Notable quirk in this review: around 5:10 where he starts talking about how usable the software is, he also makes an erroneous gesture with his thumb and has to do it again. This is my experience with the Pixel 3a. The gestures require a range of motion that my thumb just does not have. This isn't going to be any better with the 4a, which is even bigger than the 3a.
I disagree - MKBHD has gone downhill and has really surface level reviews these days. He pays more attention to how the video looks instead of the actual content itself. Plus questionable associated with OnePlus.
Battery capacity continues to be disappointing with most Google phones. They always seem to choose them on the lower-end side compared to the competition.
The phone is a good value overall, but 3,100 mAh will hardly last you one day and be almost empty by night. I prefer phones with more generous batteries, so that there's never a risk of running out by the end of the day.
Hopefully Pixel 5a will come with 4,500-5,000 mAh next year, as many low-end $200-$300 phones have these days.
Yeah the battery on my Pixel 4 is pretty bad even after I turned off all the machine learning features that make it a unique device in the first place.
I 100% agree with you. My Pixel 2 is now ~2.5 years old and the performance is still perfectly fine, except that I have to charge it twice a day. It usually lasted a full day when it was new, though.
I'm interested in some of the recent flagships and gaming phones that have 5-6000mAh batteries and settings to not charge up to 100% every night. Once the battery is big enough, you can do things like that to extend the longevity. I'm hoping to see more of that.
Does the 4a still disable the USBC video-out? I've wanted to use that feature a few times in the last few years and I'm bummed that the Pixel line hasn't supported it.
That seems so backwards if truly a factor. The Chromecast should make things easier for people who don't want to bother with cords, not prevent people from using cords if they really want/need it.
Yeah, I have to say, USBC video out sounds like a gimmick until it isn't. I completely ignored it in choosing a phone but it has saved my butt countless times now. Usually the way it happens is that the computer intended for playing a movie/show/presentation/etc has a problem, lacks a cable, etc. Then I spot a USBC to HDMI dongle (basically everyone with a new Mac or recent ultrabook has some kind of USBC dongle) and bam, you're golden.
Plus, Android has been seeing behind-the-scenes work toward both a desktop mode and a version of AOSP that can boot off mainline - both of which are immensely interesting in the long-term.
(LineageOS, incidentally, just recently got a port to the Raspberry Pi 4.)
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.
Relatively lucky of you to have a 5X that lasted that long: mine succumbed long ago to the "boot loop" issue, apparently due to soldering issues endemic among 5X phones.
i keep buying them new/old stock for $100 on ebay.. they last a year or more -- just a little slow sometimes. i have one more in my desk drawer and i might upgrade after that one.
Mine (which I had given to my dad) lasted until 8 months ago until it finally started boot looping. Put a bootloop fix on it (which disables a few cores I think?) and it lasted a few month months, but then he got a 3a XL.
Yeah, we got 2 out of 3 Nexus 5X boot looped. They were great phones, but what a massive let down. And Google never paid us anything to correct the problem.
That's why I'm never buying a Google branded phone.
Mine was well outside its warranty period and whatever Google was also offering, so I didn't even try to get a replacement or refund.
My recollection is that the problem was an LG manufacturing defect that also affected some of their self-branded phones released around the same time... but yes, I don't know that I'd call Google a "stand behind their product" company in the way some are.
I wouldn't really describe myself as upset with the lifetime of my 5X, but I definitely would have kept it longer. I shifted to the Nokia 6.1 which was fine although with its own quirks and issues, but the price was certainly right. I'm happy now with a Pixel 3a.
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).
Yeah but the big thing with iPhones is that they run the iOS operating system. Some people seem to think it's good, but almost all my friends (a mix of tech and non-tech people, mostly working or middle class) prefer Android. As do I.
So given that iPhones are not a serious option, this phone seems like the best that exists.
I am not sure how you are extending to the 5 year support thing. I have had iPhones and even seen friend's iPhones become slower specially after 3 years. Even if OS updates are coming at best, I will keep the life for 4 years. So iPhone 11 is still $175/year which is great but significantly higher than 4a or even SE2.
Pixel doesn't have any advertisements built in the phone and the latest versions of the OS do give you control over all permissions and background access by apps.
And fingerprint sensor. They stupidly didn't announce whether the two upcoming phones will have those things, so people who want a better processor or 5g will just have to wait.
My Huawei P10 also received security update few weeks ago. It got 2 major Android updates (7 -> 8 -> 9) and while the last update was probably the last, it got more than 3 years of SW support (released March 2017).
