Can the Pixel 4a take on the OnePlus Nord?
OnePlus Nord is now currently one of the best smartphones to buy as it provides the best combination of hardware and software in the mid-range segment. Google, on the other hand, instead of launching the Pixel 4, came up with the Pixel 4a.
The Pixel 4a provides a great software experience and has a much better single camera, thus delivering the best in terms of camera. It does miss out on certain key features that the OnePlus Nord has like a 90Hz display, extra cameras, and also has a less powerful chipset.
Can the Pixel 4a provide the best experience or will the OnePlus Nord continue to be the best in the mid-range segment? Let’s find out in the full comparison.
OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a Design:
Both the OnePlus Nord (Review) and the Pixel 4a (Review) have different designs and are of different sizes. The Pixel 4a is a compact smartphone compared to the larger OnePlus Nord and the materials are different on both. The OnePlus Nord comes with a glass sandwich design whereas the Pixel 4a has a polycarbonate finish.
The back of the Pixel 4a has a matte finish which provides more grip compared to the pastel glass finish on the back of the OnePlus Nord. The back of the OnePlus Nord has a quad-camera setup with a LED flash and on the other hand, the Pixel 4a has a single camera with a LED flash and a fingerprint scanner.
To the sides, both have volume buttons and a power button and here OnePlus Nord gets an additional alert slider to control all notifications. At the bottom, both have a USB Type-C port that supports fast charging, loudspeaker vent and here the Pixel 4a gets a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top.
Similarly, on the top, both have a primary microphone and have a p2i coating at the back which means both can survive slight splashes of water. On the front, both have punch-hole cameras where the OnePlus Nord gets dual cameras on the front compared to Pixel 4a’s single camera on the front.
The display on both has barely any bezels to the sides. When it comes to face unlock, both are very fast, but the one on the OnePlus Nord feels slightly faster. The OnePlus Nord weighs 184 grams which is heavier compared to 143grams on the Pixel 4a, so it feels lighter to hold and can easily fit many pockets.
Overall, it all depends on personal preference whether you want a compact phone factor or a larger one. But with the glass build and the additional alert slider, the OnePlus Nord has a more premium build and design.
OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a Display:
On the front, the Pixel 4a has 5.8 inches which is much smaller compared to the 6.44 inches display on the OnePlus Nord. The display on the OnePlus Nord has Fluid AMOLED whereas the one on the Pixel 4a has an OLED panel and both have Full HD+ resolution.
The display on the OnePlus Nord is made up of Gorilla Glass 5 compared to Gorilla Glass 3 on the Pixel 4a. There is also an in-display fingerprint scanner on the OnePlus Nord compared to the rear-mounted one on the Pixel 4a.
The display on the OnePlus Nord has support for a 90Hz refresh rate compared to the standard 60Hz refresh rate on the Pixel 4a. The brightness on the OnePlus Nord is also slightly better than the Pixel 4a, so whether it is under direct sunlight or low-light, the OnePlus Nord has better visibility while viewing angles are equally good on both of the displays.
Both the display cover the DCI-P3 and have sRGB and come with Adaptive Brightness. With the higher refresh rate, all the games felt smoother to play on the OnePlus Nord, and multi-tasking felt much faster compared to the Pixel 4a.
Both of them support HDR content and Widevine L1, so you can stream HD videos from Netflix, Prime, etc. For watching videos or scrolling through webpages, the OnePlus Nord provides more surface area and with the 90Hz refresh rate, feels better than the Pixel 4a in terms of display.
OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a Performance:
Both the OnePlus Nord and the Pixel 4a come with Snapdragon 700 series chipset but the one on the OnePlus Nord has the latest and more powerful Snapdragon 765G compared to Snapdragon 730G on the Pixel 4a. The Snapdragon 765G is a newer chipset compared to Snapdragon 730G.
The Snapdragon 765G has 1×2.4 GHz Kryo 475 Prime core with 1×2.2 GHz Kryo 475 Gold core (both based on ARM Cortex A76) and another 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 475 Silver cores (based on ARM Cortex A55) coupled with Adreno 620 GPU.
On the other hand, the Snapdragon 730G has 2×2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold cores and another 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver cores with an Adreno 618 GPU. So clearly, with the newer architecture and a slightly powerful GPU, the OnePlus Nord holds the edge in terms of specs on paper.
