GOOGLE PIXEL 3A XL vs Pixel 2 XL: Which is the Better Value? (Dual Review) By This is Tech Today

Hey friend Brandon here, after all the talk about the Pixel 3a I had so many of you asked me: should you get the Pixel 3a or the pixel 2 XL, since it's about the same price? Now some of you even asked me if he should upgrade from pixel to excel to a pixel, 3a or 3 AXL? Well, you asked, so I'm making this one for you of course, leave a comment telling me now of any other videos. You'd like me to make here's my guide to help you better think of what option is the right fit for you with that said, you may want a different device and I prefer, or someone else does and that's totally. Ok at the end of the day, I don't mind which phone you get as long. It's the right fit for you, but I will give some opinions and observations along the way for you to consider. This is Brandon's better buy for the Google Pixel 3a devices in the pixel, 2, XL and you're watching this is Tex today, please make sure to share subscribe, hit that Bell icon to be notified when I post. Another video and give this video thumbs up, I'd really appreciate it and for your convenience that our links in the description for everything that I mentioned in this video, if you do use them I, do receive a small commission to help support the channel at no additional cost to you.

So it's always appreciated when you use those links. Alright, let's get into it, keep in mind, I'm, basing the pricing off of brand-new devices and the current June 2019 non beta version of Android P to keep it on an equal playing field. First, let's talk about the display for the display. The Pixel 3a is a 5.6-inch screen at 1080 by 2220 resolution with a 440 PPI. The Pixel 3a XL is a 6-inch screen at 1080 by 2160 resolution, which is oddly a lower resolution than the 3.

Either way it does have a 402 PPI and then the pixel 2 XL is also a 6-inch screen with a 1440 by 2880 resolution with a 538 PPI. Now, while the pixel 2 XL has a much higher resolution, that doesn't mean that has a better display than the Pixel 3a Series. If you weren't around at the time and the pixel 2 XL launched with terrible displays in many ways my channel really started to grow because of my videos on that, but the screens would have terrible black smear. Green displays really lifeless indie, saturated colors, burning, splotches, blue tint, and so much more it was. It was bad while it is possible that Google may have fixed the quality of their display.

Since then, it's still concerning so far, my experience with the Pixel 3a screen has been amazing, but let's get a bit more scientific and objective in this black crush test. You can see that the Pixel 3a goes up to about box 8 at 24 percent brightness, while the pixel 2 XL goes up to about box.10 and black crush will make darker content, look even darker or lose detail kind of like a Game of Thrones battle scene. The details in the dark are at a low brightness easily goes to the 3a. Now add a hundred percent brightness. You can see up to about box 5 on the 3a and box 4 on the pixel to excel.

Interestingly enough, the details in the dark are slightly better on the pixel to excel at max brightness speak of max brightness I. Have this light meter that measures the brightness of a source based on Lux I'm, not sure how to convert that to nits? So we'll just stick with a Lux for this video, but if you happen to know how to do that, conversion, please let me know comments when we measured the lux on the pixel to excel I'm, getting a reading of about 649 lux now, when we compare that with a Pixel 3a I'm getting 759 looks that is a difference of a hundred and ten Lux, which is quite substantial and that's really something that I've noticed in the pixel to excel. It just seemed really dim in comparison to other phones, I've used, especially outside now. Let's talk about audio one of the biggest changes between the Pixel 3a series in the pixel 2 Excel is a change from having dual front-facing speakers to moving one of the speakers to the bottom of the phone. For me, this is not my preference.

As a sound engineer, you always want to have speakers facing towards you because sounds going toward you and not away from you. That's just how sound works practically. You are also more likely to cover the speaker with your finger or hand, which is not only frustrating, but it further emphasizes the uneven equalization that phone companies just love for some reason. That's where the high frequencies are in the phone earpiece and the lower frequencies or the fullness is in the bottom speaker, and you can totally test this out on many phones. If you cover up the bottom speaker, it starts to sound, really thin.

That's because all the high frequencies are on the top speaker and then, alternatively, if you cover up the top speaker, the earpiece you'll hear all the fullness on the other speaker, the bottom one, but let's get scientific and a little more objective. So I do have the sound meter the way that I measured. It is I base it upon the maximum decibel level, so I'll enable this max hold button, and that means that when it reaches a higher decibel level, it'll display the highest amount. So each time it goes higher and higher it'll display here in terms of sound levels, the Pixel 3a is significantly louder than the pixel to excel at about 88 decibels, while the pixel to excel maxed out at about 84 decibels, a 4 decibel difference is noticeable. Now, let's listen to what it actually sounds like.

