Google Pixel 3a... a deeep review...

Google I/O 2019 is currently underway and the biggest announcement of the developer conference, apart from Android Q, is finally out of the way. The highly-anticipated mid-range smartphones from Google, the Pixel 3a and 3a XL, have been officially launched during the keynote announcement and they’re exactly what we expected them to be.

Google was kind enough to loan us the Clearly White variant of the smaller Pixel 3a.

Pixel 3a: Specifications

Starting off, let’s first take a quick look at the key specifications of the Pixel 3a and then move forward with talking about our initial impressions of this mid-range smartphone.

Dimensions	151.3 x 70.1 x 8.2 mm
Weight	147 grams
Display	5.6-inch FHD+ (2220 x 1080) gOLED
Processor	Snapdragon 670
RAM	4GB LPDDR4x RAM
Storage	64GB
Rear Camera	12.2MP (f/1.8) Dual-Pixel Sony IMX363
Front Camera	8MP (f/2.0)
Operating System	Android 9 Pie
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, Google Cast, USB-C
Sensors	Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, Active Edge, Proximity, Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Magnetometer, Barometer, Android Sensor Hub
Battery	3,000mAh
Colors	Just Black, Clearly White

Pixel 3a: Design & Build

Starting off with the design, I know what you’re all thinking, it looks exactly like the smaller Pixel 3. It has the same two-tone finish on the back, the same bezel-full front, and the same color variants as well, but there are a few key differences.

First of all, the Pixel 3a doesn’t boast a glass design and that’s understandable. Instead, Google has used polycarbonate, which is basically plastic, and the smartphone does not seem cheap to the touch. The rear panel is quite similar to the Pixel 3. This too has the matte finish on the bottom half of the back, which feels great and a glossy finish on the upper half.

Google has done a great job to offer you a good-looking smartphone, unlike the slew of plastic phones out there which scratch super easily.

Anyway, another key difference is the presence of the 3.5mm headphone jack onboard. Rejoice, the Pixel 3a has a headphone jack. This is the first Pixel smartphone since the original Pixel to feature the same and I appreciate Google’s thoughtfulness here. It only adds to the user experience instead of taking away from it.

Apart from that, Pixel 3a design features the usual buttons (especially the colored power button), a USB-C port at the bottom, and a pretty fast fingerprint scanner on the back. I am disappointed with the lack of an IP rating on the Pixel 3a, in addition to the massive bezels.

I mean, there’s no Pixel 3XL-esque hideous notch here, which is great, but the bezels make the device look outdated in 2019. It’s a little disappointing, to say the least, however, you’ll get the front firing speaker, along with a speaker at the bottom to offer users a stereo sound experience, so I have no complaints.

Pixel 3a: Display

The Pixel 3a comes with a 5.6-inch OLED display and it’s said to be a gOLED display, which the time of writing this story is not known to be any different than any other OLED displays available on the market, but I believe it should be Google’s fancy term for some technology that they’ve baked in to finally fix their display performance.

The gOLED display on board delivers punchy colors, beautiful blacks, and yes, you get the always-on display feature, which I really like, in tow as well.

Pixel 3a: Flagship-worthy Cameras

Moving on, the one thing that I like the most about the Pixel 3a is that it doesn’t skip on camera features. It has all the camera features you see on the flagship Pixel series. Now, before I talk about them, let me get the specs out of the way.

The Pixel 3a has a 12.2MP (f/1.8) rear camera with the Pixel Visual Core chip in tow, and it’s the same Sony IMX 363 sensor that the Pixel 3 features. There’s no dual selfie lenses onboard here but instead, a single 8MP (f/2.0) sensor in tow.

As I said, Pixel 3a has all the goodness of the Pixel 3’s camera app too, but there’s a new Time Lapse feature, which will go live soon and lets you capture some beautiful timelapse videos.

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Pixel 3a has been priced at Rs 39,999 in India, whereas its elder sibling will retail at Rs 44,999. I’m really disappointed with the Indian pricing of the Pixel 3a and don’t want to delve too much into it. I feel the Pixel 3a could be a good buy internationally, but not in India.

Look, I know the Pixel 3a has got a lot of things going for it. It brings a flagship camera, the much-loved Pixel software experience and an OLED display in a compact form factor. So, this is not a bad phone, per se, but the problem is India’s competitive phone market.