Google Pixel 4a Review | Five Months Later By Tech Spurt

Now I've had Google's Pixel 4a on me for five whole months now, and I've got to say it definitely is still one of my most favorite affordable smartphones of 2020. , I'm sure. Of course, you can get plenty of brilliant budget broads for less cash than the pixel 4. Here the likes of the Poco x3 NFC, with its gorgeous 120 hertz display and killer specs, but the Pixel 4a still undeniably rocks the best camera tech for this sort of more affordable price point, and what's more, it's just an all-round adorable and loveable Wii bugger. So yeah as you can probably tell from my gushed I'm a bit of a fan of the Pixel 4a, and I thought, as we were nearing the end of 2020. Let's revisit one of my favorite smartphones of the year, especially now it's got that full android 11 updates and to see how it compares with the latest budget blowers from the likes of Xiaomi, Paco, motor and so on, and for more than its greatest take.

Please do poke, subscribe and ding that notifications bell cheers now. Every time I finish, reviewing some 6.7 inch behemoth of a smartphone. I do love to return to the pixel for it, even if it's just for a deal or a few hours that compact 5.8 inch body is more refreshing than taking a shower in cherry cork, seriously. Stick the Pixel 4a next to any smartphone of 2020, and especially the bigger ones like this here, s20 ultra, and it's almost like watching that movie twins the Pixel 4a just looks so cute and tiny, not that I'm saying that Danny DeVIVO was cute, but you know what I mean and with the bonus of that added 100, help like pulling down the notifications bar from anywhere on your desktops. This is my favorite phone to use, while lugging around a bunch of shopping or a hyperactive five-year-old and the rest of the design is less than thrilling.

Admittedly, that plastic ass is basically crying out for a paint job. I did read that the pixel Fourier was very briefly re-released as a limited edition, barely blue model over in the states, but I'd really like to see just a galaxy. S20 fan edition style rainbow of colors. For this thing still, even though this is a plaque back, unlike the metal, pixel 5, the good news is that it's emerged almost unscathed after several months. There's not a single scratch on there, although the edges have worn slightly with use, so they are a bit shiny in places now way back.

When I originally reviewed the Pixel 4a, it was still rocking that older android 10, but, of course that was immediately updated to android 11, along with the new flagship launch and while android 11 is far from a revolutionary upgrade, it's not exactly a game changer or anything. It does throw in a few nice little tweaks that just make the general everyday use a lot more satisfying. For instance, the notifications panel has been rejigged, so your important stuff is much easier to find and the new media controls are great if you flip between music and podcasts willy-nilly, like I do, and I also love the fast access to your Google Pay card setup and your smart home gear as well simply by holding down the power button. Now I won't bang on about android 11 all over again in this re-review, but I really enjoyed it here on the pixel 4 here that marriage of google hardware and software just works so nicely. It's really neat smooth experience, plus you've got that added reassurance of guaranteed security updates every single month and then of course, next year it will get android 12 bang on time as soon as we get the pixel 6.

, I'm still yet to fill that 128 gigs of storage. So the lack of micros memory card support, thankfully hasn't bothered me and the good news is you'll, continue to get that. Unlimited google photos cloud storage as well, so you can back up all your photos, full resolution that you take on the pixel 4 for the foreseeable now one feature I used to miss a lot on. Pixel phones was the lack of face unlock support, especially when my fingers used to get all up from the cold in winter. This year, though, it's not really been that much of an issue.

In fact, it's the iPhone owners who have got fierce and lock support only and nor fingerprint sensor who are proper bollocks and the pixel 4 is rear. Fingerprint sensor is comfortable to use, and it's still dependable, even with my chapped fingertips, still seems to work every time now, not too many smartphones around this sort of price point come packing. An OLED display the OnePlus node and the realm 7 pro being a couple of notable exceptions, but the Pixel 4a also boasts a proper OLED panel, in this case a compact, 5.8, inches and, while sure watching movies is undeniably more comfortable on those bloody big blowers that are pretty much standard. These days, those pixel visuals are still stunning. The dinky size, plus the full HD plus resolution means gorgeously sharp images with brilliant contrast.

You've got HDR support for major streaming services, while the realistic color reproduction adds to those natural looking visuals, although you can actually boost those hues to make things a wee bit more poppy, if you prefer- and I've definitely still got a bit of beef when it comes to the brightness levels as well. I found if you pump the screen all the way up to the maximum levels. You can just about see what's going on even on a fairly sunny day, but certainly the auto brightness leaves a lot to be desired. I found that, certainly in the evenings, this often left the screen just a little too dim. So I had to manually tweak it just pump it up a little which yeah that's the very definition of a first world problem, but it is still slightly irritating and yeah the pixel 4.

It does stick with a 60 hertz maximum refresh rate, whereas the OnePlus note impressed us all with its 90 hertz OLED display for under 400 bob. To be perfectly fair. I don't quite miss that 90 hertz speed as much as I thought I would do on the 4a as the UI floor so smoothly. Anyway. It's not quite 90 hertz, smooth of course, but it definitely feels fast.

