Google Pixel 4a review: Still shockingly good for $349

Our Verdict

At $350, the Google Pixel 4a offers best-in-form camera performance. While it can't friction match the iPhone SE's ability, the Pixel 4a is the better handset overall, though the Pixel 5a offers a newer, 5G-capable alternative.

For

Best-in-class camera
Vivid OLED display
128GB storage
Attractive design
Depression price

Confronting

iPhone SE outperforms it
Battery life could be improve
No longer the best Pixel A phone

Tom's Guide Verdict

At $350, the Google Pixel 4a offers best-in-class photographic camera functioning. While it can't match the iPhone SE's power, the Pixel 4a is the better handset overall, though the Pixel 5a offers a newer, 5G-capable alternative.

Pros

+
Best-in-class camera
+
Bright OLED brandish
+
128GB storage
+
Bonny blueprint
+
Low price

Cons

-
iPhone SE outperforms it
-
Battery life could be better
-
No longer the best Pixel A phone

Google Pixel 4a review: Specs

Price: $349
OS: Android 10 (updated to Android 11)
Display: 5.81-inch OLED (2340x1080)
CPU: Snapdragon 730G
RAM: 6GB
Storage: 128GB
Rear camera: 12.2MP (ƒ/1.seven)
Forepart photographic camera: 8MP (ƒ/2.0)
Battery: 3,140 mAh
Bombardment life: 8:55
Size: 5.7 x 2.seven x 0.3 inches
Weight: 5.04 ounces

The Google Pixel 4a takes everything that fabricated 2019's Pixel 3a great — the flagship-caliber photographic camera, the thoughtful software, the impressive build quality — and improves upon it, while also lowering the toll to $349. The result isn't simply the best cheap phone on the market; information technology'south one of the best phones, menstruum, fifty-fifty as nosotros get closer to the first ceremony of its release.

In fact, after testing the Pixel 4a when information technology shipped concluding yr, I personally wouldn't hesitate to cull it over the iPhone SE. While the iPhone SE is more powerful and has conveniences like wireless charging and water resistance, Google's midrange offering tops Apple'southward in several other areas, including a larger and brighter OLED brandish, more modern design and double the storage out of the box. There'a a reason the Pixel 4a topped the iPhone SE for best phone value in our Tom'southward Guide Awards 2021 honoring the tiptop phones.

I would prefer more bombardment life, and the Google Pixel 4a 5G is a amend choice if you want 5G connectivity and are willing to pay near $100 more than. Only as our Google Pixel 4a review illustrates, this is one of those rare affordable smartphones that does just well-nigh everything well. The simply reason to wait elsewhere for a phone is that Google now offers the Pixel 5a, which is more powerful, offers better cameras, and works with 5G, though it'due south also $100 more.

Editor's notation: Nosotros crowned our picks in the Tom's Guide Awards 2021 for the phones category. The Pixel 4a won the all-time phone value award.

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Google Pixel 4a review: Price and availability

The Pixel 4a continues to be available unlocked from Google and retailers like Amazon, though supplies are drying up. You can also purchase the phone through Verizon's prepaid service, and US Cellular. At Google Fi, the Pixel 4a is no longer available now that the Pixel 5a is here.

In the Britain, you tin still readily find the Pixel 4a, every bit Google didn't release the Pixel 5a in that market.

There'due south simply 1 configuration of this $349 device with 128GB of storage. That's a $fifty drop from the price of the Pixel 3a when that phone debuted in 2019. (We've got a look at all the differences between those two phones in our Google Pixel 4a vs. Pixel 3a face-off.)

Nosotros reviewed the But Black version. After this review went live, Google released a Barely Blue colour option that's exclusive to its online shop but seems to have sold out.

As with all Pixel phones, at that place's no microSD expandability here, so having all that infinite available from the get go is certainly useful.

