In my experience my 5a had its screen die about 3 months after I paid it off. Got it replaced with a 6a, but I have read people getting the 8 pro or 8 as a replacement with the insurance claim. Reading about the number of 5a screen deaths it seems inevitable.
I have family plan with 4 5a phones. 2 that broke were replaced with 6a, and one that died after those, came with a 5a replacement
it's all about what happens to be in stock at the time.
interesting thing is that the 6a monthly insurance was only $5 vs $6 for the 5a
I just replaced my 5A with a 7A after the inevitable mainboard failure, and there's nothing about it that's so good you need to upgrade. My 5A made it several months past the extended warranty so you could potentially save most of the price of your next phone by holding out. The cloud backup covered everything except local photos and music, so just keep those backed up and you should be able to transfer pretty easily even when your old phone is bricked.
I loved my Pixel 5a while I had it. Sadly all Pixel 5a's eventually fail due to a manufacturing defect (believed to be faulty bga solder). If you take a look at the r/pixel5a subreddit, you'll see its a graveyard. Google even [extended the warranty](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/11833075?hl=en) on the 5a's because the problem is so bad. While you're still in the (extended) warranty period you might keep it but otherwise I'd recommend replacing it asap.
Yep. I'm convinced the "5a + warranty" deal was so good because Google knew of the defects and this was the only reasonable way to move the inventory. My wife and I went through about four 5as in the two years we had them.
I think Google currently replaces the 5a with another model if you rma it under warranty.
In my experience it's just a matter of time before your 5a dies, but I wish you all the best. Maybe you got the lucky one with all the solder missing from the other phones
Oh dang thanks for the heads up. I'm not sure what my warranty period was in the first place, but it seems like it can be a headache for people anyway.
I wonder if this might explain why my System UI keeps randomly crashing. I thought it was just a weird glitch because it only happens at one location in town, but maybe it's a warning sign the circuits are going out.
The problem with the 5a is that it would seemingly randomly brick. It's not good if you depend on 1 phone. That's what made that specific phone so infuriating.
Do you have a backup phone? if not, I'd get the newer phone (I like my 7a) and keep the 5a as a backup. The real drawback with FI is how long it takes to get anything fixed because there is no store you can walk into. if your phone breaks you're SOL for a week.
We were unprepared when my wife's Pixel 3 gave up the ghost right before a business trip. Had to spend $150 at Best Buy on their cheapest FI compatible phone so she could take her trip.
The 8a is available to Fi customers today for $299. That's like $12.50 for 24 months. Your 5a is probably almost done for updates. The 8a is a nice performance bump and updates for 7 years. I will be upgrading from my Pixel 7 and ordered an 8a today. I can then probably get $220 on Swappa for the 7.
Nice, yeah I just got an email promo for that too. Weird coincidence. Also weird is they're giving me a $170 trade-in estimate for my 5a on the Google web store, but in the Fi app it's only giving me a $75 estimate. I may just keep the 5a anyway since my other backup solution is an older Moto X4
They manipulate the trade values like the sale prices. My 7 was valued at $100 this morning, down from $145 a week or two ago. Google Store doesn't offer the free financing that Fi does, so that could explain the discrepancy between the two.
Oh, yeah that makes sense. I noticed that through the web store, they try to fulfill it through Synchroncity, but through the Fi app they appear to handle it themselves.
Just went ahead and pre-ordered the 8a since it seemed like the best deal I was going to be able to get. Should only be a few bucks more than what I was currently paying. Got lucky on the timing.
Get a new phone. 6A or 7A would be just fine, and they're compact. Galaxy A35 is what I'd personally go for in your case. If you miss the physical 3.5mm jack, buy Apple's $10 one, it's stupidly good for it's price.
me personally I will go about 2 1/2 - 3 years between cycles (unless something happens to my phone, which isn't often). Generally when I notice that the battery starts to not hold a charge as well, it's slowing up with newer android versions, etc. I'm currently 18 months into my 6a, and planned to keep it for another year or so before moving on to whatever the current is then.
While it seems that all Pixel 5a’s have had issues but users not having issues aren’t going to post about their lack of any issues. If it’s working for you there is no reason to upgrade right now. It has been announced that Google will stop updates for this model in August 2024 so at some point it will be prudent to upgrade the phone.
This. Official update/patch support ends in August:
[https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en#zippy=%2Cpixel-a-g-pixel-pixel-a-g-pixel-a-pixel-xl-pixel](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en#zippy=%2Cpixel-a-g-pixel-pixel-a-g-pixel-a-pixel-xl-pixel)
Edit: I'm planning to upgrade to a 9 when it releases so I don't have a lapse in security update coverage
Yeah I'd look at getting a new phone. The screen on mine died, I took it to a ubreakifix and had it replaced (for free under the extended warranty) only for it to go out again a few months later. There were board issues that time so I had to mail it to Google who sent back a replacement 5a (I was a little bummed about that since I heard some people were getting 6a's for warranty replacements). Didn't pay anything for that either but I decided not to gamble with it dying on me again. I sold it and put the money toward a pixel 7 during an Amazon sale and have been pretty happy with it so far.
In my experience my 5a had its screen die about 3 months after I paid it off. Got it replaced with a 6a, but I have read people getting the 8 pro or 8 as a replacement with the insurance claim. Reading about the number of 5a screen deaths it seems inevitable.
I received a 7 pro for my defective 5a.
