks. Maybe they can add phonograph cylinders to the next version.


Problems with wireless headphones over wired

1. batteries run out and can't use until recharged. Even if that only took 10 minutes I wanted to use my headphone now, not later.

2. batteries die and are not replaceable. Bad for both pocketbook and the environment

3. interference can make them unusable. Try walking through a crowded train station and you'll find you get about 2 seconds of audio for every 5 seconds of nothing.

1 step forward (no wires) 3 steps back.


It's a different trade-off for everyone, but I think you're underestimating the QOL improvement of "no wires".

1. No wire randomly snagging on door handles and other objects.

2. No forgetting your phone is on the table when getting up and yanking it off the table with the wire.

3. You can switch the source with a click, e.g. if you're listening to music on your phone and want to watch something on your computer.

4. It doesn't really matter where the source is: while having a meeting on your computer you can seamlessly get up and make yourself some tea while you keep talking and listening.

5. No physical connection to erode. Maybe I'm doing something terrible, but I've had issues with the headphone jack with nearly every phone I've had and nearly every headphones I've owned. It wears out, somehow.

It's well worth it for me, but I can't speak for anyone else obviously.


Very weak arguments that you could say about anything with a battery. Never had any of the problems you describe. Even the most stubborn conservatives like yourself will give up sooner or later. You're already in minority. Wireless headphones are no different than any other technological advancements.


Well yeah, I think we'd agree that most non-battery based electronic devices are superior to any equivalent device that relies on a battery. You're not refuting anything with that statement.

The fact is performance wise wired headphones are still just better, as well as far cheaper for audio quality.


Until wireless headphones can reproduce audio with the same quality as wired, I'm out.


No professional musician is going to use anything else other than wired headphones. You deprecate an old technology when something better has replaced it, not when you want to create a new market for a product to increase your revenue. The majority of BT audio codecs is inferior to a direct connection, and suffer from > 50ms latency.


This is not a mixer table or even a computer, it's a phone.


Sure thing buddy


Great comeback. Pretty funny that you seriously think "professional musicians" don't use BT headsets when listening to music on their phones.


This is an awesome phone at $350. I currently have the Pixel 4, but if this was available when I was making my purchase decision, I'd probably have gone with it.

That said, the Pixel line of phones isn't known for having long lasting battery. A feature that I've found to be indispensable is wireless charging. I just rest my Pixel 4 on a vertical charging base throughout the day. Otherwise, I'd have to have to constantly plug/unplug the phone throughout the day to charge, and that'd be a huge regression in the user experience.

Just as I'm about 100% fully committed to Bluetooth headsets and my collection is just about fully covering all my use cases, Google brings back the 3.5mm jack! Nice that they're giving me hope that I can still use my wired headsets without having to use a dongle, but I'd be again terribly disappointed if they removed this feature again in the next iteration. This feature alone is almost enough to downgrade my Pixel 4.

P.S. The Pixel 4 isn't an available trade-in option for the Pixel 4a. Lol!


I don't get why Google creates problems for themselves by relying on unproven tech or working backwards. Case in point: adaptive battery. Androids have historically had poor battery efficiency (mah vs. screen on time) against iPhones. Rather than optimize the OS and the apps and provide a larger capacity battery, they size down the battery and introduce software-based battery management with AI. Common responses to complaints on /r/GooglePixel about piss poor battery life are that the user hasn't waiting long enough for the system to develop a proper AI/ML model.

Another example: RCS. A protocol that neither carriers nor users actually want. 7 years after iMessage took over the US, Google is still unable to provide a functional E2E encrypted multi-device messaging service with all the doo-dads that come with iMessage.

So many more textbook examples out there.


Google got wedged between the desire to create a imessage competitor, and not alienating every carrier / OEM.

RCS works. I am glad it's here. It would have been far more helpful 3 years ago though.

The most boggling decision is what has happened with Hangouts.


> Common responses to complaints on /r/GooglePixel about piss poor battery life are that the user hasn't waiting long enough for the system to develop a proper AI/ML model.

