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I've been stuck in the limbo that is WM for what feels like way too long. I was comfortable with it; I knew it. But recently I started a love affair with Android on my TP2 thanks to HaRET and my unending curiosity. So I put an listing up on craigslist asking if anyone had an Android device they wanted to sell at a reasonable price. Within minutes, I had an e-mail from someone almost a hundred miles away saying he had a Droid he would sell for $200.. Seems like a good deal as most of the Droids on e-bay are still >$300. Unfortunately, he wants to do this deal the day after tomorrow, and has committed to driving most of the way to my city to do it.
So I come to this wonderful community that I have lurked in for quite a while in the hopes that you can give me the heads up. What do I need to know, and what do I need to look for?
Naturally, the first thing I am going to do is call the big V and confirm that the ESN is clean. But what about the phone itself? Is there anything I need to look out for? Any known issues? I read something about the back of the screen getting scratched from the sliding mechanism in another thread. Is that just the plastic that gets scratched up, or can the LCD itself get damaged?
I have also read a lot about this "locked bootloader." I think I understand this as not being able to install custom roms, but still allowing you to root. I was under the impression that rooting your device basically took care of that, so now I understand that I was wrong, and will further research what rooting is on my own. But I also see that some people have custom roms available here on XDA and that others are running Froyo on their Droids. Its all very confusing, and under normal circumstances, I would take a few days to read, research, and teach myself. But at the moment, I feel a little under the gun, as this deal won't last forever.
Anything you guys or gals can tell me would probably be more helpful than you think. I feel like I'm trying to make the switch from XP to Ubuntu.. (heh) Any and all posts will be read. Thanks.
The Droid doesn't have a locked bootloader and can be rooted easily. I bought one just like you're thinking of, I don't even have VZW service.
I put Froyo on it and I like it even though I haven't rooted yet.
Kaostick said:
I've been stuck in the limbo that is WM for what feels like way too long. I was comfortable with it; I knew it. But recently I started a love affair with Android on my TP2 thanks to HaRET and my unending curiosity. So I put an listing up on craigslist asking if anyone had an Android device they wanted to sell at a reasonable price. Within minutes, I had an e-mail from someone almost a hundred miles away saying he had a Droid he would sell for $200.. Seems like a good deal as most of the Droids on e-bay are still >$300. Unfortunately, he wants to do this deal the day after tomorrow, and has committed to driving most of the way to my city to do it.
So I come to this wonderful community that I have lurked in for quite a while in the hopes that you can give me the heads up. What do I need to know, and what do I need to look for?
Naturally, the first thing I am going to do is call the big V and confirm that the ESN is clean. But what about the phone itself? Is there anything I need to look out for? Any known issues? I read something about the back of the screen getting scratched from the sliding mechanism in another thread. Is that just the plastic that gets scratched up, or can the LCD itself get damaged?
I have also read a lot about this "locked bootloader." I think I understand this as not being able to install custom roms, but still allowing you to root. I was under the impression that rooting your device basically took care of that, so now I understand that I was wrong, and will further research what rooting is on my own. But I also see that some people have custom roms available here on XDA and that others are running Froyo on their Droids. Its all very confusing, and under normal circumstances, I would take a few days to read, research, and teach myself. But at the moment, I feel a little under the gun, as this deal won't last forever.
Anything you guys or gals can tell me would probably be more helpful than you think. I feel like I'm trying to make the switch from XP to Ubuntu.. (heh) Any and all posts will be read. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The back of the screen has a little layer of plastic to keep from scratching some of the plastic. It tears pretty easily, but it doesnt matter as it will not actually damage the LCDs/LEDs, just scratch the plastic back up a little bit.
The Droid does not have a Locked BootLoader, only the Milestone does. Some people do know how to get around this though.
Rooting a Droid is actually quite simple. All you need (if you are a n00b, like me and you) is to download the DroidRootKit from the web which does the most complicated work for you, while allowing you to do some of the simpler stuff.
When you Root, you are brought back to Android 2.0.1 and you cannot download apps, so you might want to download ROM Manager (Premium or Regular) and back it up for downloading Eclair and Froyo ROMs later.
