Google Pixel 3a XL Review: All We Could Ask For By Slashdot

Months and weeks prior to the unveiling of the new Pixel 3a devices, we knew many of the specs and even the overall design of Google's new phones before they were announced. But, unlike the phones from Samsung or LG specs with the Pixel 3a devices are not everything, because so much of what makes the pixel phones great is in the software. What this made for was a big surprise when Google officially unveiled their new budget flagships. So when I first learned that the Pixel 3a and pixel 3 AXL would retail for $400 and 479 dollars respectively and feature the same main camera as the pixel 3 I was pretty shocked, because the pixel 3 has one of the best cameras in the market. Definitely in the top three but my excitement it didn't stop there, because I soon learned that it also features a similar OLED display with no notch that squeezed to register the Google Assistant functionality and Google even brought back the headphone jack about a week before the official launch event, I was asked by Google to produce an Instagram unboxing for their made by Google Instagram, as well as for phone dogs, Instagram, Channel and I. Remember just talking to the Google rep at the event and learning about these specs right before I started to shoot.

The video and I remember: I literally had to see the spec sheet for myself, because I didn't believe him. When he told me about the features of this phone now, I did get paid for that. Instagram, unboxing and Google did provide this Pixel 3a XL review in it for us to review here on phone dog, but they are not paying for me to review this phone. I'm going to do my best to keep this review as unbiased as possible, but I think it's important for you to know that. Naturally, there is going to be some bias, because I have worked with Google in the past, so I just want you to know that before I continue with this room to get the price down, Google did make some serious compromises in the build department, mostly with the build materials.

This phone is basically entirely plastic, so it's lighter, and it feels considerably cheaper than its more expensive brother. Even the glass on the front is a little different. Google uses dragon trail glass instead of corning gorilla glass, which I would assume is to save some money. Dragon trail is supposed to offer similar scratch and drop resistance as gorilla glass, but I haven't really been able to find a lot of comparisons between the two, because most people, most manufacturers I mean they just use gorilla glass for what it's worth I, don't see any scratches on my unit, which I've been using for the past couple of weeks, so that's a plus, but because of the slipperiness I would recommend a case, or at least a skin from D brand or slick wraps. You can also use one of the cases that Google sells on their store, it's a fabric case which feels pretty good, but it does add a considerable amount of bulk to the device, the display it measures in at 6 inches, and it features a 1080 by 2160 resolution.

The biggest difference between the 3a and the 3a XL is the display size. This one is considerably larger. Now the bezels aren't anything to rave about as they're still fairly thick for 2019 standards, but I think you could argue that what you have here still looks better than the 3a XL, which features that huge notch I also haven't noticed. Any blue tint issue that plagued the pixel 2x cells, display back in 2017 Google, seems to have learned their lesson that customers don't like blue tints, nor do they like excessively large notches now, I will say: brightness isn't exceptional, and it is hard to see the display in direct sunlight, but overall colors appear bright and vivid, and a few angles are strong where this phone is really strong in is in the software Department some say peers. Stock Android is boring, but I would definitely disagree.

I use a lot of phones and the vast majority of them have a heavy skins on top of Android. So when I switch back to a pixel phone, it's always refreshing to have an OS that is buttery smooth and just excels in delivering neat Google services, which I use a lot, the three AXL it runs, Android Pi out of the box, and it will be updated to Android Q when it's available later this summer, and I'm sure it will even run Android R and Android s ? when they become available in these subsequent years. As a big Google user, I like having Google now a swipe away to the left of my home screens, I like the Google search bar at the bottom of the screen and I like the always listening Google Assistant and that squeeze to activate the assistant of functionality. There's really not a lot. I have to change when I use a pixel phone which I guess could be considered boring, but I don't really view it.

That way. Wind down is a neat mode. I've been using to help restrict the time I use on my phone. You can set up a schedule for when the phone will enable do not disturb mode to block notifications or disruptions in general, you can also have the phone set the screen too grayscale to reduce those stimulating colors or tint the screen and amber color to reduce eyestrain at night. You pair this with the digital well-being mode that tracks your usage and lets.

