Google Pixel 7a vs Google Pixel 7: A TOTAL Head-Scratcher!

So, the problem with Google Pixel is this – only several countries (eg: US, Canada, UK) have the official Google Store, so if you’re not in these countries… tough luck. 

So I managed to get my hands on the Google Pixel 7a, thanks to my fellow YouTuber friend, Lim from Lim Reviews. So with that, I’ve got to live with it, use it daily for 2 weeks to answer the question of: “Is this really worth the USD$499 price tag?” And we’ll find out if this is a better value compared to the flagship Google Pixel 7

 

Build Quality & Design

When we’re talking about looks, these two phones look very similar, almost like twins! You might see that the camera on the Pixel 7 is a bit bigger because of the larger black circle around the camera array, but that is if you really look very closely. 

The Pixel 7a is also missing the rear microphone and the LED sensor as well, and there’s a slight difference in where the camera bar and the side rail meet, where the Pixel 7 is more seamless, but other than that, they look and feel the same.

Now, even though the Pixel 7 is supposed to be 3.5 grams heavier, but the difference is barely there because we’re talking about the difference of a small feather. I mean, who in the world would be able to tell a difference in the weight? 

The Pixel 7a is made of plastic, not glass like the Pixel 7, but that is not a bad thing since glass-back smartphones are less durable, so the Pixel 7a has got your “back” literally on this one. Speaking of durability, the Pixel 7a has an IP67 rating instead of IP68, which is about the same rating, so no issue over here.

Then Google has announced some cool new colors for this new Pixel 7a, which is Charcoal, Snow, Coral and this light blue color, which they call Sea, ah sea… kind of makes me want to take a vacation man.

So in the end, when it comes to the build quality and the design, it is a little of a DRAW for me since the Google Pixel 7a doesn’t feel like it has a low-quality build.

 

Display

Now, remember when I say the Google Pixel 7 screen was just okay? Well, the Pixel 7a is the same story, but probably not as okay as a Google Pixel 7. It’s got a slightly smaller screen of 6.1” compared to 6.3” on the Pixel 7. 

Now, both phones can hit a 90Hz refresh rate but oddly enough, Google has turned it off by default, so you’ll need to toggle it in the display settings.

Now, I’m not sure why that is, maybe Google doesn’t want you to use it, who knows? But here’s a tip: if you’re thinking of saving battery by sticking to the 60Hz display, I would say think again, because at times it can get pretty choppy, making your shiny new phone feel cheap. And trust me, it’s not the best experience.

The fingerprint sensor on the Pixel 7a does a decent job like the Pixel 7. It is not quite up to Samsung’s ultrasonic levels of speed, but if you plan to use a fingerprint sensor if your finger is wet, well, good luck doing so! 

Then the Pixel 7 screen is an AMOLED panel instead of OLED on the Pixel 7a, and while technically AMOLED is better, but honestly it’s not something that you would really notice unless you put both phones side by side. 

But one thing that really stands out when you put the phone side by side is the Pixel 7a has thicker bezels which made it look like it was living in the past, pretty outdated looking for year 2023.

So if you’re someone who’s all about the screen and wants the best of the best when it comes to having a better screen between these two phones, the Pixel 7 might be the way to go. 

But still, the difference is minor to say the least because I still feel overall the screen quality on the Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7a is just decent at best compared to other flagship smartphones, or even mid-range smartphones out there.

 

Cameras

Next, onto the cameras. Now, here’s where things get a little funny because the Pixel 7a’s cameras look more buffed up than the Pixel 7’s when it comes to the specs. 

It’s got a 64MP main camera compared to 50MP on the Pixel 7, and even the ultrawide and the selfie lenses have a tad more pixels.

So it almost seems like they wanted to put this new camera system on the Pixel 7 and then they thought: “Ah new cameras! Oh damn, not enough time, it’s all right, let’s just put it on the Pixel 7a when it comes out then!” 

But as we all know, it’s not just how many megapixel that the camera has because image processing is what really makes or breaks the camera’s performance. 

So, is the Pixel 7a camera better? Well, in all honesty side by side, they are identical whether it’s the ultrawide, the main, the 8x zoom, or even the selfie camera, it’s like looking in the mirror.

 

If you liked the pictures from my Google Pixel 7 review, or if you have seen any Google Pixel 7 photos, then the Pixel 7a won’t disappoint. It offers the same amazing dynamic range and the overall image quality was really great as well.

Now, this made me really happy knowing that Google did not compromise on the camera’s performance on this Pixel 7a even though it’s supposed to be more of a mid-range or affordable lineup, because compared to other smartphone brands that would usually cripple the camera performance for the non-flagship phones.

Then as for portrait mode, well still awesome, whether you’re snapping a picture of your friend, your cat, or even flowers as well.

Video quality also impressed me, both on the ultrawide and the main lenses. Even the image stabilization for the rear and the front 4K video recording was on point, with great dynamic range too.

However, the Pixel 7a is missing the Cinematic Blur compared to the flagships but that did not matter to me because not only I did not use it, but knowing the fact that it kept at 1080P and the quality was just meh… it didn’t bother me at all.

Then the selfie photos performed like its flagship siblings. The HDR performance is excellent, even when the sun is shining behind you, which was truly amazing indeed.

Then the Night Sight performs really well, producing great low-light shots during at night. 

