[Closed] New phone - Google Pixel 4a or something else?

No experience of that model bit bbc had the Pixel XL, not the 3 XL. I don't ever see me moving to another breaks now, units they sell making them. Free photo vid storage (doesn't end in 2021) which negates the lack of SD card, absolutely clean install of Android and always first to get new builds too.

Night sight is superb for pictures too. Basically, they are very nice bits of kit.

Unless they have dropped a clanger with the 4a it should definitely be high up on your list.

Edit: just been looking at the 4a, only thing is miss is the lack of a fingerprint sensor. Not a deal breaker but I do find it handy.

@Poopscoop fingerprint sensor is on the back.

Hah, the techie I read said it didn't have one? I'm probably wrong then.😁

Edit: Yeah, Just read another review and it does have a sensor! In that case it's a no brainer I reckon.

Have a look here under sensors:
https://store.google.com/gb/product/pixel_4a_specs

You beat my crafty edit.lol

As I said I'm a big Pixel fan and though I'm sure there might be equivalents from other manufacturers the overall experience on the Pixels is just fantastic. It just feels like Androids natural home, if that doesn't sound too odd?lol

I have just replaced my five month old Moto G8 Power with a Pixel 4a.  Only day two but so far so good.  The 4a is not huge with a <6” screen and the battery is also not that big.  Fine for me but if you want a big screen and are using it constantly that may be an issue for you.  Faster than the G8 Power to open apps etc, the. screen is much nicer and the camera way better as you’d expect given it cost half as much again.  Also the gorilla glass should be more scratch resistant, the G8 Power’s screen is the first screen I’ve managed to scratch in years.  My only regret about buying it is that I dropped the G8 five feet onto concrete necessitating a replacement otherwise I’d still be using that.

I've had a 4a since the end of September.

It's a good phone.
Battery is ok, but coming from a phone with really good battery life (Lenovo P2, which when new only needed charging every 3 days) it took some getting used to.
Only thing really missing for me is no waterproofing, but there's a waterproof test on YouTube that does it to be pretty resilient.

For the money though I think it's hard to beat. The camera really is brilliant.

There's a channel on YouTube called Techspurt and he has some good round-up reviews of Android phones at various budgets. That might be worth a look.

@Rubber_Buccaneer other than dropping it how did you find the G8?
That's another one I've been looking at.

I've just moved from a Moto G6 plus to a pixel 4a. Its a really nice phone. Much faster than the old one. Screen is a little smaller but that took about a day to get used too. The removal of the stupid 3 navigation icons is great (I had these turned off on the G6 anyway). Only thing I miss is the chop to activate the flash.

What I had was the G8 Power and the battery life was brilliant, I only charged it alternate nights.  It worked just fine for me though search the forum and you will find others who had problems.  It was a bit slow, the camera especially, but fine for my basic needs.  As mentioned the screen scratched easily too and I mostly have my phone in my pocket with nothing else.  Overall the Motorolas around £200 are excellent value but I feel paying half as much again for the Pixel 4a you can see where your money has gone.  I wasn’t itching for an upgrade from the Moto though, just stupid and clumsy.  Bear in mind that I use my phone for basic stuff, calls, messaging, calendar and music mostly NOT games or watching loads of video.

Anything but a Pixel a.
I have the pixel 3a and loathe it with a passion
I'm a complete technophobe, so some of it will be down to user error though. Had it 18 months and can't wait to get shot. Can't be arsed explaining all the annoyances, but key ones are the predictive text and the inability to answer a call.
Whenever I type s word ending in ing, it appends a "Ng" after it and changes the declination of the ing word
It has this annoyances Ng habit of ( ah, there you go, it just did the annoying Ng thing again) trying to work out what you're typing before you finish typing it. So to make up an example, if you go to type something like" complex" it will take the "com" part of it and decide that you really meant to type con

Sorry, can't be arsed finishing what I'm day Ng. Oh there you go again. With the Ng thing.

But the most irritating thing is not being able to answer incoming calls under certain scenarios. The number of times I've passed my ringing phone round the whole family and nobody has been able to answer it is absurd. No idea why it happens and no luck with googling it.

Camera is amazing though.