Oof, this sounds like the sort of thing that could go really frustratingly wrong in some cases. Do you happen to know if this results in apps being erroneously killed when switching to the background? My phone killing whatever is playing on Spotify or Podcast Addict when I switch to another app has been a recurring annoyance for me on Android. I've always been able to find a fix but, bewilderingly, the fix has been different on almost every phone I've had.


The Americans waited for their phones to develop a proper AI/ML model. The Russians used a bigger battery!


Apple and Google aren't both just using jabber for messaging?


I bought a Pixel 3A a few months ago and my battery lasts 2 days without charging it. I use it for regular browsing, Instagram, twitter, and it is constantly using networks because I have Whatsapp always on on my computer.


Yep, I bought a Pixel 3A when it first came out and I'm still consistently getting 2+ days battery with every charge. It's honestly amazing to not have to worry about batteries anymore; whenever it gets low I just charge for 15-30 minutes back up to 75% and I'm good to go for at least a day (repeat ad infinitum).

It's a perfect encapsulation of why I just can't wrap my head around phones without a headphone jack. Why would you want to worry about managing battery levels on more devices? Going from 1-->0 is the dream and I don't think I'd ever upgrade to a phone where I have to worry about battery again, let alone a phone where I have to worry about two batteries.


I've been wondering for years what the hell people were doing with their phones to make them run out of battery in a day. I can't remember the last time any phone I've had got below 50% on a day with normal usage.

I guess people play a lot of mobile games?


I think it _very_ heavily depends on what apps you have installed and how much they do in the background (especially while you have the screen off). Similarly, screen time plays a huge role (e.g. someone with 2 hours a day vs 4 hours a day).


Yeah, I think it's mostly screen time. Someone getting 2 days out of a 3a isn't using it 6 hours a day. But some people do.


A heavy tourist day with lots of navigation and photos will eat my 3a battery before the day is over if I'm not careful.


I'm playing podcasts and music using the phone's speakers at high volume and cellular data with poor reception. Drains my iPhone XS in about 8 hours. Using my AirPods instead of my phone doubles my battery life to a more reasonable 16 hours.

And yes, 8+ hours continuously streaming audio. My brain can't stand any long periods of silence.


I have had a pixel 3a since they came out. I noticed recently the battery life seems to have been improved with a firmware update. At the end of the day I used to have 30% and now I have 60% with what seems to me no change in use. Just anecdotal so I may be dreaming, but this phone lasts two days easily if I need it to.


Same, my little 3A is a battery life trooper. The only reason I am looking at the 4A is because one of my family members 3A phone screen was cracked by a coworker. That 3A still works and is mostly still usable, even if the screen perspective is a little off.


I'm not a huge Apple fanboy by any measure, but one thing I do appreciate is that they consider wireless charging to be a table stakes feature, and include it even in their "budget" phones. They clearly understand how dramatically it elevates the user experience.

Compare that to every Android manufacturer who either don't offer wireless charging at all or gate it to flagships, it's a really sad state of affairs for someone like myself who won't even consider a phone without wireless charging today.


Never used wireless charging but also never really understood what is so dramatically elevating about it. Is it just the requirement for 1 hand vs. 2 hands that people find so life-changing? Doesn't it waste a ton of power in the process?


It's one of those things that you don't think you'd need until you have had it, and then wonder why you've gone so far in life without it.

As someone who constantly has to step away from my desk during the day, I don't have to think about charging the phone anymore. It automatically goes on the wireless stand (directly in front of me) when I'm back at my desk. I can be certain that if I choose to go out for the evening after work, I wouldn't have to worry about being stranded somewhere far from home because my phone died. (Side note: Uber and Lyft have really decimated the taxi industry, even for a downtown area in a medium-size city.)


Oh I see. But putting it in the charger all the time just makes the battery die more quickly, right? Though I see the value now if you don't care about that.


Apple specifically has software features to protect the battery from the consequences of that usage pattern.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210512


It might lose some life from keeping the battery at a high level, but it will gain life from using the battery less.

