(Pocket-lint) - It was just a few weeks after the announcement of the Pixel 3 in 2018 that the Pixel 3 Lite broke cover. Was Google really going to release a cheaper version of its premium handset? Indeed it has; the Pixel 3a and 3a XL are Google's first foray into the mid-range of the smartphone market, pulling some specs down from flagship level and bringing with them a more affordable price. But does the Pixel 3a XL stack up in a sea of competitive mid-rangers and cheap flagship models? squirrel_widget_148690 Unibody design in black, white or purple-ish 160.1 x 76.1 x 8.2mm; 167g No waterproofing The Pixel 3a XL uses the same design lines as the namesake, it's at-a-glance recognisable with a dual-tone rear, leaving the top section glossy and the bottom section matte. It's a unibody design here, with the back casing wrapping around the sides, rather than having a separate glass rear panel. It's a solid design and even though it switches to plastic you really wouldn't know it. What you might notice is that the Pixel 3a models don't carry an IP rating, so there's no official water protection, but there is something new - a 3.5mm headphone socket. Google said it wants to appeal to a wide range of users with the Pixel 3a XL, so including support for legacy headphones is part of that puzzle. It's likely to be universally appealing as a convenience feature. Making a change from the Pixel 3 XL, Google has also dropped the notch on the display, so there's a hefty bezel at the top of the 'a' model, matched by similar at the bottom. The design broadly matches the Pixel 3, but in terms of design it feels a little behind the times: rivals have squeezed those bezel areas down to maximise the display and Google looks like it's still playing to last year's rules. There's still a pair of speakers - the ear speaker and one on the base - both of which work together in stereo to deliver sound. However, the bottom speaker is now in a position that's easy to cover with a hand when gaming - and it's the bottom speaker that's the more powerful and delivers most of the bass. Ultimately, the Pixel 3a XL doesn't deliver the same sound experience as the Pixel 3 XL; it's just not quite as capable. 6.0-inch 2160 x 1080 pixels, OLED, 402ppi Qualcomm Snapdragon 670, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage Moving onto that display, the Pixel 3a XL is the larger of the pair with a 6-inch display. As we mentioned it has no notch, instead getting a more substantial bezel across the top, but it is OLED, bright, vibrant and a good performer. There's little to complain about; it doesn't get the top resolution that the 3 XL offers, but many phones only offer a Full HD+ resolution and we don't think that's a huge downside. There's no fancy under-display fingerprint scanner - that remains resolutely on the rear of this phone. It's fast to unlock and we don't have a problem with it: it might not be following the latest trends, but in many cases a tap on the back is more natural than using your thumb on the front. Getting to the heart of the matter, the Pixel 3a XL's biggest change from the Pixel 3 XL is that it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 at its core, rather than the Snapdragon 845 of the higher-tier phones. That marks the Pixel 3a XL out as a mid-range device, as does its 4GB RAM and the 64GB of storage (and no microSD card slot either). These are the components that have to lead to a more affordable price, but are likely be the subject of criticism when it comes to comparison. This phone is only £30 cheaper than the Xiaomi Mi 9, yet it's a good step down in the core hardware department; indeed, the Pixel 3a XL feels a little expensive given its positioning. Ignoring value for money, the performance is pretty good. Fire up games like PUBG Mobile and you can still play on high settings, but it doesn't feel quite as fast as the Pixel 3 XL or the latest run of flagship phones. In day-to-day tasks that doesn't make a huge difference - cruising social media and checking your emails is pretty much the same as on other more powerful phones. But one interesting thing that Google said when presenting the phone to us was that it "uses software to plug the hardware gap". You'll notice that some of the camera tasks take a little longer - for example you'll see the occasional "processing HDR" notification - and if you're just snapping that doesn't matter, but if you're the sort of person who wants to take a photo and instantly view it, that's what you'll notice (although, frankly, the original Pixel suffers in a similar way with its Night Sight processing). We'll talk about the camera performance lower down, but that's really where the manifestation of this change in core hardware comes in. When the Pixel 3 launched, one of the early criticisms was about memory limitation, with apps closing in the background when you switch to another task. Google made a software adaption for this, but also said the aim was to preserve battery