Google Pixel 4a vs OnePlus Nord | Side-by-side comparison By Tech Spurt

So, what we've got ourselves here is the battle of the mid-range android heavyweights to freshly launch some 400-pound smartphones that offer impressive value for money on the left. Here, you've got google's pixel 4 here, which finally launched after months and months of speculation and on the right, the very impressive OnePlus word, the Pixel 4a, is just about the cheapest of this pair at 349 quid, but you do have a bit of a weight on your hands if you fancy one, because it won't be available until October, the first on the Google store, the OnePlus word, on the other hand, will cost you a round of drinks extra. This starts at 379 quid, but it does go on sale from August. The 4th so good news for any impatient types. The big question, of course, is which one is best for you. Well, let's do a full side-by-side comparison with the Pixel 4a and the OnePlus note to see how they stack up for camera tech performance battery life.

Everything else you need to know and from all the latest greatest tech. Please do plug subscribe and ding that notifications bell cheers now. Let's start with the design, and when I first got my mitts on the OnePlus note I have to admit I thought it was a really nicely compact smartphone compared with a lot of the handsets I've handled in 2020, it's just 6.44 inches, but the pixel 4. It is even more hand pleasing at a positively dinky 5.8 inches and when you size the two of them up side by side like this, it's quite clear that the Google Pixel 4 is the one to go for if you're, after a mini mobile. Now, if you flip these phones around to the back, you get quite a different design on both of them too, with the node.

You get this absolutely stunning, marble blue finish, although it is available in a straightforward black, if you're still embracing your inner emo. Meanwhile, the pixel 4 is only available in the one color, unfortunately, which is rather simply titled, just black. So clearly, everyone at Google is still going through that awkward, my chemical romance fears, and I'm definitely a fan of brighter bolder colors. So it goes without saying. The OnePlus word, in this mobile blue finish is my preferred version uh, and also it's a lot harder than the Google Pixel 4a as well.

You actually get gorilla glass, 5 front and back uh, whereas of course the Google Pixel 4 is just plastic here on the back, and both these are actually pretty good at hiding, greasy fingerprints and other smudgy marks, and things like that uh. You might expect that it appears more easily on the glossy ass here on the OnePlus store, but actually they do show up a little here on the pixel 4 here. Despite that dark matte finish when you want to unlock your phone. You've got an in-display fingerprint sensor here on the OnePlus word, nice and nippy and responsive, but I had no issues with that whatsoever. Since I got it now actually get a rear mounted physical fingerprint sensor here on the pixel 4, a very old school and again nice and responsive just a quick tap of your finger to that sense, and again it'll straight in here on the OnePlus word as well.

You've also got the alternative option of face unlock as well, which is something that you don't get supported on the pixel 4, it's quite handy. If you're, you know you're messing around in the kitchen, your fingers are a bit grubby again, just tap that power button scans for you and boom straight in so now, let's talk software, and naturally you get the latest android 10 on both of these smartphones, otherwise slightly different geysers. Now, first up one of the best bits about the software on both these smartphones is the fact that they are very well-supported. So the Google Pixel 4, of course, naturally you'll get three years of OS updates and security updates thrown in there as well, and the OnePlus note as well, not far behind two guaranteed years of OS updates and three for the security. Again, that's just a good bit of added peace of mind, something you don't get from quite a lot of other manufacturers.

Now the Pixel 4a as it is. Of course, a Google branded handset does support a very stock version of android 10. Although you do get a few pixel exclusive features on here. That you won't find on other android smartphones, so, for instance, you've got google's recorder app, which can actually transcribe audio, just like that pixel 4 flagships, very handy for students and, if you're doing interviews, things like that, and of course, you've got that infamous now playing feature which can listen in 24 hours a day and uh pick up on any songs that are playing in your vicinity and jot them down now. OnePlus, thankfully, hasn't tinkered with the best android elements on there.

So, as you can see here, you've got full-on dark mode. You've got this great gesture. Navigation controls all the good stuff, but OnePlus has slathered its usual oxygen, OS launcher on top of android, which, to be fair, retains a very stock, look and feel, while also adding in a few great bonus bits. The best to This is probably the game space feature, something you don't get on the Pixel 4a, which can block notifications and fine-tune your performance, etc. , etc.

