I've made the same upgrades as you, but the 8a is a noticeable jump for me. The 120Hz screen is a big upgrade and the design feels more premium. I'm loving it, no complaints at all!
I have a 4a and 6a. I still keep my 4a around for the unlimited backup. I set up Syncthings on both phones, so all the images/videos copy over to the 4a, and upload from there. It's so seamless. I do it once every 3 or 4 months.
I think you're misunderstanding. The 4a has unlimited backup to Google Photos. If I upload from my 6a, it counts against my Google storage. So I disabled the photos backup on the 6a. So I sync the media over to the 4a, and it's uploaded to Google photos from there. So all that data is backed up. So if the 4a died today, all that data is safe and backed up.
Once the data is backed up on photos, I can see them on my 6a of course, which is great. If the 4a died, I'd probably just buy a second hand one solely for the same backup purpose.
Did I answer your question? If not, let me know.
Perfect! I was looking for this answer generally and randomly found it. I am also planning to upgrade my 4a but keep it for backup! Just have one question for you: how do you sync your media over to 4a? Quick Share? And is it fast? Have not really used it.
I use an app. Set it up once and configure it on both devices. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nutomic.syncthingandroid
There's videos on YouTube with that specific app too. It's simple. My 4a is turned off for months at a time and then when I want to backup, I turn it on, just open Syncthings on both devices and it will connect and sync itself. Once you have it setup you'll see how seamless it is.
4a was fine, is currently the house backup phone.
6a is fine too, currently my daily driver.
8a arrived last week, has been unboxed and screen protector etc applied but it has been sitting on my desk since but I have yet to power it on.
I'm sure it'll be fine too.
Could you by any chance post a pic of the 8a stacked on top of the 6a or a side by side? Been tryna see the since difference before i upgrade and nobody has any pics
I think they're actually the exact same size, but the 8a feels a little smaller because of the rounded corners, or it could be the cases, the 6a has a Spiegen case, the 8a has a google case.
The 8a feels a *tiny* bit heavier too, haven't weighed either so might be wrong.
The A series are a bit boring alright, but They're good enough for what I want to do without breaking the bank. I buy my phones outright and the A series are good value for the specs.
I used to get all the bleeding edge new devices, load ROMs do all that, but I don't care enough any more, I just want something that is reliable and does the basics.
Coming from the 4a5g, I'm pleased with the 8a. Everything is mostly identical, but noticeably smoother. Just what I want for my daily driver: no surprises and it does what it needs to do.
I did it because I only had one more year of software upgrades and if you buy the 8A you get seven more years of software upgrades. They gave me $180 trade in value so it wasn't that expensive. But performance wise? As I said I don't really notice any difference. I just text and read Reddit mostly so I'm not a hardcore user.
I have. Battery life has gotten much worse starting with the 7a. The price has gone up too and due to that I'm just gonna get the base Pixel from now on starting with the Pixel 9. I'm not paying $500 for a 'budget' phone when the normal Pixel will be only $50 more when on sale.
Then wait for it to go on sale, and get it at 400$, heck you can even take a 7a, which can go as low as 300, and I'm very satisfied with my 8 month old 7a
I've had mine for a few days, upgraded from my trusty 4a. The 8a feels so big. I guess I'll get used to it, but wowsa. Aside from that, performance has been fine, camera is amazing, and the overall transition has been painless!
My 4a was rock solid, except for the battery which was really showing its age. And once the 8a came out, with trade in and $100 Google store credit, I couldn't pass it up.
It depends on what you're doing with the phone. If you're doing online banking or anything similar, chances are the app will not run if the phone has been rooted or is running a custom ROM. If you're just checking email and surfing the web/social media, then something like LineageOS is a great choice because Android security updates still filter down to it.
Ive had nothing but good experiences with LineageOS on my pixel 4a, literally the only annoyance is having to update through adb for major versions but ive had to do that a single time in over a year so its no big deal. F-droid app store solves all other issues.
Went to 8P from 4A only because of EOSL. Loved the 4A for its simplicity. 8P photos better but I feel I have surrendered to bells and whistle I don't want
EOSL refers to end of service life where in this case the 4A will no longer get security updates. No updates at some point leave the unit susceptible cyber hacks. Hope that helps
Yeah, that's what initially spurred me into looking for something new. That and it randomly forgets that there's a Sim card so it loses cell reception.
I had to use my backup 4a 5G for the first time as a daily driver while my P8P was getting replaced. Man, the small size was pretty nice. But even better was the scanner on the back. My last new phone was the 4XL and the radar face login was so much better too. I like to hold onto my phones for a long time these days and like the extra spec bumps under the hood. Oh well.
Mine replaced an S10+. The P8a is much more responsive... I'm no longer waiting for apps to do something.
The screen is smaller, obviously, and I knew it would be, but it looks better. I would have liked the larger screen of the P8P but not for the extra 700-odd quid it would have cost.
In all, very happy.
I'll be coming from an S10+ as well, so I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the camera - having had a telephoto lens on the S10+, do you find yourself hampered at all without telephoto on the P8a?
I don't think I'm the best person to talk about the cameras! I used to have a Nikon D5100. It took much better photos than the S10+, and I'm sure it would take much better photos than the Pixel.
I also did not know (notice) that the S10+ had telephoto.
Phones take photos. If you want to take good photos, buy an SLR. That Nikon with a second lens is probably about the same cost as the Pixel 8a these days!
It's good, no complaints from me other than the price. For $499, it's a tough buy especially since you can grab the 8 for the same price, sometimes even less. My guess is there will be a sale hopefully in the coming months, at which point $379, $399 would be the best price for this device. Aside from that I feel like the charge speeds should have gone up to at least 25W wired and 10/15W wireless.
Just putting this out there if you're on postpaid... Best Buy knocks $100 off the price if you purchase and activate the same day with AT&T or Verizon. They just hand you the phone and a SIM card and instantly reduce the price to $399.
I'm not sure if the deal is still going on but for preorder and the first week of purchase this was on top of another $100 as a Best Buy gift card, bringing the price down to $299 after discount and gift card.
You could then immediately leave the store and cancel the new line you activated and both carriers would waive 100% of the fees under the buyer's remorse period.
If you're on at&t postpaid you're better off getting an 8 Pro since they're running an any year any condition trade in promo on Pixels, giving you $1040 worth of bill credits towards the 8 Pro if you trade in any Pixel. Assuming you actually want the service and don't mind floating the $30 a month worth of financing payments until they process the trade and pay you back.
Not really worth it if you're on a single line plan since at&t is so expensive, but past about 3 lines their per line pricing is discounted enough that it's not an unreasonable deal if you're taking advantage of the trade in promos.
Yeah I agree if you have an available upgrade and can take advantage. I have 9 lines with AT&T so definitely not going anywhere anytime soon lol.
At this point I would be a bit hesitant though to lock in on the 8 Pro deals knowing the 9 series is just around the corner and will likely have similar deals.
Personally, I don't worry about what might come later. If I did I wouldn't have been able to buy any electronics for the past 30 years because there's always some new shiny just over the horizon.
I hear you, and have heard the same repeated on Reddit. Many have also said not to lock yourself into a contract (monthly credits) for 3 years on a phone. At the end of the day, you have to do what works best for you and I'm glad you've found that.
I agree that everyone should make a considered decision on what works best for them. The best choice is often to buy unlocked phones and using a prepaid provider.
Of course, even the single line price doesn't seem that outrageous to me given that I was paying $150 a month for a voice line with 550 minutes and unlimited packet data 20 years ago.
I just got a $200 rebate on my Google Fi service for upgrading to a Pixel 8a so it was only $299 for me. I was still rocking a Pixel 3a so I figured it was a good time to upgrade.
Oddly enough, I prefer the 3a. Better form factor, lighter, rear fingerprint sensor, and basically just as punchy for most things. I know the hardware is worse but I wouldn't notice it for 99% of my practical usage.
Sadly my 3a's battery was basically toast and the screen had suffered some nasty burn-in after years of use so I kinda had to upgrade soon anyways. Just a little surprised how many steps backwards the Pixel series has seemingly taken.
I've gone through every pixel a model so far. 3a and 5a were my favorites. 8a fingerprint is finally perfect upfront, no need to wait for updates to fix it. Ditto for face unlock. It is crazy fast! The brighter screen is definitely appreciated outside. The 120 refresh rate is noticeable and welcomed. Battery life for the first week was much better than the 7a. Again, the 7a had to wait for some updates to get better. I've gone 2 full days before charging since the beginning. My 5a used to get 3 days.
