Google Pixel 4a/aL

[Cryates]

This Pixel 4a seriously has me thinking about not even opening the OnePlus 8 Pro I have coming early this coming week. It's that impressive, relative to my expectations.

Look, I'm not going to bore you all with all of the details, but I opened the OnePlus 8 Pro and have been using it for two hours. The Pixel 4a wins for me for several important reasons. I'll be returning the OnePlus 8 Pro and happily riding Pixel from here on out (as long as they don't royally mess up lol). The camera on the OP did surpass my expectations, and isn't even a complaint but the display is pitiful compared to the Pixel 4a in the technical areas and I'm not at all impressed by the software experience. Whatever, I won't be going the OP route again. Google seriously blew me away with the 4a, and I hope they deliver what they should on the Pixel 5. Anyways, that's the last update I'll give to this thread on my journey.

Crazy that I chose the $350 phone that does every bit of the basics right, and I'm returning the $1,000 phone that has all of the bells and whistles but doesn't get the basics right.

 

[ackmondual]

It's not so much the screen size but the near lack of bezels on the P4a. It's similar to the iPhones with and without bezels. The iPhone 11 Pro Max was almost the same size as my Huawei Mate SE, with the Mate SE sporting a 5.9" screen. Remove or reduce the chins and side bezels and the phone will appear much smaller than it really is.

I'm comparing the screen area of my 5.8" Pixel 4A, to my 5.5" screen LG G4, side-by-side, and the latter does appear to be slightly bigger (even when you exclude the bezels).

 

[Aneres11]

Posted by the Made by Google Twitter account.
That Calendar schedule ?. Well played, Google.

 

[The Game 161]

You lot seem to be going on and on about the pixel 4a and how good it is i may have to give it a go at some point...

Granted

Fold 2
Note 20 ultra
Pixel 4a

Is overkill and hiding one phone from my wife is one thing but TWO? Harder task

 

[MarkX]

My Pixel 4a arrived this morning and I've just finished setting it up.

My initial thoughts are that this is a very very good phone irrespective of price. For the vast majority of people outside these forums this is a phone that would serve most well. It has a decent screen, decent speakers, is relatively snappy and has a cracking camera. Battery life I'm led to believe is decent too.

I love the size of the 4a, imo it's perfect. The return of the rear fingerprint scanner is something I'm happier with than I thought I would be, it's good to be able to pull your phone from your pocket and it's already open - ah, the small things.

Performance has been good too, I have been using it alongside my 11 pro doing the basics with no discernable difference in speed when using both phones as I normally would.

So far so good.

 

[michael9891]

In my opinion, £350 for the Pixel user experience, fantastic Pixel camera & great battery life is ridiculously cheap. This & the other 2 new models will no doubt sell far more than the previous flagships.

But for some, they'll get caught up with all the big numbers on a spec sheet & highlighted in advertising and stay away.

 

[MarkX]

In my opinion, £350 for the Pixel user experience, fantastic Pixel camera & great battery life is ridiculously cheap. This & the other 2 new models will no doubt sell far more than the previous flagships.

But for some, they'll get caught up with all the big numbers on a spec sheet & highlighted in advertising and stay away.

Once upon a time not too long I would never have opted for a midrange phone purely because the experience lacked compared to a flagship but that's not the case today. You don't need a flagship grade soc to have a good smartphone experience, certainly not with the Pixel line.

I've seen a few comments from people stating they would have bought a 4a if the processor had been better. I can tell you from my time with the 4a that the experience is as it was on my 4 from last year - spot on.

 

[Vegastouch]

Once upon a time not too long I would never have opted for a midrange phone purely because the experience lacked compared to a flagship but that's not the case today. You don't need a flagship grade soc to have a good smartphone experience, certainly not with the Pixel line.

I've seen a few comments from people stating they would have bought a 4a if the processor had been better. I can tell you from my time with the 4a that the experience is as it was on my 4 from last year - spot on.

Agree. They also say I wish it were water proof and had wireless charging. If it had all that it wouldn't be $350. I dont know why people can't understand that.
I don't care about water proofing. Wireless charging would be nice but I'm fine not having it for $350. Pixel 5 is $699 with that stuff

 

[mjschabow]

Agree. They also say I wish it were water proof and had wireless charging. If it had all that it wouldn't be $350. I dont know people can't understand that.
I don't care about water proofing. Wireless charging would be nice but I'm fine not having it for $350. Pixel 5 is $699 with that stuff

Yep, the only reason why wireless charging is a deal to me is that I have wireless chargers all over the house now. So it wouldn't really make sense to get a phone that doesn't have that feature. But the core of your point is spot on.

 

[Vegastouch]

Yep, the only reason why wireless charging is a deal to me is that I have wireless chargers all over the house now. So it wouldn't really make sense to get a phone that doesn't have that feature. But the core of your point is spot on.

I have a couple in the house too, I just can't use them but my Wife still has her phone with wireless charging. No biggie to me. At some point I'll have another with it.
This phone also charges really fast.

 

[michael9891]

Once upon a time not too long I would never have opted for a midrange phone purely because the experience lacked compared to a flagship but that's not the case today. You don't need a flagship grade soc to have a good smartphone experience, certainly not with the Pixel line.

I've seen a few comments from people stating they would have bought a 4a if the processor had been better. I can tell you from my time with the 4a that the experience is as it was on my 4 from last year - spot on.

