Pixel 3a?

[YedZed]

This is probably one of the most popular questions ever but here goes:

 

I have the Moto Z Play, original. Very nice phone, it's durable and it has some nice features, but it's showing its age. Camera is starting to lag heavily, typing lags pretty often. So I need a new phone. 

 

Pixel 3a (XL probably) seems pretty much perfect. It's got a great camera, a very nice OLED screen (a must for me), a low power processor, adecent battery, a headphone jack, and it's not a glass sandwich and all that. And the price is quite nice, especially with all the deals. 

 

My gripes:

I would have like a front mounted fingerprint scanner, it's what I'm used to, but I can readjust. 

I've heard some stories about the durability. As someone who has used Moto phones (by coincidence) for all the time I've had a phone, I'm used to being able to drop my phone all the time and not worry. Only thing that scratched my Moto Z Play was trying to catch it against a marble counter top (should have let it just fall). But I imagine a case and a screen protector, and a bit of care, should reduce these qualms. 

The storage options are making me the most annoyed. 64 gb and no SD card slot? Admittedly, I am a data hog. My whatsapp backup is like 20 gigabytes. I keep 45 gigabytes of photos and videos locally. I torrent 1080p and store it on my phone. I use a lot of storage, and I could definitely do with less, but 64 gb still sounds very restrictive. 

 

So in conclusion, should I buy it? I'm really worried about storage... Are there any comparable options? 

 

[Commodus]

3 hours ago, YedZed said:

This is probably one of the most popular questions ever but here goes:

 

I have the Moto Z Play, original. Very nice phone, it's durable and it has some nice features, but it's showing its age. Camera is starting to lag heavily, typing lags pretty often. So I need a new phone. 

 

Pixel 3a (XL probably) seems pretty much perfect. It's got a great camera, a very nice OLED screen (a must for me), a low power processor, adecent battery, a headphone jack, and it's not a glass sandwich and all that. And the price is quite nice, especially with all the deals. 

 

My gripes:

I would have like a front mounted fingerprint scanner, it's what I'm used to, but I can readjust. 

I've heard some stories about the durability. As someone who has used Moto phones (by coincidence) for all the time I've had a phone, I'm used to being able to drop my phone all the time and not worry. Only thing that scratched my Moto Z Play was trying to catch it against a marble counter top (should have let it just fall). But I imagine a case and a screen protector, and a bit of care, should reduce these qualms. 

The storage options are making me the most annoyed. 64 gb and no SD card slot? Admittedly, I am a data hog. My whatsapp backup is like 20 gigabytes. I keep 45 gigabytes of photos and videos locally. I torrent 1080p and store it on my phone. I use a lot of storage, and I could definitely do with less, but 64 gb still sounds very restrictive. 

 

So in conclusion, should I buy it? I'm really worried about storage... Are there any comparable options? 

 

It sounds like the answer is "no," unfortunately.

 

If you want to keep all that local storage, you're going to suffer with 64GB. You'd likely have to move to the cloud.  I'd add that while the Pixel 3a's camera is great, it doesn't have the Pixel Visual Core to speed up the AI photography processing.  The app shouldn't be laggy, but it'll take a few seconds to process HDR+ photos.

 

What's your budget?  It maybe hard to get a truly durable higher-end phone, but you could get something like a OnePlus 7 Pro with a case if you're willing to spend a bit.  You can get a model with 256GB of built-in storage for $699, which could easily handle your storage needs.  I'd also be open to newer Moto phones like the Z3 and G7, although you'd want a case for either.

[2FA]

I just got the Pixel 3a myself, I would say it's more durable than the regular Pixel 3 due to using high quality plastic instead of glass backing.

 

The finger print scanner throws me off a bit too but that's because my previous phone used it as its power button but same location as Pixel 3a, just a habit thing.

