Recensione di Google Pixel 4a: ancora sorprendentemente buono per $ 349

Preferirei una maggiore durata della batteria, e Google Pixel 4a 5G è un opzione migliore se desideri la connettività 5G e sei disposto a pagare circa $ 100 in più. Ma come illustra la nostra recensione di Google Pixel 4a, questo è uno di quei rari smartphone economici che fa quasi tutto bene. L’unico motivo per esitare nell’acquisto di questo telefono è perché si dice che un successore, Google Pixel 5a , arriverà a un certo punto questa estate e potrebbe essere più potente del Pixel 4a.

Recensione di Google Pixel 4a: prezzo e disponibilità

Pixel 4a continua a essere disponibile sbloccato da Google e rivenditori come Amazon . Puoi anche acquistare il telefono tramite Verizon, Google Fi, US Cellular e altri operatori selezionati. C’è solo una configurazione di questo dispositivo da $ 349 con 128 GB di spazio di archiviazione. Abbiamo esaminato la versione Just Black, anche se da quando questa recensione di Pixel 4a è stata pubblicata, Google ha rilasciato un’opzione di colore Barely Blue che è esclusiva per il suo negozio online.

Come con tutti i telefoni Pixel, non c’è espandibilità microSD qui, quindi avere tutto quello spazio disponibile sin dall’inizio è sicuramente utile.

Se desideri la connettività 5G, dovrai pagare $ 100 in più per Pixel 4a 5G , anch’esso in vendita. Quella versione 5G del Pixel 4a ha effettivamente più in comune con il Pixel 5 , fino al doppio fotocamere posteriori e processore Snapdragon 765G, anche se Pixel 4a 5G costa $ 200 in meno dell’ammiraglia di Google da $ 699.

Recensione di Google Pixel 4a: Design

Se hai visto i telefoni Pixel di Google negli ultimi anni, sai che non tendono a correre rischi in termini di design. In un momento in cui i concorrenti di Mountain View hanno iniziato a sfornare dispositivi con cornici minuscole, enormi fotocamere multi-obiettivo e sparatutto frontali perforati, gli ultimi Pixel sono stati piuttosto pedoni in termini di aspetto, distinti solo da materiali, finiture e colorways.

E quindi non è affatto sorprendente considerando che Google Pixel 4a assomiglia molto a Pixel 4 , ma più pulito e leggero, con cornici più sottili e un-chassis rivestito che sostituisce la combinazione più costosa di vetro e metallo del telefono. Per fortuna il Pixel 4a riesce ancora a sembrare solido in modo soddisfacente, grazie a una texture opaca che è piacevole al tatto. La toppa quadrata della fotocamera sul retro sembra un po’sciocca, soprattutto considerando che Pixel 4a presenta solo un obiettivo e il flash LED, anche se almeno l’array della fotocamera è più piccolo e oserei dire più carino di quello sul retro dell’ammiraglia Pixel 4.

Invece di un sensore di impronte digitali sullo schermo, Pixel 4a ha il Scanner Pixel Imprint capacitivo montato del vecchio, che in realtà preferisco alle nuove soluzioni ottiche e ultrasoniche. È più economico da implementare, quindi mantiene basso il costo del telefono e trovo anche che sia molto più rapido da usare, con meno risultati falsi negativi. Inoltre, poiché si trova sul retro, puoi scorrere facilmente verso il basso per visualizzare le notifiche e gli interruttori rapidi, il che rappresenta una comoda scorciatoia.

Ci sono due cose che apprezzo molto del design di Pixel 4a che meritano callout. Il primo è il jack per le cuffie, la cui inclusione non mi è ancora persa in tutti questi anni da quando la maggior parte dei produttori di telefoni lo ha abbandonato. Il secondo è la presenza di altoparlanti stereo, il che è particolarmente impressionante dato che il Pixel 4a non ha la cornice superiore prominente del Pixel 4.

Nonostante i vincoli di imballaggio, Google è stata comunque in grado di riempire un altoparlante all’interno del auricolare, alloggiato in una fessura appena percettibile nel bordo superiore. In combinazione con gli altoparlanti a fuoco inferiore, è abbastanza potente, meno caldo e ricco di bassi come il mio iPhone 11 Pro driver di, ma comunque altrettanto rumoroso.

