Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Pixel 8a is the latest iteration to Google’s ‘A’ series phone, building upon its past success to bring feature rich functions and added security at a budget conscious price. I’m no power user; I’m just your average joe who likes to use the phone for emails, taking photos and videos of family and friends, and streaming content. The Pixel 8a fits the bill for me and here are the reasons why: +It’s the perfect size for one-handed use. The 6.1” size is perfect for someone like me with smaller hands. The phone is well balanced and I’m able to reach anywhere along the display with my thumb when using it with one hand. Plus, being a smaller sized phone, it fits easily in my pockets. This is great since I, much like many of us these days, have to carry two phones with me (company phone and personal phone…lol). +Smooth swipes, fast performance. Without getting into any specs, just on qualitative feel alone, swipes on the Pixel 8a are silky smooth, instantaneous responsiveness, and just plain fast. +Fantastic camera and great built-in photo editor. Great vivid, colorful, and bright photos. It can pick the best shots from a group of photos, reduce photo blur, and take night and low-light photos with the really cool ‘night sight’ function. And if you’re into astrophotography, you can get some awesome star filled skies using the astrophotography setting. No need to drag expensive camera gear around. Google already has a set of built-in photo editing features, my favorite of which is the Magic Eraser that can delete unwanted objects in your photos. With the Pixel 8a, Google is also adding a new tool called Magic Editor that lets you select objects in a photo and manipulate them like resizing the object or moving it around within the picture. Finally, a new feature that I find handy on the Pixel 8a is the Audio Magic Eraser that reduces distracting sounds from a video such as wind, construction, or vehicular noises. +All day battery power. The Pixel 8a has kept up with me so far in terms of needing it to last throughout my busy workday. The specs list the battery as having 4,492mAh of juice. Plenty for what I need, but of course it will depend on how you use your phone. +Worry Free Operating Software Updates. Google plans to keep updating the Pixel 8a for seven years from the date the phone first became available on the Google Store. Lots of laugh here. Most of us won’t even keep the phone for seven years to see all the updates. We would have already upgraded to the next latest and greatest phone. Even so, the battery will be long dead, rendering the phone unusable, before the seven years is up. +Plenty of Security Features. I feel protected. I don’t have an iota of knowledge about phone security, but I am glad Google is touting this as having the highest-rated security features with Google Tensor G3 and Titan M2 security chip. Do I recommend the Pixel 8a? Google packs a lot of features and function into the Pixel 8a, too many to list here. The pixel inherits all the useful features from its predecessors and brings new ones to the table. If you have last year’s Pixel 7a, you’ll have a harder time deciding if it is worth the upgrade. But if you need a new phone now, then the Pixel 8a is hard to beat especially with the guaranteed seven years of updates and the pure android experience.

My first exposure to the Google Pixel line was with the Pixel 2 in 2017. That model’s camera was the main attraction, and it never disappointed. But I was always fascinated by the middle of the line because it represented good value and retained the camera performance that drew me into the fold in the first place. I have since owned several Pixel “A” models: The 3A, 4A, and the 6A. Each new model saw incremental improvements in both the camera and the device. The 8A is a truly a beauty to behold. I love the frosted look on the case. No, it’s not glass or metal, but it looks great. It’s actually hard to get a shot of it that conveys its attractiveness. If you are interested in this phone, I urge you to go look at one and hold it in your hand. I like the size and the weight and the way it fits in my hand an in my pocket. The camera is just fine in full sunlight, cloudy conditions, indoors or in no light at all. Where the hardware reaches it limits, the software makes up the difference with processing. Stills and videos are excellent. I do not believe this smartphone’s photographic skills are significantly exceeded for general use by any current smartphone. I use my Pixels on Google Fi. The transition from the 6A to the 8A was swift and absolutely seamless. During the set-up process, all the apps and settings that you select to be copied are duplicated on the new phone while it is connected wirelessly to the old one it replaced. Then the new phone is activated on Google Fi with a downloaded Fi eSIM. I never even thought about cracking the SIM drawer open. The activation was handled completely in the Fi app, and the process could not have been any simpler. Battery life after several days use is just fine. I think it is somewhat improved over the 6A. The RAM is bumped up from 6 to 8GB, and the main camera is bumped up to 64Mp. As stated, performance has been excellent in my usage. The fingerprint sensor is quite sensitive and an improvement over the last model. Face recognition is now available and was most appreciated in my use. I seldom had to resort to entering a PIN to get into the phone after inactivity. The new phone has a 120Hz refresh rate as opposed to the old’s 60Hz. You have to dig into the phone’s settings to turn it on, and it does effect battery life. I turned it on and enjoyed the increased refresh rate for scrolling. For the price, it is difficult to see how the features of the Pixel 8A can be bettered, and with this model, you get 7 years of updates to the uncluttered pure Android software that the Pixel line offers. Highly recommended.

The worst phone heats up quickly and slows down the performance.