You should be able to clearly hear how muffled the pixel 2xl sounds. While the Pixel 3a sounds very clear. This clarity also helps the pixel 3/8 with zero spread or how wide and immersive it sounds. I really do think. Objectively, the pixel 3/8 is hands-down the winner here, there's no contest, it's shockingly, a great speaker that is clear, full sound and immersive, even if I don't prefer the bottom firing speaker.

One other consideration is how the speakers on the pixel 2xl has a tendency to start crackling, as if it's a blown speaker which is a big dealbreaker to me, you can find tons of Reddit posts about this issue and I even made a video about it. Let's talk about the fit and finish speaking of that speaker on the pixel 2 XL, the design of the speaker. Holes are pretty bad, and you can get junk in it real easily, and the mesh is really quite flimsy. You can see how it's really uneven here, it's more kind of like a little cloth rather than a metal. When we look at the pixel 3/8, it's made of polycarbonate or plastic and a while that seems like it could be awful.

Google did an incredible job with the fit and finish on the pixel 3/8. It doesn't feel cheap. It feels smooth soft and a little lighter than the pixel 2x. So for some people that I've talked to you weight is a consideration for some women, as they don't want to put more things that are heavy in their purses. So keep that in mind so for the weight the Pixel 3a is 147 grams, the 3a XL is 167 grams and the 2 XL is 175 grams.

The pixel 2 XL is made of a metal and a kind of plastic type finish over it. So it's not only heavier, but it feels a bit more rigid, while the back has a soft touch, feel it's not a smooth feeling as a 3a series. On top of that, the curve on the front glass is a bit unusual with a notice hole lip between the glass in the body. It also makes it really hard to find a glass screen protector for it. Unless you get something like the white stone, dome glass, which is something that I personally prefer and can endorse, they even made a video on that.

If you want to check it out, it is the only tempered screen protector that I endorse as a whole. The pixel to Excel has a better back in terms of strength of materials, but the fit and finish it's a whole feels really unrefined and a bit kind of like a reference prototype device compared to you. The Pixel 3a and this one has really great transitions, edges and feel throughout. You can really see that Google has matured with our hardware on this generation of devices. Now, let's talk about the performance for those of you who really care about benchmark test here.

Are the Geek bench results single core came out to 1630 for the 3a and 1824 for the two XL? That is a difference of 211 in favor of the two XL, the big difference came in multi-core that came out to 50 146 for the Pixel 3a and 6166 for the two XL, that's a difference of 1020 in favor of the two XL. This is where the big difference comes into play between the 600 series, Qualcomm Snapdragon chips and the 800 series Snapdragon chips. The single core is fairly comparable between the two, but once you get into multi-core tests, the 800 series will pull ahead practically Home I, don't really see much of a difference, and I've never left warning all that much. Perhaps pictures might take a second longer to process, but that's not too bad. Otherwise, in normal use, everything feels equally snappy and fast for both devices, except one area touch, the pixel 3/8 does have a slight feeling of not being as responsive to swipes.

It's really hard to describe if you're, using that pixel to excel, and you imagine putting your finger on a piece of paper and moving it. It's pretty much one-to-one on the pixel 3/8 feels like it's just lagging behind by a few milliseconds, but you really can't see it, but you can kind of feel it in a weird way. I really don't know how else to describe it, but I will say that it's strangely not a dealbreaker for me, why I mostly notice it after using another device right before it after a little, I just adapt and don't notice it too much. Now, let's talk about the battery so far using the pixel 3d has been incredible, and it easily lost me a whole day without any sort of battery anxiety at all I easily have about 10 to 20% of better you. Many want to go to bed with the pixel to XL.

I would often need to charge it when I get home from work. Despite the fact, the pixel to TO has a 3520 William battery compared to the three thousand and three thousand seven hundred mill amp battery found in the pixel 3/8 and three XL respectively, and a big part of that is the higher resolution screen on the pixel to excel. So keep that in mind. Now, let's talk about the camera for the camera in terms of features and specs that are nearly the same. So the best thing for us to do is just take some pictures and compare the two.

So what do you think of the front-facing camera I? Do notice one thing between the two of them, but I want to know if he notices for the rear facing camera. The biggest difference I see here is the white balance, which is consistent for every other photo taken between these two. The pixel to excel tends to make things a bit warm while the pixel 3 is more consistent with what a pure white is in terms of white balance for portrait mode, the rear, camera portrait mode feature on the 3/8 crops in a bit more on your photos. So you want to keep that in mind, as it does give us flexibility for the front facing camera. The focal length seems to be the same, so the biggest difference is once again the white balance and saturation which I do prefer on the pixel 3/8.

Both of them did a really great job with their portrait modes, as they usually do. When I tested nitrite, it looks like the pixel 2xl can't focus on the right subject as easily, even with some assist by tapping on the subject. It just didn't work as a whole. The 3a looks better, is more saturated, and it's able to focus on the subject easily and completely when we go outside that the color balance for the 2xl carries over and there's a noticeable yellow and warm hue between everything else. The 3a just looks more natural and clean right, and maybe it's just me but looks like the 3a sharpens that image just a little more, so that may be a good or bad thing depending on your taste.

