Pixel 4a - One Month Later By Android Police

Can, you believe it's already been a month since google announced the Pixel 4a time is flying, but so far this phone has shown a lot of promise. Sure it's not the most exciting or specked out device on the market, but for 350 this phone makes you wonder if a thousand dollar flagship from Samsung or OnePlus is really worth it. Now, in my time of using the Pixel 4a, I've fallen in love with the form factor, battery life, camera and the software. Now the software is a given most folks that have tried. It will probably agree that the pixel software experience is amazing, especially when it comes to things like exclusive feature drops and first in line updates. I've already updated my Pixel 4a to the newest android 11 updates and pretty much every software feature that the Pixel 4 XL has the cheaper Pixel 4a has two: it's got.

The new smart hub power menu, app suggestions on the dock of your home screen nearby, sharing the new notification panel, a faster on device, Google Assistant automatic screen calling and every other native android 11 change, plus google promises at least three years of security and software updates, which is phenomenal. The fourth factor of the phone since day one has really caught my attention too. We're talking a comfortable hold a perfect button placement, a lightweight, feel a rare headphone jack and a flat display allowing me to easily reach each corner with just one hand. It may not have the biggest brightest or highest quality smartphone screen on the market, but at 5.8 inches. I had no problem enjoying some video content or scrolling through my socials sure.

I would much rather use a Galaxy Note, 20 ultra or an OnePlus 8 pro, for when I want to binge-watch a Netflix series, but for common everyday tasks, the Pixel 4a screen worked just fine. The camera hole also makes the display look almost bezel-less and very immersive from the front. The phone is extremely attractive and looks a lot more modern than its processor, but the back of the phone tells a different story: it's not exciting and the plastic body can get oily and smudged up. Due to its textured finish, when I saw that I immediately slapped a pastel skin on the back of it from channel sponsor d brand, it gave the phone a bit more grip and the purple or green color made the Pixel 4a look a bit more exciting and stand out more. The muted pastel shades are also pretty on board, with the sort of low-key colors google has used on phones recently, if you'd prefer something with more protection.

Brand also sells happy duty, grip cases, and you can still customize them by adding a skin to the back of it. Go to dbrand. com app if you're interested in checking out their selections. As for the battery life, this is one of the few phones that google has ever released. That actually has an amazing battery life.

Surprisingly, it even outlasted my Pixel 4 XL, and that device has a substantially higher capacity, 560 William hours more, to be exact. Of course, the Pixel 4 XL has a bigger higher quality, higher refresh rate display and a flagship chipset, but it still boggles my mind how a smaller 350 devices can outlast a flagship that costs 900 when it was first released in light duty use such as checking emails, messaging scrolling through social media and watching YouTube. The Pixel 4a lasts an entire day and a half six to seven hours of screen on time to be exact in heavier usage like playing games, to kill time using Google Maps to navigate on a long drive or having Bluetooth constantly enabled from my fossil smartwatch, the phone drained a lot faster. I'd usually see a screen time of around four hours, which is still better than some higher priced flagships out there, plus when it came to charging the Pixel 4a. The 18 watt fast charger got it back from zero to 50 percent in a little under 30 minutes, that's not as fast as OnePlus warp charge or opposed charger, but it's still decently fast and for those that might be curious.

No, this phone does not come with wireless charging capabilities, but that's usually expected with lower budget smartphones. What's not expected at this price is a great camera and the Pixel 4a follows in the footsteps of last year's Pixel 3a by including google's the best smartphone camera at a low price in the last month, using both the front and rear cameras. I was totally satisfied just like the more expensive Pixel 4 XL, no matter what the lighting conditions were, the rear camera and the software on the 4a can handle anything that you throw at it other than the reduced contrast and saturation. The pictures look exactly like what I get from the Pixel 4 XL, and you still get all the extra pixel exclusive camera features, such as night sight, motion, autofocus manual, background, blur, etc. But even though the camera quality is amazing and somewhat feature packed, the 4a still falls short in having the complete camera package.

For me, an ultra-wide and a telephoto camera are necessary because there have been multiple occasions where the single standard camera just couldn't capture what I wanted, but if I'm being generous, all I really need is an ultra-wide, because Google's super resume feature already, does a pretty great job of taking really detailed shots of objects that are far away so again, the software form factor battery life and cameras with the biggest benefits that stood out in my time with the phone, but that still leaves a few cons worth bringing up like performance and a handful of relative downgrades compared to the more expensive pixel 4. I know this is a cheaper phone, but sometimes the Pixel 4a reminded me of something much older, like a flagship from back in 2014. You remember that was around the time when android phones had a bad reputation for being laggy. I might be a bit critical, and it's clearly not a flagship phone, but the lag here can feel a little like stepping back in time. It's especially noticeable when you do more intensive tasks like screen, recording or playing heavy 3d graphic games.

You may be thinking that I'm only saying that, because being a smartphone reviewer, I'm used to playing with higher end flagships, but trust me, that's not the case at least to me. This phone feels a lot less fluid than other more recent budget phones, it's not even that the screen is only 60 hertz, and it could be because of the chipset that google used. Thankfully, there are rumors that google is planning on releasing the Pixel 4a 5g by the end of this month, and it's looking like it'll, be with the better snapdragon 765g for just 150, more it's the same processor found in the OnePlus word and that device definitely feels a lot more fluid and faster than the Pixel 4a. I know 350 is a perfect deal and performance, probably isn't that bad, given the price, but 500 is not that far off to receive a faster performance and even 5g supports now, given that the phone is extremely cheap, we all know that some corners had to be cut to bring down the price tag to budget territory. I get it, and it's not the end of the world, but it's still worth pointing out what is probably obvious.

You can spend more to get a better phone. The Pixel 4a has no expendable storage, no extra rear or front cameras. No IP rating no face unlock, no motion, sense gestures or squeeze functionality like the pixel 4 has no wireless charging, it doesn't have the fastest UFS, 3.0 or later storage. The body is all plastic and there is only one 128 gigabyte model with just one boring matte black color scheme, but with all those features missing the one that hurt the most was no rated water resistance. I mean, I don't think I need to explain to you why water resistance is important, but it's just nice knowing that I've accidentally dropped my phone in a puddle or have to take a phone call and a downpour it'll probably be fine if it has a good IP rating.

In the end, the Google Pixel 4a is an easy phone to recommend for 350. Google has once again impressed me at how well they can create a budget smartphone. If money is a big factor in your smartphone choice, then the 4a is the perfect option, especially if you're just looking for a device that has great software amazing battery life and a spectacular, if not super, versatile camera. If the price isn't a big deal, and you think you can throw up, maybe 100 or 150 dollars more, I would just wait a few more days to see how much better the Pixel 4a 5g is. If you're looking to use the phone for two or three years, then the increase in performance and 5g capability may be a good enough reason to spend the extra cash be sure to get subscribed with the notification bell turned on because we'll be reviewing the Pixel 4a 5g as soon as it gets released, and we'll also make other videos on the upcoming pixel 5.

You're not going to want to miss out either way. That's it for this video. If you guys enjoyed what you saw, please drop a thumbs up. It really helps out the channel be sure to check out androidplease. com for the latest and greatest news on android.

Don't forget to check out those brand skins through the link in the description, and I'll catch. You guys in the next one peace.

Source : Android Police