Anyone got a Pixel 8a yet?

Google are offering me >£200 to trade in my Pixel 6* (so about double what I could sell it for as it has a cracked screen) and 0% interest credit on the balance if I buy a Pixel 8a.  The phone seems to be getting universally good reviews – has anyone got one yet?

* or £185 for a 2017 Galaxy J3 that’s worth about £30 and has been sitting in a drawer for years!!

I looked at it but then found that a as new refurbished Samsung S23 could be had for the same price (with £100 trade in). New mid range phone are pointless when last years flagship ones can be had for the same price

If you’re in a position to change you’ll almost certainly be better off getting one with a new contract.

New mid range phone are pointless when last years flagship ones can be had for the same price

depends how heavily you use the battery – I go from full to close-to-empty most days, and after 18 months my last samsung (s21) had knackered its battery. I wouldn’t buy one that’s already had a year of hard use at any money

oooh tempting – I’ve got an old Pixel 6 that I can trade too.  Looks like it’s a £54 trade in for the phone and a £150 “bonus” on top.  6 still works fine though and I was planning to use it til it broke or became unusable

My partner got one straight away because of the trade in deal. The price seems like a steal, and the blue colour looks great in the flesh, I’m quite jealous. The size is good, battery and camera are great, everything just works and it doesn’t seem to be missing anything. Seems like an easy recommendation and will probably be good for 5 years.

depends how heavily you use the battery – I go from full to close-to-empty most days, and after 18 months my last samsung (s21) had knackered its battery. I wouldn’t buy one that’s already had a year of hard use at any money

The ‘pristine’ level refurbs are nearly all never used mail order returns so no battery use. My S20 was a ‘good’ level refurb, 3 years on and a now 4 year old phone still does a day of reasonable use. The USB C port has been replaced twice mind.

I’m tempted by the 8a but a bit unsure about battery life. I’m far from being a power user but typically ride with Garmin Connect Livetrack running plus the Bosch Flow app (and sometime Komoot as well)  and take a few photos on the way. I’m guessing the 8a will be OK.

Pixel 8 is about £20 more if you wait for the occasional sale.

How much is that coming out at after trade-in?

I’ve not long bought a pixel 7 so i’m not looking to change for another 4 years hopefully. Maybe I bought it at just the wrong time.

Battery seems really good though, I usually run it in batery saver mode as it doesnt really make any difference to ‘normal’ from what I can tell*, other than limiting background apps usage which is always a good thing. Running in battery saver mode might screw with your GPS a bit if you are using garmin/riding apps etc.

Camera is a lot better than the 4a it replaced, no idea about the camera on the 8x, but I can’t see it being worse.

I’ve got an old Pixel 6 that I can trade too.  Looks like it’s a £54 trade in for the phone and a £150 “bonus” on top.  6 still works fine though

This is me, except I was wanting to see what the Pixel 9 offered and how much it would be. I don’t mind skipping a couple of generations.

My other option is to trade in the missus’s Pixel 4, hand my Pixel 6 to her, and take the 8a for myself 😂

I’ve got one, I got £280 trade in on an iphone 11 which was playing up but still working so only cost me just £220. First Android phone in years.  Seems to be fine, all the Android equivalent apps that i used on my iphone seem to work okay. Apple Music works okay, I have had to download an app called AirMusic so my phone would connect to my airpod.  Google pay when I used it the other day worked fine as well. Where I use to use Apple notes I now use One note which works seamlessly between the Pixel my Macbook Air and ipad pro.

I’ve only had it a couple of weeks so still getting to grips with it, whether I stick with it I don’t know, waiting to see what the new iphone will be like in September time.  I did like that it wasn’t full of bloated software and turned up pretty basic.

If I had a gripe it be the facial id in poor light is poor compared to how Apple’s work in near pitch black.

Pixel 8 is about £20 more if you wait for the occasional sale.

But then I wouldn’t get the mega trade-in deal.  Pixel 6 support ends in October and the 8a will get OS and security updates for 7 years!!

Reviews seem to say that the 8 is a bit pointless now as it has hardly any advantages over the ‘a’.

There’s probably zero chance I’d buy a Samsung mostly to to [probable] bloatware and definitely ridiculous repair potential.

I was wanting to see what the Pixel 9 offered and how much it would be

Rumours it’s going to be about £1k!

Reviews seem to say that the 8 is a bit pointless now as it has hardly any advantages over the ‘a’.

If it’s anything like the 7 to the 7a, the 7 is slightly larger, slightly higher spec, is 50% more expensive and has a worse camera.  I’d honestly have paid more for the 7a over the 7.

When I try to buy one at the Google store and select a trade in, Google/pixel are not in the drop down so I am struggling to see how to trade in my 4a?

edit: ignore me, Google is at the top of the dropdown, but I have to scroll up to see it!

Traded in my 6a and got full £247 trade in price, screen/camera is better and I prefer the curved corners, fingerprint reader is still a bit hit and miss but 7 years of security updates so will keep me going for a bit. Overall pretty pleased with it.

