I’ve been researching phones to replace my Moto X4. The Pixel 7a seems like a good choice, but I’m disappointed in having to accept several downgrades after all these years. 1) No headphone jack. This isn’t that big a deal, but it does seem silly that I can’t get that. 2) No storage expansion card. This one I can live with. 128 GB is likely enough. 3) Slightly less wide. I really don’t want a giant phone at all, but my eyes are getting bad and I’d prefer something wider and maybe just a tiny bit taller than the X4. The Pixel 7a is a little too narrow for my taste. 4) Weight. I know I’m going to have to give in on this one, but my Moto X4 is a nice light 163 g. Pixel 7a is 193.5 g.
The other general issue is that the build quality on Pixels seems to be all over the map. Some people seem to have no problems, others have tons.
I’ve also been looking at the Moto G Power 5G 2023, which is larger, weighs a little less, probably gets better battery life, has a headphone jack and expansion card slot, has 256 GB of storage and is considerably cheaper. The downsides though are that the camera won’t be as good as the Pixel 7a and the software update support will likely not go more than a few years. Also, the Moto G Power 5G 2023 seems enormous to me. I don’t know if phone manufacturers all wear pants with incredibly deep pockets or what. But I hope they reign in the sizes heights.
I’ve mentioned the software solution to my wife, but I think the problem is still that the size/weight of the phone make it difficult to hold and operate one handed even if the pixels are all squished into a corner.