life. The Google Pixel 3a XL behaves in much the same way as the Pixel 3 - if you switch from Pokemon Go to the camera, for example, when you return to PoGo you'll find the app needs to restart. For some apps this doesn't matter at all, but it's still a little irritating as this isn't a universal Android problem, it's just something that the Pixel does. It's easy to compare the Pixel 3a XL to a flagship and say that it's not as accomplished, but that's a bit of a cheap shot, as it's to be expected at this price and on this hardware. In reality, the day-to-day experience of the Pixel 3a XL is slick and fast. Relatively speaking there's nothing that this phone won't do and the hardware, the price, and the benefits that the 'a' model phone offers all need to be taken in relation to one another. 3700mAh battery with fast charging No wireless charging There's a 3700mAh battery in the Pixel 3a XL, which is pretty capacious in relative terms. Charging is via the USB-C on the base of the phone and there's no support for wireless charging - that's one feature that this phone loses against the more expensive Pixel devices. For some that will be another compromise, but with fast wired charging - and you get that fast charger in the box - we can't see it as a huge negative. Just plug the phone in for an hour when you need it and you're back in the game. The battery on the Pixel 3a XL won't break any records for endurance, but we've found it to be better that the Pixel 3 XL, likely due to the lower power hardware and the lower resolution display. In the time that we've been using the Pixel 3a XL it has managed to get through the day without a problem, including a bit of heavy gaming in the evening. For average users, you'll probably be able to stretch that so it doesn't necessarily need charging every night. Of course, real world performance depends very much on what you do. Google I/O 2021 special, Android 12, Wear OS and more - Pocket-lint Podcast 104 By Rik Henderson · 27 May 2021 Rear: 12.2-megapixel Sony IMX363, 1.4µm pixels, f/1.8 Front: 8-megapixels, 1.12µm, fixed focus The Google Pixel camera has been the talking point of these phones since their inception. Indeed, many will see the Pixel 3a as a cheaper way to get access to that excellent camera and that is certainly true - it's much the same hardware for the rear camera and the results are pretty much the same too. Pocket-lint We've taken the Pixel 3a XL and the Pixel 3 XL out shooting side-by-side and the results are pretty much indistinguishable. With the great performance of this camera, that makes the Pixel 3a XL probably the best mid-range camera experience out there. If the camera is what you want, then this is what to get. From the perspective of the rear camera, Google uses a single lens solution, leaning on artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver great results. That's pretty much true for high dynamic range (HDR) - and we mentioned that HDR processing is noticeably slower than on the Pixel 3 XL, but not devastatingly so - too, with processing happening on the device, so you'll only really notice any slowness if you immediately open your photos to look at them. The HDR performance is amongst the best out there, balancing out highlights and shadows in very capable fashion. There's no overt "AI" scene recognition that skews colours into more vibrant versions as you'll find on other cameras, but we can't say that's a huge negative. If there's one criticism we have of the Pixel 3a XL it's the same as we have of the Pixel 3 XL - it can get a little lost with while balance under artificial lighting. There are some other great modes too - photo sphere and panorama do a great job of stitching together virtual worlds, for example - and then there's Night Sight. Oh yes. Night Sight shook the smartphone camera world to its foundations when announced in 2018 and you get that excellent performance here. The image you see below was taken through a hole in the door of an old bunker, revealing the interior of the concrete structure that couldn't really be seen by the human eye. Fun and impressive in equal measure - and much the same on the Pixel 3a as it is on the Pixel 3. Also impressive is the Pixel 3a XL's performance when it comes to taking portrait photos and separating foreground and background - while giving you control over the depth effect. It's great for people and animals and it pulls off the portrait trick with little fuss and remains one of the best such experiences you'll find on a smartphone camera. There's the odd blurred edge, especially with hair, but none of these solutions are perfect to date. There's going to be the addition of timelapse for video adding another fun feature. The video will give you 4K/30fps capture. Turning to the front camera and there are some changes. It's now fixed focus, so the front camera isn't as capable as the Pixel 3 XL when it comes to selfies. It also doesn't get the wide-angle lens of the pricier models, although