Google Pixel 3a & 3a XL - Future Bestsellers

[Bouzoo]

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

The new title is: Google Pixel 3a & 3a XL - Future Bestsellers. 

 

The old title was: iPhone Xr KILLER - Pixel 3a First Look

This is interesting. By the time I was replying it still showed the old title even with your comment. Might've been cached or something. It's new now. 

[geo3]

13 minutes ago, comander said:

Slower CPU. Less-nice materials.

A slower CPU means a less power hungry CPU, which is a major plus. I don't game on my phone.

 

And the materials are far nicer on the 3a. As a phone body plastic preforms better  to glass by a very wide margin.

[RejZoR]

6 hours ago, Bouzoo said:

We talked about this a while back (like a week), just something that I noticed. Colleague has an S9+, needed his phone for Samsung OS translation to my language, he had it downscaled to 2xx0x1080 (not sure what the S9+ downscaled is). You can immediately notice the difference, everything is so, so blurred. One might only notice it definitely if they used a higher res screen, but most people should notice it. More so since it's OLED so basically 2/3 pixels. My recommendation, go and test it on a big enough screen, I'll bet you a billion internet points you'll notice it immediately. 

 

If image was blurry it's because either downscaling was shit and/or because it's not a native resolution. Come on, just face it that absurd resolution looks nice on paper and it's why everyone is really doing it. Just like all the crappy graphic cards that could barely run Windows Aero and had 8GB VRAM because it looked massive.

 

I also don't care about OLED anymore. And I had one, one of the first SuperAMOLED's. Two in fact. Then went back to IPS LCD and I frankly don't care even though I was worried at first when going "backwards". And same is with resolution. Was worried because XR's numbers look poor on paper, but as I'm using it for months now, it's great.

[geo3]

7 hours ago, comander said:

That's a matter of opinion. I'll go as far as saying that while I wouldn't pay much for premium materials, my pixel 3 has a much nicer feel to it than the plastic phone I also use. It's also weather use and abuse a bit better. 

Too bad I'll never feel it as it needs to be in a case all the time to prevent breaking. Glass as a phone body is just the stupidest idea ever.

[Quadriplegic]

So, why buy either of these over Poco F1?

[porina]

2 hours ago, Quadriplegic said:

So, why buy either of these over Poco F1?

It's a tough one, as I'm in the market for a "mid-range" Android phone it is probably one I should look at too.

 

F1 is way cheaper than 3a, faster CPU, more ram. Against that is it isn't stock Android, and without looking it up further I have no idea what the camera is like. Oh, I don't like notches either.

[Quadriplegic]

2 minutes ago, porina said:

It's a tough one, as I'm in the market for a "mid-range" Android phone it is probably one I should look at too.

 

F1 is way cheaper than 3a, faster CPU, more ram. Against that is it isn't stock Android, and without looking it up further I have no idea what the camera is like. Oh, I don't like notches either.

Fair enough. I haven't used one personally, but it is said that Poco launcher is somewhat close to stock Android. Though bootlocker is unlocked, so you can install Lineage OS into it. 

Camera isn't super great, but you can install GCam.

[geo3]

6 hours ago, Quadriplegic said:

So, why buy either of these over Poco F1?

Google is literally ones that support their devices with regular and on time software updates.

[QXC]

Everyone is complaining about how the bezels aren't razor thin and the chassis isn't made of rose gold-pressed latinum. What I see is a new nexus 5x I can get for $300 on my existing Fi service.

I'd be very interested to see this compared to the pocophone F1, especially the custom rom version that LTT did a video on before.

 

 

[Bainato]

Honestly looking at the mid-range right now is depressing. I can go back and buy a "new" Unlocked Galaxy S8 non plus model for equal if not less and have better Bezel and some better core features like water resistance. 

 

This is definitely a sign that newer phones are offering less improvement anywhere but the top of the flagships.

[porina]

Enough thinking, more doing. Ordered a 3A, should arrive tomorrow. Anyone wants hands on info let me know.

[Bouzoo]

9 hours ago, Quadriplegic said:

but it is said that Poco launcher is somewhat close to stock Android

MIUI? Hell no. Not even close. It has 1 upside that I can think of, and that is navigation gestures, but in general it's far from stock. 

[Guest]

Just wanted to point out a small mistake at 6:25. The label said Pixel 3 XL instead of 3a XL.

[porina]

My 3A arrived. Only partially setup for now. I had forgotten how much of a pain it is to get everything exactly how I like it, even if it is one time thing per device. Same problem with PCs... Not an Android problem, but 3rd party apps - the big names like Facebook, Twitter, etc., why can't they keep the same settings on every install? Moving my 2FA logins over will be something to not look forward to.

 

Anyway, back to the device. Screen is unlike any other I have and seems to pack a punch without looking fake like my old Samsung S6 did. The aspect ratio is slightly longer than 16:9 which I didn't notice before. While some in this thread picked up on the non-screen space on each end, it is smaller than I've seen on other phones. Only other things I've noticed worth speaking of is the haptics when typing still isn't as good as an iPhone's. I normally turn it off anyway. And the launcher is a bit different again from other Android 9 devices I already have, so that'll take a little getting used to.

[bexwhitt]

I'm tempted but I'm a use it till it doesn't work properly sort of guy and my nearly 2 year old phone is still punching fine.

[porina]

I finally moved all my important apps over, which is a pain as it includes 2FA authenticators. Nothing new to report, it does pretty much what you'd expect a Google phone to do. The only minor niggle is the screen aspect ratio. I had the same problem with an ipad mini recently. I found that too wide (16:12) and the Pixel 3a is too long (18.5:9) so for most 16:9 content there is wasted screen space.

[FakeNSA]

21 hours ago, porina said:

I finally moved all my important apps over, which is a pain as it includes 2FA authenticators. Nothing new to report, it does pretty much what you'd expect a Google phone to do. The only minor niggle is the screen aspect ratio. I had the same problem with an ipad mini recently. I found that too wide (16:12) and the Pixel 3a is too long (18.5:9) so for most 16:9 content there is wasted screen space.

Unless you are watching an ltt video (wink wink, nudge nudge)

But seriously, I agree, 18 or 18.5/9 video is uncommon, so it is mostly wasted space.