Furthermore, you set time limits to your apps, and you have two powerful tools to help. Furthermore, you become less addicted to your phone, something that I've been really trying to do now. Of course, since this is Android, you can download third-party apps to customize the look and feel this phone to your liking. There's really thousands of apps to help you fine-tune this phone to your liking. If there's one area that I really don't like, though it's the navigation with Android Pi, you have this pill-shaped home button that can be used to switch between apps and open up the overview tray.

It's often pretty sensitive when I slide it around to switch between apps so much so that I often open up the wrong background. App. Also, I, just don't like the 1/2 swipe up gesture to view the overview tray and then a long swipe to open up the app drawer. This is all being revised in android q, thankfully, but this is definitely not my favorite form of navigation I think they should have just copied the iPhone 10 gestures and owned up to it years ago in terms of performance, the pixel 3 AXL. It features the mid-range Snapdragon 670 processor, with 4 gigabytes of RAM.

If this weren't stock Android I'd really worry about the performance long term, but this chip is able to run the OS smoothly and efficiently without any serious stuttering or lag the only lag or frame drops, don't notice be in graphically intensive games, but most of them should still be playable. If you're someone like me who doesn't do a lot of mobile gaming, this phone should be able to meet your needs. Just fine. There is just one 12 megapixel rear facing camera, but it performs the same and has the same features as the pixel 3 camerae, including that portrait mode and nitrite mode. Now this phone is not going to outperform every other phone out there.

It's really just going to depend on each and every shot and the lighting conditions, but, generally speaking, the Pixel 3a does a great job properly. Exposing the background from the foreground without over exposing the sky. When you're not looking directly into the Sun, the phone really shines as colors such as flowers and leaves they don't appear too washed out, and they seem very true to life. Google manages to do a lot of the heavy lifting via software. The portrait mode does a good job isolating the subject from the background and creating a nice not too artificial, blur effect.

Meanwhile, the nitrite mode it uses software to digitally, enhance a dark photo to make it less dark, less noisy and just more detailed and bright more enjoyable. These software features really helped make up for the less than average camera hardware, and it's really why Google is able to release a $400 phone with such a capable camera. Now, where I think this camera could be improved upon, is in skin tones as it'll offer, an over saturate or underexposed subjects resulting in skin tones that look less appealing than other phones. The front-facing camera is an 8 megapixel sensor and there's no wide-angle sensor, that's available in the pixel 3xl, but thankfully I think the front-facing camera is still plenty wide, at least for my needs. If you're, a power-hungry user I would recommend the 3a XL as it has a larger 3700 William hour battery with the less power-hungry processor and the OLED display battery is strong.

I was able to get close to 8 hours of screen on time per charge, which is actually really impressive. Sadly, there's no wireless charging support, but you do have 18 watt quick charge, support to power. This phone up, real, quick google, says you can get seven hours of battery-life in 15 minutes I'd be a little dubious of this claim, but it's still going to be able to charge your phone up pretty quickly. Now the icing on the cake with the three AXL is the dual stereo speakers. The bottom speaker has been relocated to the bottom of the phone, so unfortunately it's not on the front facing your face like it should be, but the speaker is overall, it sounds great for a mobile phone.

This is actually a big selling point for me for four hundred and seventy-nine dollars for the larger Pixel 3a XL variant. What we have with this phone is all that we can ask for there are some features missing, that you'd find in more premium handsets like wireless charging and an IP certified water resistance rating, but for the price of this phone I think you get a lot for relatively little and if you don't need a bigger display or a larger battery, you can get the Pixel 3a a for 399 dollars. This phone is so good that I'm no longer recommending the pixel, 3 or pixel 3, XL, and I am looking forward to testing the new one +7 Pro to see how it stacks up, because that looks like a steal too, and it looks like it's seriously, undercuts the more premium flagships and specs and features, but even then it's still 200 dollars more than this variant. So you know it should be an interesting comparison with that said, I hope you enjoyed this review of the Google Pixel 3a excel. If you did hit the like button, maybe subscribe if your brand new and let us know what do you think of Google's new budget flagship I'll, see you in the next one peace.

Source : Slashdot