Google Pixel 4a/aL

[MarkX]

That's 4 days with the 4a now and I've a few thoughts to share.

For £350 it's an absolute bargain. For that you get a fantastic camera, great screen, great speakers, awesome haptic, pretty amazing battery life and it is the goldilocks size (imo). The shortcomings are things that aren't really that important to me such as IP rating and wireless charging.

What has really opened my eyes with general day to day use of the 4a is how fluid and quick it is, not once have I wished for a quicker processor. Occasionally there is a momentary delay when processing pics but it's nothing that bothers me, its not like its more than a second or two - any way, the phone is ONLY £350.

I genuinely find myself thinking why on earth do I need to spend more on a phone than this for what I do. The answer is obvious, I'm a phone whore

Seriously though, I can't recommend this phone enough. All things considered this has to be up there with one of my favourite phones of all time.

 

[Aneres11]

That's 4 days with the 4a now and I've a few thoughts to share.

For £350 it's an absolute bargain. For that you get a fantastic camera, great screen, great speakers, awesome haptic, pretty amazing battery life and it is the goldilocks size (imo). The shortcomings are things that aren't really that important to me such as IP rating and wireless charging.

What has really opened my eyes with general day to day use of the 4a is how fluid and quick it is, not once have I wished for a quicker processor. Occasionally there is a momentary delay when processing pics but it's nothing that bothers me, its not like its more than a second or two - any way, the phone is ONLY £350.

I genuinely find myself thinking why on earth do I need to spend more on a phone than this for what I do. The answer is obvious, I'm a phone whore

Seriously though, I can't recommend this phone enough. All things considered this has to be up there with one of my favourite phones of all time.

Nice write up. I agree with everything you wrote.
Now I've used it a few days and I haven't got another device around me to pick up and compare it to, it's really come into its own. I imagine if you have a Note 20 Ultra in hand too then the 4a is going to feel a little cheap and throwaway.

But having used this for a number of days now with no other phone to my name, it's great. Too notch screen, great battery life, fluid and fast as you say with no hiccups.

I love Android 11 too. The power key being held to bring up your smart home stuff is amazing. Finally, a use for the power key! And I love being able to just swipe up for the cars view of open apps and be able to screenshot any of them. And NOT receive a notification! Haha.

It truly is a bargain. The 5, with its wide camera and some updates camera tweaks should be even better if people want to fork out for it. But personally for me, I feel it might be priced a touch too high when this is on the market alongside it.

 

[MarkX]

I was tempted to preorder the 5 and recoup the extra outlay by selling the Bose headphones but have decided against it.

For 1 thing, I believe the speakers on the 5 will be worse than on the 4a. I think they are using an underscreen speaker on the 5 and early reports are it sounds a bit tinny.

 

[Aneres11]

I'm so pleasantly surprised at how good the battery has been in this phone. I'm easily getting over 6 hours SoT with pretty moderate useage each day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not gaming or watching media so it's by no means "heavy" useage, but for my use case I'm really pleased with it.

Considering this phone is a stop gap until I decide between the Xperia 5 ii, iPhone 12 or Pixel 5, I am majorly impressed.

You do get what you pay for though and I do miss a more premium build. Unfortunately I don't believe Google have managed to find that hardware / software balance yet, even with the 5.

 

[Vegastouch]

I'm so pleasantly surprised at how good the battery has been in this phone. I'm easily getting over 6 hours SoT with pretty moderate useage each day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not gaming or watching media so it's by no means "heavy" useage, but for my use case I'm really pleased with it.

Considering this phone is a stop gap until I decide between the Xperia 5 ii, iPhone 12 or Pixel 5, I am majorly impressed.

You do get what you pay for though and I do miss a more premium build. Unfortunately I don't believe Google have managed to find that hardware / software balance yet, even with the 5.

Agree, I have been really pleased with the 4a. I always have cases on my phones so the build quality isn't missed or noticed for me.

One thing I do love on this is the phone call screening. Great feature as I get several spam calls a day.

If you have it on auto screen it will have the Google assistant answer calls not on your contact list and ask them what their reason for calling is and if they answer back it will send the call to me.
Or you can touch the screen call button and it sends them a message that you can read. Not sure if it talks the message to the caller or sends a message but they usually hang up lol.

