Google Pixel

New smartphones come and go every year, and every year the prices for these phones also rise higher and higher. There will always be room for what many call "wallet-friendly" phones, especially if they come with tempting financing options. That is what Google's MVNO business is offering by letting you buy a Pixel 4a and a protection plan with a two-year monthly subscription. Ironically, that doesn't include a Google Fi cellular plan itself.

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uBreakiFix is already known for offering repair services for many smartphone brands and models but it really rose to fame when it became the only one, at least in the US, to be officially authorized as a repair partner. That meant that Pixel owners can simply walk into one of the hundreds of uBreakiFix centers nationwide instead of waiting for mail-in repairs. That, however, was before COVID-19 and the company now has a rather ingenious way to fix your phone without even having to leave your house.

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Google's 2020 not-so-high-end flagship has just started going out to new owners and there are already worrying complaints about the phone's quality. These aren't about some software problems that can be easily fixed by an update nor are they about display issue, well at least not as far as output or touch input are concerned. Instead, it's a more problematic gap between the phone's display and metal frame which may or may not affect the phone's water resistance.

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There's a thing magicians do called misdirection, where they catch your eye with one thing while something more important happens elsewhere. Whether modern smartphones count as magic is probably a little too philosophical for here, but I certainly got the misdirection feeling from the Pixel 4a 5G. The headline feature, its 5G connectivity, is right there in the name, but I'm not sure anybody should buy one simply for its potential for higher-speed data.

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If you ever doubted that computational photography was the new big thing in smartphones, the Pixel 5 will settle that conclusively, but iPhone users shouldn't feel left out by one of the new Android phone's flagship camera features. Portrait Light allows you to take images that have depth data - like the faux-bokeh shots most recent phones can capture - and add extra illumination as though you had a pro-style lighting rig on hand.

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The Pixel 5 has a lot to prove. Google's 2020 flagship not only needs to convince shoppers to open their wallets in an unusually challenging year, but demonstrate that the sins of last year's Pixel 4 are not to be repeated. If there was anything to give us confidence it could do that, it was the pitch-perfect Pixel 4a: now, the question is how much of that magic can rub off on the Pixel 5.

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Deja-vu just got bigger, and faster, with Google's Pixel 4a 5G arriving to add some speed and screen size to what's probably been the best budget Android phone of 2020. More affordable sibling to the new Pixel 5, the 5G-capable smartphone still starts out at under $500 but adds the big display that some felt was missing from the Pixel 4a.

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Google Fi is adding support for a bunch of Samsung phones today, in addition to rolling out support for the latest Pixel phones. The phones being added to Google Fi today include all of Samsung's 5G phones, the Pixel 5, and the Pixel 4a (5G). 5G service is definitely the theme of the day, with Google Fi detailing its 5G coverage in the US as well.

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Google just rolled out its monthly Pixel Security Update and while it's pretty much regular fare by now, this month's release is significant for a slightly unrelated reason. This is, technically, the last security update that the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will receive, following the company extended update commitment to its Pixel phones. That said, Google is still set to give the phone one last hoorah before it finally bids its second "Designed by Google" phone farewell.

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The Pixel 5 ended up exactly like what leaks have pointed out, a mid-range phone despite having no "a" to its name. Unsurprisingly, the phone didn't have one of its predecessor's most criticized feature, Motion Gestures powered by Project Soli. It seems, however, that it isn't the only thing that's missing but it's also no surprise to hear that the processor that powers it was also removed from the phone as well.

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Last year's new hotness is this year's normal as 5G support becomes pretty much standard in many new phones. It's no secret, however, that this new technology doesn't come cheap and is often blamed for the rise in smartphone prices this year. Most 5G phones, however, probably have nothing over Verizon's touted Ultra Wideband mmWave 5G network, which unsurprisingly also comes at a price. Unfortunately for Pixel 4a 5G hopefuls, that price is probably too much to ask for.

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In addition to all of the device announcements Google made today, the company also revealed that the Google Photos app for Android is getting a brand new photo editor. The new features shipping along with this update seem to be geared toward making it easier for anyone to edit, whether they don't have a ton of experience editing photos or they're looking to make some specific edits manually. In addition, Google also detailed a new feature called Portrait Light that will be heading to Pixel devices in the future, starting with the new phones that were revealed today.

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