Pixel 5a leak shows a headphone jack, flat screen, and a familiar design
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The headphone jack on the Pixel a-series keeps getting more and more valuable as time goes by.
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If it's 128 GB storage and 5G for under $400 I'll definitely consider it.
I was looking at the 4a but 5G low-band is useful for t-mobile customers, for the coverage not the speed.
I was looking at the 4a but 5G low-band is useful for t-mobile customers, for the coverage not the speed.
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It looks more or less like the Pixel 4a 5G, down to the screen size. I assume it will essentially be that, with some slightly upgraded internals but probably the same RAM (6GB) and storage (128GB) as the 4a 5G. Which also means no water resistance and no wireless charging to help keep costs down.
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Until we have the hand terminals from The Expanse or chest-mounted holo projectors on our RIG suits like in Dead Space, it seems like the general "magic black rectangle" form has been pretty ironed out. No complaints from me and if this is >= $400 USD and still has the direct-from-Google Android updates, which it obviously does, once my OnePlus 6T dies or otherwise stops receiving updates, I know what line of phones I'll be looking at.
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And still no reason to update from the average 4 or 5 year old midrange smartphone.
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funny enough ive barely used mine on the 3a XL since i bought it back in dec of 2019. I think im gonna be ok if the next phone i buy doesnt have one. Mind you Ill be happy if it does, but it wont be the selling point it was when i bought the 3a XL.
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I'm sad to see it getting bigger. I've got a Pixel 4a and wish that it was smaller.
What is called "small" now used to be "average" a few years ago.
What is called "small" now used to be "average" a few years ago.
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Unless your battery issues are causing you headaches, this phone certainly has nothing new to offer (at least likely not that it didn't have before in previous models, even if the specs aren't out on the latest one).
That said, it's a good move. What made the chain restaurants so popular? Familiarity. You could be anywhere in the world, walk into a McDonald's and get a burger that tasted exactly like the ones back home (no remarks for how awful that taste is these days, it was the concept, not the eventuality, that made them popular).
The same kind of thing can apply here. MOST people stick to their phones for years and years - until they wear out. They're overwhelmed by the choices, and variations in quality and function. They want something familiar. This does it.
So even if it has nothing new to offer, there's a really good marketing campaign that can be built around it which will appeal to people who were perfectly happy with their older ones. Just tweak the processor for more speed, the ram and storage for more data and the cameras for clearer pictures, put it all in the same case and people would be trilled to have "familiar" that's nominally better than what they had before.
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My housemate's had a 4a since launch and I've been using a 4a 5G since November, neither have had any issues thus far. I dunno if it would be worth upgrading from a 3a XL, but it seems like the issues have been fixed since last month, at least according to a quick google search.
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A couple of years ago, I would have agreed. then I got the Pixel 3 with no jack. Now I keep cheaper wireless buds charged everywhere I use them, have a nice bluetooth noise cancelling set of cans for longer term use. I also grabbed a couple of $10 headphone USB adapters with pass-through charging. I have updated phones since, but I never even use the USB adapters. My fiance does on her Pixel 4 sometimes.
To be honest, other than getting used to charging, I have had no problems going without the headphone jack. My go to earbuds are skullcandy jib, and I keep two pairs at work and two pairs in my bedroom. One set is always on charge, so I can swap quickly if needed.
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get off my wireless lawn.
I think the world (maybe except for us Ars front page commenters) has moved on.
Whoever called the presence of the headphone jack an anachronism is probably right.
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I disagree. The headphone jack appeals to those who don't want to babysit yet another electronic charging system. The sound quality is better, too, and more reliable overall at a much lower price point through a jack than via Bluetooth.
I think the world (maybe except for us Ars front page commenters) has moved on.
Whoever called the presence of the headphone jack an anachronism is probably right.
You pay more for NOT having a jack than you do with one, which for price-conscious people is a big thing. If smartphones lasted for a decade or more and could have their software upgraded and updated in a reliable manner, then it might make more sense to ditch the plug. But the phones that these show up on tend to be made to last for only a couple of years before something glitches that necessitates a new phone. The level of complexity involved in a bluetooth connection is higher, too, meaning more things can go wrong with it, leaving you without any way to listen except through the speaker (which the others in your waiting room, shopping line, commuter train will hate you for!).
There's still a need for the headphone jack. I won't buy a phone without one. And I'm not alone in that resolution.
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In my eyes the only weak area for the Pixel line is battery life. Put a 5000 mAh battery in it and it's my next phone. Battery life has stopped me buying a Pixel since the 3a after watching my brother's Pixel run out of battery everyday with only mild use. The camera was amazing, everything else was good, but needing to be tethered to a power point to last a single day is a no go for me.
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I might get this or its successor when my Nokia 7.2 dies. I replaced the screen and battery, which was glued no pull tabs. It was hard to find those parts in stock in the US and while Google has had some concerning QA issues parts for Pixel phones are aplenty last time I checked. Hopefully it stays that way.
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Google really needs to start providing more than 3 years of updates. 3 years doesn't seem so bad until you realize that's from when the device was first released. So if you buy it 6 months after the initial release then you only get 2.5 years of updates.
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Except the Pixel 2 just got the EOL notification. It's not even 4 years old yet.
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"Slightly upgraded internals" would be weird, since then it would be slightly upgraded over the P5 as well. (The internals of the P5 and 4a-5G are exactly the same.) Maybe the difference will be that it'll use the newer SnapDragon 750G instead of the 765G; that's essentially the exact same chip, except the CPU/GPU run a tick (as in, not noticeable except through direct benchmarks) slower, but at a lower power-usage, and also a little bit cheaper.