 

Google is kind of aiming 3a towards a cloud storage use case, partly to reduce the cost of the device itself. If you have the capability, a Plex (or Emby) and a private cloud server would work well for you. Plex lets you download specific shows/movies to your device (with Plex Pass) if you needed some for local playback at some point or you can just stream the shows/movies/music/photos from your server.

 

Alternatively you could use OTG USB storage (it comes with a USB-C to USB-A adapter) if you absolutely need more local storage.

[YedZed]

8 hours ago, Commodus said:

It sounds like the answer is "no," unfortunately.

 

If you want to keep all that local storage, you're going to suffer with 64GB. You'd likely have to move to the cloud.  I'd add that while the Pixel 3a's camera is great, it doesn't have the Pixel Visual Core to speed up the AI photography processing.  The app shouldn't be laggy, but it'll take a few seconds to process HDR+ photos.

 

What's your budget?  It maybe hard to get a truly durable higher-end phone, but you could get something like a OnePlus 7 Pro with a case if you're willing to spend a bit.  You can get a model with 256GB of built-in storage for $699, which could easily handle your storage needs.  I'd also be open to newer Moto phones like the Z3 and G7, although you'd want a case for either.

Eh my budget is already stretching to say 400. I just can't justify a 700 dollar phone in my head. 

My assumption is I can change my habits, like using Netflix rather than torrenting and keeping less torrents on my phone at once, and save a heck of a lot of money. 

[YedZed]

8 hours ago, 2FA said:

Google is kind of aiming 3a towards a cloud storage use case, partly to reduce the cost of the device itself. If you have the capability, a Plex (or Emby) and a private cloud server would work well for you. Plex lets you download specific shows/movies to your device (with Plex Pass) if you needed some for local playback at some point or you can just stream the shows/movies/music/photos from your server.

 

Alternatively you could use OTG USB storage (it comes with a USB-C to USB-A adapter) if you absolutely need more local storage.

Thanks for your first two feedback points. 

In regards to your solutions, I've considered plex, but it does cost money to stream, which is kinda a deal breaker for me. I'd rather download either way, tbh. 

I do have a 128gb OTG drive, and I'll have a 128gb microSD card lying around without it being in a phone, so I'll have plenty of storage lying around... Maybe the 64gb thing wouldn't be so bad. 

But local photos and videos. I really love those 

[DarkDragon2K04]

On 5/19/2019 at 12:07 PM, YedZed said:

This is probably one of the most popular questions ever but here goes:

 

I have the Moto Z Play, original. Very nice phone, it's durable and it has some nice features, but it's showing its age. Camera is starting to lag heavily, typing lags pretty often. So I need a new phone. 

 

Pixel 3a (XL probably) seems pretty much perfect. It's got a great camera, a very nice OLED screen (a must for me), a low power processor, adecent battery, a headphone jack, and it's not a glass sandwich and all that. And the price is quite nice, especially with all the deals. 

 

My gripes:

I would have like a front mounted fingerprint scanner, it's what I'm used to, but I can readjust. 

I've heard some stories about the durability. As someone who has used Moto phones (by coincidence) for all the time I've had a phone, I'm used to being able to drop my phone all the time and not worry. Only thing that scratched my Moto Z Play was trying to catch it against a marble counter top (should have let it just fall). But I imagine a case and a screen protector, and a bit of care, should reduce these qualms. 

The storage options are making me the most annoyed. 64 gb and no SD card slot? Admittedly, I am a data hog. My whatsapp backup is like 20 gigabytes. I keep 45 gigabytes of photos and videos locally. I torrent 1080p and store it on my phone. I use a lot of storage, and I could definitely do with less, but 64 gb still sounds very restrictive. 

 

So in conclusion, should I buy it? I'm really worried about storage... Are there any comparable options? 

 

If you are really wantign the pixel 3 a or 3aXL then wait for a month or two. pixel phones ussually have all sorts of issues after the first one or two of release. Currently pixel 3a and 3aXL users are complaining that their phones are going off on their own. The pixel 3 is constantly on discount from time to time and the oneplus 6t is a very good option for a good price.