While the 3A is a solid functioning phone, it can be virtually impossible to service. The problem revolves around the poor design and cost of the OLED screen used on the phone. To service the phone, you must remove the display which is primarily three components, glass/digitizer/OLED, and is held into the frame with a fair amount of adhesive. Even using proper heating equipment, it's extremely easy to damage the OLED during the removal process. The largest problem here being the replacement display price. They're often $70-$110, and you can easily purchase a fully functional used 3A (at the time of writing) for the same price! If you must service a 3A, use the following suggestion. Before you start, apply 3 glass screen protectors, one on top of the other, to the ... MoreWhile the 3A is a solid functioning phone, it can be virtually impossible to service. The problem revolves around the poor design and cost of the OLED screen used on the phone. To service the phone, you must remove the display which is primarily three components, glass/digitizer/OLED, and is held into the frame with a fair amount of adhesive. Even using proper heating equipment, it's extremely easy to damage the OLED during the removal process. The largest problem here being the replacement display price. They're often $70-$110, and you can easily purchase a fully functional used 3A (at the time of writing) for the same price! If you must service a 3A, use the following suggestion. Before you start, apply 3 glass screen protectors, one on top of the other, to the current display. Especially if the screen is cracked but still functions. It doesn't even have to be for a 3a, just as long as it fully fits. Doing so reduces the amount of "flex" experienced with the poor factory design. It also reduces additional fragmentation if you're attempting to only replace the outer glass. This also helps with heat longevity, whether you're using a hot tray, heat pad, or hot air pen. Regardless, Google could easily followed Apple with this design and used lighter adhesive, hinged upper andtwo screws on the lower.

In the 10+ years of being exclusively an Android user, every Android phone I've ever owned has been plagued with issues. Data loss was a frequent occurrence. Data migration always missed files when moving to a new device. Support was always a painful experience.My experience with my most recent Google device, the Pixel 3a, was no different than any other Android phone I've ever owned: Spectacularly frustrating.So after 10+ years of being an Android user, I'm done.The Pixel 3a is the last Android phone I'll ever own.I bought an iPhone 13 as a replacement, and it's spectacularly good. I'm very happy to have made the switch.

If you're not gaming on your phone or looking for Sony a7 quality photos, this is the phone to get.It's very snappy and can handle many apps open at the same time with not a bit of lag (granted I've only had this for a few weeks).The camera is really nice and comes with the same Pixel software as fancier, much pricier Pixels which means you have fun features like portrait mode that adds a pretty smooth fake bokeh to your shots. Also records 4k video and has video stabilization which is key with a phone camera. I have not tested it's low light abilities.The phone has a headphone jack (that's a huge plus for me).Stock apps are basically all basic Google apps which means no bloatware. The Pixel GUI and icons are pretty intuitive and smooth, and you can easily ... MoreIf you're not gaming on your phone or looking for Sony a7 quality photos, this is the phone to get.It's very snappy and can handle many apps open at the same time with not a bit of lag (granted I've only had this for a few weeks).The camera is really nice and comes with the same Pixel software as fancier, much pricier Pixels which means you have fun features like portrait mode that adds a pretty smooth fake bokeh to your shots. Also records 4k video and has video stabilization which is key with a phone camera. I have not tested it's low light abilities.The phone has a headphone jack (that's a huge plus for me).Stock apps are basically all basic Google apps which means no bloatware. The Pixel GUI and icons are pretty intuitive and smooth, and you can easily customize this anyway. You also get 3 years of Android OS support/updates which is awesome if you keep your phone as long as possible like I do.The construction is polycarbonate, which is much easier to grip than previous (albeit stronger) phones I've had with glass finished exteriors that make it slippery in exchange for added impact resistance. However, the polycarbonate does not chip like glass finished phones, and it doesn't look cheap or feel cheap at all. The black does get fingerprinted quite easily so I'd suggest a phone case.The one downside is this phone has no waterproofing rating, but I haven't used it in the rain yet so I cannot comment on that.The OLED screen is absolutely stunning and this alone is enough to switch from a $200 budget phone (basically all have LCD) to this. OLED saves battery, it looks amazing with dark mode, and it's much crisper than LCD. The ultra HD resolution (2200x1400 or something close) means everything on this phone's screen is unbelievably crisp looking, especially for this price point.Battery life is good. Whole day without charge with moderate to heavy usage. This is pretty consistent with previous phones I've had so I can't judge how good it is tbh.One other downside is the lack of SD card expansion. At only 64GB it's easy to fill this phone up with music, video, etc. I stream music but usually download playlists to save data so this is more of a me problem, but if you use up storage quickly, consider buying more cloud storage solutions.Lastly, this phone's size is everything I've wanted in a phone. It looks and feels modern and slick, but it has a very small, thin, and slim form factor that fits into pockets with ease.Overall, highly recommended.