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Google Pixel 9 Series (9/9a/9 Pro/9 Pro XL/9 Pro Fold)
- Thread starter BMox81
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I wanted to give the Pixel a test run on 16 with an active SIM for a bit. I also got frustrated with Verizon eSIM swapping though the app with it always getting stuck and needing a service call in so picked up a physical SIM today will make it easier to swap often
Chatting to google again, they want me to send it back to them again, really debating swapping to s25 plus or one plus now. Or going back to iPhone
I'm sorry you're having such an issue with the phone it seems like you got a lemon and then additional issues on top of that, I will say I think the OnePlus 13 is the best phone that I have right now.
S25 Ultra should solve your issues though if you go back to iPhone, the plus side there is that you get the improved Siri and it's the only phone out there with Apple Intelligence.
I will probably switch back to iphone as zero cost (good job I like to keep phones for a while before settling on one lol).
I wasn't a massive fan of my s24u, and the slight delay in one ui 7 for it made me glad I got rid lol
First off..I hope you find the phone that is right for you! You can't go wrong with an iPhone. But if you weren't impressed with the S24U and the Pixel hasn't done it for you....you could try the OnePlus 13?
I really like my pixel... I reset Bluetooth and network settings and it hasn't paused on me yet this evening (took train into London bridge station)and it hasn't paused yet, last time it paused about 5 times in the station. I will be walking past the places in my town where it paused yesterday on my way back from the station tonight so hopefully it is all good for now. If not I might restore as new.
I am really tempted by one plus 13 and I can swap my iPhone for it with the trade in, but don't want to buy yet another phone lol.
Looking at s25 ultra it has rounded corners but not sides, rounded sides and corners are the way forward for me so maybe the OnePlus is the way forward. Just a bit wary of Chinese stuff (I know iPhones and pixels made there).
Hopefully the pausing bug is a software\cache bug.
Picked up a 9a seeing as I had sold all of my pixel devices after deciding to stick with the S25 U.
Long story short I got scammed on eBay recently which ended in my favour, I can elaborate on that should people want to know more lol, and it’s resulted in my getting this 9a for £80.
It arrived yesterday and I’ve gone through the set up. I think I’m going to keep hold of it just so I have a pixel device on hand but I don’t think I love it. It does feel a few steps below the Pixel 9 Pro both in build quality, and haptics etc. it all does feel a bit cheap, but it is cheap, so expected.
The bezels are really not good. Like they just look horrible to me and I like to use a lighter, colourful wallpaper so going mostly black to hide them isn’t where it’s at for me.
Will report back more soon but if I was giving anyone advice I’d say wait for the inevitable £649 P9 price drop that happens every few months and opt for that instead.
Long story short I got scammed on eBay recently which ended in my favour, I can elaborate on that should people want to know more lol, and it’s resulted in my getting this 9a for £80.
It arrived yesterday and I’ve gone through the set up. I think I’m going to keep hold of it just so I have a pixel device on hand but I don’t think I love it. It does feel a few steps below the Pixel 9 Pro both in build quality, and haptics etc. it all does feel a bit cheap, but it is cheap, so expected.
The bezels are really not good. Like they just look horrible to me and I like to use a lighter, colourful wallpaper so going mostly black to hide them isn’t where it’s at for me.
Will report back more soon but if I was giving anyone advice I’d say wait for the inevitable £649 P9 price drop that happens every few months and opt for that instead.
Still better than the 16e IMO
So update on my BT, still pauses unless I switch bluetooth off in settings once a day (seemingly). I got the audio to pause by openiong my airpods pro 2 case and connecting to my macbook pro. My pixel buds aren't paired to my macbook.
I think this means it's hardware not software, maybe a shield or antenna is duff.
Just to add speaking with google chat they will replace the phone, and send one out before I send mine back. That way I know they won;t try and "repair it"
I think this means it's hardware not software, maybe a shield or antenna is duff.
Just to add speaking with google chat they will replace the phone, and send one out before I send mine back. That way I know they won;t try and "repair it"
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Bunch of fixes but nothing at all though it was running smoothly before this update for me.