Typical pixel phone good quality build but touch screen won't read every touch if you are not holding in in your hands

As a longtime fan of Google smartphones, I was excited to get my hands on the new Google Pixel 8a. I’ve never owned one of the “a” series Pixels, so I was a little unsure what to expect. I’m happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised. TLDR: Excellent design, high quality build, beautiful bright 2000 nit OLED screen, with 7 years of software updates. Can’t complain about the camera or the fantastic battery life – a day of regular use was no problem. Problematic price point considering deals you can get on the Pixel 8. Wireless charging, even regular charging, are slower than I’d like. Value: At $499, the Pixel 8a is about $100 more than I wish it was. The Pixel flagship 8 is only a few hundred more for a fully loaded phone with none of the corners cut. If you’re picking this up with a deal, you can probably get it to a more justifiable price point. Design: The Pixel 8a sports a cool matte finish and feels nice in the hand. The form factor is great, and I love the general aesthetic. No complaints here. It’s not flashy, but it’s elegant. I have it in the obsidian color and it’s a bit of a fingerprint magnet. I’ll be picking up a case soon so that won’t be a problem anymore! Camera: The camera improvements are minor compared to the 7a, the 64MP main camera still captures impressive shots. It comes with all of the software features you’d expect from a modern Pixel, including all of the AI glitter on top. The Tensor G3 is no joke. Night sight, Best Take, Photo Unblur, Super Res Zoom – it’s all here! Overall: I’ve been using the Pixel 8a for about a week. The 120Hz OLED display is crisp, the battery life is solid, and the phone just feels snappy. The charging speed is my second gripe and, although I’m not a fan of the slow speed, it hasn’t really become a problem for me in my day to day.

I was super excited to get my hands on a Google Pixel phone and the Pixel 8a did not disappoint but also did not overwhelmingly amaze me. For personal phones I typically favor Android over Apple, but I do think there are some advantages to iphones that Android phones lack. The Google Pixel 8a does an excellent job in marrying the advantages of these two systems, as it has Android operation system with Google features similar of Apple in its exceptional security, ease of use, and fast camera. Out of the box the Pixel was ready to go and I greatly appreciated that Google provided physical instructional booklets for the phone. As an engineer by profession, I have been unofficially designated as my family’s IT specialist and therefore have set up many, many phones over the years. The Google Pixel 8a was by far the easiest and quickest phone I have ever set up with the inclusion of transferring data from the previous phone. With this phone being made by Google, I did have high expectations of it and the ease of the set up blew those expectations away. The only initial concern I had during the set up was that the phone ran noticeably warm, but this was never experienced in my every day use of the phone. After a quick set up, the phone was ready to roll. The phone I transferred data from was also an Android OS phone and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of settings that transferred during the set up (especially due to my existing Google account). Some initial disappointment upon setting up the Pixel was with the amount of space dedicated to operation of the phone and the inability to expand the phone’s memory with a micro SD card. Disappointingly, Google seems to have followed Apple in attempting to push the use of their cloud storage, which comes at an additional cost. This forced method of paid subscription to cloud storage is one strong reason that I prefer most Android phones over Apple. Another disappointing feature of the Pixel 8a is some of the limited settings adjustments, including the inability to change font styles, another typical Apple trait. I do not love the default font style that it comes with the Pixel 8a and unfortunately just have to deal with it. When making adjustments to the font, I was only able to adjust the size, display size, boldness, and contrast. I initially thought using the “high contrast text” option would be a good compromise to my dislike of the default font style, but I quickly found that this setting made text illegible at times. In use, the phone is excellent. It is VERY quick and responds extremely well when connected to my car and other accessories. The camera on the phone is great, with excellent shutter speed that is comparable to iphones. The zoom capabilities of the camera are just okay, but the Pixel 8a is the baseline of the Pixel family so I imagine the upgraded versions have improved camera features. One disappointing feature of the Pixel 8a is the screen quality, which I noticed immediately due to my previous phone having a higher resolution screen. With my previous phone being 5 years old, I would have expected an equal to or upgraded screen so I was pretty disappointed, but after some time it did become less noticeable. The battery life of the phone is also really exceptional. For me, I easily got around a day and a half worth of use between charges. Even more impressively was the battery life while utilizing the hotspot feature. I had another device connected to the hotspot for most of a day and, surprisingly, it did not quickly deplete the battery of the Pixel 8a, as hotspot use has done so with other previous phones I’ve owned. Another pleasant feature of the hotspot was being able to use the internet simultaneously on both the Pixel 8a and the other connected device. This was a noticeable upgraded feature from my previous phone. An additional highlight of this phone is the security. I do feel that Google is one of the best when it comes to security, and built-in security is another typical advantage of iphones over Androids. While the Pixel 8a is an Android OS based phone, the built-in Google security features are topnotch. With this being a Google phone, there are numerous AI features included with this phone. Given the short time of using the phone, I did not get a chance to fully test out many of these features but have confidence that most people will find that certain AI features are very beneficial to them. (For me, I really appreciate and enjoy the included editing features for photos and videos.) Overall, I feel that this phone is an excellent phone to switch to for anyone who is switching from either an Android or Apple phone. I feel like Google did a really good job at pulling favorable features from each type of phone to make the Pixel 8a a really strong mash up of both. Pros +Easy setup +Processing speed +Excellent battery life +Great camera +Google based security features Cons -Limited setting options (compared to most Android phones) -Screen quality -No expandable memory (micro SD slot)

