Kevin Boone

Google Pixel and Sony Xperia handsets for budget de-Googling

This article is about choosing between a refurbished Google Pixel and a refurbished Sony Xperia, for people who want a low-cost, Google-free smartphone. In order to make the comparison as fair as possible, I’ve chosen two handsets that were released within days of one another, which have similar screens and capabilities, and are available now at similar prices. Specifically, I’m comparing the Google Pixel 7a, and the Sony Xperia 10 V. These were ‘budget’ handsets when they were released, and you can now get a refurbished model of either, in good condition, for UK£100-150.

Of course, you can pay a lot more for a Sony or Google handset, even a refurbished one. At the time of writing, you might pay £450 for either a Pixel 9 or an Xperia 1 V and, again, they will have broadly similar specifications. I will comment briefly on the more expensive handsets in each range, where I think I have enough information to do so. Because I’m stingy, and retired, I have more experience of the cheaper models.

Note
I’m assuming the reader knows at least a little about installing alternative firmware on an Android handset. I won’t be explaining any of the installation procedures, or describing how to use tools like adb. All the handsets I describe have well-documented installation procedures for all the alternative firmwares they support, and can be purchased de-Googled from specialist suppliers if you prefer to avoid the installation altogether.

First impressions

The Pixel 7a and Xperia 10 V are similar in size, and have similar, flat OLED HDR screens with Gorilla Glass externals. Both have plastic frames with rounded corners, although the Pixel is about 50g heavier. They feel similar in the hand.

Their stock firmwares have similar user interfaces and, so long as you don’t get a carrier-locked model, there’s relatively little vendor bloatware on either (at least as compared to Samsung’s horrific stock firmware).

Choice of de-Googled firmware

Google’s Pixel range is, ironically, favoured by de-Googlers, and with good reason: it’s easy to install alternative firmware, and there’s quite a range available. Of the mainstream possibilities (not that anything is ‘mainstream’ in this field), recent Pixels support LineageOS, /e/OS, GrapheneOS, and CalyxOS, and probably others. If you go for the Xperia, you’ll be limited to /e/OS or LineageOS – and you probably won’t be able to re-lock the bootloader after installation, if that’s a concern. I’m a long-standing Lineage user, but these days I’d probably install Graphene if I could, and if it worked perfectly. I had a few minor problems with Graphene on the Pixel 7a, but none with Lineage or /e/OS. Of course, I can’t compare Lineage and Graphene on the Xperia, because it won’t run Graphene.

Installation

A prerequisite to installing new firmware is the ability to unlock the bootloader, and it’s difficult to predict in advance whether this will be possible. Handsets provided by cellular carriers are notorious for having their firmwares locked down, presumably to make it difficult to transfer them to other networks.

I’ve not so far heard of a recent Pixel which doesn’t allow the bootloader to be unlocked, but Sony is the only manufacturer I know of that actually documents how to unlock their bootloaders. Unlocking the bootloader on the Xperia does require a secret code which you can get from Sony’s website. If Sony changed its policy in this regard, you’d be stuck, because there’s no way to proceed without this code (and it’s specific to the handset).

Right now, though, it’s unlikely you’ll come across a Pixel or Xperia handset that can’t have its bootloader unlocked, so long as you avoid carrier-locked models.

Note
Since de-Googlers are likely to be privacy-conscious I’ll point out that, although, unlocking an Xperia’s bootloader does require input from Sony, Sony doesn’t ask for any personal information.

Note
Sony deserves credit for actively supporting open-source development. At a time when many smartphone vendors need the threat of legal action even to comply with the minimal obligations that arise from their use of open-source components, Sony actively distributes both source code and binary blobs for their Android. Google did the same until recently, but there’s some question about their ongoing commitment.

Both the Xperia and Pixel handsets support the ‘fastboot’ protocol in their bootloaders, and installation of new firmware is comparatively easy – at least compared to Samsung’s handsets, and the finger-breaking button combinations they require to enter the appropriate installation modes. If you have a Pixel, and you’re installing Graphene, you could use the web-based installer (which works with Chromium-based browsers). Otherwise, you’ll need the adb and fastboot tools, which are widely available for most computers.