Same with thr 3a XL last year. Only difference I noticed from the 2XL was a little delay with HDR+ pics. Far from a deal breaker to me.

 

[MarkX]

My first full day with the 4a resulted in an impressive stamina performance.

 

[Aneres11]

I have a 4a coming this morning. I finally sold my Fold 2 on and my Xperia 1 ii which are being sent off later so ordered this to use until Pixel 5 ships out when I'll return the 4a. Feel bad using and returning but needed something cheaper to tide me over and don't have a back up device. I might even keep it as a back up tbh.

 

[MarkX]

I have a 4a coming this morning. I finally sold my Fold 2 on and my Xperia 1 ii which are being sent off later so ordered this to use until Pixel 5 ships out when I'll return the 4a. Feel bad using and returning but needed something cheaper to tide me over and don't have a back up device. I might even keep it as a back up tbh.

I have considered ordering the Pixel 5 but for me I'm actually questioning as to why(I know why, to scratch that itch).

I'm not fussed about wireless charging/ip68 and I'm more than happy with the single camera on the 4a. I'll be honest, there isn't anything that I use my phone for where the 4a hasn't been as pleasant to use as a higher specced phone. It really is that good, its fast, fluid and has shown no hiccups at all.

For £350 it's an absolute no brainer.

 

[Aneres11]

I have considered ordering the Pixel 5 but for me I'm actually questioning as to why(I know why, to scratch that itch).

I'm not fussed about wireless charging/ip68 and I'm more than happy with the single camera on the 4a. I'll be honest, there isn't anything that I use my phone for where the 4a hasn't been as pleasant to use as a higher specced phone. It really is that good, its fast, fluid and has shown no hiccups at all.

For £350 it's an absolute no brainer.

To be honest, I hadn't properly compared the two. But when I did I was a bit surprised at how little there is between them. 90hz screen is always welcome, and the 5 will likely have better haptics, but other than an ultra wide and some new camera tricks it's fairly minimal.

Personally, I would rather have an ultrawide and a 90hz screen so I think I'd rather take a 5 but for £349 the 4a is a steal.

 

[MarkX]

To be honest, I hadn't properly compared the two. But when I did I was a bit surprised at how little there is between them. 90hz screen is always welcome, and the 5 will likely have better haptics, but other than an ultra wide and some new camera tricks it's fairly minimal.

Personally, I would rather have an ultrawide and a 90hz screen so I think I'd rather take a 5 but for £349 the 4a is a steal.

The haptics on the 4a are every bit as good as they were on my 4.

 

[Aneres11]

The haptics on the 4a are every bit as good as they were on my 4.

Oh really?! That's great to hear! I thought they may have gone for a cheaper vibration motor like the 3a line.

 

[Aneres11]

@MarkX those haptics! Glad they moved away from those in the 3a!
Nice device all round really. Wish it had a bit more heft in the hand but a case should sort that.

 

[MarkX]

@MarkX those haptics! Glad they moved away from those in the 3a!
Nice device all round really. Wish it had a bit more heft in the hand but a case should sort that.

Good aren't they?

I'm not sure how you set up your phone but with my set up I've had just shy of 4 hours on screen time with 50% left for the last 2 days.

 

[Vegastouch]

I've gotten 6.5 many times with it down in the teens. Got 7 hours once with 9% left. But I'll just depends on what you're doing on it but you'll easily get four to four and a half with heavy use. This 4a has been very good.

 

[MarkX]

I've gotten 6.5 many times with it down in the teens. Got 7 hours once with 9% left. But I'll just depends on what you're doing on it but you'll easily get four to four and a half with heavy use

I reckon I'd get 7 hours plus no problem.

 

[Aneres11]

Good aren't they?

I'm not sure how you set up your phone but with my set up I've had just shy of 4 hours on screen time with 50% left for the last 2 days.

That is good. I am not a heavy user really. I generally use my Chromebook for YT vids, don't game or watch movies or anything on my phone, so I hope I get similar results.

 

[Aneres11]

One thing I like with Android 11, is it doesn't add a Spotify notification icon when listening to music to the notification bar at the top of the screen.
I always found it odd that it classed playing media as a notification. It's nice that the music player is built into the shade now too.

Taking some used to a back mounted FPS. My last two phones have been on the side, so having to pick this up to unlock each time is a bit annoying.

 

[ackmondual]

As far as camera bumps go, is it safe to place it camera-side-face-down, onto a hard surface like a wooden or metal desk, and drag it around a bit? Ditto with stowing and removing it from a leather belt clip? Seems like the bump should keep the scratches out of the lens, but wanted to be sure.

Yeah, I'll reiterate... I wish the display were wider. It kinda feels like an "iPhone/Ipod Touch 5" feel where the display/screen is nice and tall, but a bit narrow for my tastes (granted, the Iph5/IpT5 was much worse in that regard). It's impossible to use the note pad app in landscape mode. However, I'm going to stick with this. If this becomes REALLY annoying down the line, I'll reconsider my options. Probably, a Pixel 5, or more likely a Pixel 4A 5G which I've learned won't just be the P4A with 5G, but other bumps to specs.

 

[Aneres11]

Pretty pleased with battery performance tbh.
Over 3 hours on a smaller Pixel. Unheard of.