I can confirm -- I was very happy with my 4a until a few days ago. Yes, the battery life is less than when it was new, but I didn't have any problems keeping it >50% charged nearly always.

Since the forced update, it drains very quickly, charges slowly, and the reported percentage is next to useless. I can leave my home with a fully charged phone and 90 minutes later it is 34%. Under similar conditions before the update, it would have been at 80%. And not 80% because it was lying to me, I could go 4x longer before the battery would run out.

The last time I looked at non-pixel/non-apple phones there were no good alternatives. Here's to hoping something better is available now.