I think they realized in time that rheyr planned obsolescence was gone to be too fucking obvious and chose to give out free money instead.
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2025
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Damn. Never knew batteries catch on fire when angry.
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.
plan to buy a pixel just to put Graphene on. Which one do you have and any problems?
I've got a 7 and works great
I have no recommendations for versions. Depends in your case.
Although I'll mention that some people don't like that Pixel by default doesn't include the bottom menu on the screen, and uses other swiping features on the screen to do the same thing.
However in your system settings you can change the UI to gave the navigation menu at the bottom of the screen similar to Samsung.
Strong recommend for learning the swipe motions. It takes a few min to learn but it’s free real-estate after that. And it’s faster. At least for me.
I'm happy that you're happy, but over here I miss the 4 button navigation bar that was standard in ye olde android.
I've been runnnng GrapheneOS with charge capped at 80%. Phone has not emulated thermite.
I haven't found any discussion about the battery issues at GrapheneOS yet.
I have kinda bad battery issues on graphene and have been having it even on my old pixel 5 (currently on pixel 8a).
Could it be because I use google play services? Maybe I'll get a huge decrease in battery consumption if I cut this off. But I do need it for maps and stuff
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These updates are fire!
I have one of these phones. Google has reached out and I applied for the $$ to get a tradein, but google has yet to give me the $$ or contact me further. Its been a while too. Honestly, I got the 6a because it was going to be supported for a long time compared to other phones. This rubs me the wrong way.
Considering it is a Google phone their long term support is still crap compared to things like Fairphone or even iPhone.
But it sucks that this happens and I hope they contact you for a trade in. Rules are also changing so all phones need to have a minimum lifespan of 5 years or so
Considering it is a Google phone their long term support is still crap compared to things like Fairphone or even iPhone.
At least it beats Samsung, I'm not buying any product from them ever again
I have had terrible luck with Samsung phones as well
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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.
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I just want a comeback of phones with swappable batteries.
As far as I know, this will be the case in the EU in 2027.
That's for "easily replaceable" batteries, not necessarily swappable, as in pop off the cover and insert new battery.
The new Fairphone 6, for example, requires a screw driver to open up the phone, and that would meet the legal requirements of the EU law.
For the purposes of disposing of a janky battery before it goes off bang and replacing it with a fresh one, that is probably quite sufficient.
I don't think even power users these days are going to be strutting around hot swapping batteries from the little holster of them they've got on their belts like us turbo-nerds were doing in the PDA era. It would be rad to be able to do so, sure, but I think that will wind up just being a side effect models of the next wave of user-replaceable battery phones on some models.
Yeah, even though batteries have gotten smaller, and I'd prefer a larger one, mine still trivially lasts a day. I've got an inductive charger at my desk too, so it's rarely drops below like 80% even. They easily last long enough that carrying extras to hot swap is not required and just a hassle. I guess if you're going camping or something, it might be nice, but that's about the only situation I could see being useful.
I miss my Galaxy S5. I could change the battery while jumping on a trampoline if I wanted to.
I still have two of them in a desk drawer. Both still boot, although the batteries are definitely toast. I have no idea if you can find a new-old-stock battery for one of these that is not likewise also knackered. But fun fact, an S5 will power on and run indefinitely with no battery in it at all if it's connected to a sufficiently powerful USB power source.
Why pine for the past when you can have one again right now!
What? No takers for a phone that's stuck on Android Marshmallow?
I put LineageOS on a S4 and I use it as a desk clock. All it needed was an app that shows the time.
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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.
Reminds me of the pettiness during the aftermath of the class action because of the Nexus 6P battery problems. Google/Fi suddenly lost all records of my support tickets, my having purchased the phone at all, the warranty replacement they'd done, etc.
Fortunately, I keep meticulous records and still had a phone that powered down at 60% battery, so recorded a video of it as evidence and got my payout. Severely tainted my impression of Google/Fi though. Neither the faulty hardware nor the shady practices are surprising at this point.
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Google is a horrible company. Stop buying their phones and using their services.
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Look, Google, I know you're trying to compete with Samsung but this is a little too hot.
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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...
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