Google Pixel 7a 128GB 8GB 5G 90Hz & Pixel Buds A Series Headphones £449 / Or With Buds Pro Headphones £528 Delivered @ Google Store

I just switched to the vanilla 7 (which from what I've been reading might be worth looking for a deal on) from an iPhone 13 Mini and after a week my thoughts are:

* I much prefer the app drawer. A swipe up is a lot faster and slicker than swiping across to the library thing on the iPhone and then down, and it's easier to browse

* Camera IMO is marginally worse - exposure always seems low (dark) coming from an iPhone and certain areas like the shadows between a wall and a ceiling I've noticed have more jpeg compression artifacts despite the fact the images are like 3MB compared to the iPhone's 700KB or so. Night sight tends to be marginally more blurry, darker (but more realistic) and with cooler tones than my eyes and my iPhone saw. It's not BAD by any means, it's the best Android camera I've had (even if that says something about Android cameras especially at this price point) but side by side comparisons with my iPhone left me conceding that the iPhone was slightly better. Nice thing though is the shots are almost always usable. I've had phones from OnePlus et al where the reviews on youtube gushed about how great the camera was but in the real world they've lagged or produced motion blur if not held perfectly steady etc.

* Battery life is poor, but better than the iPhone 13 Mini (not difficult). But probably a letdown after an iPhone Pro.

* You lose the screen feature where the colour temperature adjusts to match your environment - that's probably patented by Apple. At first it seems archaic seeing a cooler phone display in warm lighting but you soon forget about it.

* I was sceptical about the facial recognition security as it doesn't have all the fancy 3D scanning of the iPhone (and I've fooled OnePlus phones with pictures of myself) but AI seems to make up for it, including making sure your eyes are open. Doesn't work in the dark though and you're relegated to the fingerprint sensor which at least with a screen protector is hit and miss.

* I love that I can install ReVanced and e.g. watch Linus Tech Tips without all his overly excessive sponsorship stuff. You can have a patched Youtube on iOS and other sideloaded apps too but have to refresh it every week due to the App Store dev license thing.

* Performance feels on par to me i.e. it never lags and feels buttery smooth. I've not done any scientific comparisons or feel the need to though. Google devices have come a long way since the Nexus 5X which I yeeted out of a window the 50th time the camera app lagged for almost a minute and caused me to miss capturing a fleeting moment.

* Speakers just as good

* I love the "Now playing" feature that auto-shazams all the time based on an internal database with little to no battery usage or data usage. Means I can satisfy my curiosity by casually glancing at it (when it detects) instead of actively running a Shazam and getting an "ooooh do you liiiike that song you should have just asked, it's soandso, why do you like that anyway you should listen to blahblahblahetcetcetc" from my friends. I just want to know what's playing without any fuss. I might not even necessarily like it!

* The ability to have Google Assistant screen unknown calls is neat. I've heard people tend to assume it's voicemail and hang up though.

* I use 1password and find Android's password filling, which was behind iOS a few years ago, seems better integrated than iOS nowadays.

* You can copy text from any app even if it's not selectable text, by using the app switcher which has a "Select text" function, I find this very useful. You can do this in iOS by taking a screenshot and selecting the text from that, but it's an extra step and more camera roll clutter.

* The third party app Island, which uses the Work Profile, is super useful for any ahem "private research" you might want to keep separate from everything else. You also have full fat multi-user support as an alternative.

* Android Auto! (My car doesn't support CarPlay)

* I miss iOS's ability to move the text cursor all 4 directions by pressing and holding the spacebar. You can only go forward and backward on Android.

* App Notifications tend to be more spammy on Android, you have a LOT of controls for reducing them though but it takes a lot of time and refinement.

* There seems to be more flexibility on Android in areas like notification sounds

* Android doesn't suffer from Ancient App Syndrome where some older apps designed for like the iPhone 5 render in a blown up screen format

* Duolingo has finally caught up but tends to lag behind any changes/improvements they make on the iOS version like new course structures.

* Naturally, you open your legs to Google in terms of tracking / data collection. Personally this doesn't bother me much, I like all the AI smarts it gives me in exchange. Despite the grumbling of privacy campaigners they do actually have very good privacy controls if you can be bothered to spend the time on the privacy dashboard instead of posting tinfoil hattery on Reddit, and the EU stops them doing too much, so it's not all bad.

* Having just USB-C for everything is nice.

* iOS comes with iMovie and you can have nice image editors like Pixelmator for not too much. Android image and video editors, from all I've seen so far, tend to be ugly and just not very good.

It's honestly swings and roudabouts in many ways but I do prefer the freedom and flexibility of Android, always have. I tended to switch back to iOS to have a predictably decent camera and fast updates again, but both of those issues are resolved by going Pixel. The one remaining difference is dealing with Google - expect things to change constantly and things to get randomly abandoned and shut down as they have corporate ADHD. Either Fit or Fitbit will die at some point for example. Change is generally good but can be a pain when you're used to something. (edited)

No point just posting the code mate, some scally will use it and not even say thanks/let others know.

Always best to offer via DM in my experience.

I'm intrigued but having got a Fold3 for £500 last year, I really don't see the added value here... Pixel 7a looks interesting, if a bit expensive but at least it's got a 90Hz display this time round.

18w Wireless is nice at this price though

I very much doubt it buddy

Yes I can confirm that and my £50 refund was processed today.

Yeah, makes no sense.

Pixel 7a in the US - $499
Pixel 7a in the UK - £449

Pixel tablet in the US - $499
Pixel tablet in the UK - £599

They're having a laugh with that pricing.

Because the 7a is better.

What deal is this? Thanks

Switchy lurks on the net full time so he can bring us great mobile deals

If you keep changing colour it seems to change to £449 too (only found that out after ordering non-Coral colour!)

No. Just keep changing the buds and the phone colours until it updates to 449. No idea what triggers it but eventually it will sort itself to 449

For reference I bought a pixel 7 on a 50gb idmobile contract for 20.99 a month, with £175 enhanced trade in (which was a pain in the proverbial to get but I got there in the end) and 150 Quidco cashback.

So would I think you'll get your 20 quid a month sooner rather than later, just sit and wait a couple of months

Is that in usa? There is no such promotion here.

You should join the beta program, using android 14 beta 2 just now, pretty decent, slightly buggy but it's a beta version so it'll improve, and the latest beta is the most stable I've tried thus far

Source?

No, the only advantage of this one is that it will get more Android updates and security patches going forward

Oh my. Fold 4 at 599 looking sweet right now

I'd say the Pixel 7 let alone the 7a is a downgrade from a S22.

Possible side grade, but I'd take the G2 over the original Tensor any day

Remove headphones and use 10% code to get it down to £404.

Pretty good that, considering you can buy the 8 for under £100 now

7 is still better.

Yep. The lack of a 256 GB option means I cannot consider the Pixel 7a to replace my Galaxy S10e. The 128 GB I have now is always full because most applications simply don't let you use the SD card slot, or perform poorly when doing so. The Pixel 7 is too large and heavy for my liking so looks like I'll be waiting another generation at least.

Pixel 3 was my perfect-sized phone until it died on me a month back. Now searching for a similar sized replacement, and the perfect phones I could find were Galaxy S23 and Zenfone 9, but unfortunately they're both still way too expensive.

I do, and it applies, so the 7a is £369 for me

I thought that looks like a phone from 7 years a go!