Detto questo, questo telefono non è”t appariscente, anche se ora puoi scegliere una versione nera o blu (almeno se lo fai i tuoi acquisti su Google). La colpa della pandemia di coronavirus in corso, poiché Google ci ha detto di aver originariamente rilasciato un colore per”semplificare la produzione e prevenire ulteriori ritardi”. È deludente, soprattutto perché la linea Pixel ha sempre adottato un approccio giocoso e rinfrescante ai colori, anche se almeno Just Black riceve ancora un pizzico di sapore grazie al suo pulsante di accensione alla menta.

Sfortunatamente, ci sono due aree in che il Pixel 4a rientra nella iPhone SE per quanto riguarda il design. Questo telefono non è classificato per la resistenza all’acqua e non può caricarsi in modalità wireless. Dato che quelle sono caratteristiche rare a questo prezzo, non mi preoccupa troppo-dopo tutto, l’iPhone SE è l’eccezione alla regola del telefono economico, non la norma. Inoltre, per quello che vale, il design infinitamente più moderno e accattivante del Pixel 4a compensa queste concessioni. Data la mia predilezione per i telefoni piccoli, mi piace che il Pixel 4a da 5,8 pollici sia solo un po’più alto dell’iPhone SE da 4,7 pollici, ma racchiuda molto più spazio sullo schermo.

Recensione di Google Pixel 4a: Display

Il Pixel 3a è stato uno dei telefoni più economici sul mercato con uno schermo OLED e il Pixel 4a continua questa distinzione. Il pannello full HD da 5,81 pollici del nuovo telefono di fascia media di Google offre colori audaci ma realistici e diventa anche sorprendentemente brillante.

I neri profondi e come l’inchiostro del pannello OLED di Pixel 4a hanno conferito un’atmosfera opportunamente scura e grizzly al trailer del sequel di Train to Busan, Peninsula, mentre il impressionante il contrasto reso da scene di interruzione ancora più accattivanti. E mentre guardavo il trailer del nuovo thriller di fantascienza Sputnik, sono stato attratto dai monitor CRT lampeggianti e dalle luci che illuminavano l’oscurità desolata di una sala di controllo sovietica in crisi.

Quando impostato sul suo profilo di colore naturale , il Pixel 4a ha reso il 105,8% dello spazio colore sRGB, che in realtà è un po’meno saturo del 111,2% dell’iPhone SE alimentato da LCD. Tuttavia, se desideri tonalità più vivaci, sei libero di optare per le impostazioni di colore potenziate o adattive sul Pixel. L’iPhone SE ha un leggero vantaggio in termini di precisione del colore, ottenendo un punteggio Delta-E di 0,2 rispetto allo 0,29 di Pixel 4a. (I numeri più vicini a zero sono migliori in questo particolare test.)

Quando si tratta di luminosità, Pixel 4a segue il precedente stabilito dalla maggior parte dei telefoni Android, in quanto è possibile accedere all’impostazione della luminosità massima a schermo intero solo quando la luminosità adattiva è attivata. L’impostazione manuale massima supera i 433 nit; all’aperto alla luce del sole, con l’impostazione adattiva attivata, il pannello di Pixel 4a può raggiungere 681 nit. In confronto, l’iPhone SE può raggiungere i 653 nit, indipendentemente dal fatto che utilizzi la luminosità automatica o manuale.

Nel complesso, sono estremamente impressionato dal pannello di Pixel 4a, tranne due pignoli. Innanzitutto, dato che questo telefono ha un prezzo relativamente basso rispetto ad altri che impiegano la tecnologia OLED, non sono sorpreso che gli angoli di visuale sul 4a sbiadiscano leggermente rispetto ai modelli più premium dotati di OLED, come l’ammiraglia Pixel 4 di Google. un po’di polarizzazione rossa e blu che si insinua quando si guarda il pannello da angolazioni ripide, anche se è inesistente se si guarda lo schermo in modo naturale, quindi non è affatto un problema significativo.

