Google Pixel 3a In 2021! (Still Worth It?) (Review) By Simple Alpaca

So continuing on with all these 2021 reviews, I wanted to go ahead and hit on another device that I'm really in love with the pixel lineup in general was probably one of my favorite lineups from any device, but specifically the Google Pixel 3a was one of those phones that we didn't really know we needed. Now. It came out in 2019 in May so mid-year through the year. It also came out with the Pixel 3a XL, and I really like these devices. You know they were the cheaper versions of you know their more expensive models, and they eventually continued on with the Pixel 4a and the 4a5g, but I'm really happy about the Pixel 3a lineup and for sure I'll definitely tell you not only am I going to link this device in the description, I'll, probably link a couple other ones that I'd, you know probably recommend this here as well. You can get them from the links down below and also for the channel.

At the same time now, starting off with the outside, it really wasn't a controversial device by any means, even though it didn't have like a crazy great, build quality or high refresh rate, or anything like that. Google wasn't selling this thing for like a thousand dollars, it was a sub 500 phones, and that was something that was really, really huge. I mean that was a huge asset for this device. It had a 5.6 inch, OLED display on the front and what's funny was, was that this thing actually looked better than the pixel 3 lineups in my opinion, and it was cheaper, so that didn't really make too much sense at the time- and you know it's a 1080p panel, and it's an OLED screen and for the whatever that, I think it was like 300 something dollars when this thing came out. I mean that is a really, really good and competitive price tag to pay for a device like this, because it's not like some crazy bad panel like this was a perfect panel.

When it came out, it only had a little of bezel on the top and bottom, but even more than that, it actually had an USB type-c port and a headphone jack on this device as well as most of you may know, when you know, Google was making these type of devices at the time their pixel lineup didn't have any headphone jacks anymore, but this device actually had that capability, which again that in and of itself, is another huge asset for it. In my opinion, it did have you know not a crazy great build quality, but it didn't really matter because the price tag wasn't awful. It had that polycarbonate on the back a little of like a glossy finish up top, and it really looked like you know a pixel device at the time, and even now, with the pixel 5, like all these phones kind of look still the same, which is pretty cool, and it had the fingerprint sensor on the back as well and definitely on the outside. If this thing was priced as like 800 dollars, it's definitely not an 800 phone by any means, but it's a pretty well-built. I would say you know, sub a 400 phone for sure, so in terms of the outside still a huge asset, and I think the camera was one of those things that was also a pretty big deal about this device because it shared pretty much the same camera as their main pixel device of that time, and it had the same software improvements as well, so those were some huge assets.

It had that single 12.2 megapixel sensor on the back. It had optical image stabilization, which was great, and I think at the end of the day again, this was one of the better assets with this specific device. Now it's not necessarily like I said before the craziest greatest camera in this day and age, but, like I said the software improvements that this you know that this phone had been some crazy good ones for sure and at the end of the day, this is still a really decent camera. It wouldn't necessarily be the first camera. I would pick up and there's a couple of different reasons at least two main reasons, the one being it cannot do, 4k at 60 on the front or the back, so only 4k 30 on the back and only 1080p at 30 on the front.

In this day and age I mean we are literally past that, like crazy, we are like 4k 60 at the minimum nowadays. So the fact that this can only do 4k 30 on the back is a pretty big difference. In my opinion, I think the front camera, though, is still pretty decent but, as stated, it would be better if this thing kind of topped it off with something a little better, and I think the second thing is probably the lack of you know: extra sensors on the back. Had this thing had like a telephoto or ultrawide sensor. That would have made this thing so much better, but unfortunately it's not really the case.

So in terms of the camera setup in 2021, I'll probably tell you like, I think it's a pretty good camera setup. Still, I probably rate it like an 8 out of 10 when you consider the price tag actually I'll say like a 7.2 out of 10. When you consider the price tag and everything like I said, it's not like the best camera ever made, but for the price tag that when this thing first came out, it's pretty decent in my opinion, but I still think probably one of the best things about the Google Pixel 3a and why I would highly recommend picking it up in 2021 would be the software lifecycle of this device. So this thing, if you guys don't know Google Pixel 3a, this is a phone that was teamed up and pretty much made by google and whenever a new version of android comes out, the Pixel 3a, the pixel lineup in general, or you know, tend to be the first ones to get it mostly because these are stock android. It doesn't have like a crazy amount of things going on in the background, and this is a spotless version of android.

There's no bloatware for the most part, just some stock, google apps- and this is a great experience for a device. Whenever you get a device like this, that stock, you tend to have a perfect experience with it. Now, even though this thing came on in 2019, it's probably going to be getting the same. Software updates as the pixel 3, so we're probably going to get another version of android, and then that may be it, but I'm not even freaking out about it is too much, because this device has such an easy capability of not only getting the next version of android, so android 12 fairly easily day one. It comes out in a beta form.