On the audio front, though, I still refuse to acknowledge that the Pixel 4a in any way has a stereo speaker set up that earpiece right. There puts out about as much power as a sparrow's, bowel movement, and it sounds about as appealing as well whether you're watching a video or god forbid, listening to music. But all is forgiven. Google, because that headphone jack is an absolute blessing and the Bluetooth connectivity has been nothing less than stellar, with DAC support to make your tune, sound, bloody, lovely. Now, let's shift on to performance, and it is still definitely a shame that you don't get a snapdragon 765 g packed into the pixel 4 rear, because that is the chipset of choice of pretty much all of its rivals around this sort of price point.

That means no 5g future proofing for one and also the performance, isn't quite as strong with the snapdragon 730 chipsets. Thankfully, it hasn't impacted on the Pixel 4a, at least not just yet anyway, as I mentioned before, the UI feels smooth to navigate apps load instantly and no worries with gaming, either the likes of Call of Duty, pub g. All that good stuff plays like a dream. Of course, I've only been using the pixel 4 for five months. So far, here's hoping it can really hold out over the long term, especially because you've got those guaranteed OS and security updates.

This is definitely a handset to hold on to for at least a couple of years, and battery life is another area where the pixel 4 is sadly a bit limited compared with a lot of its other budget, rivals likes the Poco x3s, the mortar, all over the world, all that kind of good stuff, pixel Fourier rocks a 3 140 William cell, which is significantly smaller than the 5 000, or even 6 000 million batteries packed into a lot of the competition. So over the past few months there have definitely been occasions where my Pixel 4a has run dry around sort of half 9 ten o'clock at night marker, though that is, admittedly with plenty of heavy use, lots of media streaming and about six hours of screen on time, otherwise, with general everyday use, I tend to make it to bed with uh at least a good amount of drags left around sort of 10 to 20 percent. So if you are planning to hit the discord clubs for a late night boogie, you might want to give the Pixel 4a a quick top-up before you head out now. As you may have noticed, this review has been pretty much universally positive so far, and I haven't even got to the bloody best bit of the pixel 4 yet, which is, of course, that 12.2 megapixel rear camera boasting built-in optical image stabilization and a superfast autofocus. The exact same tech you'll find on the pixel 5.

All you lose out on here on the cheaper pixel 4. Is that secondary ultra-wide angle, lens, which to be fair, is a minor sacrifice at best like the iPhones? This is a simple point-and-shoot effort. Minimal effort is required to get great looking photos even in fairly testing conditions, although Google's dual slider tool does really help out with the HDR shots, so you can get a clean, bright snap of your subject without over saturating the background skin tones and other colors are naturally captured. While photos look sharp and proper nice when blown up onto a big display and yeah, you don't get a depth sensor, but google software smarts can reliably add a both style background effect to your portrait. Shots and the best bit is definitely still that night side mode which again offers impressively natural results.

Even when the scene is incredibly dark. It really can't be beat even by some phones twice the price. Oh, and there's an added bonus. Google for some reason, didn't feel the need to throw in a pointless macro lens on the back of that Pixel 4a. So frankly, they deserve a gold star.

Just for that swap to video mode, and you'll grab. Some good luck in 4k footage again with minimal effort, audio comes through loud and clear, and the picture quality is still good, too, with reliable focus and once again, natural. Looking results and yeah. There's an 8 megapixel, selfie came up front, and if you actually want to take photos of your face and post them up for the world to stare at then it'll more than do the job you even get helpful hints for taking better looking selfies and, of course, the same portrait mode smarts as that rear cam. So that right there is just my updated review on the Pixel 4a.

Now I've had it for a few months and of course, it's definitely still one of my favorite smartphones of 2020, certainly at this sort of price point, even if it's not quite as future-proofed as some alternative options. The main strengths are undoubtedly, of course, that camera tech you've got the Google software and OS support and, of course, that unlimited cloud storage and just the lovable compact size as well. I did round up my favorite compact phones that you can buy right now in 2020 just a week or two ago. The Google Pixel 4 is definitely right at the top of that list. And if you are concerned about that lack of 5g support and how well the pixel 4 will hold up over the course of two or three years, or so you do have the option of upgrading to the pixel 4 a5g, which of course uses the snapdragon 765 g, although this also has the drastic effect of pushing up the budget quite a bit to around the sort of 500 pound mark, which is a real shame, but for everyone on a tighter budget, I'd say: grab the Pixel 4a with both hands.

In fact, you don't need both hands. You just need one, because it's all wonderfully dinky uh, but have you been using the pixel 4 it'd, be great to hear your thoughts down in the comments below on Google's dinky handset, and definitely please uh poke subscribe ding. That notifications bell all the usual YouTube drama and have yourselves a fantastic rest of the week. Cheers everyone loves you. You.

Source : Tech Spurt