I really think Google could do better. Sure, you don't have to wait long for new Android version as with other manufacturers (e.g. Huawei), but 3 years is nothing to applaud Google for.
The problem with that is, that Google will drop it exactly when those 3 years are over. 3 years isn't very long, especially if you don't buy at release.
Some other manufacturers actually provide quarterly updates after those 3 years but are more inconsistent with delivering monthly updates.
Pixels have a pretty good chance of being supported by LineageOS though. I'm still using my Pixel XL (marlin) with LineageOS, running Android 10 just fine.
Still no gorilla glass what makes this device useless without cover.
EDIT: OK. I'm wrong. It actually has old Gorilla Glass. I hope that will make this phone way better than Pixel 3a which was completely disappointment because of poor glass choice (e.g. here is example of users experience https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/9205039?hl=en)
Finally! A small phone with decent specs and a headphone jack is really all I want these days (and is almost extinct as far as phone design goes). The Pixel 4a seems like a possible alternative to the S10e, which up until now was the only game in town for high quality small-form-factor smartphones.
I think it's still way too big. I'd really like a decent phone with a height under 5 inches. At 4.8 inches tall, the Incredible 4G LTE from 2012 remains my favorite phone. The 4A is at least smaller than the 3A (my current phone), so at least they've moved a tiny bit in the right direction.
I have an S8 Edge which is narrower than these current phones, and even that I find too big. The previous generation iPhone SE was really the last phone that I didn't involuntarily drop on my face when trying to operate it whilst lying down.
Given that we're barely 5 years from a 5.8 inch phone being one of the largest phones on the market, I think it's still too early to call it a "small phone". It's certainly not what most people who say they want a "small phone" on this forum are looking for.
I personally don't buy the 5G hype. Yeah the spec is amazing and I've seen the demos showing how great it can be, but you need nodes everywhere, like every 10m or something. Given the frequency, it has poor penetration, so you'd need tons of nodes + it might not penetrate your house/building without additional nodes in your house.
Hence, I don't see it being as great as they say without years more of investment.
It's too late to edit my previous comment, but I did think of one thing to add: 5G allows for more efficient use of spectrum, which benefits everyone. (Although, it benefits the carriers the most.)
So, while I don't think it's worth waiting for, I do think it is a good thing overall.
Bit confused as to why mtgx's comment has been voted into oblivion, as it's a legitimate complaint with the Pixel line. My girlfriend has a 3a and it has taken about 3 months for the battery life to start being a minor issue; i.e. she makes sure to charge it during the day if she has somewhere to be in the evening.
It's really the only complaint I have about an otherwise good phone, and it doesn't look like the 4a really addresses it. It appears Google is looking for a software solution to battery life, which I don't disagree with, but that whole approach is basically pointless if someone happens to install Facebook on their phone.
On the positive side, the 3a has a great camera and it looks like the 4a is continuing that. I've been particularly impressed by the 3a's low-light capabilities, such as taking good photos indoors, and it's especially good considering its price.
I suspect it does vary quite a lot based on usage. We live in a fairly cold place (Wales) and my girlfriend's phones tend to suffer more than mine do, as she spends a few hours in an exposed place most days. Towards the end of its life her iPhone SE was suffering from some truly impressive battery woes when she ventured outside. My current phone (an S8 Edge) is doing relatively fine by comparison, but my last Nexus device really struggled here too and I ended up with poor battery life within a few months.
The problem I have with the software approach to battery optimisation is that it doesn't accomodate for environmental issues like that, whereas a bigger battery does.
Interesting, my partner and I both have Pixel 3a and I find their battery life amazing. I charge it once a day, but not fully. But maybe I don't use my phone as much as other people, just some redditing here or there and scrolling youtube and casting what I want to watch.
Only gripe I have with Pixel 3a is the "crackling" noise when volume is at max. Seems to be software because sometimes it doesn't happen. Everyone I know with the Pixel 3a has it.
Coming from a Xiaomi with a 4500mAh battery packed in the same size phone as the 3a, the 3a is definitely lacking in battery life if you're a heavy phone user. The 3a will not last me from when I wake up until I go to sleep, where the Xiaomi will last almost 2 days of wake up/sleep.
I still like the 3a and use it as my daily, I just wish Google would find a way to put 3500-4000mah batteries in these.
Try the Moto G, I bought one through Google Fi since it wasn't much more than a screen replacement and has significantly better battery life, though I do miss some of the other features.
