Google Pixel 7a Review: Budget flagship, Google style

Google’s Pixel A range of devices has been the increasingly affordable part of its Pixel phone series. With lower prices, however, have moreover come relatively junior specs. The likes of the Pixel 4a and 5a were very good devices for their price but were increasingly mid-segment than flagship phones. Plane 2022’s Pixel 6a was closer to a mid-segment device than a premium one, although it had the same tweedle as the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.

With the Pixel 7a, Google has entered the upkeep flagship zone with a device that has not just the same tweedle as its premium flagships but moreover comes with a number of features that are distinctly high-end. But will this enable it to take on the likes of OnePlus in the flagship Killzone? Let’s find out.

Google Pixel 7a design: Typical Pixel-looks

Google redefined its Pixel diamond with the ‘camera bar’ a few years ago, and this element is what marks the Pixel 7a out as a Pixel from the word go. The front is dominated by a 6.1-inch tall exhibit with a punch-hole notch in the center. We have heard some say that the bezels virtually the exhibit are on the larger side, but they did not strike us as eyesores. The when of the phone is polycarbonate with a metal transfuse camera bar on its upper sidethe when curves to meet the curved metal frame of the phone.

Google has tabbed this the “most durable A-Series yet,” and there is certainly something chunkily solid well-nigh the Pixel 7a. Although the protection on exhibit is Gorilla Glass 3 (which really is a wham from the past), the phone comes with IP67 pebbles and water resistance. At 193 grams, it seems a little on the heavy side. It is well-nigh as tall as the Pixel 6a (152 mm) but is slightly wider and thicker at 9 mm.

While it is relatively meaty compared to most Android flagships, the Pixel 7a is not what we would undeniability a ‘compact’ device – it is unquestionably taller, thicker, and heavier than the iPhone 14. We got the Charcoal variant, and while its greyish shade is not as striking as the Sea and Coral versions, it stands out from the regular Android crowd, proud as a Pixel. Plane though It feels a little heavy, it has a increasingly premium finger than its predecessors. Many people who saw the Pixel 7a mistook it for the Pixel 7, which tells a story.

Google Pixel 7a specs: Tensor hardware and a refreshed exhibit

Google had given the A series a serious spec uplift when it used the same processor it had used in the Pixel 6 in the Pixel 6a. This continues with the Pixel 7a, which is powered by the same Tensor G2 tweedle that is seen in the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro. There are some other hardware upgrades, too – the 6.1-inch OLED exhibit is still full HD resolution but now has a 90 Hz refresh rate, similar to the exhibit on the Pixel 7. There still is a fingerprint scanner unelevated the display, but it is supposed to be a huge resurgence over the slightly buggy ones seen on the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro.

RAM has moreover been bumped up from 6 GB to 8 GB, although storage stays at 128 GB, and you still have only one RAM and storage variant. The megapixels on the cameras have moreover been upped – that camera bar on the rear now houses a 64-megapixel main sensor with OIS and a 13-megapixel ultrawide sensor, while that tiny notch on the front has a 13-megapixel selfie snapper with support for 4K video. A bit surprisingly (considering the phone is thicker and heavier), the shower is a trifle smaller than on the Pixel 6a, going from 4410 mAh to 4385 mAh, but while charging speed remains at 18W (and the charger remains woolgathering from the box), the Pixel 7a gets wireless charging, although at a rather sluggish 7.5W speed. And, of course, as this is a Pixel, you get Android 13, with not only unpreventable and speedy updates for the coming years but moreover a lot of smart features facilitated by the G2 chip.

All of this makes for a decent but not unrenowned spec sheet. The Tensor G2 is a flagship tweedle but has been designed increasingly for smartness than for busting gaming benchmarks, and there will be those who will point out that one can get devices with faster chips, larger displays with higher refresh rates, and worthier and faster charging batteries (and chargers too). It is how it all comes together to perform that is key for the Pixel 7a.

Pixel 7a cameras: Of course, very good cameras

When it was launched, the Pixel range shook the mobile photography world with its concept of computational photography, which combined software smartness with the good camera hardware. The years then have seen other players tropical the gap on the Pixel. The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro did have spanking-new cameras but were not the runaway leaders that some of their predecessors had been. The Pixel 7a is largely similar. It comes with a very good set of cameras for its price tag, but it is not as far superiority of the competition as you would expect a Pixel to be.

The 64-megapixel main sensor takes unconfined snaps in good light conditions and, in the weightier Pixel tradition, delivers an wondrous value of detail. Google’s Super Res 8x digital zoom works a treat when the light is good, letting you get decent zoomed-in snaps of birds and animals from a distance. We would say it is perhaps the weightier camera zoom in its price category. The ultrawide is a decent performer too. Low light performance is exceptional, with Google’s computational photography magic delivering verisimilitude and details without too much noise, plane in pitch-dark conditions. You moreover get wangle to some very powerful editing and tuning options, including Google’s Magic Eraser and Photo Unblur, which work increasingly smoothly and swiftly on the Pixel 7a than on plane premium flagships.

