Google Pixel 4a

[Pirahna]

My new phone turned up today, the Google Pixel 4a, so I thought I write a short piece about it. As a long time Android user I like what people call "pure Android". It's got none of the bells and whistles other makers add to the OS, it's just like Google intended. It gets glowing reviews and it's £319 in the Black Friday sales. There's loads of reviews, all of them glowing. This phone has everything going for it.

It's smaller than my previous phone, a Nokia 8, but has a larger usable screen. The top of the Nokia is a dead space taken up by the camera, the bottom has the back, home and other button I don't know the name of, the one that switches between apps. Not so the Pixel 4a. The phone is all usable screen, you go back, change between apps etc on how you swipe across it. All very clever. It was a bit weird to use at first but I soon got used to it.

On the home screen there's a feature called "at a glance". In it's basic form it tells you the time, date and weather. You can add functionality but unfortunately you can't fucking remove it. Why did none of the reviews tell me this? I've read and watched lots of them. At the bottom of the screen is a Google search box, you can't get rid of this piece of shit either. The reason I buy Android phones is so I can customise it, not have immovable crap on the screen. The wifi seems to connect as and when it feels like it, the reading I've done this evening seems to suggest it's not an isolated problem.

I'll give the phone a few days to see if I can set it up to something that I like, otherwise it can go back.

[Beancounter]

I’m looking for a new phone and was considering a Pixel 4A given the price. Am guessing it’s not growing on you?

[Rockburner]

Can you try a different launcher app? That would allow you to change what's on the home screen.

[Pirahna]

I’m looking for a new phone and was considering a Pixel 4A given the price. Am guessing it’s not growing on you?

I've taken Rockburners advice and installed a new launcher, the one I'm using is called Nova. Using it means I can get rid of the Google stuff on the home screen and configure the phone more to my liking. The connectivity issues seem to have sorted themselves.

Is it growing on me? I'm not sure.

[Rockburner]

I’m looking for a new phone and was considering a Pixel 4A given the price. Am guessing it’s not growing on you?

I've taken Rockburners advice and installed a new launcher, the one I'm using is called Nova. Using it means I can get rid of the Google stuff on the home screen and configure the phone more to my liking. The connectivity issues seem to have sorted themselves.

Is it growing on me? I'm not sure.

I've tried a few - my preference (and has been for a while) is 'Holo Launcher'. Some of them are full of all sorts of widgets and abilities, but Holo is relatively simple and I can just setup the 'desktop' the way I want it to be. YMMV but it's worth trying a few of them to see what you prefer. It's one of the good things about the android system (bit like linux), that you can tweak the way you interact with the underlying processes.