Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have 2 other phones. One is a newer android folding phone and the other is an old iPhone 6. I love the folding phone with 2 screens for multitasking. I can read the instructions for doing something on one screen and then do the steps on the other screen. Or I can be following directions in Maps and searching for something at the same time. But it takes lousy close up pictures. I keep the iPhone just for that purpose. The folding phone is the equivalent of 2 phones so it is very heavy (11 ounces) and using it to take and make phone calls is awkward. My goal in acquiring the Google Pixel 8a phone was to have a phone that is lighter, takes good close up pictures and can easily perform the functions that I routinely use. The initial setup with all the Google disclaimers and permissions seemed more like setting up a PC than a phone. It comes with the Gemini AI assistant. The assistant can be used to summarize emails, create content and even turn the phone off. During setup there was the option to copy contacts, settings and apps from a previous phone. Some copying was done by having the phones close to each other. Copying the apps required a connection with the charging cord. An adapter is included to connect an iPhone if needed. My 50+ apps copied over quickly - plus some extras. They transferred to the Pixel 8a in a long alphabetical list. I’m used to 6 pages of apps that are organized by category. I can change the order on the Pixel phone, but it will always be more difficult to find the one I’m looking for. Especially when I can’t think of the name of the app. 22% of the available storage is taken up with the apps. The next step was to create a PIN. A PIN was required and there was no option to skip it. Fingerprint unlock and facial recognition were next. I couldn’t get it to recognize my fingerprint, even after several tries. The facial recognition worked on the first try. Navigation can be done by gestures or 3 button navigation. Gestures didn’t take me where I needed to go most of the time and I switched to the 3 button navigation. There are 3 cameras - Wide, ultra wide and front. The camera software is pretty extensive. When Top Shot is active, each picture automatically becomes a short video. Pixel suggests the best frames to save. Best Take uses AI to edit sequential images to create a perfect one. Magic Editor, Magic Audio Eraser, Photo Unblur and Magic Eraser are other options. A person could keep themselves entertained playing with pictures all day long! Magic Eraser comes with suggestions. Taking (tapping) the suggestion worked well, but ignoring the suggestion and erasing with my finger or a pen was very imprecise. I haven’t been successful in completely erasing something without erasing more than I intended. The good thing is that each edit is saved as a copy so the original remains untouched. The downside is the memory required if a lot of pictures are taken and edited. Another feature is Circle to Search. If there is something on a screen that you want to search for, long press the Navigation bar or Home button and then circle, tap or scribble on the words or picture to search. Car crash detection is also included. You can select what the response should be if the car the phone is in detects a crash. It can be set to text location and updates to selected emergency contacts. The default pictures as viewed on the camera itself look dark, but if you have lots of time, there are ways to edit the brightness, contrast, HDR effect, warmth, etc., etc., etc. of each picture. All the features of a photo editor and more are available. Even though they looked dark, when downloaded to email and posted on a selling site, the color, brightness and contrast were quite good. Anything that wasn’t quite right I could edit with a photo editor after downloading - which to me was easier than editing on the phone itself. The problem I did have was getting the camera to take a picture when it thought the lighting wasn’t right or I was too far away or too close. I’d press on the button and nothing would happen. Sometimes if I went into settings and changed to “flash” (even in bright daylight) the picture would take. Sometimes it wouldn’t. Another annoying thing is taking pictures under fluorescent lighting. The lighting creates a rolling motion which prompts the camera to take a video rather than a still picture. The battery life seems good to me. I’ve been using it for 5 days now and will have to charge it tonight for the first time. It’s relatively difficult to turn off compared to a swipe on the iPhone or a one button push on my android, but there is the option to tell Gemini to do it for you. To manually turn the Pixel phone off, both the power and the volume buttons have to be pressed simultaneously. It usually takes me a few tries to get it right. Part of the problem is that the phone is very slippery. I’ll need to get a case so that I don’t drop it accidentally. I think this phone is a good starter phone that is appropriate for a child or young adult. Family Link can manage privacy settings, establish screen time limits and stay connected with a shared location feature. The optional blue color is nice. The phone editing features are entertaining and could be fun to use. For my purposes it works fine for phone calls and texts, but is unnecessarily complicated for taking pictures. I'm spoiled by having the two screens and it will be difficult to go back to one, although Pixel's Circle to Search does facilitate some navigation without the need to switch apps.

great mid range phone with plenty of cool features.

