AI Summary:
The article discusses the issues with Google’s Pixel 4a battery update. The update has caused drastically reduced battery life for many users, with some experiencing only two hours of charge. Google has offered three options for affected users: a battery replacement, $50, or $100 in Google Store credit. However, the update has been criticized for its lack of transparency and the inconvenience it has caused. Additionally, the update was built on a personal machine, not the proper build system, and has led to confusion and frustration among users.
I gave my old 4a to my father who enjoyed it tremendously. This bullshit update ruined the phone for him. Battery replacement helped but I really don’t see how such updates are okay to push for a company this big. They know there are two types of batteries and one of those can’t handle the update, because they’ve sent a warning to those phones. Maybe just don’t push the update to those phones instead?
Why do that when they can finally force people off their halfway-decent hardware in favor of their latest crap? I had a 4a and liked it, worked fine for my purposes. When it crapped out i just got another 4a. Eventually the newer one started boot-looping intermittently and i decided it was time to upgrade to something more “modern”. After spending way too much time researching the current options and cornering myself into options paralysis, i decided maybe the best choice was to “double” my pixel and jump from a 4 to an 8. I figured that many generations difference should provide for a notably better/faster experience. It didn’t. I liked the 4a just as much as my 8–only difference being some very small changes in options and menus. Performance-wise it’s not opening pages with blazing speed, the 5G doesn’t really seem to be any faster than the 4G i had been using on the Pixel 4a. Camera performance is a little better but nothing ground-breaking. I think it’s possible i get worse telephone performance, i occasionally get dropped/static-y calls and sometimes can’t call at all. Overall i was really disappointed to see my upgrade act more as a lateral move. I probably should have just gotten another 4a when my last one died. Of course, it would probably need a battery now, lol. Or have the boot-loop problem.
Welcome to the future, where the tech is cutting edge but built with the cheapest components possible 🙃
Yeah, I was disappointment when I bought a very expensive Galaxy S22 to replace my old Moto G whose charging port wore out,. The S22 had worse battery life, camera, and no noticeable performance improvements. Recently, my S22 stopped charging, and I just bought a “Mint”-grade used Pixel 6 and installed GrapheneOS on it. Happy so far, and it’s nice to be able to block network access to all apps, including Google’s.
Well I can’t say that. I got an 8a and honestly it’s been a solid upgrade in all regards. It is a little bit too big for me (4a was sized perfectly) but other than that, I enjoy 8a more.
What improvements do you like? Maybe there’s something I’m overlooking. I also agree on size, i really didn’t want anything larger than the 4a and the 8 was the closest i could find.
The metal frame makes the phone feel much more solid. The 120 Hz screen is an incredible improvement, 60 Hz screens feel laggy now. The camera is noticeably better, I’ve always considered 4a’s camera to be way above its price range in terms of quality but 8a beats it. And also I like that 8a comes in mint, that’s always been my favorite color.
It’s all about companies making profit, not you and I getting a decent and useable product.