The Pixel 4a battery is bigger than that of the Pixel 4, and it has a much less energy intensive screen. I think it would be enough for most regular phone users that the Pixel 4a targets.
It's pretty absurd that their cheaper offering for the same major version of the hardware has both better battery life and a headphone jack. Both of those things are way more important to most people than a fancy camera or pointless machine learning features.
I'm probably gonna sell my Pixel 4 at a loss and get one of these instead. Can anyone explain why I shouldn't? I have no need for a decent camera, prefer fingerprint unlock, and loathe that I can't use my headphones easily. I also use my phone a bunch so battery is super important to me. Don't play mobile games either.
Is it going to be an extremely slow experience or something? Should I expect apps to be laggy?
I have a pixel 2 which is approaching 3 years of age at this point. (2700mAh) I generally finish the day with 50-70% battery life, unless there's some specific reason I'm actively using it all day. (last time was because my flight got delayed and I was sitting in the terminal for several hours and had packed my charger in my checked bag)
I'm perfectly happy with a 3100mAh battery. The only feature I'm missing with this phone is the "squeeze button" (I forgot the real term) -- it's a much better snooze function than trying to figure out which direction to swipe to snooze when you're sleepy enough to want to snooze. All too often on my old phone I'd just shut the alarm off instead of snoozing.
This is probably the firstest first world problem I've ever had.
This started with the 3, which I returned for that reason, opting to stick with my Pixel 2 XL. I bought it at launch, and it still lasts me over a day with full charge.
It probably largely depends on the apps you have on your phone. My 3a lasts 2 days easily between charges, but I don't have Facebbok or Messenger installed (known battery hogs and wakelocking abusers).
The Pixel “a” devices and the new iPhone SE are really great news. Until recently it seemed you had to choose between a $1000 flagship phone and a $200 piece of garbage. I’m really happy to see a sensible middle ground developing at last.
This almost puts it in the price point of an iPod touch. There are so many business options with devices like iPod touches but I have yet to find similar for Android.
One of the biggest reasons I'm happy with the increasing competition in the budget segments is that they're starting to make the 'right' sacrifices, slightly negating the distinctive features and advantages of flagship phones. Flagship phones will either have to adapt (introducing more useful features and not extra camera-bloat), or people will just keep buying the cheaper ones.
For something most people use many times a day with a multi-year lifespan? There’s a fascinating economics lesson in how many people are concerned by the cost of a phone but never mention the service plans which almost always cost more.
> There’s a fascinating economics lesson in how many people are concerned by the cost of a phone but never mention the service plans which almost always cost more.
This is the reason why "free phone" plans are so popular. IMO, it's always lower TCO to unbundle these "deals", but so many people only care about their maximum monthly cost.
"Multi-year" is technically correct but a little rosy: Google cuts off software updates including security updates after 3 years, by which time one can also expect the hard-to-replace battery to be degraded, and increased probability of screen damage. Phones aren't really designed to be durable objects.
That said, I do appreciate Google's "a" variant of their recent phones for the emphasis on practicality and usability (headphone jack, battery capacity), and the $349 price tag doesn't seem extravagant for what you're getting. Mostly, I just wish they came in a smaller size.
Okay, so ignoring the fact that the iPhone SE exists, do the math even on the shorter lifetime: that's between $2-4 per week. That's not nothing but I would not think it precludes a “budget” label, especially given how much value people get out of their phones.
Don't worry, by the time those 3 years pass the Pixel 4A's 3,000 mAh battery will feel like a 2,000 or 1,500 mAh battery, especially with Google still not getting a clue about giving Android an option to disable fast charging on the spot, when you want to.
It's also one of the reasons phones with larger batteries will last more (second best thing if we can't get replaceable batteries anymore).
At 350$, if you use it for 3 years (which is the minimum number of years it gets updates for), you would basically be paying more for your Netflix subscription than for your phone. And I'd wager most people use their phone much more than they do their Netflix.
That kind of proves the point though even at 24 a month if you have the phone for 2 years then the plan was $576 while the phone was only 350. The phone would come out to $14 a month. Do you value your phone as worth less to you than Netflix?
the 350 isn't factoring in the costs of calls/data etc.
it depends on how long you want to keep the phone for. I bought my phone in 2017 ago for £400 and I pay £8 a month to a carrier to get an allowance of data + calls every month (not a contract, I'm free to cancel any time) so it's worked out at about £18 a month if you amortise the initial outlay.
obviously contracts are more expensive, and can sometimes, albeit rarely, be cheaper, you just need to do the maths.
the bigger advantage to buying a phone outright is you're free to switch network/carrier as the phones are unlocked, at least in the UK anyway.