Samsung S10e if you can find one! Smaller form, waterproof, fingerprint/face unlocking, great camera, etc, etc. Also, surprisingly good sound from the on board speakers!

Not had any of those ^ problems and I get plenty of calls to have put it to the test

I went from a iPhone 6s to a Samsung (S7, I think) to a Pixel 3a. Pixel 3a wins by miles over the Apple due to battery life. Just charge it when you remember! What a revelation after the previous 2.
Yeah, it could be longer, but (almost) 2 days from a full charge is pretty good. Wins over the Samsung because it doesn't have all the bloatware.
I almost wish I'd waited for the 4a, but I was desperate.
The predictive text is kinda weird, but once you're used to it it's good.

[i]Oh there you go again. With the Ng thing[/i] - thing is, if you keep accepting that as a replacement, it 'thinks' that's what you want to do! You have to change it, then it'll remmeber the correct erm correction!
Not sure what the "answering calls" issue is.
Oh, the camera is superb too.

The predictive text is a stock android thing, not something specific to just that phone. Anyhow you can turn it off (as well as autocorrect). I like it as IMO it's quicker to use it and correct the odd mistake, than type letter for letter. Also I'm pretty sure it gives you around 3 or 4 other predicted options and if it got the word wrong, often one of those is correct.

thegeneralist

Anything but a Pixel a.

Whenever I type s word ending in ing, it appends a “Ng” after it and changes the declination of the ing word

No idea what the issue is about answering a call, but this Ng thing is probably because you've typed it in & somehow it has got added to your personal dictionary.

To investigate this, open the keyboard in an app (as if you want to type something). You should have a settings cog at the top of the keyboard. Tap that.
In there, you have tons of options.
If you don't like the text correction/word suggestion, go into 'text correction' and turn off the things you don't want.
There is a setting called 'Dictionary' go into there > personal dictionary > English (UK) and this will be a list of all your added words. You might find you have this weird Ng thing saved in there which is why it's autocorrecting it. If you find it and tap on it, there is the option to delete (tap on the bin).

The predictive text is a stock android thing

It's a gboard thing rather than an android thing you are forced to use. Other keyboards are available.

I have a 4a. It's a perfect phone for me. It's not to big, battery last me a day & a half easily, fingerprint sensor is utterly reliable & very quick. Takes lovely photos. Loads of Storage & quick enough for me. I can't think of anything that I am disappointed with.
To the thegeneralist, have you tried swiftkey as a keyboard? I have it installed & have no problems with the predictive text, & no problems answering calls.

I have a 3a
Camera is amazing
Battery life is OK, heavy use will see it dead before end of day
I use Microsoft SwiftKey for the keyboard, because mine had a weird issue where predictive text didn't work
It always answers calls!
I'm pretty happy with it I had a nexus a while back and the stock Google phones really are great (moto good for the money but let down by the camera ime)

Thanks all,taken a punt on the 4a from the Google store (24 months interest free) - should be here in a week or so.

Same dimensions as my X4 but the Pixel has a bigger screen.

I had a 3a. I killed it in bad weather on a ride in the peaks at the end of August.

Didn't realise how much I liked it until I had to go to a cheap phone to replace it. I do miss it.

They are not waterproof.

Samsung S10e if you can find one! Smaller form, waterproof, fingerprint/face unlocking, great camera, etc, etc. Also, surprisingly good sound from the on board speakers!

On the theme of recommending what you have, I second this! Awesome phone. Just been discontinued as new so maybe a bargain to be had.

Have had a Moto g 5G for a few weeks from when they were £199. Great camera, battery for 4 days+, responsiive, great screen. I can't imagine anything doing stuff better than that, but I wish it was a lot smaller. My favourite phone ever was a Razr i which is 120mm x 60mm ish, but the days of properly small android phones have gone. We have tablets and small light laptops these days, can't we have small phones back?

My favourite phone ever was a Razr i which is 120mm x 60mm ish, but the days of properly small android phones have gone. We have tablets and small light laptops these days, can’t we have small phones back?

You can
https://www.motorola.co.uk/smartphones-razr/p

And £500 off too...... bargain at £999.99 !!
Not sure about folding screens.

Yeah, that's just a big phone that folds, not a small phone. Also, a grand for something that won't even function well as a coaster in three years time? Never seen a phone as an aspirational or status thing, so not going near flagships and bleeding edges.

