One of the biggest differences between the 4a and the older 4 and 4 XL is that the 4a has a rear fingerprint reader, whereas the 4 and 4 XL want you to use face unlock. So strange that this isn't emphasized (or even mentioned) on the comparison page.
This was actually the primary thing that kept me on a Pixel 2 for so long, since it also has a similar rear fingerprint sensor design (and I just pre-ordered the Pixel 4a today).
I can't be the only one who greatly prefers a rear fingerprint sensor to face unlock, especially in our new world order with widespread mask wearing -- but, even before! It's so much faster and less finicky.
(The new model's fingerprint sensor is also so subtle on the chassis on the phone that you can just barely make it out in the photograph of the phone's back shown on the comparison page. But if you squint, you'll see it. It's also discussed in many of the reviews.)
Best part of Pixel 3A too. I was wondering if I should switch to the iPhone but after playing around with an used iPhone, I decided to stick with my Pixel 3A and I'll most likely buy the 4A (since I cracked part of the screen on the 3A). I love that Google is releasing highly usable phones at a decent price range. Combined with prepaid plans, I can easily switch carriers or phones without worrying.
I was briefly considering buying an iphone for the first time ever, since I wanted a good camera phone. Scratched that idea when I learned that it didn't have an audio jack.
One day we'll have wireless earbuds with batteries that last forever and lossless audio over whatever signal format they use and Apple will be hailed as ahead of the curve for removing the headphone jack before everyone else, conveniently ignoring the fact that missing a headphone jack when wireless headphones are not perfect is just a straight up downside.
The return of the audio jack is great news. I spent years hoarding 3.5mm to USB-C convertors and fight audio issues, including months without USB-C audio working for no apparent reason, and having to work around it with blue tooth headphones, which are ok when I remember to charge them...
Not sure if joking but to serious users this is really important - you can just plug in your headphones and it works - you don't need to worry about which device the phones are connected to this time (I pair my bt headphones with many devices) or signal noise (I still have this problem when using wifi and bluetooth at once). There are even Android devices dedicated for audophiles like new Sony Walkman!
The 3A also has an audio jack. I frankly never use it, and sort of wish it weren't there. I wish they would maybe ship it with a thing you can put in the hole that closes it up to make it seamless, but can be removed.
I'm glad there's an option for people who are into vintage technology like headphone jacks. Maybe they can add phonograph cylinders to the next version.
This is an awesome phone at $350. I currently have the Pixel 4, but if this was available when I was making my purchase decision, I'd probably have gone with it.
That said, the Pixel line of phones isn't known for having long lasting battery. A feature that I've found to be indispensable is wireless charging. I just rest my Pixel 4 on a vertical charging base throughout the day. Otherwise, I'd have to have to constantly plug/unplug the phone throughout the day to charge, and that'd be a huge regression in the user experience.
Just as I'm about 100% fully committed to Bluetooth headsets and my collection is just about fully covering all my use cases, Google brings back the 3.5mm jack! Nice that they're giving me hope that I can still use my wired headsets without having to use a dongle, but I'd be again terribly disappointed if they removed this feature again in the next iteration. This feature alone is almost enough to downgrade my Pixel 4.
P.S. The Pixel 4 isn't an available trade-in option for the Pixel 4a. Lol!
I broke the shopping cart by adding two pixel 4a devices + care plans, 1 with a trade-in. Now going to store.google.com/cart returns 500 errors (Error code: TIMM) and support is non-existent. Store chat and phone support look like they don't exist. Off to a great start!
I'm not sure about pre purchase, but I can vouch for reasonable good post purchase support with the pixel 3a. We had a warranty claim, we were able to talk to a real human apparently capable of going off script to diagnose issues. There existed a reasonable system of getting a loaner phone to use while the primary phone was returned for service. S&H was a bit slow (presumably because of covid) but things worked out reasonably.
Why can't Google sort out its global distribution? The Pixel phones have only ever been (officially) available in a handful of countries and this one is no different: "Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India (coming soon), Ireland, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States".
I can only hope they will revisit face unlock in the era of face masks. I greatly prefered fingerprint unlock. I treat either of these as tamper resistance rather than actual security, but I find fingerprint unlock to be a much better experience.
