Google Pixel 4a 5G

Price: £499 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3pam7V8

2021-03-01 -

Google makes excellent cheap smartphones for the mid-range market, but the Pixel 4a doesn’t support 5G. Well, anyone disappointed by that can now be satisfied with the aptly named Pixel 4a 5G.

However, there’s a lot more difference than just the mobile networks these phones support. This is far from the same device with a 5G modem inside.

It’s understandable for Google to highlight the 5G element in the name, but it would perhaps have been a good idea to add ‘XL’ to this phone. It’s another solid effort from Google, especially if you want some of the Pixel 5 features at a cheaper price and with a bigger screen.

DESIGN

In a nutshell, this is a bigger version of the Pixel 4a when is comes to design.

A 6.2in display is why it would have been a good idea to use the ‘XL’

branding that we’ve seen in the past. That’s 0.2in larger than the Pixel 3a XL and the Pixel 5.

Perhaps Google thought Pixel 4a XL 5G was too many characters but regardless, this is a pretty big phone. It doesn’t feel crazy thanks to relatively small bezels – although they are nothing special. There are certainly bigger phones out there.

I personally prefer the size of the 4a but for a bigger phone, this has a nice balance and feels comfortable to use. It’ smaller than the 3a XL and 1g lighter.

With a design matching the regular Pixel 4a, there’s no waterproofing here and the unibody case is made from polycarbonate. Google lists it as ‘softtouch’, which isn’t listed for the regular 4a, but they feel identical to me.

Note that if you’re coming from an older Pixel device, the glass section at the top is gone and the camera module is a lot bigger. There’s a good reason for that on this phone which I’ll cover later.

The fingerprint scanner, as usual, sits on the back and doesn’t have too much of a concave shape but works very well.

Due to the constraints of 2020, the Pixel 4a 5G is only available in one colour

– Just Black. It’s a shame but that’s the way it goes unless Google can add more to the range at a later date.

DISPLAY

As I’ve mentioned, the larger screen is a key reason to get the Pixel 4a 5G. It’s the biggest of Google’s 2020 phones.

It keeps the same resolution as the Pixel 4a, so the larger size means a drop in pixel density but not enough that it’s noticeable. There’s no need to worry about the difference on that front.

It’s still an OLED panel with HDR support offering excellent viewing angles, contrast and punchy colours. Exactly what you’d expect, and Google’s always-on display is one of the best on the market giving you the information you need at a glance. The ‘Now Playing’ feature means the phone even tells you

what music is playing nearby so you don’t need to Shazam it.

It is worth noting that if you’re pondering between this phone and the Pixel 5, the 5’s display is a little smaller at 6in but importantly offers a 90Hz refresh rate for a smoother experience. There are also cheaper phones with 90Hz or even higher refresh rates.

PHOTOGRAPHY

An unusual move sees the Pixel 4a 5G get the same cameras as the Pixel 5. Normally Google only provides the same main camera but here you also get the secondary ultra-wide lens and this is why the module on the back is bigger than the 4a. So, as well as the 12Mp we’re familiar with, you also get a 16Mp ultrawide with a 107-degree field of view. It’s not immediately obvious how to switch to this camera but it’s the ‘.6x’ option of zoom when in the main camera mode. There’s also a 2x option, but there’s no telephoto here, it’s just digital zoom.

If you’re new to the Pixel phones, what Google does it provide top-notch photography without throwing excessive amounts of cameras at a phone. The ‘a’ devices normally only have one rear camera and Google does the rest with clever software.

That’s essentially still the case here but the ultra-wide option is a welcome addition and, if you ask me, more useful than telephoto.

The Pixel 4a 5G is mostly point and shoot with the app keeping things simple, and messages will pop-up to give you hand when needed. Performance is excellent as we’ve come to expect from a Pixel and the phone can get decent results is basically any situation.

Just look at the spores of mould on the blackberry I quickly shot while keeping an eye on the dog at the park.

Not a shot I took a while to perfect before hitting the shutter button.

Along with regular shots, portrait mode is up there with the best, although it can never be 100 per cent accurate. A new feature is called Portrait Light which adds a virtual light which you can control after you’ve taken shots. Although, this would only appear for photos of people but wouldn’t pop up for shots of my dog.

Low light performance isn’t anything particularly special but Google has Night Sight for when it gets dark and now automatically switches to it when needed. As you can see, it’s incredible what it can do.

Oh, and the front 8Mp camera is pretty good as well.

While the phone can’t shoot video beyond 4K at 30fps, that should be enough for most people. Even shooting at Full HD is nicely crisp and the colours are vibrant. Importantly, the footage is fantastically smooth with a gimbal-like feel thanks to excellent optical image stabilization. When using the video mode, you can switch between different stabilization modes such as Locked, Active and Cinematic Pan. You can even switch it off, not that you’d want to.