Here’s everything new in Android 16 Beta 4 [Gallery]
Beta 4 of Android 16 is now available as Google's next major OS update nears the end of the development process.
9to5google.com
Pretty nice looking phone!
For what you paid, I would say you scored. If you wanted you could sell it and use that extra profit money that you would never have had to buy something even nicer? Maybe a 9Pro on sale? Or something else?
Either way, I would have no complaints. Google actually does a better job in the middle to low end than they do in the high end in my personal opinion. No knock on them because I love Pixel phones but sometimes I felt the cost was a bit high for the hardware at the higher end. Although I always got a deal from Google to be fair.
Since you have it out, maybe test the cameras quickly and general speed of the UI once you get it set up. Battery life, screen quality, etc. It would be great to have an honest opinion. Thank you!
Yeah I have it ready to be sold on to make the profit as you mentioned!
It's a nice phone. I don't love how it feels compared to the more premium 9 Pro versions. I haven't tried a normal P9 but am sure that feels a bit better in the hand too.
It's not that the 9a is bad, it's just a noticeable step below the Pro but that's only because I have used that phone so can do a comparison.
The UI is quick enough but it does feel slightly slower than the 9 Pro. I don't think the 9a has as much RAM if that makes a difference?
One thing I do find really poor is the screen brightness. It's so dim. I keep going into settings to increase it but see it's already on full brightness. I imagine it is really bad outdoors but haven't taken it outside to test. I don't quite understand it as it has 2700 nits which I think is meant to be good but it really does look like a very dim panel. Even if I was keeping this phone that would be a bit of a deal breaker for me.
The haptics also feel a bit disappointing compared to the more expensive P9's.
They're still good, but you can hear them, if that makes sense. It's just not the most amazing experience and they're almost a bit jarring. They feel a bit similar to what was in the Nothing Phone I tried - a bit on the cheaper side but still ok.
Sorry it's a bit of a basic write up, I haven't even had my sim in the device and it should be being sold on today so not huge amounts of time with it. Would I recommend it? No.
IMO, grab a P8 for a similar price, or wait for the normal P9 to have that £649 price drop and consider that instead.
I also STILL can't get past those bezels. They are awful.
Nice to get a get a real world experience of the 9a. Sounds like something best avoided to me.
What happened with the eBay scam if you don’t mind me asking? I sell most of my used phones and tech on there, so will be good to know if there’s something new to watch out for. Not a fan of the new delayed payments they’ve recently brought in.
What happened with the eBay scam if you don’t mind me asking? I sell most of my used phones and tech on there, so will be good to know if there’s something new to watch out for. Not a fan of the new delayed payments they’ve recently brought in.
Just as an update, the screen brightness is actually great on the 9a. For some reason, when the phone has adaptive brightness selected (which mine had), the max brightness is much less. So the slider was showing max brightness but when I turned adaptive brightness off, the slider moved down to 40% but the brightness stayed the same.
I was then able to crank it to max and it nearly burned my eyes out 🤣 so there we go.
In terms of the eBay scam... So I decided to sell my S25 U on as I found myself using my iPhone 16 more and preferring the size vs the S25 U. The Samsung was an amazing phone and I absolutely loved it but decided to just stick with the iPhone.
So I sold my S25 U on eBay. Sale went fine, buyer paid.
A week later, gets a message from eBay saying buyer has requested a return. Reasons was VERY vague - poor English and basically said "partner sim doesn't work IDK, said parcel had rip in".
So I replied saying the phone is virtually new and if the parcel was ripped have you taken it up with Royal Mail as I sent the parcel via special delivery which provides cover for the value of the item being sent.
They replied a day or so later saying "no Royal Mail". So at this point I was thinking this is painful. And knew it was likely some sort of scam so I raised a case with eBay saying I have tried to obtain more info as to why they want a return but the buyer is literally providing no information to help.
Next thing, gets an email saying the return is initiated and the item is on its way back to me. Once the tracking shows as it being delivered to me, I will be debited and the buyer will be refunded.
