Customer Ratings & Reviews

The phone is straightforward and easy to use. If you're minimalist or just looking for affordable Android phone you'll be satisfied with the GOOGLE PIXEL 4A. I posted photos I captured using my Google Pixel 4A.

Idk if im rough on phones or what, but it seems like its not very durable for everyday life. I loved the display, the camera & the different settings, also a phone optimized by Google was just a dream for me. It just didnt last very long.

I’m very impressed with the Pixel 4a. The features and build quality of the phone really standout and surprise me at a $349.00 price point. I don’t expect much at that price point for a phone given the current prices of flagship phones. The Pixel 4a certainly delivers. I’m coming from a Pixel 3 XL to the Pixel 4a and although this review is not about the 3XL there are a few reasons to mention key differences, at least, for myself. I’ve always been a huge fan of large phones. Large screens, more to view, a phablet essentially. So, I was a bit nervous to downsize. After about a week of using the Pixel 4a, I feel like it is sooooo much more convenient than my 3XL. Easier to get out of my pocket, easier to hold in my hand, one handed use is so simple now. I would say it depends on the size of your hand, but for me, I really feel like downsizing a bit was a great idea. I added a couple comparison images of the size and screen size vs my Pixel 3 XL. Even though I downsized, I feel like the screen real estate is ideal. Google did a great job getting rid of the notch and incorporating the front facing camera as its just a small dot in the top left of the screen. The entire rest of the screen is screen. I love it. The form factor and screen size go hand in hand and really produce a great looking device. I’ve read some mixed reviews on the build quality of the phone given it has a plastic back. I don’t really feel like that is a negative. For one, its not a flagship phone so cutting some corners is absolutely necessary. But I will say, the plastic back has advantages. If you drop it without a case, it doesn’t shatter like flagship glass backs. That’s a strong plus. Even though its plastic, if still feels great in the hand and the weight and feel of the phone still feels like a very high-quality phone so even though they did have to cut that corner, they did it very well in my opinion. The volume and power button is tactile and firm, you know when you press it and the accidental press of either is limited given the amount of force it takes to click them. Another plus. The camera is awesome. I attached a pic I took of my pup. Night sight is amazing on this phone. If having a fantastic camera is of importance for you, you WILL be impressed. I don’t tend to use the camera on my phones that often but for the sake of this review I did snap a couple awesome pics. Night sight is a very amazing feature that has proven great success with low light images. Just because the Pixel 4a isn’t a $800.00 plus flagship phone, it definitely has a flagship camera on it. The battery life is excellent. I use my phone quite aggressively throughout the day. Conference calls, surfing the web, looking at social media, listening to music, etc. I have not had any concerns on battery performance whatsoever. Given my day to day activities, battery performance is always a strong consideration for me. The Pixel 4a does not fall short in this category. All in all, after really enjoying this phone, I give it 5 stars. The price point, the quality, and the features just make it a wonderful choice. I would also highly recommend it if you are looking for a phone for your child. The price point and quality are great and if they break it or something happens to it, you’re not out $800.00+. Great job Google!

It's a great sleek phone and it takes great pictures definitely happy with this phone I'll probably keep it around for a while

Amazing night photos! Great value phone for the price range. Added 2 photos, one taken with the night photography setting and one without.

