Google Pixel 4a Unboxing & Review: Unbelievably Good? By GadgetMatch

Leaked many times over and is launched delayed by several months. Google's new value phone is finally here and with an extremely attractive 350 dollar price tag. It's got me excited, but affordable doesn't always mean good. Does this phone manage to balance both? Is it a solid upgrade from last year's model, and how does it compete with a similarly priced iPhone SE, and is it your gadget match? This? Is our Pixel 4a, unboxing and review before we dive in? We need to get it out of the box if you've seen our other pixel unboxing. This one will be very similar. Packaging is pretty standard with a photo of the phone up front team pixel on its back and on its side a sneak peek of the phone's mint colored power button to open it.

Just pull on these tabs over here and lift first up is the Pixel 4a just lift on this flap and let's take a quick peek, also in the box, quick start guide and a sim tray ejector, an 18 watt, USB, adapter, USB to USB, cable and, last but not least, an USB to a dongle or what they call a quick switch. Adapter earbuds are not included unless you live in France or Australia. I personally am not bitter about it. It's 20 20. It's time you should invest in a good pair of wireless earbuds.

Speaking of Google also makes its own. It's called the pixel buds, and you can click over here to watch our hands-on video. If you're new here gadget match is the channel where we go in depth in gadget, reviews and help. You find the right device to match your needs, and you've come at the right time, because there are a lot of big smartphones and other device announcements coming your way real soon. So to make sure you don't miss any of that subscribe to our YouTube channel and help us reach our goal of 1 million subscribers.

So this is it the Pixel 4a google's budget phone offering and a more affordable alternative to the pixel 4 and 4 XL. Unlike last year, the Pixel 4a only comes in one size, smaller, actually than both the non-xl 3a and 4 just a little taller than the iPhone SE, while the pixel 4 is available in orange white and black and last year's Pixel 3a included a lovely shade of purplish. The Pixel 4a is just black, no seriously it's only available in just black, and that's also the official color. Google says that this is because of supply chain issues due to the Ovid 19 pandemic. We're hoping that when that is resolved, we'll get more colors, because black is a little boring.

The only bit of color comes from a mint green power button on its right hand, side above its volume rocker. It's got a similar matte frosted finish as the white and orange pixel 4 is, and unlike the glossy, just black pixel 4. , but in order to bring down costs, its shell is made of polycarbonate plastic instead of glass and aluminum. Last year's 3a was polycarbonate 2, but there's something less premium about the way. This one feels the dark shade is also a bit of a smudge magnet frosted finish notwithstanding to maintain a close family resemblance.

It's got a square camera module, even if it only has one camera. It also retains a backside fingerprint sensor as on the Pixel 3a, but with less of an indentation tricking you into sometimes thinking that you're not touching the right spot, you'll find even more changes when you flip the phone around its display is made of corning gorilla glass 3 an upgrade from the 3a's dragon trail glass, but not the top spec gorilla glass, 5, that's on the pixel 4. And just to jog your memory. It's the first time we've seen an edge-to-edge display on a pixel device. The pixel 3 XL had a large notch, while the 3a and 4 have large, foreheads and or chins there's just the punch hole on its top left hand.

Side for the selfie camera tucked away over here is the earpiece which, together with the bottom firing one gives you stereo, audio. There's an USB port down here too, and completing our tour of the phone's exterior the headphone jack still lives, tucked away on the top left-hand side from the get-go. I was never a fan of the Pixel 4a's build quality. It feels light and plastic, definitely not as premium feeling as say the iPhone SE and without any color options. It's a big disappointment for me overall.

Luckily, google sells cases, and maybe snapping one on will change the way I feel about it. I like its size, though we don't have enough small android phones in 2020, and I love that google finally ditched that forehead and chin this all screen look allows the pixel to finally catch up with everything else, that's out in the market today. So what improvements do the 4a have over the 3a, and how is it different versus the more pricey pixel 4. ? We've already talked about the larger display, thanks to that trimming of the forehead and chin nick asks.90 hertz screen nope, not a 90hz display like on the pixel 4, but the usual 60hz display versus the Pixel 3a. There's a spec bump Qualcomm snapdragon 730g, which also powers Samsung's, mid-range, a71, six gigabytes of memory up from four and double the amount of bass, storage.

Now 128 gigabytes is the default, but versus the pixel 4. The main difference is 2019's top tier snapdragon, 855 processors, so you're getting more power and graphics performance on the four obviously, and it will definitely feel faster with that 90 hertz screen the pixel 4 doesn't have a fingerprint sensor. It relies on face unlock the 4a has a physical sensor on its back, which is fast and snappy, and just briefly because it has its own section. The pixel 4 has two rear cameras. The 4a has only one so basically from the 3a to the 4a you're, getting updated, specs a larger display and a cheaper price tag, stepping up to the 4.