Whether it is all day-to-day tasks, both the smartphones ran smoothly without any lag, all heavy games were taken care of on both of them, but the one on the OnePlus Nord felt smoother with the 90Hz refresh rate and also better touch response compared to the Pixel 4a.
Games like Call of Duty, Asphalt 9 ran smoothly on HD graphics settings smoothly on both of the smartphones, but here the OnePlus Nord edges by a slight margin. The back of the OnePlus Nord felt slightly warmer as it is a glass back compared to the plastic back on the Pixel 4a.
The Snapdragon 765G is built on a 7nm process like the Snapdragon 855/865 and also with the OnePlus Nord, there is support for 5G, whereas, on the Pixel 4a, you get only up to 4G.
The OnePlus Nord comes in three variants – 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, and another 12GB RAM and 256GB storage whereas the Pixel 4a comes only in one variant which is the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. Both have LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.1 storage speeds.
Moving to benchmarks, the OnePlus Nord scores 617 and 1920 compared to 527 and 1495 in single and multi-core tests in Geekbench 5.1. With a slightly powerful chipset, more storage options, support for 5G, and a higher refresh rate display, the OnePlus Nord is a clear winner.
OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a Software:
Both the OnePlus Nord and the Pixel 4a come with different custom skins where the Pixel 4a has Stock Android and the OnePlus Nord has OxygenOS. The Pixel 4a runs on Android 11 out of the box compared to Android 10 on OnePlus Nord.
OxygenOS is heavily skinned and provides a lot of customizations with newer icon packs, a newer Zen Mode, GameSpace for games and has all the regular Android 10 features like a system-wide dark mode, navigation gestures, and digital wellbeing.
With the OnePlus Nord, you getting some Google applications like a dialler, messages, and contacts. If you swipe from the left of the home screen, then Google Discover is present instead of the Shelf. The OnePlus Nord also has good optimizations to the battery.
The Pixel 4a has all the Stock Android features like support for Live Captions which appear at the bottom of the video, a Personal Safety app that lets you save emergency contacts, and a newer Google Assistant. With the Pixel 4a, you are getting assurance of another three years of software updates.
This does not mean that the OnePlus Nord is far behind in terms of software and Android updates, but it is slower than Stock Android. It is very hard to differentiate between the two in terms of user experience, and you will not go wrong choosing either of the two.
OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a Cameras:
This is one area where the Pixel devices have a strong foothold. The Pixel 4a comes with a single 12.2 MP f/1.7 main camera whereas the OnePlus Nord has quad cameras at the rear. In terms of numbers, the OnePlus Nord seems to be the clear winner, but there is a lot of difference in image processing and camera results.
The OnePlus Nord has a 48MP f/1.7 Sony IMX586 sensor with OIS, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, a 5MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor for portraits. On the front, the Pixel 4a only gets a single facing 8MP camera whereas the OnePlus Nord has dual front-facing cameras that include a 32MP main camera and an 8MP ultrawide camera.
During the day, both the smartphones come out with images having excellent detail and punchier colors. The dynamic range is good on both but the Pixel 4a takes slightly better images as it has lower noise and the colors on it look natural. When you zoom into the images, the colors look slightly washed out on the OnePlus Nord, whereas the Pixel 4a retains details and colors well.
Shot on the Google Pixel 4a
Shot on the OnePlus Nord
Turning on the HDR, the colors look over boosted on the OnePlus Nord compared to the Pixel 4a, thanks to better image processing on the Google smartphone as the highlights are well maintained.
Similarly, at night, the Pixel 4a has a better dynamic range and lower noise compared to the OnePlus Nord. The highlights in the shadows are much better on the Pixel 4a compared to the OnePlus Nord wherein the OnePlus Nord tends to crush some of the details and there is a lot of noise clearly seen in the images.
Shot on the Google Pixel 4a
Shot on the OnePlus Nord
Turning on the Night Mode on both of them, the images on the OnePlus Nord does come out with better details, and the dynamic range gets improved. The shadows are well retained and the noise is lower but compared to Pixel 4a, it does not stand out that much.
Clearly, the Night Sight is better than the NightScape on the OnePlus Nord.
One area where the OnePlus Nord holds an advantage is the presence of an 8MP ultrawide camera over the Pixel 4a which lacks an ultrawide camera. Neither of the smartphones has a telephoto camera but using the main camera, you can go 2x or 5x digital zoom on both.
