Google Pixel 4a review: The Best $350 Phone By Engadget

I never thought I'd be a 350 phone type of girl. I've always felt like a mid-range phone, wouldn't be powerful enough for my daily needs or have good enough cameras for my Instagram ambitions. Furthermore, I've always sought high-end phones with fancy features, but with a recession raging for the foreseeable future and a sudden glut of impressive mid-range phones. Furthermore, I've begun to reconsider my stance now that google has launched the Pixel 4a at last for just 350. Furthermore, I might actually be convinced the time for mid-range phones to rain is nigh. When I picked up the Pixel 4a, my first thought was wait.

Does this thing have a case on the soft touch coating on the back felt foreign since I'm used to phones with glossier finishes? It's not unpleasant, though, nor does it feel cheap. In fact, the Pixel 4a still feels as sturdy and well-made as the pixel 4. And at 5.04 ounces. It's significantly lighter than the pricier phone which weighs 5.71 ounces, and I've come to appreciate that lighter weight. A lot more as I've been spending more time.

On my couch reading on my phone, the pixel has always been a phone that felt a lot nicer than it looked. It's not the most stylish. The Pixel 4a's design is even more basic than ever, though it comes in just black and that's it. There's no other sizes available either keeping to one size and color was part of Google's strategy to reduce production costs. Other mid-range phones, like the galaxy a51, the iPhone SE and even the OnePlus word, which isn't available in the US, also come in just one size.

After all, the only design floors you'll get on the Pixel 4a is the light blue power button on the right side. I'm not mad about it, I'm all in favor of trimming the fat for a lower price plus, I'm glad google was able to keep the fingerprint sensor and the headphone jack on the Pixel 4a face unlock, never worked reliably for me on the pixel 4, and now that wearing masks is a part of daily life. Fingerprint authentication is far more convenient. A headphone jack continues to be important for people who have yet to switch to wireless earbuds, especially if they're on a budget, the camera module on the Pixel 4a's rear, is smaller than the force, and I like that, the power button and volume rockers feel a bit clicker. I have a bad habit of leaving my phone on the arm of my couch and all too often I accidentally nudged the device causing it to crash to the floor.

Thankfully, the Pixel 4a has managed to survive two such falls without a scratch. Compare that to the OnePlus word, which has eye-catching colors and a glossy finish sure, but is already showing scratches after a week and that's without being dropped. Turning the Pixel 4a on for the first time was a surprise. I wasn't expecting to see the 5.8-inch screen take up nearly the whole front of the phone. This is google's first time using a display with a hole, punch camera, and it makes the 4a the most modern looking phone in the company's lineup.

Yet Google is also playing catch-up. The OnePlus word and galaxy a51 both offer similar screens with camera cutouts, and they measure 6.4 and 6.5 inches respectively. The iPhone SE still sports. A tiny 4.7-inch screen with a design from 2016, though aside from the shape the pixel 4 is full HD plus OLED panel is almost the same as the pixel 4s. Both support HDR and are bright enough to see in sunlight.

I enjoyed watching episodes of sense8 as scenes from a pride parade were vibrant and detailed. I was surprised when I realized. Furthermore, I missed an important pixel 4 feature the 90 hertz screen refresh rate the Pixel 4a only refreshes at 60 hertz, which made things like scrolling. My Instagram or Twitter feeds look slightly sluggish if you've never laid eyes on a 90hz screen. You won't miss it, but if you're considering switching, this will take some adjusting the Pixel 4a isn't alone, though, while the OnePlus word does offer a faster 90hz screen, the a51 and the iPhone SE are both stuck at 60hz.

For the price, though this is a minor sacrifice, my bigger complaint is about the Pixel 4a's bottom firing speakers. It was too easy to block them when I was grabbing the phone in landscape mode, which ended up muffling and distorting the audio when they weren't covered. The speakers delivered satisfyingly, clear, music loud and Julia Michael's. There's no way sounded crisp, although it could have been louder and brassier. One major thing that tends to suffer when companies try to cut prices is the camera.

Yet google bucked that trend with the 3a fantastic camera and the Pixel 4a is no different. Throughout my testing, I play the game with my colleague Chris Velasco, which phone took this photo the 4a or the 4. He was only right about 50 of the time. It's not a huge surprise, considering they both have the same sensor and use similar processing software. But when you consider that the pixel 4 costs 7.99, though it frequently goes on sale for a 450, it's impressive that the 350 dollar Pixel 4a can match it. Even if the four is a year-old flagship, I shot flowers, buildings, nights capes city, skylines and drool-worthy homemade dumplings and every snap came out crisp and colorful.