If you do not want to do that, then you should download a ROM (ie, UltimateDroid) place it on your SD card after Rooting, and install that through SPRecovery or ClockWorkMod Recovery.
People who are running Froyo are either rooted and downloaded a custom ROM, or forced the update through the download at the Verizon site.
The first thing you do when you meet that guy is ask if it is Rooted or ever has been.
Then you ask him if it has ever had water damage or any problems with the LCD screen.
If he says yes to the first question, good.
If he says yes to the second or third question (water damages and/or LCD problems) then DO NOT BUY IT.
(results may vary)
Thought I'd share my story with you all in hopes that some of you may have had similar problems I've had with the Droid 3, perhaps in an effort to give me hope that one day I'll receive one that isn't shot to hell in some way shape or form.
1.) Brand-new, upgraded from the Droid 2 around the first week of August. This one lasted about a month before the slider just gave out and became so loose that it would open up by itself if I held the phone horizontally. No case was used on it prior, so I'm not sure what caused this. Never dropped it either (I baby the hell out of my phones).
2.) Replacement came in, no big deal. Attempted to slide it open right out of the box. Guess what? Wouldn't budge. Literally jammed shut. Sent it back the same day.
3.) Boot-looping from hell and 3G drop all the time in places where I should have full reception (i.e., my house). 5.6.890 was not released at this time.
4.) - 7.) Every single one had a completely jacked up sliding mechanism that would either squeek, crack, scratch, jam, or completely tear apart the left plastic portion next to the keyboard within just 5-10 slides. Unacceptable. 1 or 2 of these (lost count) also loved to boot-loop for no apparent reason. Mind you, I tried every trick in the book. Tried never installing ANY apps, tried replacing the extended battery with the stock one, tried replacing the SD-card with a different one, and hard-resetted several times. To no avail.
8.) Replacement #8. 5.6.890 is released, no more boot-looping it seems, but this one has a vibrating mechanism from hell. Whenever it would vibrate, it would sound like electricity. Haptic feedback on it felt like voltage. Unacceptable.
9.) Just received replacement #9 today. This <MAY> be a stupid thing to complain about, but wherever I press on the phone, the damn thing squeeks like it's falling apart. Press the home button ever so slightly...*squeek.* Press the back button...*rattle*. Wipe the phone down with a cloth...*rattle rattle crackle crackle squeek squeek squeeeeeeeeek*. No matter how little pressure I use, it squeeks as if its falling apart. The sliding mechanism, however, feels solid and amazing on this one. Clicks and holds tight, but OH MY GOD IS SQUEEKS AND RATTLES SO MUCH. Never had/heard this problem on the other 8 replacements.
Someone shoot me =/
Also, none of these problems arose post-root nor did I root any of the ones I owned. I have rooted my brothers and I'm currently using his to text out new ROMs and such....but it's freaking annoying. I want my own to play with and flash.
Does anyone else have weird problems? I may be a little OCD when it comes to stuff like this, but I sure as hell didn't pay 230 dollars for a boot-looping/voltage vibrating/3g dropping/SQUEEKING phone.
...does anyone else's "squeek" or "rattle" when the press down on the bottom-right or top-right corners of the phone when it's closed?
I have 2 DROID 3 have not had any issues with them. Have had them for 12 weeks now still solid
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
Also on 9th Droid 3
number 10 is in the mail ...Some thing happen with these phones before we got them that all i can say i keep having screen issues with every one it like a screen on speed wiggling pixels and gives me a headache i finally got the perfect droid 3 then my phone started boot looping .... so they are sending me another one i hope this one has the perfect screen and docent boot loop ... i also go the one were it was lose like some one drop it and had a light coming threw the screen when it was off ...... weried luck ....luckly a new phone is right around the corner
Man, sounds like you got stuck getting all the bad batch phones = / I'm really rough on my phone, and I've had none of these problems. Hopefully you can get a good one, cuz this phone is quite fantastic once rooted and rom'd. The only complaint I've ever had was the weak stock battery life, but even that isn't that bad since I've modded it.
