Google Pixel fans rush to snap up £13 a month Pixel 9a deal from Sky
Google's latest Pixel phone is on the horizon, with a new Made by Google event scheduled for next month. However, we've spotted a fantastic deal on a Pixel phone that's worth taking note of.
The Google Pixel 9a is the budget-friendly Pixel device to consider, particularly for mobile enthusiasts who don't want to break the bank on a new handset. Sky is currently offering the device for £13 per month with no upfront cost.
This represents a significant price reduction on the device over a 36-month contract, meaning customers will pay a total of £468. This doesn't include the data plan, so Pixel fans should factor that into the overall cost.
The Pixel 9a boasts an impressive 6.3-inch OLED display identical to the Pixel 9, down to the same 1080p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling and decent brightness. It also features the same Tensor G4 chipset as the other Pixel 9 phones, and performance is only slightly lower due to the 8GB RAM on the 9a compared to 12GB, making this a top-notch budget phone.
Elsewhere, Carphone Warehouse has deals on the Apple iPhone 15, with prices from £29.99 per month.
For shoppers looking for some other phone alternatives, the newest Galaxy Z Fold7 is out and it's perfect for those who want to splash out. Mobiles.co.uk is offering some enticing pre-order deals for the gadget, and with the upgrades it boasts, it might just be worth the investment. Prices kick off at £44.99 a month, with double the storage included.
Tech experts at our sister paper the Daily Express put the budget Pixel 9a through its paces and was thoroughly impressed with the device. In his review, he wrote: " The Pixel 9a is good enough to recommend [...] to the point that its simplicity is its biggest asset. It has a sensible design, great battery life, nice screen and flagship-quality camera and seven years of support all for £499.
"Not many phones out there can match it for that price, though its main competitor is the Nothing Phone 3a, a phone with an outlandish design and inferior screen to the Pixel, but triple cameras and great software for £329."
Nevertheless, he did highlight concerns about the handset's rear appearance. He added: "The one thing I don't love is the new look for the back of the phone, but the changes make sense. It makes a nice change from most other phones that wobble when placed down because of their camera housing, but the design looks like a prototype and a little unfinished."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
4 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Major broadband firm with 100,000 customers axing free service in days
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A MAJOR broadband firm with hundreds of thousands of customers is axing a free service in days. All TalkTalk email customers are being moved to a new provider called Everymail from Open-Xchange. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 TalkTalk is axing a free service for hundreds of thousands of customers in days Credit: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett The company began to email customers in June to let them know that if they do not sign up to the new provider then their email account will be closed. TalkTalk broadband customers will be able to continue to use the email service for free. But those who received a TalkTalk email when they first signed up to the broadband company but later switched to another provider will need to pay a £60-a-year fee. TalkTalk will gradually close the inboxes of customers who do not pay the fee over the next few months. It will start to restrict customers' email access after July 31, which means they will not be able to send emails but will still be able to access ones they have already received. Those who do not sign up by September 9 will have their mailboxes frozen. After October 31 their email address, inbox, contacts and calendar will be erased. Once the accounts are deleted they cannot be recovered. Any emails that are sent to the account will automatically return to the sender. TalkTalk told The Sun that it will contact users several times before it shuts their account. It will either ask them to take action to keep their email address or download important information that they can transfer to another email provider. This includes emails they have sent or received, saved contacts, calendar appointments and tasks. TalkTalk said the changes will give customers 'the best user experience'. It added: 'We are actively communicating with all those affected. We are providing several options and users are free to download and transfer their data.' Free email providers WORRIED about your email being tied to your internet provider? There are plenty of excellent free email services you can use instead. Here are a few popular choices: Examples include: Gmail: Google's offering is feature-rich, with plenty of storage and excellent spam filtering. Integrates seamlessly with other Google services. Google's offering is feature-rich, with plenty of storage and excellent spam filtering. Integrates seamlessly with other Google services. Microsoft's webmail service offers a clean interface and integrates with Microsoft Office applications. Good storage options are available. Microsoft's webmail service offers a clean interface and integrates with Microsoft Office applications. Good storage options are available. Yahoo! Mail: A long-standing provider with a large storage capacity. It includes a built-in newsfeed. Proton Mail: For those prioritising privacy, Proton Mail offers end-to-end