Pixel 7a

The Google Pixel 7a is not your usual budget phone. Rather than shed features from a more premium phone with an eye toward keeping the cost low, Google seems to have decided to pack in as many capabilities as possible — to the point where you’d be hard-pressed to spot the differences between the Pixel 7a and the presumably more fully featured Pixel 7. That’s great news if you’re a smartphone shopper on a budget. The Pixel 7a means you don’t have to blow your bank account if you want a phone with a fast-refreshing display, capable cameras and the same Tensor processor you’d find in Google’s flagship devices. Google clearly put a lot of effort into this phone, and after spending time with the Pixel 7a — including testing its battery, performance, cameras and display — I’d say the effort was worth it. The challenge for the Pixel 7a is that Google’s competitors are trying to beat the phone maker at its own game. The Samsung Galaxy A54, for instance, is probably the Pixel 7a’s closest challenger for the title of best cheap phone under $500 in the US. And it’s set out to match Google’s midrange phone feature for feature. Starting price $499 Screen size 6.1-inch OLED (2400 x 1080, 429ppi) Refresh rate 90Hz CPU Tensor G2 RAM 8GB Storage / Expandable? 128GB / No Rear cameras 64MP (f/1.89) main; 13MP (f/2.2) Front camera 13MP (f/2.2) Battery size 4,385 mAh Battery life (Hrs:Mins) 10:05 (60Hz) Wired charging speed 18W Wireless charging? Yes Size 6 x 2.8 x 0.4 inches / 152 x 72.9 x 9....

The past week has been one of the busiest I've ever had. I flew to Dallas, Texas, for a friend's wedding, drove to Austin to visit an in-law, drove back for the wedding festivities, then flew back to New York, only to head out to San Francisco the next day for Is it the perfect phone? No. There are features missing here that some folks would want. Also, battery life is just OK, and the price has been hiked up $50 from The New Standard The Pixel 7A mimics the design of the Pixel 7 and Pixel 6 series that came before. It's clean and unique, and it's easy to spot in a sea of iPhones and Samsungs—good if you want to feel different. It comes in Charcoal (black), Sea (baby blue), Snow (white), and Coral (orangey pink), the latter of which is exclusive to the Google Store. The blue is a little too faint for me—it often looks white—but the Coral is drop-dead gorgeous. I love a flashy phone. The phone's frame is made of recycled aluminum, and the back is a plastic composite that by no means feels cheap. (It's also one less spot for cracked glass in case you drop the phone!) The front is made with Gorilla Glass 3, a product which is several years old at this point and isn't as scratch- and crack-resistant as modern formulations from Corning, the company that creates the hardened glass. Using older Gorilla Glass is one of the easy ways to bring down the price of a handset. Safe to say, even if the back can't crack as easily, it's worth getting a case. This Pixel is IP67-rated for wat...

The Pixel 7a might be the best Pixel Google has ever built. The price-to-performance ratio is off the charts good and the camera is better than ever thanks to a huge camera hardware upgrade. Unless you need better battery life or like to zoom beyond 5x, there's no reason to spend your $500 elsewhere. This year, the Pixel 7a increases the price by $50 but addresses almost all the shortcomings of last year's model. It's got a 90Hz display, wireless charging support, a better fingerprint sensor, a faster processor with more features, and the biggest camera hardware upgrade ever for a Pixel A-series phone. It's the new king of During the review period, I ran into a few strange bugs with the front-facing camera that caused a lot of power drain. I've reported the bug to Google but, until then, using Face Unlock or Face Detect for Auto-Rotate features causes an inordinate power drain. Based on our lab tests and experience after disabling these features, though, the battery should be enough to get most people through more than a full day.

Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 40, 41, 48, 66, 71 - GWKK3, G0DZQ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 28, 32, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 66 - GHL1X, G82U8 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, 20, 25, 28, 30, 38, 41, 48, 66, 71, 77, 78 SA/NSA/Sub6 - GWKK3 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, 20, 25, 28, 30, 38, 41, 48, 66, 71, 77, 78, 260, 261 SA/NSA/Sub6/mmWave - G0DZQ 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 20, 25, 28, 38, 40, 41, 66, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79 SA/NSA/Sub6 - GHL1X, G82U8 HSPA, LTE-A (CA), 5G Launch 2023, May 10 Available. Released 2023, May 10 Body 152 x 72.9 x 9 mm (5.98 x 2.87 x 0.35 in) 193.5 g (6.84 oz) Glass front (Gorilla Glass 3), aluminum frame, plastic back Nano-SIM and eSIM IP67 dust/water resistant (up to 1m for 30 min) Display OLED, HDR, 90Hz 6.1 inches, 90.7 cm 2 (~81.8% screen-to-body ratio) 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~429 ppi density) Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Always-on display Platform Android 13 Google Tensor G2 (5 nm) Octa-core (2x2.85 GHz Cortex-X1 & 2x2.35 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A55) Mali-G710 MP7 Memory No 128GB 8GB RAM UFS 3.1 Main Camera 64 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.73", 0.8µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS 13 MP, f/2.2, 120˚ (ultrawide), 1.12µm Dual-LED flash, Pixel Shift, Auto-HDR, panorama 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, OIS Selfie camera 13 MP, f/2.2, 20mm (ultrawide), 1.12µm Auto-HDR, panorama 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps Sound Yes, with stereo spe...

Pixel 7a: One-minute review The Google Pixel 7a may be powerful and it may be smart, but if it can’t last me through a full day I won't be recommending it as one of the best phones you can buy. The power of the Google Tensor G2 chipset, which can erase tall buildings from your photos with a couple of taps, may be too much for the tiny battery, and the phone’s sluggish charging only makes things worse. Why start with complaints about the battery? Because it’s important. More important than taking great photos, which the Pixel 7a can manage ably, though it won’t win you any contests. Even with more megapixels on tap, many of the photos I took look very much like those from its predecessor, the Google Pixel 6a. (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne) Battery life is more important than whatever performance benefits you might get from Google’s powerful processor, which can handle the best games and most advanced apps with no trouble. Play those games for your entire train ride to work, though, and you better have a charger waiting at your desk – and you also better have a couple hours to spare before you need a full battery again. With blazing speed that drains the battery in no time, the Pixel 7a is like a European roadster. You get all the performance and style of the premier sports car, in a smaller package with some corners cut. And, as with a great roadster, it’s best to wait until the Pixel 7a drops to a price that makes it irresistible. (Image credit: Future / Philip Bern...

Equal parts sequel and sibling, Google's $499 Pixel 7a offers better cameras, performance, and screen quality than its predecessor, while at the same time bringing just the right mix of fresh features distilled from the pricier It Certainly Doesn't Look Cheap Google gets a lot right with the Pixel 7a, starting with the design. At a glance, hardly anything sets the Pixel 7a apart from the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, which is a good thing. The phone features Google’s now well-known camera bar running across the top of the rear panel. It's a bold look and I generally like it, as it differs visually from most other phones on the market. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. (Opens in a new window) The main difference between the 7a and the pricer 7 and 7 Pro is that it trades a glass rear panel for polycarbonate. This is imperceptible to the eye, but you can tell when you hold the phone. Importantly, the shiny material doesn't attract dust and fingerprints. The mid-frame of the Pixel 7a is made from an alloy and some internal portions of the housing are made from recycled aluminum. You can snag the Pixel 7a in four colors: Charcoal, Coral, Sea, or Snow (Coral is an online-exclusive option available only via the Google Store). I received the Snow color for review, and while it’s not as vibrant as Coral or Sea, it’s still a sharp-looking device. (Credit: Eric Zeman) If you want a fairly compact phone, the 7a is a solid choi...

The Pixel 7a might be the best Pixel Google has ever built. The price-to-performance ratio is off the charts good and the camera is better than ever thanks to a huge camera hardware upgrade. Unless you need better battery life or like to zoom beyond 5x, there's no reason to spend your $500 elsewhere. This year, the Pixel 7a increases the price by $50 but addresses almost all the shortcomings of last year's model. It's got a 90Hz display, wireless charging support, a better fingerprint sensor, a faster processor with more features, and the biggest camera hardware upgrade ever for a Pixel A-series phone. It's the new king of During the review period, I ran into a few strange bugs with the front-facing camera that caused a lot of power drain. I've reported the bug to Google but, until then, using Face Unlock or Face Detect for Auto-Rotate features causes an inordinate power drain. Based on our lab tests and experience after disabling these features, though, the battery should be enough to get most people through more than a full day. • U.S. • Canada • UK • Ireland • Germany • France • Spain • Italy • Norway • Netherlands • Denmark • Sweden • Japan • Australia • Singapore • Taiwan • India In the tiny box, you'll find the Pixel 7a alongside a USB-C to USB-C cable, a USB-A to USB-C adapter, a SIM tray eject tool, and the usual set of pamphlets. The Pixel 7a does not include a charger but supports up to 18W USB-PD charging speeds and 5W Qi wireless charging. As usual, there's a s...