If you want to buy an US Android smartphone that has minimal out-of-the-box bloatware, a headphone jack, fingerprint sensor, great camera, and an unlockable bootloader, there is only one phone on the market that meets that criteria, the Pixel 4a. I personally desire these features on my smartphone, but manufacturers have been removing them from their flagship smartphones from sometime. I used to only buy smartphone flagships and was always excited to upgrade. I purchased the first Google Pixel XL on launch day back in 2016 and it has been the best phone I’ve ever used. I loved my Pixel XL so much I have tried to replace it twice but ended up selling the newer phones as I considered them to be inferior. My Pixel XL stopped receiving software updates from Google a while back, but I’ve been able to extend its lifespan by loading LineageOS on it. Subsequent Pixel flagships have removed several features I want on my phone or added features I did not want. The Pixel 2 series removed the headphone jack, the Pixel 3XL had an ugly notch mimicking the iPhone X, and the Pixel 4 (non-A) series does not have fingerprint sensors. It really does not make sense that the Pixel 4a, a budget offering, has more features than the Pixel 4, but this is the reality we live in. I’d like to quickly run over the things I love about this device before I start tearing into with criticism. I love that it has a headphone jack. I have no problem with wireless technology, but Bluetooth in 2020 still provides inferior sound quality when compared to a wired connection. When I’m in my car or listening to headphones, I want a wired connection for the best quality possible. Wired headphones also don’t require batteries meaning they are much more environmentally friendly and never require battery replacement. I also love that this phone has an unlockable bootloader. If you want to keep this phone past the 3 year window of software support Google offers, you can load an aftermarket ROM on your device like LineageOS. It’s also a plus if you want to root your device. Many smartphone manufacturers (Samsung, Huawei, Motorola, Motorola, to name a few) either don’t allow this or limit the functionality to certain models which I consider unacceptable. Can you imagine if you bought a computer with Windows 7 but were forbidden from loading Windows 8 or Ubuntu on it? You don’t have to imagine, that’s essentially what most smartphone manufacturers do. Google doesn’t and I appreciate that. While an unlockable bootloader is nice, I would say that most people would like to use their new phones with out-of-box software as long as possible. Google’s version of Android is the closest thing to pure/bloatware-free that you can get. There are no duplicate apps (except YouTube/YouTube Music), and almost everything can be uninstalled or disabled out of the box. Mine did come with a T-Mobile app which I saw as strange since it’s an unlocked phone, but I was able to uninstall it. This is what I like to see. Other brands such as Samsung have gone as far as to create entire duplicate app stores, calendars, mail apps, assistants, and internet browsers that are not removable from their phones. Others, like OnePlus, now put Facebook services on phones out of the box. I am glad that Google has not embraced these practices and still leaves app choice up to the owner of the phone. The camera, like on all Pixel phones, is fantastic. Great low-light performance and amazing detail, contrast, and color. No other smartphone on the market can compare with the Pixel series of phones when it comes to cameras. Both the front and rear shooters take great shots, but for reasons I’ll get to later, I hate the front camera. So what are the compromises? This thing is cheap, gross, fingerprint-attractive plastic. In all honesty, I hate all plastic. Plastic is what disposable products are made from. I don’t want a plastic phone. Make it out of aluminum, steel, glass, whatever. But plastic is not acceptable on any smartphone in 2020, even a budget one. Immediately when I took this phone out of the box I hated how it felt in my hand. It feels like a kid’s tox, reminiscent of the iPhone 5c. You may think this is being harsh on a $350 phone but the iPhone SE 2 is made from aluminum and is the same price. The aesthetic design of the phone isn't too bad, if it were made of aluminum it would be a nice looking phone, that is, if it weren't for what I'll get into next. The screen is horrible. It’s only 1080p-equivalent (my Pixel XL from 2016 is 1440p, it’s not wide enough for my taste, and rather than have a bezel on the top of the phone like on the Pixel 4, Google instead decided to embrace the hole punch-style front camera design popularized by Samsung. Whenever you look at this phone, you are going to see this camera. It sticks out like a sore thumb, a giant black mark on the screen. It’s even worse when you’re watching videos in portrait mode, as the top of the display darkens to simulate an artificial bezel. If the video you’re watching is dark then rather than seeing the beautiful perfect black scenes you can achieve with an OLED screen, you see the camera. It’s also a distraction when you’re viewing a wide photo or video in landscape mode, it’s a giant black dot on the side like a fly landed on the screen. I spend a lot of time watching videos on my phone and this is not acceptable. When in dim rooms the camera hole is also very reflective and will shine light right into your eyes, adding further distraction. The only thing I can compliment is that at least the hole is off to the side and not in the center. It’s still terrible. I’m not happy with the fingerprint sensor. It’s plastic so it feels terrible, but it also doesn’t seem to read fingerprints well. To its credit it does read quickly, much more quickly than my Pixel XL, but I find myself having to read my print three or four times just to get it to unlock. I prefer optical under-screen fingerprint sensors such as those found on the OnePlus series of phones but can accept a rear fingerprint sensor if it’s accurate and quick. The sensor on the 4a does not seem to be accurate. The battery is too small at 3140mah. There are budget Indian and Chinese phones that are packing 4000mah+ batteries into smartphones of similar size, Google is lagging behind the competition. They’ve advertised this as having “adaptive” battery optimization and while it seems to perform fairly well out of the box, how well will it perform after several major updates and a few hundred charge cycles? One of my last jobs was spent working with batteries and one of the things I learned is that when it comes to lithium-ion cells, higher capacity + lower discharge depth = longer lifespan. Even if this phone can get you through morning to night with 10-15% capacity left of a 3,140mah battery, you’ll be left with a battery lasts less long than if you had a 4000mah battery ending the day at 30% before going back on the charger. Lithium-ion cells also degrade as they’re cycled. After 100 cycles a Lithium battery can lose as much as 5%-10% of its capacity. If you start with a larger cell then that degradation will be less of an issue as age sets in. Needless to say, Google fumbled on battery size. I think this is the best new Android phone on the market, but in the same breath, I think that reflects poorly on the Android smartphone market. You might think my criticisms are harsh considering the low price of the phone, but I did not buy this phone because it was cheap. I bought it because it has the features I want. If I had the option of buying a flagship smartphone with a headphone jack, fingerprint sensor, metal/glass body, excellent camera, large battery, no hole punch, and no bloatware, I would buy that. I can’t buy a new flagship smartphone like that so this is the next closest thing. I’m not even asking for luxury features like wireless charging. Basically, I feel no guilt in being critical towards the device’s flaws because my desires as a consumer are not being met by the companies I’m purchasing from. I would recommend this device if you need the features it has.