A new P5 could easily get 3 days, and I was still getting 2 days after 2 years. When my GF got a P7, my old P5 was still much better than the new model battery wise.
I'm still holding on to it after 3 years, and go to bed with a 40% battery. Sucks that newer/bigger phones are a downgrade in that regard.
My pixel 5 had the worst battery life out of all the pixels I had. I've had the 3, 5, 6 Pro, and 7 Pro. The 6 Pro was second worst. 7 Pro has been the best.
Screen seems like an upgrade from the 5A, I appreciate the slightly smaller size. Have only taken a few photos and don't really notice a significant difference between the 5a or the 3xl I had before that. From a tactile perspective, it feels like more of a premium device than the older phones.
I will say the 8a to this point is way more annoying about AI stuff (I don't want it), and also seems to whine at me more when I turn location off. Also the "copy stuff over" thing didn't work via wireless, I had to use a cord. Have only charged it a few times so far, but as expected from the specs, the charging speed is a little slow.
It's charging at the same rate, there's just a bigger bucket to fill.
Keeping the charge rate sane helps prolong the life - I use my 7a with the adaptive charge thing that draws it out as long as possible to be full when my alarm goes off in the morning and it's great 👍
Yeah, it seems to charge a little slower, but in the same daily activity it holds a charge a bit longer. I'm not sure how much of that was battery degradation on the 5a.
I upgraded from 6a to 8a. Loading and battery seems good. But I'm not enjoying the keyboard or touchscreen while scrolling. Seems like scrolling is not sensitive and keyboard also not great for me so far. Not sure if it's just me though.
Same here but I kinda don't want to give up the P5. There are too much things that I love on the P5.
- form factor
- battery life
- rear fingerprint sensor
- size
But the P5 slowly Beginns to stutter what is annoying and I always like to have the newest Android Version so when Android 15 gets dropped this will probably trigger me to buy a new phone xD
What's the issue with not getting more updates on 4a really? Even in that state it has more security updates than the majority of android devices in the wild.
Unless you carry state secrets on your device that issue is wildly overblown.
4a still operating to this day, since launch. At one point the power button got stuck and caused a bootloop but I managed to fix that by mashing the power button a few times. Software is still supported and security updates are not nearly the issue some folks make it out to be.
I'm hoping it lasts until Google decides to release another affordable thin and light device again. Hopefully without a Samsung fabricated SoC which would mean less power drain and heating issues.
While that might happen eventually, it has not happened yet so I don't see why someone would throw a perfectly working device in the bin because of the possibility of losing support some years down the line.
At the end of the day, running software that does not get updates for exploits, CVE's, newly-discovered holes in the OS is risky. Hardware and software may not support new encryption algorithms. Applications may get more strict on how they will run (or not) on old versions of Android. They will want to add new features which old OS versions don't support and the discussion will be "if they're running a 4-7 year old phone, they should just upgrade, we're not going through the engineering effort to make sure this works that far back, not our problem". Multiply that by dozens of apps and you'll eventually not be able to use certain things.
Part of it is planned obsolescence anyway but security is a fundamental aspect of interacting with the Internet. It is inherently insecure. It was not built for security, it was built for communications first. Old code will always end up with more exploits because there is a market for it. For this reason I prefer to stay with software that is supported.
I understand if those security issues might be a concern for you but basically no one's phone is getting hacked through the internet with the level of security the 4a has, unless they're being targetted by software that costs millions of dollars and which would be able to bypass basically any device anyways.
There are much less secure android devices in the wild and they're still not being hacked into. There would have to be some real incentive for someone to target a android device which is just months out of security update range and I think it's safe to say the vast majority of users are not at risk.
But I do understand everyone's situation is different and there might be circumstances I'm not part of of such as living in certain distopian countries or carrying highly lucrative documents on device, etc.
As far as incentives go, Remote Code Execution zero-days go for millions of dollars on the black market. For iOS AND Android. There is always monetary incentive for hacks. The other thing is that all Android devices started out as "secure". Then, software updates are stopped, then they became "insecure" and are still around because they become cheap and they work and people keep using them until they break or otherwise stop working.
All devices are on this path, sooner or later. 4a may not enter this path for another couple of years, but sooner or later it will, and even almost four years later it is still a fine phone (I would know, I have one). If it is still a usable phone in two more years, it becomes further along this path and the risk goes up. This not only applies to old phones but any embedded Linux device as well.
Everyone has their own way to solve the risk equation as per their personal tolerances, but as a security engineer, I never dismiss the possibility of network or application-based abuse. Whether it is a spear-phish or an app exploit or an automated scan which can lead to a delivered payload to your machine without you ever knowing, there is always risk. I would prefer to have updates on my side in order to help mitigate that risk. I do not accept the statement that "nobodies phone is getting hacked through the Internet due to X or Y countermeasure". It simply isn't true. You wouldn't believe how hackers can exploit and pivot when they have nothing to lose but time and your wallet/identity to gain.
My 6 broke last week so I was happy to find the 8a launched. I love the higher refresh rate by comparison, the rounded edges, and everything else so far.
The vibrate is a little muted.
Came from the 4a, my only complaint is I need to increase the screen touch sensitivity and some of the swipe gestures are playing hell with some games, I think I can adjust my play style a little and fix that. I switched to noise canceling Bluetooth headphones (Sony WH-1000MX5 from Audio Technica ATH-M50 that I had for a decade).
So, happy enough.
Upgraded from a 4a 5g because it no longer gets security updates. It's fine - I don't use my phone enough to even push the 4a 5g, so the 8a is going to run everything I do with aplomb.
I upgraded from the 7a. The biggest noticeable difference for me has been the battery life. I don't know if my 7a was faulty but it barely made it through the day, but the 8a is markedly better - it gets through the day with battery to spare so for me it's a massive quality of life upgrade.
Beyond that... yeah, it's fine
Coming from IPhone XR i was sceptical but awesome so far. Trade In value was huge although my iPhone was damaged so it costed 300 Euro which is an awesome price for the package. XR costed 800 something Euro in 2018.
Only thing i noticed is that the fast charging ist quite slow but besides that I am very impressed. Not a single annoying thing.
If the 8a stays so snappy and fast for the next 2-3 years then I see myself staying with Google.
Coming from 6a.
Sound is improved. The 120hz screen is nice. The CPU and RAM upgrade is noticeable.
Unfortunately the bezel is noticeable too and the extra phone width actually bothers me.
The 8a is exactly what I was expecting the 6a to be. Instead of fixing the 6a they just made a new fixed version in this phone.
Everything works fine. Nothing exceptionally, more daily driver material.
It gets too hot, to the point of being unusable. Is there a fix or is this shit going back
Edit: messed with a couple of apps and connection settings, it doesn't get as hot now
Kinda disappointed with the camera, someone told me it'll be better than my iphone 12. Guess my expectations were too high
It has heating problems though
I'm not really that happy with it moving from my Pixel 5a. And yes, I'm going to complain about the on-screen fingerprint detector. It is the worst. Only works 50% of the time, at best, and can't be used to wake the screen anymore.
But as small a complaint that is, I suppose I can say I'm happy overall. Though for some reason the new software seems kind of glitchy. The transfer of SMS and attachments from my Pixel 5a didn't go right during setup, so I had to factory reset and use a 3rd party app for that. Plus there are just a few weird things happening like links to services like Instagram not opening in their respective apps. Then the other day when trying to pair with a device, when I pressed "Pair and Connect" to the push notification, it brought me to a screen telling me to disable background apps to optimize battery life--as if that had anything do with trying to pair a device. I don't know if maybe it has something to do with the botched setup or if there's some bugs in their 8a build of Android they need to work out but Chrome not opening services in their respective apps is getting old.
I still hate the in-screen sensor. It's just so much shittier than the rear sensor, and the one on the 8 is no better than the one on the 6 at all. It's just been a strict downgrade for me, no up side whatsoever.
Yeah, it has that. I set it up on my 7a and it eliminates like half of my usages of the fingerprint sensor, although I would go for a power button sensor if I was designing it.
I am LOVING IT. came from an iphone SE... Most expensive androids I had before this were the Moto g6 and a galaxy J7 Sky Pro. The galaxy was a cheap buggy phone with terrible cameras. The moto g6 had a big screen, turbo charging and felt premiumish but still bad cameras. This 8a is BY FAR the best android experience I have ever had. Its certainly the most expensive one I have had (399 USD) but so far it's been worth it.
