Bought 2026 as the cheapest 100 pound phone available now that I don't have any Authy backup I think in case my phone breaks. That's the only purpose.
First impression: sluggish! Epic.
Bought: November 2023.
March 2026: charger cords is not fixing in very well. I can get it with with a bit of force, but it comes out very easily. I can't see anything blocking the charger port, maybe the pin it got pushed in somehow? Happens on all USB-C cords, though it is slightly better on some than others. What a pain. Later I cleaned it with my Swiss knife's wooden pick and it worked wonderfully, there was actually some pocket lint stuck in there somehow and got it back to normal: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtQGhSNBsnU Awesome? While taking of the cover however for cleaning I noticed there's a crack behind the phone under the camera. Funny how the screen is bulletproof, even stronger than the body.
£112.99
Buying October 2023 as an immediate backup phone after the Google Pixel 3a (2020) touchscreen died, and Motorola Moto G6 Play (2018) wouldn't connect to giffgaff.
June 2026: screen stopped working, unknown cause, was seeing low usage. Android splash, Vertical lines and flashing on power on, then black. Didn't manage to recover.
Still working checks: May 2024.
Bought: January 2020 from store.google.com/ for 350 pounds.
GMS Arena: www.gsmarena.com/google_pixel_3a-9408.php
Front camera video on Android 11: about 100MiB / minute. The encoding is however super inefficient, a FFmpeg re-encode without any options reduces it by 1/3.
For Fastboot mode: Power and Volume down simultaneously for 10-15s. It is OK if screen sleeps. On "no command", power then volume up to see options.
2026-08: same status as 2023-10, managed to get mouse to work, but I forgot the bloody PIN. Doing a factory reset. Gemini instructions worked out perfectly:
- Press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons until you see the Fastboot mode screen (triangle with an exclamation point).
- Use the volume buttons to highlight Recovery Mode and press the Power button to select it.
- If you see an Android robot with "No command," press and hold the Power button, press Volume Up once, then release Power.
- Scroll to Wipe data/factory reset using the volume buttons and press Power.
- Confirm the reset, then select Reboot system now when finished
After factory reset, boot requires motherfucking pin or Google account to unlock the phone. But managed with Google account.
Noticed that the battery on that phone seems also very unreliable, is getting very warm very fast and sometimes shuts down because of it, and discharges very fast. So I have to switch between power and usb cable for mouse/keyboard fast like crazy to keep it going through operations.
2023-10: touchscreen not registering touches anymore. Still displays images. Manage to regain access with wired USB mouse + a simple USB-C adapter. RIP. Will attempt replacement: store.ifixit.co.uk/products/google-pixel-3a-screen-genuine?variant=42388954448071, partly to get Authy access which I had never properly tested... Replaced screen, but at exact same status as before: shows image but no touch. thus I wasted my money and time (minus the learning) something else is broken.
This is crap, became slow very fast. The battery is IMPOSSIBLE to remove!!! youtu.be/kO-RwIQ_i1w?t=162 Battery was 4.163V when thing wouldn't turn on anymore. But topbattery.co.uk/product/original-battery-for-tablet-lenovo-yoga-tab-3-yt3-x50fyt3-x50m-sl20076-2/ says it is 3.6V. What?
Bought for: £159.99.
Type: M374B
www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_g6_play-9002.php Upgradable to Android 9.
2026-08: turns on to black screen: Start Up Failed: Your device didn't start up successfully.
2023-10: unable to connect to Giffgaff. "Network unavailable". Same SIM works in other phones. So annoying. Update APN to match: www.giffgaff.com/help/articles/internet-apn-settings-guide. Went next to a tower and then got signal. So the receiver is much worse than the pixel one. Vibration appears to be broken.
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