Comparison: https://nanoreview.net/en/soc-compare/q ... ragon-750g
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What's your brother running to kill the battery in less than a day? My 4a lasts a day with moderate to heavy usage. GSMArena rates the 4a as having 74 hours of endurance, which is on the lower side of current phones but not abnormally so.
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I never quite understand the trend of removing 3.5 mm headphone port. it is not like removing that port increases battery capacity or provide better water resistance, or have to pay a license fee. why remove it for the sake of removing it?
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I wonder if it's still use the same camera sensor, the one that's causing RMAs?
A camera sensor update is one of the main things that would tempt me to upgrade my Pixel 3. It's been a great phone, but the photos aren't quite as good as the ones I'm seeing from other flagships.
A camera sensor update is one of the main things that would tempt me to upgrade my Pixel 3. It's been a great phone, but the photos aren't quite as good as the ones I'm seeing from other flagships.
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You’re not alone, you just vastly over estimate how many of you there are. The answer is almost 0 if not approaching it at breakneck speed. Everyone not on tech forums just buy the latest iPhone/Samsung/Huawei whatever device with zero consideration for headphone jacks. As a clear as day example: all the people on Twitter voting for keeping headphone jacks on OnePlus phones and then OnePlus ignoring them anyways and not having their sales affected.I disagree. The headphone jack appeals to those who don't want to babysit yet another electronic charging system. The sound quality is better, too, and more reliable overall at a much lower price point through a jack than via Bluetooth.
I think the world (maybe except for us Ars front page commenters) has moved on.
Whoever called the presence of the headphone jack an anachronism is probably right.
You pay more for NOT having a jack than you do with one, which for price-conscious people is a big thing. If smartphones lasted for a decade or more and could have their software upgraded and updated in a reliable manner, then it might make more sense to ditch the plug. But the phones that these show up on tend to be made to last for only a couple of years before something glitches that necessitates a new phone. The level of complexity involved in a bluetooth connection is higher, too, meaning more things can go wrong with it, leaving you without any way to listen except through the speaker (which the others in your waiting room, shopping line, commuter train will hate you for!).
There's still a need for the headphone jack. I won't buy a phone without one. And I'm not alone in that resolution.
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It's part of along march toward their ultimate goal of a slab without any external buttons, levers or ports.
(I don't necessarily believe this, but it's what I've heard Apple critics say.)
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It takes up internal space next to the battery that could instead house a bigger battery. I'm not a Bluetooth apologist, I am on the 3.5mm or bust train too, but there is a trade-off.
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Sure. But you are a member of a shrinking minority.
The dam has sprung leaks even here, on the front page of Ars Technica.
(edit: does the downvote mean I'm wrong? Or that you're grumpy because I'm right? My money would be on the latter.
It means that plenty of people disagree with you. I don't use the jack on my current phone often, but I do use it occasionally and I don't want to lose a feature I occasionally use. As others have said, it isn't as if losing the jack means major boosts elsewhere to a phone, it simply means that a potential feature is missing.
I'm in the market for a new phone myself, and the two main requirements is that is must have a headphone jack and an SD card slot. I use both of them at the moment and I don't want a new phone with less functionality than my old one. Unfortunately, I expect this 5a to still come without the SD card slot - which is a pity when it is so easily added as part of the SIM tray.
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My 4a-5G has fantastic battery life. Even after a normal day (for me) of mixed use - web browsing, heavy (Pokemon Go, rhythm-based) and light (crosswords, word matching, etc) gaming, and general screen on-time (shopping and to-do lists, recipes), I can generally go until at least midway through the following day before having to plug it back in. (And even then, we're talking it's a little over 10% battery left.)
With light use, I've even managed to not have to plug it in until I go to bed on that second day.
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That would have been you. Seriously, did you forget to switch to the sock puppet account when you wrote that?Whoever called the presence of the headphone jack an anachronism is probably right.
As someone who doesn't want to spend a boatload of money on phones, I certainly don't want to spend a boatload of money on accessories. The $50 earbud Bluetooth headphone I have sound good, but don't have enough battery life. The $50 over-the-ear Bluetooth headphones I bought had great battery life, but the power switch failed after a couple of months. The $10 wired earbuds perform well enough for me. If they fail, so what? They only cost $10.
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I'm curious why the headphone jack seems to be important to lot of people? Not criticizing your choice at all, just genuinely curious.
I personally do not miss it at all, I find bluetooth far more convenient for all my use cases. My headphones, home music system and my cars all connect to bluetooth and work flawlessly for the most part. And I don't miss having to deal with this mess:
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i spent 20 on a pair of wireless buds that last all day.That would have been you. Seriously, did you forget to switch to the sock puppet account when you wrote that?Whoever called the presence of the headphone jack an anachronism is probably right.
As someone who doesn't want to spend a boatload of money on phones, I certainly don't want to spend a boatload of money on accessories. The $50 earbud Bluetooth headphone I have sound good, but don't have enough battery life. The $50 over-the-ear Bluetooth headphones I bought had great battery life, but the power switch failed after a couple of months. The $10 wired earbuds perform well enough for me. If they fail, so what? They only cost $10.
EDIT: missed a word
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For me I find I can depend on my heaphones to always work on all my devices without having to switch pairing around, and never have to worry about a battery not being charged.
I'm curious why the headphone jack seems to be important to lot of people? Not criticizing your choice at all, just genuinely curious.
I personally do not miss it at all, I find bluetooth far more convenient for all my use cases. My headphones, home music system and my cars all connect to bluetooth and work flawlessly for the most part. And I don't miss having to deal with this mess:
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