Who went from a pixel 2 to a 4a?

[cbreze]

My pixel 2 does not get anymore updates and is starting to show battery wear and so may need to start thinking about a new pixel. The 5 does not entice me at all and to much cash for what it is so thinking of a 4a. A big concern is speaker quality as I listen them more than most users probably. So if actual users who have experience with both devices chime in on speaker quality between the two. Better, Same, not as good or worse. Plus any other comparisons between the two worth mentioning would be great. Also any comments on call quality and signal strength would be appreciated. My pixel 2 has been a fantastic phone, hate to let it go but want to replace it with something as equal as possible.
Thanks.

 

[gebco]

I have a 2XL and will be setting up both a 5 and a 4a 5G next week. I'll post my comparisons.

My pixel 2 does not get anymore updates and is starting to show battery wear and so may need to start thinking about a new pixel. The 5 does not entice me at all and to much cash for what it is so thinking of a 4a. A big concern is speaker quality as I listen them more than most users probably. So if actual users who have experience with both devices chime in on speaker quality between the two. Better, Same, not as good or worse. Plus any other comparisons between the two worth mentioning would be great. Also any comments on call quality and signal strength would be appreciated. My pixel 2 has been a fantastic phone, hate to let it go but want to replace it with something as equal as possible.
Thanks.

 

[cbreze]

I have a 2XL and will be setting up both a 5 and a 4a 5G next week. I'll post my comparisons.

Nice, you keeping both or returning one after checking them both out? The 4a 5G makes little sense for me as I will not have 5G in my area for quite sometime.

 

[gebco]

One will be for me and one for my wife. She prefers the smaller form factor but she is hard of hearing, so if the 5 speakers aren't good enough she'll take the 4a 5G and I'll take the 5. Originally we weren't going to get the 5 and I was going to keep my 2 XL a little longer but the Black Friday price was too hard to pass up.

Nice, you keeping both or returning one after checking them both out? The 4a 5G makes little sense for me as I will not have 5G in my area for quite sometime.

 

[cbreze]

One will be for me and one for my wife. She prefers the smaller form factor but she is hard of hearing, so if the 5 speakers aren't good enough she'll take the 4a 5G and I'll take the 5. Originally we weren't going to get the 5 and I was going to keep my 2 XL a little longer but the Black Friday price was too hard to pass up.

Gotcha, I noticed Google store was offering $50 off for Black Friday of the pixel 5. I haven't seen any better deals except maybe carriers but you need to have unlimited or start a new line . Would be interested to hear how you like the pixel 5 with that under display speaker. For me while the sound quality would be poorer no doubt the bigger issue would be adequately hearing calls when using the under display earpiece. It seems people are mixed on that as some say it's not an issue and some say it is and they return them. I guess the only real way to figure it out for one's self is to try it and see, return if need be. Having that much bigger battery would be sweet though

 

[mthornto88]

I had the pixel 5 and returned it. The design is bad for top speaker. Everyone sounded like they were in a tunnel and people said I was muffled. I couldn’t take it anymore coming from a Pixel 2 XL. I just got my 4a 5g this morning. I will post back with results after testing. I don’t know how google could mess it up. It needs to be a phone first.

 

[cbreze]

Phone first absolutely! My main concern is call quality rather than speaker quality although those speakers sound really disappointing. I will be interested to hear your thoughts on your new phone. My pixel 2 is still hanging in there but needing a booster charge during the day now. Going to hate to give this phone up, it has served me well.

 

[mustang7757]

One will be for me and one for my wife. She prefers the smaller form factor but she is hard of hearing, so if the 5 speakers aren't good enough she'll take the 4a 5G and I'll take the 5. Originally we weren't going to get the 5 and I was going to keep my 2 XL a little longer but the Black Friday price was too hard to pass up.

I'm not disappointed at all with sound quality from pixel 5 .

 

[cbreze]

I'm not disappointed at all with sound quality from pixel 5 .

That’s encouraging to hear. I’ve listened to numerous speaker tests comparing the 5 to other pixels and haven’t heard a good one yet that equals my pixel 2. A lot of returns being mentioned due to the lesser sound quality as well. When they plug the bottom speaker with a thumb the tinnier sound is quite apparent from the under display speaker. When played together it is much less noticeable. I don’t care for Bluetooth calls so the earpiece sound needs to be top quality as I make a fair amount of calls using the earpiece speaker. Unfortunately a good number of the returns are mentioning this issue.
I’m looking at a 4a as it seems to tick off a lot of boxes for me. Those speakers sound pretty decent and little bezel issue. Not sure why google went for the under display speaker in the 5 when the 4a has a decent ear piece with practically no bezel. Sometimes I think google and their phones are an experiment and we are the beta testers.
I’d much prefer to just keep my pixel 2, get a new battery and if I could import the software from the 5 and continue getting monthly updates I’d be fine. Dream on cbreze,

 

[mustang7757]

That’s encouraging to hear. I’ve listened to numerous speaker tests comparing the 5 to other pixels and haven’t heard a good one yet that equals my pixel 2. A lot of returns being mentioned due to the lesser sound quality as well. When they plug the bottom speaker with a thumb the tinnier sound is quite apparent from the under display speaker. When played together it is much less noticeable. I don’t care for Bluetooth calls so the earpiece sound needs to be top quality as I make a fair amount of calls using the earpiece speaker. Unfortunately a good number of the returns are mentioning this issue.
I’m looking at a 4a as it seems to tick off a lot of boxes for me. Those speakers sound pretty decent and little bezel issue. Not sure why google went for the under display speaker in the 5 when the 4a has a decent ear piece with practically no bezel. Sometimes I think google and their phones are an experiment and we are the beta testers.
I’d much prefer to just keep my pixel 2, get a new battery and if I could import the software from the 5 and continue getting monthly updates I’d be fine. Dream on cbreze,

The pixel 5 is notch down in speaker volume from my pixel 4xl which I still have, but thats not in a bad way , I use it everyday for in calls and watch YouTube on speaker and no issues. For me best speaker watching YouTube on pixel would be 4xl., it's loud . But again no issues on pix 5 , I was going into it thinking I'm going be disappointed and that didn't happen.

 

[cbreze]

Yeah, sometimes going into something with low expectations can turn out to be a pleasant surprise. I wish I could go to a local store and check it out but the pandemic is raging all around my area, not worth it. What’s googles return policy? Do they have a restock fee? I only returned one phone back to them many years ago and it was quite a seamless experience,

 

[Antonio Aguirre]

I had also the Pixel 2XL and now the Pixel 4a. DO NOT MAKE THE CHANGE!! The reception on the 4a is a disaster. If I try videoconferencing, the phone heats up to the extent that it starts shutting down the video, the sound, etc. And many other problems.

 

[anon(50597)]

I had also the Pixel 2XL and now the Pixel 4a. DO NOT MAKE THE CHANGE!! The reception on the 4a is a disaster. If I try videoconferencing, the phone heats up to the extent that it starts shutting down the video, the sound, etc. And many other problems.

That's a variable that's dependent on the area and coverage you have. For instance, i don't have that issue where I live.

 

[cbreze]

Yeah reception definitely depends on location and proximity to towers. However, I had heard more than a few times about the video camera shutting down after overheating so video conferencing shutting down kind of doesn't surprise me. I don't take that many videos that would be very long at all so maybe not an issue for me but video conferencing I do kind of a lot of that these days. Very good point, thank you Antonio for your post.