sent from my MONSTERDroid3 from the XDA app
Yea that's what I'm thinking...I just got a really bad batch. I want to finally be able to keep just one and ROM it ASAP. Ughhhh
ajhallx said:
number 10 is in the mail ...Some thing happen with these phones before we got them that all i can say i keep having screen issues with every one it like a screen on speed wiggling pixels and gives me a headache i finally got the perfect droid 3 then my phone started boot looping .... so they are sending me another one i hope this one has the perfect screen and docent boot loop ... i also go the one were it was lose like some one drop it and had a light coming threw the screen when it was off ...... weried luck ....luckly a new phone is right around the corner
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You've replaced it just as many times as well huh? That's crazy.
the same thing happened with my droid x they all sucked they acutely had to send me a brand new one still in the box ....to fix the issues i was having ... lets just say thank God Verizon not selling cars there 100 point inspection test dosent work very well .. every time i call vzw they insure me it was put to the test i say well some one must of been blind because there is a light shining throw the screen when i just put the battery in it lol
Well I'm on the 6th, satisfied with this one so far. Most of them had the vibrate problem you mentioned. Some had light bleeding out of the screen near the softkeys. One the screen would randomly get distorted, almost like the top half of the screen was twisted and flipped around. And yes I do hear some squeaking on this one it's the back cover for mine anyway, taking it on and off too many times I assume.
Yea I'm not too sure about this 100-point inspection they keep referring to. How the hell do they miss something like what you mentioned...or an insanely squeeky/loose screen? Or even a 100% jammed screen that won't slide up? 100-point my ass.
Also, just to clarify...I absolutely love the Droid 3; I just want one that isn't jacked up. Even if they offered me a brand-new Bionic or something, I'd refuse. I love the D3, I just want one that isn't insanely jacked.
eww245 said:
Well I'm on the 6th, satisfied with this one so far. Most of them had the vibrate problem you mentioned. Some had light bleeding out of the screen near the softkeys. One the screen would randomly get distorted, almost like the top half of the screen was twisted and flipped around. And yes I do hear some squeaking on this one it's the back cover for mine anyway, taking it on and off too many times I assume.
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Oh yea, I forgot to mention that I've had the light-bleeding around the softkeys as well (specifically the last one I got, number 8). It was only on the bottom-right portion. Very noticeable and very annoying.
its sad becuse the razr looks nice but seems how i have had so many issues with droid x to droid x2 to droid 3 i think i am all out of spending my money on them but there attenna design is by far the best .... oh i am so torn ... i just miss 2 years ago having my droid in my hands .. life was good back then ...
I'm on my second, no issues at all.. After a 3rd replacement I would have *****ed to the point where they were sending me a new phone not a refurbished.
wootizzle said:
I'm on my second, no issues at all.. After a 3rd replacement I would have *****ed to the point where they were sending me a new phone not a refurbished.
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I did, after the 6th. I got a supervisor and she was a real B-word. I tore her apart and she refused to send me a new one. Don't think they ever would, because I was on the phone with her for about 15 minutes and she refused.
believe me i have but they just changed there policy you can keep getting as many refurbish phones. it used to be after 5 they would try to get you into something else ... well lets see the offered me the charge and tunderbolt i exsplaned to them that the only comparable device to this dorid 3 is the bionic and they wont offer that .. i am not going to down grade a dul core with the crap of last year test market no thank you ...
Wow, you must have the luck of an Irish to receive this many defective phones consecutively.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk
I'm on my second...first one had a lotta dust under the screen
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
first one and ive dropped it so many times (ruggedized case *lol*) and i havent had any 'manufacturer' problems
Defect Looping?
My D3 has had no real problems other than what is common to a new phone (mostly software related) and occasional operator error. I cannot calculate the statistical probability against randomly receiving nine consecutive bad phones. Either someone has targeted you to receive all the junk ones or you live somewhere with frequent over-the-top EMPs (or maybe hell). With similar experiences with the other phones as well, you must be living under some kind of curse!
pgzerwer said:
My D3 has had no real problems other than what is common to a new phone (mostly software related) and occasional operator error. I cannot calculate the statistical probability against randomly receiving nine consecutive bad phones. Either someone has targeted you to receive all the junk ones or you live somewhere with frequent over-the-top EMPs (or maybe hell). With similar experiences with the other phones as well, you must be living under some kind of curse!
