Weekly poll: Are the new Pixel 3a and 3a XL any good?

12 May 2019
At nearly half the launch price of the original Pixel 3 duo, these offer the same flagship camera. And 3.5mm headphone jacks too!

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • D0e
  • 13 May 2019

Love the Community, 12 May 2019Don't vote against Google. This is the only opportunity to ... moreOh Headphone jack became a strawman for the weakling crap phone,bixel

Say whatever you what but Pixel just made me realize how much iPhone was a better value

    Yuri84, 13 May 2019I completely agree with and support this idea. In fact, I w... moreBless this post.
    I can back it up as a Note Fan Edition user, still blazing fast. I can never stand a phone that cannot go faster than my fingers

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • u7Y
      • 13 May 2019

      Not a dual sim.
      size is bigger
      either it should have been 5 inch phone or notch should have been small
      memory should have been 128 gb

        • D
        • AnonD-558092
        • 45}
        • 13 May 2019

        Yuri84, 13 May 2019I completely agree with and support this idea. In fact, I w... moreThank you. You are now part of the very select club of smart buyers. Why buy today's low-end when you can buy yesterday's high end which is still miles ahead of today's new low-end?

          I'm glad I have similar opinion like the others. It'll only succeed in US because that's where it is the cheapest, just like it's whole Pixel lineup. Even in the US, Chinese phones are having their fair share of cake. Biggest reason to get these phones is the camera which is unprecedented and also the compact size (for the 3A) Everything else? Meh..

            Kingslayer, 12 May 2019Blackberry KeyOne went initially for $500+ and had a weaker... moreno thank you. battery life/battery charging is more important to me. so im still sticking with my mate20pro. besides, ive already had an experience with pixel 3, and battery life sucks. so i dont think these lil brothers of their is gonna change that either. its not just price that ppl take into consideration you know.

              Patrick, 13 May 2019Any last year flagship is a better option at the same expen... moreI completely agree with and support this idea. In fact, I would like to share my personal experience in this matter:

              I was in this situation about two months ago - I was purchasing a phone for my mother-in-law. At first we looked over a number of mid-ranger devices, picked a Huawei phone and settled for it (I don't remember the exact model, it was the newest 2019 item with notched display). While it looked pretty good in the shop and seemed to perform better than her old Meizu 3s, upon closer inspection (at home) and comparison with my Galaxy S7 (a rather old flagship) I found out that my 3 year old phone is superior in many ways. Sadly, I couldn't find S7 for a similar price, but I did find a good deal on a relatively recent Sony flagship device (XZ1 I believe).

              Upon closer inspection I found out the difference between the newest Huawei mid-range device and an older Sony flagship:
              - Sony is faster, hands-down, all interactions are faster
              - Sony has a better screen
              - Sony has dual speakers
              - Sony has a significantly better camera
              - Huawei has a "long" display, which, while awesome, is not always practical
              - Huawei's screen seemed uniform, while Sony screen had barely visible diagonal lines (something about the type of panel used in Sony device, not a defect, just a peculiarity)
              - old Sony flagship was cheaper than new Huawei mid-ranger

              Overall, an old flagship was MILES better than new mid-range device, despite being, like, 3 generations old (there is XZ3 already and a new phone should be announced this year, I believe). I used to think mid-rangers took over flagships in 1-2 generations, and I was shocked to find out that for the last few generations of devices this is not true at all - old flagships are still better than new midrangers as of early 2019.

              So, when looking for a mid-range device, be sure to check old flagships out, they may end up better AND cheaper at the same time (but your mileage may vary, so do your homework and check out the phone(s) before you make a purchase).

                i chose the 3rd option. here in my country its just huawei, samsung and other whatnot chinese phones besides huawei. not a big deal tho. tho my friend was able to get pixel 3 from online sources but tbh he never liked it, he said its overhyped. i agree, since i was also able to borrow the phone from him and yeah, i also think its overhyped and it lags too. so with this little brother of theirs, i chose option 3.

                  Calm down pixel fanboys
                  Writing long paragraphs about how this phone isn't that bad & smashing keyword ain't gonna make this phone better than galaxy a70, s10e, lg v30, oneplus 6t

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • KSg
                    • 13 May 2019

                    pixel still has a heavy price tag in asia i hope it does well in north maybe google should consider buying up small scale oem and then work on that because the oem know the pulse of the market.

                      Audio quality is CR4P!! Totally unacceptable!
                      Because Google employees are ex HTC, which known to deliver great audio alongside LG!

                        • D
                        • AnonD-558092
                        • 45}
                        • 13 May 2019

                        Google isn't a big enough phone brand to charge as much in price sensitive markets. And in less sensitive markets, they usually aim higher (ex flagship, or true flagship) or lower. It should do ok in North America and in western Europe. Otherwise that's likely to be a miss.

                        Unless some people in the aformentionned price sensitive markets don't know about GCAM ports and they want to take better pictures which will end up ruined and ultra compressed on social lamedia anyways, and Google spams ads that says Google phones have the absolute best camera. In that case, there's always people that gets influenced that way.