You get a top tier snapdragon processor, a second camera and a faster display plus extras like wireless charging and an IP rating. The Pixel 4a's lone camera is a 12.2 megapixel wide angle, camera that uses Sony's, mix 363 sensors. Fiji kenosis asks: does it have the same great camera yep? Quite literally? Actually, it has the same exact sensor as the pixel 3 3a and the four despite this tldr, the 4a performs just as well as the 3a and the top of the line. Pixel 4. , the following samples prove that, starting with this shot of smoothies from our favorite caf? soon, we find our way to a flea market where I take a look at some second hand, books and find this graffiti wall a good way to test how the phone does color.

All three phones take almost the exact same photo another color test this time with chai in the frame, so that we can also test the phone's ability to shoot people same results. Speaking of chai, here's a portrait mode test. This is the only place we see much of a difference. The Pixel 4a seems to over sharpen faces. Cutouts are good, though the same can be said in this HDR test, a photo of me shot against the sun.

All three phones did an excellent job at HDR, but the foray over sharpened my face here also as the day winds down. We stop to get a drink and some food in these food photos. The results are still pretty much the same, but as the sun begins to set. This is where the Pixel 4a differentiates itself from the 3a, at least in this photo of chai. The 4 and 4a produced brighter photos, and in this photo of me using night mode, the 3a's photo was much softer and finally, in this extreme low light test, which we shot in my living room with hardly any available light, the differences are very minimal.

It's also worth pointing out that, just like on the Pixel 3a compared to the pixel 3, the 4a takes longer to process photos versus the pixel 4. This is most evident when using night sight or portrait mode. Some of you asked how well it performs via the iPhone SE and the OnePlus word. So let's revisit some of those photos. During the day, the results are pretty similar, although in this shot of a traffic light and some buildings you'll see, the word tends to increase the contrast, which is something we've noted it likes to do in that HDR photo of me by the water.

The word does an excellent job at HDR, while the iPhone's photo is very noisy. The SC, however, seems to have done the best job at chai at sunset and finally, in low light. Both the word and the SE start to struggle in this night shot photo of me. The word's photo is yellowish, while the SES is grainy and in this extreme low light shot. The SE just cannot keep up.

Some of you may remember that recently I did an iPhone SE 2020 versus Pixel 3a comparison video. You can click up here to watch that head to head and in that video I promised once the 4a was or is announced, I will do a follow-up and that will be coming to your sub boxes really soon up front. The Pixel 4a has the same 8 megapixels, selfie camera as well, but with a less wide field of view down to 84 from 90 degrees on the pixel 4. It's a fine distance for everyday selfies, but a little too tight if you're the type who shoots vlogs a lot of you tell me, I don't cover video enough. So this is what a video looks like using the front facing camera, and here are some shots.

We took using the phone's main camera. The Pixel 4a lacks in terms of camera hardware, it more than makes up in terms of software features. If you really think about it, even with its single camera and older image sensor, the fact that it's able to keep up with some of the best smartphone cameras in the market today is really a testament to how good and how superior google's computational photography skills are. Some other features include night sight with macrophotography, which I wasn't able to test out, because I live in Brooklyn and seeing the stars isn't something you can do every day. But here's a sample google showed us taken using the pixel 4.

Live HDR, plus that lets you see what a HDR photo looks like even before you take the shot. For example. Here you can see because we're shooting against the light the Pixel 3a shows the sky is a bright white, but once the photo is processed, it turns blueish. On the Pixel 4a like on the pixel 4, you can see the sky is blue, even while composing your shot. Finally, super resume uses software magic to mimic what an optical zoom lens can do.

The results are okay for day-to-day scenarios, photographing things that are not too far away. Otherwise, I wouldn't even bother the pixel.4A comes with a 3140 William hour battery that, in my tests, lasted me three quarters of a day with moderate use and that's with its adaptive battery setting turned on and a combo of Wi-Fi and LTE. It's definitely not a battery champ, not the OnePlus word. That would oftentimes get me through a day with a little left over the next morning. Charging speeds and bundled chargers are the same as last year.

Getting you to 45 in 30 minutes and 80 in an hour a full charge took me 98 minutes, considering how good google is able to optimize its cameras. It's a shame that they can't do the same in terms of power consumption. Now I know usage will vary depending on the person and what that person uses his or her phone for, but the best test is a real world test, and no one does it better than my buddy David Logan, the unlocked hid avid thanks for joining me today, and I'm sorry to spoil your viewers, but based on your real world test. How long did the Pixel 4a last? You hey man honestly way better than I expected, like we're kind of used to pixels, not doing great when it comes to battery life, but during my full day of being out with it, taking a ton of photos and videos on it, it lasted me from waking up to going to bed. So I'm pleasantly surprised.

