Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL review

A class-leading camera at half the price? Just buy the Pixel 3a already

Google has released the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. That’s the newest and greatest from the Pixel team. Of course, you’ll need to pay more for them.

Mid-range to budget phones have come an extended way in only a couple of years. We’ve seen major performance boosts, batteries which will outlast those in flagships, and simplified software experiences. While there are tremendous improvements to the camera, phones under $500 often still come short of satisfying during this department, especially in low-light environments. It’s a flaw we’ve mentioned in almost every budget to mid range phone review we’ve done.

Enter the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL from Google. Pixel phones are renowned for his or her excellent cameras, and now you don’t got to spend an arm and a leg to urge one. You get an equivalent rear camera because the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, to not mention an equivalent software experience, for just $399 and $479, respectively. The camera puts the Pixel 3a’s competition to shame, but it’s not the sole reason to shop for it. With great performance and long battery life, this phone is on the brink of pixel perfect.

Same design, different materials

The Pixel line’s design has often split opinion. Some suggest it’s too dull — even ugly — and it’s impossible to deny that Google doesn’t offer the foremost contemporary-looking phones. When everyone else within the industry continues to shave bezels round the screen and introduce hole-punch camera displays, Google sticks to dated and thick edges round the display. When it does attempt to modernize, you finish up with something just like the Pixel 3 XL, with its controversial and ugly notch.

You don’t got to worry about notches on the Pixel 3a or 3a XL, but thick bezels are still present. It’s like the Pixel 2 series, though the body of the phones are almost an equivalent size because the Pixel 3 and three XL. The front of the Pixel 3a doesn’t spark any wonder, unlike once I check out phones just like the Samsung Galaxy S10e or the OnePlus 6T, which have futuristic screens.

It’s a special story on the rear . It’s almost a reproduction of the Pixel 3, but while the costlier phones use glass, the Pixel 3a line employs a mixture of glass and polycarbonate. The rear doesn’t attract fingerprints, but the lightweight nature of the materials makes the phone feel a touch cheap. Nevertheless, i prefer the rear design of Google’s Pixel phones, though i'll be within the minority; it's minimal and clean.

The Pixel 3a is my pick between the 2 , as it’s so compact and straightforward to carry . I even have no problems reaching all parts of the screen with one hand. The Pixel 3a XL is manageable, though I even have large hands. While i prefer the additional screen land , I do wish the phone was a touch narrower to form it easier to carry .

What else is different? There’s a replacement color option — “purple-ish.” It replaces the “not pink” color of the Pixel 3 series, though I do think Google could have added just a touch more purple here, because it often just looks white (the phone also comes in black and white). the facility button sports a neon yellow color paired with purple-ish, which is neat.

Gone is that the second front-facing speaker. you continue to get two stereo speakers — the one that wont to get on rock bottom bezel is now a bottom-firing speaker. Audio still sounds good, but it just doesn’t sound as loud since one speaker is blasting music faraway from you. Just confirm you don’t cover rock bottom speaker and you’ll get a pleasant experience.

Surprisingly, the headphone jack makes a return after vanishing starting with the Pixel 2. I’m not complaining, but it’s odd to ascertain the cheaper Pixel offering more options for people than its costlier counterparts. Unlike the Pixel 3 or 3 XL, you don’t get any earbuds within the box.

Cheaper build materials mean a light-weight phone, one that doesn’t feel as substantial as another phones that are priced similarly, just like the Nokia 7.1. this is often the Pixel 3a’s biggest flaw, except for me it’s one that’s very easy to ignore once you see everything else the phone offers for its price.

OLED displays

The Pixel 3a features a 5.6-inch screen, which is simply a hair bigger than the 5.5-inch screen on the Pixel 3. The Pixel 3a XL’s 6-inch screen, however, may be a little smaller than the 6.3-inch Pixel 3 XL’s. The screens are protected by Asahi’s Dragontrail glass, rather than Corning’s Gorilla Glass. It’s unclear if the standard isn’t nearly as good , but it's going to have just been a less expensive alternative.

The underlying screen technology is additionally different. Samsung’s Super AMOLED screens are not any longer in use — Google is instead employing a “gOLED” panel. The Pixel 3a features a 2,220 x 1,080 resolution, and therefore the Pixel 3a XL features a similar 2,160 x 1,080 resolution. Both screens rush , are easy to ascertain in broad daylight, and offer deep blacks, but I did notice colors are more saturated than the Pixel 3’s screen. There’s also no support for HDR10.

