Original Google Pixel In 2020. How Does It Fair?

It was time to replace an ageing Moto G (original model) for my son. He doesn’t use it as a phone but more of a small tablet for YouTube and gaming on the go mainly and the Moto was showing its age and had been dropped a few too many times – leaving it in a poor state.

I ended up picking up a very reasonably priced Pixel – original model from 2016. But how does Google's first gen Pixel hold up in 2020?

Firstly, I like the design of the Pixel. The front looks very similar to an iPhone but lacks the physical home button. The back is split into two sections with the fingerprint sensor on the back. I bought a Grade C and was expecting something in much more poor condition, however this just has a few surface scratches and scuffs.

It features a quad core Snapdragon 821 processor, 4GB RAM and 32GB internal storage (a 128GB model was also an option). It has a 5.0” AMOLED screen, USB C charging, a 12MP camera and 8mpx selfie camera. Spec wise, that is still a decent set up.

It shipped originally with Android 7.1 and was updated all the way up to Android 10. This is a rarity in the Android world. Being a Pixel it runs vanilla Android - something I do like. I am not keen on reskinned Android versions (such as those on Samsung or Sony phones) and it doesn't come with any preinstalled bloat that takes up space.

Performance wise, this phone nips along. It is currently on Android 8.0 (with a notification to update to Android 10). The quad core processor might not be top of the range, but the 4GB RAM helps a lot to keep things flowing smoothly and the 32GB storage is plenty for the average person to install a lot of apps and games.

The lack of expandable storage would bug me on a 32GB phone - I do like to keep about 40GB of music on an SD card in my phone - but this could be resolved buy purchasing the 128GB model.

I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t expecting such a fast experience. Both the OS and apps swing along nicely and gaming was great too – although I didn’t play any heavy games, but light gaming was a breeze.

It is certainly a massive step up from the Moto G with only 1GB RAM. However it really did surpass my expectations on performance. 

The cameras on the Pixel are superb. It really shows this was a top end handset. Pictures are super crisp, close up photos focus very closely and the background blur feature is great. Even the front selfie camera stood up well especially in low light.

It is a bit smaller that what I am used to (a Moto Z Play which has a 5.5" screen) but I quite liked the slightly smaller footprint. It meant my thumb didn't have to stretch so much across the device.

Audio was good for a phone, it was loud and fairly bassy - but the inclusion of a headphone socket was essential - otherwise I have to listen to my son watching people talk over Fortnite videos on YouTube.

The only downside to this Pixel – and it seems a common issue especially with early Pixels and with older phones in general, is the battery doesn’t hold up well. The 2770 mAh battery would have given decent life when it was new, but after a few years it isn’t doing so well.

I find it better value to buy an older premium phone than a new budget handset, but it is the battery that is hit and miss on older handsets.

If you can get a Pixel with a decent battery, then you can not go wrong with this handset. Not everyone needs the power a new phone offers and grabbing an older high end phone can be a great option to cut the cost down without sacrificing performance and you end up with better quality hardware.

I am loving this Pixel – and am quite jealous of its premium feel, good looks and amazing performance. It has made me rethink whether my next phone will be a Motorola handset (which we are very fond of in our house) or possibly switch to one in the Pixel range.

Written by Simon Royal. Follow me at twitter.com/simonroyal

From Google Pixel 3a to Google Pixel 4a

 Well, having had my Pixel 3a since late November I was all set for not upgrading for a long time, but I thought wrong, thanks to a free gift from the very kind folks at Google, I now have a beautiful new Pixel 4a in "just Black". It arrived in a nice welcome pack with a weird tasting mocktail, some spicy biscuits and some nice sugar coated sweets... The standard phone box is inside, which contains the usual USB C cable, adaptor and charger. 

After swapping my SIM over, I did try to do a settings transfer by USB cable but couldn't get it to work, so I opted for the over-WiFi method which worked perfectly. The 4a is even smaller than my 3a, and the front is nearly all screen, with a punch hole selfie camera. I've not had that on any of my previous phones. Here's both side by side (photos taken with my Pixel XL, which feels chunky in comparison to both!).  The 4a is only available in black and there's no XL version, although there will be a 5G version to be released at some point.

