Google Pixel 8a Review: A Compact Premium Smartphone with a Pricey Catch
Google’s Pixel A series has always been a popular choice for those seeking a mid-range smartphone with exceptional camera capabilities and a clean, uncluttered Android experience. However, with the arrival of the Pixel 8a, the series has taken a significant leap, becoming a contender in the premium segment. This has pushed it into direct competition with other established brands offering powerful devices at similar price points. While Google has equipped the Pixel 8a with the latest Tensor G3 processor, boasting improved AI, the question is whether it’s enough to justify the premium price tag and compete with the impressive offerings from rivals. After spending several weeks with the Pixel 8a, I’ve discovered both its strengths and weaknesses, painting a nuanced picture of what this device represents in the ever-evolving smartphone landscape.
Google Pixel 8a Review: Price in India
The Google Pixel 8a marks a major shift for the A series, being offered in two storage configurations for the first time in India. The base 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant is priced at Rs. 52,999, while the 256GB model comes in at Rs 59,999. While opting for the higher storage variant seems appealing at first glance, considering the competition in this price range, it becomes a less compelling choice.
Google’s packaging remains familiar, offering a Type-C to Type-C USB cable for charging and data transfers, a USB Type-A adapter for data transfers, and a SIM ejector tool.
Google Pixel 8a Review: Design
The Pixel 8a boasts an attractive design, particularly in the exclusive Aloe and Bay finishes. Departing from the predominantly square design of its predecessors, it adopts a more rounded aesthetic, resulting in a comfortable hand feel. The phone’s compact dimensions also make it manageable for one-handed use.
I received the Bay finish for review, which features a frosted matte polycarbonate rear panel split by the iconic visor-like camera stripe. The flat camera module and slightly rounded sides of the phone’s frame are color-matched, creating a trendy and vibrant design that appeals to a younger audience. Despite being made of polycarbonate, the rear panel offers a premium feel and resists dust and fingerprints.
Thankfully, the quality issues I reported in my Pixel 7a review have been addressed. Besides its IP67 certification for water resistance, the Pixel 8a boasts excellent fit and finish—a welcome characteristic considering its elevated price.
However, there’s one design element that I found particularly unappealing—the display. It features noticeably thick bezels, reminiscent of the iPhone XR from 2018, which are usually associated with entry-level smartphones. The thick black bezels (especially at the bottom) significantly reduce the display area, a notable drawback for such a compact device. This stands in stark contrast to rivals such as Samsung’s Galaxy S23, launched last year at a similar price point, which features razor-thin bezels.
Google Pixel 8a Review: Specifications and Software
While the Pixel 8a might not boast cutting-edge hardware specifications, it packs some intriguing features given its price tag. The Tensor G3 SoC enables a plethora of AI features (both onboard and cloud-based) that wouldn’t be possible with the Tensor G2 found in the Pixel 7a. The processor is also paired with Google’s Titan M2 coprocessor for enhanced security.
The Tensor G3 also brings the Pixel 8a in line with its premium siblings, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, in terms of communication standards. It features Wi-Fi 6 for reliable data connectivity at home or the office and Bluetooth 5.3 for seamless pairing with both Pixel and third-party accessories. Other notable features include NFC and Google Cast compatibility, along with support for standard global positioning systems. The phone retains a physical SIM slot in addition to an eSIM, offering dual standby and support for various 5G bands.
Powering the Pixel 8a is Google’s Pixel UI, based on Android 14. Like its Pixel 8 and 8 Pro counterparts, it benefits from a 7-year commitment to OS, security, and Feature Drop updates, a level of support unmatched by most smartphone brands at any price point. While the long-term performance of the Tensor G3 processor with future Android versions remains to be seen, such a commitment underlines Google’s dedication to software support.
The Pixel UI itself is remarkably similar to that found on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro devices launched last year, with the addition of a few new features. One of my favorite aspects is the fun widget library (perfectly complementing the system theme and accents), including the new Individual contact widget that lets you add a photo background along with call and message buttons.
Another welcome addition is the Snapshot widget, which transforms your home screen into a photo-pinning board. It includes a dedicated camera button for instantly capturing and pinning images to your home screen and serves as a reminder whenever you unlock your device.
Furthermore, the Pixel 8a inherits numerous AI-enabled features from the premium Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, such as:
- Audio Eraser: Removes unwanted sounds from any video.
- Magic Editor: Lets you remove, move subjects, and enhance photos.
- Best Take: Allows you to choose different facial expressions in your photos.
These features are no longer gimmicks but substantial additions, proving useful depending on your needs.
Google Pixel 8a Review: Performance
The Tensor G3 processor, despite being designed for Google’s AI and machine learning demands, performs admirably in everyday tasks and casual gaming. Users primarily relying on their phones for social media, calls, and general browsing will likely notice no performance issues. However, when you push the device with demanding tasks like gaming or using the camera, its limitations become evident.
Based on synthetic benchmarks, the Pixel 8a delivered lower-than-expected scores:
- AnTuTu: 8,69,163 points.
- Geekbench Single-Core: 1,580 points.
- Geekbench Multi-Core: 3,558 points.
These scores indicate performance on par with the mid-range Poco F6 (priced at Rs 30,999) but lag far behind devices like the iQoo 12 (equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, priced similarly), which scored over 1,98,3471 in AnTuTu in our independent testing.
Under real-world gaming conditions, the Pixel 8a’s limitations become more apparent. While Call of Duty: Mobile was playable at Ultra or Very High graphics settings, it lacked the responsiveness found in other devices at this price point, exhibiting noticeable frame drops. The phone also heats up considerably while playing 3D games.