Can someone explain to me what the user benefit of 5G is? Is there anything that people typically do on their phones/with tethering right now that LTE is insufficient bandwidth for? Or is this just a plan by the carriers to encourage more really expensive usage, like convincing people to stream on their phones/tether all the time?
Can vouch for the Pixel line. I've had a Pixel 3a XL for a little over a year and it's been great. Stock Android, good display, great battery life, great camera, great security, reasonably fast and 3 years of updates. That's all I need from a phone. The Pixel 4a seems like a logical upgrade from the previous generation, sticking to the same principles.
As an Australian with a Pixel XL which is still perfectly usable, just lacking 'support':
> ... it’s fascinating that the most important detail is the price: $349.
Local pricing on google store is A$599, despite US$349 ~= A$490.
So not quite the same bargain for us, though not hugely surprising.
> ... it’s worth remembering that technically, fall ends on December 21st this year.
Living in a country with only a dozen or so native (only only mildly) deciduous trees, but a surfeit of eucalyptus that drop dangerously large branches, leaves, and bark all year long -- we don't call autumn fall, just autumn. And it runs 1st March to 31st May. Which adds some mental gymnastics on top of the corporate hermeneutics when dealing with these announcements.
I held on to an old 5x for what felt like forever until the 3a came around.
I've zero interest in the high end phone market, I'm sort of horrified at 6, 7, $800+ the prices, and I feel like I use fewer and fewer apps all the time.
Hopefully google with the 'a' models and Apple with the SE will stick with the mid range products.
>The camera and its clean version of Android are the main ways that Google is aiming to differentiate the Pixel 4A from the likes of the OnePlus Nord, Samsung Galaxy S71, and iPhone SE.
I think it's weird to include the SE on that list. iOS seems like a great choice for a "clean" OS and the SE's camera, while not the highest end or with several sensors, is pretty great. A better emphasis would be storage and RAM which is pretty incredible and the inclusion of a headphone jack.
One of the biggest reasons I'm happy with the increasing competition in the budget segments is that they're starting to make the 'right' sacrifices, slightly negating the distinctive features and advantages of flagship phones. Flagship phones will either have to adapt (introducing more useful features and not extra camera-bloat), or people will just keep buying the cheaper ones.
I'm still rocking a Pixel 2 xl and despite Google being a bit... Uninterested(probably the correct term) in the market outside the US(and thus severely limited in supply and even functionalities), I'll admit, it's a brilliant phone. I'm definitely curious to see what the 5 will offer and I might jump on board with it.What bothers me is that it was a pain in the ass to get the 2 XL back in the day. I flew all the way to Poland to get it(and even there I had to order it and wait for the delivery) so the covid-19 situation will probably be even more painful. I'll have to wait and see I suppose.
Notable quirk in this review: around 5:10 where he starts talking about how usable the software is, he also makes an erroneous gesture with his thumb and has to do it again. This is my experience with the Pixel 3a. The gestures require a range of motion that my thumb just does not have. This isn't going to be any better with the 4a, which is even bigger than the 3a.
Bit confused as to why mtgx's comment has been voted into oblivion, as it's a legitimate complaint with the Pixel line. My girlfriend has a 3a and it has taken about 3 months for the battery life to start being a minor issue; i.e. she makes sure to charge it during the day if she has somewhere to be in the evening.
It's really the only complaint I have about an otherwise good phone, and it doesn't look like the 4a really addresses it. It appears Google is looking for a software solution to battery life, which I don't disagree with, but that whole approach is basically pointless if someone happens to install Facebook on their phone.
On the positive side, the 3a has a great camera and it looks like the 4a is continuing that. I've been particularly impressed by the 3a's low-light capabilities, such as taking good photos indoors, and it's especially good considering its price.
Interesting, my partner and I both have Pixel 3a and I find their battery life amazing. I charge it once a day, but not fully. But maybe I don't use my phone as much as other people, just some redditing here or there and scrolling youtube and casting what I want to watch.
Only gripe I have with Pixel 3a is the "crackling" noise when volume is at max. Seems to be software because sometimes it doesn't happen. Everyone I know with the Pixel 3a has it.