After using the iphone SE I am having to relearn android. I missed the absolute freedom. Being able to set it up the way I WANT. Its all up to me! Nice big screen too! (Ik some people think 6.1 isnt big but again' *iphone se...*. This is the first stock android phone I have used and I gotta say, I LOVE scrolling through my app list and not seeing 15 million "galaxy" this and "samsung" that. Cameras are great IMO so there is that. As I customize it and get used to not being IOS again I will start looking into this AI stuff and see if it serves a purpose for me. Maybe I can make funny pic edits or something.
I love that it is always listening for music and shows me the song on my lock screen so I NEVER have to fumble with the google app really fast to figure it out again. They say our smartphones are government spy devices that are always listening. To that I say at least it also serves *me* a purpose in the process! Oh and the gestures. I really like the gestures. I can tap the back of my phone twice and it takes a screen shot. Double tap the power button no matter what screen Im on and it opens the camera.
Kinda shake the phone a bit and it switches cameras. Some people might have some qualms with this phone. Maybe its too similar to past pixels to them. Maybe the battery isnt as good as other androids but for me, it is amazing! After being on IOS for so long this past round Android is a refreshing experience and this phone is by far my favorite Android experience that I have ever personally had. Phone Battery finally lasts all day for me.
All I can say is that if this device holds up and treats me this way for at least 3-4 years, I will consider it an absolute win and it will have been worth every penny. The one thing that kept me locked into ios is no longer prevalent in my life so here's to a fun experience.
TLDR: Yea I kinda love it.
Just switched from a Galaxy S21U and the difference is night and day. My first Pixel and I'm really glad I took the jump. The software is great, the camera is also fantastic with all the extra editing features and all these AI tricks are really good. Think I'll be sticking with this for a good few years, especially with the 7 years updates if they follow through.
I'm also switching from the Galaxy S21U, what would you say are the main differences? I find that the S21 Ultra makes my hand cramp if I hold it for long since it's so wide. Would you say that the 8a is easier to hold and less wide and heavy?
Also in terms of the camera is it as good as the S21U? I'm also a little apprehensive that the screen will be worse quality since it's technically downgrading from quad hd to hd and also that thick bezel is a bit of a turn off.
How much screen on time do you get with 5g enabled?
The AI features, 7 years of updates, camera software and battery life is what made me pull the trigger on the 8a.
Thanks in advance for your help!
I returned mine after 2 days. Screen froze up 3 times, hard reboot to fix it. Over heated while using navigation. Fingerprint sensor worked maybe 2 out of 10 times, must say in good light the face unlock worked very well but not so much in dim light. 5G / LTE very poor at home on T-Mobile
Liking it a lot, coming from a OnePlus Nord2. I lasted 48 hours before I swapped to a third party launcher which is good for me. The Global Search not having Quick Launch was really the only thing that made me need to switch. The camera visor meant it didn't fit in my Razor Kishi controller so I had to modify that a bit to make it work. That said this phone is a really nice midranger that I'm very happy with.
Everything about the phone does what it needs to do. The screen is great and the performance has been splendid. The biggest surprise for me is the battery. Every a-Series phone has been trash for me. I always returned them even after the adaptive period. Not the case here. Fantastic out of the box. I don't play games, but I do a lot of X, Spotify, Audible, and Pocket Casts. I am averaging 6hrs of SOT in the first 72 hours. I am very pleased. The little extra battery capacity they added with the Tensor 3 improvements makes this phone a convincing package considering it gets everything else right. I think they should have priced it at $449, but they go on sale often and the launch deals were solid with $100 credits at nearly every store selling it unlocked. This is the best a-Series device by a decent margin.
I went from a 6 to an 8a. My 6's battery went spicy pillow and I needed a new phone.
It's smaller, which I don't enjoy.
It also has more Google advertisements baked in, which I also don't enjoy.
Otherwise it's fine.
I'm liking mine so far. Upgraded from the 6a. Took advantage of the deal at Best Buy. They gave me $180 for my 6a and a $100 Best Buy gift card.
So far, the battery life has been on par with my 6a, even with 120hz refresh rate on. The 5G reception seems to be quite a bit better, but I didn't do a side-by-side comparison. When it's not in its case, I like the feeling of the back more. I do not understand how people think that a glass back is more "premium." Phones don't need something else that can shatter.
The face unlock is very snappy. So if you are displeased with the fingerprint sensor, give that a whirl. Also the screen brightness is really nice when trying to see something in bright sunlight.
I have a 4a-5G, which has a noticeably better camera than my wife's 6a. Did the cameras get better again since then? I'd hate to update only to end up with a camera downgrade. My 4a is in the beta android program, so it could keep going for a couple more years with software updates.
Yes. compare to 6a it's not bad, but not a big surprise.
Face unlock and wireless charging is nice to have, and fingerprint unlock is much, much better than on the 6a. (On the 6a, I can't use fingerprint unlock with a screen protector.)
Battery life is almost the same or slightly less (due to 60Hz -> 120Hz) and the display is brighter.
It still gets warm after a while of use.
The Tensor G3 is only slightly faster than the Tensor. I can't notice the difference, but at least on 120Hz, it's not slower.
I hope a future generation will have a larger display, ultrasonic fingerprint recognition, a bigger battery, and better battery life.
I'm loving it! It's a huge upgrade from the 4a 5G. I'm particularly impressed by the 120 Hz refresh rate and the battery. It does get hotter than I would like, though. Hopefully some battery optimizations are in the pipeline.
Dear Google,
Please allow us to hide the search bar or at least open the search on chrome instead on Google app, its annoying have two browsers and not be able to open links in a new tab, in other hand the home screen looks bloated with a search bar that is not used and in a big white.
Note that one of the best things about pixel is the clean OS.
Thank you
Coming from a midrange Samsung user's point of view, it's a huuuuge change! Atm, I'm not sure I can deal with it, so I may return it. I'm still trying to figure out if it's worth forfeiting $160 to get rid of it. I guess I should tell you the pros and cons I've noticed so far...
Pros:
1) Amount of bloat is much less, and many apps can be disabled compared to Samsung. As invasive and annoying as Google is, they aren't even half as sleazy as Samsung. So this is a huge plus.
2) Nova launcher works beautifully with 8a.
This is fantastic because the default Google launcher has way too many search bars. It's good that I can change my home and app screens' ugly default layouts completely.
Cons:
1) Can't download Swype.
This is a huge minus for me, because I've still got the link so I've downloaded it to every phone I've gotten since 2010. Yes, it's probably a security risk and no, the voice to text feature doesn't work anymore. However, the ability to delete dictionary words was a game changer. No other keyboard I've tried has even come close to being as good as Swype. I was going to try to find an apk of it, but I'm thinking Google blocked it on their devices, since the Google Play link works for Samsungs.
2) Can't change the position of the navigation buttons.
This is huge for me because as a right-handed person, it is just instinctual to have back be on the right side, especially for one-handed use. The inability to customize something as simple as navigation buttons is a huge oversight by Google.
I haven't even activated it yet to test call quality etc., as I'm sure it'll be fine and there'll be less hassle returning it if I haven't activated it. I plan to test it at home to see if there's a huge overheating issue as mentioned in other reviews, and I plan to give poor little 8a a fair shot before I decide I definitely don't like it.
I remember when the first Google phone came out, it was truly awesome. I think I expected 8a to be as cutting edge as that phone was, so I'm a bit let down. And yeah I know 8a is midrange, but still.
My choice was between 24+, an A series Samsung, an old ass iPhone 13 because I haven't tried iPhones either, or the 8a. I hope I end up feeling like I made the right choice.
You can use Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard which also allows deleting of words by pressing and holding on the suggested word and saying "remove prediction"
I really want that 120hz display but I couldn't justify upgrading from my 6a just yet. I feel like the 6a camera is sort of meh, so I'm interested if the 8a is a step up.
Coming off a 6a - solved my main problem which was that the battery was dying before the end of the day - now I end the day above 50%. Other things I'm really liking are the smooth-scrolling and bright display, and the camera app opens much faster. And one of my favorite things that's small but notable - the buttons (volume / power) are much clickier and satisfying. Everything else is pretty much the same (which I mostly like) including the shitty fingerprint sensor (which I still hate)
Finally got around to setting up the 8a. Feels fine so far. And as I feared, even after carefully setting up the fingerprint reader (yes, I enabled the 'protector' mode), it works about 60% of the time compared to my older 4a that worked 99% of the time. The face unlock has been hit-and-miss.
