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
Battery Life
Battery life on the Pixel 3a XL should be good: The Snapdragon 670 SoC is manufactured on a 10LPP process node and the microarchitecture should be in line with the Snapdragon 845. In effect, I expect the unit to have similar efficiency as the S845 generation of flagships.
The battery capacity of the 3a XL is also relatively large: 3700mAh. It’s to be noted that Google here is advertising the rated capacity, whilst some other vendors in the last few years have started to advertise the typical battery capacity, which can be 100-150mAh higher than the rated one. Props to Google to remaining honest in their marketing numbers here.
In the our web-browsing test, we indeed see the Pixel 3a XL perform extremely well with a result of 11.3h. As I mentioned, the phone falls very closely to the efficiency of S845 devices with similar battery capacity: the OnePlus 6T being the closest comparison point to the 3a XL.
The phone is able to showcase much better battery life over the Pixel 2 XL and the Pixel 3 in the charts because these two phones suffer from inefficient LG panels and DDICs. Unfortunately we don’t have a Pixel 3 XL to compare to.
In PCMark we again see equality with S845 devices of similar capacity: Again the 3a XL falls in almost the same range as the OnePlus 6T here.
Overall, the battery life of the Pixel 3a XL is excellent. Google did well with opting not to go with LG for this line-up as I fear it would have resulted notably worse battery life results, and I hope the company does the same for the Pixel 4 phones.
Whilst we don’t have a review unit at hand to test, we expect the regular Pixel 3a to perform 15-20% worse, in line with the 23% smaller battery capacity of 3000mAh.
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RSAUser - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
/looks at phone without a screen protector that's over 2 years old without any scratchesWhat are you talking about? Depends on the person.
Oyeve - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
And most people are idiots who don't care about sound quality. Thats why there are so many bitch-buds on the market. For those of us who actually own very good headphones we all know blue headphones are garbage. We want loud high quality sound and BT does not come even close. I use a Fiio amp and good wired headphone on all of my phone because BT sucks.grant3 - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
The idea that plastic is "more prone to dents & scratches" than aluminum is laughable.The idea that plastic is "less durable" than glass is laughble.
Yet this author is happy to make such a claim with literally no experience let alone proof to support his assertion.
fred666 - Friday, June 28, 2019 - link
plastic is the superior choice because it is light, lets the magnetic waves through and absorbs (some of) the shock instead of breaking like glass or transmitting it to the components like metal.MadManMark - Monday, July 1, 2019 - link
I know, I consider the plastic a feature, not a compromise!deskjob - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
I must be an unicorn. I stopped using a case with the OG pixel. Haven't looked back. Maybe I am more careful or less clumsy when it comes to gadgets. I've dropped it once from about 4ft onto sidewalk, fortunately only got minor chip around one corner. Otherwise the no scratches anywhere. So yeah that info matters to me.Also headphone jack is one of the main reasons I am even considering the 3a XL. True, most people don't care because they don't care about sound quality in general. That's cool. There are still some people out there who do care about sound quality. I use a bluetooth speaker for podcasts, but wired for anything else.
nucc1 - Sunday, June 30, 2019 - link
You get the case for that once or twice a year drop just like you. This way, you're far less likely to need repairs and it's more freedom from worrying about your phone.Without a case, the phone can start looking really worn out after a year and it might make you replace it sooner than you have to.
MadManMark - Monday, July 1, 2019 - link
You're not alone. If people like to spend $1000 on a phone and then wrap it up in quasi-bubble wrap to make it chunky, that's fine. I like to buy phones for just a few hundred (due to their trade-in program this one cost me $210 net, after I bought an iPhone 6 to trade in) and then just USE it. I put on a screen protector, but as far as a case: if there is a scratch on the plastic back, there is a scratch. It doesn't affecgt anything, and I'll be upgrading in a few years again anway. Who is always looking at the BACK of their phones in the first place?grant3 - Friday, July 5, 2019 - link
I think the screen on the 3a xl is probably stronger than the body.I bought a case for mine because i drop it a lot, but for the last few years people have been starting to convince me the screen protector is not really needed.
melgross - Thursday, June 27, 2019 - link
Very high quality polycarbonate? I’ve done extensive work in materials; wood, metal and plastic. I’ve used numerous brands of polycarbonate. They are all the same.The differences between utilization is what you’re noticing. Differing thicknesses, differing tapering of the thickness over the sheet used in the body. Differing curves, giving different impressions as to strength and resistance to indentation from pressure, etc.
The different textures also leave thoughts as to quality. But the plastic is all the same. Pretty much exactly so.
One of the benefits is that there should be no dents due to banging the device, which is the opposite to what you have with the necessarily thin metal used, which is strong, but a dent magnet, in many designs, particularly in cheaper devices. Polycarbonate, while like every other plastic, is soft, in fact, it’s noticeably softer than the otherwise much more easily broken acrylic. Both can have anti scratch coating applied, but that substantially increases the cost, and isn’t used with textured finishes. Besides, it wears off on devices that are constantly being fondled by their owners.