Although externally smaller than the 3a, the Pixel 4a has a slightly larger screen (5.8" instead of 5.6") thanks to the punch hole camera, and nearly the same resolution. The cameras are almost the same (except a slightly wider aperture - f1.7 in the 4a instead of f1.8) but the 4a gains the dual exposure controls and Live HDR+ photography features from the Pixel 4. Internally, the 4a has a bit faster CPU and a slightly bigger battery (3,140mAh instead of 3000mAh) and again supports 18W fast charging. The 4a has 6GB of RAM instead of 4GB and twice the storage at 128GB, which is great for me since I do take a lot of photos and videos. It still has the fingerprint sensor in the same place on the back, which I prefer to face unlock, or having it on the front. My finger easily find the sensor when picking it up. 

One hardware change is the removal of the Active Edge, which I never used anyway and had disabled. But the best thing is the Pixel 4a still has a headphone jack, as although I often use Bluetooth headphones, I still like having a headphone jack as backup and so I can plug my phone directly into my amp. 

I found a cheap flip case on Amazon because I really don't like taking my phone out naked, particularly on my walks. It's the usual faux-leather affair, but I like that it doesn't have that annoying flap that my 3a case has, and it stays firmly shut with a decent magnet. Also it doesn't get in the way of the camera like the 3a case did.

Cameras

Photo quality is pretty much the same as on my 3a, just as great. I've not played with the dual exposure controls yet but the Google AI blog explains how those and Live HDR+ work. With Live HDR+, you get to see a more accurate view of what the finished photo will look like in the preview image. Video quality seems to be exactly the same as the 3a as far as I have noticed.

Night Sight is impressive as ever.

When I first saw punch hole cameras on phones I thought they would be annoying but generally I don't notice it's there, as long as images and videos aren't fullscreened over it, which they generally don't unless in ultra wide resolution.

Issues?

So far I have found no problems with the 4a, and thankfully it does not have the slight GPS issue I had with the 3a when i got it. One thing I'm still getting used to on the 4a is navigation on the Home screen is gestures-only so to switch apps you have to swipe up from the bottom, hold, then tap the app you want. To go Back anywhere, swipe left from the right edge of the screen. You can also quickly swipe between apps by swiping the white bar at the bottom left or right. I can't see anyway to disable it and I don't really want to change Launchers, eventually it'll be stored in muscle memory.

Battery Life

With its slightly larger battery  (3,140mAh instead of 3000mAh), the 4a has so far given me a few more hours of battery, likely offset slightly by the newer/faster CPU. The screenshot below was on a mixed usage day, went for a walk, took plenty of photos, used GPS/Google Maps, browsed the net in the evening a lot. Since I have had it, the 4a has often had 30 or more percent left of battery before going to sleep.

Android 11

Just four days after getting my new Pixel 4a, and as I was preparing to finish this review, Android 11 was released both to it and my 3a.

 

I straight away noticed a couple of new features. The first thing I noticed in the update are app suggestions are added if you have an empty spot on the bottom row of your Home screen, not really keen on that so i haven't left a space. 

Media controls have been tweaked...

There's a whole bunch of new features and tweaks - too many to go into them all here, including a new power menu, native screen recorder and improved permissions, so I've left a link at the bottom of this article.  

 Conclusion

Overall, the Pixel 4a feels snappier than my old 3a, thanks to that extra RAM and faster CPU, and with twice as much storage I don't have to worry about filling it up too quickly. Just like the 3a, the Pixel 4a is a great mid-range phone, everything works near perfectly. It is buttery smooth, has a great camera, very good screen, and all day battery life. It's absolutely a worthy successor to the 3a, with a better screen to body ratio, bigger battery, larger screen, faster CPU and twice the storage on the base model. I intend to keep my 4a until it stops working, with my 3a as backup, unless Google decide to send me a newer device again...