Excellent phone, stylish and have the best camera.

I purchased this phone to replace a Pixel 5A. The 8A feels a bit smaller and seems easier to operate one-handed. The display is great and the adaptive screen brightness is usually about right. The phone itself is fast enough. It doesn't seem much faster than the 5A, though. The camera does a great job and the editing is easy. Phone calls sound good and others tell me that they can hear me loud and clear. Some of the AI features seemed intrusive at first, but I turned off what I didn't really need to use. I did switch the bottom of the screen back to the "3 button mode". It comes set up to press your finger on the bottom of the screen and pull up. That never worked for me. All it did was bring up the "circle and search" feature. That's a constant reminder I would like turn off. The biggest downside for me was getting rid of the finger sensor on the back of the phone and making it a touch screen button. I've set mine up three times and it still only works about 70% of the time. Also, the battery could last longer for sure. I'm not what you'd call a "power user", but I do use my phone to check emails and to stream music at work. I'm not getting through an entire day on one charge with this phone. Overall, it's not a bad mid-range phone. I'm not sure that I'd recommend it wholeheartedly, though.

Love this phone. It is small enough to fit in my pocket but not too small that things are too tiny to read. I have dropped it a dozen times and the screen it perfect still. Takes great photos and the battery lasts me two days depending on use.

Introduction It’s been a long time since I’ve used an Android phone. I would say it’s been about 5 years. I’m excited to see what Google has done terms of its software as well as the Pixel line. Going in I’m familiar with the Android OS, but it’s been a while, so I’m a couple of versions behind. I’m hoping that I’m still able to navigate the UI without having to go through a massive refresh tutorial. What comes in the box? Out of the box you get the Pixel 8a, a USB-C to USB-C cable, a USB-A to USB-C adaptor, a sim card purge tool, and inserts. Minor wins The fingerprint sensor under the screen was a good compliment to the face unlock. I like having the option of using either or both to quickly unlock the phone, so that’s a win. Major wins The OLED screen provides some of the best brightness and vivid colors that I’ve seen on a phone, while offering some of the deepest blacks. The smooth display offers a 120hz refresh rate. When scrolling through website, you’re treated to a smooth experience. Aesthetics The Pixel 8a has a 6.1” display which offers plenty of real estate to do all of your tasks. The bezels are not as thin as some other modern phones, but it’s a minor issue considering the price. The frame around the phone as well as the camera housing is an anodized aluminum. It feels nice to the touch. The back has a nice matte finish which not only feels great and reduces fingerprints. Usage I decided to use the Pixel 8a as my main phone for about three days. Google phones became famous for their cameras, and so I was most excited to give it a try. One of the more interesting tools is the magic eraser. If there’s something in your photo that you want to remove, you simply go into photos, edit, and then tools. From there you can choose magic eraser and you simple circle the target that you want removed, and AI does its best to erase it. It’s definitely not perfect. It almost performs an erase, then smudge to cover up what was removed. One of the best features I tried out was the audio magic erase. This allows you to remove certain sound aspects of a video. I recorded myself just talking and had my fan going right next to me, and I was able to completely remove the sound of the fan. One of the newest features is the AI integration. Gemini is what I would call a slightly advanced Google assistant. I’m probably downplaying the capabilities, but it performed simple tasks like foods that certain countries are known for then piggybacking to finding me recipes to those foods. The voice sounds more like a human being, and more natural in its conversational tone. I found myself not using it as much as I thought. I was the same way with the other voice assistants. The sound is actually pretty remarkable. I opened a Youtube video, and set the volume to max, and it was surprisingly immersive. The video itself looked beautiful on the OLED screen. For media consumption, it’s great. The battery life is actually pretty good. I kept the screen brightness at about half way, and with normal usage of texting/watching videso, and web browsing, I got about a day’s worth of battery life. I’m sure that if gaming were involved, it would have drained much faster. Minor issues The phone is quite slippery in the hand. Both the aluminum sides and the matte finish don’t really offer a good grip. Major issues I’ve probably been out of the Android phone market too long, but I do miss the upgradable storage option via a micro SD card. With such a fancy camera, you’ll probably fill up the capacity quite quickly. Yes there’s the cloud, or transferring it to a computer, but still… I just miss the convenience of adding a 512 GB micro SD so I don’t have to worry about storage. I wish they would bring this back. Primarily for People on a budget, but still want a capable phone with a really nice camera. I would say photo enthusiasts would enjoy using the Pixel 8a. Probably not for People who like larger phones, and or want the latest and greatest. Also, people who eat through storage in a matter of months. All in all The Pixel 8a is a very nice “budget” phone. For the price point you’re getting a beautiful fast OLED screen with a 120hz refresh rate, nice speakers, a whole slew of nice photo/video/audio editing tools, a new AI assistant, all in a 6.1” screen. What you’re not getting is a lot of storage. Still, I would definitely recommend anybody who like Android phones and hasn’t updated in a while.

