Google Pixel 3A review 6 months later

Pixel 3A. It's a major market offering the features of its bigger brothers Before 400 pounds do you get what you pay for or do Google just simply cut too much out Using the Pixel 3A reminds me of my time with the Nexus 5X It doesn't have the most premium of builds all the best aspects but there's a great deal of character to this phone and most importantly you get the best features of other Pixel phones in a device that costs less than half the price of them. 

But that's not to say that it's perfect. There's some noticeable removals that have taken place on this phone. The biggest of which being the build. The materials are where most of this price cut shows Google has gone with the old plastic build which is not necessarily a bad thing is it's a lot.

More durable and won't shatter like glass but it just simply doesn't feel quite as nice to hold. Maybe because it's lighter or because you don't get the feel of cold metal when you pick it up, but I just simply haven't enjoyed the plastic as much as I would as if it was glass and mental.

Putting the, Exactly the same as the pixels. Is less rounded from the sides to the back which is refreshing but all the best design features from the other phones like the accent power button the two-tone design and the high contrast looks the camera are still here on this phone And speaking of things that are the best this video is sponsored by Mobile News.

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Basically, all of the flagships have Gorilla Glass and this has Dragon Glass because they decided to cut out one of the most protective features of the phone which doesn't seem to make sense. The display itself is great. It's a 5.6 inch OLED with a resolution of 2220 by 1080 and just like other Pixel phones as a great brightness range excellent color representation with options for how colors are displayed.

And is overall a really great screen to use The bezels aren't the prettiest things being chunky at the top and bottom and with some slight asymmetry they definitely not as good to look at as other phones in this price range but it's manageable Being an OLED screen there is still and always on display on this device and it is definitely still one of the best features of stock Android.

Sadly, the animations aren't quite as slick as they were on the Pixel 3 XL, which I reviewed just a few weeks ago. Instead of seamlessly changing from the lock screen to the Always on display this phone breaks it up into two separate animations. And that was to me, one of the real sources of Polish and refinement for the Pixel 3 XL.

So the fact that it's not here kind of doesn't make sense. I know that Google are trying to cut this phone down to not undercut their own products, but at the same time it's actually minor difference to add such a big benefit to user experience and just makes the whole device seem a lot more seamless.

Facing camera is just average it looks to be lower quality than the pixel 3xl to me, but someone who doesn't take selfies is not a big deal but it really still isn't the best regardless you still have the portrait mode and all the other camera modes available on the front facing camera, but the quality just simply isn't as good as some other phones in this price range or more importantly as it's bigger brothers devices.

There's no dual forge facing speakers on this device which is a bit disappointing instead Google of opted for one forward facing speaker and one downward facing but despite what it looks like on the surface the bottom speaker is deliberately louder to create the illusion of true stereo, which is a, Literally enjoyed.

Facebook production is surprisingly great it doesn't feel too bass heavy but there's enough so that doesn't sound tinny or treble head but if you want even better sound quality that's where one of the best features of this phone comes into play that's right, it has a headphone jack who would have thought in 2019 we'd see a phone released with a connector that everyone still using just without the extra step of a dongle, although you lose that.

To give it up for the convenience factor you get back. To the regular pixel 3 how to all on this phone with screen. Just the most useful implementation of Google. Assistant, flip. Flips which I end up using all of the time and always on display that recognizes music which is honestly the best source of finding new music you hear something that's very little has been cut out of the software the most noticeable thing that has been cut out are the live wallpapers, in fact there's no light wallpapers available through the stock app these were at least to me another source of polish with Pixel 3 XL the little animations you had from the live wallpapers when you went from the lock screen to the home screen where you unlock the phone those are missing and it's another element that Google cut out that I just can't seem to get behind the fact that they're not here on the Pixel 3able always be disappointing.

With all they've removed from the animations of the always on display the build and the bezel design it's simply doesn't make sense to cut this out too thankfully still having the pixel software status you get all of the best bits of Android in one place everything that the Pixel 4 has to offer like astrophotography and the ability to turn voice recordings into text documents kind of proves that there is nothing like stock currently.

Android 10 has the most diverse and well-implemented feature set like the recently added system-wide dark mode that you can change the accent color of all the integrations of Google Assistant and the best new addition which is the iPhone like gestures now say what you will about them being copied for.