Watching Netflix’s Our Planet, which supports HDR, the Pixel 3 offers more true-to-life colors. The Pixel 3a’s screen was unnaturally saturated but changing the display settings from the default “Adaptive” to “Natural” fixed this on behalf of me (though you'll prefer the more saturated look). Either way, the screen here doesn't disappoint.

Fantastic performance

When I heard the processor inside the Pixel 3a and 3a XL is that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 670, i used to be a touch wary. My experience with Qualcomm’s 600-series chipsets have largely been positive — the BlackBerry Key2’s Snapdragon 660 and therefore the Moto G7’s Snapdragon 632 all performed admirably — but more strenuous tasks and high-end gaming often saw a couple of stutters.

This is not the case with the Pixel 3a and 3a XL. I’ve only seen a couple of stutters when scrolling quickly on Twitter, but which will simply be right down to posts loading slowly thanks to the web connection. App load times are perhaps a tad longer, as are image processing times, but performance has otherwise been fluid and fantastic.

Upon launching PUBG: Mobile, the sport suggested i exploit the “High” graphical settings option — usually it defaults to “Medium” or “Low” for 600-series or lower chipsets. Gameplay is smooth and therefore the graphics looked great. i'm consistently impressed at how well the Pixel 3a and 3a XL perform and had zero worries about using it on days once I knew i might task the phone with tons of labor .

These scores are an honest deal less than phones using the newest Snapdragon 855 processor, like the Galaxy S10, also because the Snapdragon 845 chipset within the Pixel 3 series. However, it surprisingly beat out the Google Pixel 2 and a couple of XL, which scored 146,876 and 110,949 on AnTuTu, respectively.

There could also be a couple of graphically-intensive games that would give the Pixel 3a and 3a XL pause, but thus far , my experience has been pleasantly smooth.

Smart software, and promised updates

Pixel phones mean fast updates; Google manages the Android OS , then Android updates arrive immediately on the Pixel series. the corporate promises a minimum of three years of security and software updates, which mean there’s an honest length of support for the phone.

The Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL run Android 9 Pie, but they're going to get the Android Q update when it releases in August. It’s important to recollect that the majority phones under $500 simply don’t receive quite one Android version update, in need of Android One phones like the Nokia 7.1.

The software interface is otherwise simple, easy to use, and uncluttered. It’s smart, too. My favorite feature is Now Playing — it’s where the phone uses on-device machine learning to detect what song is playing in your surroundings, and gently allows you to know what's on the Always-on Display. Then there’s Flip to Shhh, which allows you to flip the phone the wrong way up on a desk to mute it. you'll also squeeze the phone to activate Google Assistant.

There’s also Call Screen, which is another one among my favorite Pixel features. It allows you to screen a call with the assistance of Google Assistant, so you don’t got to waste time answering pesky robocalls.

The Pixel 3a and 3a XL add a replacement feature to the list — Google Maps AR mode — which is now also available on other Pixel phones. It’s how to seek out which direction you would like to go toward when using augmented reality, through a special mode within the Google Maps app. It works quite well and is ideal for people that find themselves getting rotated in big cities.

Class-leading camera

If everything sounds good thus far , then the camera will seal the deal. The Pixel 3a and 3a XL have an equivalent exact rear camera because the Pixel 3. meaning it’s a 12.2-megapixel lens with an f/1.8 aperture – it also boasts an equivalent Sony IMX363 image sensor. There’s optical image stabilization and bitmap stabilization, also as fused video stabilization to make sure videos are smooth.

What’s missing? The Pixel Visual Core chip. It helps with image processing and handling many camera-related machine learning tasks on the Pixel 3, but Google engineers have worked hard to reengineer many of those capabilities to figure with the Snapdragon 670. It’s impressive, though it does mean image processing times are a touch slower on the Pixel 3a.

There’s a reason why the Pixel 3 is our favourite smartphone camera. It snaps photos quickly, the pictures it captures are incredibly well-detailed with mostly accurate colors, and there’s strong HDR. All of this is applicable to the Pixel 3a phones — the pictures are very similar across the board, if not almost an equivalent . For under $500, you can't get a far better camera experience than this.

While the Pixel 3a also holds its own in low light, Google’s Night Sight feature is out there for ultra-dark situations. It captures multiple frames and combines them together for a more detailed photo, and also uses AI to feature appropriate colors. Then there’s Super Res Zoom, which suggests you'll concentrate and still get a decent-quality image because of the A.I. digitally enhancing it. Optical zoom would are nicer, but the Pixel 3a fares tolerably without it.

