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The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Cut-Rate Price, Full-Rate Phone

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 50 Contributor

  In the era of unlocked phones and carrier freedom reigning supreme, the retail price of flagship phones has been steadily climbing to match the feature set and unsubsidized costs. As the highest-end phones continue to push well beyond the thousand dollar mark, a new market segment of “affordable flagship” phones appeals to a much wider range of buyers, eschewing top-tier performance and specs for a device that still delivers a premium experience. Google introduced the Pixel a-series as midrange counterparts to the high-end Pixel phones starting with the 3a, and since then a new Pixel a series phone comes annually about six months following the flagship. Featuring the same custom processor as the highest end Pixel 9 Pro phones, the 9a packs nearly all the top features into a half-price device that makes more than acceptable concessions to get there. - Unboxing & Setup Mimicking other smartphones, Google’s unboxing experience is spartan but organized. A charger, USB-C cable, SIM tool, and a USB-C cable are included alongside a very short quickstart guide. My first impressions were mixed. The a-series phone of this generation feels like a step down in materials quality - although the Pixel 8a had a more obvious and sizable camera bar, the phone also had a much nicer feel in the hand. The 9a feels noticeably lighter and thinner than the last-generation phone, but the plastic back feels lower quality than I was expecting and gives the impression of being thin, cheap plastic. If you use a case you’ll never notice this, but it was an early (and mercifully, one of very few, if not the only) disappointment . Initial setup is a breeze, especially, if you’re coming from another Android phone. You’ll be prompted to power-on your old phone and connect to the Pixel 9a to transfer your data over either wirelessly or wired - the latter is definitely better for large transfers as the wireless option slowed down significantly after just a couple gigabytes of data. Otherwise this worked flawlessly transferring data from a fairly recent Android phone. The remainder of the initial setup sets your Google device and account preferences, including how you want to configure your Google assistant, Wallet, any smart watches, face unlock, and more preferences. Once setup is complete, apps identified during the data transfer (and any other apps you had downloaded previously) are downloaded from Google Play to update them to the latest version. - Screen & Sound Coming from a Pixel 9 Pro, it was difficult to discern any difference in screen quality between it and the 9a unless I put them side-by-side. The only significant difference between them is that the 9a doesn’t use a special backing for fully variable refresh rates and backlighting - which makes little difference for most people. The 9a’s OLED screen is bright, vibrant, and fills nearly the entire front of the phone for a wonderful viewing experience. The bezel is slightly more noticeable than on the 9 Pro, but again this is really only noticeable with the phones side-by-side. The 9a does lose out slightly on peak brightness, but at 2700 nits it’s still plenty viewable in bright daylight. By default, the Pixel 9a runs at a 60Hz refresh rate to preserve battery life. You can enable 120Hz in settings if preferred, and I would recommend this - the high refresh rate makes a difference in just how fast and fluid the phone feels in use, making the most of Google’s latest Tensor processor, albeit at the expense of some battery life. The front-facing earpiece speaker and a bottom-facing speaker offer stereo sound, and these speakers get pretty loud with little distortion at high volume. Though the EQ seems tuned for speech, bass reproduction is good when listening to music. There’s no headphone jack, as expected, so you’ll need to use a USB-C headphone adapter (not included) or a Bluetooth device if you want to listen privately. - Performance Sharing Google’s homegrown Tensor G4 chip with the high-end Pixel 9 range, the Pixel 9a doesn’t sacrifice much in the way of computing power. The only notable difference from the higher-end phones is that Google equips the 9a with 8GB of RAM - half as much as the Pro model and a quarter less than the standard 9. This cutback does impact the availability of Google’s ‘Gemini’ artificial intelligence model, which in the Pixel 9a runs on-demand and only in limited capacities. In real-world use, unless you’re completely on-board with Gemini and deeply embedded in the Google ecosystem (at which point you’re likely considering a Pixel 9 or 9 Pro), 8GB of RAM is plenty for the Pixel 9a. The Tensor G4 is still doing the heavy lifting under the hood and overall performance is excellent. I never once experienced any hitching or lockups switching between applications, multitasking with media on in the background, or editing photos directly on the phone. The fact that Pixel phones are devoid of bloatware and OEM-specific add-on apps is a major plus that helps bolster the phone’s smooth performance. - Camera One of the most notable changes between the higher-end Pixel 9 phones and the 9a is the camera array. Stepping down to two rear cameras (one 48 megapixel wide sensor and one 13 megapixel ultrawide sensor) sounds like it may be asking the Google Camera app to pick up a lot of slack, but the fact is that both these sensors are high-quality and on par with flagships of years prior. In any case, Google’s work with AI has been integrated into the Camera app on the Pixel 9 range, and the AI-enabled post-processing makes this phone’s pictures stand out just as well as any modern flagship phone. The most noticeable loss moving down to the 9a is the lack of optical zoom - all zooming is now done in-software for up to 8x digital “Super Res” zoom, which performs well enough with the AI enhancements but doesn’t quite make up the loss of optical zoom. Still, this won’t be a problem for most casual users. The front-facing camera isn’t as impressive as it is on the higher-end Pixel 9 models, but it still delivers good shots and the AI enhancement picks up the slack to balance out the image. - Battery and Charging The major focus for Google’s in-house Tensor processors is improving power efficiency. The Tensor G4 chip already made substantial improvements for the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro series phones, and these improvements carry down to the Pixel 9a with some further design choices (such as a marginally lower resolution screen) to make the slightly smaller battery last just as long as, if not longer than, the larger-capacity phones. Indeed, starting from a full charge and using the 9a an above-average amount (including a couple hours streaming music and at least one Maps trip with navigation), I usually end my day between 40% and 50% charge. With Battery Saver enabled I could likely go two full days off-charger with this usage pattern. Starting from the Pixel 7a, the a-series phones support wireless charging which is a welcome addition to the midrange smartphone market. Using the older Qi charging standard means wireless charging is limited to 7.5 watts, with wired USB-C Power Delivery charging able to deliver 23 watts for a rapid charge - 0 to 75% in about 40 minutes. In addition, Google enables “adaptive charging” by default, which will automatically reduce charging speed as the battery nears a full charge to reduce wear on the battery cells and extend the phone’s life - quite welcome for a phone with a 7-year support cycle. This feature is seamless if you have a regular alarm in the morning as the phone will trickle charge so it reaches 100% just minutes before your day starts. Clever stuff! - Bottom Line Every new Pixel a-series generation brings steady improvement, and this year’s Pixel 9a continues refining the affordable experience while keeping to Google’s incredibly long support window for every new device. Unless you’re a power user, the Pixel 9a doesn’t sacrifice much versus even the Pixel 9 Pro I daily-drive, and I could realistically grab either in the morning and not really notice which one I took with me. Quite impressive praise for a device with half the MSRP of the flagship. Ultimately the Pixel 9a, just like the 8a before it, is a great all-round phone that’s priced right and seemingly set to last. If Google Gemini and similar generative AI features aren’t the topline feature you’re searching for in a phone, the 9a delivers all you could want at a much more palatable price. Highly recommended!