Nice screen, battery lasts long enough, cameras seem great. The aloe color looks great.

Using it so far for a week I'm pleased with purchase. With a mix of browsing, gaming, watching videos, texting, and emailing seems like one should be able to get at least 10hours of usage without needing to charge battery. That should be plenty for most individuals for daily use. Transition of the initial setup from previous Pixel 4 was smooth as files, photos, and apps were copied over even wirelessly. There are initial system updates that take some time after starting you'll do and realize some of the newer camera AI features will need downloaded. Screen can definitely be very bright. Sound on the low end is very low which usually forces user to bump up to more middle of volume setting to hear. Phone doesn't get that warm with intense long usage. Appreciate the size not being a monster that so many phones are becoming and can still use one handed. Screen bezels are not slim, but are not an annoyance. Camera seems solid. Speakers are crisp for streaming music (realize what looks like a speaker on bottom left is not and is the microphone). Color of phone being Bay is a nice muted blue.

This is an excellent relatively "compact" phone. The screen is very bright, the camera is awesome and it has no lag or slugglishness in performance. The form factor may seem small compared to today's big screen phones but it makes for easy one-hand handling and operation. I would definitely recommend the phone.

I love Pixel phone and I think this one is the favorite so far... Love the color green that I picked. Super easy to use. Fits in all of my pockets perfectly. Taking photos is my favorite. The picture quality is amazing

As soon as I buckled myself into the ride, I felt my cell phone slide out of my pocket. I quickly grabbed it and threw it between my legs until I could adjust but it slipped through and went directly down the only open portion of the floor and ended up on the track of Thunder Mountain railroad at Disneyland. When I got home, I tracked my phone and saw it was still on the ride. I rang the phone remotely prior to park open and at close to increase chances of staff finding during walking the track. They did!!! I can't imagine how many rail cars ran over that thing ... THANK YOU!

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 green color is a bit strange, I've yet to see it show up on a screen the way it looks in person. Unfortunately, none of the stores had the green one in stock so we just took a chance on it. Think of it as a spring/easter light green and you'll be in the right ballpark.

I had a pixel 4a before, and this one is about 0.25" taller, which I don't like. But other than that, the display and battery life are better. I haven't tried the camera yet, but it's supposed to be better too.

My 6a was a dog, battery life was declining even after replacing the battery. The 8a is a much needed improvement. It is quick, excellent screen and camera and a decent battery.

Overall this is a solid phone, but after getting a chance to use it for a few weeks I likely would return it and wait for the next pixel release if I didn't already trade in my 6a. It is very similar to the 6a in terms of experience. Camera seems great and I'm looking forward to the extended support from previous iterations of pixels. I think the screen is a step down from the 6a in terms of responsiveness (occasionally clicks will not register in games where i have tap quickly or on small locations) and the fingerprint reader (its not as accurate as the 6a was and i frequently have to use the code). The AI features don't particularly interest me at this point.

First off the phone feels great the color is just right. The phone feels good to hands and doesnt feel too big at all. The touch screen works perfectly and that 120hz refresh rate does wonders even though you have to go in the settings and turn it on. The set up was easy although it took a while as it was ios to android . The phone has many features which are found on much higher end phones . The camera does take excellent photos . I have not suffered any lag issues . Only ever felt slow when it was first set up . Other than that its been great.

Great compact phone with a large screen and comes in great colors.

Nice display. Easy access to the Apps Icon. Storage unbelievable. Camera you will live. The best one we ever purchased.Thank you.

As a long time iPhone user I'm excited to say I love the pixel 8a. This phone is the perfect size being able to use it with one hand easily. The screen is great and the phone feels very snappy. The camera and video recording is just as good as my iPhone 15 plus. Google has a lot of features I like that iPhone doesn't have and it pairs nicely with my pixel watch.

Very nice phone. It’s fast, fluid and the camera is great.