Google Pixel 4a review: Design

If you've seen Google'due south Pixel phones in recent years, you know they don't tend to take risks in terms of design. At a time when Mount View's competitors began churning out devices with miniscule bezels, massive multi-lens cameras and pigsty-punch front-facing shooters, the latest Pixels have been rather pedestrian in terms of their appearance, only distinguished by unique materials, finishes and colorways.

And and then information technology's hardly surprising that the Google Pixel 4a looks a lot like Pixel 4, but cleaner and lighter, with slimmer bezels and a plastic-clad chassis replacing the pricier phone'due south combination of drinking glass and metal. Thankfully the Pixel 4a still manages to experience satisfyingly solid, thank you to a matte texture that's pleasing to the impact. The square photographic camera patch on the back seems a picayune silly, specially considering the Pixel 4a only features one lens and the LED flash, though at least the camera array is smaller and dare I say cuter than the one on the back of the flagship Pixel 4.

Rather than an in-screen fingerprint sensor, the Pixel 4a has the rear-mounted capacitive Pixel Imprint scanner of one-time, which I actually prefer to newer optical and ultrasonic solutions. It's cheaper to implement, so information technology keeps the cost of the telephone down, and I also notice it to be much snappier to utilize, with fewer false negative results. Additionally, considering it'southward on the back, you tin effortlessly swipe downwards on it to reveal quick toggles and notifications, which makes for a handy shortcut.

There are two things I actually appreciate about the Pixel 4a's design that deserve callouts. Showtime is the headphone jack, the inclusion of which however isn't lost on me all these years since most telephone makers have abased it. The 2d is the presence of stereo speakers, which is peculiarly impressive given that the Pixel 4a lacks the prominent top bezel of the Pixel 4.

Despite the packaging constraints, Google was still able to stuff a speaker within the earpiece, housed in a barely-perceptible slit in the pinnacle edge. In conjunction with the bottom-firing speakers, it'south quite powerful — less warm and bassy every bit my iPhone 11 Pro'southward drivers, but nonetheless simply as loud.

That said, this phone isn't flashy, fifty-fifty though you can now pick either a blackness or blue version (at least if you lot do your shopping at Google). Blame the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, every bit Google has told the states it originally released one color to "streamline manufacturing and prevent further delays." It'south disappointing, particularly considering the Pixel line has always adopted a playful and refreshing approach to colors — though at least Simply Blackness withal receives a hint of flavor thank you to its mint power push.

Unfortunately, there'south two areas in which the Pixel 4a falls to the iPhone SE where pattern is concerned. This phone isn't rated for water resistance at all, and it cannot charge wirelessly. Given that those are rare features at this price, I'm non bothered too much by that — later all, the iPhone SE is the exception to the budget telephone dominion, not the norm. Also, for what it'due south worth, the infinitely more modern and bonny pattern of the Pixel 4a offsets those concessions. Given my penchant for small phones, I love that the 5.viii-inch Pixel 4a is but a smidge taller than the 4.seven-inch iPhone SE, but packs so much more than screen real estate.

Google Pixel 4a review: Display

The Pixel 3a was one of the cheapest handsets on the market with an OLED screen, and the Pixel 4a continues that distinction. The v.81-inch, full-HD panel in Google's new midrange telephone delivers bold yet realistic color, and gets surprisingly bright as well.

The deep, inky blacks of the Pixel 4a's OLED panel lended a suitably dark and grizzly vibe to the trailer for the Train to Busan sequel, Peninsula, while the impressive contrast made the daybreak scenes all the more than captivating. And as I watched the trailer for the new science fiction thriller Sputnik, I was drawn toward the flashing CRT monitors and lights illuminating the desolate darkness of a Soviet control room in crunch.