When I installed Lineage on my Xperia 10 V, I encountered the problem that installation appeared to get stuck at 47%. This is a documented oddity and, in fact, the installation appears to be have been successful, despite this. On the Pixel 7a, installation of Graphene, /e/OS, and Lineage went entirely smoothly, with the whole process taking less than 15 minutes for each (once I’d assembled the tools and firmware files). Post-installation set-up will likely take longer, because you probably won’t be drawing all your configuration from Google’s servers.

Both /e/OS and LineageOS are easy to root, if you need that capability. If you need to root your Pixel, it will be easier to install one of these firmwares than Graphene, which discourages rooting.

One peculiarity I noted with the Xperia was that in ‘fastboot’ mode (where you’d do most of the installation), you see a blank screen. The only way to tell it’s successfully entered fastboot mode is that the notification LED turned blue. The Pixel handsets display a specific information screen in fastboot mode. Despite this oddity, all the usual fastboot commands worked fine on the Xperia.

Both the Xperia and the Pixel show warning messages at boot time after installing custom firmware. Even with GrapheneOS, which allows the bootloader to be relocked, I still see a warning. On neither handset does the warning block the boot process, but I would prefer to be able to remove it.

Speed and responsiveness

The Pixel 7A has a faster CPU and GPU than the Xperia, and is twice as fast in some benchmarks. Moreover, it has 25% more RAM. For the same price, you get better computing resources from the Pixels than from the Xperias.

These aren’t just notional differences: the Pixel is noticeably snappier in operation, in a side-by-side comparison. Rendering complicated web pages, for example, is manifestly faster. The Pixel 7a starts from power-off in about 20 seconds, while the Xperia takes nearly a minute. Because recent Android versions do such a lot of initialization on power-on, routine operations like launching apps aren’t noticeably faster on one handset than the other.

In fact, while the Xperia 10 range is often described by reviewers as ‘underpowered’, I’m not sure I’d notice the deficiency except when I have a faster handset in my other hand. Perhaps I would – I do a lot of this kind of testing. Whatever: both the Xperia 10 V and the Pixel 7a are fast enough for day-to-day operation, and neither would be fast enough for video gaming, I suspect.

Screens

Both the Xperia 10 V and the Pixel 7a have OLED screens of approximately six inches diagonal, with about 450 pixels-per-inch density. Side-by-side they look the same to me. The difference is in the aspect ratio: all models in the Xperia range have a 21:9 shape, which is widely used in movies, and nowhere else.

I scarcely notice the difference in aspect ratio in day-to-day use although, of course, it’s easy to see when then handsets are side-by-side. The more expensive Xperia models have larger screens (with the same shape), and some users have complained that they’re awkward to operate one-handed. I can’t imagine that being a problem with the Xperia 10 range, and I don’t have a problem with the larger models (but I have hands like dinner plates).

The Pixel 7a display has a 90Hz refresh rate, rather than the Xperia 10’s 60Hz. Frankly, I think these fast refresh rates are a marketing gimmick, and I can’t see the difference even under hard use.

Interestingly, the Xperias avoid the modern trend of putting the front-facing camera in an irritating notch or cut-out in the display: it’s in a separate part of the casing above the screen. A small point, but significant if you find screen cut-outs irritating.

Another small instance of reduced irritation: the Xperias have SIM-card slots that can be opened without a tool.

Fingerprint sensor

The Xperia 10 V has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor in the power button. The Pixel has an in-screen sensor. Both worked fine, with all the firmwares I tried, although the Xperia’s was rather fussy to set up.

I prefer the side-mounted fingerprint sensor, because it’s easier to find in the dark, but I appreciate that this is a matter of taste.