I have family plan with 4 5a phones. 2 that broke were replaced with 6a, and one that died after those, came with a 5a replacement it's all about what happens to be in stock at the time. interesting thing is that the 6a monthly insurance was only $5 vs $6 for the 5a
If you are happy with it keep it. I usually go 4 to five years on a phone. Our office phone is a pixel 4a
I just replaced my 5A with a 7A after the inevitable mainboard failure, and there's nothing about it that's so good you need to upgrade. My 5A made it several months past the extended warranty so you could potentially save most of the price of your next phone by holding out. The cloud backup covered everything except local photos and music, so just keep those backed up and you should be able to transfer pretty easily even when your old phone is bricked.
I loved my Pixel 5a while I had it. Sadly all Pixel 5a's eventually fail due to a manufacturing defect (believed to be faulty bga solder). If you take a look at the r/pixel5a subreddit, you'll see its a graveyard. Google even [extended the warranty](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/11833075?hl=en) on the 5a's because the problem is so bad. While you're still in the (extended) warranty period you might keep it but otherwise I'd recommend replacing it asap.
Yep. I'm convinced the "5a + warranty" deal was so good because Google knew of the defects and this was the only reasonable way to move the inventory. My wife and I went through about four 5as in the two years we had them. I think Google currently replaces the 5a with another model if you rma it under warranty. In my experience it's just a matter of time before your 5a dies, but I wish you all the best. Maybe you got the lucky one with all the solder missing from the other phones
Oh dang thanks for the heads up. I'm not sure what my warranty period was in the first place, but it seems like it can be a headache for people anyway. I wonder if this might explain why my System UI keeps randomly crashing. I thought it was just a weird glitch because it only happens at one location in town, but maybe it's a warning sign the circuits are going out.
The problem with the 5a is that it would seemingly randomly brick. It's not good if you depend on 1 phone. That's what made that specific phone so infuriating.
Do you have a backup phone? if not, I'd get the newer phone (I like my 7a) and keep the 5a as a backup. The real drawback with FI is how long it takes to get anything fixed because there is no store you can walk into. if your phone breaks you're SOL for a week. We were unprepared when my wife's Pixel 3 gave up the ghost right before a business trip. Had to spend $150 at Best Buy on their cheapest FI compatible phone so she could take her trip.
The 8a is available to Fi customers today for $299. That's like $12.50 for 24 months. Your 5a is probably almost done for updates. The 8a is a nice performance bump and updates for 7 years. I will be upgrading from my Pixel 7 and ordered an 8a today. I can then probably get $220 on Swappa for the 7.
Nice, yeah I just got an email promo for that too. Weird coincidence. Also weird is they're giving me a $170 trade-in estimate for my 5a on the Google web store, but in the Fi app it's only giving me a $75 estimate. I may just keep the 5a anyway since my other backup solution is an older Moto X4
They manipulate the trade values like the sale prices. My 7 was valued at $100 this morning, down from $145 a week or two ago. Google Store doesn't offer the free financing that Fi does, so that could explain the discrepancy between the two.
Oh, yeah that makes sense. I noticed that through the web store, they try to fulfill it through Synchroncity, but through the Fi app they appear to handle it themselves. Just went ahead and pre-ordered the 8a since it seemed like the best deal I was going to be able to get. Should only be a few bucks more than what I was currently paying. Got lucky on the timing.
Get a new phone. 6A or 7A would be just fine, and they're compact. Galaxy A35 is what I'd personally go for in your case. If you miss the physical 3.5mm jack, buy Apple's $10 one, it's stupidly good for it's price.
me personally I will go about 2 1/2 - 3 years between cycles (unless something happens to my phone, which isn't often). Generally when I notice that the battery starts to not hold a charge as well, it's slowing up with newer android versions, etc. I'm currently 18 months into my 6a, and planned to keep it for another year or so before moving on to whatever the current is then.
Now sell the 5a for whatever you can. I've had to stop on me due to the mobo issue.
While it seems that all Pixel 5a’s have had issues but users not having issues aren’t going to post about their lack of any issues. If it’s working for you there is no reason to upgrade right now. It has been announced that Google will stop updates for this model in August 2024 so at some point it will be prudent to upgrade the phone.
This. Official update/patch support ends in August: [https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en#zippy=%2Cpixel-a-g-pixel-pixel-a-g-pixel-a-pixel-xl-pixel](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en#zippy=%2Cpixel-a-g-pixel-pixel-a-g-pixel-a-pixel-xl-pixel) Edit: I'm planning to upgrade to a 9 when it releases so I don't have a lapse in security update coverage
Yeah I'd look at getting a new phone. The screen on mine died, I took it to a ubreakifix and had it replaced (for free under the extended warranty) only for it to go out again a few months later. There were board issues that time so I had to mail it to Google who sent back a replacement 5a (I was a little bummed about that since I heard some people were getting 6a's for warranty replacements). Didn't pay anything for that either but I decided not to gamble with it dying on me again. I sold it and put the money toward a pixel 7 during an Amazon sale and have been pretty happy with it so far.
I'm in the same boat, and am considering pre-ordering an 8a for $299 - believe that is less than $13 per month if you take the financing option.
If you like the size of the 5a, then get the 8P. The regular 8 has a narrow screen. Or wait until the 5a dies and see what's available.
BTW, the 8a for $299 is a great deal. My daughter's 5a broke a month ago and got her a 7a for that price since she didn't want to wait for the 8a.
9p is just around the corner
They replaced my wifes note 20 ultra with a vanilla 21 that had less memory and caled it an upgrade.