The Pixel 3a and 3a XL were finally announced at Google I/O, and while they’re being well-received by reviewers and Android enthusiasts alike, they are coming out at an extremely awkward time: 7 months removed from the launch of the original Pixel 3 and 3 XL. Anyone who had any interest in the matter knew that the Pixel 3a and 3a XL were a thing for months before the launch. We started seeing substantial leaks back in March, and there were rumors and whispers well before that. With each passing week it seemed more likely that Google wouldn’t even bother releasing the phones, because at some point it’d make more sense to just wait for the Pixel 4 line. With the number of leaks and amount of information available on the Pixel 3a and 3a XL, everything pointed to there being some sort of unforeseen holdup in their launch.
Now with the Pixel 3a and 3a XL in our hands, we have some solid clues as to just how long they were delayed. What got me thinking about this was something I noticed while I was setting up my Pixel 3a XL for the first time: it had very out of date Google apps. There were a few examples, but the best was the Gmail app, which was such an old version that it had the old interface that was replaced starting in late January. That means the phone went through its certification process for Google’s apps while that was the current app version, prior to February. Then, I noticed other breadcrumbs in the software. The Pixel 3a is running software build number PD2A.190115.032, which looks like a random alphanumeric string but actually has a good bit of information we can easily decipher. Google uses a standardized build number convention that shows when a particular software build for a phone was synced into the development branch — in this case it’s January 15, 2019. That isn’t necessarily the exact build date for the Pixel 3a’s software, but it’s at least when that process was started. We don’t need to split hairs on exact dates here to get to the same conclusion again: the Pixel 3a was in late stages of development in January.
It’s clear the Pixel 3a and 3a XL were substantially finished and ready to go by March at the latest. The last part is its Android security patch, which is surprisingly out of date for a Pixel. It has the March 5 security patch out of the box, which is now two versions behind and has yet to receive an update — and I don’t have a pre-release or non-final phone, these phones are sale now. Yes the Pixel 3a isn’t the same high-end device as the standard Pixel, but it still has the same level of commitment from Google for monthly security patches. You would expect it to come out of the box, or be updated immediately thereafter, with the latest available security update. Normally this
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