that's not a huge loss. A new addition is that it can detect not only smiles, but also pouts or kisses, so that it can automatically take a photo without you having to press the button. So what's wrong with the camera? There's certainly very little to complain about in terms of what you get - it's what you don't get. There's no optical zoom, no wide-angle, and while other manufacturers are cramming in lenses, you do get a sense that Google might be missing out slightly. Yes, the Pixel 3a XL will go toe-to-toe with the best out there in terms of main camera performance and arguably, if you want a dependable camera then this Pixel gives you a lot of performance for the money. But with the Honor 20 incoming - expected to have similar camera skills as the Huawei P30 Pro - and phones like the Xiaomi Mi 9 offering a lot of clout, Google might not be offering enough camera at this price to keep everyone happy. It's going to be very easy to point at more lenses on other phones and say they are better. The real question is how much that matters to you. Android Pie with 3 years support Google Assistant It would be remiss to talk about the Pixel without talking about the pure Android experience. Running on Android Pie, the Pixel 3a comes with three years of upgrades, and as it's a Google phone, you'll be updated before anyone else.<doc-sep>One of the key questions to come from the launch of the Google Pixel 3a launch is what this means for the search giant's phone strategy going forward - and a strong hint suggests that it's going to stay confusing for at least a year. Speaking to Android Police, Google has 'committed' to launching cheaper, less-powerful versions of its Pixel range for the 'foreseeable future', and while it wouldn't confirm future models, it seems likely that this will mean the Google Pixel 4a will one day exist. Why is that important? Surely 'phone brand to make sequel' isn't a big deal? Well, it is when you place it in the context of lower than expected sales of the 'main' flagship phones from Google - the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL didn't pick up the traction parent company Alphabet would have been hoping for. Coming later this year: iPhone 11 The OnePlus 7 launches on May 14 Check out the best camera phones around When you've got a brand struggling to sell its expensive model (in this case, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL), the pivot to suddenly hitting a cheaper price point with similar features is dangerous. Instead of a gateway to the 'better' phone, it serves as a device that leaves consumers feeling they've got a smart deal - and that's always a powerful motivator, meaning they're surely more likely to choose the cheaper model in future years. That's especially true when you consider the Pixel 3a has a headphone jack - even years after Apple started the crusade to lose it, consumers are still hankering after the handy slot. Google adding a headphone jack back to the Pixel 3a pic.twitter.com/WHcFxncoMGMay 7, 2019 See more The confusion over whether to buy a flagship phone, or a cheaper variant, is one Nokia also created years ago, when it moved to Windows Phone as an operating system. The high end Lumia 920 was a great phone, but the user experience and app ecosystem could be found on the Lumia 520, a phone for a fraction of the price with a similar feel under the finger. Ironically, the big difference there was the camera - the 520 had a shockingly poor camera compared to its larger brethren, where both the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a have top-quality snappers. Google has been banking on the fact its become the purveyor of some of the best camera tech in a smartphone - the clue about that desire is in the Pixel name - as the reason consumers will choose its handsets over the Samsung Galaxy S10, iPhone XS or Huawei P30. Is a taste all we need? The notion of the Pixel 3a seems to be that you're getting a flavor of the Pixel 3's prowess, but not the whole hog. You're getting a pretty good camera, but one that doesn't have all the top features of the flagship device. You're getting a phone that looks similar to the more expensive device, but doesn't offer the same premium feel in the hand. But pitching that at a time when consumers are more price conscious than ever and holding onto their phones for longer is dangerous... and the difference between the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a isn't large enough. "The 3a feels like a slight step down in terms of handfeel and the speed of the user interface, but not in a hugely noticeable way," says our phones writer, Tom Bedford, who's reviewing the Pixel 3a. "The main difference to the sensor is to the front camera, as there's not a second ultra-wide sensor - while the speed of the snapping isn't as rapid on the Pixel 3a [because there's no Pixel Visual Core], it's not something that would bother the average person, making the Pixel 3a a real alternative to the 3 for any kind of user. "It's making the more expensive alternative feel a little redundant, and it might make people wonder about waiting for the 4a when the Pixel 4 emerges." So by confirming the future will still consist of Pixel 'a' series phones, it suggests that Google is accepting that the volume it's after - don't forget, it wants to put 'native' Android in the hands of as many consumers as possible - is in the mid-tier smartphone segment. Either that, or the future flagship Pixel phones may be more advanced or pack more premium features to warrant the upgrade over their cheaper counterparts.<doc-sep>