PERFORMANCE

The Pixel 4a 5G has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage – there are no other models to choose from. This matches the regular Pixel 4a, but there’s another big difference between the two phones inside. Google has given the phone the same processor as the Pixel 5 and that’s the popular Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G we’ve seen in so many phones this year. The LG Velvet and OnePlus Nord to name two.

That’s more of a shock in terms of the 5 than this phone but makes the Pixel 4a 5G one of the cheapest phones with this chipset – although not the cheapest as I’ll explore later – and the most affordable way of getting a 5G Pixel.

As we found with the Pixel 5, the benchmark figures are oddly low here with a similar result to the 730G-powered 4a in Geekbench 5 and lower frame rates in GFXBench despite the same resolution.

This seems to be down to running the apps on Android 11 and might be something that Google fixes in an update. Fortunately, the real-world usage is perfectly smooth and I had no performance issues with the Pixel 4a 5G.

Geekbench 5 (multi-core)

Google Pixel 4a 5G: 1,631

Google Pixel 5: 1,625

Google Pixel 4a: 1,640

OnePlus Nord: 1,963

LG Velvet: 1,928

GFX Manhattan 3.1

Google Pixel 4a 5G: 20fps

Google Pixel 5: 20fps

Google Pixel 4a: 27fps

OnePlus Nord: 34fps

LG Velvet: 29fps

As well as specs being impressively similar to the Pixel 5, the 4a 5G has something the flagship doesn’t. A rarely spotted 3.5mm jack sits on top for those that still want the simple joy of plugging in headphones.

Other specs include the stuff you’d expect like GPS, NFC and Bluetooth. Of course, the obvious reason to buy it instead of the regular 4a is the addition of 5G – perhaps even if you don’t plan on switching to a 5G plan for a while.

BATTERY LIFE

A bigger phone means a bigger battery, so the 4a 5G has a 3885mAh cell – essentially 24 per cent bigger than the regular 4a. Oddly, the Pixel 5 has an even larger battery at 4080mAh.

There’s no wireless charging here so you’ll have to buy the Pixel 5 for that, but wired charging is 18 watts and can get the 4a 5G from 0 to 38 per cent in 30 minutes. That’s nothing special with most phones going a lot faster and somehow the Pixel 5 managed 45 per cent.

In the PCMark for Android battery benchmark, the 4a 5G lasted an almost identical amount to the Pixel 5 – a solid 12 hours and 35 minutes. This is a phone that can offer longevity for those looking for it.

I’m a very light user and I can get three days out of it without much trouble. Most users will comfortably get through a day and many will get a couple.

Battery test

Google Pixel 4a 5G: 12 hours, 35 minutes

Google Pixel 5: 12 hours, 34 minutes

OnePlus Nord: 11 hours, 26 minutes

Charge in 30 minutes

Google Pixel 4a 5G: 38%

Google Pixel 5: 45%

Google Pixel 4a: 51%

OnePlus Nord: 68%

LG Velvet: 31%

VERDICT

In a Google phone bubble, the Pixel 4a 5G is an excellent device sitting neatly between the other options this year in price. Yet, it gets a lot of Pixel 5 features, including the more powerful processor and ultra-wide camera.

Pixel purists looking for an XL model have basically found it here and will only want to consider the flagship 5 if things like wireless charging and a 90Hz refresh rate display are enough to spend more.

However, compare the 4a 5G to the wider market and it suddenly looks like a bit of an oddball.

The OnePlus Nord is a five-star phone and only costs a little more than the regular Pixel 4a and there are a number of other cheaper phones with more impressive specs than the 4a 5G.

Not loyal to Google’s own-brand line? You might well be better off shopping elsewhere. Chris Martin

SPECIFICATIONS

• 6.2in (2,340x1,080; 432ppi) OLED, 90Hz, HDR touchscreen

• Android 11

• Qualcomm SDM765 Snapdragon 765G (7nm) processor

• Octa-core (1x 2.4GHz Kryo 475 Prime, 1x 2.2GHz Kryo 475 Gold, 6x 1.8GHz Kryo 475 Silver) CPU

• Adreno 620 GPU

• 6GB RAM

• 128GB storage

• Two rear-facing cameras: 12.2Mp, f/1.7, 27mm (wide), 1/2.55in, 1.4µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; 16Mp, f/2.2, 107-degree (ultra-wide), 1.0µm

• Single selfie camera: 8Mp, f/2.0, 24mm (wide), 1/4.0in, 1.12µm

• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot