Looking for alternative to Pixel 4a

[Voigt]

This Tuesday I bought a Pixel 4a (partly because of the good review of LTT) for 315€ (Germany) and after using it for roughly a week I am quite disappointed, so I am thinking about returning it next week and either going back to my old Xiaomi Mi4c (xiaomi.eu custom rom) or buying another smartphone instead.

So I am turning the the LTT hive mind if they have any advice.

 

Things I don't care about:

Camera or space (my mi4c has 32GB and this is plenty for me)

 

Things I care about:

Physical dimensions of the phone, would say 70mm width is a good size, both mi4c and pixel 4a had 140mm height, but the Pixel with a much bigger display size with a 19.5 : 9 display ratio. Overall I would prefer an standard 16:9 display, if this means the smartphone is smaller.

I would like a headphone jack

The one drawback and the main reason I bought a new Smartphone was, that my Mi4c doesn't have NFC, and I really would like it to interact with my various chip cards in Germany to authenticate myself (ID card, bank card, health card), so NFC support is pretty much a must.

A multicolour notification LED would be nice to have again.

 

What I liked about the Pixel 4a compared to the Mi4c:

Better battery life (I mean my Mi4c is 5 years old, bought it for the Pokemon Go hype) and it supports NFC.

 

Things that are somewhat better, but not that it makes a huge difference to me:

The OLED Display has better contrast than the old IPS, but I only notice in a direct comparison.

The Pixel is faster mostly in loading app and websites, again I only notice if I have a direct comparison with both smartphones in hand

 

Things that I dislike about the Pixel 4a:

Lots of software stuff, that I could fix with a custom rom (navigation buttons are "the wrong way around" without me being able to change it, no longpress definable on the navigation buttons, the pulldown menu misses several entries, I need to pull it down twice to change brightness, to many bloat GAPPS)

Volume rocker and and power button are "wrong way around"

on higher than 25% volume the phone vibrates in hand

the camera bump is annoying

although only 10g heavier, it feels heavier in the hand and doesn't snug into my hand as nicely as my Mi4c

The fingerprint sensor is fast when it works, but in most cases it needs 2 tries to register my finger correctly (minor complaint sincemy old phone just never had any lock instead)

the edge of the smartphone has rounded glass but without beeing touchsensitve quite far into the display, so I often miss pressing the @ button (longpress on Q on the keyboard)

I can't pull down the topbar on the left side of the phone since the hole punch camera blocks the top-left corner, making that area not touch sensitive, and below is to low to pull down the topbar.

 

Most of the stuff I dislike is nitpicky yeah, but the pros are also quite minor in return, and the thing is my old Mi4c is 5 years old and did cost 70€. Now I payed 315€ for a much newer phone, so I expected a bigger upgrade than what I got.

315€ is quite a bit of money, and I don't wanna throw it away for such minor gains.

 

So I am asking if you have any good alternatives in the 100~300€ price range, no problem if it needs a custom rom to be good in the software department, so Chinese or Indian phone recommendations are welcome. Personally I haven't found anything sadly, but maybe there is something I haven't found.

[Voigt]

yeah I realize that the industry doesn't follow my specific desires especially at a whole, but I thought maybe there is some niche product I didn't read about before.

For example I know that 16:9 smartphone displays are incredible rare would be cool if they still existed, would love a 70mm wide smartphone but then with just 130 mm height/length instead, but hey what can yo do.

The camera bump I would say is overall a negligible problem, just a nitpick like I said which sours the upgrade after 5 years. One of the many downgrades for me personally I have to live with, which would be fine if there were tangible upgrades for my personally in return.

 

In any case I will look at those Samsung phones, thanks for those tips. Overall as with custom roms I have also no problem buying used, if there are some older models that fit.

 

But to clarify, direclty on googles website the Pixel 4a costs 350€, and often there are promos in other shops for around 300~320€, got mine for 315€ from Saturn online shop (biggest electronic chain in Europe). Dunno why German Amazon is so overpriced, didn't even look there before. ^^