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)

A more aggravating albeit fixable complaint concerns the Pixel 4a’s Adaptive Brightness tuning. Google introduced AI-aided Adaptive Brightness in Android 9 Pie, and unlike standard auto brightness, it’s built to learn your preferences and remember how bright you prefer your screen to be in certain lighting conditions. It worked excellently for me on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 4, but it’s an indecisive mess on the Pixel 4a.

Upon turning Adaptive Brightness on, the device raised and lowered the brightness seven times in the space of a minute, even though I didn’t move the phone at all. I tried to lead it in the right direction by manually adjusting the slider every time it made a change I didn’t want, but that didn’t help either. The software is simply far too aggressive as it stands, and refuses to defer to the user’s wishes. Hopefully, it’s something Google will address in an update.

Google Pixel 4a review: Camera

Looking at the Pixel 4a spec sheet alone, you’d expect very little from its camera. It uses the same lens and sensor as the past two generations of Google phones, and the numbers — 12.2 megapixels and an ƒ/1.7 aperture out of a single lens — surely aren’t very awe inspiring in an era when flagship models are boasting triple-digit megapixel counts.

But you can’t argue with results, and boy, does this com bination of modest hardware and clever software deliver results. The Pixel 4a benefits from many of the same features you’ll find in Google’s more premium phones, including Super Res Zoom to improve the quality of digital zoom, Live HDR+ to see the effect of HDR processing before you tap the shutter and Dual Exposure sliders that give you the ability to modify contrast and brightness on the fly. Beyond that, there’s Google’s beloved Night Mode, and just like the Pixel 4, this model can capture the starry skies as well.

No, the Pixel 4a doesn’t blow away the iPhone SE in every side-by-side image comparison that follows. But Google’s latest contender wins at enough of them, and offers so many more special features, that it’s hard to argue it’s not the best camera phone overall for the money.

We start with this shot of a forest, and straight away it’s easy to tell that the Pixel 4a extracts more lush, verdant greens out of the vegetation and more deftly reins in the overexposed sky breaking through the leaves. The iPhone SE’s rendition of this scene feels washed out and oversharpened by comparison.

However, the Pixel 4a’s emphasis on color can occasionally result in oversaturated scenes with unrealistically strong contrast, like this shot of a vase of sunflowers. The iPhone SE unquestionably delivered the more natural rendition here, as the yellow petals turn to a golden pseudo-orange through the Pixel 4a’s lens, and the shadows in the foreground and background alike are a little more pronounced than they should be.

That said, I don’t think either shot is necessarily poor; personally speaking, if I took the iPhone’s shot and did some light editing to it before sharing, I’d probably end up with the Pixel’s version, so it’s really a matter of preference.

Here I used 3x zoom on both devices to illustrate the advantage that Google’s Super Res Zoom tech offers. To me, this is the most underrated feature in any Pixel camera. Super Res Zoom almost negates the need for optical zoom or a telephoto lens by using natural hand shake and motion to intelligently “fill in” areas of the frame, giving the sensor more information to work with and thereby improving sharpness and overall image quality. Where the iPhone SE’s take is overcome with noise, the Pixel’s is precise, with more neutral white balance as well.

As both the Pixel 4a and iPhone SE sport single-lens rear cameras, they rely entirely on software to separate foreground and background for shallow depth-of-field bokeh shots. You immediately notice the vast difference in perspective the Pixel 4a and iPhone SE offer when capturing portraits — Google’s handset crops into the frame to simulate the use of a telephoto, while Apple’s doesn’t fuss with the vantage point.

Personally, I prefer Google’s approach, as it’s simply more useful for portrait taking. If I wanted to achieve a portrait more like the Pixel’s with the iPhone, I would have had to move in mere inches from the subject’s face — awkward already, but certainly a no-no in the age of social distancing.

Comparing the two on the basis of quality alone, however, Apple’s camera wins in terms of sharpness, and also accurately separates the subject from his surroundings — something that the Pixel 4a struggles with, particularly with the bokeh erroneously applied to the individual’s ear. That said, Google’s device was less intent on overly smooth facing features, and the colors, speaking both of the environment and the subject’s skin tone, are slightly more accurate.