Contemplating the 4a 5G but not until it goes on sale on black friday or Xmas.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Contemplating the 4a 5G but not until it goes on sale on black friday or Xmas.

I seriously doubt the P4a 5G will go on sale during Black Friday. In the US the 4a 5G supposedly releases on Nov 19th. Google will have their switchboard lit up with angry buyers demanding a price match a few days after the phone is released in North America.

However there is a better chance the P4a will get a discount during BF.

 

[Vegastouch]

I seriously doubt the P4a 5G will go on sale during Black Friday. In the US the 4a 5G supposedly releases on Nov 19th. Google will have their switchboard lit up with angry buyers demanding a price match a few days after the phone is released in North America.

However there is a better chance the P4a will get a discount during BF.

US release date is Oct 29th. But if it isn't a black friday thing,.ok. I don't need to get it but if it is on sale at the end of the year or a new years sale, I might.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

US release date is Oct 29th. But if it isn't a black friday thing,.ok. I don't need to get it but if it is on sale at the end of the year or a new years sale, I might.

According to Amazon, that's when they start taking pre orders for the Phone. So the actual phone getting delivered which depends on the initial stock could be anywhere from two to four weeks.

Even if someone gets their phone in early November, that’s a hard pill to swallow finding out that a couple weeks later the phone was discounted $100-200.

I can see maybe the P4a during BF. I’m hoping for a BF sale and it’s why I have not purchased anything yet but i’m not betting on either 5G phone getting a BF discount.

 

[Vegastouch]

According to Amazon, that's when they start taking pre orders for the Phone. So the actual phone getting delivered which depends on the initial stock could be anywhere from two to four weeks.

Even if someone gets their phone in early November, that’s a hard pill to swallow finding out that a couple weeks later the phone was discounted $100-200.

I can see maybe the P4a during BF. I’m hoping for a BF sale and it’s why I have not purchased anything yet but i’m not betting on either 5G phone getting a BF discount.

I'm thinking 50-100 off. No way do I see 200. I'm in no hurry. I might not get it at all, just saying I'm contemplating and depends on the deal if there are any. We got Holliday's coming up so we'll see. I'm happy with the 4a.

 

[Aneres11]

I know I'm a bit like a broken record, but the battery on the 4a continues to impress.

I'll be sending back tomorrow as this was only ever to tide me over until I upgraded my contract and whilst I will be sad, I'll be happy to have something a little more premium feeling.

But for £349, this phone is incredible. Would recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone. There is absolutely no better device for the money, and makes the iPhone SE 2020 seem a bit of a rip off when you directly compare them.

 

[oVerboost]

Makes the iPhone SE 2020 seem a bit of a rip off when you directly compare them.

Well, if you directly compare them... it doesn’t at all.

The SE has a better processor, better build quality, still a great camera, water resistance, wireless charging, better wireless chips, longer software updates and the most important thing for some once the phone is old... better resale value.
Meaning what you spend on an SE, and use it for a few years and still get to sell it for half of what you paid for it, that to most that’s a great deal rather than a rip off. The original old SE is still selling used for strong money if you’ve got a excellent example, mainly thanks to it still getting support and still performing great.

Not everyone wants a large screen, a lot have no need for it. The battery life on the SE is the only thing really letting it down, but if your not heavy on video and social media then it will easily last you a day which considering the size of the battery, isn’t terrible but I definitely think that’s the weak point of the device.

I’ll add that I really, really like the 4a, but different people want different things. Either way, choice is good and lower priced devices with these specs are amazing.

 

[Vegastouch]

The SE has those 2010 bezels. No thanks.
I've seen comparisons on youtube between the two. The SE isn't really any faster and neither is the 765G chip in the Pixel 4a 5G and P5. It is such a small miniscule difference.

I don't know how much the iPhone SE is because when I saw the front looking like 2010 I laughed, and that was that.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

The SE has those 2010 bezels. No thanks.
I've seen comparisons on youtube between the two. The SE isn't really any faster and neither is the 765G chip in the Pixel 4a 5G and P5. It is such a small miniscule difference.

