After upgrading from my OnePlus 8 Pro, I decided to pick up a Google Pixel 9a. I wasn’t looking for anything too expensive, mainly because I use my phone for very basic purposes like calls and texts. I feel very old-school in that sense, so I figured a budget-friendly phone was a good fit. I have no issues with my Pixel 9a, and even though it has a weaker processor than my OnePlus 8 Pro’s Snapdragon 865, it hasn’t mattered for basic phone use — and my Pixel is still getting security updates, so that’s a plus.
Since I haven’t typically used my phone for much, I haven’t had a chance to dig into the settings and find a bunch of underrated things about it. As it turns out, this little Pixel can do a lot more than I initially gave it credit for. I stumbled on Gestures in my settings, and that opened my eyes to what my Pixel is capable of. It’s simple stuff to a lot of people, I imagine, but being able to turn on my flashlight without digging through different screens changed the way I use my phone.
- Brand
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Google
- SoC
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Tensor G4, Titan M2
- Display
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6.3-inch 1080 x 2424 pixel resolution pOLED, (422.2ppi), 60-120Hz variable refresh rate, 1,800 nits (HDR), 2,700 nits (peak brightness)
- RAM
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8GB
- Storage
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128GB/256GB
- Battery
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5,100mAh
The Gestures are a game-changer
I can’t believe I didn’t find out about this earlier
Phones have come a long way right under my nose, and I just never paid attention. Sure, I’ve noticed things like 120Hz screens and wireless charging, but I didn’t know how much the software was changing. Something I use the most on my phone is the flashlight, and I remember years ago when I’d actually record a video with the flash on just to illuminate a room. Those days are gone, and it’s as simple as dragging down from the top of my screen and hitting the flashlight button. At least, I thought that’s how you do it.
The Gestures settings let me toggle my flashlight on just by tapping the back of my phone. It’s mind-blowing to learn this, and I find myself just hitting the back of my phone several times a day just to see the flashlight turn on. If the flashlight isn’t what you want, you can change it to do something else. If you like to use social media a lot on your phone, you could make this tap open up Reddit or something like that.
This is a very cool feature that I wish I had known about before, but I’m glad I discovered it now. It’s sort of buried deep in the settings for some reason. You have select Settings, go into System, and then you can turn on Gestures. What I’ve been talking about so far are the Quick Tap options, but you can turn on a bunch of different settings to switch on. I also turned on the Lift to check phone option, so when I have my phone lying on my ottoman, I can sort of kick it with my foot to make it light up and show me the time. I understand that’s peak laziness, but it’s a cool setting that means I don’t have to lean forward and do anything myself to light it up.
There are some other things, like one-handed mode that makes it easier to use your phone with a single hand, but I decided to leave that one turned off. Nevertheless, I’m glad I found this Gestures tab, despite how much it seemed like Google wanted to hide it from me. Unfortunately, it’s not all that great. I have a thin silicone case on the back of my Pixel, and I found that it doesn’t always register my taps. I think it’s because of the case, and that’s a bummer. I don’t want to use my Pixel without a case, so I just have to put up with hitting the back of my phone a few extra times to get my flashlight to turn on. Sure, it’s annoying, but it’s better than removing the case.
Time to become more acquainted with the Pixel
It’s a nice phone
You might think it’s crazy that I just found out about Gestures, but wait until I tell you that I have just now started to get into the greater Pixel ecosystem. I’m strange in the sense that I buy products that I think are interesting, and I don’t tie myself down. I have Alexa devices, Google Home devices, and Apple devices in my house. My Apple TV 4K is the only Apple product I have, for example. Apple is well known for its interconnectivity, so I’m leaving a lot on the table by not getting more Apple products.
For some reason, the Fitbit Air caught my attention. I didn’t actually know Google had purchased Fitbit, so that was a surprise to me, but it actually caught my attention more. The Fitbit Air came with a Google Health Premium subscription, and $30 store credit to the Google Store. I figured I could get a pair of Pixel Buds to go with my Pixel phone, and now I have a rapidly growing Google ecosystem. It’s nice to finally be part of something like this, and it finally feels like I’m in the modern age. In so many ways, I’ve been resistant to change like this, but it’s nice to see how unified everything can be. My Pixel Buds automatically connect to my phone when I open their case, and my Fitbit automatically syncs up with my Google Health app.
If this is the stuff I’ve been missing out on, it’s a bummer that it took me so long to finally hop in. Obviously, these devices would work with phones other than the Pixel, but it’s still cool to see everything communicating with each other like that. It’d be nice if I could still cast to my streaming box, but I can’t since it’s an Apple TV 4K. I guess the next step for me would be the Google TV Streamer, but I haven’t been too interested in that.
The Pixel 9a isn’t even my first foray into the Pixel world. I had a Pixel 2 XL nearly 10 years ago, and I actually still have it in my closet because I have a lot of trouble getting rid of old electronics. There was nothing wrong with the phone, and I liked it enough to eventually come back to the Pixel ecosystem. It’s nice to see Google supporting a product this long, so I think Pixel might be here for the long haul. I look forward to digging through more of my settings to find out some other things I might be missing out on. I’ve been using these gestures daily since finding them, so I hope I find more things like that.