If you can keep it from charging too high, it's all upside.


The last 10-20% of the charging causes most battery wear (many times more than in the mid band). So charging from almost-full to full many times per day is going to be harder on the battery than charging fewer times per day.

This is especially pronounced on phones, where batteries are already calibrated to have a high charge cutoff (ie battery longevity vs capacity compromise is heavily at the capacity end).


What I don't get is why phones can't be configured to just never charge past 80% or so, for people who rarely need that 100%, and would rather the battery wear less.

It's a thing for some laptops; e.g. Lenovo specifically advertises such a setting.


Apparently you can do it on rooted Android, though I haven't tried it (eg https://www.androidexplained.com/battery-charge-limit/)


You need it to work around the inability to charge while using headphones.


(Not using wireless charging either)

One advantage is that it does not destroy the USB port. Constant plugging and unplugging can really wear some ports after 1-2 years, depending on manufacturing quality. To the point that it won't charge anymore. (Hopefully will be less of an issue with USB-C which seems better designed than microUSB). Plus the convenience.


A cheap workaround for me is to use magnetic USB connectors & cables. They are small enough to have a connector permanently attached to most my devices and I have several matching cables on my desk, in the car etc.

I found about this option on a motorcycle forum where a specific helmet headset was quite sensible to breaking the micro USB charging port. I bought a couple of cables and several micro-SUB connectors, then I bought a handful of USB-C ones and a few more cables and now everything is by default using magnetic connections.


To counter that though, it's not nearly as efficient and the additional heat definitely puts more stress on the battery possibly lowering it's lifespan.


My hunch is that you're probably correct about the heat effects of wireless charging on battery lifespan to some degree, but I'd love to see more emperical studies on the topic. Especially comparing it to usage of wired quick charge solutions that tend to result in much higher spikes in temperature than wireless charging, but over a shorter timespan. It's not obvious to me that one would be more harmful to battery lifespan than the other.

Newer wireless chargers also usually have some form of active heat management (i.e. fans), and anecdotally my phone only ever gets lukewarm to the touch, even with a somewhat bulky case on it.

At the end of the day though, I personally wouldn't mind having to upgrade my phone slightly faster than I would otherwise in order to enjoy the convenience offered by wireless charging, but definitely speaking from a position of privilege here.


Seems like an expensive way to workaround a weak port


Dramatically evaluate the user experience? It removes inconveniences while adding downsides.

It has been understand that wireless charging causes the battery to heat more, which potentially can decrease the battery lifespan.

People are also constrained in what cases they buy lest it blocks wireless charging.

People cannot use it on the desk when battery is empty.

It is also less efficient when charging, taking more time compared to wired charging.


My Nexus 4 had wireless charging back in 2012; the Nexus 4 very much being a budget phone.

I am a bit disappointed about how wireless charging was ripped out of Android phones instead of simply being the standard. I thought the iPhone finally adopting it would bring it back to Android phones but it does not seem like the case.


Ah yep, the good old Nexus 4, that's how I was introduced to wireless charging as well.


Completely agree. Given that a lot of smartphone maker's model has been to wait for Apple to do something and then copy it (whether it was a good idea or not) I was really surprised that wireless charging didn't become a standard feature for Android phones after Apple added it.


One of the problems with wireless charging is that I typically get a cheap $5 "rugged" case from eBay that lets me drop my phone with harm only potentially happening to my disposable case. unfortunately, those cases block wireless charging


Now I have higher-end phone (AQUOS zero2) but it doesn't feature Qi to make it lighter, and I love the decision. Previously I had Galaxy S8 that features Qi but I don't use it much because it gets hotter while charging so not seems good for battery health.

Adopting Qi has another side effect: it prevents using metal to back surface, so most high-end phones choose to use glass rather than resin so phones are much getting heavier.


I bought an iPhone11Pro and bought a charger. Tried it for about 2 weeks, one of 4 times I'd wake up and it failed to charge. I stopped using wireless charging.