There are times when it does seem as if the camera invents details that did not exist, but that is something one has to live with in the world of computational photography. A rather odd bug in the phone is its erratic handling of portrait mode, with the preliminaries often not getting voiceless out significantly and sometimes not at all. Selfies were good in terms of detail but, at times, seemed a little unrewarding when it came to colors. Video quality from both front and rear cameras was good, although audio capture remains a bit of a challenge.

All in all, we would say that the Pixel 7a has very good cameras, but it is by no ways a runaway leader in its segment. You will often get good-looking snaps rich in detail (sometimes too rich) and some very smart and powerful editing options on board, but there are others (most notably the Redmi Note 12 Pro and the OnePlus 11R) that can run it close.

Pixel 7a performance: Smart and steady

Where the Pixel 7a really shines is in regular usage. The Tensor G2 tweedle will not handle high-end gaming as well as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or later chips, but you can run most titles and get a decent wits by tweaking the settings a little. But it is in the routine day-to-day tasks that the Pixel 7a performs phenomenally.

The smaller form factor, as compared to other devices in its price segment, makes it easier to use, and it just flies through Web browsing, social networking, messaging, mail, and other tasks. The 6.1-inch exhibit is not the brightest and most vibrant in its segment (the OnePlus 11R scores there) but is still very good for viewing shows and videos. Improved stereo speakers make multimedia and gaming a increasingly immersive experience.

This stuff a Pixel, there is no bloatware in the interface, and Google’s own services, most notably Maps, and Photos, run much increasingly smoothly than on other phones. Google’s transcribing and transcription services are still a little hit-and-miss when you venture vastitude English words, but they are very handy otherwise – stuff worldly-wise to view an audio message in written form is a unconfined option to have when you are rented in a meeting or plane while watching a film, and if one is shielding unbearable with words, dictation via teammate voice typing works quite well for those times when one does not finger up to typing. Getting software and security updates quickly is the icing on the software cake.

That said, it is not all roses in Pixel 7a land. The phone shares the Pixel 7’s a worrying penchant for heating up when running high-end games or stuff used for extended photography sessions. It never got to dangerous levels, but it can get uncomfortable. The fingerprint sensor on the Pixel 7a is a definite resurgence on the Pixel 7, but it still remains slower than most of the competition. And if you are the type that likes to notice scrolling speeds, the 90 Hz refresh rate of pixel 7a does not compare well with the 120 Hz seen on many of its competitors.

Pixel 7a battery: Good shower life, but slow-ish charging

The Pixel 7a moreover does well in the shower department. The 4385 mAh shower might be a little smaller than the 4410 mAh on the Pixel 6a, but the Pixel 7a unquestionably delivers largest shower performance than its predecessor. We hands got through a day of heavy use on the device, and slightly increasingly shielding usage saw us get a day and a half of usage, which is very respectable. However, it does take a bit of time to get charged as it can be charged only at a maximum of 18W. There is no charger in the box, so we used a 33W charger to tuition the Pixel 7a, and it took well-nigh two hours to get from 0 to 100 percent, which is a lot in these 30-minute-to-full-charge times.

Pixel 7a price: Decent for a Pixel, Exp for the specs

The Pixel 7a is priced at $499 / Rs 43,999 and comes in a single RAM and storage variant of 8 GB/ 128 GB. While that makes it the most affordable of the Pixel 7 series, it does seem expensive when you consider that the likes of the OnePlus 11R and older but better-specced flagships like the Xiaomi 12 Pro and the iQOO 9 Pro are misogynist for well-nigh the same or lesser price. In fact, some might plane consider the Pixel 7a to be in the range of the Pixel 7, which is often misogynist for under Rs 50,000. Yes, we are working on a comparison. Stay tuned.

Pixel 7a Review Verdict: Should you buy it?

So should you consider investing in the Pixel 7a? The wordplay really depends on how much you value the Google Android experience. For, that is where the Pixel 7a stands untied from other phones in its price segment – in its wordage of a smart, smooth, uncluttered Android wits with very good camera performance. And it delivers all this in a frame that is relatively meaty by Android flagship standards.

If you are a person who chases specs and benchmarks and sits with a stopwatch gingerly load times and charging speeds, this is not the phone for you. The Pixel 7a is for those wanting citizenship in Google’s Tensor-Land, with the least numismatic tensions. Its A-rated predecessors may have cut corners and made significant compromises, but the Pixel 7a is the closest Google has come to a upkeep flagship since its Nexus days.

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