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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Threska - Sunday, June 30, 2019 - link
How many of the "dropped phones" will have alternative firmware (implying unlocked boot-loaders)?MadManMark - Monday, July 1, 2019 - link
I went with those four reasons plus one more:5) When it came out the Google Store offered a deal where you could get $250 trade-in for an iPhone 6, and on top of that give you a $100 googel store credit. I didn't have an iPhone 6s, but bought a refurb for $60 and mailed that in. So net cost of new Pixel 3a was $210, and a $100 google store credit came with it.
voicequal - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
Pixel is as much about the software value as hardware. Samsung phones are getting cluttered with unwanted or inferior software (e.g. Bixby). It's even worse if you buy from a carrier and get all the shopping apps, fortunately some can be uninstalled. The pixel direct from Google is the best way to get a clean Android phone.Ratman6161 - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
On Samsung phones, Package Disabler Pro is your friend :)Oyeve - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
There has not been "carrier bloat" in years.Ashinjuka - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
Nor software updates.tuxRoller - Thursday, July 4, 2019 - link
Sure, buy a slower phone that's over two years old, has worse battery life and camera. Who wouldn't sign up for that?UtilityMax - Thursday, August 1, 2019 - link
The Best Buy price is 500 without activating a new line (I don't do business with sketchy people out of ebay) and Android Pie is the last update this phone will receive.Also don't forget that the Pixel 3A has MSRP exactly at 400 bucks, will receive updates for three years.
Sparkyman215 - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
I still use an OG Pixel XL and this 3a looks like it has pretty similar specs, but with a better camera, better screen ratio, larger battery, and better CPU. While not huge jumps, at $480, it's neat to see how it's better than my ~$900 3 year old phone.Quantumz0d - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
In NA also this will fail. Most of the NA market is based off Carrier financing options then there is a mindset of iPhone esp the SE and the latest 7.Then we get to the Samsung phones S9 all being available at Bestbuy for $400 to 500 Brand new unlocked. LG G7 is also there unlocked at less
Although LG is not great in numbers but after Apple, Samsung, LG sells a lot. Then perhaps OnePlus and Honor.
Ebay, Exynos Note 9 is at $550 and far cheap for all flagship phones from Sammy and LG again. Impossible to beat any of these Discounted flagships.
Then we have Zenfone 6, all these phones have UFS + SD slot which is mandatory. Even Motorola has them in all phones.
Google is just too fucking greedy. Stupid SoC and cheap build. The OLED is not bright, no SD slot. Priced at $500.
Asian market this is DOA.