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Lmao. Well, considering they are all pre-owned "like new" devices...there is the probability that they were returned for the same reasons I'm returning them.
I get yet another one in the mail tomorrow...
Create a sob story and they send you a different phone. Its how i went from the droid x to the droid 3 without having an upgrade :] keep complaingin on the phone and say you want a different more reliable device thats in the same range. Then say something about the bionic {or differen phone} and they will give up and give it to you for free. just have to pay for a battery
*no need to comment problem resolved thank you*
kinda pissed im on my third d3. 1st one random reboot problems sent it back got a refurbished one. 2nd one headphone jack stoped working. 3rd one refurbished once again. this 3rd one that i got came with a dead pixle yes annoying but i lived with it also sliding mechinism scratched the gloss yes annoying i lived with it random reboots ok problem. i know i can fix it but i dont feel like spending the time to do it. ive been at it since the original droid custom roms kernels all that fun stuff and i would like to start developing not there yet but im not an idiot. my plan is to call verizon and get a droid 4 but i havent decided if i want to yet the only problems i see with the d4 are no removable battery/locked bootloader/motoblur. locked bootloader could possibly eventually be unlocked who knows. so i can cross out bootloader i can deal. motoblur i can just run the .sh or something to remove the bloat an get a better rom. so cross off motoblur. no removable battery thoughts?
im not asking for help fixing it because i know i can and no its not as easy as an .sbf at this point.
i know my information isnt perfect but i had my original droid for what 3 years? one not 2 of them one, and that thing runs beautifully. unlocked bootloader/removable battery/sturdy heavy. why don't they make em like they used to? moto blur free
so excuse my grammar and such im kinda ranting cause of the time ive spent working on it and im kinda angry but now i need to decide if i should get the droid 4.
minus how to fix my droid 3 cause im going to but im ya LOL scatter brain
thoughts on non removable battery?
your opinions and thoughts are valued.
*no need to comment problem resolved thank you*
If you're getting random reboots you may wanna try rooting and putting a custom bootstrap on there and wiping cache and delvik. Also there are some ROMs w\o Blur and you can choose between it or not. But the Blur isn't too bad at all once you get past the Verizon crap. I run Liberty and it's just Blur and Android, no Verizon crap except for My Verizon.
For the reboots, see if it still does it with no sd card in. I had read that there was a directory that could be causing it.
For the battery, do you carry a backup battery with you now? If not, who cares if you can take it out? My D1 I had multiple backup batteries, and I used them. My D3 I haven't had to use my backup yet, it is big enough to get me through the day, and the D4 has an even bigger one (course there's always the 4G to suck up all that power)
Sent from my XT862 using Tapatalk
My Droid 3 only reboots itself, if I leave it in Airplanemode for 8 hours or so. Then it reboots automatically. When not in Airplanemode it never reboots itself.
Maybe this helps?
thanks all its decided. im now getting my 4th refurbished droid 3. hopefully its not a pos again.
Im having the same issue lately. Ill try the suggestions here tonight when I get off work and let you know how it goes.
I'm upgrading from the Droid3, but this is the best built, most reliable phone I've ever owned. You guys must either be extremely hard on yours or extremely unlucky.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
UNLUCKY lol received my 4th refurbished one its perfect btw. i take care of my tech.
jellman said:
UNLUCKY lol received my 4th refurbished one its perfect btw. i take care of my tech.
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I got my Droid 3 about 5 or 6 months ago (if I'm remembering correctly) and I have yet to get a scratch anywhere besides the back of the screen (where the clips slide.) Now thats taking care of your technology, considering I use it all day, every day.
ChaoticWeaponry said:
I got my Droid 3 about 5 or 6 months ago (if I'm remembering correctly) and I have yet to get a scratch anywhere besides the back of the screen (where the clips slide.) Now thats taking care of your technology, considering I use it all day, every day.
