Is the camera everything for the Pixel 3a?
Each year Google launches its flagship smartphones to compete with manufacturers like Samsung, Apple, OnePlus in the market. Last year we saw Google Pixel 4 and the Google Pixel 3 series that includes Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3XL.
Now Google has launched the Pixel 3a which is a more affordable offering than the other Google flagships. The Pixel 3a has brought in some good features and especially the camera experience is worth considering its price segment.
It skips out on a glass back found on the Pixel 3 and 3XL for a plastic back, there is no more IP rating, and comes with a mid-range Snapdragon 670 chipset instead of the Snapdragon 845 chipset on the Google Pixel 3 and 3XL.
With this great budget, Google smartphone out there does the impressive camera and the Stock Android experience deliver the right amount of satisfaction to the customers and since it is priced at half of what the flagships offer in the market, is it worth buying?
Google Pixel 3a Design:
When it comes to looks, the Pixel 3a resembles almost similar to the Pixel 3 and 3XL with a two textured finish at the top as well as bottom where the top half has a reflective look which reflects when tilted in various angles and the lower half has a matte finish but the finish is made of plastic.
There is a single camera setup with a LED flash and a fingerprint scanner which is quite accurate and fast. The plastic back feels cheap but feels grippier to hold. And there is no risk of breaking the back which is a little bit creates fear while holding a glass back.
The front of the smartphone has a 5.6 inches display with thicker bezels both at the top as well as the bottom. On the top of the smartphone, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a secondary noise-canceling microphone and coming to the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port and bottom-firing speakers.
Coming to the sides, on the right, there is a power button and volume buttons that feel clicky and solid while clicking. The power button is green in color that looks attractive. The front has a single speaker unlike the dual ones on the Pixel 3 and 3XL.
The Pixel 3a weighs around 148 grams and the 5.6 inches display makes it compact and easy to hold. However, there is no IP rating which seems a bit of disappointment but still, the back is splash resistant and the back of the device also lacks wireless charging.
Overall the design looks good but when compared to most of the smartphones that have a glass build and a punch-hole display or a notch display, it does feel a bit outdated.
Google Pixel 3a Display:
The Pixel 3a has a compact 5.6 inches Full HD+ (1080×2220 pixels) OLED display with 441 PPI. Both the Pixel 3 and 3XL have also an OLED display but have better colors and contrast than the display on the Pixel 3a.
The color reproduction is better on the Pixel 3 and 3XL but still, the brightness levels are good and when compared to an LCD panel, the OLED has better viewing angles and good color reproduction. The brightness calibration has been done well also.
Under direct sunlight, the brightness works good and in low-light or dark conditions it cannot go as dim as the Pixel 3 and 3XL, but still, it does not affect the eyes. Google also allows you to change the color tone of the display and you can choose a variety of modes like Natural, Boosted and Adaptive which is present by default and this mode works perfectly well.
The Pixel 3a has the standard 60Hz display and there is no 90/120Hz display. There is support for HDR10 and Widevine L1, so streaming HD contents from Amazon Prime, Netflix will not be an issue.
The OLED display feels great for watching content and playing games but the lack of a higher refresh rate screen is a miss.
Google Pixel 3a Performance:
The Pixel 3a is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 chipset which is a mid-range chipset whereas the flagship Pixel 3 and 3XL are powered by the Snapdragon 845 chipset. This is a small upgrade over the Snapdragon 665 used in mid-range smartphones.
The Snapdragon 670 has 2×2.0 GHz Kryo 360 Gold cores (based on ARM Cortex A76) and another 6×1.7 GHz Kryo 360 Silver cores (based on ARM Cortex A55) built on a 10nm process which seems to be a good upgrade from the Snapdragon 665 that is built on an 11nm process.
The Adreno 615 GPU handles all the games smoothly but many higher-end titles like Call of Duty, Asphalt 9 ran fine with graphics set to HD but there were some sort of stutters and lags noticed while gaming for longer hours.
The back of the smartphone does not feel warm much as the plastic back does help to dissipate some amount of heat. There is only one variant present which is the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The biggest disappointment is the slower eMMC 5.1 storage instead of the UFS 2.1 or 3.0 which most of the smartphones provide at this range.
The RAM management has been improved a lot with consistent software updates which earlier was a big problem as most of the applications used to reload.
Moving to benchmarks, the Pixel 3a scored 159619 on Antutu v8 which is decent for the chipset but much lower than many of its rivals which have a Snapdragon 855 or 765G chipset.
Plus there is no support for microSD card for storage expansion which is a big miss and it’s all the 64GB storage is what you get. Overall, the performance is good but not for playing heavy games, you have to look into another option.
Google Pixel 3a Software:
The Pixel 3a came with Android 9 Pie and has been updated to Android 10. It brings in a host of new features like the system-wide dark mode, in screen call recorder, digital wellbeing, and Android 10 navigation gestures.
The biggest difference on the software side is the Stock Android experience found on Google smartphones with no third-party applications installed and no advertisements. Plus you get three years of Android updates and continuous software updates.