Beyond gaming, I encountered real-world issues related to camera usage. Launching the camera app takes just a few minutes before the phone starts to heat up, which only intensifies when recording video (4K or 1080p). After 10 minutes in direct sunlight, the phone became uncomfortably hot to hold, revealing underlying problems.
Aside from the display automatically dimming to reduce heating (making it hard to see the viewfinder), manual controls begin to disappear. The Shadow control, in addition to the usual White Balance, Shadow, and Brightness controls, disappears and only reappears once the phone cools down.
Once the phone reaches a certain temperature (after approximately 10 minutes of mixed camera use), it issues warnings:
- "Too hot"
- "Recording may end suddenly"
- "Video quality will be reduced"
These warnings clearly indicate the lack of a cooling system, something Google consistently avoids in its phones, opting instead for "software optimisations" that, as the messages indicate, don’t effectively address the issue.
These heating problems significantly detract from the camera experience. It’s particularly strange that such heating issues weren’t as pronounced on the Pixel 8 Pro. My current belief is that the Pixel 8a’s compact size is a contributing factor. It’s worth noting that the Pixel 8a shares another issue with the Pixel 8 Pro: the shutter button in Portrait mode grays out after multiple consecutive shots due to a full buffer, leading to potential missed opportunities. It’s clear that the Pixel 8a functions best in cooler environments for optimal performance, making it unsuitable for summer vacations.
Despite a larger battery, the Pixel 8a’s battery life unfortunately didn’t last any longer than the Pixel 7a. The phone barely achieved 12 hours and 15 minutes in our video loop battery test—a disappointing result by any standard. This could be attributed to the use of a 120Hz display compared to the 90Hz display on the Pixel 7a. With casual usage (excluding camera or gaming), the device could potentially last more than a day, but you’ll need to plug it in by the end of the day, with around 20 percent remaining. Heavy usage (frequent calls) will result in the phone not lasting the entire day, requiring a top-up charge before reaching home.
Google Pixel 8a Review: Cameras
The Pixel 8a adopts the newer camera interface that’s been rolled out to recent Pixel models (sans Pro Controls). This interface remains unchanged, offering access to basic White Balance, Shadows, and Brightness sliders after tapping on the settings icon. However, the cameras themselves have not been updated, with Google retaining the rear and front cameras from the Pixel 7a. This means that potential improvements stem primarily from the new processor.
Photos taken with the primary camera exhibit natural colors and good dynamic range, but blown highlights are noticeable in some shots, particularly those with high contrast lighting. Unlike the Pixel 8 Pro, the photos showcase the typically cooler color tones that Pixel cameras have become known for. Thankfully, the white balance slider offers the ability to correct this while shooting. Noise is well controlled in outdoor settings and during indoor or low-light conditions. Results from the digital 2X zoom focal length are decent in daylight but reveal noticeable detail loss in low light, making it best to avoid in such conditions.
Portraits captured with the rear camera showcase good detail and edge detection but exhibit significant noise, especially when shooting subjects under artificial lighting or low light. The 2X zoom is best avoided in Portrait mode, with most users finding the default 1.7X zoom sufficient to eliminate any unwanted distortion. Selfies offer plenty of detail but have slightly aggressive edge detection, leading to uneven edges around the subject. Skin tones appear natural, but I observed that the selfie camera struggles with bright background lighting, resulting in blown-out backgrounds.
The ultrawide camera captures impressive photos with excellent detail and good dynamic range, pulling in significantly more of the scene compared to the primary camera. It’s commendable that Google has perfectly matched the color tones of both rear cameras, a feat that remains uncommon at this price point.
Video quality presents a mixed bag, depending on the phone’s heating. Although the quality automatically scales down, I managed to capture several samples. 4K 30fps video seems to be the ideal setting for this phone, achieving good quality and contrast. However, the camera struggles to maintain focus during panning, resulting in softened footage. Low-light video recordings aren’t impressive for a smartphone at this price point, with footage exhibiting noise and softened textures.
Google Pixel 8a Review: Verdict
The Google Pixel 8a presents itself as a solid contender at the lower end of the premium segment. However, it faces several hurdles. The Tensor G3 processor manages daily tasks adequately but tends to overheat under stress. Battery life isn’t the best in class, and wired charging is extremely slow compared to competing devices in this price range. Furthermore, the phone’s smaller display size pales in comparison to most devices at similar price points. All these factors make it hard to recommend unless a compact form factor and timely updates are your priority for a premium smartphone.
The Pixel 8a’s starting price of Rs. 52,999 (8GB + 128GB) exacerbates these issues. Numerous devices from rival brands are available in India for lower prices.
If you’re seeking a compact smartphone, Samsung’s Galaxy S23 (review), although a year old, presents itself as a much better option. It offers Qualcomm silicon (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC), which is missing from this year’s models. AI features from the latest S24 series have also made their way to the S23, meaning you won’t miss out on much in terms of features. The S23 also boasts a more flexible camera setup with a true 3X telephoto camera. Additionally, it includes a vapor chamber cooling system to manage heat efficiently, ensuring it won’t slow down or overheat under demanding conditions.
The iQoo 12, priced at the same Rs 52,999, offers a larger display, superior performance, good cameras, and fast wired charging. If you’re willing to spend slightly more, the OnePlus 12, priced at Rs 64,999 (12GB + 256GB), is a compelling all-rounder in this price range.
Ultimately, the Pixel 8a represents a step forward for Google’s A series, attempting to bridge the gap between mid-range and premium devices. However, its price tag and performance limitations make it a tougher sell when compared to the impressive offerings from rival brands. Choosing the Pixel 8a requires a specific set of priorities, emphasizing a compact form factor, timely software updates, and Google’s distinct AI-driven features.