Here also, the Pixel 4a comes out with better details and has retained the colors much better than the OnePlus Nord. The OnePlus Nord comes with a dedicated 5MP macro camera which takes close-up images with good dynamic range and retains colors well.
The Pixel 4a, on the other hand, crops from the main camera and takes images with better dynamic range and details compared to the OnePlus Nord. Similarly, at night, the Pixel 4a takes better low-light images with lower noise and when zoomed in, the colors are well retained.
Shot on the Google Pixel 4a
Shot on the OnePlus Nord
The portraits on both come out good, and here you will notice that OnePlus Nord has more over-boosted colors whereas the Pixel 4a has more natural skin tone color. The edge detection on both is good with proper background blur but it does crop in more to achieve better dynamic range.
In terms of selfies, both take images with good dynamic range and have a natural look to it. The Pixel 4a gets a single 8MP front-facing camera which takes some very good selfies but compared to the OnePlus Nord, they have lesser details.
The OnePlus Nord has a 32MP camera which has a wider field of view and has more details also. The dynamic range and contrast are good. The portrait selfies come out good on the OnePlus Nord with better edge detection, but the Pixel 4a has better background blur.
There is an additional 8MP ultrawide camera on the OnePlus Nord which comes in handy when taking selfies in a group of people.
Coming to videos, both are restricted to 4K at 30fps. There is no support for 4K video at 60fps due to the chipsets being restricted to only 30fps. The 1080p videos at 30fps and 60fps come out good but the Pixel 4a has better stabilization and the colors look better on it. The noise is also lower on the Pixel 4a.
In terms of camera, the OnePlus Nord has more cameras thus providing more functionality over the Pixel 4a, but when it comes to overall camera performance except the extra cameras on the OnePlus Nord, the Pixel 4a wins the camera and video battle.
OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a Battery life:
The OnePlus Nord sports a larger 4115mAh battery 3140mAh battery on the Pixel 4a. Both the smartphones can easily last for one single day with heavy usage and with normal usage, the OnePlus Nord can last more than a single day with the display being set to 60Hz.
The more efficient Snapdragon 765G chipset built on the 7nm process makes it slightly better in terms of battery life compared to Snapdragon 730G chipset on the Pixel 4a. In terms of charging, the OnePlus Nord holds the edge as it gets the faster 30W Warp Charging compared to normal 18W fast charging on the Pixel 4a.
The 30W fast charger on the OnePlus Nord charges it completely from 0 to 100 percent in 55 minutes which makes it quite faster compared to 1 hrs 30 minutes by the Pixel 4a. Both get good software optimizations and also support USB PD fast charging.
So clearly, in terms of battery life and charging, the OnePlus Nord holds the edge over the Pixel 4a.
OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a Audio Quality:
The OnePlus Nord gets a single speaker at the bottom compared to the stereo speakers on the Google Pixel 4a, so in terms of audio, the Pixel 4a has the edge. The loudness on the Pixel 4a is better and the sound does not feel distorted like on the OnePlus Nord.
Both have support for Dolby Atmos and since the Pixel 4a is a smaller smartphone, the sound is much better and it also has a 3.5mm headphone jack which the OnePlus Nord lacks. For the OnePlus Nord, you have to only rely on third-party USB Type-C earphones or wireless ones.
In terms of audio, the Pixel 4a is the clear winner.
Verdict:
Both are very different smartphones and you can choose either of them depending on your needs. The Pixel 4a is a compact device, has an average build as it gets a plastic back, and provides the best in terms of software and camera experience. It also provides better audio quality.
So if you want a smartphone having the best camera performance and software experience, the Pixel 4a is the option to go for. The performance is good as the Snapdragon 730G handles all games easily and does most of the tasks. But it does miss out on extra cameras and lacks a higher refresh rate display.
This is one place where the OnePlus Nord holds a strong appeal as it has a 90Hz display, premium glass design, has a more powerful Snapdragon 765G chipset bringing in support for 5G, and also has an ultrawide camera with a macro camera.
OxygenOS is almost closer to Stock Android and with the OnePlus Nord, you get faster charging that is 30W compared to 18W fast charging on the Pixel 4a.
If you want a smartphone with a larger display, premium design, more cameras and want that 5g support with better gaming and software experience, the OnePlus Nord is the one to choose. So it all boils down to personal preference whether you want a compact one or a smartphone with all the great specifications.