DO NOT BUY THE GOOGLE PIXEL 9a

JerryRigEverthing

We already know that lithium batteries are 95 percent recyclable. Meaning that 95 percent of the valuable materials in your smartphone battery can be recovered and reused pretty much indefiniately. Over and over and over again.   EXCEPT for when companies like Google on this Google Pixel 9a make it difficult by permanently glueing the battery in place. There is no  need for this excessive glue.

Transcript

00:00It's scientifically proven that about 10% of humans, usually females, can see more colors

00:07than all the rest of us. They're called tetrachromats, and due to an extra type of cone

00:12cell in the retina, they can experience a 100 fold increase in superhuman ability to perceive

00:18different shades, hues, and pigments than the rest of us normal-eyed peasants. So when Google

00:23calls this Pixel 9a the color of iris, I can only assume that whoever named it can see more colors

00:29than me. Personally, I'm just going to call it light blue and continue on with my day.

00:38I am a big fan of the minimalist camera bump. The ability to lay flat on a table is massive

00:43improvement. What bothers me most about the Pixel 9a though isn't visible on the outside. Yeah,

00:49it's throwing off iPhone vibes, and that's totally fine. We'll get to my deal breaker in just a second.

00:54First, the scratch test. Google is selling the Pixel 9a for $499, which is pretty good. Not having a

01:02camera bump is rather amazing for my Mohs hardness picks. We also know that Google picked an older

01:07recipe of Gorilla Glass, Gorilla Glass 3, to help save on costs. It might not be as impact resistant

01:13as Gorilla Glass Victus, but we still see the normal scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level

01:197. The Gorilla Glass 3 is also protecting the 13 megapixel hole punch selfie camera. And the glass

01:25continues upward through the black screen bezels to the edge of the phone where it meets with a razor

01:30thin earpiece slit. And honestly, I imagine that a good chunk of the costs from this phone come from

01:35the aluminum side rails. You can always save two Benjamins and go with a plastic CMF Phone 2 Pro instead,

01:46but it all depends on what you like or what your wallet likes. The buttons are also metal and do not

01:52separate from the frame of the phone. The top has dual antenna lines and a noise cancelling microphone hole. The

01:58left side is a button free blank slate of anodized aluminum. The bottom of the phone is where I start to

02:07have a few more concerns. It has a 23 watt USB-C 3.2 port, a microphone hole, and a SIM card tray, which like,

02:15yeah, major bummer about that no microSD card slot. But the thing I'm worried about is supposedly the IP68

02:22water resistance rating. You know, the submersible level of water protection. The thing you should watch

02:27out for is this large opening for the speaker grill. Usually these are small holes punched into the

02:32frame like we see on the iPhones, Samsungs, or Red Magics of the world. But Google's just got a slot

02:38down here worthy of a Nintendo Switch cartridge, and the waterproofing mesh is left unprotected on the

02:44inside of that slot. Just like leaning on a screen door would destroy the screen, any dirt, lint, or pocket

02:50sand entering into this crevice could very easily completely eliminate the waterproofing. So it's something

02:56to watch out for if you ever need to clean this slot out. The mesh screen can very easily be punctured

03:02and damaged. My favorite part of the Pixel 9a though is the lack of camera bump. The two cameras,

03:07a 48 megapixel main camera and the 13 megapixel ultra wide are protected with an oval piece of glass

03:14instead of a wall to wall camera shelf. The single tone LED flash is covered with plastic. The only metal

03:20we find on the back panel is the black ring that surrounds the camera ovals. Now while I have you,

03:26it turns out that blueberries weren't always called blueberries. Back in the day, hundreds of years

03:33ago, they were called star fruits thanks to the little star shape formed from where the blueberry

03:39blossom used to be on the berry. Personally, I think star fruits is a way cooler name, and I didn't realize

03:48until halfway through our class with Jerry that the color iris is also a flower. It's blue obviously,

03:54but there's no way I'm drawing one of those, so star fruit it is. One blueberry bush can produce

04:00thousands of berries a year, so they make excellent low maintenance snacks if you have a garden.