I have a pixel 2 which is approaching 3 years of age at this point. (2700mAh) I generally finish the day with 50-70% battery life, unless there's some specific reason I'm actively using it all day. (last time was because my flight got delayed and I was sitting in the terminal for several hours and had packed my charger in my checked bag)
I'm perfectly happy with a 3100mAh battery. The only feature I'm missing with this phone is the "squeeze button" (I forgot the real term) -- it's a much better snooze function than trying to figure out which direction to swipe to snooze when you're sleepy enough to want to snooze. All too often on my old phone I'd just shut the alarm off instead of snoozing.
This is probably the firstest first world problem I've ever had.
The Pixel 4a battery is bigger than that of the Pixel 4, and it has a much less energy intensive screen. I think it would be enough for most regular phone users that the Pixel 4a targets.
Is it just me, or does every single photo supposedly demonstrating the quality of the camera have awful artifacts? (I'm not saying this means it has a poor quality camera, I suspect that whatever process prepared these photos for the website cranked up the JPEG compression or something.)
Finally! A small phone with decent specs and a headphone jack is really all I want these days (and is almost extinct as far as phone design goes). The Pixel 4a seems like a possible alternative to the S10e, which up until now was the only game in town for high quality small-form-factor smartphones.
I think it's still way too big. I'd really like a decent phone with a height under 5 inches. At 4.8 inches tall, the Incredible 4G LTE from 2012 remains my favorite phone. The 4A is at least smaller than the 3A (my current phone), so at least they've moved a tiny bit in the right direction.
Given that we're barely 5 years from a 5.8 inch phone being one of the largest phones on the market, I think it's still too early to call it a "small phone". It's certainly not what most people who say they want a "small phone" on this forum are looking for.
Does the 4a still disable the USBC video-out? I've wanted to use that feature a few times in the last few years and I'm bummed that the Pixel line hasn't supported it.
The 4a is looking nice, especially at the price point and for a "stock" android experience. I've started looking for a replacement to my Essential PH-1 since my USB port is getting very loose, and charging is becoming difficult. I wonder if there will be a demand for people who got the PH-1 on fire sale? This price point to features is what we've been missing since the early nexus days. The 3a was a nice step in this direction, but this looks like a very solid competitor in this field.
[+] [-] malkia|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pixelmonkey|5 years ago|reply
This was actually the primary thing that kept me on a Pixel 2 for so long, since it also has a similar rear fingerprint sensor design (and I just pre-ordered the Pixel 4a today).
I can't be the only one who greatly prefers a rear fingerprint sensor to face unlock, especially in our new world order with widespread mask wearing -- but, even before! It's so much faster and less finicky.
(The new model's fingerprint sensor is also so subtle on the chassis on the phone that you can just barely make it out in the photograph of the phone's back shown on the comparison page. But if you squint, you'll see it. It's also discussed in many of the reviews.)
[+] [-] userbinator|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sg47|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mschuetz|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] p1necone|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nemacol|5 years ago|reply
Happy to see they are keeping it in future iterations of the 'a' series.
[+] [-] Impossible|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thebean11|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] quoyn|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] DanTheManPR|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dilandau|5 years ago|reply
I got a phone that is just usb-c. Carrying around the adapter sucks, and Bluetooth is an even bigger pain in the ass.
[+] [-] partiallypro|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Kiro|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] droidno9|5 years ago|reply
That said, the Pixel line of phones isn't known for having long lasting battery. A feature that I've found to be indispensable is wireless charging. I just rest my Pixel 4 on a vertical charging base throughout the day. Otherwise, I'd have to have to constantly plug/unplug the phone throughout the day to charge, and that'd be a huge regression in the user experience.
Just as I'm about 100% fully committed to Bluetooth headsets and my collection is just about fully covering all my use cases, Google brings back the 3.5mm jack! Nice that they're giving me hope that I can still use my wired headsets without having to use a dongle, but I'd be again terribly disappointed if they removed this feature again in the next iteration. This feature alone is almost enough to downgrade my Pixel 4.
P.S. The Pixel 4 isn't an available trade-in option for the Pixel 4a. Lol!
[+] [-] mchusma|5 years ago|reply
Comparing the 4a to this it looks like a bunch of solid incremental improvements across the board.