I think there's a reason Apple doesn't sell a wireless charger and that's because they couldn't get it to work reliably. So, they can add the feature to the phone but don't have to take any support calls on how flaky it is since they can blame the non Apple charger.


Is wireless charging like this having any negative impacts on phone battery with daily usage/charging patterns?


> the Pixel line of phones isn't known for having long lasting battery

Anecdote: I still have a 2XL and it can get me through 24 hours. It's gotten a _little_ worse recently which I attribute to hardware age. The camera is fantastic, so I have no need to upgrade (although having stereo speakers would be nice.)


I also own a 2XL and really enjoy it. Sadly google will stop supplying updates this fall.


In theory, should be less of an issue with Project Mainline now. Of course, we said the same thing with Project Treble. Though it is starting to feel like the idea of an Android Version Upgrade is becoming less and less meaningful with so much of the OS modular and upgradable with Google Play now.

<---Pixel 2 XL owner who really sees little reason to upgrade.


Anecdote: I have a $250 Xiaomi phone, and it lasts 3 days on average.


The Pixel 2XL does have stereo front facing speakers...


Oh, not mine. Hardware issue then. Only the "bottom" speaker works.


> That said, the Pixel line of phones isn't known for having long lasting battery. A feature that I've found to be indispensable is wireless charging.

Note that wireless charging causes a lot of heat, which is like cryptonite for battery longevity.


> That said, the Pixel line of phones isn't known for having long lasting battery. A feature that I've found to be indispensable is wireless charging. I just rest my Pixel 4 on a vertical charging base throughout the day. Otherwise, I'd have to have to constantly plug/unplug the phone throughout the day to charge, and that'd be a huge regression in the user experience.

Note that the 4a actually has a larger battery than the 4, per the article, so this complaint may well be addressed by this device.


About 12% larger capacity. Not enough of an improvement to eliminate this problem.


The 4a also uses a lower power SOC and a 60hz screen, which is likely to make a more substantial difference.


60hz screen at lower resolution as well.


It’s not. Check out the One Plus Nord at the same price. (EU and India only, though)


There's wireless charging adapters, not ideal, no fast charging, but it's something. Or magnetic cables which I find is better solution. Ultimately, nothing beats just having a massive battery and 2-3 day endurance.


In Canada, with tax it goes up to CA$550.73. Not worth it.


what BT accessories did you settle on?


Bose QCII to tune out noise, Bose SoundWear Companion when it's too hot for the QCII, Plantronics Voyager Edge for calls on the go, and Jabra Halo Smart as a backup that lives in bag all the time.

Hands-free calling is quite important to me. :)


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.


I'm a big fan of the material its made from, I think it looks really good but sticks to your hand like glue.


I case all my phones anyhow so other than bend strength the material of the body is largely irrelevant to me.


Really? When I got it, the only problem I found with my pixel 3a was that it was so slippery, I dropped it a couple times a day while it never happened with my Motorola. I bought a leather case specifically to give it more grip


Nope, I can lay it on my hand and tilt it to about 25 degrees before it start to slip and even then only gradually. Compared to a lot of glass/metal backed phones it's vastly better.


I second this, going slowly I can get to about 25 degrees from vertical before the 3a starts slipping when I make my hand flat along its back.


Alright fair enough, my standard was too high from years with from my Motorola's weird textured back (https://3g.co.uk/userfiles/products/n_389-2.jpg)


I agree, the Moto G had the most useful casing. Plastic, durable, grippy, and looks good too. No idea why it's not more popular.


Can agree. Switched from Samsung Galaxy S7 (the battery started to struggle) and was amazed. 400€ and I got a solid phone with an excellent camera. The battery is decent, I can still play the occasional rounds of Call of Duty mobile and I can rely on updates for a few years.

As an android developer myself, I don't see why anyone should buy a more expensive premium phone. Except if they want to have it as a status symbol.


Do you think you might trade in your 3a for the 4a?

Also, have you looked at the FDE.ai app to help optimize the battery life? I find my battery life to go 90 minutes to an hour longer now with FDE.