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  This review is from Google - Pixel 9a 128GB (Unlocked) - Obsidian

  Posted 6 months ago by Turbolence

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  A really great value

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  I've been using the Pixel 9a for about a week now, and overall, I’m really happy with it. My wife has the regular Pixel 9 and honestly, after using it daily, I feel like the 9a is a great value. Right away, the build quality impressed me. The Pixel 9a feels really solid in my hand, not cheap or plasticky at all. It has a metal frame (which I read is made from recycled materials), and the back is flat with with only a small lip around the camera just barely sticking out. Performance has been great. The Tensor G4 chip inside is the same one in the Pixel 9, and it shows. Apps open quickly, multitasking feels smooth, and even heavier games are playable, though you might need to tweak the settings a little for the best experience. For my day to day stuff like social media, emails, calls, browsing, streaming, it's more than fast enough. I honestly can’t tell much of a difference between the 9a and the regular Pixel 9 when it comes to speed. The screen is also really nice. It’s a 6.3-inch OLED with a 120Hz refresh rate, and yes, you can tell the difference. Scrolling feels smooth, animations are nice and fluid, and everything just feels quicker and polished. The colors are nice and vibrant, and the screen gets plenty bright outdoors. They say it's the brightest of any "budget" version phones. Battery life has been excellent too. The Pixel 9a has a slightly larger battery than the regular Pixel 9, and it makes a real difference. I can easily get through a full day of heavy use and still have 20–30% left at bedtime. If I’m just casually using it, I can push it into a second day without charging. The cameras have been fantastic, especially for a phone in this price range. The photos come out sharp, colorful, and balanced pretty much every time without me having to fiddle with settings. Night Sight is still the best night mode I’ve used, making dark photos look natural instead of fake or over-processed. The ultrawide camera is decent too — it’s not as wide as some others I’ve seen, but it’s good for landscapes and big group shots. The telephoto lens on the Pro version is really nice to have, but you'll have to decide if it's worth the price difference. I've included some pictures. 1. Two of a flower pot on a table (one original and one retouched with the editing tools in Google Photos and one) 2. A pot in a window taken from about 15' away using about a 4x digital zoom 3. 3 of my dog, all of which are from one single photo snap of the camera. The phone senses movement when you're framing a picture and takes some basically records some frames before and after you actually take the photo. 4. 2 of a tree line taken from about 50 yards away using the 2x optical zoom. One of them is the original and the other is edited using the "Reimagine" feature in Google Photos editing tools. The editing features on Google Photos really are pretty impressive for free tools. This particular feature uses AI where you type what you want to change and it changes it. I'll let you guess which is the original... 5. 2 pictures of a pink flower. The close up was taken from about 6" or less away. While the 9a doesn't have a dedicated macro-lens, it can take some fairy decent, fairy close-up shots. 6. Picture of " Delete" key showing close-up abilities. One thing I really appreciate is that Google didn't cut out the AI features on the 9a, as mentioned above. You still get Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Circle to Search, and a bunch of the useful "helpful" features like Call Screen, Hold for Me, and the Recorder app that can transcribe voice notes automatically. Some of the newer Gemini AI features do ask you to subscribe for more advanced stuff (like longer summaries and personalized assistance), which I think is the wrong way to do that, but the basics that come included are actually useful. Compared to the regular Pixel 9, you're getting almost all the same core experience for a lot less money. Overall, the Pixel 9a feels like the smart choice for most people who want a reliable, fast, great-looking phone without spending a fortune. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything major by not getting the regular Pixel 9, and if you’re someone who mostly uses their phone for photos, social media, and everyday tasks, I think you’ll be really happy with it too. P.s. The photo of the tree line without the mountains is the original.