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i take care of my tech but, im sure you do the best job in the whole world with yours better than everyone congratulations. i am not hard on my phones.
I used to have random reboots while on Liberty and Mav, none Steel or any CM9A5+, since then I have recovered to both without any reboots, not sure, but assume complete wipes/resets between GB and ICS resolved issue.
CM9A7
Sent from my XT862 using XDA App
I saw on an Italian forum (androidworld.it) a thread really fun and special.
practically everyone was telling a story divertende spent with a few friends.
this is an example: long ago a friend of mine bought a galaxy ace, did nothing but talk about how it was "powerful" and fast. Once I asked him why he had not bought a galaxy if he said "That ca * ata? do not even have the processor!" a few months after they stole him and took a replacement for galaxy w. One day he told me he did not like, which was slow etc.etc. then, seeing my old modded Vodafone Smart, asked me how I did and so I talked to him a little bit of root, overclock, and more. Two days later comes back with 'I'm w galaxy where he had installed go launcher and a theme to nokia, the beautiful thing is that then I said, "I have labored hours to change the operating system, I put one of my old nokia. While doing transfer system I almost risked twice to break it ... "At that moment I did not know whether to laugh in his face or jump out the nearest window.
Another time a friend of mine came up to me all happy and told me "I bought the smartphone, the new advertising there." However I wanted to spare me tell you that there is no difference between a smartphone and a lg tribe
Oh, and in any case I think the best average users are over 45 and parents (trollface96);
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in other words you treat stupid and embarrassing situations that make us entertained.
possibly write real stories and not false and try not to insult anyone.
good stories: D
i just finished unbricking a HTC one v which was my friends-friends sons. he said that his son tried to flash a kitkat rom on it, and he screwed up becuase he flashed kitkat for HTC one, lol. he mentioned that his son is 12, so i wont expect that to be true .
Sent from my GT-I9505
pitastrudl said:
i just finished unbricking a HTC one v which was my friends-friends sons. he said that his son tried to flash a kitkat rom on it, and he screwed up becuase he flashed kitkat for HTC one, lol. he mentioned that his son is 12, so i wont expect that to be true .
Sent from my GT-I9505
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Click to collapse
Ahahahah epic
today i had a stupid moment of myself. i received a HTC M8x(asian variant) to root it for a friend. I did everything and proceeded to flash a custom kernel. when it finished the screen went black. holding power button did nothing and connecting to charger didnt budge it. for 30mins i was panicking and trying to revive it. so i tried turning it on after 30mins so i pressed the power button to see id it does anything.... and it turned on and it was still in recovery. the lock feature from TWRP made a fool of me, thinking that i bricked it lol.
Sent from my GT-I9505
A couple weeks ago I was fixing a cracked screen on my friends phone. I had to drive quite far to get the part and when I had just replaced the screen and started replacing all the other components (the screen is under everything), I managed to pinch a ribbon cable and rip it off. This was only a few hours before I wanted to surprise him with the fixed phone. I ended up going in rush hour traffic to a closer more expensive shop to get another replacement and fixing the phone with only a few minutes before I had to go meet my friend. Overall he was happy I fixed it but I don't think he'll ever know how much trouble it was to do.
I'm thinking of purchasing a Pixel 5a off of eBay, but I just started seeing all the (very large number of) threads on reddit about the BSOD/motherboard issue with the 5a. How widespread is this problem? Is it better to avoid this phone and get the 4a5g instead?
cb474 said:
I'm thinking of purchasing a Pixel 5a off of eBay, but I just started seeing all the (very large number of) threads on reddit about the BSOD/motherboard issue with the 5a. How widespread is this problem? Is it better to avoid this phone and get the 4a5g instead?
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Click to collapse
It's widespread enough that Google officially extended the warranty from 1 year to 2 (https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/11833075?hl=en)
I don't know if it's a bad idea or not. I've been running the phone with the hope that it won't happen.
i´m using my 5a in Argentina from more than 1 year now, all ok, never any fail
I got mine in November 2021. Still using it. I'd be more concerned about getting one off of eBay myself.
