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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MadManMark - Monday, July 1, 2019 - link
Andrei: I, you, and every person in North America could get the 3a for $210 right after it came out, no carrier or financing needed, just by buying directly from Google Store and signing up for a $250 trade-in for an iPhone 6. We just then bought a refurb iPhone 6 from another site for $60 and !voila! you have a Pixel 3a for $210, free and clear. That deal ran for a full month. ***and*** for part of that month, googel aslo threw in a $100 future store credit.UtilityMax - Thursday, August 1, 2019 - link
Why buy a new car at MSRP when you, and every person in America, could go to an Oprah show a couple years ago and get keys to a new VW car. Duh!SonjaTWilliams - Sunday, June 30, 2019 - link
niceRorqual - Monday, July 1, 2019 - link
I bought a Pixel 3a a few days after its availability, in order to replace an aging Nexus 5X, and am very happy with it.- About pricing: there was a promotion and for €400 a Google Home Mini (60 € value) got bundled, so net price for the phone is €340 which is I think not a bad deal for what I get.
- Plastic casing: for me it's a huge plus. I certainly don't want any glass backpanel, so slippery and fragile. And I'm one of those who don't use a protective case (a few scratches here and there aren't a problem to me).
- Design: good enough, classic and functional. No notch is mandatory, I can't stand them.
- Stock Adroid: again, mandatory. I can't stand the Samsung interface, for instance. Some others are more tolerable, but still I prefer stock Android.
- SoC performance: good enough for my usage, that is browsing, GPS and some random apps (very few games). Way faster then the 5X, everything feels so fluid now.
So with such specifications, the 3a is a godsend.
MadManMark - Monday, July 1, 2019 - link
"So with such specifications, the 3a is a godsend."+1
Frankly the main thing its missing is an SD slot. But I guess I've finally given up that fight ... I think this is the first phone I've ever had that doesn't have one.
InvidiousIgnoramus - Tuesday, July 2, 2019 - link
"Mid range"I remember when this term still referred to $200-300 devices. I paid less than this for my last two flagship devices, and neither were even a year old.
grant3 - Friday, July 5, 2019 - link
In those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Give me five bees for a quarter, you'd say.DontTreadOnMe - Friday, July 5, 2019 - link
Xiaomi Mi9 may be more competetive on price in Europe, but at the time of writing people are complaining that they are still on the April 2019 security update. This is a consideration that severely restricts choices. The question is: what are the real costs of staying un-patched for longer?pika2000 - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
In reality, does updates really mater? I mean in reality, how many Android phones without the most current updates get breached? Considering the marketshare, we would've heard plenty of news about phones on 2018/2017 security patches and/or on Oreo/Nougat and below being breached. But we don't.gronetwork - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
This is a light version of the Google Pixel 3 XL, the processor has also 8 cores, with lower frequencies, it has the same quantity of RAM memory, the camera is similar, the battery capacity is larger, as well as the battery life. It is a good deal even if the performance is 35% less.https://gadgetversus.com/smartphone/google-pixel-3...