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If you want an Android phone with a great camera and solid featureset you're probably figuring you'll have to pay $800 or more. But you don't! The new Google Pixel 3a Android Smartphone offers the same great camera as the Pixel 3, along with a crisp screen, fast charging and plenty of storage for most users at a mind-boggling price of $400. That's right, $400. To be fair, it doesn't have Qi wireless charging and it's not IPX rated for water resistance, but... do you really care?
Tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ took the Pixel 3a on a road trip from snowy mountains of Colorado to the beaches of California and found it did remarkably well in a lot of areas. This video includes sample video and photos, along with close-ups of key Pixel 3a features too.
Learn more about it at https://store.google.com/
#teampixel #pixel3a
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0:00
Is this the best budget Android phone on the market? Let's have a look
0:04
Dave Taylor here, and I'm looking at this. This is the Google Pixel 3a Android smartphone, and it's really pretty darn nice
0:19
Keep in mind it's price, and it's crazy nice. Now, let's talk about it. So first off, the specs
0:26
Android 9.0, Android Pie, the very latest version of Android, powered by not the world's fastest chip, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 64-bit octa-core
0:38
but it's not the state of the art, but that's a lot of how they've got the price to come down
0:43
Now, it has 4GB of RAM, and it has 64GB of storage, and that's it
0:48
It is completely unexpandable storage. There are not multiple configurations available. You can't put in a microSD card anywhere
0:55
It is what it is, 64GB. Probably not a huge issue, because nowadays so much of what we get is off the cloud or the Internet anyway
1:03
I mean, I don't save gigabyte of music, I just listen to Spotify
1:07
So, hopefully 64GB will be enough. Now, let's talk about the camera. People love the cameras on these things
1:13
and this in particular has a beautiful camera on it. So, the rear-facing camera is a 12.2 megapixel f1.8 camera
1:21
So, let's have some examples. First off, some video. And as you can see, it's pretty clean and crisp
1:28
There's nothing to complain about with this video. Now, the photos are a little bit more of a different story, and it's interesting
1:35
So, here's a couple of photos that I think really show off just how well it takes pictures
1:41
but then here's another photo where I zoomed in on the camera
1:45
or zoomed in on the camera app on the phone, if you want to be more precise
1:49
and you can see it didn't get it in focus. So, I thought that was interesting when I reviewed my pictures
1:54
Meh, you know. Overall, that was the only picture out of maybe a couple of hundred I took that wasn't in focus
2:01
So, there is that. Now, the front-facing camera is an 8 megapixel selfie camera
2:07
and actually, the camera technology is essentially the same as on the Pixel 3
2:12
which is its double-the-price senior, I don't know, big brother. So, you know, for what this is, and for the price point, it's really extraordinary camera technology
2:23
So, that's really great. Now, some of the other things to talk about is that it does not have Gorilla Glass
2:30
like you see on most modern smartphones. They use something called Dragon Trail Glass
2:35
Now, in the field, we'll have to see how that plays out over time
2:39
but hopefully, I think it's not going to be a big deal, but that's worth knowing
2:43
And notice, let me get this to a nice, bright screen. So, there's no notch, right
2:49
But, there's no notch because it doesn't actually go all the way to the very top and bottom
2:54
So, you know, this is kind of an older-school design, but not horribly so
3:00
I don't feel like this is something where you're like, oh, there's so much extra screen here
3:04
Why doesn't the display actually take all that up? So, you know, sidestep the whole notch issue
3:10
but then, therefore, they're not using an edge-to-edge screen. But, it still does things like squeeze to get Google Assistant, right
3:19
So, that's pretty cool. So, all of those features that you, like, have heard about on the Pixel 3
3:24
or you might have with your Pixel 3, are all on this, too. Now, you'll notice I pulled it out of this
3:29
So, Google also sent me the Google Pixel 3a case. So, this is a pretty neat case
3:35
It's actually a fabric-covered carbon case. So, it's really tough, and it's almost exactly the right dimensions for the phone
3:45
The only thing I will note, as you can see in this close-up, is if you are obsessive about it
3:50
that the fingerprint scanner on the back is not exactly centered in the circle
3:56
But, again, honestly, I don't think anyone's going to care. Just thought I'd point that out
4:01
The case, by the way, is $40. So, that's pretty typical for vendor cases as opposed to third parties
4:09
I imagine by the time you check out this video, there'll be hundreds of companies on Amazon and eBay
4:14
selling Google Pixel 3a cases for $9. So, if you want less expensive cases
4:20
then there will be options with that, too. Now, it's also worth noting that there are two versions of this phone
4:28
This is the 3a. This is the smaller screen. So, this has a 5.6-inch OLED screen running at 2220x1080
4:39
The bigger brother is the 3a XL, which goes up to a 6-inch screen
4:46
That's four-tenths of an inch difference on the diagonal. It's not very much
4:50
It's certainly maybe that much more. Pretty minimal change. That adds $80 to the price
4:57
And, interestingly, it's 6.0-inch OLED, but that one's running at 2160x1080. So, slightly lower resolution
5:06
I'm sure you actually won't be able to tell the difference. There is a big difference in the battery life, however
5:12
So, this, the 3a, has a nice 3000 mAh battery that's going to power you for all day and into the evening
5:20
And the 3a XL has a 3700 mAh battery. Both of those are decent jumps up from what the Pixel 3 has
5:29
So, we have a lower-speed CPU, so it's going to use less power
5:34
and we have a bigger battery. So, that's kind of a nice direction to go in
5:38
Now, one of the things people have been saying about the 3a is that it's slow
5:42
So, I thought it would be really interesting for us to actually try doing a recording
5:48
So, let me show you on the screen. Let me just see if I can get my screen recording to work
5:57
Demos, right? It's always tricky to get the demo to work. Okay, now, we're going to do a screen recording
6:03
so you'll be able to see what I'm doing on the screen here on the side
6:07
And I just want to show what it's like to launch an app and stuff
6:11
So, let's start by bringing up all my apps, and I want to find an app that I haven't launched before
6:17
Let's try Google Pay. And so, you can see here how fast apps are loading
6:23
and it's not bad. I mean, it's nothing to write home about
6:27
I have Spotify, but I preloaded that because I haven't logged in, but I have launched it before
6:32
So, that's not necessarily representative. So, let's go to Chrome, and let's go to..
