Google Pixel 4A Unboxing and Full Review | Camera Samples | Specifications | Comparison

Pixel  4A  is the most aggressive impressive phone that Google has ever made

But it has to be unlike last year's Pixel 3a which was so easy to recommend.

The 4a has tough competition thanks in part due to a massive delay, but also just the fact that companies have gotten busy in this mid-range segment it's up against possibly the best value Android phone ever and it's also got an affordable Iphone that it needs to beat.

Whats in the Box?

So I received a special reviewer's kit from Google, i won't lie to you it's one of the stranger things i've unboxed it starts with this cardboard cutout which with a bit of DIY turns into a stand.

There's the mini mouthful box which is biscuits a tin that reads the bittersweet treat, the phone's user guide and a non-alcoholic cocktail which was actually a surprise hit even if it does look a bit like a salad dressing and then there is the phone's retail box.

It's kind of small there's a definite focus on efficiency here the massive contrast versus that crazy looking Oneplus Nord box that was packed with all sorts of small details there's instruction manuals a USB-C cable, you get an adapter that helps you transfer from your old phone and an 18 watt fast charger and then there is Google's plastic miracle.

Camera Specifications and Performance

The camera is where i started. I was a bit disappointed on first glance to see what looks like a very similar spec to last time,

A small single 12 megapixel camera.

But force myself to look past it at least for the time being so how is it well this is an absolutely

Astonishing camera but at the same time i don't think i've ever been left wanting more this badly!

Let me explain, So you pick this phone up you start taking photos and i think you'll be instantly impressed the shots look very similar to the Pixel 3A’s but now with even less noise in them it does an even better job of handling color in tricky situations and it'll pick up just a little bit more texture on objects and this image processing is so good that it almost compensates for the fact that it only has this single small 12 megapixel sensor.

For example even though it doesn't have a telephoto camera when you zoom in and take a photo it uses software to take multiple frames and fuse them to enhance details i could take a seven times zoom photo in low light and the end result is clearer than trying to do the same on the Oneplus Nord camera! Even though that has a larger 48 megapixel sensor.

It's got a pretty robust portrait mode, with a very recognizable style and you can even go through past photos of people and apply portrait mode to them literally i've got a photo here taken 10 years ago on a random digital camera yet this phone can understand what's happening in them what part is person and what part is background and sort of reimagine them it's even better at night than the last model the scene was pitch black until i hit that shutter button on both and even versus my Iphone 11 pro max there isn't a whole lot in it or at least not as much as you'd expect given the price gap.

And then here's my favorite bit, If you put on a tripod for stability you capture arguably the best astrophotography shots any phone can do so what's my beef why am i complaining about this well it's because the entire time I've been using this phone i'm thinking this is amazing but also what could have been this camera hardware is not very good but even then the results are incredible thanks to probably world's most powerful camera software ever but imagine how good it could have been had we actually had a good sensor too see for example when you're using this at night you can tell from the image preview that this camera is struggling there's noise and grain everywhere it's only after you've taken the photo that the software pieces it together but if the phone can turn this graininess into this photo imagine how good these shots would look if we had a current gen

48 or 64 megapixel sensor!

There's also the fact that being just a single camera it lacks an ultra wide lens which kind of stings especially since Google have literally built the camera housing as if they've specifically made space for other cameras and then decided eh never mind tease of the decade anyway i'm dreaming here a little bit the point is the main takeaway Pixel 4A camera is amazing but i was kind of expecting it to be it's actually the rest of the phone that's really surprised me.

Design

For starters just like the Pixel 3a before it this is very much a slab of plastic but the execution feels more deliberate I came into this expecting to tell you that this lacks the density and the solidity of its glass counterparts but honestly i like it just as much it's not one of those plastic phones that tries to do as much as it can to look like glass and doesn't quite get there Google have picked plastic and embraced it providing you like the way it looks the result is a phone that is sturdy that is ultra resistant to fingerprints even more so than last gen and one that still has a nice bit of weight to it

The rear fingerprint scanner works fine.

The most relieving part of this redesign though is that Google has finally fixed their bezel problem the Pixel 1 had massive bezels,

Pixel 2 weird curved corners,

Pixel 3 XL had ridiculous bathtub notch and then

the Pixel  4 went right back to thicker bezels

I would go as far as to say that this is the first Google phone that actually from the front looks good versus its competition it's giving me an Iphone 11 vibe but instead with a full HD

Plus OLED display and a hole punch camera that kind of floats away into my peripheral vision and there's a whole load of straight up upgrades from last gen.

Specifications

Because of this revamp design they've managed to fit a Bigger display

into a far smaller body look at this thing like i love the size the stereo speakers now have a little more Bass, there's 128 GB of storage versus 64GB and the battery life is better here thanks to a larger capacity and a chip that consumes less power.

Plus this isn't an upgrade but I'm glad Google have kept the headphone jack if you're looking at this phone you're probably on a tighter budget and if you're on a tighter budget you probably don't want to shell out extra cash for expensive wireless earphones and it's something that's almost unheard of but that i kind of appreciate is how Google has kept this lineup really simple unlike last year where there were multiple colors and sizes

The Pixel 4a is one phone with one color and one storage option as far as creating something that's

 simple and that can potentially have mass appeal that's the way to go

Software

The Pixel combines top level Haptics with satisfying sound effects and a visually inviting user interface, there's no Bloatware or Ads or Apps you don't want being forced down your throat and there's some really intelligent features baked in it's using the new revamped Google assistant which is faster than before and better able to understand the context of your questions they did get rid of those squeezable side edges to activate it but i never really use.

It can translate any video you watch on any platform, it even works on calls, i could call you up have a conversation with you and see the written transcript of our conversation in real time and it works offline because it's done using the on device AI and probably the cherry on top to this whole software experience is that Google is offering three years of OS updates that compares to two on a really good mid-ranger and one for quite a lot of them so you are getting guaranteed Android updates up until Android 13.

Whats Missing?

The two things that are notably a little lacking are its standard 60hz screen refresh rate compared to 90 on the Oneplus Nord meaning that flicking through the UI doesn't have that same snappy instantaneous feel and the fact that it's powered by the Snapdragon 730g not a bad chipset but the 765g in the Nord is about 20 faster and the A13 bionic chip in the Iphone is about 100 faster i'm guessing the reason they didn't just go for the 765g is because of this delay because of the fact that the hardware was probably finalized quite a long time ago before phones were using that 765.

Price

Now there is a flip side see i've got a sneaking suspicion that the Pixel 4a was built for a $399 price point that's the price their last one came out but to compensate for this delay the fact that we now already have two brilliant options for this price and the fact that Google can now probably produce this phone for cheaper because the parts in it are older they've decided to undercut the Pixel 4a is actually not going to be $399 but in fact $349.

And that makes this very easy for me because all of a sudden the question isn't is this the best 400 phone which would be a really complicated question because it has so many strengths and weaknesses versus the Nord and the Iphone the question instead becomes can i get away with spending 50 less and the answer to that question is absolutely the Pixel 4a is very comparable to the best 400 phones out there and the fact that it's $50 cheaper just means that if you're considering it I can say very confidently go for it.

Plus if you're into this it comes with Youtube premium 100 GB of cloud storage and Google Play pass which is Google's answer to Apple arcade all for three months i guess with the hope that you'll pay to carry on those subscriptions but obviously you don't need to.

Conclusion

So that was all about the all New Google Pixel 4A, hope you liked this unbiased review of the smartphone do let us know in the comment box and also connect with us on social media for more interesting tech related Information, News, Updates, Memes and stuff. Thanks for reading.