Dopamin3 said:
It's widespread enough that Google officially extended the warranty from 1 year to 2 (https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/11833075?hl=en)
I don't know if it's a bad idea or not. I've been running the phone with the hope that it won't happen.
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Yeah, I saw that they extended the warranty. It doesn't seem like a great sign. Although I suppose it's possible Google did that because of the level of complaining, rather than because the problem is greater with the 5a than other pixels (there also are some, though far fewer, reports of the 4a5g and 5 suddenly bricking themselves).
I sort of wish I'd never looked at reddit. I also wish there were good statistics on the actual failure rate. But now I think I may always be wondering if it will just suddenly fail one day.
miguelAr9 said:
i´m using my 5a in Argentina from more than 1 year now, all ok, never any fail
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Quite a few people say it happens around the 14/month mark. Some people say they got more than one replacement from Google and they all failed. It's a little crazy if you look at reddit. If you search on simply "5a" in the pixel reddits, literally just about every post is about the phone suddenly dying. It is interesting that you don't see that here on xda so much (although the reddit threads are much more active, with many more people).
mikehd1959 said:
I got mine in November 2021. Still using it. I'd be more concerned about getting one off of eBay myself.
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I hear you. But I'm pretty careful about who I buy from on ebay and ask lots of questions first. So far I haven't had a problem (fingers crossed). I know people like Swappa. But Swappa seems to have been completely taken over by businesses, selling the same type of refurbished/open box inventory as you see on ebay. And you can't ask businesses questions on Swappa, which I just find bizarre.
I just picked mine up after second mothboard replacement. First mobo replacement has radio issue. My wife's just died too. We bought exact same time from google store unlocked. Glad to hear about the warranty extension.
Welp, mine just died yesterday. Got the RMA approved by Google. Pretty sad, I only used my Pixel 5a for a few months before switching to other devices. Then I switched back to it. Probably had less than 6 months total power on time.
I was using the phone and screen went black. At first you could tell it was still on, like it would still vibrate. Then it just died and won't power on. Battery was at ~68% and trying numerous chargers/cables did nothing.
Google also gave me a single use 20% off coupon towards Pixel 6a, 7 and 7 Pro. If they were still on sale for $100 - $150 off it would've been a no brainer for me, but they went back to full price and decreased the trade in value on the 5a.
I'm going to dump this phone as soon as I get it back. I've never had a phone die like this.
scottybweyy said:
I just picked mine up after second mothboard replacement. First mobo replacement has radio issue. My wife's just died too. We bought exact same time from google store unlocked. Glad to hear about the warranty extension.
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Sorry to hear that, but thanks for the feedback. Interestingly, it seems from reddit that this doesn't really happen with the 4a5g or regular 5 (though failures are not entirely unheard-of with those phones). I wonder if that's really true and why that would be considering how similar the three phones are?
Dopamin3 said:
Welp, mine just died yesterday. Got the RMA approved by Google. Pretty sad, I only used my Pixel 5a for a few months before switching to other devices. Then I switched back to it. Probably had less than 6 months total power on time.
I was using the phone and screen went black. At first you could tell it was still on, like it would still vibrate. Then it just died and won't power on. Battery was at ~68% and trying numerous chargers/cables did nothing.
Google also gave me a single use 20% off coupon towards Pixel 6a, 7 and 7 Pro. If they were still on sale for $100 - $150 off it would've been a no brainer for me, but they went back to full price and decreased the trade in value on the 5a.
I'm going to dump this phone as soon as I get it back. I've never had a phone die like this.
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Wow, that's crazy that your's died three days after you replied to this thread. Sorry to hear that. It's such a bummer, because the 5a really seems like the best of the 4a5g/5/5a trio. Especially the giant battery is nice.
The way your phone failed, from reading a lot of posts on reddit, sounds exactly like what people have been experiencing: screen goes black, you can interact with it even though you can't see anything, and then it completely won't power on. Some people seem to only have the black screen issue, others it just goes straight to dead and won't power on, it's interesting that you went through both in quick succession.