I didn't own one but the Pixel 3a is pretty disappointing on paper. It has lower specs than the Pixel 2.


And this is exactly why you should never compare phones "on paper". Spec sheet comparisons stopped being relevant years ago. The phone's experience, performance, battery life and photo quality depend on so much more than just specs. This is why a 350$ Pixel 4a with a single 12MP camera still to date takes better photos than most 1000$ flagships with a 4-camera array on the back. You can also throw 16GB of ram on a phone, it won't make it faster in 99.99% of cases. And I could go on...


You are not comparing apples to apples. Pixel 2 was a flagship $700 phone while Pixel 3a is a midrange phone half of that price.


Except the 3a was released about a year and a half after the 2. That's a lot of time for phone tech. It should have at least matched the 2.


I have owned both. I prefer 3a on every aspect except for photo processing speed. I've no idea how it compares on paper but it's better in practice.


I broke the shopping cart by adding two pixel 4a devices + care plans, 1 with a trade-in. Now going to store.google.com/cart returns 500 errors (Error code: TIMM) and support is non-existent. Store chat and phone support look like they don't exist. Off to a great start!


I had this exact issue - try switching your country to something else, and then back to your country again. This fixed it for me


Big thank you! Fixed for me too!


I'm not sure about pre purchase, but I can vouch for reasonable good post purchase support with the pixel 3a. We had a warranty claim, we were able to talk to a real human apparently capable of going off script to diagnose issues. There existed a reasonable system of getting a loaner phone to use while the primary phone was returned for service. S&H was a bit slow (presumably because of covid) but things worked out reasonably.


+1 for Google Support post-purchase. I had the Pixel 3 and there's a feature to just text support from your phone, and they can send a phone in advance if you don't have a loaner/it can still function. The problem I do have is their QC, I went through three Pixels in less than a year and I had an original Pixel for less than 4 months before having to replace it. Hit the point where I did one last RMA to sell and picked up an iPhone.


> I broke the shopping cart

Google is careful in preserving fragile cart experience for those of us who avoid offline stores this year.


> going to store.google.com/cart returns 500 errors (Error code: TIMM) and support is non-existent

:shocked face:

(I think that maybe store.google.com is somebody's 20% time project, and they just haven't announced it's shutdown yet...)


It told me "The requested URL was not found on this server." when trying to Check Out until I enabled third-party cookies.


Why can't Google sort out its global distribution? The Pixel phones have only ever been (officially) available in a handful of countries and this one is no different: "Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India (coming soon), Ireland, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States".


Even in countries were Pixel phones are distributed, they are "hard" to get. Google is doing something wrong. I don't know anybody who owns a Pixel phone, despite Android market share being something like 70% here in Germany. It's all Samsung, OnePlus, Huawei, Oppo


I think there are several reasons:

- The pricing for their flagship models made absolutely no sense given the specs, poor battery life and questionable QA.

- Samsung and the big Chinese manufacturers advertise everywhere, you can get their phones at the shop around the corner. At least now in Germany you can find the Pixels at Saturn and Mediamarkt (and often at a discount).

- Most people don't care about software updates. They might notice the custom Samsung UI and be annoyed by pre-installed bloatware, but they won't know which version of Android the phone is running, let alone its latest security patch. Even a 200€ phone will get Google Play services updates and be able to install almost anything for 5+ years.

So in the end, you see Pixels in the US where Google does advertise them a bit, and also because there are still a lot of people who get subsidized phones from their carriers (or Google Fi for that matter).

But yeah in Europe... I do remember people getting the Nexus 4, 5, the 5X once it got cheaper. But the Pixel 1/2/3/4, not so much. The 3a has probably done better lately as resellers tried to get rid of their stock, I think I've seen it sold as low as 239€.

I think it's good if Google goes back to mid-range models. I don't think they'll ever be able to make a good flagship. But I really wonder why they aren't trying harder (or at all, in most countries). For now Android One phones are lagging behind in the camera department, but I cannot believe it'll be the case forever. Once Nokia has caught up, what's going to be left to overpriced Pixels?