- You can buy the flip case here on Amazon.

- Wired has a thorough overview of new features and tweaks in Android 11.

- Here's what I thought of the Pixel 3a when I upgraded from my Pixel XL.

You can find me on Twitter and Instagram 

A Month Since I Switched To Linux

Four weeks ago I made the full switch from Mac to Linux. I have played with Linux on and off for years but had always gone back to using macOS. I think some of this was because I had the hardware to do it. However this time I made the big leap. I sold my Mac and bought a Dell laptop. There was no going back. Breaking free from Apple's walled garden approach has been a breath of fresh air in my tech life, but how has the transition from a platform I had used for 20+ years to uncharted waters gone?

Hardware wise, everything went fine. I’ve had no issues setting up and using Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon on my Dell Latitude E5410. All internal hardware works perfectly, any external drives or USB attachments work too – such as USB 3D audio stick, Bluetooth adaptor and spare WiFi adaptors – all work without having to fish around for additional drivers or services. I had one Bluetooth adaptor that was recognised by the system but failed to work. Not a huge problem just a small annoyance, but this was due to the chipset in it. My other works fine, so I am OK. Even my wireless printer – which I hadn’t give much thought about – just was there ready to be used.

One issue I had when I first started was keyboard shortcuts. My hands had gotten so used to Apple+Q etc that I had to keep reminding myself to use the Ctrl and Alt key instead, something that happened very quickly to my surprise.

A side point, I did take off the Windows key on my keyboard and remove the Windows logo from it. It bugged me seeing that little flag there each day.

Software wise, everything went fine. I checked software before I transitioned and minus a few Apple only apps I was already using cross platform tools, which I carried on using in Linux. I have had no issues day-to-day getting what I need done, which is mainly browsing, emailing, social media, music conversion, image editing and transferring files to and from my Android phone and to external backup drives.

The only stumbling block was finding a video editing tool that was easy to use that could take on the small tasks I needed to edit my YouTube videos before uploading. I have an intro I needed to drop in about 10 seconds in to my videos and I liked to snip sections out through videos, just to make them tidy (I have a habit of saying ‘um’ and rambling a bit off topic). I had intended to use OpenShot, but it is a highly unstable piece of software that also caused audio artefacts. So I switched to Kdenlive, which was much more sprightly, stable and no audio issues. Within an hour of installing it, I had gotten used to it and performed the editing I needed.

A small niggle with emailing, though more Thunderbird's fault than Linux itself. I used to use Thunderbird a lot and didn’t realise it was officially retired and only community supported. I had issues with it connecting to my Google mail servers and not wanting to send emails at times. However, using the Gmail web interface is a great alternative until I find a better email client.

Overall I am loving Linux. It is a strange feeling not to know an OS inside out. After using a Mac for 20+ years there wasn’t anything I didn’t know how to do, but with Linux its a huge learning curve, and I have had to ask my Linux guru friend more times than I would have liked or Google a few ‘how to’ issues. This will pass with more using and I am already feeling quite confident in Terminal.

Linux is far more newbie friendly than it has ever been. It is a clean, easy to use, bloat free OS that doesn’t get in the way of what you need to do. Even updates just sit patiently waiting for you to install them when it is convenient rather than popping up and getting in the way of work or waiting til you want to shut down and then installing.

I am embracing my new direction and my new non-Apple hardware. It is the best move I made since ditching my iPhone for Android a few years back. 

I can only look forward to using my computer how I want and learning Linux more and more each day.

Written by Simon Royal. Follow me at twitter.com/simonroyal

Sharing Files and Notifications between Android and Linux with KDE Connect

Google's Nearby Share function appears to be is almost ready but on Linux there's already an easy way to share files on the local network between Android and Linux and to other Linux desktops using KDE Connect (and GSconnect on Gnome, but I'll be concentrating on KDE). And of course unlike Nearby Share, it doesn't require Google Chrome to be open all the time and is more than just a file sharing tool. 