The feature i exploit the foremost on Google’s Pixel phones is Portrait Mode. regardless of what lighting you’re in, the camera will do a solid, if not exceptional, job at accurately outlining the topic and adding a blur effect to the background. I even have noticed, however, that Portrait Mode on the Pixel 3a crops in additional than the Pixel 3, leading to a tad more of a pixelated photo, which is more visible in low light. It’s not perfect, but when it works, photos look good.

The front-facing camera is where things diverge. It’s still an 8-megapixel lens, but it's an f/2.0 aperture with a hard and fast focus. the sector of view, however, is 84 degrees; it sits in between the sector of view you get between the 2 front cameras on the costlier Pixel 3 (75 and 97-degree field of view). Selfies are similarly detailed, but images can look a touch muddy in low light thanks to the f/2.0 aperture.

Videos I captured are really smooth, and therefore the camera can capture 4K content up to 30 frames per second. it might are nice to ascertain 60fps, like OnePlus phones can do, but now we’re just nitpicking.

If the camera is that the most vital feature of a phone for you, but you furthermore may want to stay your budget low, then the Pixel 3a is that the perfect phone for you.

Good battery life

Perhaps what confused me the foremost as I used the Pixel 3a and 3a XL is why Google packed in bigger batteries than its flagship model. The Pixel 3a features a 3,000mAh battery, whereas the Pixel 3 features a 2,915mAh capacity. The Pixel 3a XL features a 3,700mAh battery, but the Pixel 3 only packs 3,430mAh. The newer phones are slightly thicker, and while the differences may sound small, it makes an impression . In our Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL reviews, we complained about the mediocre battery life on the 2 flagship phones. With the Pixel 3a series, battery life is few concern.

I frequently arrived home with around 40 percent left by 7 p.m., after medium use. On an evening where I stayed out until 11:30 p.m., the Pixel 3a XL still had 25 percent left by the time I arrived home. The Pixel 3a, with its smaller battery, has less to power, but it manages to supply an identical length of juice. The Pixel 3a XL handily lasts longer, though.

In our battery test, where we play a 1,080p YouTube video over Wi-Fi on maximum brightness, the Pixel 3a XL lasted a powerful 10 hours and 45 minutes. That comes very on the brink of the Samsung Galaxy S10, which lasted 10 hours and 50 minutes. The smaller Pixel 3a wasn’t faraway , lasting 9 hours and 12 minutes. The batteries on these phones will last you a full day. Hopefully, Google has learned its lesson and can include similarly large batteries on the upcoming Pixel 4.

The one feature I miss from the Pixel 3 series is wireless charging. If you haven’t embraced the wireless charging lifestyle, then this won’t really be a drag for you, but I even have wireless chargers all around my house, and going back to plugging in isn’t fun. Thankfully, the phone charges quite quickly as Google has added an 18W USB-C to USB-C charger within the box. The Pixel 3a XL reached 53 percent in only 20 minutes (from 15 percent), and in total took an hour and a half to urge to one hundred pc .

Price, availability, and warranty information

The Google Pixel 3a costs $399, and therefore the Pixel 3a XL is priced at $479. It’s available now from Google’s Store, but you’ll be happy to understand that Google is finally ending its exclusivity with Verizon. The Pixel 3a series is now sold through T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular, along side Verizon. it'll work on AT&T’s network, but the carrier isn’t selling the phones.

Google offers a typical one-year warranty for its phones, which protects from manufacturer defects.

Our Take

The Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are exceptional phones with a comparatively affordable tag , and therefore the camera blows away the competition. The promise of three years of software updates are a cherry on top.

Between the Pixel 3a and therefore the Pixel 3a XL, the phone you ought to buy largely depends on whether you would like a much bigger screen or a smaller phone. Battery life is comparable, though the Pixel 3a XL will last slightly longer. i prefer the $399 price point, which is why i feel the smaller Pixel 3a is best value.

Is there a far better alternative?

For the worth , there’s just one other phone you ought to consider: The OnePlus 6T. It costs $549, but that price may drop because the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro arrive soon (or maybe choose the newer OnePlus phones). you'll get even better performance and more durable build materials, but I’ve often found the camera lacking compared to flagship phones.

The Nokia 7.1 is worth considering at $350, but the Pixel 3a’s camera is superior, as is performance and battery life, so you'll also spend $50 more. If you don’t want to spend the maximum amount , then choose the Moto G7, which costs $300, or the Moto G7 Power at $250. You’ll get good performance and exceptional battery life on the facility , though camera quality won’t satisfy. inspect our greatest cheap phones guide for more.