FM radio

The Xperia 10 V has a built-in FM radio although it is, sadly, the last Sony handset to have one. So far as I know, none of the Pixel range has an FM radio.

I guess this isn’t a big deal for most people: you can get the same content using Internet broadcasting, which most radio stations now support.

I like FM radio because it works in off-grid situations where there’s no Internet access. However, I don’t regard its lack as a show-stopper, and I suspect it wasn’t a widely-used feature in the Xperia devices.

Cameras

The Pixel 7a has notionally superior sensor resolution to the Xperia 10 V in all its cameras, front and rear. However, I suspect the sensor out-performs the lens in all modern smartphones, and I don’t see any difference between the Xperia and Pixel handsets with everyday snapshots. Both benefit from a bit of post-processing. If you use a smartphone for serious photography, you’d probably do better to read reviews that focus on this sort of thing, because I don’t exercise the cameras much.

Audio

The huge, overpowering difference between all the Xperia models, and all the Pixel models, is that the Xperias have a headphone jack attached to a hi-fi quality DAC. If you’re a hi-fi enthusiast and like to use top-quality, wired headphones, you’ll need an external DAC for your Pixel – and not one of those cheap dongles.

I used a Moondrop Dawn Pro with the Pixel, with Sennheiser 800s headphones, and it sounded marvellous. But the Xperia sounded marvellous without the hassle of the extra DAC. And, of course, the DAC adds to the cost, if you don’t already have one. And you won’t be able to charge the handset with the DAC plugged in unless you also (sigh) buy a USB-C hub.

The reality is that if you care about getting top-quality audio from your smartphone, the Xperia range is currently the only game in town. But you can get excellent audio – albeit not the very best – from wireless headphones these days. Both the handsets I tested, with all the firmwares I tested, supported the LDAC Bluetooth codec, and were stable at the highest bitrate. So, with decent Bluetooth headphones, you should still get close to CD-quality audio.

In short, while the Xperias offer real hi-fi credentials, that probably won’t be a make-or-break matter for most purchasers (although it kind-of is for me).

Storage

Modern Xperias all support SD storage expansion up to 1Tb. The Pixels have no SD slot, but they do support USB-C memory sticks. Like the use of USB headphones and dongles, attaching a USB-C memory stick prevents charging and, while these devices did work in my tests, for all firmwares, I don’t regard this as a practical means of storage expansion.

It’s not surprising that the Pixels don’t support storage expansion: Google wants you to store all your stuff in their cloud. My feeling is that anybody who wants a Google-free handset will probably also want plentiful on-device storage, so the Xperias win hands-down in this area.

Charging

When I installed Lineage on the Xperia 10V, I was concerned to see that it wouldn’t charge wirelessly. After several hours of fruitless fiddling, I reinstalled the stock firmware, only to find that didn’t work, either.

I thought at first that my handset had a hardware fault but, no: amazingly, there are handsets made in 2023 that don’t support wireless charging at all. Who’d have thought it?

The Pixel 7a supported wireless charging, with stock and alternative firmware.

Some reviewers have complained that the Xperias are slow to charge over USB-C, but this isn’t something I noticed.

Battery life

The Xperia 10 V has a battery whose capacity is about 25% greater than the Pixel’s – at least on paper. In practice, I found the Xperia’s batter life to be hugely superior to the Pixels: far in excess of 25% longer.

I don’t know why this should be, when I’m running the same apps in broadly the same way on the same firmware (tested using Lineage). Perhaps the Pixel’s faster screen refresh is the culprit, or perhaps it just uses a more watt-hungry CPU. Or perhaps the Xperia throttles the CPU more, for temperature regulation?

I don’t know the explanation, and I think it would be inadvisable to read too much into my observations. I’m testing refurbished units, and neither has a new battery. The battery life will undoubtedly be affected by the way the previous owners used the handset. All the same, my observations do back up what other reviewers found.