Huge fan of basically everything here. Price, screen size, phone size.
Battery size could be a touch bigger, as my 3a has the best battery life I just wish for about 10% more for edge cases.
[+] [-] ckrailo|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marklar423|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gpm|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] owl57|5 years ago|reply
Google is careful in preserving fragile cart experience for those of us who avoid offline stores this year.
[+] [-] bigiain|5 years ago|reply
:shocked face:
(I think that maybe store.google.com is somebody's 20% time project, and they just haven't announced it's shutdown yet...)
[+] [-] mikelward|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amanzi|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] csours|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paultopia|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trulyrandom|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Jedd|5 years ago|reply
> ... it’s fascinating that the most important detail is the price: $349.
Local pricing on google store is A$599, despite US$349 ~= A$490.
So not quite the same bargain for us, though not hugely surprising.
> ... it’s worth remembering that technically, fall ends on December 21st this year.
Living in a country with only a dozen or so native (only only mildly) deciduous trees, but a surfeit of eucalyptus that drop dangerously large branches, leaves, and bark all year long -- we don't call autumn fall, just autumn. And it runs 1st March to 31st May. Which adds some mental gymnastics on top of the corporate hermeneutics when dealing with these announcements.
[+] [-] duxup|5 years ago|reply
I've zero interest in the high end phone market, I'm sort of horrified at 6, 7, $800+ the prices, and I feel like I use fewer and fewer apps all the time.
Hopefully google with the 'a' models and Apple with the SE will stick with the mid range products.
[+] [-] sf_rob|5 years ago|reply
I think it's weird to include the SE on that list. iOS seems like a great choice for a "clean" OS and the SE's camera, while not the highest end or with several sensors, is pretty great. A better emphasis would be storage and RAM which is pretty incredible and the inclusion of a headphone jack.
[+] [-] PossiblyKyle|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] axegon_|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] halfeatenpie|5 years ago|reply
I think I'll be going for the 5, but the 4a does give me a pause. If I use it for another 3 years, I think buying the 5 is the better choice.
[+] [-] bdz|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jeffbee|5 years ago|reply
Notable quirk in this review: around 5:10 where he starts talking about how usable the software is, he also makes an erroneous gesture with his thumb and has to do it again. This is my experience with the Pixel 3a. The gestures require a range of motion that my thumb just does not have. This isn't going to be any better with the 4a, which is even bigger than the 3a.
[+] [-] ehsankia|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] robotmay|5 years ago|reply
It's really the only complaint I have about an otherwise good phone, and it doesn't look like the 4a really addresses it. It appears Google is looking for a software solution to battery life, which I don't disagree with, but that whole approach is basically pointless if someone happens to install Facebook on their phone.
On the positive side, the 3a has a great camera and it looks like the 4a is continuing that. I've been particularly impressed by the 3a's low-light capabilities, such as taking good photos indoors, and it's especially good considering its price.
[+] [-] majora2007|5 years ago|reply
Only gripe I have with Pixel 3a is the "crackling" noise when volume is at max. Seems to be software because sometimes it doesn't happen. Everyone I know with the Pixel 3a has it.
[+] [-] raziel2p|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nwallin|5 years ago|reply
I'm perfectly happy with a 3100mAh battery. The only feature I'm missing with this phone is the "squeeze button" (I forgot the real term) -- it's a much better snooze function than trying to figure out which direction to swipe to snooze when you're sleepy enough to want to snooze. All too often on my old phone I'd just shut the alarm off instead of snoozing.
This is probably the firstest first world problem I've ever had.
[+] [-] Aunche|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eyelidlessness|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cbg0|5 years ago|reply
> 4500 mAh vs 3140 mAh on the Pixel
> microSD card slot vs no card slot on Pixel
> The A71 has more cameras
> 2 extra GBs of RAM on the A71
[+] [-] abvdasker|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coldpie|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikelward|5 years ago|reply
Pixel 4a: 144 x 69.4 mm iPhone 12 5.4": 131 x 64 mm
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.gsmarena.com/google_pixel_4a-... https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkell...
[+] [-] dumb1224|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bscphil|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wccrawford|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Shelnutt2|5 years ago|reply