Takes amazing photos. Light, condensed, Very simple to use!

Long lasting battery life, perfect size, very affordable but it doesn't feel cheap.

Excellent! it has been easy to use and I have learned a lot from this phone.

The phone is amazing especially for the price but theirs one problem and that's the camera it has a really small almost invisible spot on it which is really annoying to see. I really need the phone for school and I really don't know what todo if to if either return or keep it. Besides the spot the phone is amazing and highly recommend.

It has a really nice screen and great battery. I came from a moto x4, so it doesn't take much for it to be an upgrade, though I do miss some of the action capabilities (shaking for flashlight, etc). Overall, great phone. Glad I got it.

I'm very pleased with this item and especially with the fast shipment. This item was delayed but only by a couple of days, that's amazing especially for during the Christmas season!

Modern, sleek, amazing software, and an affordable price. Size is closer to xl than you'd think, but bezels are smaller so phone can easily fit and be operated with one hand.

PROS + Flagship-level camera with Live HDR+ and near magical low-light photography + Adaptive battery that easily lasts the entire day and learns from your power usage + Just small enough for one-handed use, but with a large, almost full-frame screen + At least three years of OS and security updates, alongside a class-leading Titan-M security chip + Google features including call screening, recorder, transcription, and Google Assistant + Headphone Jack! + PRICE CONS - Older chipset means good but not great speed - Display is nothing to write home about and could be brighter for sunny daytime use - Durability is questionable - No IP-Water Resistance - No Wireless Charging - No Ultra-wide or Telephoto Lenses MY OPINION I have really come to love Google’s philosophy with its “a” line of phones. Rather than cutting across the board on all features to create a budget phone in the age of $1000+ flagship phones, Google strategically cuts expensive features where needed while maintaining many of the features users have come to love about Pixel phones. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and so to meet this budget price, Google needs to be specific about where it cuts, but when I look at this phone and how it performs, it honestly feels like they hit the sweet spot perfectly. Let me elaborate. PERFORMANCE I am personally not a heavy power user when it comes to my phone. Most of my primary use cases are taking photos, browsing the internet, calling, texting, using apps for miscellaneous tasks, and playing very light smartphone games on occasion. I am not a developer, nor do I play any serious mobile games. As a result, I don’t need a heavy chipset. I appreciate phone speed from day-to-day use, like opening many tabs and not experience slowdown, and smoothly transitioning between apps, but that’s about it. So in this regard, one of the Pixel’s biggest downsides, its snapdragon 730G and 6GB of RAM, while far weaker than high-end phone specs, are more than enough for me in my use. In the long-term, if this phone was to show its age in any way though, it will likely be in its performance, since it is starting with less power than many modern phones. SIZE Now that that is out of the way, lets get into the good stuff, because there is SO MUCH to love about this phone that makes it a bit shocking it is as cheap as it is. Firstly, I love the size. I don’t personally care for larger phones, and this to me is the perfect size for maintaining one-handed use, while not being so small that reading becomes difficult. I previously owned the Pixel 2, which has nearly the same dimensions as the pixel 4a, except that the Pixel 4a has a 5.8 inch screen while the Pixel 2 has only a 5 inch screen. This is because the bezels as much smaller, and the speakers are now on the bottom of the phone, leaving more room for nearly an edge-to-edge screen. CAMERA As nice as the screen is, it’s the camera that gets my vote for why this phone is truly amazing. It uses a single lens, unlike many modern flagships, but what you get with that one lens is easily the best camera phone I have ever used. Pictures are incredibly detailed with great dynamic range, and with Live HDR+, the photo preview looks nearly identical to what the final photo will be after processing. In my old Pixel 2, I would often take a picture and then the phone would process the photo, with the final photo often looking better than the preview, but also decidedly different, meaning you had to go on faith the photo would turn out how you would expect. In addition to the generally great camera performance, the digital zoom is surprisingly