A big question surrounding the Pixel 4a’s camera will likely be how it performs at night. Given that it has a Night Mode, which the iPhone SE lacks, it’s hardly surprising that it emerges the victor in this particular face-off. Google’s software is able to illuminate far more of the image, providing a sharp and noise-free view of the front door of the house in the image, while rendering the shadow of the railing on the grass below with exceptional contrast. It’s an example of how powerful a good Night Mode can be, as well as a reminder of the iPhone SE’s most glaring deficit.

Turning the camera back at myself, there are again aspects I like about both of these attempts. The Pixel 4a, with its 8MP front camera, is better at managing highlights and shadows, managing not to overexpose my white t-shirt like the iPhone did, while dulling the shine of my face on a humid, hot summer day. That said, Google’s take is inexplicably blurrier, and strangely warps the proportions of my face just a bit, despite beautification or retouching features being turned off.

Google Pixel 4a review: Performance

One of the most obvious concerns surrounding the Pixel 4a — or any budget-minded Android phone — tends to be performance. Qualcomm’s flagship 8 Series Snapdragon chipsets are tried and tested in flagships from every manufacturer, and 9 times out of 10, they perform flawlessly. But the chipmaker’s lower-end silicon often falls somewhere between weak and serviceable, and let’s face it — no mid-tier Qualcomm CPU is going to embarrass Apple’s A13 Bionic tech in the iPhone SE, let alone the even more powerful A14 Bionic powering the iPhone 12 models.

Bearing all that in mind, I’d say the Snapdragon 730G chipset in the Pixel 4a, coupled with its 6GB of RAM, delivers smooth and sufficient performance overall, though obviously faster phones have come out since the Pixel 4a’s debut.

I often swap between an iPhone 11 Pro and Pixel 4 for my daily drivers, but during my time reviewing the Pixel 4a, I never felt desperate for power. In fact, when it comes to the basic tasks, I reckon the Pixel 4a is every bit as sprightly as the Pixel 4.

Unsurprisingly, though, gaming and photography where things start to waver a bit. Playing Asphalt 9 Legends on the Pixel 4a was a fine experience overall, but occasional skipped frames and a lower rendering resolution kept me well aware of the hardware I was racing on.

Likewise, you’ll have to wait a second or few longer for the Pixel 4a to conjure its post-processing magic on photos with that 730G chip, as this cheaper Pixel lacks Google’s dedicated Visual Core architecture. Burst shots, or repeatedly tapping the shutter for a bunch of frames in quick succession, won’t quite yield immediate results.

The benchmarks tell us why. In Geekbench 5, which evaluates overall system performance, the Pixel 4a achieved a multi-core score of 1,647 points; the iPhone SE managed 3,226, and with just one of the A13 Bionic’s six cores, it hit 1,331 alone. The Pixel 4a also took far longer to dispatch our Adobe Premiere Rush video encoding test, clocking 2 minutes and 27 seconds to convert a minute-long 4K video clip to 1080p. The iPhone SE needed just 47 seconds for the same task.

Ultimately, I believe the Pixel 4a’s performance will certainly be adequate for the vast majority of people, even with more powerful midrange phones now available. But if all-out power for the absolute least money is your priority, the iPhone SE remains unassailable.

Google Pixel 4a review: Battery life and charging

Armed with a 3,140-mAh battery — a modest size by today’s standards, even though Google notes it’s the largest battery ever fitted to a “small” Pixel — the Pixel 4a’s battery life isn’t anything special. Google’s new midrange phone lasted an average of 8 hours and 55 minutes across four sessions of Tom’s Guide’s battery test, where the device endlessly refreshes web pages while set to 150 nits of screen brightness.

That’s a bit worse than the 9 hours and 18 minutes the iPhone SE turned in, and considerably poorer than a number of pricier smartphones, including the OnePlus 8 (11:04) and iPhone 11 (11:16), though ironically, the Pixel 4 actually churned out an hour less than its half-price brethren. If you want better battery life for even less than the Pixel 4a, we’d direct you toward the $249 Moto G Power, our current leader for the best phone battery life at an astonishing 16 hours and 10 minutes.

Fortunately, at least the Pixel 4a recharges rather quickly, owing to its packed-in 18-watt adapter. This brick got our unit from completely dead to exactly half capacity in 30 minutes, which is pretty speedy for a device in this class. While it’s nice to know the Pixel 4a can juice back up in a pinch, its longevity on a charge is easily its weakest quality.