I see you've already ordered the 4a. Just to reinforce - it's an excellent choice. I've had one since release day in the UK and it's spot on.

e have tablets and small light laptops these days, can’t we have small phones back?

There is definitely a lack of smaller smart phones. Even just as small as there were a few years ago, never mind actually small. Surely it would be cheaper so would suit the budget phone brands but the only ones I have seen have been more mainstream.

*stealth ad*

Me and the missus both bought Pixel 3a in June. Then i got a new job in September and they gave me a phone with a dual SIM slot so i have a barely used 3a sitting in my drawer with an Otterbox case and another leather one for smarter occasions...

Loved it too btw. Better than the Sony it replaced and the Samsung A71 that work gave me, but the convenience of having one phone in my pocket won!

Drop me a message if you're interested.

I Just ordered a pixel 4a today for £319.

There's litteraly nothing interesting in the mobile phone market at the moment that would persuede me to spend more, and two or three phone upgrades ago I was buying 'flagship' models.

Just not worth it any more, a £600+ phone is not £300 better value than a phone half the price, not by a long shot. And as somone above said, in 2-3 years time it will probably be knackered in one way or another.

I'm only buying this as my LG G6 battery is a bit tired and the USB-c port is almost busted, making it annoying to charge. SO ive also bought some dust caps for the USB-c port.

There’s litteraly nothing interesting in the mobile phone market at the moment that would persuede me to spend more, and two or three phone upgrades ago I was buying ‘flagship’ models.

The only thing I'd like would be waterproofing - it's a pain having to carry my phone in a plastic bag when I out on the bike or running, and really slows down taking photos. (If that's not an issue for you, fair enough - but it's something I'd like!)

Whenever I type s word ending in ing, it appends a “Ng” after it and changes the declination of the ing word

yeah this is just something you've taught it to do by mistake

I have a pixel 3aXL and it's grand, only annoying thing was the auto rotate being hyper sensitive but I just disabled it. I'm getting an iPhone 11 from work unfortunately but I'll see which camera is better.

USB-c port is almost busted, making it annoying to charge

I've had this a few times, you need something very thin to dig out the compacted dust at the base of the socket. I risked a needle as there is not much that will fit.

The amount of compacted dust that came out of mine was surprising and then the charging lead clicks in nicely

I use wireless charging on my pixel overnight and USB C during the daytime.

Have to say USB C is the most robust of all the ports I've had on a mobile so far. Micro USB was terrible.

Oh, the other great thing about the Pixel, I don't think has been mentioned - the fast charge. Takes, what 10-15mins from almost flat 🙂

The only thing I’d like would be waterproofing – it’s a pain having to carry my phone in a plastic bag when I out on the bike or running, and really slows down taking photos. (If that’s not an issue for you, fair enough – but it’s something I’d like!)

I went from an iPhone X to a Xiaomi 9 Lite last year. £280 sim-free and every bit as good except for the lack of waterproofing.

The £800+ saving was a revelation, I'll never again be buying a phone on contract. But I'd be lying if I said it was ideal having to use a waterproof pouch when riding.

I use wireless charging on my pixel overnight and USB C during the daytime.

Sadly only the 5 has wireless charging of the current models.

I use wireless charging on my pixel overnight and USB C during the daytime.

Have to say USB C is the most robust of all the ports I’ve had on a mobile so far. Micro USB was terrible.

That's not my experience.

USB-c is kinda better, it doesnt require the mechanical sympathy of micro USB. But that's where it ends.

I never had issues with micro USB.

My issues with USB-c on a phone are mentioned above, pocket lint and dust tend to get compacted into the orifice over time, making the charging cable struggle to get proper contact. In my experience, this became an issue about a year after owning the phone.

Also as mentioned above, you can dig out the compacted dust using a needle or a sim card tray removal tool or other such tool, but I've found it to be a losing battle, maybe I caused more damage with my probing into the socket, whatever, But my LG G6 had basically beome very annoying to charge, with me trying to keep the contacts, contacting.

SO as a pre-emptive strike for my new phone, I've bought some corks to plug the hole as it were, so when not charging, I can bung up the USB-socket with a dust cover.