encryption. Based in Switzerland, it has strong data protection laws (free but limited storage). For those prioritising privacy, Proton Mail offers end-to-end encryption. Based in Switzerland, it has strong data protection laws (free but limited storage). GMX Mail: Offers a good balance of features and storage space. Includes a spam filter and virus protection. What do I need to do? If you are happy to pay the £5 a month fee then you should sign up before July 31 to avoid any issues with your email inbox. But if you are unwilling to pay then you can download your emails now to avoid losing access to them. You can then upload them to a new account with a different company. Exactly how to do this varies depending on your email provider but you should be able to find help on its website. It is a good idea to set up an email address that is separate from your broadband provider to avoid being locked into the account. Once you have created a new email you should make sure to update all of your bank, supermarket, energy and utility accounts. Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@ Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
New cost-of-living crisis deepens in California
Published: Updated: A new cost-of-living crisis is deepening across America's progressive capital. In California , soaring climate risk and mounting insurance losses are converging into a property crisis experts warn could slash the value of millions of homes. Deep Sky, a Canadian carbon removal firm, published an analysis of the state's housing insurance market, which painted a dire picture. 'The highest risk areas of California have effectively become uninsurable and will soon become unaffordable,' the study, published in mid-June, concluded. 'Without significant policy intervention, these properties will eventually become worthless.' The warning comes just six months after destructive blazes ripped through Southern California, destroying over 18,000 structures and burning more than 57,000 acres. In January, the Palisades and Eaton fires became two of the most destructive blazes in state history. The impact on the insurance market, which was already under pressure , was immediate. In the first quarter of 2025, insurers posted a $1.1 billion net underwriting loss — a sharp reversal from the $9.4 billion gain they posted the same period a year before. Those numbers have hit some of the most wildfire-prone areas, where premiums have jumped by 42 percent since 2019, and more than 150,000 homes are now uninsured altogether as residents simply cannot afford coverage. But the state has a long way to fall before reaching worthlessness. Right now, the Golden State is America's most expensive housing market. Median home values in California are currently just over $780,000, according to Zillow. That's over $400,000 more than the US average. But, without a robust fire insurance market, policymakers and researchers are warning that the state is resting on shaky grounds. In May, Ricardo Lara, the state's insurance commissioner, approved a 17 percent rate hike for State Farm General, California's largest home insurance provider, to help pay for earlier destruction. 'The market is not going to fail under my leadership,' he told Politico after the decision. 'I have to make these hard decisions, even though it makes me the most unpopular person, and maybe nobody wants this position in the future.' And California is by no means alone. Several other states that are prone to natural disasters have faced mounting home insurance issues. State Farm hiked home insurance rates in Illinois by 27.2 percent this month , adding $746 to the average bill. The insurer insists the hike is unavoidable, claiming it is paying out far more in claims than it collects in premiums in the state which is prone to hailstorms. Florida, which saw a major inflow of residents in 2020, is seeing housing shoppers flee its hurricane-vulnerable coastlines that used to draw million-dollar buyers. In April, contracts to buy homes in the Miami, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale regions fell dramatically from the year prior. Homes also lingered longer on the market. Pending sales fell 23 percent year-over-year in Miami, according to Redfin, which was the largest drop among the 50 most populous metro areas across the US. Meanwhile, some cash-strapped young homebuyers are skipping insurance altogether out of fear their homes will not pass inspection.
The Sun
7 hours ago
- The Sun
I found £6,000 of savings in 10 MINUTES with two dupe-hunting Google tricks that transform your home, garden & wardrobe
I LOVE a deal and there are loads online – but who has the time to scour the web looking for savings? That's why I got a robot to do it for me. To see if I could save some cash, I set Google 's AI systems to work, hunting for product alternatives, " dupes", and lookalikes. It managed to track down thousands of pounds of savings in a matter of minutes using a clever combination of free online features. I used two different tricks – one using Google Gemini and the other using Google Lens. Gemini is Google's chatbot. You can find it here. It's free and works just like ChatGPT. And Google Lens is a special version of Google Search that you'll find inside the official Google app on your phone. You can take or upload a photo, and then Google will hunt for it (and lookalikes) online. Just tap the camera icon in the app. Both of these tools are perfect for dupe-hunters looking to save a bit of cash. They can identify your product and trawl the web to find items that look just like it – only at a much lower price. First, I tried it on a few products in my house to see if I could find places where I would have saved money. But I also had a go with ritzy items I'd seen online – all in a bid to find bargain versions of the same products. Let's start with what I had at home first. Google's Gemini AI app lets you chat out loud with shockingly humanlike virtual helper HOME ITEM #1 – LIVING ROOM LAMP I love my living room lamp. It's the Made Java Arc Overreach Floor Lamp, which normally retails for £179. That's a fair sum of money, but it looks great. For this, I had better luck with Google Gemini. I asked for lookalike lamps that didn't cost as much, and it served me up with three decent options. 