Live captions which were first seen on the Pixel 4 tricked down to the Pixel 3a that adds captions to the videos being watched and the songs being heard and also comes in handy for people who cannot hear.
There is a tone of new camera modes and the Android 10 update brings enhancements to the location where an app can access it and when needed.
Overall, the software experience is one of the best in the smartphone industry to date.
Google Pixel 3a Camera:
One of the biggest reasons for considering a Pixel device is the great camera experience. The Pixel 3 and 3XL had a great set of cameras and it is no different from the Pixel 3a. The Pixel 3a has a single camera at the rear which is a 12.2MP with f/1.8 aperture and has support for OIS and EIS.
However, you do miss out on a telephoto and an ultrawide camera that most of the smartphones provide at this price range. The images shot from the 12MP camera come out with excellent details and the dynamic range is spot on. The color reproduction is good and due to the presence of OIS, it maks out the background noise in the images.
Coming at night, the images have excellent details and a good dynamic range. The presence of OIS helps further thus bringing in more long exposure to the night shots and also improves the dynamic range. The noise is not present and the contrast is well maintained.
Turning on the Night Sight, the details and the exposure in the images further improves.
Now coming to other smartphones that have an ultrawide camera and a telephoto camera with an additional depth/macro camera, here none of them are present on the Pixel 3a.
You can use the main camera and zoom in to get a macro or close-up shot. The macro images have a good amount of details and the dynamic range works perfectly well.
Without a dedicated depth camera, the portraits come out really good on the Pixel 3a. The AI-driven Bokeh effect brings out the perfect background blur and the edge detection may not be accurate as of that of Pixel 3 and 3XL, but still great for a budget smartphone from Google.
There is a tone of camera features like the Boken effect, Panorama, Google Lens, PhotoSphere, Slow Motion, and PhotoBooth and with each software update many new features from the Pixel 4 are coming down slowly to the Pixel 3a.
On the front, there is a single 8MP f/2.0 camera which is good for taking selfies but you do miss on the front-facing ultrawide camera that was offered with the Pixel 3, but still, the color reproduction and dynamic range is good.
However, the skin tones do look a bit softer and the portraits come out average. There is overexposure in some of the selfies and the background blur is not so good. However, it is quite a lot improved with the latest software update.
In terms of video, the Pixel 3a can shoot at 4K at 30fps which is the highest that it can shoot. The video footage is excellent with good stabilization and the color reproduction is done well. There is noise present and the dynamic range is good also.
The videos are by far the best and almost look similar to the videos shot on the Pixel 3 and 3XL. However, the image processing and some of the video features are missing on the Pixel 3a and will be slowly coming soon with software updates.
To conclude you are getting the best camera experience in a budget Google smartphone but you do lose on the ultrawide and a telephoto camera that most of the manufacturers in this price segment provide.
Google Pixel 3a Battery Life:
The Pixel 3a has a 3000mAh battery which is good for the smaller display and the less hungry mid-range chipset. As there is no higher refresh rate and since it is powering a Full HD screen instead of the Quad HD display on the Pixel 3 and 3XL, the screen on time with an average was around 5-6 hours.
With each software update, the battery life has been improving and there are different power saving modes to save further battery. With moderate to heavy usage that includes 3-4 hours of gaming with COD, browsing the internet over Wi-Fi, and streaming content from Youtube or Netflix, the Pixel 3a lasted for a one single day with 15-20 percent left.
There is support for 18W fast charger bundled which brings the Pixel 3a from 0 to 100 percent in an hour and a half which is good but compared to some of the fast chargers like 30W or 65W, it is a bit on the slower side.
With a great software experience and a smaller battery, the Pixel 3a is a good smartphone when it comes to battery life.
Google Pixel 3a Audio Quality:
The Pixel 3a like the Pixel 3 gets stereo speakers where the earpiece and the bottom loudspeaker together act to give a good sound effect. The haptic feedback is excellent with a good vibrating motor present.
There is also Dolby Atmos for further enhanced sound while playing games or watching movies.
Thankfully a 3.5mm headphone jack is present which most of the smartphones in 2020 lack. The sound output is loud and clear. There are a lot of audio enhancements present.
Verdict:
The Pixel 3a is not a perfect smartphone but you do get a premium Google smartphone experience at half of the price of the expensive Pixels out there. What really stands for Pixel 3a is the good design, excellent camera experience, and good audio quality. And another being the fluid software experience.
There are things which is certainly a miss on the Pixel 3a. The Pixel 3a has a plastic back with no IP rating, no support for wireless charging, the ones which were present on the Pixel 3 and 3XL. There is neither an ultrawide nor a telephoto camera that most of the smartphones provide at this price range.
But if you want a good Android smartphone which provides greater software experience, excellent optics, good battery life, and a Google smartphone that costs half of the flagship smartphones, then the Pixel 3a is a good smartphone to consider.
So the question asked in the beginning: Are the excellent camera and great software experience make the Pixel 3a worth buying? The answer is Yes.