6:40
I don't know, let's go to Amazon.com. And so, people have been saying that this is a slow device
6:47
I don't see it. I think the performance is entirely acceptable here
6:51
So, I'm going to go ahead and stop that recording. And I'm really impressed with this Pixel 3a
6:59
Now, there are a couple of things that I kind of wish they would have added
7:03
and perhaps the biggest of those is wireless Qi charging. Now, the Pixel 3 definitely has wireless charging
7:09
And fast wireless charging. Very cool. But, for some reason, the 3a, they opted not to add that circuitry
7:16
I think it only would have added a couple of bucks, but, you know, that's their choice
7:20
For most people, probably you don't really care. Now, that's one of those things where
7:25
wouldn't it be cool to have wireless charging? But in reality, it's not really massively amount of
7:30
you know, huge amount of work to plug in a USB-C charging cable
7:34
which of course comes with the phone anyway. So, I don't know that that's a game stop
7:40
or a hard stop, red flag, whatever you want to call it. I don't know that that's that big a deal
7:45
But, it's also the case that there's no IP rating at this at all
7:50
And that's a bit of a drag. I really wish they would have actually had it be at least water resistant
7:55
But this is like an old school smartphone. So, if you're even in a highly humid environment
8:00
who knows what's going to happen. That's a little scary. You know, not a thousand dollar investment
8:05
but however much it costs, it's still a lot of money for you to be using your phone
8:09
and then suddenly it starts raining, and you don't realize, and your phone gets wet
8:13
Now, are you hosed? I don't know. We'll have to see how that works in the field as people use it
8:18
But, I wish Google would have given it even just some water resistance
8:22
They chose not to. But really, those are my only complaints. Now, there's a couple more things I want to show you
8:28
Number one, in the box. I already have an unboxing. You can go check out if you want
8:34
But in the box, just super quickly, is a USB-C, USB-C charging cable
8:40
and a USB-C to USB-3 adapter, for those of you that have old school devices
8:49
because we all do. And a 18 watt fast charger. So, this has USB-C on the back
8:56
so obviously you plug in the cable, you plug it into your phone, charges fast, and it charges last a long time
9:02
Now, the thing is, that's it. So what's missing? No headphones. No earbuds
9:08
No nothing, right? Now, honestly, you probably already have a pair of earbuds
9:13
or you can go pick a pair up for 10 or 20 bucks, and that's okay. And when you do, you will be so excited
9:19
that it has a 3.5 millimeter audio jack. Even the Pixel 3 doesn't have this
9:23
So, good job Google. Thank you for actually paying attention to customers
9:27
and saying, what do people really want on their phones? So, I'm really hoping Apple might make that choice too
9:34
because I don't really want to be perpetually trapped in the world of Bluetooth. I know they have their little adapter dongle
9:39
but seriously, have you tried to use that thing? Yikes. So, Google, point for them, right
9:45
So, 3.5 millimeter jack. On the right hand side is volume up and down
9:50
and a nice, cheery, bright little button. And left side basically gives you the micro SIM slot
9:57
so you can actually make this a phone and have it used. And then on the bottom, you have USB-C for charging
10:03
and then two little cutouts for speakers. And, you know, this is not a top-of-the-line phone
10:09
but whatever. I mean, it's really, really nice. There's a lot to like here
10:14
It has fingerprint scanner on the back. The camera has a little tiny flash there
10:19
That's basically it. As you can see, very nice case. And it's funny because the phone has an orange button
10:27
but the case has this sort of fluorescent yellow button. I'm not sure where they're picking up these colors from
10:33
but it works. Whatever. So, you know, get it all back to the beginning
10:38
and here we go. This is a heck of a phone. Now, before I tell you the price
10:43
and we talk about that, and it is a great price for this phone, I just want to ask if you can subscribe to my channel
10:49
Really appreciate when you do. And if you have a Pixel 2 or a Pixel 3
10:53
or you're looking at other budget Android options, let me know in the comments
10:57
and we can have a discussion about features and functionality. Now, this is the Google Pixel 3a
11:05
the smaller screen of the two, and it is a remarkably budget-priced $400
11:11
That is a pretty good deal. The case, like I said, adds another $40
11:15
If you want it, you probably want it because you want to protect your phone
11:19
And then if you wanted the larger screen, which is the 3a XL
11:23
that only bumps you up to $480. That is, again, a really good price
11:28
You can check all this out at the Google Store, and it's going to be available
11:33
through a wide variety of different phone carriers, too. And you'll have many options to pick one of these up
11:39
And if you're looking for a low-price Android phone that has good features and a pretty darn decent camera
11:45
this well might be an excellent choice for you. So I encourage you to check it out
11:49
And that's it. So I'll catch you in my next video. ♪♪♪��
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