But none of this has anything to do with poor distribution.

They could have partnered with logistics and sold it themselves via Online. But even that is not done. They didn't bother partnering with Telecoms or Retail.

Basically, judging purely from current evidence and outside perspective, Google is a company that

1. Doesn't know how to make partnership

2. Doesn't know anything other than selling ads.

3. Doesn't know how to do support.

The whole company is not structure for this. And very likely their Phone department is so small within the giant Google circle there are absolutely zero synergy within it.


They don't even know how to develop an SDK properly, the overall experience feels like no one on the Android team ever used iOS or UWP SDKs or their out of the box frameworks.

Even just watching WWDC sessions would do wonders to compare what they offer and what the competition provides, specially in what concerns native languages support, project templates, graphics, audio and SIMD frameworks.


Right, but I'm replying to the fact that even in countries where it's reasonably well distributed like Germany, sales seem pretty low.


> They might notice the custom Samsung UI and be annoyed by pre-installed bloatware, but they won't know which version of Android the phone is running, let alone its latest security patch.

Honestly, on newer devices within the last few years, I've found the Samsung modifications to be more helpful than not. I have way more options for random settings that I regularly find useful, as well as customization of how aspects of the UI look, than are provided by either stock Android or Google's Android modifications. There are also some random "bloatware" features that are actually useful and unobtrusive, such as the pen features that come with Galaxy Note devices. What does annoy me with my device model in particular is the locked bootloader, but this doesn't apply to all modern Samsung devices.


I'm not saying the Samsung UI is better or worse, just that people notice.

Google is indeed also guilty of pre-installing apps that people do not want. But things like Samsung Pay or Bixby are a bit more annoying in my experience.


Always seemed weird that they didn't continue a Nexus series below the Pixel. Those had a good reputation as solid phones, whereas the Pixels didn't seem worth the money - and probably got anchored as that in peoples mind, even when their prices fall.


I've had many Nexus models and honestly they weren't any better. But I saw it as a trade-off. I agreed to do the beta testing in exchange of good specs for the price. Hardware QA was also shit but the customer service would send you a new device before you'd return yours, almost no questions asked.

I've heard it's gotten worse with the Pixels even though they're much more expensive. And some models have shown insane bugs/defects, for instance calling issues (!) with the Pixel 3.


> Always seemed weird that they didn't continue a Nexus series below the Pixel.

That was weird, but the criticism obviously stuck -- the #a series is a continuation of the Nexus series.


I mean, I haven't been in the market for a new phone recently, but I didn't even know those existed, while still remembering lots of people said good things about their Nexus'. Branding failure IMHO


The average person doesn’t even know what a Pixel is.


Except for Nexus 5X that was a great, but defective phone. I had 3, the first died of the famous 5x death a month after the warranty expired, the second died in warranty and it was replaced with a third that is in use even these days. Not too solid in 2 cases of of 3.


It's crazy to me that despite working on it for more than a decade, devoting entire company divisions, buying multiple companies and more, Google just hasn't been able to crack the smartphone hardware game. Microsoft has been so much more successful with its Surface line in a fraction of the time.


In some European markets Microsoft even had a decent shot at the smartphone game with the Lumnias, but it didn't work out globally and they didn't double down on it in the key moments.


Half way down the page, at least someone on HN figure out the most important issues with Google and Pixel. Distribution.

Actually some of them are new on the launch list. Taiwan and Japan I believe did not get Pixel when it launch, it tends to come later. And even when it arrived, you cant really get it anyway.

Just to show how much Google care about its Pixel Phone.


I have a first gen Pixel XL. Love this phone but the battery lasts 10 min so it's actually taped to power bank.

I have been waiting for this phone, but I live in Europe which will only be getting this somewhere mid September

I think I'll just give up and buy a OnePlus Nord


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.


