Guess I'll just wait for my 8a to spontaneously combust in a couple of years
this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2025
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you joke but my 4a almost did this. the damn charger port melted
How did your 4a perform after it got the battery maintenance update? I remember folks saying the battery life went down to only couple of hours of continuous usage and even charging speeds were finicky.
Edit: I read in another comment by you that you had a 6a as well. That is still under official software support right? Is it even usable after update?
Replying to your edit; I use a custom ROM (CalyxOS) and am unsure if I have received any sort of update battery wise. My battery feels the same so far. I will be taking full advantage of Google's free battery replacement program.
It never got the maintenance update. This happened in 2022, and it made more sense financially for me to purchase a new phone than try getting my entire 4a mobo repaired (which is all google was offering me. a repair I had to pay out of pocket)
That's bad! Was that before or after they announced there were issues?
It was before and I got told that it was out of warranty and there was nothing they could do. I was genuinely so pissed when they announced "uhhh actually guys theres a problem we knew about haha :-)"
My regular Pixel 7 (not 7a) has a swelled battery and I can see the screen starting to separate from the rest of the case.
The phone would be otherwise still fine despite being 2 years old. I'm sure even if it was covered, Google would find some way to not repair it under the program because it is a carrier unlocked model running GrapheneOS.
I would opt for third party repair but the place I used for this exact problem before (replacing swollen battery on a Samsung phone) was a little sketchy and when I got it back, there was evidence they tried to rifle through my device.
Aside from taking this to Rossman himself, I'm wondering if there are any other reputable 3rd party repair options.
I have a 3yrs old samsung, heck even a 2019 redmi smartphone which work and did not get a swollen battery. 2yrs is a very short timeframe for battery being toast. Goes to show the way google cheaps out on battery components.
The phone would be otherwise still fine despite being 2 years old. I'm sure even if it was covered, Google would find some way to not repair it under the program because it is a carrier unlocked model running GrapheneOS.
I had a different, also known hardware issue with my pixel 8 screen. I also use grapheneos. I used the pixel replacement policy that google had (the phone was still under warranty) and I didn't even bother to put the OS back to default, just erased everything on it. They didn't even bother to check for the default software, just that they got a pixel 8 back from me.
When I contacted Google a year ago about my swelling 7a, they simply reimbursed me the full purchase price. I then replaced the battery myself. Great customer service and I now have a perfectly working 7a that only cost me 50 euros. So this program already existed for some time, specifically for the 7a.
Right, so which phone should I buy second hand that has a great camera and doesn't cost the earth?
I had a 4A, currently I have a 6A, and I was going to get a 7A but apparently that's a bad idea too. Fuck's sake.
One that's not an A? I buy all of mine used and they're very reasonably priced.
I've not checked the sizing but I thought the whole point was that the A variants were smaller? My 6A is already much larger than I'd like. I'm not trying to watch movies on these damn things! π
a series are just "budget"models, they're not smaller AFAIK.
You want one even smaller than that?! That size was perfect for me. The 8 which I have now is smaller, and I have more trouble on the keyboard because it's narrower.
You may want to specifically look at phones marketed as being small. Personally I use GSMArena to compare specs: https://m.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=11037&idPhone2=11229
There really are no options for people who want smaller phones. I thought the size of the 4a was perfect, wasn't happy when I had to "upgrade" to the 6a. My upgrade path at this point is the Fairphone line and those are even bigger. Life is hard for those with small hands or elastic-band pants. (seriously my phone is constantly pulling out my ass crack cuz of how big it is in my pocket.)
The 4A was about the upper limit of what I like - switching to the 6A has been a royal pain in the arse!
A small phone I can get a good grip on - bigger phones feel like a balancing act during use.
You want one even smaller than that?!
Yes..?
I want to be able to hold it in one hand and use it properly, like I could with my iPhone 3GS. If I need a bigger device, which I often do, I grab a laptop. If I want a big screen I use my home theatre. If I want handheld gaming I grab my Steam Deck. My point is, I'm not a luddite who feels that smartphones aren't useful - I was an early adopter (Shout outs to Symbian Series 60!) but I'm finding the recent generations of devices to be cumbersome. They're massive in my pocket, I need two hands to use them, they're much easier for me to fumble and drop, and using them strains the tendons in my little finger as I try to stabilise an ungainly lump.
It frustrates me no end that phones just get bigger and bigger. Having the option is great, no complaints there, but could there be something that suits me too?
You may want to specifically look at phones marketed as being small.
The issue I've had there is that their cameras are generally rubbish, unfortunately.
Pixel 7 is around $160-180 used right now, that might be a nicer option than the 7a.
Alternatively do the 7a and get a free new battery from Google if it pans out that way..
A 7A. Just replace the battery.
Don't. It's a horrible overheating piece of crap. I literally cannot shoot more than about 3 minutes of video with the flash turned on (at 1080p, not 4k, and not encoding as hevc either). The phone overheats and turns off the flash.
Keeping the phone in my pocket, out of direct sunlight in my car? I see the "3d buildings have been disabled because your phone needs to cool down" every single day. And I live in Malta; in the summer it's a 20 minute trip, at most.
And even then, the battery life sucks anyway.
Android 16 is buggy af too, though that's not specific to the 7a.
I don't have any issues with our pro8 or 7a π€·ββοΈ
bully for you :)
Could the same not be said for the 6A?