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
GPU Performance
Graphics performance of the Snapdragon 670 is something I admittedly didn’t have too much expectations for. The Adreno 615 of the chipset is a very cut-down version of last year’s Adreno 630 in the Snapdragon 845. In fact you shouldn’t be expecting much of an experience beyond light gaming. However as we’ll see there’s one interesting aspect of mid- to low-end GPUs: Their power consumption and sustained performance.
Starting off with the CPU-bound physics test of 3DMark, we see the Pixel 3a XL again largely fall in the performance category of Snapdragon 835 devices.
Switching over to 3D stressing workloads, we see some pretty mediocre results from the Pixel 3a XL and the Snapdragon 670. Here the phone and SoC is several generations behind even the S835.
Over the rest of the GFXBench benchmarks we continue to see quite lower-end performance. In general the Snapdragon 670’s GPU performance is around ½ to 2/3rd of that of a Snapdragon 835 which puts it about 4 generations behind the top of the line right now.
The interesting aspect of the results is the fact that sustained and peak performance of the phone is essentially identical. There’s a very easy explanation for this: The power consumption of the Snapdragon 670 is so low, that it’s essentially impossible for the device to throttle. In fact, the active system power (load minus idle) of the platform was a meagre 1.5W, a far cry from the 5W+ flagship phones out there. The Pixel 3a merely got luke-warm near the SoC location but otherwise just felt the same as the ambient temperature.
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zodiacfml - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
Poor value as the Pixel 3. At $400, one can get a Samsung S8 with a Snapdragon 835 so it also fails in North America.nathanddrews - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
... but you don't get a very good camera.shabby - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
But you get a slow soc with the pixel, two can play this game. I think the s8 is a more balanced solution than a midrange phone with a great camera.Samus - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
The S8 has a pretty good camera...I mean, we're comparing Oranges to Oranges here - with the exception of low-light, I don't think people shopping for $400 phones are going to notice a difference between the Pixel 3 and S8 cameras...And the S8 is waterproof. And it has Qi wireless charging. And a faster SoC.
I don't see how the Pixel 3 is going to be a hit using its slightly superior camera as a crutch.
phoenix_rizzen - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
But it has stupid rounded edges to the screen, making the S8, S9, S10 non-options for a lot of people. It's nice they went back to flat screen edges with the S10e, but they just had to add the hole-punch screen.The last great phone from Samsung was the S7. The only decent replacements from Samsung are in the A-series of phones.
Cellar Door - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
S7 battery life is poor compared to what is on the market today, the camera has great auto-focus but produces worst pictures then the s6 did. I've owned both, upclose s7 is good but any landscape or long distance and its blurry.MadManMark - Monday, July 1, 2019 - link
You lost me as to why it's "people shopping for $400 phones" that aren't going to notice difference between two cameras. Implying that anyone who is looking to spend more money somehow becomes magically more discerning of differences?Quantify - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
It doesn't really fail; it's a different option. I went with the 3a over a 2 year old flagship for a few reasons:1) Size. The 3a is a great size for one-handed use, to fit in a pocket, etc.
2) Camera. Night sight and other features. Nuff said in this article.
3) Updates. Not just security updates, but entry into beta program, and newest features (like call screening)
4) Bands: has Band 66 and Band 71 for T-Mobile. Older flagships (including S8) often don't.
Samus - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
That's an interesting point. I didn't think of the superior LTE modem.haukionkannel - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
Very True. S7 did just drop out of upgrades. S8 will be in same situation next year. So yep you get Phone for longer time buying Pixel 3a compared To old flagship.