Actually, thanks buddy. You should definitely check out the rest of David's real world test by clicking up here or in the description box below before we wrap up it's time for some quickfire q, a 730g or 765g. Definitely the 765. It's meant to be the 730s successor and, as a result, is more powerful. The 730g was launched in April of last year, while the 765 in December.

The 765 is also more power efficient and has 5g support. Google oftentimes gets a lot of flack for putting older processors into their phones, but considering how well their phones perform, especially in the photography department. It's really hard to say that we really need a brand-new processor to get the kind of performance that most users have come to expect. Is it too late to launch the 4a in a couple of months? The pixel 5 will be here not really the 4a. After all, is supposed to be their budget offering, but in terms of marketing or branding, I can see how that might sound confusing.

It is, after all, a 2020 phone, but it does seem like it is a whole generation behind just because of a number how about its future software updates. Google is promising at least three years of security and android OS updates, which is much better than the usual two that we get from most android manufacturers. So before we decide if this is the phone for you, let's assess it based on our list of nonnegotiable and optional things that I first introduced in my OnePlus word review. You can click over here to watch that, so you know exactly what we're talking about, but to summarize we're looking for a phone, that's built well and looks good performs well enough for games and multitasking has solid battery life to last a whole day. Shoots great photos and videos has intuitive software and my bad.

In my rush. I forgot to include two more nonnegotiable secure, fast and reliable biometrics and a crisp, bright and vibrant display. So how does the Pixel 4a do in terms of build and design I'll give it passing marks? But I expect more, especially since the iPhone SC costs almost as much but with better materials and design for everyday use. The Pixel 4a does a decent job. It's snapdragon 730g is no slouch normal.

Day-To-Day tasks ran fine, as well as some of my favorite games. If anything, it was load times that suffered a bit and don't forget the longer processing time for photos. Battery life we've already discussed this. The Pixel 4a has average battery life in my tests, not good enough to last a full day, great photos and videos, most definitely as good as the best intuitive software checks. Although we really needed a screen recorder for this video, thankfully that's coming in android, 11.

, secure and fast biometrics, albeit older tech, it's fast and reliable. I have no complaints. The display is crisp but like on the 3a, we still wish that colors were more vibrant and the display brighter. Meanwhile, in terms of optional, the 4a doesn't have wireless charging and an official IP rating for water resistance, but it does come with case options and, more importantly, a headphone jack. So where does this leave us? I guess it's time to answer that.

All important question is the Pixel 4a. Your gadget match this juncture. It's important to revisit the phone's price tag.349 us dollars, that's 50 dollars cheaper than the 3a and the 2020 iPhone SE more than 80 dollars cheaper than the galaxy a71, and about a hundred dollars less than the OnePlus word. It's brilliant pricing by google meant to undercut apple and honestly, all of its other competitors at this price point the likes of Motorola Nokia, lg and OnePlus simply put if you're not fussy, about build quality and specs, and you're really just looking for a phone with one excellent camera. Then this is the phone for you, the Pixel 4a.

It is your gadget match. Should you get the iPhone SE instead, as I promised I'm working on a head-to-head video, so please watch out for that video dropping real soon? Should you spend a bit more and get the OnePlus word, this may or may not come as a shocker, but the Pixel 4a has the more superior camera to the OnePlus word, even if the word has four rear cameras. So if photos are your main priority, the Pixel 4a is definitely better, but otherwise the word really is more superior in every other way, build quality and design and battery life. My biggest complaints about the 4a on top of that it has a snappy screen and amped up performance. So, overall, the OnePlus word is the more well-rounded value for money pick.

That said, the 350 dollar price point is insanely low. In a year when phones kept getting more and more expensive, this might be the only phone that got a price drop and for what it offers in its price category, there's nothing quite like it, and if this is all you're willing to spend on a smartphone, that's okay, I say go for it. It is a worthy recipient of the gadget match seal of approval. To be honest, the main reason why I recommend the pixel 4 is because of its excellent camera. But what do you know? This phone has the same exact camera, so controversial statement here to most users.

I'd recommend this phone over this one. That said, Google is known to reduce phone prices ahead of a major product launch and with the pixel 5 on the horizon. Maybe you can wait for this phone's price to go down and then, if that happens, nab this one instead and that was our Pixel 4a, unboxing and review. We have a lot more phone reviews coming your way, plus a lot of other exciting stuff. So to make sure you don't miss any of them subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit that bell icon so that you get notified as soon as we post.

Each new video follow me on social media for all the behind the scenes, fun stuff and, as always, make gadgetmatch. com your daily habit until the next video. I'm Michael josh, thanks for dropping by you.

Source : GadgetMatch