Having spent a few days with Google’s newest phone, the Pixel 8a, there’s a lot of things to like about this smart. Perhaps the best thing about this phone is that it is automatically unlocked, you can use it with any carrier at any time, no restrictions. Screen: The screen is beautiful, it features a 6.12 inch OLED with a refresh rate of 120Hz, very fast, very responsive very colorful, I don’t know what else I can possibly say about this phone in this area. Cameras: Front and back cameras 13megapixels I believe is what the front is and the rear is 64megapixels. It takes some really nice crisp photos. Some features the cameras have are: Magic Editor Best Take Photo Unblur Real Tone Face Unblur Panorama Manual white balancing Locked Folder Night Sight Top Shot Portrait Mode Portrait Light Motion Auto Focus Frequent Faces Dual exposure controls Live HDR+ Ultra HDR Long Exposure Astrophotography Super Res Zoom With the rear camera you can take 4K video recording at 30 FPS, 60 FPS or 1080p video recording at 30 FPS, 60 FPS Battery: So far the battery has lasted me all day, no complaints here. It also charges relatively quickly. Extras: It comes with all the bells and whistles that smart phones typically come with these days. Wireless charging capable, also comes with its USB-C charging cable (but the wall plug adaptor). it’s water resistant, and has 128GB of internal storage. It runs on android 14. And lastly: From what I understand, it comes with a nano Sim slot and its also eSim capable. Meaning connecting it to any carrier should be no problem.

The Pixel 8a is an excellent mid-range smartphone that delivers flagship-level features at a fraction of the price. The design is sleek and lightweight, making it comfortable to use one-handed. The 6.1-inch OLED display is vibrant and offers great clarity for streaming and gaming. The standout feature is the camera. As expected from Google, the Pixel 8a’s AI-powered photography is exceptional, capturing crisp, detailed shots in various lighting conditions. Night Sight and Magic Eraser are game-changers for photo enthusiasts. Performance-wise, the Tensor G3 chip ensures smooth multitasking and reliable 5G connectivity. The battery life is decent, lasting a full day with moderate use, and the addition of wireless charging is a welcome upgrade. One minor drawback is the lack of a headphone jack, but with Bluetooth support and included adapters, it’s manageable. Overall, the Pixel 8a is a great value for those seeking a powerful, compact, and reliable phone. Highly recommended!

• Design – One of the notable differences is the matte finish. I much prefer this over any gloss finish as fingerprints are much less noticeable; although, I ended up putting a skin on the device to make it more personalized. The Pixel 8a has a plastic back panel which feels less premium but is not unexpected for a “budget” device. The camera bump is small and the device is light making it comfortable to hold. The bezels are still quite noticeable which hurts user immersion but is not a deal breaker. • Camera – The Pixel 8a has the same camera hardware specs as the Pixel 7a. The main wide back camera is 64 MP f/1.89 aperture with the ability to record 4k @ 30 and 60 fps. The back ultrawide camera is 13 MP f/2.2 aperture. The front selfie camera is 13 MP f2.2 aperture. Any noticeable improvements in picture quality are likely due the new Google Tensor G3 processor. After taking several pictures and comparing them to my alternative iOS device one of the big things I noticed is the lighting always seemed to look slightly better on the iPhone. I even did a blind comparison test with my wife and she was often able to pick out which photo came from the Pixel vs the iPhone. It isn’t to say the photos on the Pixel were bad, in fact the colors are rich and vibrant. Instead, this may be due to the iPhone having a warmer color balance. The Pixel 8a also has some great software features including Best Take, Magic Editor, Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, and Real Tone on Video. • Screen – The 6.1-inch 1080x2400 OLED Actua display with up to 120 Hz refresh rate is great; however, make sure you go into settings and enable smooth display as it is off by default. The always on display with At a Glance is awesome allowing for content to be displayed on your lockscreen (weather, date, notification from apps, etc). The device cover glass is Corning Gorilla Glass 3, a slight downgrade when compared to the Pixel 8 Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, but totally fine for day to day use. There is HDR support with up to 1400 nits (HDR) and up to 2000 nits (peak brightness). • Internal specs – It features 8 GB LPDDR5X RAM and both 128 GB/256 GB storage options with the 256 GB option new from the Pixel 7a. My opinion is with how cheap storage is there is no reason to ever offer a 128 GB option. The device should start at 256 GB and go up to 512 GB. The Pixel 8a has Wi-Fi 6E, a downgrade compared to the Pixel 8 Wi-Fi 7. While this is unlikely to make any real-world difference currently, Google promises 7 years of software updates to this device and it just makes it less “future proof”. The battery is slightly larger than the Pixel 7a and I was able to average around 6 hours of screen time per charge with fairly heavy use. • AI – Gemini is a great AI assistant. While I am still learning all of its abilities, so far I am impressed. I signed up for Google One with AI to fully unlock all its features. It can give summaries of emails, plan events, get info based on a photo, and draft/send email/text messages. It also far exceeds its competition (Siri) in assistant voice typing. • Charging – The charging capabilities of the Pixel 8a are a little lackluster with 18W wired and 7.5W Qi Wireless. Wireless charging is so slow I don’t even bother to use it. There is also no support for wireless power sharing. So the question is should you buy the Pixel 8a? Yes with the following caveat - it is on sale and preferably with some other bonus promo like a store gift card. Otherwise, I would personally wait until the Pixel 8 goes on sale (usually somewhere between $50-100 off) to get a better phone for a slightly increased price.