good, albeit probably not as good as you get with a dedicated telephoto lens. Likewise, there is no ultra-wide lens, so ultra-wide shots are not possible in this case, although if you have the time, you can still create panoramic shots. Where some of the magic happens is with night shots and taking pictures of the stars. Night Sight lets you take low-light photos with great detail, without needing to use the flash on the phone. It works amazingly well, and while noisier than bright daytime photos, it is still better than taking photos in the dark without it. Likewise, astrophotography is really cool, as it allows you to set your phone up on a tripod or other fixed position, and capture highly detailed shots of the night sky. You do still want to be somewhere with low light pollution, but if you can, you need to try this out! THE BEST OF THE REST While I could go on and on about the phone’s many features, I do want to call out some of the other things that are smaller, but still significant features in making this phone such a great deal. First, the battery life is excellent. I often finish a typical day with 40-50% remaining, and with the adaptive battery system google uses to prioritize power usage, it is tailored to your individual use patterns. Google is also committed to OS and security updates for at least three years, which I love since I tend to hang-on to my phones for at least a few years. Likewise, since it’s a Google phone, android updates typically arrive earliest to pixel phones, while the Titan-M security chip is still class-leading in this space. Google specific features like call screening let you use an automated assistant to screen potential spam calls, while you read a transcription of what the person who is calling is saying. The phone also has an amazing recorder app for recording audio, with live captioning capabilities so you can get live transcripts of what you are recording, such as a meeting. It works amazingly well and comes in handy more often that I would have thought. Finally, you can also use Google Assistant built-in to the phone for typical smart assistant tasks such as reminders, alarms, calendars, web searches, and integrating into Google Home. There is also a built-in capability where Google will display the name of a song that is playing if it can hear one, almost like an always-on Shazam, if you choose to leave the feature on. Finally, a personal favorite feature of mine, even though I may be in the minority, is the headphone jack. Its extremely rare to find phones with headphone jacks nowadays, but I still use my wired Sennheiser headphones regularly for music listening, and it nice not to have to deal with Bluetooth connectivity drop-outs, or dongles, when I want to listen to music. You can still use wireless headphones as well, but as someone who prefers wired, this is a small but nice addition! THE REST OF THE NOT SO BEST As I mentioned earlier, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and with the great price comes cuts. Firstly, the build-quality is mostly plastic, and while it feels well-constructed, I am not confident it would hold-up to repeated drops on a hard surface. In fact, I would very readily recommend both a case and screen protector for the phone, and if possible, a screen protector for the camera lens as well, since I could see the glass cracking very easily if dropped just right. The OLED display is very good, with natural colors and deep black levels as you’d expect from OLED. It doesn’t get too bright though, and so for outdoor use in the daylight, I often find I need to crank up the brightness in order to take photos or check a text. You can watch HDR videos, such as on Netflix, but the limited brightness does mean they pop with less intensity than that of what you’d find on higher-end phones or an OLED TV. If you’re a big media consumer, this may be serviceable, but it certainly won’t be the best you have ever seen. There is also no wireless charging, which may be inconvenient for many since wireless charging pads in vehicles and across devices are becoming more common. I found the USB-C charger to be perfectly fast and capable, but you may find you need to clean the charging port on occasion as dust builds up. Since the battery life is full-day, I just charge overnight, so I find I don’t miss wireless charging too much. Likewise, there is no IP-Water Resistance, so you won’t want to use this phone around deeper water. I have never dropped my phone in water, so I don’t see this as a great miss, but it is there none the less. Finally, the speakers are serviceable, but if you want to do any serious listening to music or videos, I’d highly recommend some earbuds, as even cheap ones will likely be an improvement over the built-in speakers.