I don't know how much the iPhone SE is because when I saw the front looking like 2010 I laughed, and that was that.

The iPhone SE is $399. The only selling advantage the iPhone SE has is 5 yrs of OS updates. But even that isn’t such an advantage because Google doesn’t tie their core Apps like Apple does. So you can be like me using a Nexus 6 and still receive updates to Chrome, Maps etc. So my Nexus 6 is still supported by Google 5 yrs later and will probably continue for another 2-3 yrs, maybe more.

Once Apple stops supporting a device that’s it for app updates. I hope Google follows Apple and ups their OS support from 3 to 5 yrs.

 

[Vegastouch]

The iPhone SE is $399. The only selling advantage the iPhone SE has is 5 yrs of OS updates. But even that isn’t such an advantage because Google doesn’t tie their core Apps like Apple does. So you can be like me using a Nexus 6 and still receive updates to Chrome, Maps etc. So my Nexus 6 is still supported by Google 5 yrs later and will probably continue for another 2-3 yrs, maybe more.

Once Apple stops supporting a device that’s it for app updates. I hope Google follows Apple and ups their OS support from 3 to 5 yrs.

Ive never seen a survey or chart for such but who keeps and uses their phones for 5 years? Longest ive gone is 2.5.
3 years works for me if i have it that long.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Ive never seen a survey or chart for such but who keeps and uses their phones for 5 years? Longest ive gone is 2.5.
3 years works for me if i have it that long.

I doubt a survey like that exist because as you mentioned the trend is to keep a phone no longer than 2-3 yrs. Then there’s a small group like me who keeps their phone for at least 5 yrs. The only reason i’m looking at a new Pixel is because I average 200-250 Robocalls a month on my business phone. The Google Call Screener is a huge selling point and my Nexus 6 doesn’t support that feature.

 

[Aneres11]

Well, if you directly compare them... it doesn’t at all.

The SE has a better processor, better build quality, still a great camera, water resistance, wireless charging, better wireless chips, longer software updates and the most important thing for some once the phone is old... better resale value.
Meaning what you spend on an SE, and use it for a few years and still get to sell it for half of what you paid for it, that to most that’s a great deal rather than a rip off. The original old SE is still selling used for strong money if you’ve got a excellent example, mainly thanks to it still getting support and still performing great.

Not everyone wants a large screen, a lot have no need for it. The battery life on the SE is the only thing really letting it down, but if your not heavy on video and social media then it will easily last you a day which considering the size of the battery, isn’t terrible but I definitely think that’s the weak point of the device.

I’ll add that I really, really like the 4a, but different people want different things. Either way, choice is good and lower priced devices with these specs are amazing.

I never said choice wasn't good? I've used both a 2020 SE and now a Pixel 4a. The camera on the 4a is miles better than the SE. Portrait mode, astrophotography, dedicated night mode etc.
Sure the iPhone camera is ok, but it literally is just that. Anything past bright lighting conditions and you're struggling.

'm not turning this into an apple v android debate as that isn't my style. I use both and like both with no real preference. But I feel like having used both the devices I mentioned I am able to make the direct comparison. And I stand by the fact that £80 more for an SE is a bit of a joke when all it gets you is better build quality and wireless charging. Especially when I think the Pixel does everything else better.

3 yes Vs 5yrs of software updates is of course great for apple users. But I am not sure how much that sways a general user info choosing an iPhone.

Anyway. Both good devices bit Pixel 4a miles better IMO.

 

[Steven-iphone]

Apples or Googles - depends if you want to be stuck in the orchard or running in the field.

 

[Aneres11]

Apples or Googles - depends if you want to be stuck in the orchard or running in the field.

Lol. I quite like that.

 

[ackmondual]

I doubt a survey like that exist because as you mentioned the trend is to keep a phone no longer than 2-3 yrs. Then there’s a small group like me who keeps their phone for at least 5 yrs. The only reason i’m looking at a new Pixel is because I average 200-250 Robocalls a month on my business phone. The Google Call Screener is a huge selling point and my Nexus 6 doesn’t support that feature.

