Hi all,
I’ve had a 3a for some years now, and I like almost everything about the phone (though I sincerely wish they’d used more durable glass, holy canoli). However, the battery has started to fail, and I was wondering if it’s worth replacing? It would cost about 80 USD to have it professionally replaced.
I know the device is no longer supported by Google, but I was thinking of running GrapheneOS instead of Android, anyway.
Any thoughts or insights? I’m far from a genius when it comes to cell phones, so I’d appreciate anything you have to say.
Thanks!
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Seems cheap to me to replace. I would.
I’m gonna replace my 5a battery when it comes time if no decent Jack enabled phone is out to buy that can run calyx or graphene.
I left out that the screen is cracked, too, which on the 3a means all sorts of crazy issues until it’s replaced. Altogether the repair cost would be about 160 USD. I’ve dug myself a little hole here, but I really like the phone I have. I’m just not confident that it will keep working long enough to make the repair worth it.
I would absolutely fix it and keep this phone if I knew the firmware wouldn’t become an issue. Apparently GrapheneOS doesn’t support the 3a any longer, but it sounds like LineageOS might. However, I don’t currently know enough about running a new OS to feel confident in this plan. I’m interested though.
I upgraded from a 3 to a 7 just a couple weeks ago. I’m still getting used to the gesture variation, but otherwise my experience using it is almost the same, just much faster. My battery was struggling to hold a charge too, and the 7 has really good battery life for me so far. I was able to get a 7 for $400 which was definitely worth it, might not have gotten it if it was full price. I liked that the 3 was smaller and lighter though
Yes, the size of the 3a is excellent. I like the way it fits in my hands and pocket. Is the 7 substantially larger? Though maybe keeping it in my pocket is why the screen keeps breaking… (Lies, it’s because I drop it and the screen is as delicate as a potato chip.)
It fits in my pocket alright, but it’s a solid half inch taller, quarter inch wider, and somewhat thicker/heavier
Google would give me a whopping $35 for my 3a if I traded it in for the 7… I think I’m just going to replace the 3a battery ;) Thanks for the info!
GrapheneOS does not support end of life devices, which I believe the Pixel 3 is. I would suggest you get a new Pixel regardless of if you install GrapheneOS or not because of security updates. Luckily the Pixel 7 has a promised 5 years of security updates.
Oops, I didn’t realize that about Graphene. Thanks for the info.
For sure any update would be very worth the price. If you have to pay $80 for the battery you might look for a used pixel 5 for ~$180 ? Huge upgrade for sure
That’s an interesting idea. I’ve been reluctant to get a new phone because of the heavy resource use, but getting a “less old” Pixel isn’t really pulling from supply chains in any way. Thanks for the thought.
As a nerd with an kind of ecological consciousness that’s how I try to deal with this. It’s not the ideal situation but I try to always find a use for the old phone - new owner like a kid, or back to second hand market
GrapheneOS doesn’t supoort EOL (End-of-Life) Pixel phones but other custom roms like CalyxOS or LineageOS still support it with monthly updates
the installer of CalyxOS in particular is really easy to use, not even close as complicated to whatever hops you need to jump for Samsung or Xiaomi phonesI’m kinda sad what I replaced my Pixel 3 with CalyxOS on it, especially the finger print sensor is just miles ahead of what ever the Pixel 7 is
using the custom rom without Goolge Play Services also helped with the battery a bitThanks for the info about GrapheneOS. It looks like CalyxOS also has limited support at this point – some software updates, but no firmware. Doesn’t bode well! Not sure about LineageOS.
Both CalyxOS and LineageOS fixed the Screen lock exploit found last year: https://bugs.xdavidhu.me/google/2022/11/10/accidental-70k-google-pixel-lock-screen-bypass/
“Stock” Android by Google still has the exploit unfixed, so custom roms here are actually more secure
I’m in the same boat with my 4a 5G. I feel no need or motivation to upgrade, but the battery is starting to show its age.
I hear that. The kicker is that my Pixel has a cracked screen, too, which for the 3a means all sorts of malfunctions until I replace it. (Currently the camera turns on almost every time I click the power button.) I need to fix it or toss it, and shelling out $160 to fix the screen and battery is likely a bad idea given the age of the phone. It sucks though: the phone still feels great, and I have no need to upgrade other than repair costs.
I am VERY MUCH looking forward to the day when we expect to keep these devices around for longer. I’m interested in the new Fairphone release with fully replaceable parts, but it’s going to be expensive (and possibly mediocre).
I wanted to do this with my Pixel 2 (currently my mother’s phone). But the Pixel 2 is so hard to replace than in this case I decided to not do it. In the PIxel 4 (my wife’s phone) I did it and it improved a bit because the previous battery was staying at 1% for like 40 minutes so there was something wrong with it (I always blamed the NFC charger I used with that phone).
FYI GrapheneOS support also stops when Google stops software support (https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices), so you might end up with stuck with no updates even if you manage the repair and the switch to GrapheneOS. If you’re concerned at all about security that might be a dealbreaker.
Cracked screen shouldn’t matter too much – based on my own repair experience, you should basically assume that you’ll destroy the screen trying to swap the 3a’s battery anyway because the screen is so thin, so fragile, and glued down so aggressively.
At 80 USD for the battery plus another 100 for a screen, you might just want to look for a refurbished 3a/4a/4a 5G/5a. The 5a is a smidge larger but will get another year or so of software and security support; the 4a is a smidge smaller (and fortunately has much more durable Gorilla Glass) but is about to lose software updates. The 3a has already fallen off the cliff of software and security updates IIRC. But all of them have the headphone jack. If you’re willing to lose the headphone jack, you might want to look at the 6a and 7a, which are larger still but will guarantee you 4 years of security updates and also have GrapheneOS support.