TLDR -Excellent Value -Great Build Quality -7 Years of Updates -Google Camera excellence Storage 128GB claimed, initial setup showed 118GB available, then after OS and app updates I was showing 108GB available, so 20GB of system (13GB) and app (7GB) usage. I’m glad the industry finally is doing 128GB base storage over 64GB but, if you can spare the extra $ I’d recommend the 256GB variant. It is however only available in the Obsidian color. Screen Scrolling is super smooth and the colors look great. Having the “Actua” designation ramps up the brightness when there is a lot of light and it doesn’t alter the on screen colors. Out of the box 60hz is turned on (“Smooth Display” Off). This is not an LTPO display so your options are either locked 60hz or 120hz refresh rate. Personally I only find 120hz works on a handful of apps and content outside of gaming. Besides using my phone for communicating whether text or call based, I read. I’ve never been one to notice a huge difference between the two, so for battery saving, especially since this is not dynamic, I will leave it on 60hz. I have found myself turning up the screen brightness while indoors as the Adaptive seems to be a little too aggressive for my tastes. In a well lit or high ambient lighting room it is above the half-way point (65ish%) and I find I’m pushing it towards 75%-80%. Camera Google Camera…enough said! Throw in the capabilities of the Tensor G3 and new AI features, cannot go wrong with choosing the Pixel 8a. I’m still playing around with all the AI stuff in the camera settings. This is all extra things to do, as the stock photos are great as is. Battery This is a hard category to report on as it all comes down to how you use your phone, how much spent on WiFi, how strong cellular signal is, etc. The phone is still learning my habits, but you should easily get 5 hours screen on time and get through an 8 hour work day with plenty of power to spare on the ride home. I wish charging speeds were faster as 18w and 7.5w wireless are pretty anemic by comparison to other phones in the industry. You are looking at just under 2 hour charge times wired and for wireless best to just do it overnight. Build In hand it feels very nice. The plastic back is definitely noticeable and all Pixel phones have always had the hollow tap on the back whether plastic or glass construction. The aluminum rails feel like a standard premium device should and overall it looks quite good. The matte finish is really nice and the Obsidian color is not a fingerprint magnet. Weight is fairly balanced even with the camera bar being aluminum now. One hand use definitely isn’t a problem with a small to average size hand. Value WOW!! Unless you can find a stupid good deal on the 8 or 8 Pro, the 8a is definitely a value device without the drawbacks typically found. Sure there are cheaper phones from other brands, but the corners cut to get it there are typically drastic and very noticeable. The only sort of cost savings that jumps out has to do with the Screen bezels and even then, its not horrible. It’s only more noticeable when side by side another device. Oddly enough, when I unboxed it reminded me of the Pixel 5 and the iPhone 6/7/8/SE design. It has a sleek and minimal design, curves are not aggressive and/or boxy. I don’t count that comparison as a bad thing as both of those designs are tried and true. And I think that’s the formula Google went with for the Pixel 8a. Looking at the Pixel A series as a whole, the 8a is the most accomplished and I feel jumps from the mid-range category to the budget flagship category and really fits in as the cheaper option only in cost in the 8 series lineup. To-date this makes the seventh Pixel phone in my household: 1, 3a, 5, 6a, 7, 8Pro. Ninth if we include the OG Nexus 5 and it's not so OG 5x follow-up; of which the 8 Pro (wifey’s) is the only one I have not used as my daily driver. Pictured are the 5, 8a, 7, 8Pro for size comparison. I can easily recommend the 8a if you're looking for a great phone at a great price and with the 7 years of security, OS, and Feature Drop updates you cannot go wrong. The lasting value will be excellent! This 8a will be replacing the Pixel 5 that sadly reached end-of-life Oct 2023; it still operates well and is on the latest Android 14, but the sun has set on that one and time to move on. The 8a is a great option for the upgrade by comparison and thankfully will live a long and healthy life!

