In August of this year, many people’s hearts beat high when it was revealed that the smartphones produced by Google are returning to Hungary, i.e. they will be officially sold, with a guarantee and service support valid for Hungary, and they will also be included in Yettel’s offer – so they can also be purchased with a subscription.
In the fall, not only the Pixel 9 phones and the Pixel Watch 3 smart watch arrived, but also the Pixel 8a, originally launched in May, which is the more affordable little brother of last year’s top models. In the sequel, I will examine this device to see exactly what it can do and how much it is considered a good offer today.
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Bálint Szajki / 24.hu
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Google Pixel 8a smartphone
My test sample arrived to me in white (or as the manufacturer calls it: porcelain) color, and you can’t deny that it’s a Pixel phone, thanks to the metal camera island that goes through the entire back panel, typical of the product line. Holding the 188-gram device feels premium, despite the fact that the back panel is plastic.
The quality of the latter is excellent, the surface is also matte, so it does not shine, and what is more important, it does not collect fingerprints at all. The frame, on the other hand, is aluminum, also in a matte finish, and the screen size is 6.1 inches. Due to the 152.1 x 72.7 x 8.9 mm device housing, the Pixel 8a can be called a very compact smartphone. Safe one-handed use is only affected by the fact that the back panel is rounded, so the grip is not as stable as, for example, in the case of the previously tested Pixel 9. The display is also completely flat here, which I experienced as a positive.
The basis of the screen is an OLED panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, HDR support, a maximum brightness of 2000 nits, and the Smooth Display option can be turned on separately in the Settings/Display menu, which in some cases raises the image refresh to 120 Hz. The Always on Display option is available, the fingerprint reader built into the display works reliably and quickly, as does the 2D facial recognition. Overall, we get a great screen, with sufficiently high brightness and a nice display, the middle category is only revealed by the relatively thick bezel, which is three millimeters thick on the top and sides, and four millimeters on the bottom.
At the top of the gently curved frame is a single microphone, at the far right is a power button and a volume control, at the bottom between two speakers is the USB-C port (3.2 Gen 1), and at the left “edge” is the SIM tray, which houses a nano-sized card can be installed – at the same time, the eSIM function is provided, of which up to two can be “installed”, but there is no possibility to expand the storage space here. The jack connector is also missing, but at least the stereo sound is present, and in quite decent quality, and the device housing is protected according to the IP67 standard.
but somewhat surprisingly, we get a USB-C/USB-A converter alongside the USB-C/USB-C cable. For my part, I was a little disappointed that it is not fashionable at Google to put a protective film on the display at the factory. This should be replaced quickly after purchase, as the display only received Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
It doesn’t conquer with its performance
Being a mid-range phone, most of the compromises here have to be made in relation to performance, but excluding the main components, we are dealing with a fairly well-equipped smartphone.
- Processor: Tensor G3
- Graphics chip: Immortal-G715s MC10
- Memory: 8 GB (LPDDR5x)
- Background storage: 128 / 256 GB (UFS 3.1)
- Contact: 5G, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 6E, egysávos GPS
Google’s own Tensor G4 processor, made with four nanometer manufacturing technology, performs its task, so running the Android 14 operating system is smooth, multiple applications managed in parallel do not cause problems, you can quickly switch between apps, there are no significant hiccups, but more serious 3D mobile games in the case of the limitations are already visible. The benchmark programs (Antutu: 900,000 points) show that if the best possible performance, even in the middle category, is important to someone, then they can find better performing phones.
This is offset somewhat by the fact that we get an Android operating system free of frills, unnecessary applications and advertisements, which is very easy to handle despite the much more customizable user interfaces of competitors. It is also important that Google already promises 7 years of software updates for this device, so in theory even Android 21 can be downloaded to the phone and security packages are provided until 2031.
There is no such outcome that a phone that is still functioning well, even bought for hundreds of thousands, will not receive any serious support after three years, as is the case with many mid-range Chinese (or HMD) phones.
It is also not to be neglected that the artificial intelligence functions that are fashionable nowadays are already available here, such as circled search, Gemini, as well as image manipulation capabilities of Google Photos, such as the Magic Machine that performs automatic corrections, the Best shot that selects the most advantageous photos or the wallpaper generation based on keywords – they all work in Hungarian as well.
Although the phone sometimes tends to heat up, at least the battery performs quite well, it can happily last a day with its 4492 milliampere-hour capacity, but with less intensive use it can last up to a day and a half without charging. What hurts, however, is that the phone can only charge a maximum of 18 watts (this is very modest even compared to Samsungs), but in return there is wireless charging, although here you have to make do with only 7.5 watts – it is true that it can be comfortably charged overnight the mobile.
There is no match in the photo
(One of) the best parts of Pixel phones is always the camera performance, which is largely due to Google’s image processing software, and the Pixel 8a does not disappoint in this area either, at least within its own category.
The mobile has a total of three modules:
- 13 megapixel front camera (f/2.2);
- 64 megapixel rear main camera (f/1.9; dual pixel PDAF; OIS);
- 13 megapixel (f/2.2; 120 degrees) wide-angle camera.
With the unit located in the hole at the top of the screen, completely correct selfies can be taken, and just like on the back, there is also the option of recording 4K/60 fps videos, although without optical image stabilization. The modules on the back can be used both during the day and at night, the image quality is excellent, in the absence of a telephoto unit you have to make do with the double digital zoom, but you can still take photos during the day that are hard to tell if they were zoomed.
On the video front, the main camera already has optical image stabilization, which works really well, and with this unit you can confidently take recordings even at night, there will hardly be any complaints about the quality (this is also true for the recorded sound), while the wide-angle and selfie cameras are more suitable for daytime use. worth watching a video.
And the big question: is it worth it?
Overall, the Pixel 8a is a fairly well-built mid-range phone with a premium effect in many cases, but it has some shortcomings, partly in terms of performance and partly in terms of charging. At the same time, this can be offset by the stable software, the long support, and the above-average camera capabilities. Of course, if raw power and fast charging are the main thing for someone, this device will not be the right choice for them. Those looking for a reliable, great photography phone, however, should definitely consider it – at least over time.
I say this because even though we received the phone after several months of delay, Google launched the Pixel 8a in Hungary at the original price, which is hit by the 27 percent VAT and the artisius fee for storage. As a result, the 128 gigabyte version opened at the beginning of September for HUF 235,000, and for that price this model is almost unsellable at home, since the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, Nothing Phone 2 and Motorola Edge 50 Pro are also available for a similar price – and these devices are certainly squeezing the Pixelt is mostly unknown at home.
Of course, retailers can also feel this, since at the time of writing our article, the price of some official sellers is already around HUF 200,000, but I would say that this phone will be a really good buy if it slips into the category between HUF 180 and 190,000. And if that’s still a lot for someone, and they would stop at 150,000, I recommend our list made this summer, in which we collected the best choices available at this price (or below) into a bouquet.
2024-09-16 16:05:27