Now this next one had a lot of drama, and it's the video audio and, of course, I made a video on it, but it sounded insanely thin, tinny and was just like it was put through an awful noise, canceling plug-in where it just sounded all like horribly and washing. Now it sounds way better after some updates so which one do you think is better: let's listen! Alright! This is the pixel 2x. Oh, how does the audio sound on the video, and here is the Pixel 3a? How does the audio sound on this one, which one do you prefer go ahead and vote now? Here are some other considerations, since the Pixel 3a is a newer device, it will come with software updates for at least three years with the pixel 2 XL. It only has guaranteed updates for another year and a half or so for a total of three years of updates. Have you planned to keep your phone for a while? This is important to consider.

Also, the pixel 2 XL has IP 67 water resistance when the Pixel 3a does not have any water resistance. That may or may not be a big deal for you, while I would like to have water proofing just in case I've personally never had any sort of incident where I would have needed that water proofing, but that may be something that you absolutely have to have, especially if you have kids and keep in mind that neither of these have wireless charging. Also, if you need more than 64 gigabytes of space, that's the maximum amount and the only option you have for the Pixel 3a excels. That may be a big deal. Breaker the pixel 2 XL goes up 228 gigabytes and if you want a smaller device, there's at least an option with a 3/8, it's a little more pocketable, I would say, and I think small devices are back in I'm a big fan.

Now, let's talk about the price, one of the biggest selling points for the Google, pixel, 3 and 3 XL. Is that price you can get them for $399 and 479 dollars, respectively, at their normal price and crazy enough. You can often find different promos out there kind of like $100 gift card, a $50 gift card, a Google home hub or even a Chromebook, I literally, don't know how Google is making any money off of this speaking of $50 off. There is a coupon code that I have for that down in the description for the 3a in three XL. Now the pixel 2 XL is no longer sold on the Google store, but at the time of filming you can find on the Amazon for about $30 or more than the Pixel 3a and at 128 gigabytes.

Now the difference in price between the 64 gigabytes and 128 gigabytes on Amazon are negligible, so we'll just consider everything on 128 gigabytes. Now, of course, if you get something like a Pixel 3a and three XL, you might be able to get an even deeper discount. Have you gone through a retailer like Best Buy, and you sign up for a service contract, but we'll just kind of leave that off the table, because we want to have an even playing field in terms of price that pixel 2 XL sits right between the cost of the 3a and the 3a Excel? So there isn't really a big difference in price, and it comes down to size, preference and with a 3/8 you always have that option of a smaller or bigger phone, while the price for both the devices is fairly affordable compared to many other options out, there you'll still want to protect your phone with a ridiculously affordable warranty from this video sponsor up see. Well, you could use a warranty option from the store or another warranty company. They usually cost more than two times the cost of up see, but obviously they don't over inflate their prices and have low deductibles.

If you live in the u. s. , you can start a warranty with their easy use, app and protect your pixel to excel or Pixel 3a for two years, even from accidental damage like a cracked screen or the liquid damage for only 89 99, and of course they have warranties for many other devices. You don't want to live with regret, get up see by clicking the link in the description and save 10% off your purchase with promo code tech today. So what is my preference for me? I personally prefer the Pixel 3a and here's why the main things that affect the normal use for your phone are there? The screen is better.

The sound is better. That feel is better. The fit is better, the battery lasts longer. The software updates are there for a while, and the photos require less editing to correct the color temperature and so on. While you could look at Geek bench scores alone, it doesn't really tell you what it's like to use practically every day and that's why I would suggest picking up the Pixel 3a series, if you don't have a pixel device yet and want to buy one for an affordable price.

Now, here's the other question, if you already have a pixel, 2, XL I'd, stick with what you have now. The difference isn't really significant enough to spend the money, in my opinion, plus what the pics of for coming out. You may want to save your money for that instead or traded in your pixel to excel towards that, and that's of course, if you want to spend money for a premium device over a more budget-friendly device. Of course, my tastes and needs may be different from yours, and you may prefer some of the things I listed off in the two XL over the 3/8. If that's the case, you should totally go with the one that fits you better, and he's the links in the description to do so.

At the end of the day, I just want to help you think through. What's the best fit for you, so hopefully that does help you better think through the things that matter most to you and what device would better meet your needs. Let me know your thoughts and your preferences after watching this video in the comments below and into this listed day, community discord chat. Please join us. Thank you for watching.

This is tech today, where we talk about the intersection of technology and our everyday lives and business and in all things creative until next time.

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