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  This review is from Google - Pixel 9a 128GB (Unlocked) - Obsidian

  Posted 6 months ago by GoVols

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Once Again Impressed With the Pixel

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  My family has owned Pixel phones since the 6a series, and they continue to get better and better with each iteration. There are several meaningful advancements in the Pixel 9a over the Pixel 8a, which include the newer Tensor G4 processor, integration of photo AI features, better camera macro focus for detailed close-up photos, a longer lasting battery, and a brighter OLED screen, at 2700 nits. Coming from the Pixel 6a, transitioning to the Pixel 9a was a breeze. I signed in with my Google Account credentials, and the phone allowed a transfer of everything seamlessly through a phone-to-phone cable connection. I did notice there were also options to transfer from other Android devices and even an iPhone. Verizon did the rest of the work to activate the phone and port over my number. The new Tesor processor is quite peppy for all the tasks I perform on a regular basis--e-mail, web browsing, short how-to videos on YouTube, and app performance. Everything was flawlessy smooth and without lag. I also noticed that the 9a does not run nearly as hot (this is also true when using the wireless charging in my truck). The 9a connected to SYNC 4 in my Ford Ranger without issue, and the integration of Android Auto has some wonderful features. Some of the new camera features were quite impressive for me. As an engineer, I often need to take very detailed close-up photos. I included a few in this review. My work phone is an Apple product, and I will confidently tell you I will always be using the Google Pixel 9a to take detailed pictures from now on. Macro focus works very well and focuses quickly. There are some other photo and camera AI features on the 9a that are pretty neat, such as "Add Me" and "Best Take." I used the Best Take feature a few times and it was quite cool how the feature was able to combine multiple pictures into one. I was able to use the phone for an entire day without charging it. This included phone calls, messaging, web browsing, e-mail, app usage, and photo taking. As mentioned earlier, the wireless charging works well in my Ford Ranger and does not require precise positioning of the phone on the charging pad like my work iPhone does--it also does not get nearly as hot as my iPhone does while charging. Charging by cable from a nearly depleted phone to full takes a few hours, and I can usually get a pretty good charge even in about 30 minutes to get me by for several hours. Some other small things. Google Gemini is so far superior to Siri it isn't even funny. The results are much more complete and accurate. Sound from the built-in speaker is pretty reasonable, and volume controls for each function are separate. I found the OLED display to be vibrant and bright--even in the mid-day sun, and the graphics / text is crisp and sharp. Seven years of OS support is included with the Pixel 9a. The Google Pixel 9a continues the Pixel delivery of value and performance in the "a" series. Transition from an earlier Pixel model was a breeze, and the improvement in display, camera and overall performance are amazing.

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  This review is from Google - Pixel 9a 128GB (Unlocked) - Obsidian

  Posted 6 months ago by stirfry