Now, there’s no Macro mode, so that is fine by me because as long as no dedicated macro lens. But the good news is that you can get pretty close to a subject and get some really great close-up shots.

Portrait mode at night was really great too, and once again, to my surprise, the selfie images performed really well during low light, which means that you don’t need a hundred or a thousand megapixel selfie camera to make it perform really well.

However, you can expect a little noise if you’re taking videos under low light for the front camera, but the rear camera did perform pretty well when it comes to nighttime videos.

So all in all, it’s a DRAW for the cameras.

 

Software

All right, let’s chat about my experience with the software on these phones. If there’s one thing that I’ve noticed using the Google Pixel 7 Pro, the Pixel 7 and now the Pixel 7a, it’s that Google has really stepped up the game for each model.

Compared to their older phones, Google has been handing out software updates like candy on Halloween, which is a big thumbs up from me! 

The day-to-day experience with Android 13 on the Google Pixel 7a was a smooth sail, features like Live Transcribe and Voice Recorder with its transcript feature were also still top-notch. And the Material You design user interface is still one of the best in the industry.

And while Google is promising three years of software updates which was great, but out of nowhere, Samsung is offering even more, which is weird since Android belongs to Google…

And this is still a downside because if you are from a country that does not have the Call Screening feature, you are totally out of luck. 

And here’s another head-scratcher: using Android Auto on this phone feels like it’s just done a workout – it gets very warm! It’s just like the Samsung S23 Ultra and the Xiaomi 13 Pro, and even OnePlus 11 when I was using these phones on Android Auto.

Even though it’s not really fair to blame Pixel for the heat issues during Android Auto use, but I’ve noticed that the Google Pixel 7 Pro does a way better job at keeping cool compared to the Pixel 7 and this Pixel 7a.

Now, I still find this a little odd because all of the phones use the same Google Tensor G2 chipset and the same 8GB of RAM variant when I tested all of these three phones.

So in terms of software, it is still a DRAW again.

 

Gaming

Now, speaking of the Google Pixel 7 Pro, once again it was still better at gaming compared to the Google Pixel 7, so how is it better compared to the Google Pixel 7a with its latest software patches? 

So I’ve decided to test out gaming once again on Genshin Impact as usual. Starting from the Google Pixel 7, the game was smooth with no lag at medium graphics, 60 fps with motion blur turned off. The phone did get quite warm about 15 minutes and here’s where there was quite a huge stutter during intense sessions in the game.

However, on the Pixel 7a even at the same settings, after 15 minutes of gameplay, it was still smooth and overall fluid compared to the Pixel 7, which was really surprising, another head-scratcher indeed because I even decided to go even higher when it comes to the settings and it still ran fine, but here’s where the battery drained pretty quickly.

So yeah, I don’t know whether you want to call it a weird surprise or a good surprise, but it seems like the Pixel 7a is a better phone for gaming as of now.

 

Battery

Now as for battery, here’s something that made me scratch my head, yeah I’ve been scratching my head a lot I might be balding really soon! Because Google decided to give the Pixel 7a a slightly bigger battery than the Pixel 7 – a 4385 mAh compared to 4355 mAh, a very surprising twist right? 

Well, wait till you hear how the battery does on each phone.

Now, on the Pixel 7, the battery life was just okay, I got about 5 hours and 10 minutes or so when I was using the phone daily, which isn’t amazing but given the phone size, I’m not gonna throw a tantrum about it, and that was during dark mode turned on and me using it daily until I hit 9% battery.

But the battery life on the Pixel 7a was… as usual, another head-scratcher, because I was only getting an average of 4 and a half hours of battery life. So I guess size did not matter when it comes to the battery between the Pixel 7a and the Pixel 7. 

However, from a battery on a software’s perspective, I love how Google calculates roughly how much battery is left according to the time of the day by just swiping from the top when you’re viewing the notification menu, which I hope other smartphone makers do this too. 

But here’s another puzzler: even though both phones use the same Power Delivery 3.0 Port, Google has put a “speed limit” on the Pixel 7a’s wired charging at 18W

And although the Pixel 7a has wireless charging, a first for the Pixel “A” series, but it only goes up to 7.5W… I mean come on Google, we are living in the year 2023, not the Stone Age, my friend! 

So if you’re choosing sides, I would say that the Google Pixel 7 edges out the 7a, not only thanks to its slightly better charging performance but also better overall average screen on time when I was using it daily.

 

Conclusion

In my Google Pixel 7 review, I shared about how the price tag and limited availability in countries without a Google Store made it a bit of a hard sell. However, when it comes to the Google Pixel 7a, it’s a slightly different story.

Priced at USD$499 versus the Pixel 7’s USD$599, the Pixel 7a offers you one of the best smartphone cameras out there and the pure Google Pixel experience without really breaking the bank.

So my money is on this Google Pixel 7a and you know what? I would even choose this phone over other smartphones within the same price bracket. And meanwhile, check out my in-depth review of the Google Pixel 7 and the 7 Pro if you guys haven’t seen those.

Google Pixel 7 – https://adamlobo.tv/google-pixel-7-its-not-for-everyone-but-2-months-review/

Google Pixel 7 Pro – https://adamlobo.tv/google-pixel-7-pro-reasons-to-get-%e2%9c%85-not-to-get-%e2%9d%8c/

 

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