Google Pixel 4a 5G 128GB (Factory Unlocked) (NEW) (Open Box)

The Google Pixel 4A 5G truly sounds impressive on paper with its Night Vision mode, powerful videography capabilities, 5G connectivity, extensive suite of apps, large file storage capacity, all-day battery, video streaming, yadda yadda yadda. And it's THIN! And it's LIGHT! - Only 168 grams! There's only one problem, however. It is as fragile as a potato chip. Six days ago, I was walking through my neighborhood with my nine-month-old Google Pixel 4A 5G in my front right pants pocket. The Pixel was encased in a Spigen Tough Armor case and was equipped with a tempered glass screen protector. Due to an unfortunate encounter with a dog, I tripped and fell - on my back, mind you. I was fortunately not hurt (although to this day I hope that worthless dog gets struck by lightning), but when I pulled my Pixel out of my pocket to exchange phone numbers with the dog's owner, I discovered the damage you see in the attached pictures. The phone display showed what I can only describe as a "green screen of death." From that moment to now, the phone has been totally unusable. The front screen is destroyed, the headphone jack is destroyed, and the back cover has partially separated from the front of the phone. And all this from a drop of about 33 inches. (I'm not a tall guy!) A drop that occurred while the phone was not only in its protective case, but was still in my pocket! Which leads to two philosophical questions. First, if a phone has impressive capabilities, yet is too fragile to take with you on a walk, what good is it? I don't play video games, nor do I watch movies on smartphones. And if I want to take pictures, there are plenty of good cameras that I can buy. My Pixel's capabilities are worthless to me now, and I am out $500 dollars for a phone that's turned into a piece of junk. Second, what's with the obsession that manufacturers and sellers of certain things have with weight and size? We're constantly being bombarded with marketing that says that we should buy the lightest, thinnest versions of certain very expensive things - as if the presence of even two or three extra grams will pin us to the ground. It's not like we're competing in the summer Olympics! I am thinking right now of the Greek myth of Sisyphus being punished eternally by being forced to roll a large boulder up a hill only to have the boulder slip out of his hands just before he gets to the hilltop. And I can imagine someone coming to him and saying, "Dude - the reason you can't roll that rock over the hill is because of the smartphone you're carrying! It adds weight and slows you down! You should buy one of our phones, because they don't weigh anything more than air!" Thin + light does not always equal "cutting-edge quality." Thin + light = cheap sometimes.