I would get the 6a, even though I don't like the size (the new phones are so large and chunky) and a hate the visor, except the 6a/6/6pro/7/7pro are all notorious for their poor signal/recpetion issues. The modem in the Samsung exynos chipset that Google uses as the base for Tensor is just crap. Tons of people say they get the worst reception they've ever gotten on any phone, with the 6a/6/6pro/7/7pro.
The rumor is that the 7a will have a Qualcomm modem, which says a lot that Google is only going to use exynos for the CPU and not the entire chipset, modem included, as is normally done in cell phone designs. I wonder if that will make sticking to five years of updates hard, since Qualcomm sucks so much at providing driver updates. Anyway, I would hold out for the 7a and see if the rumors are true, before getting another Pixel device.
I'm sort of trying to find a phone that can tide me over until the Pixel 8, which hopefully will have a better design, smaller, thinner, drop the visor. Probably I'll pick up a 4a5g, since it seems like the 5a BSOD issues are definitely real. I like the 5 better, sizewise, but the under screen earpiece is just too poor quality; it's really a shame Google went for that gimmick on the 5.
I bought mine off eBay barely a month ago and so far I have no issues. Is there anything I should look for? I've never heard of this BSOD issue.
Vision919 said:
I bought mine off eBay barely a month ago and so far I have no issues. Is there anything I should look for? I've never heard of this BSOD issue.
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I don't think there's any way to tell if you will have the issue or not. Reports are that after typically about a year the phone will just suddenly stop working, wih a black screen, like Dopamin3 describes above. It's a problem with the motherboard failing. If you want to get a sense of it, search for Pixel 5a in the r/GooglePixel reddit. Most recent posts about the Pixel 5a concern this. It seems to clearly be a problem with this phone model in particular, that the similar 4a5g and 5 don't have (or it is much less common). What I can't tell is, okay yes, this happens to a lot of Pixel 5a phones, and so there are a lot or reports online, but what precent? How likely is it? On the other hand, it happens enough that Google extended the warranty on this phone for an extra year, as Dopamin3 points out above.
Mine just died. Going through the process of having to send it in. Wish me luck.
cb474 said:
I'm thinking of purchasing a Pixel 5a off of eBay, but I just started seeing all the (very large number of) threads on reddit about the BSOD/motherboard issue with the 5a. How widespread is this problem? Is it better to avoid this phone and get the 4a5g instead?
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Problem just happened to me, 16 months owned. I'd say stay away, not only because of the mobo problem but honestly, the phone isn't all that great anyway. It's pretty slow. And I don't know if this is related to the mobo issue but there are times when I would screen press an icon 4-7 times before it responded.
cb474 said:
I don't think there's any way to tell if you will have the issue or not. Reports are that after typically about a year the phone will just suddenly stop working, wih a black screen, like Dopamin3 describes above. It's a problem with the motherboard failing. If you want to get a sense of it, search for Pixel 5a in the r/GooglePixel reddit. Most recent posts about the Pixel 5a concern this. It seems to clearly be a problem with this phone model in particular, that the similar 4a5g and 5 don't have (or it is much less common). What I can't tell is, okay yes, this happens to a lot of Pixel 5a phones, and so there are a lot or reports online, but what precent? How likely is it? On the other hand, it happens enough that Google extended the warranty on this phone for an extra year, as Dopamin3 points out above.
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Phone went black on me about 4 days ago. It took about an hour but I was able to get it started again. Plugged it in to recharge overnight and in the morning, found it had shutdown again. Was able to reboot immediately, this time. It worked for 2 more days and then yesterday, while on a hike, it died and has not come back since then.
It's almost funny how they tell you to backup the phone and then erase it before sending it in. Hard to do when you can't get the phone to turn on!
I spoke to one of the uBreakiFix stores here in Silicon Valley and the guy told me that he doesn't have any mobo's in stock and that they are difficult to get. If I brought the phone to him, he has 5 or 6 people ahead of me and he is only allowed (by Google? or store management?) to order one 5a mobo at a time.. So I am sending mine into Google for repair.
I had been thinking of trading this phone in back in Dec for a Pixel 7, when they had those good offers. It would have cost me $150 for the P7 with the trade in then. Wish I had done that now!
