Google Pixel 8a review

The competition

The Google Pixel 8a is an excellent compact smartphone - it has a great design, a great OLED screen, a powerful chipset, good battery life and a superb camera experience. It's the launch price that seems to be standing in its way of greatness, though it has begun to drop shortly after its premiere, which is a good sign.

The Pixel 8a launched at €549, so the "a" doesn't seem to stand for affordable this time around. Especially considering that the Pixel 8's price has dropped to €525 at third party sellers, making it the better choice of the two for its more premium design, slimmer bezels, better cameras (in specific use cases), and noticeably faster charging.

The Galaxy S24 is about €90 more expensive, but it will offer a more dynamic display with higher brightness, a much faster and more modern processor, more versatile camera experience, and faster charging.

Xiaomi 14 and iPhone 15 are popular compact alternatives, though they are about €200 more than the Pixel 8a, immediately making them the less attractive options. Sure, the Xiaomi 14 will give a much better screen and a much more powerful CPU and camera kit, but these come at a hefty premium.

Google Pixel 8 • Samsung Galaxy S24 • Xiaomi 14 • Apple iPhone 15

Our verdict

The Google Pixel 8a turned out to be an incredibly capable compact smartphone - a rare breed. It aced our screen, battery, and speaker tests, it offers an easily likable and unique design, its performance is alright, and its camera is worthy of the Pixel name.

There are a couple of things to consider - like the thick bezels, the slow charging, and the heavy performance throttling under load.

We would still have liked to recommend the Pixel 8a, but unfortunately, at third-party retailers, its price is ridiculously close to that of the Pixel 8, which is the better phone by all accounts. The price has begun to go down already, so once it settles around the €420 mark and the "a" once again stands for affordable - it's safe to say the Pixel 8a would be well worth considering.

Pros

• Sturdy Pixel design, likable, IP67, compact.
• Great OLED, bright, color-accurate, smooth.
• Good battery life.
• Very good speakers.
• Decent performance.
• Excellent photo and video quality across all cameras.
• Clean Android 14, 7 years of software support.

Cons

• Expensive at launch.
• The thick bezels suggest it's a budget device.
• Very slow charging.
• No charger in the box.
• Chipset exhibits heavy throttling under load.