Rumours it’s going to be about £1k!

…and this is the last of the “a”‘s.

…and this is the last of the “a”‘s.

That’s interesting… although it was a strange business model, I always thought, as the “A’s” were always a much better value option unless you really want the flagship model.

That said, I’m really happy with my non-A pixel 7…it felt a bit big at first but now it’s just great. I don’t care about the camera too much but the camera is still really good and a vast improvement over the pixel 4, in low light especially.

I just kind of made a mental rule, I don’t want to change phones more than once every 4 years, and I won’t spend more then £400 on one.

Spending £800+ on a phone just seems utterly crazy to me, it’s not going to do anything for me that a £400 phone can’t.

I just kind of made a mental rule, I don’t want to change phones more than once every 4 years, and I won’t spend more then £400 on one.

My rule these days – and in fact, has been for quite some time now – is that I don’t want to change phones until it’s dead.  4 years seems about right.

Pixel 8 is supposed to have a better camera than the 8a.

You can get it  via voxi (Vodafone brand) for £430 at the moment and also choose Google buds pro or pixel watch as a free gift.

You could probably sell the gift on for about £100, so seems like a good deal. I’m tempted but will wait for the pixel 9 before I upgrade.

Yeah, to be fair, I only ‘upgraded’ from the 4a as the battery was getting really tired and security updates were stopping.

Weird, I bought a 7a a few months back to replace my old 3a (8 years old maybe?) – the 7a was no better in any aspect – battery life was worse, fingerprint sensor was useless. Maybe the facial recognition (which only works in daylight) was an upgrade, but meh. Sold it and back to using the 3a. Think carefully before you trade-in! 😀

I also got pixel buds half price with my 8a, nice headphones as long as you keep still and breathe gently otherwise the occlusion effect is horrible.

Battery life on the 8 is huge. I’ve never had it drop below 50%.  It’ll comfortably do 4 days.

Flipside of that is it’s a chunky beast compared to my old S9.  It’s heavy enough that it annoys me in my pocket, and in wallet-case it’s the size of a purse. The size of it is what will probably convince me to go with google pay and leave cards/cash at home, it’s not practical to carry the Pixel and other stuff 😂

Where’s the offer? My 6a has a cracked screen but is still fully functional. If they’re overlooking that I’ll take them up on it. EDIT: realistically they’ll take one look at it and change the offer to £0.00.

Note: DON’T buy the Google phone case, I did so for my 6a and is the reason the screen is now smashed. As much protection as a chocolate fireguard.

I bought a 7a a few months back… fingerprint sensor was useless.

Odd, mine hasn’t missed a beat, it’s flawless so long as my thumb / the screen is clean and dry.  Try retraining it?

Have you got a screen protector on it?  There’s a setting to change the sensitivity if you have.

The offer is direct from Google, it looks like they’ll give you a trade in of £203 on your cracked 6a.

Pixel 6 support ends in October

Without wishing to deny anyone an excuse for new shiney, it’s no more new versions of Android guaranteed(1) from October this year. There’s two more years of security updates after that.

https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705

(1) Not sure whether this means that there may be updates if there’s enough userbase to justify the work to update them.

“Have you got a screen protector on it? There’s a setting to change the sensitivity if you have” 

Thanks, I didn’t know about that. I recently put a screen protector on my Pixel 6… 🙃

EDIT: realistically they’ll take one look at it and change the offer to £0.00.

They shouldn’t as you just state that the phone has a crack in it but still works (exacly the same as mine)

Try retraining it?

yeah, I did – and set up 4 thumbprints for the same thumb. Have to reapprove on banking apps every bloody time too! Was still shit. I haven’t got it anymore, so no matter.

ps. Mate who works for Google told me they were aware of the issues with it and the 8 uses different recognition technology

I’ve always quite fancied a pixel.
You lot have put me off!

@zippykona – I have a 6 pro and love it, not a single complaint in 2.5 years…

My Pixel 6 is coming up for 3 years old. I haven’t found anything wrong with it.

I got a 6a 2 years ago for £106 with a knackered old se trade in when they had the 6a already reduced direct from Google. Very good phone, at that price unbeatable

If it was smaller it would be perfect

Have to reapprove on banking apps every bloody time too! Was still shit. I haven’t got it anymore, so no matter.

I’ve not had any issue with the fingerprint recognition on my 6, but yeah I think it’s a different version now.

So I can buy a Motorola G7 for £50 off eBay, and use it to get £190 off a pixel 8a. The world’s gone mad!

Anyone know if there is any way of getting trade in for phones that aren’t on  the list? I can’t see anything in the T and C’s.

I used to just buy phones outright but some of the contract deals are great;

I just ordered one from Carphone Warehouse, £29 upfront £24 for 24 months on iD.

So that’s £605 over 2 years not much more than the £499 for the phone, that not only includes unlimited data but a Pixel Watch 2 too which I’d been considering anyway – those are north of £300 alone. Trade in is possible too though I didn’t need that.