04:05Where was I? Oh yeah. The back of the Pixel 9a is plastic. The screen of the Pixel 9a is a 1080p,

04:12120Hz, 6.3 inch actual display with 2,700 nits of brightness. It does last for about 30 seconds under

04:20the heat from my lighter with surprisingly minimal amounts of damage. The main structural issues we

04:25want to watch out for we find through the bend test. Yeah 500 bucks isn't a budget phone to be

04:30sure, but a low price point doesn't give any phone the excuse to not be durable. Luckily for Google,

04:36the Pixel 9a, while adopting the iPhone aesthetic, has also adopted the iPhone's rigidity, and this

04:43Android phone is on flexing from both the front and the back. So you might be asking, hey Jerry,

04:49if the Pixel 9a survives a durability test, why would you tell people not to buy it? And we're

04:54getting there, don't you worry. First I gotta vent about those annoying text message scams,

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06:17and identity protection. I'll leave a link in the description for your Bitdefender premium security

06:22subscription along with a discount and thanks to Bitdefender for sponsoring this video. I was so excited

06:28about Bitdefender that I accidentally left my hot air on the plastic bag for too long and absolutely

06:33roasted that thing. It's all good though. Google's usually pretty good about selling replacement parts

06:37through iFixit. I'll pop a T3 bit into my screwdriver and remove the 15 visible T3 screws on the back

06:44plastics. These are different sizes, so if you're doing this repair at home, make sure to keep the

06:48screws organized. And make sure to turn the phone off. And remember that there are three more T3 screws

06:55hidden under the Pixel 9a's camera ring. The reason I would suggest not buying the Pixel 9a this year is

07:01because Pixel's still doing something that every other smartphone manufacturer has successfully quit

07:07doing. Apple has quit, Samsung quit doing it, Red Magic, and OnePlus never did it. Nothing is solid,

07:14and Huawei's good. But Google on this Pixel 9a still has the world's most garbage battery removal system

07:21on the planet. I cannot say enough bad things about this battery removal procedure. Not even with isopropyl

07:27alcohol can then dissolve the glue under this battery, and prying it out could cause it to combust.

07:33I've been there and done that. Honestly, I hope whoever greenlit this battery attachment style

07:38steps in a puddle of water while wearing socks. Permanent glue is a giant metal finger to recycling

07:44and the planet. Google says their aluminum frame is made from 100% recycled materials, but like the only

07:50way they got that recycled aluminum in the first place is because other manufacturers didn't contaminate

07:55the raw material by permanently adhering other elements to it. Separation is the first step to

08:01recycling, and until Google fixes their battery mounting procedure and gets rid of this glue and

08:07worthless pull straps, I can't recommend their phones to anyone. Because no matter how many years

08:12of updates the phone gets, it'll still need to be recycled at some point. I'm just going to leave the

08:17battery here where it is since I don't feel like exploding today. There are two more T3 screws holding down the

08:22ultra large motherboard. This lady snakes around the battery all the way down to the lower charging

08:27port board, which is soldered in place. There's also a ribbon attached to the back side with the

08:32Lego style ribbon connector. This is for the screen. Technically the screen could be fully replaced

08:37without taking off the back panel at all, which is pretty cool. Pixels have always been pretty repairable,

08:43minus, you know, the whole battery thing. The main camera is 48 megapixel and does have optical image

08:48stabilization, and the 13 megapixel ultra wide camera does not have OAS. Like even iFixit is

08:54heating up their battery with a hot air gun to get it out. Can you imagine trying to pry out a hot lithium

09:00battery? It's wild, and Google needs to change. The lower loudspeaker does not have any visible balls

09:06inside. However, the upper stereo speaker does have balls in the earpiece. And like I don't want to be a

09:11party pooper, this is a great phone, but for the past few years this battery issue has gotten ridiculous.

09:17We know that lithium batteries are 95% recyclable and reusable, but only if manufacturers build

09:23their phones in a way that allows us to get them out easily. So until Google's battery attachment

09:28method is different, vote with your wallet and don't buy one. Or seven years from now when all your

09:34updates are over, Google's lithium battery juice is going to be leaking out of the landfill into your

09:40drinking water. Get your Bitdefender discount with a link in the description, and thanks a ton for watching.

09:47I'll see you around.

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