Good but with fragile screen compared to other pixels

Good overall phone. There is a lens issue with camera though. A blue dot appears in images where there is a bright light source in scene. Even photographing my Christmas tree, caused small blue dots to appear off to the side. I don't know why reviewers aren't complaining about it. I returned the camera. Not happy about $45 restocking fee.

The phone is cheap and used very well, taking very nice pictures, great product

The Google Pixel 4a is an awesome phone. The pictures are great.

Great customer service and fast and easy representation

Right from the box, the phone feels very Google in all of its glory. It came in a white box and there’s the phone, 18 watt charger and USB-C cable inside. The cable is a thick quality cable that feels durable. The phone feels just right. It’s light and sturdy. The screen estate is great as the screen is covering most of the front side of the phone, with noticeable camera punch hole on the top right corner of the screen. This is a mid-tier phone that doesn’t really feel like a budget phone. My first impression is I’m getting a lot of value. And that reminds me of the Nexus line of phones from Google, at the time when Google devices were much more affordable while still offered excellent value. Setting up is easy. You can insert a physical SIM card or an E-SIM, the latter option should be available from your service provider. Because this is a Google branded phone, up-to-date software is guaranteed. The phone will download the latest Android operating system to the phone upon set up and you can be assured that Google will make these updates available to its Pixel phones first whenever they have new version of Android operating system. The phone will ask you to transfer data from your old phone, Android and iPhones are covered. The process is simple, you just need to connect the cable to your phones and follow the on-screen instruction. The phone came with a Snapdragon 730G chipset. This is an Octacore mid-class processor with a dedicated GPU from Qualcomm. The 730G chipset is faster than the more common 730 chipset and it is meant to provide better performance in more demanding application such as for gaming. It is fast enough but may not be blazingly fast when you compare it with high-end phones. Opening up a website is smooth and fast. The phone does feel a bit warm when the processor is having heavy workload. At this price range, Google has made a good choice of processor. The screen is gorgeous, colors look vivid and wonderful. Playing video from Youtube and Netflix is a smooth and pleasant experience. Speaker’s volume is adequate but it’s not loud enough comparing to high end phone from other makes. The phone does have a headphone jack so you can plug in those audiophile cans if you prefer audio quality to wireless connectivity. The phone is bright enough when you use it outdoor. The phone does not have an IP rating so you better leave water out from your phone at all times. Connectivity is great. It has the typical wireless and Bluetooth connectivity and it uses USB-C. Google provides you with USB-C to USB adapter, which will be handy for plugging in external storage device. You can't extend built-in memory storage but at least there are ways if you want to store and access extra memory. The phone has headphone jack, something that is pretty rare these days with quality phones. This model does not have 5G but that should not be a dealbreaker for most potential users out there. Fingerprint sensor works wonderfully. You touch the sensor on the back with your finger and the phone unlocks instantly. Much better than some high-end phone that has in screen finger print sensor. The phone only has one camera lens. This may feel a bit underwhelming at first considering a lot of phones now offering more than one lens. However, picture quality is great. You can zoom to compose your shot up to 7x magnification and the result is surprisingly good. There’s an image stabilization tech that google employs and it really helps getting the shots vibration free. Selfies look nice, too. Videos work well and look good. You can tell there’s a lot of tech in the camera and Google even offers you free unlimited high-quality image cloud photo storage. This is one camera phone that you will want to use even when you already have a high-end phone from makers like Samsung and Apple. Gaming in the phone is okay but not great. I don’t play Fortnite but processing demanding massive multiplayer online games work with the phone. These are the kinds of games that will bog down even the most expensive phones and tablet around. I notice better performance when using high-end phone and tablet but the game is still playable and enjoyable. Overall, Google is offering a great value with the phone. So who is this phone would be better suit for? Those who look for great value in a phone. Or maybe if you want to have a second phone and you already own a high end phone. It’s also good for those who are in school or college. I recommend to get Google pixel 4a official cover (see the picture). It’s a good and functional cover for your phone.