I'm terrified:<p>> One challenge for the future, and those seven years of updates, will be the 8GB of RAM. Google is already calling devices with 8GB of RAM "hardware limited" when it comes to future AI features, so be prepared for that. It's a budget phone, though, so you have to make some trade-offs.<p>1) 8GB ram is hardware limited, 2) $499 is a budget phone???<p>I'm very happy with my recently acquired Moto G Stylus 5G 2023. It's $250 and has 256GB flash (vs 128GB for the 2x as expensive Pixel 8A), has an SD slot so I can put in another 1TB of flash (2TB soon), has a headphone jack (I still prefer wired headphones), actually has decent battery life, and the battery (per ifixit) is not all that hard to replace though I would still much prefer a swappable one.<p>I don't think of $250 as a budget phone either. More like midrange. The budget version is the G Play 2024 which is $129 or $149 depending on Moto's whims.
I was really hoping they would go back to having a headphone jack on the 'a' series of pixels.<p>I picked up a 7a pixel and fooled myself into thinking it "can't be that bad". But bluetooth is the worst technology to ever grace our airways, dongles fucking suck, and it's been a constant source of annoyance since I got it.<p>I guess I'll be picking up something other than a pixel when it comes time to upgrade. But there is an ever shrinking number of options that have both a headphone jack and allow bootloader unlocking/locking...
Marques' review - "Google Pixel 8A Impressions: Just Get The 8!"<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3szaVzQx0o" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3szaVzQx0o</a>
Can it fit in my hand and pockets? Or is it almost the size of iPad mini (8.3 inches)?<p>Read article: it’s 6.1 inches. Roughly halfway between iPhone SE 1 and iPad mini.
>$500<p>>Terrible in-house vendor locked Tensor CPU<p>>8GB RAM + 128GB combo in the EU<p>>Huge bezels<p>>8W wireless charging, are they for real<p>>Same camera setup on an "AI-powered Amazing Camera"<p>I don't know how to describe it, mediocre, I guess? Don't get me wrong, they surely did polish the phone, but apart from its out-of-the-box tuned camera, it has no value beyond actually mid-range phones in $300-400 range with a tuned GCam loaded on them.
I own a Pixel 8. I've been impressed with it's performance and the general feel of using it over the past months. With Pixel 8a, the gap between A series phones and the non-pro version seems to be diminishing way too fast.<p>They still need to fix the modem issues and thereby increase battery life.
Already had my fill of Pixel 7 Pro problems. The screen failed to register any touches on it, twice. Once within warranty, once outside it. Best I could do is file a claim with my credit card company for a measly $300.<p>For a $1200 phone.<p>Had a bizarrely similar experience with the Pixel Watch.<p>The screen just failed to respond to touch. Wasted an hour figuring out how to get into fast boot mode. After a factory reset, it started working, but it doesn't get much more than 12-16 hours of battery time before needing a charge.<p>After losing a lot of money, time, and patience, I'm done with Google anything. Their hardware is garbage and they seem to have failed to address these issues with newer Pixel releases. Not sure what the point is of having 7 years of updates when the phone's hardware will barely last one of those years. And good luck with support.<p>Switched to a Samsung A54, and although it is slower and laggier in some aspects, the hardware is solid and I've been impressed at how clean OneUI is.<p>Tip: When your Pixel screen fails to respond to touch, you can at least plug in a USB mouse and recover what you can before tossing it into the dead gadget drawer.
still the ugliest, mud crawling looking phone in the arena. I mean, it's such a disgusting looking stare that I don't wanna touch it with a 10 feet pole. Get an industrial designer, preferably someone who lives near beautiful landmarks, like an italian person and don't let the engineers tell the individual what can and can't be done.<p>I'm not paying a cent for it, until they sort this design mess out. Also, the android opsys' looks also needs some love.
I cannot wait to read the reviews about which core piece of smartphones they fucked up with this one. After 3 Pixels, ALL with issues that never should have
been present, I decided Google can shove it's Pixel phones.<p>I prefer AOSP, rather than all the shitty overlays, so I went with Pixels and just FML. Complete pieces of shit.<p>What kind of fucking clowns make a smartphone with a shitty, barely functional fingerprint reader, in this decade?<p>GL to anyone that uses them, and I sincerely hope YMMV.
At some point Google needs to think about why these phones exist. Nobody buys them and there is no way their hardware division is turning a profit. After Stadia, I bet this is next.
I purchased a Pixel 7a for work related testing a few weeks ago. It's a nice phone and rooting was very easy. I was impressed overall.<p>But those damn ads they deliver as notifications! WTF. Why would they do that.<p>It just reaffirmed my allegiance to Apple.