This thing's going to support it and that's going to be like in the next couple of months. I think, but on top of that, another humongous thing is this thing: has such a huge custom ROM capability, it's just so insane that a phone like this can be sold at the price tag and have this much capability and still be kind of underground, like not that many people use this phone anymore, which is so sad, but the software behind this phone is still one of the best things about it and because the software is great, and it's you know optimized for this device with its three thousand million power battery, it still is actually pretty decent. You know battery life. It's definitely not like the best thing ever, but it definitely isn't horrible, like you can easily get a day out of this thing, because the software is optimized for this battery. Now, if you throw a custom ROM on it, it may be a little of a different story, because some ROMs aren't really super stable unless you get a super stable ROM like an android, 10 roms, or maybe some more android 11 ROMs at this point, if you download an android 12 roms once it first came out, if you downloaded android 12 ram as soon as that thing comes out, it's probably not going to be the most stable version, but I will tell you at the end of the day the custom ROM capability behind this device is still one of the biggest assets for sure.

So this is probably one of the main reasons why I would highly recommend a Google Pixel 3a in 2021. Now, moving on to the last part that I want to hit on, which is the performance, this thing had that Qualcomm snapdragon 670 chipsets, an outscore CPU, an arena, 615, GPU and four gigabytes of ram. Now those specs may sound like not that great of a phone anymore but, like I said before, this thing did technically you know come on in 2019. It did have that watered-down 670 chipsets, so it didn't have that eight series at the time, but still totally okay for the most part and the fact that it only had four gigs of ram isn't really that big of a deal, because the pixel three and three XL had four gigs of ram too. So it really wasn't that big of a deal and what I can tell you about the performances is that, because this device again at the software, is optimized for this hardware, it's really not that bad of an experience, and it shouldn't be because it's not even 2 years old anymore, even though it's rocking a chipset that isn't the latest and greatest, it still has a really decent performance inside it.

So whenever I would do anything, you know using the UI, because the UI stock and everything there's not a lot of stuff in the background. So whenever I open an app and all that good stuff, it really you know day-to-day tasks are going to be fine. With this thing, just like how they're going to be fine on really any other device, if you're just texting, people going on tick, took Snapchat, all that stuff you're going to be perfectly fine on this type of phone, but even taking it up to a notch and going out to something like you know, real racing 3 or doing heavier intensive gaming. This device is probably going to be able to handle it for the most part, but it's not going to be like the craziest best performance. It's going to be a great performing device for sure, but if you're expecting something like you know, this device is going to be able to just blow your socks off and everything.

You may not get it from the specific device. I'll be completely honest, but I do think at the end of the day, the performance from this device is still top tier and, if you're trying to pick up a phone in 2021- and you want something that stock and has a long longevity and has pretty decent software and performance inside it for a cheap price tag, this device is probably going to be perfectly fine for you. So in terms of that, that pretty much covers up the performance segment and to kind of sum up the video and to answer the question: should you go and buy a Google Pixel 3a in 2021? Well, this is what I'll tell you. Let me just list out some pros for this device, because there's not a lot of cons. To be honest, the screen of this thing is still pretty beautiful.

It still has a pretty timeless display. It's not going to look super outdated by any means. That's a pretty big advantage. You still have the headphone jack and USB type c port on this thing, which is great, you have the fingerprint sensor on the back: a pretty decent camera on the back-up. Okay, camera on the front very good software.

The stock software is going to end, probably in the next year or two is still going to get security updates, but the custom ROM capability behind this device is out there like it's so crazy. That is still another huge pro for this device, and the performance is still perfect as well for the most part, but this phone isn't perfect, like I stated it does kind of lack some of the cool features that we're kind of getting in this day and age, no 120, hertz or 90 hertz on the display, no fingerprint sensor in the display, no expandable storage, which is okay, but this thing only comes in one storage variant, which is 64 gigs. So some people may not like that. The back camera can only do 4k, 30 and the front camera can only do 1080p at 30, so you're not getting crazy grace resolutions in terms of video capability, but the photo capability is still pretty good. So keep that in mind? It's not negatives.

The battery life is good, but you know in this day and age we do have bigger size. Batteries, so that's another, pretty big thing to keep in mind: you're kind of missing out on some ram improvements, we've gotten in the last couple of years, and you do have you know a little of a watered-down chipset, but even with those cons, I still think this device is still a perfect device to pick up in 2021. Again it wouldn't be like the first device. I would recommend. I think a phone like a Galaxy S10 would be something I'd recommend you know probably more than this, but for the price of this device for the availability, you could just pick it up one bay or Amazon like this is a perfect phone, and if you currently own a Pixel 3a, I would recommend keeping it for as long as you can.

You know if you want to pick up another phone then go for it, but this device by far is a really, really good device for sure still in 2021, so that really pretty much covers it up. If you guys have any other questions or anything like that, let me know in the comment section below hit the like button. That means so much but definitely hit that subscribe button, every single subscriber that we get really discount. So me so much if you guys can hit that also check out the other links down in the description as well. My Twitter, my Instagram, my other channels.

More importantly, everything else. I love every single one of you, guys, hopefully I'll catch you guys in the next video peace out till then so. Bye.

Source : Simple Alpaca