From the iPhone 10 and above it is still a very useful feature to have if we put all the copying and Android verses Apple arguments aside it does change the game completely with this phone and it feels so much nicer to use it may take a little bit more time to get used to by now find it jarring to use any phone that doesn't support gestures in the way that this does the addition of gestures have also significantly improved the animations used within Android closing or opening an app now goes back to its original home screen position, which is another feature that is sort of iOS like but I'm willing to forgive it because it looks so good and in practice switching apps and closing apps just feels a whole lot more.

Smooth but these animations only work if the hardware performance can keep up and looking at inspection with a snapdragon 670 and 4G lights of RAM this is one of those rare instances where you should completely forget any premeditated thoughts you had about the chipset inside of this phone it performs just as well, if not better than the pixel 3 XL I was using before I got this phone I haven't tested it against the Pixel 4 so I can't comment on how it compares but I'm truly taken back at how snappy this phone is and I can categorically say that it is because of Google's software implementation being able to run so quickly would usually mean that they're being aggressive with round management, but I haven't found any instances of an app.

Being closed in the background, which is something that makes a whole lot of difference to your overall experience with the phone. Performance is where the limitations of the chip do start to show but even then it's not as noticeable as you'd expect. My general use I tend to switch.

From 4 or 5 apps and I always have music playing and despite how limited my use case sounds it can handle anything I thorough it I was not expecting such good stuff from a phone that it solves being far less powerful than its competition So like me you're probably thinking that if it can run this chipset and all these animations and everything so quickly and so well then the battery life must suffer but actually I'm completely wrong and if you thought the same then so are you?

It has a three thousand million power battery inside that can last me a good five or more hours of screen on time and being able to charge up so quickly with the included power brick there is really nothing missing here. Now the biggest selling point of this phone is what I've left until last and you've probably guessed what?

It is. The cameras. The rear camera is simply put the best single lens on a phone camera that you can get. In the regular camera mode things are exactly the same as other pixels. As it happens after you press the shutter, but that is not about a thing. Here's a few examples of photoshopped in the normal camera mode.

Is if you hadn't guessed it already still absolutely amazing. The single sensor doing all of this. I'm so confused as to how it can be so accurate. Quite as precise as the Pixel 4 all the iPhone 11 or 11 pro with their multiple camera setups but it's pretty damn impressive I tend to do astrophotography with my Lumix GX18, and although it won't be able to create photos like this anytime soon if it can replicate something similar to this then that would be absolutely amazing.

When you consider it being done just like every pixel the video options are limited to 4k 30 and 1080p up to 120 frames per second. The video these options shoot is very stable, but it's just not option rich, like it really should be. In my opinion, the rear camera is the best bit of this phone.

Aside from his limited. Video options, there is not a better camera. To be tapped I know that the iPhone 11 is also an excellent camera but it suffers with a lot of flaring and if I try to fly with this phone this is the extent that you get of flaring so that in itself is a deal break into the iPhone 11's camera for me when they made this phone it's clear that Google will really try not to undercut their own flagships in doing so they not only added one of the best and most unusual features but they also cut out some of my favorite little touches from the Pixel 3 XL in the form of the live wallpapers and animations considering that only little missing features from an otherwise feature rich phone.

I can wholeheartedly recommend the pixel 3/8 to absolutely anyone. Each a rich pleasing to use and generally so well refined foam for this price tag, but Google have somehow done it.

Very often it will take me a little bit of wild to get into a project once. I'm into it and want to actually. Going that is when it's like unstoppable I'm working for hours on end and it just genuinely works and that is pretty much how making this video has gone so far.

I'm trying to work on lighting quite a lot so I'm trying to figure out how to get the right balance and I'm trying to also make it so that my face is obviously not overexposed. I have this light right here, you can see a lot of overexposure on my face by there so just trying to figure this out.

I'm not a professional. The one I'm doing I'm just. Doing here, so if it doesn't look good every now and again, that is. Right and if you guys like to see these behind the scenes segments then please let me know because I'm more than happy to include them in my future big reviews the little reviews like the me band 4 video that I just posted will not be having those little behind the scenes segments because there's just simply not enough going on in the production to actually show you.

My doing it.

Okay.