KDE Connect is usually installed by default in KDE, (or in the repositories if it isn't) and then it's just a case of installing the app in Android and pairing them up. A persistent notification is usually required to keep it active and a few permissions to allow it to send notifications and send files etc.  

Sending files from KDE to another device, such as your phone, is as simple as navigating through the Send To menu of Dolphin (KDE's file manager) and choosing the right device.  

And on Android there's a KDE Connect item in its sharing menu. And you get notifications at both ends of file transfer progress and completion.

KDE Connect is not only useful for sharing files but also, amongst other things, for mirroring your phones notifications on your desktop, (and/or the other way), controlling multimedia shortcuts from Android, as a Remote input device (use your phone as a mouse and keyboard) and send custom commands to your desktop.   

Android notifications pop up on the desktop just like the local toast notifications.

KDE Connect also shows the battery status of connected Android devices  

Sending files from Android to KDE drops them in your Home folder. 

Although Clementine music player actually has it's own app for controlling from Android, I usually prefer to use KDE Connect instead. 

 

Remote Input allows you to control your KDE desktop using your phone as a trackpad and keyboard.

Run Command allows you to run various common commands to your desktop and you can add custom commands too. Plenty of useful preset commands (like shutdown, reboot etc) and also some interesting custom commands too, lots of possibilities - there's a full list of commands here. From that list, I've added a command to take a desktop screenshot and send it to my phone. 

I am surprised that KDE Connect (and the Gnome equivalent) isn't written about more often, as it's such a useful tool, I find it particularly for showing notifications from my phone and controlling the media keys. I often find it much more convenient to use it to send photos from my phone to my desktop rather than plugging it in and dragging and dropping them. There are also early builds for Windows and Mac OS, amongst others, if you have those on your local network, and you can find them and more builds on the KDE Connect site. I have been using it on KDE for a long while now, when I moved back to KDE from XFCE, and it just keeps getting better with every release.

The Original Xbox… Was It The Dreamcast 2?

I have been a huge Sega fan for a long time. The Sega Saturn was amazing, I had a huge game and accessory collection and the Sega Dreamcast was fantastic, but sadly Sony dominated the gaming scene which helped drive Sega out of the hardware business.

While you might see Sonic and other Sega franchise titles on other hardware, sadly we shall never see another Sega branded home console.

However, all was not lost with the demise of the Dreamcast. While many fans hoped for a Dreamcast 2, we did get a new Sega console of sorts, in the form of the original Xbox from Microsoft.

OK, so let's think about that for a moment.

The XBox released in 2001/2002 was in the sixth generation of consoles alongside the Sega Dreamcast released in 1998/1999. The Sony Playstation 2 released 1999/2000 and Nintendo Gamecube released 2001/2002 were also sixth gen home consoles.

As you can see the XBox was two or three years after the Dreamcast.

The Dreamcast was ahead of its time for standards. It was the first console to have built in online capabilities with a modem and it featured four controller ports. The large controller had four coloured buttons labelled X, Y, A and B and a memory card slot in it – called the VMU, because it had a screen and its own buttons like a mini console.

The Xbox was also ahead of its time. It had online capability, with built in ethernet out-of-the-box and it also featured four controller ports. The large controller was very similar to the Dreamcast controller design and I did read that it was based on it. It has four colour buttons labelled X, Y, A and B although the colours are swapped around and it has an additional thumb stick. It also features a memory card slot (two in fact) in the controller.

OK, so Microsoft drew inspiration from the Dreamcast when looking at their first home console. But it doesn’t just stop with hardware.

Some Dreamcast titles featured Windows CE on their discs offering more features than just the standard Dreamcast operating system, so Sega already had tie-ins with Microsoft. It was also rumoured that Sega asked Microsoft if they would make the Xbox backward compatible with Dreamcast discs, but they decided not to – wanting their console to be new and fresh, plus worries over online Dreamcast titles.