When prepare to its Natural color profile, the Pixel 4a rendered 105.viii% of the sRGB color infinite, which is actually a fleck less saturated than the 111.ii% of the LCD-powered iPhone SE. However, if you want more than lively hues, you're free to opt for the Boosted or Adaptive color settings on the Pixel. The iPhone SE has a slight advantage in terms of color accuracy though, notching a Delta-E score of 0.2 compared to the Pixel 4a'south 0.29. (Numbers closer to zero are amend in this particular test.)

When it comes to effulgence, the Pixel 4a follows the precedent established by most Android phones, in that you tin can only access its truthful pinnacle total-screen brightness setting when Adaptive Effulgence is turned on. The maximum manual setting tops out at 433 nits; outdoors in sunlight, with the adaptive setting enabled, the Pixel 4a's panel can attain 681 nits. By comparison, the iPhone SE can hit 653 nits no thing whether you use machine or transmission brightness.

Overall I'yard hugely impressed with the Pixel 4a'south panel, save for two nitpicks. First, given that this telephone is relatively low-priced compared to others that utilise OLED technology, I'm not surprised that the viewing angles on the 4a pale slightly side by side to more premium OLED-toting models, like Google'south own flagship Pixel 4. There'due south a flake of red and blue polarization that creeps in when viewing the panel from steep angles, though it's nonexistent if y'all're looking at the screen in a natural fashion, then it'southward not a significant event by any ways.

A more aggravating albeit fixable complaint concerns the Pixel 4a's Adaptive Brightness tuning. Google introduced AI-aided Adaptive Brightness in Android 9 Pie, and unlike standard auto brightness, it'due south built to learn your preferences and remember how bright you lot prefer your screen to be in certain lighting atmospheric condition. Information technology worked excellently for me on the Pixel three and Pixel 4, just it'due south an indecisive mess on the Pixel 4a.

Upon turning Adaptive Brightness on, the device raised and lowered the brightness seven times in the space of a minute, even though I didn't move the phone at all. I tried to lead information technology in the correct direction past manually adjusting the slider every fourth dimension it made a alter I didn't want, simply that didn't aid either. The software is simply far too ambitious as it stands, and refuses to defer to the user's wishes. Hopefully, it'south something Google volition accost in an update.

Google Pixel 4a review: Camera

Looking at the Pixel 4a spec sail solitary, you lot'd expect very little from its photographic camera. It uses the same lens and sensor as the by two generations of Google phones, and the numbers — 12.ii megapixels and an ƒ/ane.vii aperture out of a unmarried lens — surely aren't very awe inspiring in an era when flagship models are boasting triple-digit megapixel counts.

But yous can't fence with results, and male child, does this combination of modest hardware and clever software evangelize results. The Pixel 4a benefits from many of the aforementioned features you'll observe in Google's more premium phones, including Super Res Zoom to improve the quality of digital zoom, Live HDR+ to see the effect of HDR processing earlier you tap the shutter and Dual Exposure sliders that give you the ability to modify contrast and brightness on the fly. Across that, in that location's Google'southward dearest Night Mode, and simply similar the Pixel 4, this model can capture the starry skies as well.

No, the Pixel 4a doesn't blow away the iPhone SE in every side-by-side image comparing that follows. But Google's latest contender wins at enough of them, and offers so many more than special features, that it's hard to debate it'south not the best camera telephone overall for the money.

We kickoff with this shot of a wood, and straight away information technology'south easy to tell that the Pixel 4a extracts more lush, verdant greens out of the vegetation and more than deftly reins in the overexposed sky breaking through the leaves. The iPhone SE's rendition of this scene feels done out and oversharpened past comparison.

All the same, the Pixel 4a's accent on color can occasionally result in oversaturated scenes with unrealistically potent contrast, like this shot of a vase of sunflowers. The iPhone SE unquestionably delivered the more natural rendition hither, every bit the xanthous petals turn to a gilded pseudo-orangish through the Pixel 4a's lens, and the shadows in the foreground and background alike are a little more pronounced than they should be.

