[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by dmplog

Even with this price cut its still an expensive. Only thing going for it is compact size.
Consider Samsung A52 which has almost identical hardware (albeit bigger and better screen and IP Protection)

Size does matter to me. Can’t carry around these huge phablets. So its either this or iPhone 12 mini

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Size does matter to me. Can’t carry around these huge phablets. So its either this or iPhone 12 mini

Unless you really need top-of-the-line specs (few really do, to be honest), it's a great compact device. Stock Android plus guaranteed multi-year OS support.

The iPhone Mini (I love the form factor!) is significantly more expensive and has arguably worse battery life. If you can forego some bling for VFM, the SE 2nd gen is a pretty competent device too (same chipset and internals as previous-gen iPhone) and will have support for several years. The LCD display is probably the most obvious compromise but Apple calibrate their displays like nobody else.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Pixel 4a gets a price cut, now available for 26999 along with usual discounts(5% unlimited with axis etc).
Attachment 2166956

Is it a good buy at this price (~25.7k with axis discount)?

I don't have the 4a but have been using the 3a for close to 2 years now. My usage - Calls, WA, office emails, browsing, navigation and most important, camera. I have been happy with this purchase.

To me, the USP is the camera and my only grouse has been the response time of the camera. The stock Android has been stable across updates over this 2 years.

Worth it, IMO.

[ToThePoint]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Pixel 4a gets a price cut, now available for 26999 along with usual discounts

Is it a good buy at this price (~25.7k with axis discount)?

If your requirements are primarily Camera, Compact shape and Stock android with guaranteed updates( 3 yrs for pixel line), there is no better alternative.

Yes, it does miss out on certain features and It's expensive when you compare it with the likes of Phablets from OnePlus/Opp/Vivo Samsung.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by ToThePoint

If your requirements are primarily Camera, Compact shape and Stock android with guaranteed updates( 3 yrs for pixel line), there is no better alternative.

Guaranteed update is what I like along with the excellent form factor.

Originally Posted by ashis89

I don't have the 4a but have been using the 3a for close to 2 years now. My usage - Calls, WA, office emails, browsing, navigation and most important, camera. I have been happy with this purchase.

Worth it, IMO.

Do you see any lag in performance after 2 years of usage?

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Unless you really need top-of-the-line specs (few really do, to be honest), it's a great compact device. Stock Android plus guaranteed multi-year OS support.

The iPhone Mini (I love the form factor!) is significantly more expensive and has arguably worse battery life. If you can forego some bling for VFM, the SE 2nd gen is a pretty competent device too (same chipset and internals as previous-gen iPhone) and will have support for several years. The LCD display is probably the most obvious compromise but Apple calibrate their displays like nobody else.

I am currently using an old 6s(probably all time best iPhone model) and the SE would almost feel similar. That was still ok but the LCD screen is something I don’t want in 2021. Infact apple very smartly removed the iPhone X and 11 pro from lineup which actually had LED screens and left only the LCD ones so that anybody looking for LED has to go for 12

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Do you see any lag in performance after 2 years of usage?

No lag in performance except for the camera response time. It isn't as fluid as an iPhone but it wouldn't frustrate you during daily use.

After spending 7 years with iphones, 2 years with pixel and 1 year with Galaxy (back in 2011-12) - I would say that iphones' performance remains consistent over time but its iOS updates can be a hit or a miss (the next patch always fixes the bugs).

Pixel has smoother and better performance than any other Android phone I have experienced. Android updates are also smooth.

As for Samsung, I hope the new generation phones age better. We had very bad experience with 3 samsung phones over the years and have avoided them since then.

[dragonfire]

---Mostly rant---

The 4a discounted price has been tempting me all through the weekend even though it is absolutely not the phone I want.

It is too small for me.
It has a single camera
It has a mediocre chipset
60hz refresh rate

It is a phone that is at least 2 years behind competition at an overpriced 26K (albeit discounted) asking price.

Yet here we are salivating over a mediocre device with an exorbitant price tag for what? THE CLEAN OS. Its the only phone out there with a tolerable Android OS.

Which brings us to the elephant in the room. The one major drawback of all the Android phones out there - The Android OS.

Time they did something about the OS.

We praise Android for being extremely customizable - yet the only tolerable version of Android - in a Pixel - is the least customizable one. There is very little difference between an Android in a Pixel and iOS in an iPhone in terms of customization.

All the regular Android phones out there are processor hungry, RAM hungry, battery hungry behemoths which we buy only for their price.

iOS was built on BSD - a UNIX like OS.
Android was built on Linux - another UNIX like OS.

Wonder what did Apple get right that Google didn't.

