A flagship Pixel experience let down by some small compromises.
Google's Pixel series of smartphones have been popular in the market ever since they came and brought in the best hardware and software combination thus priced slightly higher. Considering the higher pricing of the Pixel smartphones, Google decided to bring the Pixel A series of smartphones which bring good cameras and a similar software experience except for some cost-cutting in specifications.
Recently, Google launched the Pixel 6a to set newer benchmarks in the budget flagship segment. Compared to the Pixel 4a (Review) launched in India in 2020, the Pixel 6a is a big upgrade since there was no launch of the Pixel 5a in India. The Pixel 6a packs in a powerful Tensor chipset as found on the Pixel 6 which is the main attraction since it is much cheaper than the Pixel 6.
However, since Google has priced this smartphone lower than the flagship Pixel series, it has cut a few corners thus focusing more towards performance, cameras and software. Since the budget flagship segment has many smartphones from different brands, is the Pixel 6a worth buying considering the few compromises it has? Let's find out in the full review.
Google Pixel 6a Design:
The Google Pixel 6a looks exactly like that of the flagship Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro where the back has a black thick bar that houses the dual cameras with a LED flashlight and this is made up of plastic. The back is almost flat compared to the Pixel 4a which had slight curves to the sides. However, unlike the Pixel 6, you miss out on a glass back instead this back is made up of polycarbonate.
The back has a smooth glossy finish that does catch some fingerprints and smudges but this back has an IP67 rating which means it is dust and water-resistant. The Pixel 6a weighs around 178 grams which makes it lighter and easier to hold in hand. Around the sides, there is an aluminium frame that looks premium and has a power button with volume keys on the right side.
The left side has a single nano SIM card tray at the lower part. At the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port and two speaker grilles and also one at the top edge of the display. There are a lot of antenna lines all around the aluminium frame and the top only houses the secondary noise-cancelling microphone only. On the front, there is a single punch-hole display with slightly sharper edges around.
Also, you have slightly thicker bezels all around the display. There is no microSD card slot and no 3.5mm headphone jack also. Overall, the build and design are not the best in the class as other smartphones do come with a premium glass build but still you get an aluminium frame and IP67 rating which feel premium.
Google Pixel 6a Display:
The Google Pixel 6a houses not so larger 6.1-inch Full HD+ (1080x2400 pixels) OLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 20:9. Since this is an OLED display, you get very good colour reproduction and viewing angles also. However, this is just a normal '60Hz display as you do not get any higher refresh rate which is slightly disappointing considering this is a budget flagship smartphone.
In all the daily tasks, you would not find much difference as everything feels smooth but compared to other 90Hz or 120Hz displays, it does feel slower. You get a 120Hz touch sampling rate which is not the best in class but still, you get faster touch responses. In terms of brightness, this display can reach 1100nits of brightness which is very good and you do get good visibility under direct sunlight.
The display has two different settings to choose from - Natural and Adaptive where the Natural profile covers the sRGB profile and the Adaptive covers the DCI-P3 gamut scale. The display of the Pixel 6a has Gorilla Glass 3 for protection which is not the best in class but still good enough. Since it is an OLED display, you get an optical in-display fingerprint scanner that works fast and accurately.
The display has support for HDR10+ in applications like YouTube and also there is support for Widevine L1 so you can stream HD content on OTT platforms like Netflix, Prime, etc. and also Netflix also has support for HDR which is really good. Overall, the display is great for media consumption but the lack of a high refresh rate is a big disappointment.
Google Pixel 6a Performance:
The biggest talking point about the Pixel 6a is the newer flagship Tensor chipset similarly found on the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro. The Tensor chipset has a 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-X1 core with 2x2.25 GHz Cortex-A76 cores and another 4x1.8 GHz Cortex-A55 cores this chipset is based on an efficient 5nm process and it is coupled with a Mali G78 MP20 GPU.
In terms of daily tasks, the smartphone can handle everything thrown at it whether scrolling through webpages, playing games, rendering videos, and also other lighter multi-tasking also. When it comes to heavy gaming it is not as good as the flagship Snapdragon 888 or even the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset but still, you can play games like BGMI with HDR graphics with an Extreme frame rate easily.
However, while playing at the highest graphics settings, you might notice some frame drops and the back does feel warmer after long hours of gaming. Though there is no dedicated liquid cooling system present underneath the heat does dissipate faster. In the CPU throttling test, the smartphone could achieve a sustained performance of around 75-80 per cent which is good with minimal throttling noticed.