According to this review the 4a has a rear-mounted fingerprint reader:

> Google carried over the rear-mounted fingerprint reader of the Pixel 3a. Color me a fan. The 3a had a fairly deep divot with a different finish on the fingerprint reader itself. Google made the Pixel 4a’s fingerprint reader blend in better with the body. Both the reader and the rear shell have the same matte texture and black color, and the back of the phone even curves inward towards the reader to make it feel more cohesive.

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-4a-review-1140...


Agreed; I don't see face unlock significantly more convenient in than fingerprint unlock. I guess it's a little more automatic, but I find I have to wiggle my phone around any way in order to get it to recognize my face. In practice, I end up having to spend the same amount of time making faces at my phone as I did touching the fingerprint sensor.

Even before face-masks, I found that my Pixel 4 can't recognize me with a bike helmet on. I have a phone mount on my handlebars and fingerprint-unlocking is very convenient (not while moving, obviously). Also if I'm driving, I can hand the phone to my wife and finger-unlock it without looking away from the road, which is definitely not possible with a face-unlock.


This model looks to have a fingerprint reader, which may be good news to you. You can see the outline in the main photo, and it is also listed in the tech specs: https://store.google.com/product/pixel_4a_specs


I just moved from pixel to iphone, and the thing I miss the most is the "trusted bluetooth device" mechanism to keep the phone unlocked. I used to have that enabled for my garmin watch, and it kept my phone unlocked for up to 4 hours.

This was way, way better than face id or fingerprints during covid (eg, face id does not work b/c of masks, fingerprints don't work b/c of gloves).


Now that you mention it, it’s a little surprising Apple hasn’t done that. It exists on the Mac so why not my iPhone or iPad?


It's not on the Mac, what Apple Watch and Mac does is unlock the Mac when it locks. It doesn't keep it unlocked like the OP mentioned.


For anyone wondering: Pixel 3 had a fingerprint sensor for unlocking the screen, but Pixel 4 removed it and replaced it with a face unlock. Regardless of whether face unlock works - sometimes it's inconvenient to position yourself for it (e.g. if you have bags in your hand, are driving, browsing/reading with phone on a surface, in bed, etc).

Some skipped Pixel 4 due to removing it. They considered fingerprint reading to be one of Pixel 3's most helpful features.

We still don't know if Pixel 5 will have it or not.


Yeap, I am not going to buy pixel 5 if it does have that weird fingerprint reader behind it.

Best scenario for me is having fingerprint reader under the screen.


Another downside: lots of apps don't implement face unlock. Many banking apps have fingerprint only, either because they develop slower or because so many Android phones have botched biometrics that it can't generally be used for apps requiring real security, and would need a whitelisting exception for Pixel 4.


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.


I don't know, touching the fingerprint reader as your passenger holds the phone doesn't seem any more distracting than changing the radio station.


Half the use case for siri is texting while you drive.


There is a setting to require attention (eye contact with the phone) or not, enabled by default. Try disabling that?


Check out Carplay


I also am not a fan of facial unlock, I would much rather have a finger print reader like previous models. Though I will say if my hands are sweaty it doesn't work, which is a bit annoying.


This is why I have both the fingerprint AND face unlock on on my phone :) The combo of the two covers 99% of cases IME.


Not very secure either, but pair a miband4 with smart unlock. 3-4 weeks of battery life, works with gloves and masks/scarves. Keep keychain or throw it in backpack. The 1st party app lets you adjust unlock distance by range. Anyone in range can unlock your device, but works well in terms of convenience.


Fingerprint unlock never worked for me (on any of my devices) because as a rock climber my fingerprints rub off. For about 2 years I could never get any fingerprint readers to work for more than a few days.

So I had to get a Pixel 4 because it has Face Unlock, which works almost too well to be honest.


I have the same climber/fingerprint issues and spend way more time typing in passwords and phone unlock codes than I would prefer.

I'm actually rehabbing an injury at the moment and haven't touched the rock in almost a month. This week, all my devices magically sprang to life and I can get in to them instantly with just a touch of the finger.

It's amazing, this world that everybody else is living in.


Fortunately, a lot of Android phones these days offer both systems, so you can use whichever is most convenient for you at the moment.


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