@joe99joe Sorry to hear your phone died. The way you were able to get your phone to come back a couple times, I wonder if you have a battery issue, rather than it being the motherboard. It sounds a little like how I experienced a bad battery replacement in an OG Pixel. Anyway, good luck, whatever you do.
I ended up getting a Pixel 4a5g. It doesn't have anywhere near the kind of reports of dying on people as the 5a. I'm hoping it will be good for a couple years and then maybe I'll get a Pixel 8a or 9 or something. I'm still waiting for Google to sort out their low quality modem issues in the Pixel 6 and 7 series, causing really bad signal/reception.
cb474 said:
@joe99joe Sorry to hear your phone died. The way you were able to get your phone to come back a couple times, I wonder if you have a battery issue, rather than it being the motherboard. It sounds a little like how I experienced a bad battery replacement in an OG Pixel. Anyway, good luck, whatever you do.
I ended up getting a Pixel 4a5g. It doesn't have anywhere near the kind of reports of dying on people as the 5a. I'm hoping it will be good for a couple years and then maybe I'll get a Pixel 8a or 9 or something. I'm still waiting for Google to sort out their low quality modem issues in the Pixel 6 and 7 series, causing really bad signal/reception.
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No, it was power. I sent it to Google on Monday, Arrived Tuesday and was confirmed power problem. They are working on repairing it now and should have it back in a few days. No charge, no postage fees. Sometimes Google does good. Meanwhile, I am using my od Pixel 3XL, which truth be told, is a better phone than the 5a. It's lighter, speedier but the battery is dying and the screen is cracked.
This happened on my 5a. No signs of life. Since I needed a backup phone for my Xperia, I'm gonna get the Nothing Phone 1 today.
I actally thought 5a will stay with me for 3 years, but no.... Only a year and one month. Damn you Google
I would just get the 4a honestly I took mine to ubreak today and they replaced the screen a bunch of times then told me there was nothing else they could do even though the receptionist told me it's Google's policy that they have to fix any phone they open. I contacted live chat and they told me to send it to them and it would still be covered even though it said my warranty expired in October.
I cannot believe it's happened to me again (first was august last year). i should've traded it in for a pixel 7 when i had the chance, although idk about using pixels anymore. this is ridiculous. last time it looked like they installed a better display, because this one looks free of scratches without using a screen protector. but i wish they knew why this happens. also looks like they allow an extended warranty for this kind of damage. they should honestly at least upgrade me to a 6a.
For those who have experienced this, how heavily do you use your phone? Like how often do you have to recharge, and do you run things where it heats up much? I am wondering if the typical failure is some problem with thermal cycling and fractures, or flash degradation. I assume its not just the battery/power supply if they have to replace the MB to fix it.
I bought mine direct from Google back in Aug 2021, so have been using it about 20 months. But I am a light user and typically get 7-10 days on a charge... I was originally assuming the hardware would last longer than Google is going to support the firmware.
k, so i'm really p*ssed off right now. the inspection came back saying audio problems that would cost $99 to repair. got nowhere in chat, so i called. she said there was a speaker problem and a volume button problem (they would have had to occur concurrently with the main problem, cause i would have definitely noticed em) no mention of the display or power issue. how? when i sent it in, the display would simply not work. i tried re-flashing stock firmware using google chrome's flash tools, and it would fail at booting into fastboot. i could tell the phone was on, though, because i felt the vibration and the usb connect sound on the laptop. so how was there no mention of those problems? i'm not sure if i should just assume that the phone's display is working. she would only say that the phone powers up properly and there was no mention of a display problem. the language seems too vague, and knowing full well what happened this time *and* how it's exactly what happened last time, i'm skeptical. how last time they replaced the motherboard, but this time, there's not even a mention of a display or power issue. and when i asked what the trade-in value would be if i forgo the repairs, she said $25. if it powers on and is free of scratches, it should be the normal value. should i just take my chances on getting it back without repairs and take the trade-in value, whatever it'll be, for the 7a?
edit: i see the trade-in value is $25. idk why it went down so much, but i'm sure it'll go back up for 7a deals