Over the years I have owned several high and mid and android, and Apple smart phones. One of my favorites was the pixel two XL, which was not too expensive and had an excellent camera and excellent day-to-day function. When the pixels became more expensive, and the Apple phones finally improved their camera quality I switched back to iPhones as my primary line. For the last several years, I have had various android phones as a secondary or business line. The new pixel 8a is an excellent size and is priced in the upper mid range. When compared to $200 and $300 phones, the responsiveness is significantly better as is the consistency of response. One of the main advantages of the pixel devices was the lack of clutter and excellent integration of some of googles most advanced features. This includes several excellent pixel functions, including call assistant (an easy to use call screening and quick response feature. There are also several updated or longstanding easy to use Camera utilities, including photo blur and night site. The upgraded magic eraser function seems much cleaner as well as easier to use. The edited photos appear less compared to the earliest versions of the magic eraser. Best take is a new easy to use group photo editor which may allow you to shoot less and live more while still ending the day with good group photos. This pixel includes an amazing seven years of Operating system and security updates as well as feature update. While some of the feature drops are only used by a niche group others make every day life easier. Finally there are also several AI features including Gemini assistant and circle to search and handy selective image search. As always read the privacy policies and do your homework before going all in AI.

I’m running an older android phone for my work line and have been needing to upgrade, and I have to say at the price point of this phone I am pretty impressed. I use an iPhone for my personal line, which is a couple of years old, and this phone makes me want to use the Pixel more than that one. Here is my opinion and thoughts on the phone…. The quality of the phone feels amazing, it has a nice weight and with the tin-grade casing, making it feel like a $1000 phone. After charging and updating the phones software, I began the setup process which went by fairly quickly since this phone does have some good processing power. The screen is supposed to be scratch resistance, which I tested unintentionally and it passed. Somehow on the first day I put the phone on my lap and it’s so sleek that it slid off my leg from the bench that I was sitting at and hit the concrete below (about a 1.5 foot drop). Hard to say exactly where it hit, but sadly the sides got scratched up but the glass held strong. The next day I added a case and screen protector. The metal did seem to scratch pretty easy though. It feels good in the hand though (without a case). One of my favorite features of setting this phone up was that I can have BOTH Face ID and Fingerprint access to my phone. This is a great feature to have when one option doesn’t work, the other saves the day. My experience so far is that the unlock is very quick with either method, but it will have issues in non-perfect situations such as a wet finger or wearing sunglasses and a hat may cause issues, nor does the Face ID work that great in the dark so I’m glad there’s the option to use either biometric reader. The camera is great, I brought it with me on a trip to Mexico and the shots came out clear and high quality. Lots of AI built into the camera too, I really like the Magic Eraser…works on old and new photos. Zoom is nice and has presets so you don’t have to worry about pinching in and out if you want to maintain one-handed operation. Switching between photos and camera is seamless and fast. No delay in loading camera and taking pictures, works quite fast, and has the quick snap with the volume rocker. The AI on the phone is impressive. I did have to go download the Gemini app to replace the Google Assistance from the Play store. While in Mexico, I could take a picture of something in Spanish and have it translated for me (in picture!) to English. Some things are a bit lacking such as asking certain questions to Gemini, it tells me “Its still learning how to answer this question” and to use Google search. I scanned some Google Pixel instructions as a test to Gemini and it was able to detect exactly where it came from (maybe cheating because it was a Google-sourced document, but still wow!). Other things such as wanting the definition of the word on a website just by long-pressing it gives me options to view more info on it. I believe Gemini and these other AI features are still in the early stages and should improve with updates. Some other thoughts on the phone….its very snappy and fast, I’d expect this on higher priced phones but not something at this price point. The battery life has lasted me all day, with hours of use throughout the day. One of the big draws for me was the Google Pixel security chip that is touted so much, I’m all about privacy and security and having the Titan m2 as a dedicated security chip that offers anti-malware protection is great. It also comes with 7 years of support! I’ll be able to hand this phone off to my kids in a few years and they’ll still have the latest and greatest software. Also, as a bonus you can add a magsafe- compatible case to it and use an iPhone magnetic wireless charger and it charges just the same, or use any other accessories that are mag-safe compatible. If you’re coming from an Iphone like I am, it shares many of the same gestures so it’s a pretty easy transition. As you can see I’m definitely sold on the Pixel 8a and would recommend it to anyone looking for a moderately priced phone that will have many years of use. AI and Camera features are a big bonus too. Live translate is one of my favorite AI features and will be great for my future trips to Mexico. Attached are some pictures I took with the phone.