VoLTE support

This is becoming a Big Deal, as network carriers switch off their 2G/3G infrastructure. In my region, and in many others, VoLTE is the only way to carry a voice call and, if your handset doesn’t support it, you won’t be able to make calls. At the time of writing, no Samsung handset supports VoLTE with any non-vendor firmware, and some don’t support it even with Samsung firmware.

I’m pleased to report, though, that VoLTE calling has been flawless with both the Xperia and Pixel handsets, with all the alternative firmwares I tested.

“OK Google” oddity on Lineage

I mention this in passing, although I can’t assess its significance.

When I installed LineageOS on the Pixel 7a, I noticed that two Google-related processes were running: com.android.hotwordenrollment.xgoogle and com.android.hotwordenrollment.okgoogle. I believe these are concerned with detection of the “OK Google” voice prompt. Since I specifically didn’t install any Google applications or services, I don’t understand why these processes were there.

I contacted the LineageOS maintainers about this and I was told that inclusion of these services was intentional, they couldn’t remember why, and that they “couldn’t be bothered to find out” (their exact words).

Whatever the explanation, I uninstalled the packages that provided these processes, and everything still works. Of course, if you actually use the “OK Google” functionality, you might need to leave these things alone.

I didn’t see these suspicious processes with Graphene on the Pixel, nor with Lineage on the Xperia. Whether they represent a privacy problem, I’m not sure.

Closing remarks

Google Pixel and Sony Xperia handsets are all good targets for de-Googling: installation of alternative firmware is comparatively straightforward, and nearly all features work fine.

But in most relevant particulars, at a comparable price point, the Pixel handsets outperform the Xperias. They’re certainly better computing platforms, with stronger CPUs and GPUs, and more RAM. They have superior camera sensors, and support more up-to-date standards for USB, Bluetooth, and wi-fi. Of course, the top-of-the-range Xperia will out-perform a budget Pixel – but here I’m comparing models with similar prices from a refurbisher.

In fact, the differences are even more stark when you compare the new prices. The Xperia 10 V was nearly twice the price of the Pixel 7a when both were released.

If you’re concerned about the physical security of the handset – and you probably should be, to some extent – buying a Pixel allows you to run Graphene, which has unmatched protection against tampering and ‘evil maid’ attacks. That’s not to say that Lineage and /e/OS are weak in security – far from it – but Graphene has the edge when it comes to device protection.

So it isn’t hard to see why the Pixel handsets are so popular. For most people, the only reason to choose the Xperia 10 V over the Pixel 7a is the improved battery life of the Xperia.

There is, however, one group of de-Googlers who will likely favour the Xperia: hi-fi enthusiasts. Or, I suppose, anybody for whom top-quality audio is a priority. Not only do the Xperias have hi-fi quality DACs and proper headphone jacks, they have the expandable storage that you’ll need if you’re sitting on a stack of hi-res FLAC audio files. There are other reasons to favour wired audio over wireless, including better A/V synchronization in video content, and a reduced number of devices that have to be kept charged.

Actually, I suppose there’s another kind of person who will favour the Sony handset: someone who doesn’t want to support Google in any way. Given that this article is about de-Googling, I imagine that there are a few readers in this group, including myself to some extent. I have to bite my lip and force myself to buy anything with Google branding.

I’ve been using a Pixel 7 for the last month and, while it’s been fine in most ways, the constant copying of media onto its meagre built-in storage has been a real drag. With an Xperia and a terrabyte SD card, media provision is essentially a fill-and-forget proposition. Using an external DAC has also been a nuisance: a small DAC like the Moondrop is too easy to lose, and a full-sized one is, well, full-sized. But ready support for wired headphones is likely only an advantage if you happen to own top-of-the-range wired headphones, or you have some other compelling reason to prefer wired audio.

The other stand-out feature of the Xperias is their screen aspect ratio. If you’re an avid movie-watcher, you might like the 21:9 shape. I’m sure that’s going to be a clincher for some people, even if it isn’t for me.

In summary: you’ll probably favour the Pixel handsets if…

You’ll probably favour the Xperias if…