Android Artificial Intelligence Features iPad

Google’s Pixel 8a is an AI phone well worth its price point, and it’s on sale for Black Friday

Gaylord Contreras

November 29, 2024

7 Views

SaveSavedRemoved 0

Google’s Pixel 8a is an AI phone well worth its price point, and it’s on sale for Black Friday

Contents hide

1 ZDNET’s key takeaways

2 The place the Google Pixel beats the competitors

3 How are the Pixel 8a’s cameras?

4 ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

5 What are the perfect Black Friday 2024 offers?

ZDNET’s key takeaways

The Google Pixel 8a is among the few telephones with AI options that prices lower than $500, and you will discover it discounted to only $399 on Amazon and at Best Buy.
I am a fan of the comfy design and IP67 mud and water resistance ranking.
Sadly, the show is not shiny sufficient for outside utilization and has thick, uneven bezels. For a lot of, that won’t matter as a lot.

The Pixel 8a is Google’s greatest smartphone within the sub-$500 phase. It’s totally comfy to carry, has a dependable digital camera system, and will final you for years and years because of its frequent software program updates.

Like its dearer Pixel siblings, the Pixel 8a makes use of the Tensor G3 for all its AI smarts, giving it sooner and extra environment friendly machine studying capabilities and in the end giving the cellphone an edge over the competitors. Are the AI options sufficient to face out when the competitors options higher {hardware} and, oftentimes, higher efficiency? I discovered.

Additionally: The best Black Friday deals: Live updates

The Google Pixel 8a encompasses a soft-touch again that is made out of 76% recycled plastic, however do not let the quantity idiot you; the cellphone seems attractive and is among the few units that I might suggest utilizing with out a case. The steel body for the digital camera module provides it that distinct Pixel look, and the dimensions — which is way smaller than your conventional Professional Max, Plus, or Extremely cellphone — makes it very comfy to carry.

The Pixel 8a might cross as a flagship cellphone while you have a look at it from the again. When you flip it over, nevertheless, you are taken again to the pre-2020 period of telephones with thick, uneven bezels. I believed I might get used to the entrance design with time, however I have not — not when different phones in this $500 price range are beginning to look extra polished than ever.

Google Pixel 8a display — Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

As well as, the display is not shiny sufficient outside for a cushty viewing expertise — not less than not for me. In direct daylight, I discovered myself elevating the brightness meter to the max each time.

That mentioned, Google has improved the OLED show to supply a 120Hz refresh charge for a extra fluid expertise than final 12 months’s Pixel 7a. It is a attractive show for watching movies indoors, with no notch or notable interference to the viewing high quality. I’ll point out that the OnePlus 12R is healthier for cell leisure, each for consuming media and gaming. You additionally get a sooner and extra dependable in-display fingerprint scanner with the OnePlus.

The place the Google Pixel beats the competitors

google-pixel-8a-ai-features — Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

Having a flagship chipset within the Tensor G3 means you get the identical AI options, or most of them, on the $399 Pixel 8a because the $999 Pixel 8 Pro (which can be marked down significantly). It is not probably the most highly effective processor available on the market by any means, however Tensor is liable for the clear, adaptive Pixel expertise that many Android choose. There are not any additional options that it’s a must to study or could really feel pressured to make use of.

It helps that when Google brings new options to the Pixel expertise, you’ll be able to count on them to be pretty polished. For instance, my favourite Galaxy S24 Extremely AI characteristic, Circle to Search, can be out there on the Pixel 8a. It is a characteristic that is grow to be important for my day-to-day, particularly once I’m touring, as I am usually looking about textual content and pictures on my cellphone display.

Additionally: Android 15’s Gemini overlay feature can answer questions about anything on your screen

I additionally use the native Recorder app for AI-powered transcriptions, which is extra dependable than third-party apps on Samsung and OnePlus telephones. Then there are the AI digital camera options like Magic Eraser, Photograph Unblur, and Magic Editor that come in useful once I must make a handsome photograph even higher.

The cherry on high is how the Pixel 8a, at present at $399, will get seven years of software program assist, which incorporates quarterly Pixel Function Drop updates and safety patches. Shopping for the gadget at the moment means you may obtain related updates not less than till 2031.

How are the Pixel 8a’s cameras?

The Pixel 8a sports activities a 64MP main digital camera and a 13MP ultrawide sensor on the again. Google’s phones have had distinctive cameras previously, and the Pixel 8a isn’t any totally different. It depends closely on software program processing fairly than the digital camera {hardware} to provide handsome photographs, and I am not complaining. I like its photographs higher than those I’ve captured on the Nothing Phone 2a and the OnePlus 12R.

Pixel 8a camera samples — Extensive, ultrawide, large photographs on Pixel 8a main digital camera

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

The photographs shot on the Google Pixel 8a look sharp and vibrant. The Pixel 8a additionally handles high-contrast scenes higher than different units I’ve examined, and I might decide it for low-light photographs, which stay a powerful swimsuit.

Additionally: The best Google Pixel phones you can buy: Expert tested

I’ve, nevertheless, observed two points with the digital camera system: the cellphone tends to oversharpen some photographs, and there is a pink hue on my face in portrait mode, which is not correct for my pores and skin tone. Regardless of that, the photographs are nonetheless ok for posting on social media.

Prakhar Khanna clicked on Google Pixel 8a — Google Pixel 8a portrait photographs

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

With the subsequent iteration, or through a software program replace, I might like to see Google contact up the person interface of the digital camera app. For instance, turning to Portrait mode switches to a 1.7x crop with a 2x zoom choice. It is not preferrred, and leaping from 1.7x to 2x has no actual advantages for my use circumstances.

Additionally: The best cheap phones in 2024: Expert tested and reviewed

Secondly, once I change to the entrance digital camera, it defaults to 1x, which is just too large, provides a fish-eye impact, and is bizarre if I am the one individual within the selfie. As an alternative, I might prefer to see the cellphone mechanically change to a more in-depth 1.4x when it solely detects one individual within the body.

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

The Google Pixel 8a is the perfect finances Pixel cellphone you should buy, and if you will discover it for $399, it is a good higher deal. The good AI options and lengthy software program assist make it a formidable and dependable funding, and you will not discover a higher digital camera system for underneath $500, however you must also contemplate the alternate options.

Should you want a cellphone with an enormous and shiny show, nice efficiency, succesful cameras, and sooner charging, the OnePlus 12R ($500) is my desire. Alternatively, the Nothing Phone 2a ($379) gives extra fascinating {hardware} and software program customization.