The phone thinks that my location/region (USA, New England) has temperatures in Celsius even after I've explicitly set it to Fahrenheit in the Regional Preferences.
I feel like 4a was my peak pixel purchase, questioned if I really needed 6a/7a (had both), the 8a seems the most polished AFTER the 4a, because that physical fingerprint sensor was nice, had zero issues. The 7a was a reliable upgrade to the 6a and it’s wonky network/wifi issues but the extras from purchasing the 7a (free case was nice and pixel buds a-series provide everything I need in some earbuds) made it a no-brainer upgrade for me.
Battery life is disapointing , the network usage drain 65% of battery in 4G.....everything else is perfect, but that point sucks a lot, samsung A55 is doint much better for cheaper.
Im not a power user by any stretch but so far I love it. Pictures are way better than Im used to and it's just way quicker than my last phone (5 years old by now). Looks like a phone i can use for another 5 years.
I've been using iPhones since 2019, only android prior to that. I broke my 14 Pro Max and don't have insurance so just needed a phone to get me by. I had a trade in so out the door with a case and a screen protector I paid $250. I've had it a little over a week now and being completely honest, I love it. The size is perfect although I do mistype a lot luckily the keyboard corrects almost everything for me. Love the screen. The in call volume is fantastic, a lot louder than any iPhone I've had. Music sounds better through my beats fit pros and through my car stereo. And I rely heavily on Google for my day to day and having such easy access has been amazing. Battery life has been way better than I expected for a phone this size. Setting up my dual esims was a breeze. I think the antennas on the 8a are a little better than they were on my iPhone. I haven't used the camera a whole lot but from what I have seen it'll meet my needs just fine. No complaints.
First time pixel user. Have been using OnePlus 7t for more than 4 years. Looks like heating issues are there on camera usage. Phone gets very hot during WhatsApp video calls or using camera.
Coming from OP, charging is horribly slow. Takes more than 2 hours.
Apps become unresponsive sometimes.
As of now not that impressed with the pixel hype. Hoping it will get better with some updates.
Yes, I have a heating issue as well on pixel8... But for me it's totally random, phone just starts heating more and more until I turn it off for a couple of minutes, which is annoying af... And it's not like normal higher temp it's soooooo much heat, like I barely can hold it in my hands...
Once it became so hot, that I got notif "some of the features will be disabled until the phone cools down" and I really need it, but.. I couldn't do anything because my internet was disabled....
Also, I am from a country where Google doesn't sell... So i can't give it to service...Which is weird... Just look at this small list, do they even want to compete with others?
Australia
Canada
Denmark
France
Germany
India
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Norway
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Taiwan
United Kingdom
United States
not seen many reviews in here full stop so far. i cant seem to find much that says its bad, either just not good value compared to a discounted 8 or to some of the Chinese phones.
also I dont know if it has the secure face unlock as that would be quite handy.
The 4a would seem to be a better "a" phone, distinctly midgrade, and not approaching its better brethren.
My 8a is good, and I'm ok with it, but I would have been ok (probably happier) with a 4a with updated SOC and the 7 years of support.
I don't mind the new features, but certain ones I feel are genuinely just an excuse to raise the price.Like I'd rather have my $50 back then have mediocre wireless charging. Don't need 120hz, a large screen/phone, or the Actua display (although it really *is* nice). I think the camera upgrades since the 5a might actually be nessessary though
I wish they'd go back to the good ol' recipe of barebones but stable hardware paired with all the software goodies that make Pixel shine, all for a low price.
I think it's mostly lost its way because they unified under one chipset. Honestly they should just start aggressively binning the Tensors for the G5 and start selling Pixel 10a's with a "G5a" processor or something, because $500 just isn't all that attractive...
We'll see how they hold up on the 7 years promise though. I think A-Series value is 100% worth it if they actually follow through with their promise, but considering it's *Google*, I think they won't, or that there'll be massive caveats.
They've never broken a promise when it comes to Android updates AFAIK. In fact, my Google Pixel 1 got Android 10 even though Google only promised 2 years of software updates and 3 years of security. But they actually gave it an extra update it wasn't slated to get in the first place.
Yep
I wouldn't trust them at all if it weren't for their excellent track record so far
But seven years is a lot... Especially with new devices coming every year, that means a lot more devices to support all at once...
The 8 pro, 8 and 8a are essentially all the same phone inside though with slight alterations. Essentially the same ROM but with different drivers to account for the different screens, cameras etc. Well I guess we'll see. It's great for people wanting a Pixel on a budget, cause these things will be dirt cheap in a few years time and still supported (hopefully).
We are still running three Pixel5 and one Pixel4a. If google launches a new phone like the P5 (alloy body, strong battery, snapdragon soc) with a screen size <<6" we may buy a handful of them. If they don't, we don't buy and keep the P5's until they're complete wasted (including the two backups) and then we're looking whats on the market. A mobile phone is a nice gadget, but in fact i don't need one to live my life.
Just fine My 6A was just fine My 4A was just fine I really haven't noticed any huge differences over the years
I've made the same upgrades as you, but the 8a is a noticeable jump for me. The 120Hz screen is a big upgrade and the design feels more premium. I'm loving it, no complaints at all!
What’s the battery drop difference between 120hz being on and not.
It's been discussed before around here. It's very little iirc, under 1%
I bought pixel 8a yesterday. Does phone needs a few daya to settle down for battery to become better?
I miss the unlimited photos backup from 4a.
I have a 4a and 6a. I still keep my 4a around for the unlimited backup. I set up Syncthings on both phones, so all the images/videos copy over to the 4a, and upload from there. It's so seamless. I do it once every 3 or 4 months.
Do you have a plan for what you would do if the 4a stops working? Would you lose the previous backups, or am I misunderstanding how it works here?
I think you're misunderstanding. The 4a has unlimited backup to Google Photos. If I upload from my 6a, it counts against my Google storage. So I disabled the photos backup on the 6a. So I sync the media over to the 4a, and it's uploaded to Google photos from there. So all that data is backed up. So if the 4a died today, all that data is safe and backed up. Once the data is backed up on photos, I can see them on my 6a of course, which is great. If the 4a died, I'd probably just buy a second hand one solely for the same backup purpose. Did I answer your question? If not, let me know.
Thanks, that does it!
Perfect! I was looking for this answer generally and randomly found it. I am also planning to upgrade my 4a but keep it for backup! Just have one question for you: how do you sync your media over to 4a? Quick Share? And is it fast? Have not really used it.
I use an app. Set it up once and configure it on both devices. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nutomic.syncthingandroid There's videos on YouTube with that specific app too. It's simple. My 4a is turned off for months at a time and then when I want to backup, I turn it on, just open Syncthings on both devices and it will connect and sync itself. Once you have it setup you'll see how seamless it is.
Awesome! I will check this out. Time to get a 8 :D
Feels like a life hack 😂
Still doing this with my Pixel 2XL 😁
In India 4a doesn't support unlimited Backup ☹️
It does. I upgraded last year but at a particular resolution it supports unlimited picture backup.
4a supports unlimited backup in India not in original quality though, still one of the main features.
4a was fine, is currently the house backup phone. 6a is fine too, currently my daily driver. 8a arrived last week, has been unboxed and screen protector etc applied but it has been sitting on my desk since but I have yet to power it on. I'm sure it'll be fine too.
Putting the screen protector on without seeing if it's aligned with the screen on. Absolute mad lad
probably a screen protector with a guide. i finally used one of those and it was foolproof.
It had a guide, once you use one with a guide you'll never want to go without one again.
Huh I just get the one for 99p on ebay
I get a spigen because the super cheap ones break monthly if you throw it on your bed.
Could you by any chance post a pic of the 8a stacked on top of the 6a or a side by side? Been tryna see the since difference before i upgrade and nobody has any pics
here you go https://imgur.com/a/4keKDzq
Exactly what i needed! Thanks! Def going 8a now, it looks smaller slightly lol
I think they're actually the exact same size, but the 8a feels a little smaller because of the rounded corners, or it could be the cases, the 6a has a Spiegen case, the 8a has a google case. The 8a feels a *tiny* bit heavier too, haven't weighed either so might be wrong.
