At 299 or 399, but at 499?? That’s a hard pass. You can get a used pixel for less and better specs. I get it that people like new, but phone innovation has mostly stalled.
If you’re buying an a series phone, you’re probably not buying it for the features. You’re buying it for the simplicity, long support life, and sturdiness. That phone will last 7+ years.
I’ve had several from the a series and I’ve liked them. I currently have the 9a and I hate it. The corners are very round, and important real estate (e.g. buttons, text fields) are regularly cut off and unreachable. There’s no way to fix this that I’ve found.
Likely the last, likely there’s a rugpull (they can chose to stop providing security updates), but as advertised good for 7 years! gOS is a worthy aspiration, I’m thinking of updating, don’t want anything else until, and if, linux phone happens.
The 10 series is supported. It may take a few months to add support, but I do not see a reason why it wouldn’t get it. If you are buying it for Graphene, I would wait until they announce it is supported before jumping.
It will probably be faster because it is essentially the same device as the 9a the only differences that might affect software are that the screen has a slightly higher brightness and it has slightly higher charging speed. Everything else is the same even the soc
In this case though the 9a is the exact same as the 10a except the 10a has a slightly higher brightness screen and you can get a refurbished excellent 9a for $160 less than a 10a
Aside from the longer support of the newer device, there are a few other reasons why some might prefer the A series over the “flagship” series of Pixels.
For one, they have a plastic back rather than easily crackable glass that, although feels nice and is scratch resistant, isn’t fun when you eventually drop the phone (plus, it also means more fun colours!)
Another thing, Pixel A series phones have smaller camera bumps, with recent ones (9A and now 10A) having none at all, which is pretty nice I think. It does mean lower quality camera hardware and no telephoto. (but some people might not care so much about cameras, e.g. if you bring a small dedicated camera around)
The Pixel A series also have smaller displays, and until recently there wasn’t a smaller version of the Pro. (and that only came with the 9 series) You don’t get a better processor by buying a used “flagship” Pixel over a new A series since you would just get the same or worse chipset.
I’m not saying there are no reasons to get a used Pixel over an A series (less e-waste, better cameras, etc) but there are certainly reasons why people like the A series
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
DROID DOES
Welcome to the Android community on Lemmy. Here you can participate in amazing discussions and events relating to all things Android.
5. Engage respectfully: Harassment, flamebaiting, bad faith engagement, or agenda posting will result in your posts being removed. Excessive violations will result in temporary or permanent ban, depending on severity.
6. Memes are not allowed to be posts, but are allowed in the comments.
7. Posts from clickbait sources are heavily discouraged. Please de-clickbait titles if it needs to be submitted.
8. Submission statements of any length composed of your own thoughts inside the post text field are mandatory for any microblog posts, and are optional but recommended for article/image/video posts.
I think they should drop the a series. The used phone market can fill the gap.
The a series phones have been the best bang for your buck android phones since they have released imo. Plus they support GrapheneOS.
At 299 or 399, but at 499?? That’s a hard pass. You can get a used pixel for less and better specs. I get it that people like new, but phone innovation has mostly stalled.
If you’re buying an a series phone, you’re probably not buying it for the features. You’re buying it for the simplicity, long support life, and sturdiness. That phone will last 7+ years.
I’ve had several from the a series and I’ve liked them. I currently have the 9a and I hate it. The corners are very round, and important real estate (e.g. buttons, text fields) are regularly cut off and unreachable. There’s no way to fix this that I’ve found.
Will this hardware support grapheneOS? Keeping a reasonably modern hardware updated with degoogled OS would be my next device.
Likely the last, likely there’s a rugpull (they can chose to stop providing security updates), but as advertised good for 7 years! gOS is a worthy aspiration, I’m thinking of updating, don’t want anything else until, and if, linux phone happens.
The 10 series is supported. It may take a few months to add support, but I do not see a reason why it wouldn’t get it. If you are buying it for Graphene, I would wait until they announce it is supported before jumping.
It will probably be faster because it is essentially the same device as the 9a the only differences that might affect software are that the screen has a slightly higher brightness and it has slightly higher charging speed. Everything else is the same even the soc
I’ve been using the A series since pixel 2. I want something new and cheap. I don’t trust used battery life
You can get a new battery for an older phone installed. I’m just saying this is getting like the car market where buying used is the value leader.
I love a budget phone. At this point the lower end specs are good enough for me. I want all makers to have a low spec budget phone
In this case though the 9a is the exact same as the 10a except the 10a has a slightly higher brightness screen and you can get a refurbished excellent 9a for $160 less than a 10a
I’m not going to buy one because I have a Pixel 9a but it’s good they are making one
Aside from the longer support of the newer device, there are a few other reasons why some might prefer the A series over the “flagship” series of Pixels.
For one, they have a plastic back rather than easily crackable glass that, although feels nice and is scratch resistant, isn’t fun when you eventually drop the phone (plus, it also means more fun colours!)
Another thing, Pixel A series phones have smaller camera bumps, with recent ones (9A and now 10A) having none at all, which is pretty nice I think. It does mean lower quality camera hardware and no telephoto. (but some people might not care so much about cameras, e.g. if you bring a small dedicated camera around)
The Pixel A series also have smaller displays, and until recently there wasn’t a smaller version of the Pro. (and that only came with the 9 series) You don’t get a better processor by buying a used “flagship” Pixel over a new A series since you would just get the same or worse chipset.
I’m not saying there are no reasons to get a used Pixel over an A series (less e-waste, better cameras, etc) but there are certainly reasons why people like the A series
This is true. Spending more for newer A series vs used “higher” end older models is up the how the phone is used daily.
The A Series is like the Nissan Sentra of phones in my opinion.