I went with a twin pack of plugs off of amazon, for about 7 quid, as they looked a bit better, but you can also buy packs of 10 or 20 for a simmilar price, but the reviews on those suggest the rubber is too soft and they end up falling out of the socket.

Good call on the port plugs - have ordered some 👍

We have tablets and small light laptops these days, can’t we have small phones back?

I have a Xiaomi mi 9 lite, it's fairly small but still a decent screen size.

@stumpy01

No idea what the issue is about answering a call, but this Ng thing is probably because you’ve typed it in & somehow it has got added to your personal dictionary.

To investigate this, open the keyboard in an app (as if you want to type something). You should have a settings cog at the top of the keyboard. Tap that.
In there, you have tons of options.
If you don’t like the text correction/word suggestion, go into ‘text correction’ and turn off the things you don’t want.
There is a setting called ‘Dictionary’ go into there > personal dictionary > English (UK) and this will be a list of all your added words. You might find you have this weird Ng thing saved in there which is why it’s autocorrecting it. If you find it and tap on it, there is the option to delete (tap on the bin).

Many thanks for typing all that. It seems largely similar to what itried previously, but I can't get it to work.
None of the options under text correction seem directly relevant to this issue.
And weirdly enough there are no words in my personal dictionary to delete ...

Das ist ein Boot
Das ist ein Boot

thegeneralist

Das ist ein Boot
Das ist ein Boot

Did you sort it? 🙂

Doh. No.
Was wondering if it was connected with having he keyboard set up for English and German.

But it wasn't.

Das ist kein Boot.

Have you tried swiftfkey?

Thanks for the recommendation, really please with the Pixel 4a.
Does anyone know how to stop the wallpaper/lockscreen images zooming?
Would be nice if I could get it to fit properly.

If the image matches the screen size,  I.e,  X pixels by Y pixels ( or the same ratio of) then it should not zoom.

Not sure you can get wallpaper to fit. Every android version I can remember zooms in a little. When you move from one home screen to the next the background also moves.

Thanks, had a play around with resolutions/sizes etc. and it still wants to zoom.
No great problem, I just wanted something to fit the screen - I might just edit and put border around it so the image is smaller and central.

Ah yeah. Sorry. I just had a fiddle with it.

It does zoom but not by a massive amount. It looks more severe than it is, due to the letterbox view, of the screen.

I took an image & cropped it to the screen resolution, height-wise (2340 pixels) but it still zoomed the image which I didn't think it would do. The image was wider than the screen (image was 1755 wide, screen is 1080), so there was enough spare image for the scrolling while going between screens that nixie mentions.

Last time I really fiddled about with this was on an Xperia T years ago & on that I'm pretty sure on that you could set the image height to the screen height & it wouldn't then zoom in.

Quick bump - for a small-ish smart phone, is the 4a still the best to get? It's £300 now, which is about £100 more than what I'd wanted to pay. There seems to be loads of good spec Chinese phones for around £200, but they're all massive. The Samsung S10e looks good but is out of budget unfortunately.
Cheers!

I'm very happy with my 4a, can't say how it compares with what else is available now.

The Samsung S10e looks good but is out of budget unfortunately.

My bright yellow, box open 'seconds' one is £19 a month with unlimited calls, text and 6gb data on Vodafone, no cost upfront, from a reseller site.
If you will pay for a sim monthly, it can work out cheaper/the same.

Thanks - I have a sim-only contact for £6/mo which gives me far more minutes and data than I use. Not keen to get tied into a 2 or 3 year contract.

Just went IPhone 12. First ever Apple product and neater and smaller than my Sonys

So far so good. Decent case and it should be tough enough hopefully.

Had a pixel 2- was brilliant, the screen went on that & now have a pixel 5 - also loving it so far.

I would say however I had the pixel 2 for 3 yr, and the performance jump is less than I have ever seen in a phone upgrade before.

The 4a is almost a premium phone.. The night mode camera option is really impressive, no digital noise.

Other phones may have glass backs etc. But I always have mine in a wallet style case, for convenience and some padding when I seldom drop it.. So super trendy all glass phones are useless to me. They are gonna get put into some sort of protective case no matter what.

Which negates the need for a phone whose case is made out of glass just to make it look better.