27 27 Two looked reasonably similar and came in at £59.99 and £84.99. Honestly, I would've been happy with either. But there was a near-identical one up for £109.99 that would easily double up as the real thing. Nice work, Gemini. Potential Saving: £119.01 27 HOME ITEM #2 – BROWN JACKET Next up, I snapped a pic of my Wrangler Buffalo Trace jacket. This one cost me about £120. This time, I plugged it straight into Google Lens. What I thought was interesting here was that I took a pretty rubbish photo of the jacket. And not only did it find a very similar alternative on Asos, it also identified the actual jacket and listed that too. Spooky. The Asos option was just £45. An absolute steal. It's not whiskey-themed, granted – but what a bargain. Potential Saving: £75 27 27 HOME ITEM #3 – ORANGE POUFFE We have an orange pouffe that works as a footstool or a spare seat if we've got a load of people round. It's the Dunelm Eliza Pouffe Orange Umber, which goes for £40 online and in stores. 27 Google Lens managed to find one that looked almost identical (but a slightly different shade of orange) for £25.99. But I actually prefer a slightly different design that showed up on Google Lens via Etsy, which was only £22.99. So there's a small saving, but the original was already pretty cheap, in my opinion. 27 HOME ITEM #4 – DINING CHAIRS Another Dunelm buy for us was our dining chairs. We've got the Dunelm Shea Set of 2 Dining Chairs, which are £119. We have six chairs, so that's £357. 27 Google Lens managed to find a fairly similar-looking pair from Debenhams for £100 – so that would've been £300 for six seats. If we'd gone for those, it would've saved us £57. It's not a massive saving, and honestly, I prefer the ones I bought. But if I were really sticking to a budget, every little helps. Potential Saving: £57 27 ONLINE ITEM #1 – GREEN SOFA We recently went sofa hunting, and it was hard not to be impressed by Swoon. They've got some lovely gear. I was just looking online and found a very tempting three-seater Swoon sofa in green (or "fern") velvet, sold by John Lewis. I love it, but it's hardly cheap at £2,139. 27 My first attempt was with Gemini, but it struggled to come up with much, no matter how I worded my prompt. It showed a couple of sofas that didn't look similar enough. 27 27 But when I tried it with Google Lens, I spotted two very nice options. There was a pricier sofa from Brand Alley at £1,599 that looked good. But my favourite was the even cheaper Lutyens Moss Green three-piece sofa from Daals, which was a thriftier £1,399.99. It's beautiful, and far closer to the original Swoon sofa. Potential Saving: £739.01 27 27 27 ONLINE ITEM #2 – OUTDOOR DINING SET Next, I went really posh. We recently moved and we haven't got any garden furniture yet. There's a very roomy outdoor set from Bridgman called the Richmond Modular Sofa Set, but it costs a frankly bank-breaking £5,299. Ouch. 27 27 Straight to Google Lens I go. One option was a decent (but smaller) option for £1,399 from another retailer. 27 But I was more impressed by a similarly spacious £1,185 alternative that included a fire pit table. Sadly, I couldn't find anything that matched the original bang on. So maybe I went too posh here. However, I do think that the cheaper set looked very nice, and I could do a lot with the spare £4,000 if I were buying this. Potential Saving: £4,114 27 27 ONLINE ITEM #3 – COFFEE TABLE After the dining set drama, I thought I'd look for something quite fancy – but that might be dupe-friendly. I found an extremely pretty Porta Marble Coffee Table, which retailed at a whopping £999. Come on Google, sort me out - and of course, it did. 27 27 It instantly surfaced an Erie coffee table for £675, but that was still too high. So I scrolled on and found a stellar bargain from Daals. It's the Maru Round Oak Pedestal Coffee Table in Washed White for £189.99. This obviously isn't marble, but it has a lacquer effect that gives it a white shine like the original. 27 This is a brilliant example of a lookalike with a massive saving. Importantly, it's unlikely I would've found this – as I wouldn't have searched for oak while looking for an alternative to a marble coffee table. Potential Saving: £809.01 That brings the grand total savings to £5,930.04, courtesy of Google's online brain. WHAT ELSE CAN YOU USE GOOGLE GEMINI FOR? Here's the official tip list from Google... Go Live with Gemini to brainstorm ideas, simplify complex topics, and rehearse for important moments. Connect with your favourite Google apps like Search, Youtube, Google Maps, Gmail, and more Study smarter and explore any topic with interactive visuals and real-world examples Unlock a world of expertise and get tailored information about any topic Plan trips better and faster Create AI-generated images in seconds Get summaries, deep dives, and source links, all in one place Brainstorm new ideas, or improve existing ones Picture Credit: Google / The Sun