However, there were a lot of Sega franchises brought over to the original Xbox. 

Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, House Of The Dead and Shenmue all Dreamcast games, received new versions for the Xbox. Panzer Dragoon was a Saturn game which received a new version for the Xbox and PS2.

Outrun from the Master System/Mega Drive and ToeJam & Earl from the Mega Drive both received new titles for the Xbox.

On top of that – although not exclusive to the Xbox – a number of Sonic titles such as Sonic Heroes, Sonic Riders, Shadow The Hedgehog and Sonic Mega Collection Plus made their way to the Xbox.

Sega really wanted to get their games on to other hardware to keep their software side and game franchises afloat even if they didn't have their own home console systems to do it.

With the hardware similarities and the software titles brought to it, the original Xbox could be considered the closest Sega fans got to the mythical Dreamcast 2.

For me, it was a sad day when Sega announced they were closing their hardware side. Despite the Saturn and the Dreamcast being the underdogs I rate them as some of the best consoles ever. This may be why I have such a fascination and love for the original Xbox – a spiritual successor to some of the greatest consoles ever made.

I love my Xbox and still play it today. I'm not a Microsoft fan and do not like the 360 or One, for me the original Xbox is the best offering from Microsoft.

Written by Simon Royal. Follow me at twitter.com/simonroyal

Upgradeable Laptops... A Thing Of The Past?

Upgradeability seems to be a thing of the past when it comes to modern computers. The obsession with ultra thin ‘everything on the board’ is a problem for technology and the end user. Perhaps that's why I prefer older machines.

Switching from a MacBook Air with zero upgrade options, to a Dell Latitude E5410 laptop recently I was surprised by the upgrade options and the ease of accessibility to do it on this 10 year old laptop.

OK, so the MacBook Air might have been stylish, light and super thin, but that comes at a cost. This Dell Latitude might be chunky, boxy and won't win any beauty awards, but it has bags of upgradeability.

Turn the laptop over and there is an access panel, which is opened via one screw. Open that and you have access to the hard drive, the RAM, the wi-fi PCIe card, the CPU cooling pipe, the CMOS battery and even the system fan. All of which are super easy to take out, clean or replace.

Even on the top of the machine, more complicated repairs are still easier to do than on most hardware. Above the keyboard is a plastic strip where the power button is, it has a small hole which you can easily get a screwdriver or spudger under and pop it off, this gives you access to the screen hinges. While I had it off, I tightened them up, which solved the slight wobble I was seeing.

But the biggest surprise was the keyboard. According to the maintenance manual, undo two screws to release the keyboard and simply pull the tap (which is now visible) above the keyboard and you can just pull it out. I was expecting some kind of ribbon cable attaching it to the motherboard – from my experience these can be tricky to detach and reattach. However, this was different, the keyboard connector is a thick plastic tab that is hidden under the top casing and you just pull out the keyboard. I took mine out and gave it a good clean. Putting the keyboard back was super easy, simple slide it back down, put in the screws and keyboard is replaced.

This is an excellent idea. Imagine spilling something on your keyboard. You can remove that from your machine within seconds, wash it, dry it and put it back. Or worse case, you could just buy another one and put it in.

Add this to the fact the battery is replaceable in seconds by simply pushing a tab and pulling it out, this makes this a fantastic machine for those who like to do things to their computers.

Not only that I like to open up kit and give it a good clean, blow out all that dust and dirt and you can really get in to this machine.

The official service manual has a great strip down guide for most parts – some such as the screen is a bit more complex, but that is to be expected. But everything is far more accessible than anything I have used before and the fact that Dell give you instructions and almost permission to do it is an amazing thing.

I think the only thing that isn't replaceable on this laptop is the CPU.

Companies these days don't want you to be able to upgrade. They want you to replace it with a newer model or send it in to them for an overpriced repair.

But for me, I like the idea of upgradeability and repairability. It's my property, I want to be able to do what I want to it. I want to keep it going for as long as possible.

