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
Because yours doesn’t have one of the batteries from the batch that catches fire.
They’re going after GrapheneOS users!
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.
Didn’t HMD make a couple of those too? Obv not the same country of origin but from what I’ve seen they’re considerably cheaper
Didn’t HMD make a couple of those too?
Yes, the HMD Skyline has an easily removable backplate and battery.
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.
Does it run lineage, because that is the only way I’ll touch Samsung’s abysmal OS ever again
It does not, but I don’t sign into any Samsung/Google things and replace every system app with one from F-Droid including the launcher. The experience is fairly similar to my old pixel with grapheneos like this. I am sure it is far cry from as secure, but I am realistic about my threat model and am willing to make trades to be more sustainable and convenient. The only other difference is the system ui skin, which does its job just fine IMO
Google is a horrible company. Stop buying their phones and using their services.
What other hardware supports open source like Graphene?
I want a fairphone 4 with either e/OS or Ubuntu touch. It’s still a little out of my price range though.
I would love to run grapheneOS on my phone, but I’m not willing to pay Google to not use Android.
Ok this is gonna blow your mind, you can buy used or refurbished Pixels
You can also buy used or refurbished Fairphones too
I suppose, but Fairphones are a security and thus a privacy nightmare. As soon as you cross a border or police get your phone, e/OS and CalyxOS are virtually useless
And then you indirectly pay google as you fund the people who buy google phones every time a new one comes out.
Yes it is the best way to buy a google phone, but you are still supporting google in most cases.
Arguably, 2nd hand private sellers would have bought it anyway and you are just saving e-waste at that point
Eh, the 2nd hand sellers also wouldn’t be buying if they couldn’t sell them.
I would think that private buyers buy a phone they are gonna use and then sell it once they don’t use it anymore 🧠
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.
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
Why would they make it worse
Due to the risk of battery fires, Google said that devices with more than 400 charge cycles could see their capacity and charging speed drastically reduced.
Apparently they design phones that’ll last just over a year before self-igniting.
More then 400 charge cycles? So like… All of them
Does 400 charge cycles really amount to just over a year of use for most people? I’m assuming one cycle means a full power cycle, not just a top up.
For reference (and I understand it’s a bit apples to oranges) I’ve had my iPhone 15 since Dec 2023 and charge it every night and it’s currently showing 125 charge cycles.
Becsuse that’s what Google does now. They make things worse. They got bored of making things good.
To force you to change your battery (which is free), otherwise you will blame Google when it explodes after you ignored the warnings.
More accurately, to attempt to avoid a battery fire for people who can’t or won’t replace the defective batteries.
I was thinking about going with a pixel for my next device so that I could use graphene because I’ve used pixels in the past and they were fine but with all these battery issues I’m having serious second thoughts.
They are doing free battery replacements. So at least they’re doing the right thing.
The battery of my Pixel 6 started to bloat and leak last week. I contacted support. After a bit of back and forth where they asked me to provide proof of purchase and pictures of the phone, they sent me a brand new Pixel 6 and told me to just recycle the old one.
I reported the issue on Tuesday, received the new phone on Friday. That’s not bad support for a 4 year old device that’s long out of warranty. I fully expected them to tell me to go F my self.
My battery sucks after this update. Once I get down to 30% it free falls.
I got an extra 30% battery life after switching to GrapheneOS. I’m guessing whatever is saving my battery, would also bring down the load on the system.
I did notice my phone heats up much less after switching to GrapheneOS.
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.
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 a Pixel 9a for $250.
Maybe they should do a recall.
A battery exchange program is not quite the same thing as an actual product recall.
Uh, big oof, that’s my phone model.
You might want to check if they’ve recalled it, I believe I saw an article today that said Google was recalling the pixel 6a because of this.
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 $160. I don’t know how that is even legal in the first place, but it certainly turned me off from wanting to let them change my battery. And mailing the phone in for a battery swap would leave me without a phone for weeks…
At least they were upfront about that issue.
I have owned 3 pixels.
5a - bricked randomly 8 - screen failed within 6 months 6a - stuck in a bootloop, gave up on fixing it just before the battery issue made headlines
I gave them a fair shake. Never again.
I had the 3a for three years, passed it on to my son who used it three more years. Bought a 6 after the 3a, used it for three years and passed it on to my son. I am typing this on my 9a. Never had any issues on any of those phones. Either I have been very lucky or you got two rotten apples.
Just a reminder if you have a 6a you can get ~100$ 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 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.
people still uses the 6A? it was hasty replacement for the defective 5A. thats why i went with OP, because every pixel after it sucked, because all they could see as improvement is the tensor chip.