I mean sure it's not factoring in cost of calls data but that's not specific to a phone so if you're comparing phone prices (and not plan prices) then the data and calls are irrelevant to the conversation
Yes. The Pixel 4's launch price was $800 for the basic configuration, the S10 launched at $900, and the iPhone 11 (which is actually more mid-range in Apple's lineup than "flagship") launched at $700.
Only because there are more expensive phones and where the high price is even part of the marketing, doesn't make that one "budget". There are also many cheaper phones. China is full of them.
For a device that keeps you in touch with the world while providing quality camera features and music capabilities for 2 years or more, yeah, $350 is a fine price.
$349 for a phone that will get full OS updates for 3 years works out to $9.69 per month. That's pretty solid.
The competing Apple variant (lower res HDish screen but much faster CPU) is the iPhone SE 128GB for $449. It will probably get OS updates for 5 years which works out to $7.48 per month.
Bought my son a Nokia 5.3 for 180 euros, completely surprised by how well it works. If I had to buy my own phone (currently have a company iPhone 11) I would seriously consider the Nokia 5.3 for myself.
Got my mother a Nokia 7.3 - it's a very good phone priced competitively, with a nearly pure Android experience and on time updates with Android one. Peace of mind!
Had a Nokia 7.1 for a few years now. Really nice phone, still very quick and the battery easily last 2 days (still). Cost £190 when new. Not sure why people pay more really.
- phone batteries basically on last 2 years or less (iPhones are rated to 80% capacity after 500 cycles), which means your phone will last 4/5 as long as it did when new and possibly shut off prematurely in cold/hot temperatures unless you pay for a battery replacement ($50-100+)
- since we bring phones with us pretty much anywhere, a random fall in a pool, an unforseen rain storm, or butterfingers over a hard surface could end up destroying your phone well before those points.
While the SE (2020) certainly has more potential life than the 4a, both phones become fairly useless after 3 years due to the battery concern anyway and might not make it that far depending on who's using them. At that point, the 64GB larger storage, nicer screen, better camera, and $50 lower price of the 4a becomes a competitive advantage.
Batteries last more like five years, in my experience, although it does depend on your usage patterns. I'm about 300 cycles in and still at 98% capacity on my iPhone 8.
All these comparisons are misleading. I call "budget" the phone I bought for my mother for less than $100 (an Asus, for the matter) or the $150 Asus I bought for my father, you call "budget" phones in the $350-450 range that I would call mid-range. We may be both right, I guess.
It is relative. For people comparing to $1000 phones this is very "budget", compared to my Asus $250 phone that lives on average 3 days between changes, it is not. Compared to my previous phone, the Nexus 5X I bought for $350, it's in the same range, just newer. I see you are downvoted a lot, I disagree with this reaction.
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.
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.
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.
> 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 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.
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 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.
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.
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"...)
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...
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.
- 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.
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'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.
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.
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 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.
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'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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...)
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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).
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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!
Is it just me, or does every single photo supposedly demonstrating the quality of the camera have awful artifacts? (I'm not saying this means it has a poor quality camera, I suspect that whatever process prepared these photos for the website cranked up the JPEG compression or something.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
I'm still rocking a Pixel 2 xl and despite Google being a bit... Uninterested(probably the correct term) in the market outside the US(and thus severely limited in supply and even functionalities), I'll admit, it's a brilliant phone. I'm definitely curious to see what the 5 will offer and I might jump on board with it.What bothers me is that it was a pain in the ass to get the 2 XL back in the day. I flew all the way to Poland to get it(and even there I had to order it and wait for the delivery) so the covid-19 situation will probably be even more painful. I'll have to wait and see I suppose.
Still using the Nexus 6P :) Had to replace the battery once which gave it an extra couple of years of life. I was reluctant to replace it with a newer flagship because of the price (getting close to $1k) but the 4a price is looking very tempting now...
I bought a pixel 3 a while back and the USB C port stopped working. They refused to fix it so I was making payments on a phone that I couldn't use. Never again (At least through the google store).
> Australia (September 10), Canada (September 10), France (September 10), Germany, India (October), Ireland, Italy, Japan (August 20), Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States.
Ten years after the first Nexus, Google still doesn't know how to sell hardware.
