128GB Google Pixel 6a Unlocked 5G Smartphone (various colors) Expired

I bought my 6a for a bargain after trading in my old cracked 3a. I haven't been impressed. My 4a 5g battery lasted considerably longer. I have to charge my 6a by evening. Performance is similar. The screen fingerprint reader is terrible. I've tried changing my finger prints over and over but it fails to read my finger 75% of the time. I'm back to swiping to unlock. And none of the Pixel phones have working hotspots with Total Wireless. Blame Google blame Total Wireless but neither care.

Yes, Yes, and Yes. Huge difference. Sensor success rate is now nearly as good as the old rear fingerprint sensor in previous pixels. This is my 3rd Pixel Phone.

tl;dr - If you have TMO, the $200 deal for the Pixel 6 from WorstBuy may be close to the deal of the year. No other deal offers former flagship specs for that price without weird shenanigans (trade-in, number-port, refurbished?) The 6 Pro does have nice additions for $400, but it very slippery, and IMO, not worth TWO Pixel 6s.


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I purchased all three of the 6 series through every deal published on SD (the OG trade-in deal at Google Store with buds, the $400 "price-mistake" of the Pro at WorstBuy, and the recent $200 deal for the regular 6. Used the 6a for almost a month, the 6 pro for about two weeks, and the 6 for just a few days.

Main activities are media consumption, pics of the toddler, and typical contractor stuff (calendar, Waze, email, google voice). Very casual. Every phone is still on Android 12 to serve as control variables. The former phone is my very-beloved Samsung Note 9 and a Pixel 4a 5G.

Originally wrote a long post, but everything has been said about these phones, so Ill just quickly run my takes. I am lumping all three into one post, since the experiences, apart from the screen, are nearly identical

- Phones only get hot during initial set up. Navigation, which notoriously heats up all my phones...no issue here. Did I get lucky?!!
- Loud speakers, esp on the Pro. Plenty for media consumption and Google Meet calls.
- Optical fingerprint sensor is quite slow (3/4 to one second), but has been 99% accurate. I have a lacerated thumb from a prior accident.
- refresh rate is rapture-level hysteria in these threads, and I cant understand why.... zero issues using the 60 hz screen on the 6a. Maybe im a filthy casual? (My daily screen is a 60 hz 4k OLED). 120 hz is nice for scrolling icons on the home screen...and thats about it. I dont get noticable blur when scrolling on any of the phones. High-refresh is most noticable when playing games with quick actions...not worth the battery hit on a phone IMO.
- the radio does seem to have issues. On the 6a, I dropped many texts, couldnt access panera website, and dropped a call to a fried in SoCal 3x during an hour, and neither of us were moving at all. Full reception on 5G VZ. Wife's Pixel 4a 5G on TMO had no such issues. Will keep testing these functions. Al three phones have since worked fine.
- Cameras are sufficient (I am totally the wrong person to ask about these)
- The battery life on the 6 pro is amazing for me...I have only charged the phone once every 2-3 days. Phone is on wifi the entire time. 6a is probably even better, but I have it plugged into car so often that I havent tested. Accubattery Pro actually reports 4496 mAh vs the actual 4410 on it. However, the champion of battery is my mom's Pixel 4a. I think that phone loses like 40% battery a day. and she uses it heavilly for video.

All in all, I actually think the 6a has the superior form factor of the three, and will serve a vast majority of the population well. If they had wireless charging, it would be a peerless mid-range choice.