That said, I don't call back either shot is necessarily poor; personally speaking, if I took the iPhone's shot and did some low-cal editing to it earlier sharing, I'd probably terminate up with the Pixel'south version, so it'due south really a matter of preference.

Here I used 3x zoom on both devices to illustrate the advantage that Google'southward Super Res Zoom tech offers. To me, this is the nearly underrated feature in any Pixel camera. Super Res Zoom about negates the need for optical zoom or a telephoto lens by using natural hand shake and move to intelligently "fill in" areas of the frame, giving the sensor more information to piece of work with and thereby improving sharpness and overall image quality. Where the iPhone SE'southward take is overcome with noise, the Pixel'south is precise, with more neutral white balance equally well.

Every bit both the Pixel 4a and iPhone SE sport single-lens rear cameras, they rely entirely on software to separate foreground and background for shallow depth-of-field bokeh shots. You immediately notice the vast difference in perspective the Pixel 4a and iPhone SE offer when capturing portraits — Google'southward handset crops into the frame to simulate the use of a telephoto, while Apple's doesn't fuss with the vantage indicate.

Personally, I adopt Google's approach, as it's simply more than useful for portrait taking. If I wanted to reach a portrait more like the Pixel's with the iPhone, I would have had to move in mere inches from the subject'south face — awkward already, but certainly a no-no in the historic period of social distancing.

Comparing the ii on the ground of quality alone, however, Apple tree's photographic camera wins in terms of sharpness, and also accurately separates the subject from his surroundings — something that the Pixel 4a struggles with, especially with the bokeh erroneously applied to the individual'southward ear. That said, Google's device was less intent on overly smooth facing features, and the colors, speaking both of the environment and the subject field'south skin tone, are slightly more accurate.

A big question surrounding the Pixel 4a's photographic camera will likely be how it performs at nighttime. Given that it has a Dark Mode, which the iPhone SE lacks, it'southward hardly surprising that it emerges the victor in this detail face up-off. Google's software is able to illuminate far more of the image, providing a sharp and noise-free view of the forepart door of the house in the prototype, while rendering the shadow of the railing on the grass below with exceptional dissimilarity. Information technology's an case of how powerful a good Night Fashion tin can be, also as a reminder of the iPhone SE's well-nigh glaring arrears.

Turning the camera back at myself, in that location are again aspects I similar nearly both of these attempts. The Pixel 4a, with its 8MP front photographic camera, is better at managing highlights and shadows, managing not to overexpose my white t-shirt like the iPhone did, while dulling the shine of my confront on a boiling, hot summer mean solar day. That said, Google's have is inexplicably blurrier, and strangely warps the proportions of my face up just a chip, despite beautification or retouching features being turned off.

Of grade, starting with the Pixel 4a 5G, Google added a 2nd ultrawide angle lens to its A Serial phones. That trend has connected with the Pixel 5a, which as well matches upward well against other photographic camera phones under $500.

Google Pixel 4a review: Performance

I of the most obvious concerns surrounding the Pixel 4a — or whatsoever upkeep-minded Android telephone — tends to be performance. Qualcomm'southward flagship viii Series Snapdragon chipsets are tried and tested in flagships from every manufacturer, and nine times out of x, they perform flawlessly. But the chipmaker's lower-finish silicon often falls somewhere between weak and serviceable, and let'due south face it — no mid-tier Qualcomm CPU is going to embarrass Apple's A13 Bionic tech in the iPhone SE, let alone the even more powerful A14 Bionic powering the iPhone 12 models.

Bearing all that in mind, I'd say the Snapdragon 730G chipset in the Pixel 4a, coupled with its 6GB of RAM, delivers shine and sufficient performance overall, though patently faster phones have come out since the Pixel 4a's debut.

I ofttimes swap betwixt an iPhone xi Pro and Pixel iv for my daily drivers, merely during my time reviewing the Pixel 4a, I never felt desperate for ability. In fact, when information technology comes to the bones tasks, I reckon the Pixel 4a is every bit as sprightly as the Pixel 4.

