Pixel 7a Review - A Tough Sell

The brand new Pixel 7a just dropped on May 10th, and I bought one from Best Buy on May 11th. This is Google’s newest a-series phone, with a new price tag. While the 6a cost $450 at release, this one is $499, just $100 shy of the Pixel 7 at MSRP. I’ve had a lot of folks asking me if they should snag one of these or just get a Pixel 7 and I think I can provide a solid answer for this.

First off, if you do want one, I’d steer clear of the Google Store. I’ve had 3 bad experiences ordering from the online store in the past year. The first time, they didn’t send my Pixel 7 Pro until I complained to customer service then they finally shipped my order - it’s like they forgot about it.

The second issue was when I tried to order a Pixel Watch screen protector and they sent me one for a completely different watch.

This year I placed an order for the Pixel 7a, which was supposed to come with a pair of A-Series Pixel Buds earbuds and a limited edition case for free. I added two other cases to my cart and used a coupon code to make those cases free, but that took away the promo deal on the buds and the LE case, so I ended up paying for those - that’s on me for not knowing I couldn’t stack deals during checkout. But the box I received didn’t even have the buds in it that I had paid for, so I had to prove to the store CS that the box wasn’t opened after delivery - it was obviously a mistake at the warehouse because, lo’ and behold, I already have a pair that I got last year and this A-series box don’t even fit in the shipping box for my order, so they sent me the buds this week separately.

So I am returning this entire order out of frustration, and I bought the device from Best Buy instead, which came with a $50 store gift card.

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The Pixel 7a comes in Coral (exclusive to the google store), Charcoal, Snow or Sea - and I like this pretty powdery blue color. Out of the box I immediately noticed how lovely that brushed metal casing looks along the edges. The back is “3d thermoformed composite with an alloy frame” aka plastic, it weirdly attracts lots of dog hair. And it is IP67 weather resistant. I think it’s a good build, the buttons don’t rattle, it generally feels well designed.

It’s slightly thicker than the 7 and 7 Pro, in a smaller all around form factor, with a 6.1” display and some pretty noticeable bezels. The display is flat, no curve, and it’s not very bright. Even with high brightness mode enabled, it was somewhat hard to see when I had it outside on a cloudy day at the Rockies baseball stadium. 1000 nits brightness sounds like a lot but when you’re used to phones that can do 1400 to 1750, it’s noticeable.

The 90 hz refresh rate should be plenty for most people, and I enabled Smooth Display to automatically raise the rate from 60 to 90 for some content. I think the resolution is perfect for this size of phone and of course, you can customize your icon and font size in the settings if it’s too small or large for your vision needs.

There’s only one option for storage and memory - that’s 128GB of storage and 8GB RAM. For my use cases, 128gb is too little, but that’s going to be plenty for most folks. How’s the processing? The Tensor G2 chipset XXXXX. It also includes the Titan M2 security processor with 5 years of security updates, and supports both fingerprint unlock with the updated sensor (which is still slower than the Qualcomm ones - see my fingerprint sensor comparison video for a deep dive) and the 2D face unlock.

It ships with Android 13, and some older service patches so go through your settings and update as needed when it arrives. If you’re jumping from another Android 13 Pixel, this is going to be a very similar experience with very similar features. Material You makes it look customized to your aesthetic, and the usability is going to be very familiar.

This model is the 5G Sub 6 version, it’ll vary depending on your market. I didn’t notice any connection problems on my local 5G or on Wifi, which is supported up to Wifi 6E. Wifi speeds aren’t as fast as my 7 Pro but that may be because my Pro model has Ultra Wideband. As with any speed tests, your mileage may vary, it depends on a bunch of factors such as your location, barriers, cell phone carrier, etc.

Charging is meh. 7.5 W wireless charging - that’s very slow for wireless charging nowadays, but it’s the first A series phone we see with wireless charging, so I’m glad it’s finally there. 18 W wired charging - that’s slower than the 7 series flagships but is considered quick charge, so will be fast enough for most folks. It’s got a 4385 mAh battery and that’ll get you a full day of use easily, especially if you use this with like 5 hours of screen on time. Here are some of my battery screenshots from the past week of usage. I do play a lot of youtube videos in the background while I work so I use that as a battery test.

The audio quality from the dual speakers is acceptable. It gets very loud, but is kinda flat. Bass lacks but vocals for calls are clear.

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Here are the specs for the cameras. On the rear, we have a 64MP main camera and a 13MP ultrawide, and 13MP front facing selfie camera.

Photography is quick. I actually thought the photography was comparable to my Pixel 7. Photos aren’t too highly saturated. Great depth of field so excellent bokeh. If you’re using a Pixel, I actually recommend using the natural depth of field over portrait mode because the background blur looks a lot more natural. Getting macros aren’t great because there is no macro mode in this phone. Ultrawide photos do warp a bit at the edges, and that’s usually corrected in software.

Selfies look really good, especially on bright days. I think the wide camera is plenty for taking pictures with other folks.

Videos were recorded at 4k 30, though it can go up to 60. I thought videos were smooth and the audio sounds fine, but if I was recording specifically for my job, I’d use an external mic.

So… $500? I’d go with the Pixel 7 instead. Across the board, the 7 is so similar but it’s the little things, like the more premium casing, slightly faster charging speeds, optional upgrade to 256gb storage, especially if you can find that 7 on sale like I’d mentioned in my Pixel 7 review a couple of weeks ago - and now that it’s older, you can find good deals on it. It was easier for me to justify buying an A-series when the price point was farther apart and there was a very defined difference between the flagships and the mid-tier lines. Now, that difference is a little less defined.

See my full review of the Pixel 7 here to compare to the 7a, and check out this video youtube thinks you’ll enjoy next. Bye yall!