, while you're gaming very good for keeping you focused now with both of these phones, we've also got a form of always on display as well. It is actually always on in the case of the Pixel 4a. As you can see there with the OnePlus, you do have to actually tap the screen in order to bring it up again, that's really handy just for seeing if you've got any weight, notifications or anything. So you know whether to bother unlocking your smartphone. Now when it comes to streaming video well, both of these phones boast a gorgeous OLED display.

The node is of course bigger, but either is perfectly comfortable for enjoying a good bit of Netflix Disney plus whatever over a long lazy afternoon. The full HD plus resolution keeps images nice and sharp on both of these smartphones, and you've got full HDR support on the likes of Netflix as well. So you can really indulge in those nice sharp contrast, the natural colors and everything too, and by default. I definitely noticed that the colors were a little warmer a little punchier here on the OnePlus node, but that's because the vibrant color effect setting is activated by default because you dive into the Google Pixel 4 here color settings, and it's adaptive by default, but you can switch that up to boost it. If you do like those warmer hues.

Unfortunately, one option that you get in the OnePlus note that you don't get in the pixel 4 here is to do with the refresh rate you can boost it from 60 hertz to 90 hertz for a really silky smooth finish. Absolutely gorgeous. Stun and stuff makes that performance seem all the better and sadly, here on the Google Pixel 48, it tops off at 60 hertz, as you don't get any of that gorgeous 90 hertz action. I'm sure it's certainly not an essential feature, but it is very much a nice to have that, of course, one disadvantage of the word compared with the pixels. In fact, you get this big fat, dual selfie cutout wedge there in the corner, whereas it's just a single dinky little orifice here on the pixel 4 ears.

That said, if it does bother you at least here on the OnePlus node, you do have the option of hiding it from view. It's not exactly an elegant solution. It basically just squishes the screen a bit, but it's there. If you want it and that's an option, you don't seem to get here on the pixel 4 here, you're stuck with that orifice. Whenever you go full view.

As for the audio, where you do get a so-called stereo speaker set up here on the pixel 4 here, that earpiece is actually used for media as well, but it's very, very tinny. Let's face it. It's that bottom firing speaker that is pulling the real grunt of the weight here. Uh and it gets. The OnePlus note is just a bottom firing.

Mono speaker setup works. Absolutely fine. Both of them are still perfectly loud and clear on that top volume. So fine, for you know, kicking back with some YouTube or Netflix action, while you're working in a busy kitchen. Something like that.

If you dive into the sound settings here on the OnePlus note, you've also got an audio tuner which can dynamically change the audio effects, depending on what you're doing, watching a movie, listen to some music etc. Just to really get the most out of your sound uh. Unfortunately, you don't get that kind of option or any kind of equalizer anything here on the pixel and both of these phones offer the brilliant live caption feature as well, which actually throws up text uh dynamically, while you're watching a video or something it's not quite perfect. But it's great if you are hard of hearing, gives you an idea of what's going on and now, let's move on to performance, where the OnePlus note is once again, the victor you've got Qualcomm snapdragon 765g chipset, packed in there, whereas the pixel 4 it makes do with the snapdragon 730. And while Google is pretty generously stuffed six gigs of ram into the pixel Fourier, you get eight gigs as standard in the OnePlus, or you can actually upgrade that to 12 gigabytes if you throw some more cash OnePlus as way so the snapdragon 765 g inside the OnePlus note is more naturally suited to gaming on the go that arena GPU has been given a bit of a boost, and I found that yeah, you get a perfect frame rate on the likes of Call of Duty on this high detail.

Settings no worries whatsoever. That said, I have tested out Call of Duty again on those very high detail: settings here on the Pixel 4a and again it ran perfectly smooth, no worries whatsoever, so it's definitely giving you a competitive edge. If you are a bit of a mobile gaming fan. That said over time, the OnePlus note should fare better with the latest android titles. Another benefit of that 765g chipset is the fact that it comes with a built-in 5g modem as well.

So the word is fully 5g ready when those networks do eventually roll out across the country. In the case of the Google Pixel 4 as the nor 5g support, so you don't get that bit of future proofing. Now one of the potential drawbacks of the pixel 4 is dinky. Size is the fact. You've only got a 3 140 William cell stuffed in there with 18 watt fast charging and that's compared with the mighty 4 115 Williams stuffed inside the word, which busts faster 30 watt fast charging.