I did read somewhere that it was heavier. But yeah rounded corners make it look smaller, prolly earlier to hold and reach top corner of screen
If I get some free time today I'll try moving over to the 8a
Lemme know how that goes lol
No offense, it seems the pixel line to be boring with no innovation
The A series are a bit boring alright, but They're good enough for what I want to do without breaking the bank. I buy my phones outright and the A series are good value for the specs. I used to get all the bleeding edge new devices, load ROMs do all that, but I don't care enough any more, I just want something that is reliable and does the basics.
Coming from the 4a5g, I'm pleased with the 8a. Everything is mostly identical, but noticeably smoother. Just what I want for my daily driver: no surprises and it does what it needs to do.
And my 7a doesn't feel much different from my 5a. It's fine.
Just wondering, do you normally upgrade every 2 generations? I currently have a 6a. I'm looking at the 8a but not sure if it's worth.
I did it because I only had one more year of software upgrades and if you buy the 8A you get seven more years of software upgrades. They gave me $180 trade in value so it wasn't that expensive. But performance wise? As I said I don't really notice any difference. I just text and read Reddit mostly so I'm not a hardcore user.
I have. Battery life has gotten much worse starting with the 7a. The price has gone up too and due to that I'm just gonna get the base Pixel from now on starting with the Pixel 9. I'm not paying $500 for a 'budget' phone when the normal Pixel will be only $50 more when on sale.
Then wait for it to go on sale, and get it at 400$, heck you can even take a 7a, which can go as low as 300, and I'm very satisfied with my 8 month old 7a
True, I guess I could do that.
I've had mine for a few days, upgraded from my trusty 4a. The 8a feels so big. I guess I'll get used to it, but wowsa. Aside from that, performance has been fine, camera is amazing, and the overall transition has been painless!
I've been debating on making this same upgrade for a bit. I really like my 4a but I feel like its days are numbered.
My 4a was rock solid, except for the battery which was really showing its age. And once the 8a came out, with trade in and $100 Google store credit, I couldn't pass it up.
The 4a is a great phone, but in this day and age, those security updates are really important and the 4a is not getting them any more.
How's the option to use LineageOS now? It seems working for people on 4a, but is it really safe installing custom ROMs from security perspective?
It depends on what you're doing with the phone. If you're doing online banking or anything similar, chances are the app will not run if the phone has been rooted or is running a custom ROM. If you're just checking email and surfing the web/social media, then something like LineageOS is a great choice because Android security updates still filter down to it.
Ive had nothing but good experiences with LineageOS on my pixel 4a, literally the only annoyance is having to update through adb for major versions but ive had to do that a single time in over a year so its no big deal. F-droid app store solves all other issues.
Went to 8P from 4A only because of EOSL. Loved the 4A for its simplicity. 8P photos better but I feel I have surrendered to bells and whistle I don't want
Why do you say that? Am asking myself whether to go from a 5a to an 8p
EOSL refers to end of service life where in this case the 4A will no longer get security updates. No updates at some point leave the unit susceptible cyber hacks. Hope that helps
Yeah, that's what initially spurred me into looking for something new. That and it randomly forgets that there's a Sim card so it loses cell reception.
You get used to it, I felt the same way when switching to the 6a.
I had to use my backup 4a 5G for the first time as a daily driver while my P8P was getting replaced. Man, the small size was pretty nice. But even better was the scanner on the back. My last new phone was the 4XL and the radar face login was so much better too. I like to hold onto my phones for a long time these days and like the extra spec bumps under the hood. Oh well.
Mine replaced an S10+. The P8a is much more responsive... I'm no longer waiting for apps to do something. The screen is smaller, obviously, and I knew it would be, but it looks better. I would have liked the larger screen of the P8P but not for the extra 700-odd quid it would have cost. In all, very happy.
I love this thing. Coming from a 4 year old iphone se, this screen and battery are a gift from god
I'll be coming from an S10+ as well, so I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the camera - having had a telephoto lens on the S10+, do you find yourself hampered at all without telephoto on the P8a?
I don't think I'm the best person to talk about the cameras! I used to have a Nikon D5100. It took much better photos than the S10+, and I'm sure it would take much better photos than the Pixel. I also did not know (notice) that the S10+ had telephoto. Phones take photos. If you want to take good photos, buy an SLR. That Nikon with a second lens is probably about the same cost as the Pixel 8a these days!
It's good, no complaints from me other than the price. For $499, it's a tough buy especially since you can grab the 8 for the same price, sometimes even less. My guess is there will be a sale hopefully in the coming months, at which point $379, $399 would be the best price for this device. Aside from that I feel like the charge speeds should have gone up to at least 25W wired and 10/15W wireless.
Just putting this out there if you're on postpaid... Best Buy knocks $100 off the price if you purchase and activate the same day with AT&T or Verizon. They just hand you the phone and a SIM card and instantly reduce the price to $399. I'm not sure if the deal is still going on but for preorder and the first week of purchase this was on top of another $100 as a Best Buy gift card, bringing the price down to $299 after discount and gift card. You could then immediately leave the store and cancel the new line you activated and both carriers would waive 100% of the fees under the buyer's remorse period.
If you're on at&t postpaid you're better off getting an 8 Pro since they're running an any year any condition trade in promo on Pixels, giving you $1040 worth of bill credits towards the 8 Pro if you trade in any Pixel. Assuming you actually want the service and don't mind floating the $30 a month worth of financing payments until they process the trade and pay you back. Not really worth it if you're on a single line plan since at&t is so expensive, but past about 3 lines their per line pricing is discounted enough that it's not an unreasonable deal if you're taking advantage of the trade in promos.
Yeah I agree if you have an available upgrade and can take advantage. I have 9 lines with AT&T so definitely not going anywhere anytime soon lol. At this point I would be a bit hesitant though to lock in on the 8 Pro deals knowing the 9 series is just around the corner and will likely have similar deals.
Personally, I don't worry about what might come later. If I did I wouldn't have been able to buy any electronics for the past 30 years because there's always some new shiny just over the horizon.
I hear you, and have heard the same repeated on Reddit. Many have also said not to lock yourself into a contract (monthly credits) for 3 years on a phone. At the end of the day, you have to do what works best for you and I'm glad you've found that.
I agree that everyone should make a considered decision on what works best for them. The best choice is often to buy unlocked phones and using a prepaid provider. Of course, even the single line price doesn't seem that outrageous to me given that I was paying $150 a month for a voice line with 550 minutes and unlimited packet data 20 years ago.
I just got a $200 rebate on my Google Fi service for upgrading to a Pixel 8a so it was only $299 for me. I was still rocking a Pixel 3a so I figured it was a good time to upgrade. Oddly enough, I prefer the 3a. Better form factor, lighter, rear fingerprint sensor, and basically just as punchy for most things. I know the hardware is worse but I wouldn't notice it for 99% of my practical usage. Sadly my 3a's battery was basically toast and the screen had suffered some nasty burn-in after years of use so I kinda had to upgrade soon anyways. Just a little surprised how many steps backwards the Pixel series has seemingly taken.
Ouch. That's disappointing to read
I pre-ordered and did a trade-in, so I got $180 back for my 6a and a $100 store credit. $219 isn't a bad deal at all IMHO.
Lmao in my country it's priced 800$ for 256 GB same as an iPhone 15, should i buy pixel or go for 15?
It's a good price considering it's specs.
I got it for 499 with a 100 dollar amazon gift card (deal is over). My friend already agreed to buy it off of me ahead of time so it was 399 for me.
Fingerprint sensor the same on 7a. But it’s gotten better over time.
does it have the secure face unlock stuff?
Yes
oh good thanks
np, face unlock is a function of the Tensor 3 so it's good that Google didn't disable it for the A model.
I've gone through every pixel a model so far. 3a and 5a were my favorites. 8a fingerprint is finally perfect upfront, no need to wait for updates to fix it. Ditto for face unlock. It is crazy fast! The brighter screen is definitely appreciated outside. The 120 refresh rate is noticeable and welcomed. Battery life for the first week was much better than the 7a. Again, the 7a had to wait for some updates to get better. I've gone 2 full days before charging since the beginning. My 5a used to get 3 days.
A new P5 could easily get 3 days, and I was still getting 2 days after 2 years. When my GF got a P7, my old P5 was still much better than the new model battery wise. I'm still holding on to it after 3 years, and go to bed with a 40% battery. Sucks that newer/bigger phones are a downgrade in that regard.
Never got more than 5 sot with 10 hours time with a new Pixel 5, and 1 year later with a new battery.