[girishv]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

---Mostly rant---

iOS was built on BSD - a UNIX like OS.
Android was built on Linux - another UNIX like OS.

Wonder what did Apple get right that Google didn't.

While apple has tightly controlled hardware in addition to OS, Linux / android needs to cater to multiple hardware. This makes it difficult to optimise for any particular architecture.

Try a Linux system which is built from scratch on any machine and I can assure you that it matches mac in stability, say Linux from scratch or gentoo.

May be that's the same reason why pixel phones are more stable compared to other android phones with similar specifications.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

The 4a discounted price has been tempting me all through the weekend ...

Even I felt some temptation. I dislike the "thinner" screen format, but truth is that the 4a screen is very nearly as wide as my Mi A1, but taller... On a considerably smaller body than my Mi. The Mi A series also has a very clean Android. But they discontinued it

I would just love to have an overall-smaller phone. Plainly, millions of us would, but, for its own reasons, this is a market demand that the industry completely ignores.

Saving for the annual tax bill: a luxury purchase this month would be irresponsible. But it is a good thing this price wasn't matched on Amazon!

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Even I felt some temptation. I dislike the "thinner" screen format, but truth is that the 4a screen is very nearly as wide as my Mi A1, but taller... On a considerably smaller body than my Mi. The Mi A series also has a very clean Android. But they discontinued it

I would just love to have an overall-smaller phone. Plainly, millions of us would, but, for its own reasons, this is a market demand that the industry completely ignores.

Saving for the annual tax bill: a luxury purchase this month would be irresponsible. But it is a good thing this price wasn't matched on Amazon!

The 4A is really a small phone. Has a much narrower screen than the A1. I have a MI A2 with Android one. Yes it is much better than all those stupid skins.

I like small phones, but not practical for me. I now need reading glasses, so small text on small phones does not work well with my eyes. For taking calls, I have a small iPhone. For everything else, big screen helps.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

The 4A is really a small phone. Has a much narrower screen than the A1.

Thanks. I was doing some guestimating based on the overall size compared with how much of the phone it occupies, which is almost all of it. On the basis of Amazon photos. My guesses were obviously wrong.

Why they can't just give length*width screen size, I don't know. The diagonal is more like a rating than dimensions. Same goes for monitor screens.

I have used reading glasses for years. I can browse text on my Mi A1 --- but I am not keen on the screen being narrower, as the the line gets too short.

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Thanks. I was doing some guestimating based on the overall size compared with how much of the phone it occupies, which is almost all of it. On the basis of Amazon photos. My guesses were obviously wrong.

Why they can't just give length*width screen size, I don't know. The diagonal is more like a rating than dimensions. Same goes for monitor screens.

I have used reading glasses for years. I can browse text on my Mi A1 --- but I am not keen on the screen being narrower, as the the line gets too short.

With multiple aspect ratios (20:9, 19.5:9, 18:9, 16:9 etc) its quite hard to guess the size of the display from the diagonal. I rely on the pixel density, and with most phones (in my consideration) are of the 1080p type, it gives a fair idea.

I can read fine on the A2, but not on the iPhone 6S. It would look awkward if I have to increase the text size on the small screen.

Anyway, phone size growth has slowed down lately. Looks like we would be settling down around the 6.4-6.7 inch mark.

[ToThePoint]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

The 4A is really a small phone. Has a much narrower screen than the A1.

4A isn't all that small. The difference is due to the fact that pixel 4A has end to end screen with much smaller bezels than the previous gen phones with huge top n bottom bezels like those in A1 (see the image below)

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Why they can't just give length*width screen size, I don't know. The diagonal is more like a rating than dimensions. Same goes for monitor screens.

Agree.

May I suggest you to head over to gsmarena.com and search the model you looking for to get all the specs including l * w * h and such. You can even add other models side by side to do a comparo.

Here's how 4a stacks up against A1 for eg:
https://m.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?...idPhone2=10123

Hope this helps.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

Anyway, phone size growth has slowed down lately. Looks like we would be settling down around the 6.4-6.7 inch mark.

That's the maximum for my shirt and for my pocket. And they say that phones are designed by men according to what they want. I can understand and sympathise with that. I don't have large hands, but they are not particularly small either.

What do our wives want? My wife wanted a 5 inch phone. Not much chance, eh? There is a huge sector of the market is just being ignored.

/rant... yes, I know. We all know that already.

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by ToThePoint

4A isn't all that small. The difference is due to the fact that pixel 4A has end to end screen with much smaller bezels than the previous gen phones with huge top n bottom bezels like those in A1 (see the image below)

Gsmarena pics are not to scale. To see the actual size difference try this: