Pixel 4a

[Andrew[MG]]

Has anyone got one yet? I'm trying to work out if it's worth changing my old Xperia xa1 ultra which has no bells and whistles but work fine for the best part.

[alorotom]

It’s still preorder isn’t it?? I didn’t think it had actually reached consumers yet??

[louiebaby]

I'm waiting for a few real reviews before getting one for my wife.

She needs plenty of space for photos, and I need it to be as simple as possible to set up and maintain.

Vanilla Android and updates for 3 years seems about right.

[AJB88]

louiebaby said:

I'm waiting for a few real reviews before getting one for my wife.

She needs plenty of space for photos, and I need it to be as simple as possible to set up and maintain.

Vanilla Android and updates for 3 years seems about right.

Google Photos will give you this. I keep nothing on the phone itself.

Yes your in the hands of Google then, but really cant see them finishing Photos off.

[ukfan]

I've had mine 10 days now. Lovely bit of kit.

Any questions, please ask 👍

[stevoknevo]

The way things are looking currently, the 5 and 4a-5g will be announced before this is released in the UK - but they all run Android 11 and I'm pretty happy with it, had it on my 2xl for a while and now on the stable version as of last Tuesday and can't fault it so far. Its a bit of a bargain at £350 considering how good the camera and Assistant are. If you can wait a couple of months until black Friday there's always discounts, it's not due for UK release until early October.

[AJB88]

Yeh wait till black friday etc comes round!

[Andrew[MG]]

Now wondering whether it's work waiting on the Pixel 5 with all the additional features it will bring. £350 vs £600(ish) by the looks of it.

[Mojooo]

4a looks to be the only recent phone that is of the size I need.

2 questions

1 - I read that it doesnt always work with random USB C cables as they need to be up to spec. Possibly doesn't work at all with USB A to USB C cable - is this an issue?

2 - is the fingerprint reader reliable? the one on the back of my Samsung work phone is rubbish so I am dubious. I presume you can manually choose to go straight for a PIN if you want?

[AJB88]

I've used quite a few random USB C cables and not come across one that hasn't worked yet.

[smashing]

Tried loads of cables and it's been fine. Only had a few instances where the finger print scanner wouldn't work but easy to just unlock with the screen

[peter tdci]

Mojooo said:

4a looks to be the only recent phone that is of the size I need.

2 - is the fingerprint reader reliable? the one on the back of my Samsung work phone is rubbish so I am dubious. I presume you can manually choose to go straight for a PIN if you want?

Okay, not a 4a, but a 3a XL - fingerprint reader on this has been faultless to both unlock the phone itself and for ID on some banking apps. Can't think why it would be worse on the 4a?

[Dolf Stoppard]

I've got a P5 and think the rear fingerprint sensor on Pixels is the best FPS on any phone. I truly hated the in screen one on my Note 20.

Not sure about the cable issue but I did notice my P5 went a bit mental when I plugged it into my Note charger! I unplugged it...

[AJB88]

The Nexus 6P reader was good, the Pixel 2 XL was a downgrade, the 5 reader I have now is good.

[ambuletz]

Mojooo said:

4a looks to be the only recent phone that is of the size I need.

2 questions

1 - I read that it doesnt always work with random USB C cables as they need to be up to spec. Possibly doesn't work at all with USB A to USB C cable - is this an issue?

2 - is the fingerprint reader reliable? the one on the back of my Samsung work phone is rubbish so I am dubious. I presume you can manually choose to go straight for a PIN if you want?

I did a thread not long ago wanting a phone the size of the 4a, lots of people advocating buying one on there.

here's the thread

[Mojooo]

Thanks
Baffling that there are not more 'smaller' phones - i.e ones that would easily fit in peoples pockets and can be used single handed easier.


Tossing up whether to splurge on the 5 for 5g.

I have had my current phone for 4 years and it cost £250. The Pixel 4 is currently £300 - so even if I got 3 years out of it I would be happy. I am thinking that 5g will probably be expensive and not THAT common for the next couple of years anyway.

[AJB88]

some networks are offering 5G now, I've got the 5 5G but my network dont offer it yet.

[Dolf Stoppard]

Mojooo said:

Thanks
Baffling that there are not more 'smaller' phones - i.e ones that would easily fit in peoples pockets and can be used single handed easier.


Tossing up whether to splurge on the 5 for 5g.

I have had my current phone for 4 years and it cost £250. The Pixel 4 is currently £300 - so even if I got 3 years out of it I would be happy. I am thinking that 5g will probably be expensive and not THAT common for the next couple of years anyway.

I'm not sure I'd say 5g is the reason to go for the 5, unless you really need the increased download speeds. Personally, I'd dismiss the 4 as while it's cheap, the lack of a secondary camera would be a deal breaker for me.

That leaves the 4a 5g and 5. The former has a bigger screen, better speakers, and the same camera as the 5. But it loses wireless charging, has less RAM, plastic build and only a 60hz refresh rate. It was this that was the deal breaker for me as I was moving from a 120hz display. The 5 just feels so much smoother and in day to day use is just as fast as my Note 20 Ultra. The only exception is processing images if you take a few in quick succession.

On the whole though it's a great little phone.

[louiebaby]

I'm sick of lumping a beast around too, and have the following on my shortlist:

• Samsung Galaxy A41 @ £190
• Pixel 4a @ £300
• Sony Xperia 10 II @ £300

The Pixel 4a is leading at the moment, due to raw Android and size.

£300 is about my max budget, give or take, so the Galaxy S10e is way over at c. £450.

[Gren]

4a may come down in price soon with rumours that the 5a is coming out shortly