The pictures, the 4a captured of a beautiful purple gold sunset, were almost indistinguishable from those I took on the pixel 4. In some situations like with dumplings, the Pixel 4a produced a slightly green tint, but it wasn't obvious until I lined the photos up side by side. The fact that the Pixel 4a only has a single rear camera puts it at a disadvantage. Both the OnePlus word and the galaxy a51 have quad sensor arrays, although the iPhone SE also sports. Just the one camera.

Google still delivers superior image quality thanks to his clever software, but I do miss the flexibility of switching to a wide angle lens for more arresting landscapes. The 4a has the same selfie camera situation as before and as expected to portraits of similar quality. I missed the secondary wide-angle lens that the pixel 3 offered, but the solo sensor on the 4a isn't bad put it. This way. With a wider angle, I could get shots of my head to toe.

Look while the 4a can only get head to knees, it's not the biggest deal given we're, not all clamoring to squeeze into group selfies these days. But if self-portraits are a priority, you might prefer the word, which has dual front cameras. One of my favorite things about the Pixel 3a was how well it performed. Despite using a less powerful processor, google cooked up some software magic to make android fly, despite the slower CPU, and it's done the same with the Pixel 4a, the phone packs, a snapdragon 730 g instead of the pixel 4's snapdragon 855, but both have 6 gigs of ram and feel similarly speedy. I jumped from using Amazon's AR tool to see how various bookshelves would look in my apartment too, having video meetings to chatting with my friends while watching YouTube videos in picture-in-picture mode and playing too much of the sims mobile with no delay the phone.

Rarely even hesitated. Google software tends to make up for its basic hardware and, as usual, the company has some helpful tools that make the pixel experience better than any other android phone. Most of these have already been announced, like its personal safety and car crash detection, feature Google Docs integration for the recorder app as well as adaptive battery management with the Pixel 4a, though Google is bringing its live. Caption feature to calls previously live. Caption offered on-screen subtitles for all audio playing on your pixel, but calls were a trickier domain.

These captions can be screenshotted and that's akin to having your conversation recorded, which brings up issues of consent to work around that live caption for calls will alert your contact that you're using the feature when you turn it on. I tested it on several apps and each time google's generic robotic sounding voice, told the person on the other end hi. The person you're about to speak with, has call captions turned on they'll, see captions of what you say to help them. Listen along I'd estimate that live caption was about 95, accurate at transcribing what was said with occasional flubs, like does that me be a telegram thing. Instead of was that maybe a telegram thing.

I firmly believe that live caption needs to be on every phone. Not only is it an important accessibility feature for people who are hard of hearing or deaf, but it could even be useful in a noisy, caf? or subway station. You know if we ever venture outside again for now, though, features like live, caption call, screening, recorder and personal safety set the Pixel 4a. Apart from the competition one area, google tends to fall short of the competition is battery life, but the Pixel 4a has surprised me on that front. Despite packing a relatively small 3140 William hour cell, the Pixel 4a lasted 12 hours and 26 minutes on our video rundown test.

That's just shy of the word's nearly 13 hour mark and that has a 15 William hour battery in real world use the Pixel 4a easily made it a day and a half, but the galaxy a51 and its 4 000 William hour battery barely made it a day and the iPhone SE couldn't even manage that. Once again, Google has shown that clever software tweaks can make up for lesser hardware. I've honestly never been this impressed by a mid-range phone despite a lack of style and a single rear camera. The Pixel 4a is the only sub 500 phones I'd, consider switching to plus at 350 dollars, it's cheaper than the iPhone SE, the galaxy a51 and the OnePlus word, which all costs about 400, while the word might have some nicer color options, a faster screen and a more versatile, multi-camera setup. It's not available in the US google software prowess makes its camera shine, helps this battery last longer and delivers unique features like live, caption and on-device recorder transcription best of all.

It makes the Pixel 4a feel like a flagship at less than half the price for our in-depth reviews on iPhones, OnePlus phones, galaxy phones and other devices across consumer technology. Make sure you subscribe to Engadget and as always, thank you for watching. You.

Source : Engadget