So hats of to Dell – who I have to admit I haven’t had a good word to say about before I got this laptop – for creating such an easily repairable machine.

Written by Simon Royal. Follow me at twitter.com/simonroyal

Nintendo Wii U… The Forgotten Console

Nintendo may not produce top end consoles, but they always bring a unique style to their games machines which gives them an edge, almost excusing their lack of power compared to competitors in that generation of console.

The original GameBoy might have had a rubbish mono screen, but it gave it an 8 hour battery life, something unheard of in its competitors. The Nintendo DS might not have been the most powerful, but the dual screen and touch capabilities as well as amazing battery life made it different.

The Nintendo Wii, was really just a repackaged GameCube and nowhere near as powerful as the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, but its motion control made it an excellent family console, aimed at even those who didn’t like gaming.

However, after the mass success of the Wii released in 2006, Nintendo released the Wii U in 2012 – a console often forgotten, sandwiched between the Wii and the Switch – both very popular consoles.

While the Wii sold a whopping 101 million units worldwide, the Wii U sold a measly 13 million units.

But from a console point of view it is a great bit of kit. Rumoured as the Wii HD before its release, the Wii U takes the Wii and adds features it was lacking.

Packing a 1.24Ghz Tri-Core PowerPC processor and 2GB RAM (up from the 729Mhz PowerPC processor and 64MB of RAM of the Wii) and the ability to store its games on Blu-Ray discs, the Wii U was a fairly powerful machine.

Two versions were released. A white 'basic' version with 8GB internal memory and a black 'premium' version with 32GB internal memory. This might not sound a lot compared to the 100GB+ of its competitors but games run entirely from disc rather than being installed so the internal memory was for save games and downloads only.

The key selling point was the GamePad controller. This oversized controller featured a 6.2” LCD touchscreen as well as the buttons you would find on a regular controller. It meant you could play a lot of games without having your TV on, but it did mean the controller had to be within a close vicinity of your console.

The name suggested a backtrack on the Wii philosophy of being a family console. It was no longer 'we' as in everyone, but 'you' as in a personal console once again.

A massive bonus – and something many still don’t know – is the Wii U is fully backward compatible with the Wii games and all accessories. The Wii U system interface contains a section for the Wii and this then reboots the Wii U into Wii mode.

With the Wii U supporting HDMI (and the Wii not) this means Wii games can still be played on modern TVs.

Wii U games look stunning, aimed at taking advantage of the extra processing power and HD graphics with some main stream games like Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 looking damn near identical to the Playstation 3 version.

As with all Nintendo consoles it is the first party Mario titles only available on Nintendo hardware that keeps them afloat and why most people buy Nintendo consoles. New Super Mario Bros Wii U, Super Smash Bros U, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario World 3D, The Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker HD, The Legend Of Zelda Breath Of The Wild, Mario Party 10 and Yoshi's Woolly World all make up the best selling titles on the Wii U.

However, the Wii U never really took off. The GamePad was a good idea but the battery life was poor and gamers just didn’t see enough reason to splash a lot of money on an enhanced Wii, when you could pick up Wii consoles for next to nothing.

The lack of sales made a number of companies cut support either entirely or slimmed down such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Bethesda – which obviously impacted sales further, making it one of the lowest selling mainstream consoles ever.

In 2015 the basic version was discontinued and early 2017 saw Nintendo stop production altogether.

I own one. It is for my son and he loves it, and I love the fact I can watch TV or play on my console while he is sitting next to me playing on his Wii U via the GamePad. It also means I can have a cheeky bash on Super Mario Bros Wii U while my wife is watching her stuff on TV.

The Switch owes a lot to the Wii and the Wii U. While the GamePad was tied to the Wii U, it was a forerunner to a portable powerful console such as the Switch and the joy-cons from the Switch are redesigned Wii motion controllers.

So, don’t overlook the Wii U. It is a great console. It is really two consoles in one, with the GamePad being an amazing feature.

Written by Simon Royal. Follow me at twitter.com/simonroyal