This is something that suprised me with apple. Apple has the physical aspect and support done very well. My SO's iphone broke and it needed some parts replaced. Instead of having some online warranty drama, apple just changes out the device in the store.
This is something that suprised me with apple. Apple has the physical aspect and support done very well. My SO's iphone broke and it needed some parts replaced. Instead of having some online warranty dram
600 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 327 ms ] threadNotable quirk in this review: around 5:10 where he starts talking about how usable the software is, he also makes an erroneous gesture with his thumb and has to do it again. This is my experience with the Pixel 3a. The gestures require a range of motion that my thumb just does not have. This isn't going to be any better with the 4a, which is even bigger than the 3a.
The phone is a good value overall, but 3,100 mAh will hardly last you one day and be almost empty by night. I prefer phones with more generous batteries, so that there's never a risk of running out by the end of the day.
Hopefully Pixel 5a will come with 4,500-5,000 mAh next year, as many low-end $200-$300 phones have these days.
I'm interested in some of the recent flagships and gaming phones that have 5-6000mAh batteries and settings to not charge up to 100% every night. Once the battery is big enough, you can do things like that to extend the longevity. I'm hoping to see more of that.
I wouldn't get a phone without it.
(LineageOS, incidentally, just recently got a port to the Raspberry Pi 4.)
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.
Every update ... i wondered if it would fall into the loop... but got lucky.
That's why I'm never buying a Google branded phone.
My recollection is that the problem was an LG manufacturing defect that also affected some of their self-branded phones released around the same time... but yes, I don't know that I'd call Google a "stand behind their product" company in the way some are.
I wouldn't really describe myself as upset with the lifetime of my 5X, but I definitely would have kept it longer. I shifted to the Nokia 6.1 which was fine although with its own quirks and issues, but the price was certainly right. I'm happy now with a Pixel 3a.
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).
So given that iPhones are not a serious option, this phone seems like the best that exists.
Pixel doesn't have any advertisements built in the phone and the latest versions of the OS do give you control over all permissions and background access by apps.
Now we're talkin'.
I still think Apple has a better track record here, but 3 years is better than any other Android phone vendor that I'm aware of.
I really think Google could do better. Sure, you don't have to wait long for new Android version as with other manufacturers (e.g. Huawei), but 3 years is nothing to applaud Google for.
Some other manufacturers actually provide quarterly updates after those 3 years but are more inconsistent with delivering monthly updates.
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#google
EDIT: OK. I'm wrong. It actually has old Gorilla Glass. I hope that will make this phone way better than Pixel 3a which was completely disappointment because of poor glass choice (e.g. here is example of users experience https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/9205039?hl=en)
https://store.google.com/product/pixel_4a_specs
https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_4a_specs
Pixel 4a: 144 x 69.4 mm iPhone 12 5.4": 131 x 64 mm
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.gsmarena.com/google_pixel_4a-... https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkell...
Hence, I don't see it being as great as they say without years more of investment.
So, while I don't think it's worth waiting for, I do think it is a good thing overall.
It's really the only complaint I have about an otherwise good phone, and it doesn't look like the 4a really addresses it. It appears Google is looking for a software solution to battery life, which I don't disagree with, but that whole approach is basically pointless if someone happens to install Facebook on their phone.
On the positive side, the 3a has a great camera and it looks like the 4a is continuing that. I've been particularly impressed by the 3a's low-light capabilities, such as taking good photos indoors, and it's especially good considering its price.
The problem I have with the software approach to battery optimisation is that it doesn't accomodate for environmental issues like that, whereas a bigger battery does.
Only gripe I have with Pixel 3a is the "crackling" noise when volume is at max. Seems to be software because sometimes it doesn't happen. Everyone I know with the Pixel 3a has it.
I still like the 3a and use it as my daily, I just wish Google would find a way to put 3500-4000mah batteries in these.
Is it going to be an extremely slow experience or something? Should I expect apps to be laggy?
It'll be a bit slower but I wouldn't think laggy. I'm happy with my 3a performance.
I'm perfectly happy with a 3100mAh battery. The only feature I'm missing with this phone is the "squeeze button" (I forgot the real term) -- it's a much better snooze function than trying to figure out which direction to swipe to snooze when you're sleepy enough to want to snooze. All too often on my old phone I'd just shut the alarm off instead of snoozing.
This is probably the firstest first world problem I've ever had.
