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
Camera - Low Light Evaluation
Google’s Night Sight feature was a primary marketing point for the Pixel 3a: Google last year did raise the bar in terms of computational photography and it managed to save the Pixel 3 from otherwise ending up with more mediocre low-light results.
In general there’s no too much new on the Pixel 3a, and the night-time scenes between the new phone and the flagship predecessor are identical, so I’ll skip the detailed evaluation as we’ve covered things extensively against the current line-up over the last few months.
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ Pixel 3a ]
[ OnePlus 7 Pro ] - [ OnePlus 6T ]
[ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ Honor 20 Pro ]
[ G8 ] - [ Oppo Reno ] - [ iPhone XS ]
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ Pixel 3a ]
[ OnePlus 7 Pro ] - [ OnePlus 6T ]
[ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ Honor 20 Pro ]
[ G8 ] - [ Oppo Reno ] - [ iPhone XS ]
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ Pixel 3a ]
[ OnePlus 7 Pro ] - [ OnePlus 6T ]
[ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ Honor 20 Pro ]
[ G8 ] - [ Oppo Reno ] - [ iPhone XS ]
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ Pixel 3a ]
[ OnePlus 7 Pro ] - [ OnePlus 6T ]
[ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ Honor 20 Pro ]
[ G8 ] - [ Oppo Reno ] - [ iPhone XS ]
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ Pixel 3a ]
[ OnePlus 7 Pro ] - [ OnePlus 6T ]
[ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ Honor 20 Pro ]
[ G8 ] - [ Oppo Reno ] - [ iPhone XS ]
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ Pixel 3a ]
[ OnePlus 7 Pro ] - [ OnePlus 6T ]
[ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ Honor 20 Pro ]
[ G8 ] - [ Oppo Reno ] - [ iPhone XS ]
Low-Light Camera Conclusion
As with the Pixel 3, the Pixel 3a is saved by the Night Sight mode which still is among the best computational photography implementations out there in current phones. Since the Pixel 3, Google was beaten in low-light by various Huawei and Honor phones, and more recently Samsung’s new night mode looks to perform better than Google’s.
The Pixel 3a however remains quite unique in its price range in regards to low-light photography, and the only real competition here is from mid-range Huawei phones, as other manufacturers haven’t yet caught up with their camera algorithms. Unfortunately I don’t have more mid-range phones on hand to contextualise the Pixel 3a’s performance against other such mid-range devices, but I expect the phone to still perform extremely well.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
94 Comments
View All Comments
Death666Angel - Friday, June 28, 2019 - link
The Pixel 2XL which is highlighted has the S835.Ashinjuka - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
Thanks for doing this review! When the 3a was announced you guys said you had no plans to review it, so I was really glad to see you take a look at this phone and SoC. This is by far the most interesting phone of the year for me. I know I'm not everyone, but if a device is not getting regular OS updates, it's dead to me.I love the headphone jack, the camera, the battery life, and the updates. If I could change one thing about it, it would be an SD card slot or at least more on-board storage.
LiverpoolFC5903 - Friday, June 28, 2019 - link
Would have been a smashing buy if it had UFS storage instead of emmc. The importance of storage quality in overall usability and perceived smoothness of the phone is often understated. I have a 3 year old LG v20 that feels faster than my new Note 7 pro (SD 675), because of storage.The SOC is fine and the camera is very good. The only issue is the storage and unfortunately for me, I will only buy phones with UFS storage from now on, having experienced fast storage in my V20 and Galaxy S9..
grant3 - Friday, July 5, 2019 - link
As a typical phone user who has no clue about UFS vs. EMMC, I can assert: the smoothness of the 3a XL is just fine.Obviously some people want more storage, faster memory, etc. and for that, they can choose phones which either trade off other features or cost more.
Jon Tseng - Friday, June 28, 2019 - link
Spot on with the US vs. RoW conclusions.Outside of the US at that price this device is DOA - huge bezels, plastic casing, single cam. We can debate single-cam computational photography vs. brute forcing with triple cam but in the eyes of the average consumer more sensors = better.
grant3 - Friday, July 5, 2019 - link
"in the eyes of the average consumer" they care about image quality; they don't care how it happens.That's even if a purchaser is particularly concerned with taking high quality photos on their phone; a huge amount of people are not.
psnosignaluk - Friday, June 28, 2019 - link
I picked up a standard Pixel 3a because I needed a new phone, and frankly, didn't want to drop £1,000 or near enough on a flagship. I'm glad I saved the money. I use my phone for mail/Slack, on call tools, contactless payments, WhatsApp video calls with the wife overseas, uploading photos to Instagram, browsing the web and listening to music or catching up with YouTube channels on the go. It may not be the fastest or most powerful phone, but damn if you don't get everything you need for a pretty low price. I even like the plastic body. Makes my phone nice and light. Looking forward to the Pixel 4a :)Anirudh2FL - Friday, June 28, 2019 - link
The base 3a costs $550 in IndiaThe regular one, not even the XL
So, unfortunately not at all a good value here
fred666 - Friday, June 28, 2019 - link
Here in Canada I had the choice between the Pixel 3a or 3a XL, both at CAD $210, or the Galaxy S10e for CAD $310 (including galaxy buds).I chose the Samsung, but if I wanted a big screen I would have gotten the 3a XL.
I think the prices listed in this review are too high.
Andrei Frumusanu - Saturday, June 29, 2019 - link
We only list a device's full price, not carrier plan or financed deals.