So I just accepted that there was little I could do at this stage but sell the device on again when it was returned.
HOWEVER...
It got delivered, I opened it. The buyer sent me back a Samsung Z Flip 6 in TERRIBLE condition. Scratches all over it, sim tray a different colour to rest of phone. I could not believe it. So I raised a case with Ebay straight away saying they have basically taken a brand new phone off me, told me it was faulty and asked for a return, and sent back a totally different device. This is literally illegal.
So eBay said they would open a case (again) and send me this document to print and sign that basically was like a contract to say I wasn't lying...
Thankfully, the day after Ebay contacted me to say they were siding with me (despite Reddit and other forums saying eBay never side with the seller in this situation) - and they would be refunding the buyer from eBay rather than through me.
So whilst great that I am not losing anything (but gaining a beat up Z Flip 6) - I did say to Ebay on the phone how can they possibly be ok refunding someone who is committing fraudulent activity. Literally saying they are ok with illegal activity!!
They just said they can't prove any of it and I should be thankful eBay have chosen to uphold in favour of both buyer and seller.
Anyway, I was convinced the Z Flip 6 would be a fake, but it's legit. It works fine, there are no cracks in the screens so that's what I have used to trade in to get the Pixel!
Absolute nightmare!
Wow,
Sorry to hear you went through that. Ebay can be really bad in terms of scammers. Glad everything eventually worked out okay.
I have a s24 ultra for sale, I've been offered 600 for it off offerup.
I am scared of ebay and swappa due to scammers, I bought a iphone 14 pro which I like a bit more than my android but the scammers are worrying me. I am debating just keeping the android as backup and calling it a day due to fraud.
Glad it worked out for you.
Thanks for taking the time to write all that up. I’ve used eBay for 20 odd years and so far I’ve been ok. This is exactly the kind of thing I dread though. It always feels like a massive gamble every time you sell. I’ve always been super picky about my buyers but things like this you can’t really account for.
This, along with the change in getting paid two days after delivery, have really put me off eBay now. I think I’d rather get less and go through the recycle sites going forward than take the risk.
Glad you got sorted.
Yeah, I recently sold a phone on ebay, it was delivered to the buyers selected collection point but they never picked it up for 5 days! I contacted ebay and they said it would be 2 days from when the buyer collected the phone even though it was delivered to where it was supposed to.
I'll not be using eBay again!
The eBay changes are strange. I am pleased with the outcome of this situation, but it could have ended very differently, which is concerning.
And, that buyer has basically proven that anyone can commit that same scam.
Re what Andy2141 said about being picky with buyers - that's the same as me. I make sure they have at least 5 feedback and if they don't I cancel their bids. There are so many time wasters.
And, that buyer has basically proven that anyone can commit that same scam.
Re what Andy2141 said about being picky with buyers - that's the same as me. I make sure they have at least 5 feedback and if they don't I cancel their bids. There are so many time wasters.
Edit - just to add to the eBay drama. The 9a I actually sold on eBay (brave, I know given the last sale leading me to this point...). The buyer is reputable, good feedback.
I haven't had payment since Friday. I messaged and said I can't post the item now until Tuesday (if he pays) due to bank holiday here in the UK on Monday.
He replied just now saying he's struggling to pay for it... through KLARNA!! :O
What the hell. I didn't even know that eBay allowed you to buy things with klarna. He basically sent me a screenshot of his issue where the klarna app is basically saying there is some sort of address mis-match. I mean, not my problem!!
Why is everything just so difficult!!!
I haven't had payment since Friday. I messaged and said I can't post the item now until Tuesday (if he pays) due to bank holiday here in the UK on Monday.
He replied just now saying he's struggling to pay for it... through KLARNA!! :O
What the hell. I didn't even know that eBay allowed you to buy things with klarna. He basically sent me a screenshot of his issue where the klarna app is basically saying there is some sort of address mis-match. I mean, not my problem!!
Why is everything just so difficult!!!