Unsurprisingly, though, gaming and photography where things showtime to waver a bit. Playing Cobblestone 9 Legends on the Pixel 4a was a fine feel overall, but occasional skipped frames and a lower rendering resolution kept me well aware of the hardware I was racing on.

Likewise, you'll have to wait a second or few longer for the Pixel 4a to conjure its mail service-processing magic on photos with that 730G chip, as this cheaper Pixel lacks Google'due south defended Visual Cadre architecture. Burst shots, or repeatedly tapping the shutter for a bunch of frames in quick succession, won't quite yield immediate results.

The benchmarks tell u.s.a. why. In Geekbench 5, which evaluates overall system performance, the Pixel 4a achieved a multi-core score of 1,647 points; the iPhone SE managed 3,226, and with only one of the A13 Bionic'due south half dozen cores, information technology hit 1,331 lonely. The Pixel 4a too took far longer to dispatch our Adobe Premiere Blitz video encoding test, clocking two minutes and 27 seconds to convert a minute-long 4K video clip to 1080p. The iPhone SE needed just 47 seconds for the same task.

Ultimately, I believe the Pixel 4a's operation will certainly exist adequate for the vast majority of people, even with more powerful midrange phones now available. But if all-out power for the accented least money is your priority, the iPhone SE remains unassailable. And if you're more of an Android fan, the Pixel 5a offers a performance boost with its Snapdragon 765G system on chip.

Google Pixel 4a review: Bombardment life and charging

Armed with a 3,140-mAh battery — a modest size by today's standards, even though Google notes it's the largest battery ever fitted to a "small" Pixel — the Pixel 4a'south battery life isn't anything special. Google'southward new midrange phone lasted an average of eight hours and 55 minutes across four sessions of Tom's Guide'south bombardment test, where the device endlessly refreshes spider web pages while set to 150 nits of screen brightness.

That'due south a bit worse than the 9 hours and 18 minutes the iPhone SE turned in, and considerably poorer than a number of pricier smartphones, including the OnePlus 8 (eleven:04) and iPhone eleven (11:16), though ironically, the Pixel iv actually churned out an hour less than its one-half-toll brethren. If y'all desire meliorate battery life for even less than the Pixel 4a, we'd direct you toward the $249 Moto Yard Power, our current leader for the all-time phone bombardment life at an amazing 16 hours and 10 minutes.

If you make up one's mind to go for the Pixel 5a, instead, you tin can wait ameliorate battery life. That phone lasted nine hours and 45 minutes on our battery test.

At least the Pixel 4a recharges rather chop-chop, owing to its packed-in 18-watt adapter. This brick got our unit from completely dead to exactly one-half capacity in 30 minutes, which is pretty speedy for a device in this grade. While information technology's nice to know the Pixel 4a can juice dorsum up in a compression, its longevity on a charge is easily its weakest quality.

Google Pixel 4a review: Software and special features

Simply as Google preserved the Pixel iv'south all-time camera tricks despite the Pixel 4a'due south lower price, the Pixel 4a independent many of our favorite Pixel features that made Android x a piddling bit meliorate at the time of the phone's launch. The Pixel 4a has afterward gotten the Android 11 update, and so you can expect the latest and greatest Android experience. The newly released Android 12 beta runs on the Pixel 4a, too, and the full version will run on this telephone when it debuts in a few weeks.

Android-based conveniences abound in the Pixel 4a, including Call Screen, which can fend off robocalls and telemarketers without forcing you to option up your phone merely to be duped. Google's excellent Recorder app is here too — software nosotros once hailed equally our favorite app, because it transcribes voice to text in existent fourth dimension, and it's besides really, actually good at it. Recorder can at present export transcriptions to Google Docs, for even more seamless note taking.

