These updates are fire!
I have owned 3 pixels.
5a - bricked randomly 8 - screen failed within 6 months 6a - stuck in a bootloop, gave up on fixing it just before the battery issue made headlines
I gave them a fair shake. Never again.
I just want a comeback of phones with swappable batteries.
fairphone does that.
600 euro, not so helpful. Thanks though.
I can relate to the feeling, but considering that their hardware and software support can get the phone going for twice as long (for me) as other mainstream ones, I feel tempted.
Typing this on an samsung xcover 6 pro right now. Costs less than 200 used, has a removable battery, up to 1tb micro SD card support, and a headphone jack.
Seems like it has a 778G SoC too which would be pretty solid for emulation as well. That’s an interesting option!
Look, Google, I know you’re trying to compete with Samsung but this is a little too hot.
Note 7 lurking in the distance
Put my IMEI into the link and it says I’m not eligible. Does this mean I’m in the clear? Should I still do something about my battery? I’d really rather not get another phone right now…
I put my IMEI in and it said I was eligible. But then it gets stuck in an infinite loop of support links with no option out (at least when I selected to get a replacement battery). Edit: I got free of the loop, but the nearest place to take my phone into to get the battery replaced is 100 miles away!
I think I’m just going to get a new phone and move on. Not a Pixel though. Fuck this noise. My wife had a Pixel 5a and the motherboard fried itself after a couple of years. Google sent her a Pixel 6a replacement about 2 months later (long after we’d found her a non-Pixel replacement). So I upgraded to that replacement for in a 4a. But now this battery/fire bullshit? I’m done with their shitty products and their shitty support!
Maybe they should do a recall.
Just a reminder if you have a 6a you can get ~100$ or battery replacement. Its a bit of a hassle but not to hard to fill our claim. I for my 100$ ordered a 7 and installed Graphene OS.
I submitted for $100 dollars, but haven’t gotten any instructions on what to do. I read you’re supposed to register for some payment system, but the Google instructions don’t tell me how and what to do after.
After checking you qualify it should have a link telling you to create an account ( payoneer, I’m in the US not sure about others). Filling out the forum for payoneer was a pain need bank info. I had to use chrome as Firefox would not load their forums properly. Also takes about a day for payoneer to confirm my account then if you filled our googles stuff payoneer just kinda knew and dropped the money in my account.
In Australia, one option is a cash refund for more than what I paid for the phone when new.
I just got rid of my Pixel 6a because it had one of the bad batteries. Tip to anyone taking advantage of the trade in rebate, DO NOT get the $150 Google Store credit and be like me thinking you can use it on the Google Fi Store to purchase a new Pixel. The $150 store credit is only towards the purchase of a Pixel phone via the Google Store. Take the $100 cash rebate option instead because it tells you once you choose either option, you cannot change it.
My hope was to get the Pixel 9a on my account for $249 (activation discount) on my account and then use the $150 store credit… nope.
My coworker has been fighting Google for months to get their cash rebate. So you’re fucked regardless which option you take.
Good to know, thanks. Now I’m not as annoyed as I was, lol.
Meanwhile they’re getting full cash back in Australia from a recall, mine didn’t even qualify for the battery rebate so I’m sitting here in uncertainty with a degraded battery. Never again.
Have you tried not purchasing a Google phone? I heard this works extremely well.
It’s all well and good being oh so principled like you’re making yourself out to be, but phones are expensive, and the above user is being completely rational for wanting to settle on a Pixel 9a for $250, especially when the other OEMs have plenty of their own problems.
Get off your moral high horse.
Dude. I just bought a used 6A last week.
I think, but 100% on this, that not all 6a’s were affected.
Patch it to the latest update. If you get a notification about your battery then it’s probably fucked.
Google is a horrible company. Stop buying their phones and using their services.
What other hardware supports open source like Graphene?
Check out /e/ and iode. If you’re looking for a phone with at least 5 years of support the only options are Pixel or Fairphone. Fairphone costs about 2x as much as Pixel for a phone with worst specs.
supported device list in front of your face when you go to the calyx site
I’m enjoying Graphene quite a bit and I really like the cameras on the Pixels. Also I’m restricted because only certain phones are compatible with my Dexcom glucose monitor and Omnipod insulin pump. I really wish I had more options, lots of other great phones out there.
Yo, from one type 1 to another, get yourself some xdrip to replace the dexcom app, its miles ahead and more configurable.
https://github.com/NightscoutFoundation/xDrip
And depending on which omnipod you got, and how technical you are, check out AndroidAPS if you want an open source closed-loop solution.
https://androidaps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
If you got the omnipod dash you can use it directly with AndroidAPS via Bluetooth.
I use both of these with dexcom G6 and an accu-chek Bluetooth insulin pump, and its amazing vs the commercial solutions.
Sometimes in the darkness of the internet where all our worst sides come out and I get trampled by the evil of governments, corporations, and people in general…a small beam of light shines through illuminating the beauty of this world.
Today, your comment is that beam of light. You didn’t mean it to be, but sometimes little things have bigger impacts. Thank you. Have a great day.
Um. WHAT?! I’ll definitely check those out. I’m actually pretty frustrated with the Dexcom app and I kinda lied before, the Omnipod 5 app is compatible with the Pixel 6 pro but not if its running Graphene so I’ve been carrying around the Omnipod receiver. Thanks for the info!
I can confirm the xdrip app works on grapheneOS, currently use it on a pixel 8a
Uh, big oof, that’s my phone model.
I was going to opt for a battery replacement, but I called the local store that does the replacement, and they told me that it’s common for the screen to break during the battery swap process. And if they break the screen, I would be on the hook for the cost to replace it, around $160. I don’t know how that is even legal in the first place, but it certainly turned me off from wanting to let them change my battery. And mailing the phone in for a battery swap would leave me without a phone for weeks…
At least they were upfront about that issue.
I too don’t understand why you would be responsible for THEM breaking the screen.
Imagine your mechanic breaks a part while changing your oil then says you’re responsible for the cost of it.
You’ve got a better mechanic than me I guess. If you bring in an old shitty car for repairs you can expect more than one thing is in bad shape.
Even if you mail it to Google, they will make you pay for the screen before they will do the swap. That’s what happened with my 4a. I had them ship it back instead and took the cash.
What do you mean? Did your phone already have damage to the screen, or they were making you preemptively pay in case the screen broke?
I mailed in my 4a which had a fully intact screen, they claimed it was damaged and would have to replace it to do the battery. I think they were just telling that to everyone because they knew they’d probably break it.
My battery sucks after this update. Once I get down to 30% it free falls.
I switched my 6a to GrapheneOS a few weeks ago and the battery lasts like twice as long, its unreal.
And no licensed repair places near me have batteries in stock
Why would they make it worse
Because they would gaslight half the 6a owners into upgrading their phone this way
Oh well they were forced to acknowledge a problem that needed a fix and what they did was they asked Gemini how do we fix this which Gemini had zero problems at all, not even an inconvenience, in giving them it’s fix so that’s what they went with without a single further thought employed in the matter
They really liked it when the response started with it’s super easy
Well that’s just great.
Here’s the website to see if your PIxel6a is an “impacted device”. Mine isn’t, not sure why… zero transparency on this.
https://support.google.com/pixelphone?p=pixel6a_battery_help
Thanks for the link. I put my phone’s info in and it told me I’m eligible. But the color of the phone was completely wrong.
I’m done with Pixels. The first one was amazing. But the quality has been going gradually downhill for both the main series and the A series phones.