The benchmark scores were very good but still not the segment's best. You get support for good carrier aggregation and support of 12 bands of 5G. The Google Pixel 6a is only available in one variant - 6GB LPDDR4X RAM with 128GB storage with UFS 3.1 speeds. Overall, the performance feels flagship level and gaming is also good.
Google Pixel 6a Software:
The highlight of every Pixel smartphone is the clean software experience and the Stock Android provides a lot of features and customizations where you can change the icon shape and size, different wallpapers and themes, and also you get the wallpaper-based colour in the settings and most of the Google applications. There is also the Google Feed located at the left of the home screen.
There is no pre-installed application or any annoying notifications as such. Some of the interesting features you get with the Tensor chip are Assistant Voice Typing and there is also Live Caption. The Pixel 6a also has its Voice Recording application and turning on the Call Screen feature will enable the Google Assistant feature to answer a call from a known/unknown user.
In terms of software updates, you are assured to get another three years of AndroidOS updates and five years of security patches which is very good but not the segment best Samsung provides four years of AndroidOS updates and five years of security updates for its flagship smartphones. Overall, the software experience feels smooth for daily usage.
Google Pixel 6a Cameras:
The biggest highlight of every Pixel smartphone is not the cameras but the software that makes the cameras better. The Pixel 6a has a dual-camera setup that includes a 12MP f/1.7 Sony IMX363 sensor for the main camera and a 12MP f/2.2 Sony IMX386 sensor for the ultrawide camera and on the front, there is an 8MP f/2.0 camera.
The images from the main camera come out with details that look sharper and the dynamic range is very good. The exposure in the background is well under control and also the colours look natural with very less noise in the background. Using HDR, the images had slightly oversaturated colours with almost no noise in the background.
At night, the images from the main camera do a good job in terms of details and dynamic range with less noise in the background. However, there is some amount of noise present in very darker areas and slight overexposure and the main camera always turns on the NightSight automatically to take an image during the night.
The images taken from the ultrawide camera come out with details that come out with good contrast and the dynamic range is also good with less noise in the background. The colours look natural with less oversharpening and you get a good 120-degree field of view. At night, the ultrawide camera does a very good job in terms of details that look sharper and you also have a good dynamic range with less noise present.
There is no third camera so the ultrawide camera also doubles up as a macro camera which means you get sharper details and good dynamic range with almost no noise present. Since it has autofocus, the details look accurate and have good contrast. In terms of portraits, the dynamic range and edge detection are good with proper background blur. The skin tones also look natural with good contrast in the background.
In terms of selfies, the Pixel 6a does a good job in terms of details that look sharper and have a good dynamic range with very less noise in the background. The skin tones have a natural tone with slight skin smoothening. The selfie portraits come out with good dynamic range and edge detection with proper background blur. However, the still competition does offer better 16MP or 32MP front cameras.
In terms of videos, the main camera can record 4K videos at 60fps and these videos have an excellent level of detail and good dynamic range with very less noise present in the background. The colours look natural and since you get OIS, the videos look stabilized. The ultrawide camera can record 4K videos at 30fps and the details look sharper and dynamic range with less noise present.
On the front, the camera can record 1080p videos at 60fps and these videos could have slightly wider dynamic range and details look sharper. Overall, the cameras are one of the best and do feel like flagship grade cameras.
Google Pixel 6a Battery Life:
The Pixel 6a sports a 4410mAh battery that can easily last for two days with heavy usage and with normal usage it can last for two to three days which is very good since Stock Android is very well optimized for battery life and also you do not get any high refresh rate to consume battery. There is support for 18W fast charging which is very slow but you do not get a charger inside the box.
Still using a particular 18W fast charger, it takes around 0 to 100 percent around two hours which is very much time consuming. This is a slight disappointment considering all smartphones priced less have 65/120W fast charging speeds.
Google Pixel 6a Audio Quality:
The Pixel 6a sports a dual stereo speaker setup that sounds very loud and clear. The loudness levels at the highest settings are very good but there is no 3.5mm headphone jack present which was earlier present on previous Pixel smartphones.
Verdict:
Overall, the Google Pixel 6a is a good budget flagship as it brings the powerful performance and gaming, clean software experience and great camera experience. However, there are many things that Google has crippled to price the smartphone aggressively like there is no high refresh rate display, the charging speeds are very slow and build is polycarbonate instead of glass.
Compared to other smartphones that have a premium build and design, high refresh rate display, powerful chipset, the Google Pixel 6a feels slightly left out but if you want a smartphone for the great camera and software experience, then the Pixel 6a is a perfect smartphone to buy considering its high asking price.
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