Pixel 4a Review: The Easiest Phone To Recommend! By Sam Beckman

So this is the Pixel 4a, and I'm just going to cut straight to the punch line right here and tell you that this is by far the easiest phone to recommend right now. Is it the best and most flashy phone that smashes everything out of the park? No, absolutely not, but in my mind it nails everything that the average consumer wants and to be honest needs as well, and I'm going to go ahead and make a real early call here and say that this is probably going to be close to my pick for the best phone of 2020 because of its value, let's unpack that we'll start with the design. Finally, we have a Google Pixel device that is modern and that fits alongside all the other, really nice, looking smartphones on the market, so we've got a full screen hole, punch display with minimal bezels all the way around and whilst it's taking a damn long time to get there, Google have come to the party and look to have finally settled into a really nice design. Language. Google well done and welcome to 2020. Now in terms of build.

I'm just going to go ahead and say it. I vastly prefer the build of this phone over any other phone. That has a glossy glass back, and this thing is plastic, but you know what plastic or no plastic. The back of this phone feels very similar to the matte back of the pixel 4 flagship liners, which I loved and, in my opinion, a matte back on a device is far superior to a glossy back, and I actually think that the plastic build also makes it somewhat. Surprisingly durable, I like to think that I'm fairly careful with my phones and in fact I never rock them in a case anymore, because I think I'm fairly careful with them, but there have been a few instances recently where I've been holding this phone, and I've clocked it into the side of my MacBook Pro, or I've dropped it onto my nightstand late at night from a height that I'm not that comfortable with, and there is not a mark to be seen on this phone whatsoever.

Now. One thing to keep in mind is that this phone is quite small if you're used to using larger devices like the bigger phones from Samsung or OnePlus, this phone kind of feels miniature in comparison. It took me a good few days to get comfortable using and holding this phone, but now I really dig the form factor compact cute but solid, and this fingerprint sensor on the back man. It is just so damn reliable to be honest, with pretty much every device moving to in-display fingerprint sensor technology over the past couple of years, even though I had started to think that oh yeah in display sensors aren't that bad. But then you come back to using a capacitive sensor like this one on the back of the Pixel 4a, and it just smokes any in display fingerprint sensor that I've used out of the park, and now I'm back to hating in display fingerprint sensors.

We also get fantastic speakers on this phone. It's a dual setup, so audio from the bottom and from the EP speaker, and it sounds as good as my Pixel 4 XL, which already had great speakers now. There is one somewhat downside to the build of this phone, and that is the display. So, whilst nearly everything about the display is actually pretty fantastic and that it's OLED, and it's super color accurate, the big downgrade here is that we're back to a 60 hertz refresh rate. But you know what, whilst I have really fallen in love with phones that have a faster refresh rate display.

I was actually somewhat surprised at how quickly my eyes kind of readjusted back to the 60hz refresh rate and within seriously less than a day I kind of didn't notice it anymore. Now that said, do I wish google just went for broke and included a 90 hertz panel on this seriously affordable device, of course? But at this price point now, I don't feel that comfortable, complaining that it's not here, and they did include their incredible haptic motor, which in combination with their software implementation, is unparalleled in the android world and so aside from the display, which actually isn't that bad. I really love the design and build of this phone. We don't have wireless charging here or an IP rating, and whilst the IP rating is neither here nor there for me, I would have loved it. Had Google just thrown in even a slow wireless charging coil into the back of this phone just to make our jaws drop even further, but, alas, we don't have it and, as I said, with the OnePlus word, it isn't a dealbreaker in terms of specs and performance.

I'm really starting to dig these snapdragon 700 series chipsets, the OnePlus word has the 765g chipset. The Pixel 4a has the 730g chipset and whilst they're not quite as buttery, smooth as the 865s and 865 pluses of the world, they're very, very decent and can withstand pretty much everything that I can throw at them, and the fact that these chips allow manufacturers to lower the end cost of their devices as much as google and OnePlus has done with the Pixel 4a and the word respectively. Like I am a big fan, I think what also helps here is the software. It's the same, clean and unadulterated version of android. That is just beautifully simplistic from the always on display to the now playing to the gestures to the quick settings panel and everything else in between it really is the best way to experience android in my opinion, but I will say for customization fans like myself.

I actually think that the pixel launcher is the worst option available, and I really wish that google would allow for even some minimal launcher, theming options like icon packs and icon size and even the ability to hide apps from the app drawer. But aside from that, I really like the fact that the Pixel 4a only comes with one storage configuration option of 128 gigabytes. They could easily have had a starting configuration of 64 gigabytes and then charge an extra 50 to 100 bucks for that extra storage capability. I mean that's what most manufacturers have done in the past, but they said stuff it. Let's just take that off the table and give the people what they want: more storage for less money, and I seriously applaud this decision and then battery life.

It's not a game changer by any means, but it's a full day performer for sure. I think that the efficient chipset along with the 60 hertz panel means you can really push this phone all day without ever needing to boost up, and then we have the showstopper the feature that takes this camera from a yeah. That's not a bad phone you'll, probably like it to uh seriously. This phone is amazing value for money, and we all know what I'm talking about right. It's that camera and notice, there's no plural there.

This is just a one camera setup on the rear of this phone. Whilst all these other manufacturers are slapping macro lenses and depth, sensors and color filters on the back of their phones, just so that they can market them as a triple or quad camera setup and OnePlus button. But google just said you know what we ain't doing that, and they gave us one amazing camera on the back of this phone, that users will love taking photos with. There isn't a phone that I get more compliments about than a pixel phone, and it's always to do with the quality and look of the images, whether it be in good conditions or in slightly overcast or murky conditions, whether it be a portrait photo or a selfie or a low light image. Google just dominates the smartphone photography field and the confidence I have in carrying a pixel phone in my pocket in regard to taking images is unparalleled.

Video quality is also really decent, although we still don't have any ability to adjust the frame rate from 30p and the selfie camera still caps out at a max resolution of 1080p, but I do feel like Google is making headway with the image and audio quality captured when shooting videos so yeah. Here's the rear camera on the back of the Pixel 4a and, as I said, I reckon that google has started making some good steps forward in regard to image and audio quality whenever you're capturing videos on this phone. In particular. Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below and here's the selfie camera and whilst it's certainly not going to be quite as sharp as what you're capturing using the rear camera because, again we're capped out at a max resolution of 1080p. I still think in regard to dynamic range image, stabilization and audio quality, we're seeing a pretty decent job, and so there it is that's honestly just about all there is to say about the Pixel 4a, and I stand by what I said at the start, that this is the easiest phone to recommend for just about anyone and everyone.

I think that super high-end tech enthusiasts know that this probably won't be their next daily driver device, but the fact that we have this much value in a brand-new phone that costs this little just makes me so excited about the future of the pixel lineup in particular, because if this is what google can do with the phone that costs 350, imagine what they can do with a phone that costs even just a few hundred dollars more.

Source : Sam Beckman