I've seen outliers on both sides. Android phones and iPhones being used past the 3 year mark, and in rarer cases, into the 5 year mark! I believe your typical phone goer who's not a tech junkie (ie. wants the latest and greatest ASAP), but above the "very basic" level (ie. takes decent amount of photos, needs some decent amount of storage, speed, RAM, and uses some intermediate apps), will indeed just upgrade based on that time table. Probably when battery dips to too low of a level, or otherwise the phone is simply getting long in the tooth.

 

[azpekt]

Sold my iPhone SE 2020 and iPad pro 2020, went full Android with 4a and pixelbook go.

So far like it way more, and for 350$ this phone is a no brainer

 

[Aneres11]

Sold my iPhone SE 2020 and iPad pro 2020, went full Android with 4a and pixelbook go.

So far like it way more, and for 350$ this phone is a no brainer

How is the Pixelbook Go? I had an OG Pixelbook and loved it. I only returned it as I couldn't justify a MacBook pricing for something that was essentially 'just' a Chromebook.
So bought an ASUS chromebook for like £250 and have had it for about 2.5 years now and it's brilliant.

Was tempted by a Pixelbook Go, but just didn't need to replace this ASUS when it runs just as good as it did day 1.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I got a chance today to play with a P4a at Best Buy. What a nice little phone. The screen is super bright and it fits in your hand nice and snug. I developed puppy syndrome as I kept going back to the phone and picking it up and it felt just perfect as a one handed phone. The screen size is just .1" smaller than my Nexus 6 which is around 5.9". Scrolling up and down is liquid smooth so i'm equally impressed with the performance of the 730 SOC.

So i'm sold on the P4a and i'm waiting on BF to see if any deals show up for the P4a. If not I may look at the P4a 5G but the P4a gave me such a nice first impression that it's on the top of my list now.

 

[Aneres11]

I got a chance today to play with a P4a at Best Buy. What a nice little phone. The screen is super bright and it fits in your hand nice and snug. I developed puppy syndrome as I kept going back to the phone and picking it up and it felt just perfect as a one handed phone. The screen size is just .1" smaller than my Nexus 6 which is around 5.9". Scrolling up and down is liquid smooth so i'm equally impressed with the performance of the 730 SOC.

So i'm sold on the P4a and i'm waiting on BF to see if any deals show up for the P4a. If not I may look at the P4a 5G but the P4a gave me such a nice first impression that it's on the top of my list now.

I was meant to return my 4a earlier this week but am keeping it until the last return day I like it that much.
If it wasn't for the Xperia 5 ii I really want I would definitely be keeping hold of it. Its an amazing device for the price.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

After playing with the P4a I decided to order it ......AGAIN (4th time?). Something tells me I will regret buying now knowing that BF could see a $50-100 discount on the phone. Oh well I can justify it with 24 month financing.

 

[Burebista]

Well, if you directly compare them... it doesn’t at all.

The SE has a better processor, better build quality, still a great camera, water resistance, wireless charging, better wireless chips, longer software updates and the most important thing for some once the phone is old... better resale value.
Meaning what you spend on an SE, and use it for a few years and still get to sell it for half of what you paid for it, that to most that’s a great deal rather than a rip off. The original old SE is still selling used for strong money if you’ve got a excellent example, mainly thanks to it still getting support and still performing great.

Not everyone wants a large screen, a lot have no need for it. The battery life on the SE is the only thing really letting it down, but if your not heavy on video and social media then it will easily last you a day which considering the size of the battery, isn’t terrible but I definitely think that’s the weak point of the device.

I’ll add that I really, really like the 4a, but different people want different things. Either way, choice is good and lower priced devices with these specs are amazing.

The problem with SE 2020 is that it only takes good pictures in good lighting conditions. And for example in winter (which is in fact almost half the year in many places) those are rare. Nights are long and SE camera sucks at night. You’ll end up with grainy mess for photos. When it’s day, it’s most often overcast. And SE camera sucks on overcast days. You spend a lot of time indoors and again, SE camera sucks indoors with dim or mixed lighting conditions.

So no matter how good you are at framing and composition, unless it’s a bright sunny day your pictures on SE would come out just barely ok. 3-4 years ago that would’ve been just the smartphone camera limitations, but in this day and age it was a huge ******* decision by Apple not to give the new SE adequate modern low-light capabilities.