Is Pixel 6a a good phone?

[tomseys]

My mom doesn't like using an iPhone but puts up with it because it is an all-carrier phone with an eSIM. She never stopped complaining about it, so now that Tracfone is selling the Pixel 6a, I am thinking of getting it for her using rewards points.

I don't know anything about Pixel phones. Is it a good phone? My mom likes Android phones and I'm thinking there's nothing more Android than a Pixel, but how good is the 6a? (I'll be using rewards points that I had kept aside for buying air time so I want to be sure it's a phone worth getting.)

Thank you very much!

(BTW, thank you tomseys, for posting in the Deals thread that the Pixel is available! I would never have known about it otherwise.)

No problem.

I think it's a pretty good phone the little I've used it. I don't use it much cause I mainly use my smaller iPhone SE3 now.

It's a quick phone. It has a faster processor than the Samsung A51 and A53 and it shows. It doesn't have any face unlock or facial recognition like the Face ID on the XR to unlock the phone, just an inscreen finger print sensor. The sensor works pretty well for an in screen sensor. Not as good as touch ID on iPhone but a little better (faster, consistent) I think than the inscreen sensor on the Samsung A51 and A53. Those two phones have facial recognition though in addtion to the inscreen fingerprint sensor so if you use both sometimes the face beats the finger print in unlocking speed so that can be convenient.

The camera on the Pixel 6a is very sharp. It's a little on the cool side (blue) for my taste but if it were warmer like sammy/iphone it would be my favorite camera phone since it has really good detail. The screen is ok..maybe a little dull and not as vibrant as samsung screens but it seems alright the times I've used it. The screen is not very bright outdoors in the sun unless you turn on adaptive brightness then it gets up there in the nits.

Strangely, like the other poster mentioned, you are forced to keep the google search bar on the bottom of the home screen (kinda apple-ish). The only way to change this is to use a different launcher. I just leave it as it is. It has little things that I don't like... small time on the home screen, you can't change the order of the bottom navigation buttons etc - in that sense, at times it seems a little less flexible than Samsung Android phones. It does update pretty frequently and will be supported for a while which is good.

[whacker]

Regarding the Google Search Bar:

You mean you can't drag it to another Home Screen window?

How about disabling the Google app itself? I always do that on Motorolas. I've no use for it and Google Assistant.

[tomseys]

Regarding the Google Search Bar:

You mean you can't drag it to another Home Screen window?

How about disabling the Google app itself? I always do that on Motorolas. I've no use for it and Google Assistant.

It doesn't seem to be dragable at all.

I have all the google assistant and hey google stuff already disabled.

If I disable the google app itself, the search bar remains.


Looks like this:





Another thing is you can not double tap screen to make phone sleep like you can with Samsung. Maybe with a different launcher (nova etc) you can.

[whacker]

Well then, that makes the Pixel a bit unique among Androids for that characteristic! Thanks for demoing that.

[sillyette]

Well then, that makes the Pixel a bit unique among Androids for that characteristic! Thanks for demoing that.

I agree. The non-removable Google bar is really strange!
tomseys, I found this link for the Pixel 7, maybe it will help get rid of it on your 6a too? I've copied the relevant portion below:

While on your home screen, press and hold at any empty space
From the list of available options, select Settings
These are your launcher settings. From here, look for the option, “Show Google Search bar” or a something similar in the list
Uncheck it, and this should finally help you disable the search bar

[tomseys]

I agree. The non-removable Google bar is really strange!
tomseys, I found this link for the Pixel 7, maybe it will help get rid of it on your 6a too? I've copied the relevant portion below:

While on your home screen, press and hold at any empty space
From the list of available options, select Settings
These are your launcher settings. From here, look for the option, “Show Google Search bar” or a something similar in the list
Uncheck it, and this should finally help you disable the search bar

Hi Sillyette.