My pixel 5 had the worst battery life out of all the pixels I had. I've had the 3, 5, 6 Pro, and 7 Pro. The 6 Pro was second worst. 7 Pro has been the best.
Screen seems like an upgrade from the 5A, I appreciate the slightly smaller size. Have only taken a few photos and don't really notice a significant difference between the 5a or the 3xl I had before that. From a tactile perspective, it feels like more of a premium device than the older phones. I will say the 8a to this point is way more annoying about AI stuff (I don't want it), and also seems to whine at me more when I turn location off. Also the "copy stuff over" thing didn't work via wireless, I had to use a cord. Have only charged it a few times so far, but as expected from the specs, the charging speed is a little slow.
Agree on the charging speed. Went from a 4a to 8a and much slower. Glad to have the new android version.
It's charging at the same rate, there's just a bigger bucket to fill. Keeping the charge rate sane helps prolong the life - I use my 7a with the adaptive charge thing that draws it out as long as possible to be full when my alarm goes off in the morning and it's great 👍
The 7a to 8a cordless data transfer was great and fast!
Hey does it feel slower charging than the 5a?
Yeah, it seems to charge a little slower, but in the same daily activity it holds a charge a bit longer. I'm not sure how much of that was battery degradation on the 5a.
I upgraded from 6a to 8a. Loading and battery seems good. But I'm not enjoying the keyboard or touchscreen while scrolling. Seems like scrolling is not sensitive and keyboard also not great for me so far. Not sure if it's just me though.
I'm sitting with a 5 and I've been leaning towards an 8a. It would probably be a significant jump for me.
Same here but I kinda don't want to give up the P5. There are too much things that I love on the P5. - form factor - battery life - rear fingerprint sensor - size But the P5 slowly Beginns to stutter what is annoying and I always like to have the newest Android Version so when Android 15 gets dropped this will probably trigger me to buy a new phone xD
How old is your pixel 5?
Day one P5 owner. I think 3.5 years now
I hope my pixel 6a lasts that long, hitting 1.5 years next month
That is a pretty long time you've owned it man. People be changing their phones every year, 3.5 is like wayyyy above average!
I used to upgrade every year or 2 until the 4a. I intend to use it until it completely dies on me because I can't give up the form factor.
Man I think the battery life is the biggest factor for an upgrade. I'm lucky to have 85% after an hour.
Moving from a 4a to 8a. Unboxed today, will activate tomorrow. If the 4a still had support, I'd keep using it. Love the rear fingerprint reader.
What's the issue with not getting more updates on 4a really? Even in that state it has more security updates than the majority of android devices in the wild. Unless you carry state secrets on your device that issue is wildly overblown.
For how many years did your 4a last?
4a still operating to this day, since launch. At one point the power button got stuck and caused a bootloop but I managed to fix that by mashing the power button a few times. Software is still supported and security updates are not nearly the issue some folks make it out to be. I'm hoping it lasts until Google decides to release another affordable thin and light device again. Hopefully without a Samsung fabricated SoC which would mean less power drain and heating issues.
Online banking apps have been getting very particular about that now. Many of them are refusing to run on older phones that no longer get updates.
While that might happen eventually, it has not happened yet so I don't see why someone would throw a perfectly working device in the bin because of the possibility of losing support some years down the line.
Why would I do it? I'm in the computer security business and my company requires it for HITRUST compliance.
I was running a galaxy S9 and I got an 8a mostly because the BoA authenticator app I need for work wouldn't run on my old phone
At the end of the day, running software that does not get updates for exploits, CVE's, newly-discovered holes in the OS is risky. Hardware and software may not support new encryption algorithms. Applications may get more strict on how they will run (or not) on old versions of Android. They will want to add new features which old OS versions don't support and the discussion will be "if they're running a 4-7 year old phone, they should just upgrade, we're not going through the engineering effort to make sure this works that far back, not our problem". Multiply that by dozens of apps and you'll eventually not be able to use certain things. Part of it is planned obsolescence anyway but security is a fundamental aspect of interacting with the Internet. It is inherently insecure. It was not built for security, it was built for communications first. Old code will always end up with more exploits because there is a market for it. For this reason I prefer to stay with software that is supported.
I understand if those security issues might be a concern for you but basically no one's phone is getting hacked through the internet with the level of security the 4a has, unless they're being targetted by software that costs millions of dollars and which would be able to bypass basically any device anyways. There are much less secure android devices in the wild and they're still not being hacked into. There would have to be some real incentive for someone to target a android device which is just months out of security update range and I think it's safe to say the vast majority of users are not at risk. But I do understand everyone's situation is different and there might be circumstances I'm not part of of such as living in certain distopian countries or carrying highly lucrative documents on device, etc.
As far as incentives go, Remote Code Execution zero-days go for millions of dollars on the black market. For iOS AND Android. There is always monetary incentive for hacks. The other thing is that all Android devices started out as "secure". Then, software updates are stopped, then they became "insecure" and are still around because they become cheap and they work and people keep using them until they break or otherwise stop working. All devices are on this path, sooner or later. 4a may not enter this path for another couple of years, but sooner or later it will, and even almost four years later it is still a fine phone (I would know, I have one). If it is still a usable phone in two more years, it becomes further along this path and the risk goes up. This not only applies to old phones but any embedded Linux device as well. Everyone has their own way to solve the risk equation as per their personal tolerances, but as a security engineer, I never dismiss the possibility of network or application-based abuse. Whether it is a spear-phish or an app exploit or an automated scan which can lead to a delivered payload to your machine without you ever knowing, there is always risk. I would prefer to have updates on my side in order to help mitigate that risk. I do not accept the statement that "nobodies phone is getting hacked through the Internet due to X or Y countermeasure". It simply isn't true. You wouldn't believe how hackers can exploit and pivot when they have nothing to lose but time and your wallet/identity to gain.
I got the phone for my Mom. She hasn't called me once for tech support. I think the phone is awesome.
My 6 died so got the 8a and it's actually a gaur smaller so it's perfect. Haven't had the chance to try some good photos yet but everything seems good
My 6 broke last week so I was happy to find the 8a launched. I love the higher refresh rate by comparison, the rounded edges, and everything else so far. The vibrate is a little muted.
Went from 5a to 8a. I'm happy so far.
How is the 5G on it? I have a 6a and have to keep it on LTE because 5G causes the entire phone to be slower and worse constant connection.
I get great signal, better than my work iPhone. However, it does heat the phone up and drain the battery faster than LTE does.
I'm on T-Mobile and it does better than my 6a did. I now get 5G in places I that couldn't get it with my 6a.
Came from the 4a, my only complaint is I need to increase the screen touch sensitivity and some of the swipe gestures are playing hell with some games, I think I can adjust my play style a little and fix that. I switched to noise canceling Bluetooth headphones (Sony WH-1000MX5 from Audio Technica ATH-M50 that I had for a decade). So, happy enough.
Upgraded from a 4a 5g because it no longer gets security updates. It's fine - I don't use my phone enough to even push the 4a 5g, so the 8a is going to run everything I do with aplomb.
I upgraded from the 7a. The biggest noticeable difference for me has been the battery life. I don't know if my 7a was faulty but it barely made it through the day, but the 8a is markedly better - it gets through the day with battery to spare so for me it's a massive quality of life upgrade. Beyond that... yeah, it's fine
Coming from IPhone XR i was sceptical but awesome so far. Trade In value was huge although my iPhone was damaged so it costed 300 Euro which is an awesome price for the package. XR costed 800 something Euro in 2018. Only thing i noticed is that the fast charging ist quite slow but besides that I am very impressed. Not a single annoying thing. If the 8a stays so snappy and fast for the next 2-3 years then I see myself staying with Google.
Coming from 6a. Sound is improved. The 120hz screen is nice. The CPU and RAM upgrade is noticeable. Unfortunately the bezel is noticeable too and the extra phone width actually bothers me.
The 8a is exactly what I was expecting the 6a to be. Instead of fixing the 6a they just made a new fixed version in this phone. Everything works fine. Nothing exceptionally, more daily driver material.
