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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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.