Ciro Santilli
OurBigBook.comBought: January 2020 from store.google.com/ for 350 pounds.
GMS Arena: www.gsmarena.com/google_pixel_3a-9408.php
Front camera video on Android 11: about 100MiB / minute. The encoding is however super inefficient, a FFmpeg re-encode without any options reduces it by 1/3.
For Fastboot mode: Power and Volume down simultaneously for 10-15s. It is OK if screen sleeps. On "no command", power then volume up to see options.
2026-08: same status as 2023-10, managed to get mouse to work, but I forgot the bloody PIN. Doing a factory reset. Gemini instructions worked out perfectly:
- Press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons until you see the Fastboot mode screen (triangle with an exclamation point).
- Use the volume buttons to highlight Recovery Mode and press the Power button to select it.
- If you see an Android robot with "No command," press and hold the Power button, press Volume Up once, then release Power.
- Scroll to Wipe data/factory reset using the volume buttons and press Power.
- Confirm the reset, then select Reboot system now when finished
After factory reset, boot requires motherfucking pin or Google account to unlock the phone. But managed with Google account.
Noticed that the battery on that phone seems also very unreliable, is getting very warm very fast and sometimes shuts down because of it, and discharges very fast. So I have to switch between power and usb cable for mouse/keyboard fast like crazy to keep it going through operations.
2023-10: touchscreen not registering touches anymore. Still displays images. Manage to regain access with wired USB mouse + a simple USB-C adapter. RIP. Will attempt replacement: store.ifixit.co.uk/products/google-pixel-3a-screen-genuine?variant=42388954448071, partly to get Authy access which I had never properly tested... Replaced screen, but at exact same status as before: shows image but no touch. thus I wasted my money and time (minus the learning) something else is broken.