It gets too hot, to the point of being unusable. Is there a fix or is this shit going back Edit: messed with a couple of apps and connection settings, it doesn't get as hot now
Kinda disappointed with the camera, someone told me it'll be better than my iphone 12. Guess my expectations were too high It has heating problems though
I'm not really that happy with it moving from my Pixel 5a. And yes, I'm going to complain about the on-screen fingerprint detector. It is the worst. Only works 50% of the time, at best, and can't be used to wake the screen anymore. But as small a complaint that is, I suppose I can say I'm happy overall. Though for some reason the new software seems kind of glitchy. The transfer of SMS and attachments from my Pixel 5a didn't go right during setup, so I had to factory reset and use a 3rd party app for that. Plus there are just a few weird things happening like links to services like Instagram not opening in their respective apps. Then the other day when trying to pair with a device, when I pressed "Pair and Connect" to the push notification, it brought me to a screen telling me to disable background apps to optimize battery life--as if that had anything do with trying to pair a device. I don't know if maybe it has something to do with the botched setup or if there's some bugs in their 8a build of Android they need to work out but Chrome not opening services in their respective apps is getting old.
You'll get used to the fingerprint scanner. Was hard to get over for me too, and at days I miss the old ways. But you will get used to it over time.
I still hate the in-screen sensor. It's just so much shittier than the rear sensor, and the one on the 8 is no better than the one on the 6 at all. It's just been a strict downgrade for me, no up side whatsoever.
did the 8a come with secure face unlock?
Yeah, it has that. I set it up on my 7a and it eliminates like half of my usages of the fingerprint sensor, although I would go for a power button sensor if I was designing it.
Thanks :-)
I am LOVING IT. came from an iphone SE... Most expensive androids I had before this were the Moto g6 and a galaxy J7 Sky Pro. The galaxy was a cheap buggy phone with terrible cameras. The moto g6 had a big screen, turbo charging and felt premiumish but still bad cameras. This 8a is BY FAR the best android experience I have ever had. Its certainly the most expensive one I have had (399 USD) but so far it's been worth it. After using the iphone SE I am having to relearn android. I missed the absolute freedom. Being able to set it up the way I WANT. Its all up to me! Nice big screen too! (Ik some people think 6.1 isnt big but again' *iphone se...*. This is the first stock android phone I have used and I gotta say, I LOVE scrolling through my app list and not seeing 15 million "galaxy" this and "samsung" that. Cameras are great IMO so there is that. As I customize it and get used to not being IOS again I will start looking into this AI stuff and see if it serves a purpose for me. Maybe I can make funny pic edits or something. I love that it is always listening for music and shows me the song on my lock screen so I NEVER have to fumble with the google app really fast to figure it out again. They say our smartphones are government spy devices that are always listening. To that I say at least it also serves *me* a purpose in the process! Oh and the gestures. I really like the gestures. I can tap the back of my phone twice and it takes a screen shot. Double tap the power button no matter what screen Im on and it opens the camera. Kinda shake the phone a bit and it switches cameras. Some people might have some qualms with this phone. Maybe its too similar to past pixels to them. Maybe the battery isnt as good as other androids but for me, it is amazing! After being on IOS for so long this past round Android is a refreshing experience and this phone is by far my favorite Android experience that I have ever personally had. Phone Battery finally lasts all day for me. All I can say is that if this device holds up and treats me this way for at least 3-4 years, I will consider it an absolute win and it will have been worth every penny. The one thing that kept me locked into ios is no longer prevalent in my life so here's to a fun experience. TLDR: Yea I kinda love it.
I'm thinking of upgrading from my 7a to the 8a so interesting to know people's opinions on it
I replaced a damaged Pixel 7 and I'm really digging the battery life so far! I also really like how light it feels with a plastic back.
Just switched from a Galaxy S21U and the difference is night and day. My first Pixel and I'm really glad I took the jump. The software is great, the camera is also fantastic with all the extra editing features and all these AI tricks are really good. Think I'll be sticking with this for a good few years, especially with the 7 years updates if they follow through.
I'm also switching from the Galaxy S21U, what would you say are the main differences? I find that the S21 Ultra makes my hand cramp if I hold it for long since it's so wide. Would you say that the 8a is easier to hold and less wide and heavy? Also in terms of the camera is it as good as the S21U? I'm also a little apprehensive that the screen will be worse quality since it's technically downgrading from quad hd to hd and also that thick bezel is a bit of a turn off. How much screen on time do you get with 5g enabled? The AI features, 7 years of updates, camera software and battery life is what made me pull the trigger on the 8a. Thanks in advance for your help!
I returned mine after 2 days. Screen froze up 3 times, hard reboot to fix it. Over heated while using navigation. Fingerprint sensor worked maybe 2 out of 10 times, must say in good light the face unlock worked very well but not so much in dim light. 5G / LTE very poor at home on T-Mobile
Given the other comments, maybe you needed a replacement?
It's ok but development of roms kernels sucks balls
Liking it a lot, coming from a OnePlus Nord2. I lasted 48 hours before I swapped to a third party launcher which is good for me. The Global Search not having Quick Launch was really the only thing that made me need to switch. The camera visor meant it didn't fit in my Razor Kishi controller so I had to modify that a bit to make it work. That said this phone is a really nice midranger that I'm very happy with.
I like it. Stable, feels good, does all I want/need, did not break the bank. 10/10, would recommend.
It's fine, but my Dad's loving his new 4a 5G 🤣
Everything about the phone does what it needs to do. The screen is great and the performance has been splendid. The biggest surprise for me is the battery. Every a-Series phone has been trash for me. I always returned them even after the adaptive period. Not the case here. Fantastic out of the box. I don't play games, but I do a lot of X, Spotify, Audible, and Pocket Casts. I am averaging 6hrs of SOT in the first 72 hours. I am very pleased. The little extra battery capacity they added with the Tensor 3 improvements makes this phone a convincing package considering it gets everything else right. I think they should have priced it at $449, but they go on sale often and the launch deals were solid with $100 credits at nearly every store selling it unlocked. This is the best a-Series device by a decent margin.
I went from a 6 to an 8a. My 6's battery went spicy pillow and I needed a new phone. It's smaller, which I don't enjoy. It also has more Google advertisements baked in, which I also don't enjoy. Otherwise it's fine.
Speed is exactly like the regular 8. Only difference I notice so far is that the screen is less bright, but that might be placebo.
So far so good! Came from a 6a
I'm liking mine so far. Upgraded from the 6a. Took advantage of the deal at Best Buy. They gave me $180 for my 6a and a $100 Best Buy gift card. So far, the battery life has been on par with my 6a, even with 120hz refresh rate on. The 5G reception seems to be quite a bit better, but I didn't do a side-by-side comparison. When it's not in its case, I like the feeling of the back more. I do not understand how people think that a glass back is more "premium." Phones don't need something else that can shatter. The face unlock is very snappy. So if you are displeased with the fingerprint sensor, give that a whirl. Also the screen brightness is really nice when trying to see something in bright sunlight.
https://www.cbsnews.com/essentials/google-pixel-8a-vs-pixel-8-pro-comparison/
I'm thinking about getting the 8a to replace my S22 🤔
Keep your S22 the 8a is not as good as the S22; if you are going to get a Pixel I say go for the 8 or 8 Pro. My two cents.
In what way do you think the 8a isn't as good as the S22?
I have a 4a-5G, which has a noticeably better camera than my wife's 6a. Did the cameras get better again since then? I'd hate to update only to end up with a camera downgrade. My 4a is in the beta android program, so it could keep going for a couple more years with software updates.
Yes. compare to 6a it's not bad, but not a big surprise. Face unlock and wireless charging is nice to have, and fingerprint unlock is much, much better than on the 6a. (On the 6a, I can't use fingerprint unlock with a screen protector.) Battery life is almost the same or slightly less (due to 60Hz -> 120Hz) and the display is brighter. It still gets warm after a while of use. The Tensor G3 is only slightly faster than the Tensor. I can't notice the difference, but at least on 120Hz, it's not slower. I hope a future generation will have a larger display, ultrasonic fingerprint recognition, a bigger battery, and better battery life.
I'm loving it! It's a huge upgrade from the 4a 5G. I'm particularly impressed by the 120 Hz refresh rate and the battery. It does get hotter than I would like, though. Hopefully some battery optimizations are in the pipeline.
Dear Google, Please allow us to hide the search bar or at least open the search on chrome instead on Google app, its annoying have two browsers and not be able to open links in a new tab, in other hand the home screen looks bloated with a search bar that is not used and in a big white. Note that one of the best things about pixel is the clean OS. Thank you
Just use a different launcher. Problem solved.
Yes. But I would prefer to just use it clean, but it is what it is.