Google’s latest phone, the Pixel 3a, offers the firm’s fantastic camera and software for less than £400, cutting a few corners on the way. The pitch for the Pixel 3a is simple: everything that made the £739 top-end Pixel 3 good, but at a lower price. From the outside it’s not immediately obvious what has changed. Google ported the look and feel of its more expensive glass and metal phones into high-quality plastic. It even has the matt back panel with a gloss window at the top, and the same large bezels at the top and bottom of the screen. Gone are the front-facing stereo speakers and the dual selfie camera, leaving a more basic look on the front. The 5.6in FHD+ OLED screen is very good for the money, rivalling that fitted to the more expensive Pixel 3 if not quite reaching the quality of phones such as Samsung’s Galaxy S10+ or Huawei’s P30 Pro. You have to truly scrutinise the back of the Pixel 3a to realise it isn’t frosted glass like the more expensive Pixel 3. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The top of the phone heralds the surprise return of the headphone socket, while the back has the same excellent fingerprint scanner as fitted to the Pixel 3. There’s no face recognition or other biometric unlock option. The Pixel 3a is a light and fairly small phone by today’s standards, making it one of the easiest modern smartphones to hold and use one-handed. Weighing 147g it’s 1g lighter than the Pixel 3 and considerably lighter than the 180g Honor View 20, one of its main rivals. Overall the Pixel 3a feels well made and fairly sturdy, if not quite as premium as similarly priced metal and glass rivals. When most people will put it in a case, that point is likely moot. Specifications Screen: 5.6in FHD+ OLED (441ppi) Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 RAM: 4GB of RAM Storage: 64GB Operating system: Android 9.0 Pie Camera: 12.2MP rear camera with OIS, 8MP front-facing camera Connectivity: 3.5mm headphones socket, LTE, wifi, NFC, Bluetooth 5 and GPS Dimensions: 151.3 x 70.1 x 8.2 mm Weight: 147g Mid-range performance The USB-C port in the bottom supports fast charging, but only USB2.0 data transfer speeds. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The Pixel 3a comes in three colours but only one version, which has one of Qualcomm’s recent mid-range processors, the Snapdragon 670, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. To make this perfectly clear: unlike the more expensive Pixel 3, the Pixel 3a is not a top-performing smartphone. The Snapdragon 670 is significantly slower than the flagship chips such as the Snapdragon 845/855 or Huawei’s Kirin 980, and the Pixel 3a uses slower eMMC storage too. On the whole the Pixel 3a performs far better than its paper specs might suggest, which goes to show how important optimisation of the software is to a phone’s performance. Swiping between home pages is smooth. Switching between recently used apps is fairly quick too, and once loaded apps run fine. It’s only when you try doing something a little taxing, such as shooting a burst of photos, installing a new large app, or loading an app not recently used that you see the Pixel 3a’s performance dip. It performs fine for a lower-end phone, but at £400 it isn’t that cheap, meaning there are significantly faster phones with flagship components available in the UK and Europe costing the same or less. Battery life is disappointing too, coming in at just under 24 hours between charges when used as my primary device, with hundreds of emails, messages and push notifications, four hours of Spotify via Bluetooth headphones, 45 minutes of Netflix and 10 photos a day. The Pixel 3a would make it from 7am to 11pm with about 10% battery left, but then would often be dead by the morning. Turning off the always-on display added about two hours of life, but it still won’t have the staying power to get you home after a night out without being topped up during the day. At least the 18W fast charging is fairly rapid up to about 80%. There’s no wireless charging. Google’s Android 9 Pie Android 9 Pie on the Google Pixel 3a is a joy to use - smart, looks good and is well optimised all round making the very best of the mid-range hardware. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian While performance and battery life is slightly disappointing, the software on the Pixel 3a is anything but.