However, the OnePlus word's battery does actually drain pretty quickly. It'll, just about see you through a fairly intensive day, although you will just about be scraping it on occasions, as I have in the case of the pixel, thankfully, that battery drains much slower, so you'll easily get a full day of use, even with lots of stuff on the go, but one feature that you'll find in the OnePlus note that you won't find on the pixel that I absolutely love is the optimized charging. What this does are it makes sure it doesn't overcharge the OnePlus node's battery, if you leave it plugged in overnight, which of course, most of us are guilty of doing so, hopefully, over the long term, that'll. Just prevent any damage which will of course reduce your battery life in the case of the pixel Fourier you'll just have to get into good habits and try not to leave it charging all night long and both these smartphones come with 128 gigs of storage as standards. That's the base level uh, but neither offers micros memory card expandability.

Sadly, and now, let's take a look at the camera tech and as you can see, it's a very different setup on the OnePlus node compared with the Google Pixel 4 here. Of course, you've got this pretty much standard, quad lens setup here on the OnePlus, whereas the Google smartphone actually comes packing just a single rear camera lens, which is a very rare beast indeed. In 2020. Now single shooter on the Google Pixel 4 is a 12 megapixel effect, whereas here on the OnePlus word, it's a 48 megapixel primary lens using Sony's IMAX 586 sensors, it does shoot at 12 megapixels by default. You can quickly boost up to that maximum 48 megapixel resolution little top of that icon up there.

Now both phones are all great, but the Google Pixel 4 ears is unsurprisingly better at shooting everyday photos when it comes to the color capture, the pixel just about edges out the OnePlus offering impeccably natural hues in any kind of conditions. When it comes to the HDR smarts. The OnePlus note performs quite admirably, certainly better than previous OnePlus effort, certainly doesn't do itself a disservice, but in the case of the Google Pixel 4 again, it's the winner you've actually got full control over the darker elements. You can brighten those up separately to the rest of the photo and give yourself a nice gorgeously balanced shot when you need it and when it comes to proper low-light shots. Well, the pixel's night board is again the winner hands down somehow managing to once again serve up photos with accurate colors as well as sharp detail.

While everything looks that little warmer on the OnePlus word, and it's a thumbs up for the portrait smarts on both the OnePlus note and the pixel 4 here as well from the pixel 4, you did really well with that single lens setup, as it doesn't have the depth sensor that the OnePlus word does. We still got that gorgeous blocky background effect. I love these stuff, of course, with that multi-lens setup here on the OnePlus note, you do also have an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle. Lens that you can play around with slightly obviously distorts the image, and you get slightly warmer colors too, but you know it does offer a bit of extra flexibility for those who want it, and you do also have a dedicated macro lens on the OnePlus word as well, which I've got to admit. I find pretty much pointless and if you took the OnePlus node and the Pixel 4a into video mode as well, we can ship to 4k resolution footage on both of these handsets decent image.

Stabilization actually have a dedicated stabilizer mode here on the one plus node uh, strong, audio pickup and everything as well so great looking stuff. Let's finish up with my favorite part of these uh camera comparisons, the selfie camera. Of course, you get modest, eight megapixel effort here on the Google Pixel 4, whereas the OnePlus note actually upgrades that to a 32 megapixel effect, but all the same I found that, certainly in strong light and things like that. You actually get better detail out of the pixel Fourier deals with that sort of stronger light, definitely a lot better than the OnePlus word does. But again with the word, you get that extra camera lens flexibility, so you can actually swap to a separate, I believe it's eight megapixel and ultra-wide angle lens.

So, as you can see, that just gives you a little more uh, breathing space, good news. If you're trying to get some background action on the go or shoot you and a bunch of mates having fun in a post plague apocalypse whatever and there you have it. My lovelies, that's how the fresh new Google Pixel 4 is stacks up against the also pretty damn fresh OnePlus word, and the question is of course, which one do you prefer, as you can see, they offer a very different proposition for a very similar sort of price. So please do slap your comments down below my full OnePlus. Node review is live right now, if you want to go check that out, I've also compared with a bunch of other sub 400 pound 5g phones, including the likes of the motor g5g, plus the Realme x50 5g as well.

Go check that out for more sexy comparison action. My Google Pixel 4a review is inbound, so stay tuned for that have yourselves a lovely day. People cheers love you.

Source : Tech Spurt