Google Pixel 4a review: Software and special features

Just as Google preserved the Pixel 4’s best camera tricks despite the Pixel 4a’s lower price, the Pixel 4a contained many of our favorite Pixel features that made Android 10 a little bit better at the time of the phone’s launch. The Pixel 4a has subsequently gotten the Android 11 update, so you can expect the latest and greatest Android experience. The newly released Android 12 beta runs on the Pixel 4a, too.

Android-based conveniences abound in the Pixel 4a, including Call Screen, which can fend off robocalls and telemarketers without forcing you to pick up your phone just to be duped. Google’s excellent Recorder app is here too — software we once hailed as our favorite app, because it transcribes voice to text in real time, and it’s also really, really good at it. Recorder can now export transcriptions to Google Docs, for even more seamless note taking.

Otherwise, this is Android as you know and love it, with the addition of Android 11 features like Bubbles and notification grouping for messaging apps; one-time permission granting for apps; built-in screen recording; and a new power menu that offers quick access to your Google Pay cards and passes.

One feature that was often derided in Google previous Pixels that I actually miss in the Pixel 4a is Active Edge — the pressure-sensitive sides of the device that you can squeeze to summon Google Assistant. It was a feature that was admittedly easy to forget about, but proved quite handy when committed to memory. Google omitted Active Edge in the Pixel 4a presumably in the name of keeping costs low, and we wonder if it’ll ever return in another Pixel again.

Google promises a minimum of three years of software and security updates for the Pixel 4a, which is far better than the usual year that most cheap Android phones get, or even the two years at best granted to higher-end models. Of course, three years falls short of the five or so years Apple supports its handsets, but it’s respectable nevertheless.

Google Pixel 4a vs. iPhone SE

The iPhone SE is an excellent proposition for those who want to remain in the Apple ecosystem, and of course its performance is unmatched, thanks to the A13 Bionic chip. The iPhone SE also offers a water-resistant design and wireless charging — two features the Pixel 4a lacks.

That said, the Pixel 4a is superior in many ways. It has a more sophisticated camera, a newer design with slimmer bezels, a much roomier OLED display, fast charging out of the box and a headphone jack — all for $50 less than the 64GB iPhone SE and a full $100 less than the model with comparable storage. I personally think the Pixel 4a is a better phone for most people, because it checks more boxes.

Google Pixel 4a vs. OnePlus Nord

The OnePlus Nord is an excellent alternative to the Pixel 4a, provided you live in an area where OnePlus’ midrange phone is available. The £379 Nord offers a larger 6.4-inch display with a faster 90Hz refresh rate, 5G connectivity and a bigger battery that lasts longer on a charge. The Nord also pulls off both wireless charging and wired charging that’s even faster than the Pixel 4a’s.

Since this review as posted, OnePlus has shipped the OnePlus Nord N10 5G, available for a mere $299. That phone offers 5G — the Pixel 4a does not, making that omission seem more glaring as time goes by.

Google Pixel 4a review: Verdict

With the Pixel 4a, Google has once again delivered a device I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone who wants the best phone for the least amount of money — at least if they don’t want to hold off for the expected release of the Pixel 5a in a couple months.

The Pixel 4a does practically everything well — it has a pretty display, solid performance, lots of base storage, a well-built design and especially, a stunning camera. About the only area in which it comes up short is battery life, but even then, that’s not a deal breaker.

The midrange phone market is flush with options, and many will naturally shop the Pixel 4a against its two best competitors — the iPhone SE (which is faster) and the OnePlus Nord N10 5G (which has a better display, bigger battery and 5G).

But overall, the Pixel 4a strikes a great balance between affordability, performance and quality. Like its predecessor, it makes you wonder why anyone should spend twice or three times as much on a so-called flagship. The Pixel 4a 5G is the Google phone to get if you want faster 5G connectivity, but if you’re on a tighter budget the regular Pixel 4a remains a great value. Still, with the Pixel 5a expected to arrive no later than a few months from now, if you can hold out, you’ll likely get a more powerful phone with improved cameras for a few dollars more — our Pixel 5a vs. Pixel 4a comparison looks at what else could be new.