The Pixel 8A is a nice entry level phone, with all the features you would expect from the Pixel line. Packed with 128/256gb of storage, 64mp camera,13mp ultrawide lens and 13mp front camera, 6.1 display, 8gb of memory, Goggle Tensor G3 processor,4492 mAh battery, Wifi 6E, Bluetooth v.3 Also packed with software features such as Best take for when you take a group picture. If someone blinks you can change out there face with a better picture of them or expression which make the perfect picture at your fingertips, no more missed opportunities. Audio magic eraser to eliminate distracting sounds in your audio recording, Magic editor to edit objects in your photos. You can make things look bigger or smaller or even disappear, tons of other options for your phone photography. A big new upgrade for the phone is Gemini a n AI assistant, that can be used for instance Email summaries, plan events Contextual help among google apps, photo info, use it to draft and send emails. Circle to search, just circle and item on a photo or tap and you can search for info without leaving the page. Also included with the phone are the standard google apps like call assist, google assistant, Assistant voice typing, live translate. The pixel 8a is made from 24% recycled materials and the back cover is 76% recycled materials. The 8A is the first A series phone that will get up to 7 years of updates and feature drops, an industry first. My observations: Upon first glance the phone is smaller than Galaxy or apple models. This might be an issue for people with less than 20/20 vision. I wear glasses and had to up the font, bold it and make the app icons bigger. It still take a while to get used to, Setup was the easiest I have ever experienced with any phone, just leave your phone next to the new one and with a few button presses your info, stings and apps will be copied over. Granted I and going from Android to Android. I did not test Apple to Android. The phone came with 75% power so I was able to start the transfer immediately. This took about 30 minutes to complete. I then upgraded the firmware/OS to the latest. Before testing. The screen is very clear and quite vibrant, video is smooth and precise. Switching between memory hog apps was a snap with no lag. I had 15 open at one time. The phone did appear to heat up when testing but all my previous phones have done the same thing. Battery life is excellent. I was able to go all day using the phone for texting, surfing and phone calling. Ky day started at 9 and by 7 that night I still had 45% left of battery life. Impressive. I want really impressed with the camera and its pictures while boating, they appeared to be a little pixelated, videos had same result but this could be to the stabilization as the boat was bouncing all over the place but the weather was great for pictures. Using the slow mo feature while videoing my daughters was at least cool. Conversations on the phone were predictably perfect every time. Not tinny or distance like some cheaper phones are. The speakers are just right for this phone for conversations or video. Setting up the phone for kids is easy and when using the family link app , you can keep track of your kids, use parental control and see what they are doing. Final comments: The phone itself is nice for those who like lots of options but don’t want to pay a lot of money. Granted this isn’t the Flagship phone but for the budget minded. All the features are there but you loose some quality in the camera. Overall I'm happy with it. But when the 9 comes out I will be upgrading. I would recommend this to family and friends.

I bought every Pixel Phone since the release of the original in 2016. The Pixel 8a is so far my favorite. I love the Aloe green color, it is a head turner. The size is PERFECT for one handed use and it actually fits into my front pocket without sticking out like 99% of all other modern phones. The Tensor G3 is fast and competes with most Flagship phones out there. The oled panel is very nice and the 2000 nits of brightness on an A series is a great surprise! The glazed back is plastic or poly-carbonate but actually feels just like the glass on the Galaxy S24 or the Pixel 8. The speakers are amazing and the camera is very impressive. Face Unlock is fast and can be used for apps like eTrade unlike the competition in the Android market. Stock Android, as always, is easy and a pleasure to use and the new AI features are fun! I highly recommend this device!

I instantly noticed the high quality feel when I took it out of its package. Initial setup took about 30 mins., but it was going through some major updates. I loved that this phone is unlocked and I was able to just pop my sim card in the slot and get going. Of course there was some small setup, but you get my drift. So much easier than having to deal with customer service. I’ve used it to surf the web, take photos and videos, talk through wifi and much more. To my surprise… it’s performing really well. I anticipated it’d be a major upgrade from previous pixels, but it’s surpassing my baseline. The camera is fantastic and I love the different google feature you can use when photo editing. Seriously, play around with this and get creative! I have wifi 5 setup in my home and I can vouch that this phone is fast. I pay for 1Gb and this phone is certainly getting around 800mbps. I know this will fluctuate, but time will tell how reliable this is. Like with all devices, I noticed the harder I pushed my device, the faster the battery drained. This is expected. I do think Google Pixels do an excellent job provide service and updates with their phones. This is definitely a great travel phone and for those that want a budget friendly middle tier phone. They do frequent updates, so you can rely on top performance for at least a few years with this. Google’s AI. So this is pretty neat. This phone has the full capabilities to interact with its AI. I suggest you dive in and check it out. It’s really cool! Pros: Unlocked and can be used with any carrier WIFI 6E capable! 5G Connectivity Camera Quality Battery Life Google Integration Frequent Updates from Google Sleek design Durable High quality Google Assistant Integration Made from recycled materials! USB Type C charger Cons: Price Limited Customization - Compared to other Android phones No Expandable Storage Overall: This is an excellent phone and has surprised me. I honestly didn’t think it’d perform this well and it’s handled multiple tasks as good as its competition. Kudos to Google for making this device from recycled materials. I don’t want to contradict myself, but it’s one of those situations. I think it’s a tad pricey for a mid tier phone, but at the same time, it’s a great phone. I really do recommend if you want a great camera and phone for under $600.

