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New Google Phones - Pixel 5, 4A 5G & 4A

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Apr 2010
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    The reviews on the 4a seem to indicate they've managed to squeeze decent battery life out of an (again) comparatively small battery, so hopefully that's good news.

    https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/0...ing-the-phone/

    That said, I'm still skeptical that will hold up over the course of a couple months as the battery starts to deteriorate. My Pixel XL started off really well but 3 months in I basically had to leave it on the charger all through the day.

    mrgoodkat likes this.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    1,165

    I use the octopus app/functionality on my iphone. the NFC sensor is at the top of the phone near the earpiece thingy bit. I can point the top of my phone at the octopus reader and it will just conduct the transaction. It's good to have 1 less card to have in my wallet

    It's a decent enough app, easy to see past transactions and very easy to top up via apple pay.

    Two concerns I have about it at this time:
    1] cleanliness - have to make sure i dont physically touch my phone on a reader given the whole covid situation and not knowing how many people tap their cards etc on the ready. i dont expect any shopkeeper to wipe/sanitise it so i just hover it.
    2] if i lose my phone or if my phone battery dies, i'm scr*wed. esp if i have a car in a car park etc.

    weirdly, you can't keep using the original octopus card after transferring the funds to the phone. and you cant have a duplicate of the card on another device. I tried to have the same octopus on both my iphone and apple watch but it doesnt let you do that...i would have had to have 2 separate octopus accounts which the app does let you manage but to me it just seems like a faff. I am considering getting a normal octopus with $200 on it just to have a backup and keep it in the car or something.

    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    Is the Smart Octopus thingy different from NFC functionality? I guess with NFC you can use the phone as an Octopus device?

    Am seriously clueless about this - not that I think I'd want to use the phone as a Octopus.

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    4,574

    It's simple, you just end up with two Octopus, one on your phone and a physical backup.

    As far as Pixel 4A goes... very attractive, but the lack of Smart Octopus and not being available directly from HK phone companies are deal breakers for me.

    For the mid tier Android market, I feel the Samsung A series are the best bet.


  4. #14

    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Another issue with the Pixel phones is no dual sim.

    shri likes this.

  5. #15

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
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    Got it today from Amazon


    Name:  IMG-20200828-WA0004.jpeg
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Size:  860.6 KB

    vmlinuz, mrgoodkat, pin and 3 others like this.

  7. #17

    Join Date
    Jan 2015
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    1

    Oh no. Seems like amazon.com stop selling these at $349?


  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by lsiu:
    Oh no. Seems like amazon.com stop selling these at $349?
    Seems to be out of stock everywhere. The ones on sale are from sources who managed to get the initial stock and are now marking it up.

  9. #19

    Pixel 5 does not with 5G in hk

    Be warned. PIXEL 5 UK does not work with the 5G in HK. It can only do 4G. I tested with several network in hk.


  10. #20

    Join Date
    May 2005
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    Hong Kong, from UK
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    Quote Originally Posted by lks12500:
    Be warned. PIXEL 5 UK does not work with the 5G in HK. It can only do 4G. I tested with several network in hk.
    Yes, thank you, you've posted this 3 times today... As I said on my Pixel 5 thread, it looks like Google is whitelisting 5G networks for some reason, and currently only accepts those in the countries where the phone has shipped - hopefully things can be loosened up later, maybe after the US devices ship.
    mrgoodkat likes this.