Google Pixel 3a XL: Greater than the sum of its parts By Engadget

Let's, try a thought experiment here. What makes a Google Pixel a Google Pixel. The easy answer is software I mean these things, get early access to Google's, the latest versions of Android and the company even says that if you buy one of these phones, you'll get updates for three years from the moment that device hits the Play Store. That's pretty nice in recent years has also really become about the cameras with these pixels, maybe more so than with any other smartphone we've tested it's the device you go to when you want to take effortlessly, excellent, looking shots that to me is the soul of the pixel experience now, and I have to say the new pixel 3ax out, which we've been testing for a little while now embodies all that and then some, and I would actually even go. As far as to say this is the version of the pixel 3 Google should have made in the first place. No, it's not technically as powerful as the version we got last year, but what it adds in terms of creature comforts in general polish actually make a huge difference.

You'd be hard-pressed to tell these things apart, just by looking at them, but there are a few keys. Differences will run through right now, and they're, mostly because Google needed to save some money. The body instead of being made of this nice matte and glossy glass is made of polycarbonate, but you still get that same. Look around the back. You still get that little pop of color around the power button, and it does actually feel really quite nice.

It's a little chintzy err in some ways compared to last year's pixel 3s, but I, don't think anyone's really going to tell the difference. The screen is a little different too, especially if you're looking at the XL like we have last year's pixel, three XL had a six point. Three inch notched smartphone display the 3a XL instead has a notch. The six-inch display, which isn't quite as pixel dense. It only runs at 2160 by 1080, but it's more than enough for what I've been using it for which is mostly just taking photos and scrolling through apps and websites.

These stereo speakers aren't front-facing anymore. You have one that strips as the earpiece and then another down at the bottom of the phone next to the USB port, but yeah. This very much looks like what you're used to and that's frankly kind of nice I will say considering some of the hardware issues we've run into after reviewing the pixel three year, the design was probably one of the best things that pixel three-line had going for it, so at least that stays the same. Oh and actually, this phone also has a headphone jack, which is one of those things that you don't really know that you're going to miss until it's back again, and I've been using this thing as my primary music machine since I got it last week, I can't say it's a game changer, because it's basically hardening back to the way the game used to be played in the first place, but I'm never gonna, say no to this and frankly, I think a lot of you are gonna, be pretty pleased by that too. Most of the real changes happen under the hood, though, and I think in large part they're for the better.

Now, as I said earlier, this is not quite as powerful as the pixel 3, that's mostly because we have a snapdragon 670 chipsets in both the 3a in the 3a XL. There were some rumors that the XL would get an improved snapdragon 710 chipsets, but Google has always tried to keep the performance levels consistent between both versions, both sizes of the pixels, and that actually is the case here. I have to eat a little of crow because I did buy into those rumors when they were making the rounds. Now. This does mean that launching apps takes ever so slightly longer and sifting through your content and scrolling up and down and really just kind of using the phone on a day-to-day basis feels minutely slower.

It's not gonna, be quite as good at gaming as last year's pixels with its snapdragon 845 chipsets, but for day-to-day use it's actually more than enough, and when you consider the fact that the Pixel 3a XL starts at $480 I think that's a pretty easy compromise to live with. You're not gonna, be dealing with dramatically reduced performance. It does just work in the way that you sort of expect out of a pixel, but the price tag makes it so much more palatable. One of my biggest issues with last year's pixel 3 XL was the battery life. There was a 30 430 million power battery inside which was okay at best after a while it just sort of got to the point where I really couldn't rely on it for a full day's use and that more than anything, turned me off of that device and pushed me into the arms of several other smartphones.

For now at least, that problem appears to have been fixed. The Pixel 3a Excel has a thirty-seven hundred mill amp hour battery and when you couple that, with the power sipping tendencies, this less powerful, chipset you're, actually getting significantly better battery life in general, this improved battery must be between five and six hours of screen on time consistently and that's much better than the three 2/4. If I typically got out of the pics with three XL, it's a game-changer, especially if you decided to skip out on the pixel three line altogether because of hardware issues. People seem to consistently have, as I've said before, the core stuff, the stuff that really makes a pixel to pixel. It's all really well accounted for here.

So it does run. You the latest version of Android 9 panel pie with all the pixel features that you've come to know and appreciate now, and the camera around back is the exact same 12 megapixel Sony sensor that we got in the original pixel 3, so you're paying a fraction of what Google wanted for the pixel threes last year, but you're getting a camera. That's every bit as good that to me is the biggest draw here you get to pay on the low end for an XL about $500 and get seriously what it's still one of the best smartphone cameras on the market. There are I should say more flexible options. The Galaxy S 10 is a really great triple camera option and the Huawei P 30 Pro.

If you're in a country that doesn't hate Huawei actually might be the most flexible camera out there in a smartphone right now, but when it comes to being out in the world and just knowing that you're going to get a really, really good photo, I would put the Pixel 3a up there with just about anything else. On the market right now, I will say after running, into considerable issues, with my place with 3xl last year. A fact I know a lot of you out there watching this have run into as well. I have to hope that Google has learned something from those issues and put them into practice in the 3a XL. There are some very good decisions being made here.

The camera is just as good as it used to be. The battery life is significantly improved, and I think the tree rafting performance is well worth the price you paid for this device. I wouldn't call this device a through-and-through game-changer, and if you already have a pixel three of some kind, you can obviously just kind of skip this mid-range offshoot entirely. But if you skipped out on last year's pixel 3 because of what you heard about them, I have to hope that this fills that gap really nicely I think this really means interesting things for Google's smartphone strategy going forward. As you probably know, Google likes to release new flagship pixel phones later in the year, and if they start doing these mid-range releases earlier in the year too, that could mean Google is looking at much slice of the market, and they can address, which is nice because, as you may have heard, Google's pixel threes have not been selling, particularly well at all compared to the Google Pixel twos.

That's got to be a blow when you're in the smartphone making business as Google has decided. It wants to be so by stretching things out and by having two different parts of the market addressed by smartphones that, at least in the case of a pixel 3/8, really seem to deliver on their promise at a price point, that's very reasonable. This could be a very good thing for Google. Moving forward. We're going to keep testing this phone to really get a feel for what it's capable of, but at this point after a bit of testing, I am very cautiously optimistic that the 3a is the pixel.

Most people right now should actually buy.

Source : Engadget