Google Pixel 8a Cell Phone Review! Upfront observations before testing the product: 1. Memory is above average for a midlevel phone at 8GB 2. Battery 4,492 mAh is average for a midline phone 3. WIFI version 6E is outstanding for a newly released phone. 4. Bluetooth 5.3 is outstanding 5. No micro-sd slot is below average 6. 7 years of OS and security updates is outstanding. 7. Checked with my newly acquired 5G service company and I can just insert my other phones sim into the new phone. Both unlocked! 8. OLED/120htz is outstanding 9. Gorilla 3 glass is above average for midlevel phone 10. Wireless charging is above average 11. Screen brightness is outstanding at max of 2000 nits 12. Security features including dealing with spam calls is outstanding Actual setup and testing the product: Information pack sent with phone was outstanding. Never have I received a product with this quality and quantity of information. Full contact information if you need help! First, I read the instructions that were included, charged the phone, inserted the SIM card before turning the phone on. In addition, I installed a protective case and screen cover for accidental drops and bumps. My new phone service even emailed me that I was using the sim in another phone. Setup Find Device! Don’t skip this step ever! The Google account help and Pixel Phone help will guide you online if you want to preview them before turning on the phone. Otherwise, the phone will walk you through everything. I was able to transfer all data from my other Android phone wirelessly without any issues! Very nice! I setup the phone to use all data transfer and updates over WIFI. Google guide books are available on your phone with lessons on how to use your phone. You will be sent an email with the link when the phone is first registered. First time that has ever happened with any phone! Service after sale is outstanding. First system update needs to be done. It takes around 35 minutes. Feel and weight of phone is perfect. Boots faster than other phones that I have and accesses menus/apps quickly. I was able to move icons around with ease and place them where I wanted in the quick access screen. On a local road trip today, I was able to fully access 5G connections, log into numerous local WIFIs, navigate on maps, text/talk clearly, use a BT5.3 ear piece, checked for spam calls, and check battery usage. Battey usage was must more efficient than I expected in that after 3 days it was still over 70% of light to medium usage. I set the battery usage to save mode but not the extreme mode and kept all apps closed I was not using. QI was tested and was fully functional. Auto screen works fine in all sub menus. Be advised the main menu is always in vertical mode. Took videos and pictures and all were excellent! Set face recognition, finger print, PIN, and password recognition. All worked perfect! Summary: This is a much better phone than I was expecting, and the other manufacturers need to take note. The features and quality are more in line with a phone between mid and high-level price range. Many cell phone service providers are offering additional discounts for trade ins and other deals. This could make this a better bargain if your service provider has any incentives. Specifications: Display 6.1-inch Actua display1 20:9 aspect ratio 1080x2400 OLED at 430 PPI Smooth Display2(up to 120Hz) Corning® Gorilla® Glass™ 3 cover glass Always-on display with At a Glance and Now Playing Up to 1400 nits (HDR) and up to 2000 nits (peak brightness) >1,000,000:1 contrast ratio HDR support Full 24-bit depth for 16 million colors Dimensions and Weight 6 in (height) x 2.9 in (width) x 0.4 in (depth) 6.6 oz Battery and Charging 24+ hour battery life5 Up to 72-hour battery life with Extreme Battery Saver Typical 4492 mAh6 (Minimum 4404 mAh) Fast charging Wireless charging (Qi-certified) Memory and Storage 8 GB LPDDR5x RAM 128 GB / 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage Processors Google Tensor G3 Titan M2 security coprocessor Security VPN by Google One at no extra cost End-to-end security designed by Google Multi-layer hardware security: Tensor security core, Titan M2™ security chip, and Trusty (Trusted Execution Environment) 7 years of OS, security, and Feature Drop updates Anti-malware and anti-phishing protection, including support for passkeys Automatic security checks and privacy controls with Security and Privacy hub Camera and mic toggles Private Compute Core Android System Intelligence Android Messages end-to-end encryption and Android backup encryption Learn more at g.co/pixel/security and g.co/pixel/certifications Rear Camera 64 MP Quad PD wide camera 0.8 μm pixel width ƒ/1.89 aperture 80° field of view 1/1.73" image sensor size Super Res Zoom up to 8x12 13 MP ultrawide camera 1.12 μm pixel width ƒ/2.2 aperture 120° field of view Lens correction Optical + electronic image stabilization on wide Front Camera 13 MP 1.12 μm pixel width ƒ/2.2 aperture Fixed focus 96.5° ultrawide field of view Camera Features Magic Editor Best Take Magic Eraser Photo Unblur Real Tone Face Unblur Panorama Manual white balancing Locked Folder Night Sight Top Shot Portrait Mode Portrait Light Motion Auto Focus Frequent Faces Dual exposure controls Live HDR+ Ultra HDR Long Exposure Astrophotography Super Res Zoom Video and Audio Rear Camera 4K video recording at 30 FPS, 60 FPS 1080p video recording at 30 FPS, 60 FPS Front Camera 4K video recording at 30 FPS 1080p video recording at 30 FPS Cinematic Pan Slo-mo video support up to 240 FPS 4K timelapse with stabilization Astrophotography timelapse Optical image stabilization Fused video stabilization 4K Cinematic Pan video stabilization 4K locked video stabilization 1080p active video stabilization Digital zoom up to 5x12 Video formats: HEVC (H.265) and AVC (H.264) Audio Stereo recording Speech enhancement Wind noise reduction Audio Magic Eraser Authentication Fingerprint Unlock with under-display fingerprint sensor Face Unlock Pattern, PIN, password Sensors Proximity sensor Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyrometer Magnetometer Barometer Buttons and Ports USB Type-C® 3.2 Power button Volume controls SIMs Dual SIM (Single Nano SIM and eSIM16) Media and Audio Stereo speakers 2 microphones Noise suppression Connectivity and Location Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) with 2.4GHz+5GHz+6GHz, HE80, MIMO Bluetooth® v5.3, Bluetooth Diversity NFC Google Cast GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS Network [5G Sub 6GHz]18 Model GKV4X GSM/EDGE: Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+/HSDPA: Bands 1,2,4,5,6,8,19 LTE: Bands B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/14/17/20/25/26/28/29/30/38/41/48/66/71 5G Sub-618: Bands n1/2/3/5/7/8/12/20/25/26/28/29/30/38/41/48/66/70/71/77/78 eSIM [5G mmWave + Sub 6GHz]18 Model G8HHN GSM/EDGE: Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+/HSDPA: Bands 1,2,4,5,6,8,19 LTE: Bands B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/14/17/20/25/26/28/29/30/38/41/48/66/71 5G Sub-618: Bands n1/2/3/5/7/8/20/28/48/66/71/77/78 5G mmWave18: Bands n260/n261 eSIM Hearing Aid Compatibility Hearing aid-compatible. See g.co/pixel/hac. Security and OS Updates 7 years of OS, security, and Feature Drop updates Materials Scratch-resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 cover glass IP67 dust and water resistance Fingerprint-resistant coating Matte composite back with matte aluminum frame Made with at least 24% recycled materials based on product weight 100% recycled aluminum in housing and camera bar 76% recycled plastic in back cover 100% plastic-free packaging Warranty 1 year Operating System Launched with Android 14 What's in the box Pixel 8a 1 m USB-C® to USB-C cable (USB 2.0) Quick Switch Adapter