Otherwise, this is Android as you know and dear information technology, with the improver of Android xi features like Bubbles and notification grouping for messaging apps; one-time permission granting for apps; built-in screen recording; and a new ability carte du jour that offers quick access to your Google Pay cards and passes.

One feature that was oftentimes derided in Google previous Pixels that I actually miss in the Pixel 4a is Active Edge — the pressure-sensitive sides of the device that you lot tin can squeeze to summon Google Assistant. It was a feature that was admittedly easy to forget about, but proved quite handy when committed to retention. Google omitted Agile Edge in the Pixel 4a presumably in the proper name of keeping costs depression, and we wonder if it'll e'er return in some other Pixel once more.

Google promises a minimum of three years of software and security updates for the Pixel 4a, which is far ameliorate than the usual year that most inexpensive Android phones get, or even the two years at best granted to higher-end models. Of grade, three years falls brusque of the v or so years Apple tree supports its handsets, merely it's respectable nevertheless.

Google Pixel 4a vs. iPhone SE

The iPhone SE is an excellent proposition for those who want to remain in the Apple tree ecosystem, and of form its performance is unmatched, cheers to the A13 Bionic chip. The iPhone SE also offers a water-resistant design and wireless charging — ii features the Pixel 4a lacks.

That said, the Pixel 4a is superior in many ways. It has a more sophisticated camera, a newer design with slimmer bezels, a much roomier OLED brandish, fast charging out of the box and a headphone jack — all for $50 less than the 64GB iPhone SE and a total $100 less than the model with comparable storage. I personally think the Pixel 4a is a improve phone for near people, because it checks more than boxes.

Google Pixel 4a vs. OnePlus Nord

The OnePlus Nord is an splendid culling to the Pixel 4a, provided you alive in an surface area where OnePlus' midrange phone is available. The £379 Nord offers a larger vi.4-inch brandish with a faster 90Hz refresh rate, 5G connectivity and a bigger battery that lasts longer on a charge. The Nord also pulls off both wireless charging and wired charging that'southward fifty-fifty faster than the Pixel 4a's.

Since this review as posted, OnePlus has shipped the OnePlus Nord N10 5G, available for a mere $299. That phone offers 5G — the Pixel 4a does not, making that omission seem more glaring as fourth dimension goes by.

Google Pixel 4a review: Verdict

With the Pixel 4a, Google has once more delivered a device I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone who wants the best phone for the least amount of money — at least if they don't desire to concur off for the expected release of the Pixel 5a in a couple months.

The Pixel 4a does practically everything well — it has a pretty display, solid performance, lots of base storage, a well-congenital design and specially, a stunning photographic camera. About the only area in which it comes upward brusque is battery life, merely even and so, that'southward non a deal breaker.

The midrange phone market is affluent with options, and many will naturally shop the Pixel 4a against its 2 best competitors — the iPhone SE (which is faster) and the OnePlus Nord N10 5G (which has a better brandish, bigger battery and 5G). And of grade, there'southward a better in-business firm option a year after the Pixel 4a'southward release in the course of the Pixel 5a, though you volition take to pay more for that model.

Just overall, the Pixel 4a strikes a neat rest betwixt affordability, performance and quality. Like its predecessor, information technology makes you wonder why anyone should spend twice or three times as much on a and so-called flagship. If you're on a tight budget and dead ready against paying more than $400 for a phone, the regular Pixel 4a remains a not bad value that's becoming harder to notice. Otherwise, we recommend opting for the more than powerful Pixel 5a at this point.

Adam Ismail is a staff writer at Jalopnik and previously worked on Tom'south Guide covering smartphones, car tech and gaming. His dear for all things mobile began with the original Motorola Droid; since and so he's owned a variety of Android and iOS-powered handsets, refusing to stay loyal to one platform. His work has as well appeared on Digital Trends and GTPlanet. When he's not fiddling with the latest devices, he'south at an indie pop show, recording a podcast or playing Sega Dreamcast.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/google-pixel-4a

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