Thanks for the link. If I do that a menu offers a "home settings" option which takes you to this screen:





There are no launcher settings there.


There are a couple of reddit threads here and I think the only easy solution found was to use a third party non-Pixel launcher. I don't know if doing so could affect some pixel functionality.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel...n_home_screen/

https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel...ar_on_pixel_7/

[Boz1]

As far as I've seen, there's no way to get rid of the search bar on a Pixel without using a different launcher.

[MRothaus]

Who woulda thunk they bury the model number in "Regulatory labels"!!!

Anyhow, mine is GX7AS. I have yet to get any significant 5G speeds during my random ookla speed tests around town (suburbs of philly). I find that I have more consistent service and fewer dead spots though (probably because this phone has the most bands of any I've ever owned).

[husavik]

There are a couple of reddit threads here and I think the only easy solution found was to use a third party non-Pixel launcher. I don't know if doing so could affect some pixel functionality.

I have used third party launchers on every phone I have and it does not affect any functionality at all.

I now use "Lawnchair" which is a FOSS (open source) launcher that can be downloaded from FDroid.



As for the 6a in general, I find the signal reception to be suspect on it. We are all on the same service (Cricket for our main lines) and those in the family on Samsungs (a52, a32) will sometimes get service when my 6a is dead.

[MRothaus]

I have used third party launchers on every phone I have and it does not affect any functionality at all.

I now use "Lawnchair" which is a FOSS (open source) launcher that can be downloaded from FDroid.

Interesting that when I went to download Lawnchair, it said "only for older android OS".

I'll eventually download and try out nova launcher, but no rush, as I've configured my home screen so it is usable to me even with the stupid google search bar at the bottom.

[tomseys]

I've read that there can be issues with animations and gesture navigation with some of the launchers:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel...nova_launcher/


According to this from a couple of months ago, Lawnchair A13 support is indefinitely postponed:

https://twitter.com/lawnchairapp/sta...98591042306048


But it seems people are still able to use it somehow.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LawnchairLa...th_android_13/


I initially tried a microsoft launcher and it looked good but it had various issues so I just decided to keep the Pixel launcher which is at least smooth and quick.

[husavik]

Interesting that when I went to download Lawnchair, it said "only for older android OS".

I'll eventually download and try out nova launcher, but no rush, as I've configured my home screen so it is usable to me even with the stupid google search bar at the bottom.

There are different forks of Lawnchair (as with many FOSS apps), I will amend my previous statement about the Fdroid download, the one on there is an older fork.

This is the one I use from the Izzy repo:
https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/app.lawnchair

It was updated several months ago and works on newer Android versions.

[sillyette]

I was reading the posts above about "Lawnchair" and thinking, what an intriguing name!, and then it struck me - Aah, launcher - laun-cher - lawn-chair!! Very cool!

[David Walcott]

I got a 6a and a 6. I was going to give the 6a to my Dad for the holidays. I gave him one of my Motorola G7 powers he really liked it. I had a G power 2021 64GB that I gave him for Father's day. I ended up keeping the 6a as a backup for my 6. I do not have any insurance on my Pixels because I bought them on Amazon. I like how light the 6a is compared to the 6. The size of the 6a is the sweet spot. I usually swap them out while the other one is charging. I do not play games on my phones. If I do I would use a tablet. I do notice the phonea gets hot sometimes just in my pocket with the camera accidentally turned on.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using HoFo mobile app

[pitflyer]

For anyone who got the 6a from TracFone, can you confirm if it is the standard Google image/unlocked bootloader like iPhones, or a locked bootloader with TracFone bloat like the other Androids? And if anyone has gotten to the point of unlock, do you have to enter codes (aka other Androids) or it auto unlocks like iPhones?

I am thinking about cashing out some points for a 'spare' Pixel that I can root and put custom ROMs on, but that is not something possible on other TracFone Androids so imagine I may be best off just churning more iPhones for sale and buy my play phones with the proceeds.