Simple but powerful cellphone. It does take time to adjust if you are used to a galaxy phone. However, its simplicity does make me more productive.

The new Pixel 8A phone truly embodies the innovation and user-friendliness that Google is known for. Parents, in particular, find it easy to navigate, making it an ideal choice for families. The device runs on a streamlined and efficient Android operating system that ensures smooth performance, allowing for quick access to apps and features without any lag. One of the standout features of the Pixel 8A is its impressive camera, which captures stunning images with remarkable clarity, perfect for documenting life’s special moments. Additionally, the phone sports a refreshing new shade of green that sets it apart from the sea of standard-colored devices, giving it a unique and stylish appearance. Affordability is also a key highlight of the Pixel 8A, as it comes with a price point that offers excellent value for the features and performance it provides. Overall, the Pixel 8A combines practicality, aesthetics, and cost-effectiveness, making it a strong contender in the smartphone market.

This phone sets the standard for the mid-priced android category. It has nearly everything the Pixel 8 has, but starts at $500 and often has extra discounts or trade-in allowances, making the phone 1-2 hundred cheaper. It the smaller form factor I'm looking for, and easily handles 1 day of heavy use, or 2 days of regular/light use. Phones like this have convinced me that is just not worth spending $1,000+ on a phone. The black is the standard color you expect it to be. It is somewhere between black and dark grey. The picture on my monitor is pretty accurate to what you see in person.

The Google Pixel 8a is a fantastic mid-range phone that offers great value for its price. The compact design feels perfect in hand, and the OLED display delivers vibrant colors and smooth visuals. The camera performance is outstanding, especially in low light, thanks to Google’s computational photography. Battery life easily lasts a full day, and the Tensor G3 chip ensures fast and seamless performance for multitasking. I also appreciate the commitment to five years of updates, keeping the phone future-proof. Highly recommend it for anyone looking for an affordable yet powerful smartphone!