The Google Pixel 3a XL Review: Does Mid-Range Make Sense?
by Andrei Frumusanu on June 27, 2019 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Snapdragon 670
- Pixel 3a
- Pixel 3a XL
Speaker Evaluation
The speaker situation on the Pixel 3a and 3a XL is quite different from that of previous Pixel iterations. In particular the new phone differs in that the bottom speaker is no longer a front-facing unit, but rather a more regular bottom-firing design.
Furthermore while the earpiece does serve as a stereo unit, it acts more like a tweeter while the main speaker takes care of lower frequencies.
In terms of the maximum volume of the phone, the Pixel 3a XL doesn’t quiget get as loud as other devices on the market, but it’s still more than sufficient to listen to in louder environments.
What we notice in the results in that the difference between holding the phone one-handed in portrait mode and two-handed and having the phone cupped, is that the delta is a lot higher than what we see on the Pixel 2 or Pixel 3; this is a case of the phone not having quite as good frontal directionality due to the bottom firing speaker.
In terms of the speaker stereo bias, there’s a clear loudness advantage to the right side / bottom speaker. While the earpiece is there, its frequency range is very limited in the low and mid-range and offers a lot more treble. The main speaker on the other hand has a very limited high frequency range.
Listening to content however with both speakers is quite good: The two speakers complement each other extremely well, and especially in the higher frequency ranges the Pixel 3a XL does very well. It’s notably lacking in the lower frequency and bass, but it’s still a very good experience.
The big thing to note here is that while the output isn’t perfect, the phone doesn’t suffer from the same high volume distortions as the Pixel 3 if you hold it wrong.
Overall, the speaker audio quality the 3a XL is very good for a phone in its range, particularly as we’re just used to mono speaker setups in devices from the competition.
The phone’s 3.5mm headphone output is good and seems certainly better than Google’s 3.5mm headphone dongle audio quality, however it did lack a bit of clarity in the higher frequency ranges compared to higher end models. Nevertheless, it’s good that Google opted to actually include this feature in the 3a series.
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Threska - Sunday, June 30, 2019 - link
"Besides, it wears off on devices that are constantly being fondled by their owners."Alright everybody, stop "fondling" your phones. People are starting to talk. :-D
PeachNCream - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
The lack of microSD is a huge pain in the arse for people that use their phones as primary compute devices. That's been a brain dead move on Google's part for a long time now so it isn't a surprise. Also, mid-range and $400-500? Someone is on some good drugs if they're positioning a device with that kind of price in the middle as it falls in on the lower end of insanity, a fair bit above high priced.UtilityMax - Thursday, August 1, 2019 - link
So your phone is the primary storage for all your data, documents, music, tax returns, games, etc? Interesting choice..sing_electric - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
Even in North America, the value proposition of the Pixels kind of falls apart when you look at actual "street" pricing - Samsung's and LG phones often go on sale for significantly less than their MSRP (even at or near launch), and carriers (and the OEM) tend to fofer more generous trade-ins than Google seems to be willing to do.I've seen the S10e - S855, more RAM and more (and faster) storage, wireless charging, multiple cameras - go on sale for $500, just $20 more than the 3a XL, and its screen size slots it directly between the smaller and larger Pixels.
Not that any of it matters, though, because Google's done such a terrible job marketing the Pixel line that I don't think they'd be a sales hit no matter what...
melgross - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
Almost nobody buys Pixel labeled products, just as they didn’t buy Nexus labeled products before them,I understand that Google is trying to, at least partly, move away from being an advertising company, needing more user data in order to survive. But their hardware is a waste of time. It’s never going anywhere, just like Microsoft’s hardware, other than the XBox, which they’re still losing money on.
Speedfriend - Friday, June 28, 2019 - link
"Almost nobody buys Pixel labeled products" that is why they were the third best selling phone type in the US and 5th best in western Europe in Q4 2018MadManMark - Monday, July 1, 2019 - link
All you just did here was demonstrate to knoweldgable readers that we should ignore all the other posts you made to this thread because you simply don't know what you are talking about.darkswordsman17 - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
Er, that's a weird argument considering the sales that happened immediately on the Pixel3A. Especially for older Pixel owners (1 or 2) where they were effectively getting it for free after trading in their older Pixel. There's sales on all sorts of phones, so unless its an official MSRP change, then reviewers need to based their value propositions on that. Many people do not quality for some of those sales as it requires new activation or adding a line and good enough credit (or the ability to pay MSRP+tax and then get it back via bill credits). Or various other loops you have to jump through.What other marketing do you want them to do? I watch as little content that includes commercials as possible but I saw as many Pixel ads as I saw iPhone ads when I did. Not only that, but its not like they need the marketing, anytime they bring out a new phone the entire tech media discusses it just like they do iPhones and Samsung's phones. They don't sell like either of those, but I don't think that was ever Google's actual intent with the Pixel stuff.
UtilityMax - Thursday, August 1, 2019 - link
All the "cheap" new phones require activation of new line, or contract, or some kind of monthly payment plan. Moreover, the carrier branded LG phones are probably the worst garbage I have seen among android phones.3DoubleD - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
The article says the Pixel 3a XL compares well to the S835, but the charts show it comparing well to the S845, which is found in the Samsung Galaxy S9+. In fact, the S8/S8+ that would have the S835 SoC isn't even in the chart.