Google Pixel 8a review: A better budget phone but a worse deal

Where its predecessors were mavericks that shook up the mid-range market, the Pixel 8a feels a little boring by comparison. Sure, it's a little better in the ways that you'd expect. But it's also a little more expensive and it's become hard to shake the sense that Google is falling short on fresh ideas when it comes to meaningful differentiation between the Pixel 8a and the standard Pixel 8.

Indeed, Google's budget-friendly Pixel phone is still great value, but it's also getting a little harder to recommend. What the Pixel 8a gains in software support and silicon, it loses in thrift factor.

The price has always been part of the draw for the Pixel A but Google's latest affordable smartphone is more keen to push upwards on that front than it is to raise the stakes. According to a Google representative, this move upward in price is “primarily driven by foreign exchange.”

However, even when adjusted for inflation, the Pixel 8a doesn't feel like it over-index on bang for your buck in the way that its predecessors did. It feels like more of the same rather than more of a good thing.

All this is to say that you have to squintat  the differences between this year's device, its predecessor and the Pixel 8. If you've bought a Pixel device in the last few years, there's not a whole lot to get excited about here beyond a few spec tweaks.

Still, if you're coming to things afresh then the Pixel 8a will make a strong first impression. To hold and handle, the handset feels premium, lightweight and sturdy. Those qualities make for a great experience, even if they are diminished by the price creep.

The centerpiece here is a 6.1-inch Actua display. Compared to the screen on last year's Pixel 7a, the OLED display on the Pixel 8a boasts a faster 120Hz refresh rate, a 40% increase in peak brightness and an unspecified improvement in scratch resistance. These smaller gains are nice to see, even if they are more evolution than revolution.

It's the same story for the camera configuration. The rear camera is exactly the same as the one on the Pixel 7a. Fortunately, like that device, Google's latest mid-ranger swings above its weight class. Even in the rare instance where the handset fell short, Google's AI-powered photography features like Best Take and Magic Eraser made it very easy to salvage the situation.

The dual-lens rear camera here can't keep up with the likes of the iPhone 15 Pro but the results it delivers have a clarity and vibrancy that's extremely endearing to the eye. Even if it's unlikely to sate more ambitious amateur photographers, the 64MP main lens and 13MP ultrawide lens on the Pixel 8a are more than up to the task of everyday snaps.

If you want to keep things brief, the TLDR; is that Google's latest budget-friendly smartphone doesn't miss a beat on performance. On the inside, the Pixel 8a comes powered by 8GB of RAM and the same Google Tensor G3 processor seen in last year's Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. That means it's not going to outpace Apple's latest silicon anytime soon but it's got the edge on everything else in the mid-range market.

In practice, apps and games like Risk of Rain: Hostile Worlds ran well and as someone who uses a Pixel 8 Pro as their daily driver, the difference in performance between the two devices was significantly less noticeable than the difference in size.

For those who want to spend a bit more time on it, there are a few talking points to discuss.

The first is that the Pixel 8a features the same processor as last year's flagship devices, so it's got support for the same AI-powered productivity apps like Circle-to-Search, Call Assist, and Live Translate. If you're tossing up between this device and something like the Samsung Galaxy A55, these inclusions are a firm point in Google's favour. 

The story when it comes to storage is a little less clear-cut. This time around, there are two versions of the Pixel 8a to choose from. The cheaper one comes with 128GB of onboard storage. The more expensive model doubles that to 256GB at the cost of another $100. Combined with the baseline increase in price for the Pixel 8a, this adds up to an unsatisfying $949 for those who want the best version of Google's budget phone.

While the extra choice is welcome, it's hard to get excited about the spec bump given how much it eats away at the affordable asking price that's always been a big part of the Pixel A-series charm.

If there's a silver lining here, it's that both variants come with seven years of OS upgrades, security upgrades and feature drops. That's in line with last year's Google flagship device as far as future-proofing goes, which puts the Pixel 8a well ahead of what other Android smartphone manufacturers offer at this price point.

The last piece of the puzzle here is the battery. At 4497mAh, the battery in the Pixel 8a is another front on which Google has garnered some gains. Since it's bigger than the one in the Pixel 7a, it feels sensible to say that you should expect slightly better battery life. In practice though, I struggled to spot the difference. Burned down from 100% to zero using video streamed over WiFi, the Google Pixel 8a lasted 17 hours and 37 minutes.

Fortunately, the Pixel 8a remains one of the few mid-range options to offer wireless charging and lasted long enough that I never found myself with a serious case of battery anxiety. I could easily make it through two days of regular usage before needing to top up.

The Pixel 8a gets enough right that isn't too diminished or overshadowed by a few conspicuous weaknesses. At the end of the day, it still has a standout design, a snappy processor, great battery life and a camera that's more than capable enough for those who don't want to shell out for something like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. That combination won't get you as far as it might have without a price hike, but it'll still get you pretty far for $849 outright.

Google's mid-range maverick remains formidable, but a bad case of price creep makes it harder to recommend this year as one of the best Google phone.