Google Pixel 3a XL Review - The Low-Budget Pixel Experience!

Google Pixel 3a (XL)

Google Pixel 3a (XL) is the new one Budget Smartphone the beginning of October 2018 featured Pixel 3 model series, Although the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a models hardly differ in appearance, there are some hardware adjustments to get the RRP of 399 €. In the following I deal with the Google Pixel 3a XL, which I have for the test.

It is a preliminary report without conclusion. The test report will be expanded in the coming weeks.

Design, workmanship and delivery

The Pixel 3a XL remains true to the classic Pixel family design. The smartphone is in the colors Just Black and Clearly White available. The color Not Pink is reserved for the Pixel 3 (XL). Color accents put the smartphone in Clearly White, whose on / off button shines in stylish orange.

A major difference between the pixel 3a and the pixel 3 lies in the materials used. Instead of high-quality aluminum housing with back glass cut-out, that consists Unibody of the pixel 3a completely off polycarbonate, The matte coating has remained and still extremely scratch-prone. The weight of the Google Pixel 3a XL has increased due to the plastic case 167g reduced. The dimensions are 160.1 x 76.1 x 8.2 mm.

The processing of the smartphone is not objectionable. Despite the plastic housing, the Pixel 3a XL feels high-quality. The IP68 rating has disappeared. The smartphone is not waterproof! Added is one 3.5 mm jack audio jack.

The Scope of delivery includes the smartphone, a USB Type-A (Female) Quick-Switch Adapter to USB Type-C (Male), a USB-C to USB-C Charging and Data Cable, In-Ear Headphone, a SIM Needle , Stickers and a quick guide.

Display

Bye Notch! From this Google has said goodbye to the Pixel 3a XL. Instead, there are two thick black bars at the top and bottom. So the trend of the bezel-less screen has not arrived at Google yet. Was at a budget pixel 3 but also not expected.

The display itself is of the type OLED and solve one Diagonal of 6 inches with 2160 x 1080 pixels on. The display is protected by scratch-resistant "Dragon Trail" Glass. The color reproduction is pleasant. When delivered, the smartphone is in the adaptive color mode, which increases the blue component slightly and is characterized by a natural white and particularly strong colors. Other color modes are Natural and Enhanced modes. Manual color selection is not possible.

The display brightness can be adjusted with the help of automatic brightness mode adapted to the ambient light. Manual control is also possible. The maximum display brightness is convincing, so that the display of the Pixel 3a XL remains well recognizable even in bright sunshine. In the dark, the brightness is reduced to a minimum without being dazzled. An additional one Night and reading mode filters sleep disturbing blue parts. Incoming notifications can be made via the Always-on function of the display. A notification LED is not available.

Performance

The built-in processor is the one released in August 2018 Qualcomm Snapdragon 670, The CPU of the 10 nm system-on-chip is divided into 2 Cluster, consisting of 6 Kryo 360 Silver cores with 1.7 GHz clock rate and 2 Cryo 360 Gold cores with maximum 2 GHz clock rate. The GPU is a Adreno 615, For memory, the Google Pixel 3a XL sets to one 4GB LPDDR4X Memory and one 64GB data store, One possibility to extend the data storage by means of MicroSD memory card is not provided.

Performance in everyday life

Despite the middle class SoC, Google has adapted the performance of the Pixel 3a very well to the Android 9 OS. The system is extremely easy to use, animations run smoothly and apps are opened quickly. When browsing the web content is built quickly and can scroll smoothly. Mobile gaming is no problem as long as the graphics are reduced accordingly in graphically demanding games. An unpleasant and the system throttling heat development under load does not occur.

User Interface

The smartphone comes with Android 9 Pie delivered. For a "Pure Android Experience", several Google Apps are already preinstalled on the system. Features like the Google Assistant, which is helpful to the user, are firmly anchored in the system. The Active Edge Function makes the case frame sensitive to pressure, so that it can control various apps. Then there would be that Google Update Promise, Pixel users not only get new Android updates as one of the first, Google guarantees new releases of security and operating system updates for a period of 3 years!

Camera

Friends of smartphone photography beware! Surprisingly, the Google Pixel 3a uses the same main camera as the Google Pixel 3. The single main camera uses the 12.2 megapixel Sony IMX363 image sensor with dual-pixel technology, 1 / 2.55 "sensor size and 1.4μm pixel size. Other features of the main camera are an f / 1.8 aperture, a dual pixel phase detection autofocus, a optical and electronic image stabilization (OIS and EIS), as well as a 76 ° wide angle. There are differences in the front camera, Instead of two sensors, there is only one 8 megapixel sensor with f / 2.0 aperture, fixed focus and 84 ° wide angle.

In practice, the whole thing looks like this:

More about the camera will be available soon in the complete review!

connectivity

The Google Pixel 3a supports Single-nano SIM or eSIM, The built-in Cat 11 LTE modem provides transfer rates up to 600 Mbit / s in down and 75 Mbit / s in upload. The following mobile radio frequencies and bands are available:

• mobile: 850, 900, 1,800 and 1,900 MHz
• UMTS: 1/2/4/5/8
• FDD LTE: 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/20/25/26/28/32/38/40/41/66

To phone works very well with the pixel 3a. Talks can be clear and without noise. The connection stability in the mobile network is also good. Phoning via the handsfree is slightly tinny and shallow.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

The smartphone copes with both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WLAN. The WiFi module supports the protocols 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac 2 × 2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0 with AptX and AptX HD codec support is available. Both in the WLAN, as well as with active Bluetooth connection, the Pixel 3a XL has shown no abnormalities.

GPS and sensors

The location is determined by GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou, A GPS fix is ​​found quickly and accurate to a few feet. As you navigate, the Pixel 3a precisely positions itself in both rural and urban areas.

The rest sensors includes a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, an e-compass, a barometer, and a fingerprint sensor. NFC is available and can be used for mobile payment.

Accumulator

The Google Pixel 3a XL has one 3700 mAh battery installed. This is loaded completely by 18 Watt Power Delivery "Fast Charge" within 170 minutes. If you want to charge the battery at 50% it takes about 70 minutes. With ordinary use, ie some surfing the Web, telephony, YouTube and WhatsApp you get along well over the day. Power users need to charge the Pixel 3a XL at the latest in the evening. Compared to the pixel 3, the Qi charging function has been eliminated. Contactless charging is not possible!

Price and availability

The new Google smartphones are now available for 399 € or 479 € in the Google Store.