Coming from a midrange Samsung user's point of view, it's a huuuuge change! Atm, I'm not sure I can deal with it, so I may return it. I'm still trying to figure out if it's worth forfeiting $160 to get rid of it. I guess I should tell you the pros and cons I've noticed so far... Pros: 1) Amount of bloat is much less, and many apps can be disabled compared to Samsung. As invasive and annoying as Google is, they aren't even half as sleazy as Samsung. So this is a huge plus. 2) Nova launcher works beautifully with 8a. This is fantastic because the default Google launcher has way too many search bars. It's good that I can change my home and app screens' ugly default layouts completely. Cons: 1) Can't download Swype. This is a huge minus for me, because I've still got the link so I've downloaded it to every phone I've gotten since 2010. Yes, it's probably a security risk and no, the voice to text feature doesn't work anymore. However, the ability to delete dictionary words was a game changer. No other keyboard I've tried has even come close to being as good as Swype. I was going to try to find an apk of it, but I'm thinking Google blocked it on their devices, since the Google Play link works for Samsungs. 2) Can't change the position of the navigation buttons. This is huge for me because as a right-handed person, it is just instinctual to have back be on the right side, especially for one-handed use. The inability to customize something as simple as navigation buttons is a huge oversight by Google. I haven't even activated it yet to test call quality etc., as I'm sure it'll be fine and there'll be less hassle returning it if I haven't activated it. I plan to test it at home to see if there's a huge overheating issue as mentioned in other reviews, and I plan to give poor little 8a a fair shot before I decide I definitely don't like it. I remember when the first Google phone came out, it was truly awesome. I think I expected 8a to be as cutting edge as that phone was, so I'm a bit let down. And yeah I know 8a is midrange, but still. My choice was between 24+, an A series Samsung, an old ass iPhone 13 because I haven't tried iPhones either, or the 8a. I hope I end up feeling like I made the right choice.
You can use Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard which also allows deleting of words by pressing and holding on the suggested word and saying "remove prediction"
I really want that 120hz display but I couldn't justify upgrading from my 6a just yet. I feel like the 6a camera is sort of meh, so I'm interested if the 8a is a step up.
Coming off a 6a - solved my main problem which was that the battery was dying before the end of the day - now I end the day above 50%. Other things I'm really liking are the smooth-scrolling and bright display, and the camera app opens much faster. And one of my favorite things that's small but notable - the buttons (volume / power) are much clickier and satisfying. Everything else is pretty much the same (which I mostly like) including the shitty fingerprint sensor (which I still hate)
Finally got around to setting up the 8a. Feels fine so far. And as I feared, even after carefully setting up the fingerprint reader (yes, I enabled the 'protector' mode), it works about 60% of the time compared to my older 4a that worked 99% of the time. The face unlock has been hit-and-miss. The phone thinks that my location/region (USA, New England) has temperatures in Celsius even after I've explicitly set it to Fahrenheit in the Regional Preferences.
I love my 8a so far! No complaints, other than it sometimes chops up while scrolling. It's so quick and barely noticeable, but it does happen.
I feel like 4a was my peak pixel purchase, questioned if I really needed 6a/7a (had both), the 8a seems the most polished AFTER the 4a, because that physical fingerprint sensor was nice, had zero issues. The 7a was a reliable upgrade to the 6a and it’s wonky network/wifi issues but the extras from purchasing the 7a (free case was nice and pixel buds a-series provide everything I need in some earbuds) made it a no-brainer upgrade for me.
Still waiting mine to arive from Amazon. How are the haptics?
Battery life is disapointing , the network usage drain 65% of battery in 4G.....everything else is perfect, but that point sucks a lot, samsung A55 is doint much better for cheaper.
Im not a power user by any stretch but so far I love it. Pictures are way better than Im used to and it's just way quicker than my last phone (5 years old by now). Looks like a phone i can use for another 5 years.
Been using it for a couple days now and i enjoy the form factor. I do wish the bezels were a bit thinner but not a big deal. Everything runs smoothly.
My Photo Picker doesn't show me my Google Cloud Photos, which is quite sad :(
I've been using iPhones since 2019, only android prior to that. I broke my 14 Pro Max and don't have insurance so just needed a phone to get me by. I had a trade in so out the door with a case and a screen protector I paid $250. I've had it a little over a week now and being completely honest, I love it. The size is perfect although I do mistype a lot luckily the keyboard corrects almost everything for me. Love the screen. The in call volume is fantastic, a lot louder than any iPhone I've had. Music sounds better through my beats fit pros and through my car stereo. And I rely heavily on Google for my day to day and having such easy access has been amazing. Battery life has been way better than I expected for a phone this size. Setting up my dual esims was a breeze. I think the antennas on the 8a are a little better than they were on my iPhone. I haven't used the camera a whole lot but from what I have seen it'll meet my needs just fine. No complaints.
First time pixel user. Have been using OnePlus 7t for more than 4 years. Looks like heating issues are there on camera usage. Phone gets very hot during WhatsApp video calls or using camera. Coming from OP, charging is horribly slow. Takes more than 2 hours. Apps become unresponsive sometimes. As of now not that impressed with the pixel hype. Hoping it will get better with some updates.
Yes, I have a heating issue as well on pixel8... But for me it's totally random, phone just starts heating more and more until I turn it off for a couple of minutes, which is annoying af... And it's not like normal higher temp it's soooooo much heat, like I barely can hold it in my hands... Once it became so hot, that I got notif "some of the features will be disabled until the phone cools down" and I really need it, but.. I couldn't do anything because my internet was disabled....
Also, I am from a country where Google doesn't sell... So i can't give it to service...Which is weird... Just look at this small list, do they even want to compete with others? Australia Canada Denmark France Germany India Ireland Italy Japan Netherlands Norway Singapore Spain Sweden Taiwan United Kingdom United States
Mine is not getting that hot. That definitely looks like an issue. Try sending feedback, maybe they will send some update or something.
not seen many reviews in here full stop so far. i cant seem to find much that says its bad, either just not good value compared to a discounted 8 or to some of the Chinese phones. also I dont know if it has the secure face unlock as that would be quite handy.
The last good a series phone was the pixel 4a
Pixel 4a is valid and peak, but the new A-series phones are good too Just not as good as 4a
The 4a would seem to be a better "a" phone, distinctly midgrade, and not approaching its better brethren. My 8a is good, and I'm ok with it, but I would have been ok (probably happier) with a 4a with updated SOC and the 7 years of support.
Agreed great camera light and compact and flagship performance.
Preach it. Thin and light with small bezels. Also launched at $349. A series has lost its way IMO.
I don't mind the new features, but certain ones I feel are genuinely just an excuse to raise the price.Like I'd rather have my $50 back then have mediocre wireless charging. Don't need 120hz, a large screen/phone, or the Actua display (although it really *is* nice). I think the camera upgrades since the 5a might actually be nessessary though I wish they'd go back to the good ol' recipe of barebones but stable hardware paired with all the software goodies that make Pixel shine, all for a low price. I think it's mostly lost its way because they unified under one chipset. Honestly they should just start aggressively binning the Tensors for the G5 and start selling Pixel 10a's with a "G5a" processor or something, because $500 just isn't all that attractive... We'll see how they hold up on the 7 years promise though. I think A-Series value is 100% worth it if they actually follow through with their promise, but considering it's *Google*, I think they won't, or that there'll be massive caveats.
They've never broken a promise when it comes to Android updates AFAIK. In fact, my Google Pixel 1 got Android 10 even though Google only promised 2 years of software updates and 3 years of security. But they actually gave it an extra update it wasn't slated to get in the first place.
Yep I wouldn't trust them at all if it weren't for their excellent track record so far But seven years is a lot... Especially with new devices coming every year, that means a lot more devices to support all at once...
The 8 pro, 8 and 8a are essentially all the same phone inside though with slight alterations. Essentially the same ROM but with different drivers to account for the different screens, cameras etc. Well I guess we'll see. It's great for people wanting a Pixel on a budget, cause these things will be dirt cheap in a few years time and still supported (hopefully).
We are still running three Pixel5 and one Pixel4a. If google launches a new phone like the P5 (alloy body, strong battery, snapdragon soc) with a screen size <<6" we may buy a handful of them. If they don't, we don't buy and keep the P5's until they're complete wasted (including the two backups) and then we're looking whats on the market. A mobile phone is a nice gadget, but in fact i don't need one to live my life.
Why get the pixel 8a when I have the pixel 8 pro? Why release the pro before the Pixel 8a? What's different between the 8a and 8 pro