Sweet new deal makes Google's old but not outdated Pixel 5 a must-buy for Android purists
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If you're a hardcore Google or stock Android fan on a tight budget looking to buy a new Pixel handset, your choice might seem extremely easy to make right now. But what if you can't afford the 6a mid-ranger... at either its $450 list price or the $300 tag it's been marked down to a number of times in recent months?
Well, there's always the 2020-released Pixel 5, which was technically discontinued by its manufacturer just a year later but can still be found in a few places across the US. One of those is Woot, the famously generous e-tailer owned by Amazon, where the aforementioned 6-inch oldie is currently available for a measly $139.99.
That's obviously for a refurbished rather than brand-new unit, although you do get a decent 90-day seller warranty and said seller vouches for the "full" working condition, "minimum" 85 percent battery capacity, and only "moderate" level of wear and tear of the ultra-affordable "pure Google" phone.
If those promises do nothing for you and your peace of mind, new, unused, unopened, and undamaged Pixel 5 copies can also be purchased from Amazon (via a third-party merchant called CrownProducts)... for a whopping $223 or so more.
In a way, that makes Woot's new 24-hour-only refurb deal even more appealing, allowing you to pay less than 150 bucks for an admittedly old mobile device that not only runs the latest Android 13 software but is also guaranteed to receive an official Android 14 update as well at the same time as the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 families.
Perfectly described as "brilliant but outshined" in our in-depth review back in 2020, the Pixel 5 is naturally even more outshined now by the best Android phones while still holding its own rather brilliantly against the top budget options priced at under two Benjamins.
In a couple of ways, this thing is better than the much newer Pixel 6a, rocking a more premium aluminum back cover, supporting wireless charging, packing an extra 2 gigs of RAM for an excellent 8GB total, and sporting a reasonably high-res OLED display with 90Hz refresh rate capabilities.
The 12 + 16MP dual rear-facing camera system and even the outdated Snapdragon 765 processor are by no means bad for the sub-$200 segment, sealing what may well be the overall greatest deal available today (and today only) for cash-strapped Android purists.
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