This is the reason why "free phone" plans are so popular. IMO, it's always lower TCO to unbundle these "deals", but so many people only care about their maximum monthly cost.
That said, I do appreciate Google's "a" variant of their recent phones for the emphasis on practicality and usability (headphone jack, battery capacity), and the $349 price tag doesn't seem extravagant for what you're getting. Mostly, I just wish they came in a smaller size.
It's also one of the reasons phones with larger batteries will last more (second best thing if we can't get replaceable batteries anymore).
At 350$, if you use it for 3 years (which is the minimum number of years it gets updates for), you would basically be paying more for your Netflix subscription than for your phone. And I'd wager most people use their phone much more than they do their Netflix.
it depends on how long you want to keep the phone for. I bought my phone in 2017 ago for £400 and I pay £8 a month to a carrier to get an allowance of data + calls every month (not a contract, I'm free to cancel any time) so it's worked out at about £18 a month if you amortise the initial outlay.
obviously contracts are more expensive, and can sometimes, albeit rarely, be cheaper, you just need to do the maths.
the bigger advantage to buying a phone outright is you're free to switch network/carrier as the phones are unlocked, at least in the UK anyway.
It's more valuable than my car (to me).
The competing Apple variant (lower res HDish screen but much faster CPU) is the iPhone SE 128GB for $449. It will probably get OS updates for 5 years which works out to $7.48 per month.
5.3 being newer than the 7.2, but down one class in "feature set"?
- phone batteries basically on last 2 years or less (iPhones are rated to 80% capacity after 500 cycles), which means your phone will last 4/5 as long as it did when new and possibly shut off prematurely in cold/hot temperatures unless you pay for a battery replacement ($50-100+)
- since we bring phones with us pretty much anywhere, a random fall in a pool, an unforseen rain storm, or butterfingers over a hard surface could end up destroying your phone well before those points.
While the SE (2020) certainly has more potential life than the 4a, both phones become fairly useless after 3 years due to the battery concern anyway and might not make it that far depending on who's using them. At that point, the 64GB larger storage, nicer screen, better camera, and $50 lower price of the 4a becomes a competitive advantage.
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.
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".
Happy to see they are keeping it in future iterations of the 'a' series.
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.
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.
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35...
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.
Edit: to be clear, this shouldn’t be needed, but alas, we cannot steer Apple.
Also, they’re quite effective devices: https://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/lightning-adapter-audio-qu...
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.
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.
How would you sell "no audio jack" to me? What's my gain here?
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 ...
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.
More choice of phones when buying one.
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.
My phone does have a headphone jack but I still use one of these. The difference is not close to subtle.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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! :)
13 hour flight, airports, etc... fewer dongles, fewer things to charge, etc.
(I have an inexpensive set of cabled noise cancelling earphones that run off a single AAA battery, which always gets packed in my carryon...)
A couple of phones did have a decent dac/amp combo built in (HTC 10, and some LG phones), FWIW.
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...
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.
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?
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.
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.
I wonder what you believe the word "feature" means.
feature definition: a distinctive attribute or aspect of something. "safety features like dual air bags"
so when you see a description 'single airbag' it is a feature. you wouldn't want a car with no airbag after all.
see, single airbag used to be a feature. now it's not. wheels on a car are a feature too i guess. don't want a car to come without wheels, or 1 wheel.
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.
Your analogy is more akin to something like a glass back vs a hard plastic back on a phone, so maybe re-assess that.
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.
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.
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.
The fact is performance wise wired headphones are still just better, as well as far cheaper for audio quality.
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.
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.)
(Mine is starting to die, between a bad screen crack and a battery that dies by 2pm.)
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.
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.
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.
> 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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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've pre-ordered the pixel 4A. My phone was dying anyway, but I'm going to like having a headphone jack again.
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.
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.
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.)
I understand that it doesn't fit everyone though.
I got a phone that is just usb-c. Carrying around the adapter sucks, and Bluetooth is an even bigger pain in the ass.
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.
So I had to get a Pixel 4 because it has Face Unlock, which works almost too well to be honest.
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.
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).
> 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...
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.
Best scenario for me is having fingerprint reader under the screen.
Such a clean offer. I'm amazed.
I think I'll be going for the 5, but the 4a does give me a pause. If I use it for another 3 years, I think buying the 5 is the better choice.
> Australia (September 10), Canada (September 10), France (September 10), Germany, India (October), Ireland, Italy, Japan (August 20), Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States.
Ten years after the first Nexus, Google still doesn't know how to sell hardware.