The past week has been one of the busiest I've ever had. I flew to Dallas, Texas, for a friend's wedding, drove to Austin to visit an in-law, drove back for the wedding festivities, then flew back to New York, only to head out to San Francisco the next day for Is it the perfect phone? No. There are features missing here that some folks would want. Also, battery life is just OK, and the price has been hiked up $50 from The New Standard The Pixel 7A mimics the design of the Pixel 7 and Pixel 6 series that came before. It's clean and unique, and it's easy to spot in a sea of iPhones and Samsungs—good if you want to feel different. It comes in Charcoal (black), Sea (baby blue), Snow (white), and Coral (orangey pink), the latter of which is exclusive to the Google Store. The blue is a little too faint for me—it often looks white—but the Coral is drop-dead gorgeous. I love a flashy phone. The phone's frame is made of recycled aluminum, and the back is a plastic composite that by no means feels cheap. (It's also one less spot for cracked glass in case you drop the phone!) The front is made with Gorilla Glass 3, a product which is several years old at this point and isn't as scratch- and crack-resistant as modern formulations from Corning, the company that creates the hardened glass. Using older Gorilla Glass is one of the easy ways to bring down the price of a handset. Safe to say, even if the back can't crack as easily, it's worth getting a case. This Pixel is IP67-rated for wat...

Pixel 7a: One-minute review The Google Pixel 7a may be powerful and it may be smart, but if it can’t last me through a full day I won't be recommending it as one of the best phones you can buy. The power of the Google Tensor G2 chipset, which can erase tall buildings from your photos with a couple of taps, may be too much for the tiny battery, and the phone’s sluggish charging only makes things worse. Why start with complaints about the battery? Because it’s important. More important than taking great photos, which the Pixel 7a can manage ably, though it won’t win you any contests. Even with more megapixels on tap, many of the photos I took look very much like those from its predecessor, the Google Pixel 6a. (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne) Battery life is more important than whatever performance benefits you might get from Google’s powerful processor, which can handle the best games and most advanced apps with no trouble. Play those games for your entire train ride to work, though, and you better have a charger waiting at your desk – and you also better have a couple hours to spare before you need a full battery again. With blazing speed that drains the battery in no time, the Pixel 7a is like a European roadster. You get all the performance and style of the premier sports car, in a smaller package with some corners cut. And, as with a great roadster, it’s best to wait until the Pixel 7a drops to a price that makes it irresistible. (Image credit: Future / Philip Bern...

Equal parts sequel and sibling, Google's $499 Pixel 7a offers better cameras, performance, and screen quality than its predecessor, while at the same time bringing just the right mix of fresh features distilled from the pricier It Certainly Doesn't Look Cheap Google gets a lot right with the Pixel 7a, starting with the design. At a glance, hardly anything sets the Pixel 7a apart from the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, which is a good thing. The phone features Google’s now well-known camera bar running across the top of the rear panel. It's a bold look and I generally like it, as it differs visually from most other phones on the market. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. (Opens in a new window) The main difference between the 7a and the pricer 7 and 7 Pro is that it trades a glass rear panel for polycarbonate. This is imperceptible to the eye, but you can tell when you hold the phone. Importantly, the shiny material doesn't attract dust and fingerprints. The mid-frame of the Pixel 7a is made from an alloy and some internal portions of the housing are made from recycled aluminum. You can snag the Pixel 7a in four colors: Charcoal, Coral, Sea, or Snow (Coral is an online-exclusive option available only via the Google Store). I received the Snow color for review, and while it’s not as vibrant as Coral or Sea, it’s still a sharp-looking device. (Credit: Eric Zeman) If you want a fairly compact phone, the 7a is a solid choi...