                        Meh, I'd rather be influenced by Google than pretentious sellout OnePlus

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • xYI
                          • 13 May 2019

                          Almost 25% higher price in SG. Not quite worth

                            • P
                            • Patrick
                            • 0WL
                            • 13 May 2019

                            Any last year flagship is a better option at the same expensive price they try to sell this average mid-ranger despite the ugly design, something that has become usual at Google, now Apple and Google seems making a competition of who release the most ugly phones.

                            So before waste your money in this overpriced ugly things, choose a last year flagship. It's as obvious that don't need explanation. All the opposite that Google sheeps are doing here, trying to abduce your brain with explanations and stories. Tales of embracing the uglyness.

                              • D
                              • AnonD-794992
                              • 3U7
                              • 13 May 2019

                              Wow. Pixel fan boys are enjoying typing very much:)

                                The comments section is predictably full of "but what about Xiaomi/Huawei/OnePlus?"

                                Xiaomi: MIUI is terrible. Software updates are far from consistent. In fact, they have a worse record than Samsung and that's saying a lot since they're the king of poor updates. I dislike its ad system. Now, if Xiaomi's Mi A3 has a 730 or 730G, microSD, headphone jack, and dual speakers...I may buy that and not the Pixel 3a (and please Xiaomi, no notches). Also, Xiaomi has a huge U.S. LTE problem. Black Shark 2 is only compatible with Cricket Wireless here. The other budget Redmi options are only 3G capable. So for someone in the U.S., Xiaomi may not be the option. Yes, its flagships are U.S. LTE eligible, but check the above problems from Xiaomi.

                                Huawei: EMUI is worse than MIUI and that's saying a lot. Same complaints though. And the whole...spyware thing.

                                OnePlus: Yes, they're U.S. LTE compatible. But I feel that OnePlus has been settling and that software update promise hasn't been met per GSMArena's long term review of the 6T. Plus, it is another half-flagship that dropped features (headphone jack) and followed trends (notches). OnePlus settled. Get over it. OnePlus is like any other company trying to copy Apple. And that is why they bother me. OnePlus thinks it knows me, better than I know me. Pretentious douchebaggery. And the camera is still very midrange.

                                Now, this isn't to say the 3a series is perfect. They could have at minimum gave me more RAM, UFS 2.1 storage. At 6GB RAM/128GB storage and 3 years of updates, it is a GREAT deal. There's no question that this is the best camera in its price range. I also agree with people in Asian markets. You're getting hustled. You do have better choices. Google should have charged $399 (28K inr) and $479 (33K inr) and it is likely that it would have picked up some sales instead of making Asian consumers pay more. That's true.

                                But this phone wasn't for that market. This was for Western markets. I could find a Red Magic Mars or a Razer Phone 2 within the Pixel 3a price range. I could get a S9 or a S9+. But again, software updates and warranty is my concern. Razer's lack of a headphone jack is also a...no. Sure I have a Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra and any recent phone would be better than it, but...I'm starting to value software updates and stuff. Yes, I could go to iPhone, but I won't because I detest Apple and iOS. So for consumers like me, I have few options. I may wait to see if the Mi A3 will return the headphone jack, have a bigger battery, add microSD and have U.S. LTE compatibility. I'm sure Xiaomi will use the SD730 or 710 at minimum for it. Hell, even Moto's rumored Z4 is a more compelling purchase. OLED, 6GB RAM/128GB expandable storage, headphone jack and a decent camera with a SD675 at minimum. Updates will be slow, but Moto is near stock Android and supports Treble and stuff.

                                I'd say...wait. But the 3a isn't a bad deal inherently

                                  • A
                                  • Aadrian
                                  • Sk@
                                  • 13 May 2019

                                  I voted the 3rd option. These Pixels are mainly focused on the US market, maybe Europe as second market. But in a video from geekyranjit I saw the Indian prices for example are ridiculous. Here in europe prices are the same as the US but with a big euro sign instead of a dollar sign, so nevertheless they are still more expensive.

                                    Voted for the obvious, being an Asian.

                                    But anyway, the devices, even at 399 bucks, is only really good if all you need is that great rear camera. Other than that though, I think Google did cut a lot of corners with it, there were some exclusive features which made a Pixel device, and those fine features are missing with this device, just one example being the unlimited photo/video storage to cloud.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • pr3
                                      • 13 May 2019

                                      people in Europe will go for Samsung S10E. since the Pixel XL will be priced similiar, and Samsung will discount it like they always do.
                                      And dont tell me that those phones will be better then S10E.

                                        I’m really proud of knowing that I’m not the only one thinking this phone is a miss coming from Google. I’m tired of being forced to prefer a hardware phone only for the software department and this phone is another disappointment coming for Google again. Even tho, I understand the play, but it’s not the correct way to do thing.
                                        This phone is cheaper, so there might be some cut around it, considering the camera is not a point to cut, the hardware might be the answer. But the bezels are not the answer, why would someone buy a phone with those large bezels even for a “cheap price”. The body, meaning that is fully plastic, is not the answer, and when you consider every company that makes metal phones cheaper that this is just one point less to Google’s technique. You can say that the camera is so amazing and expensive that the plastic body is a necessary thing, but the Xiaomi Mi 8, even with the SD 845 and a close camera experience, with a zoom lens, IR blaster and metallic and glass body (GG5 glass by the way) are close to the price of the Pixel 3a, so, not the right answer. Then it comes the software, the launcher, the user experience, but is it worth it €399? Because I see it’s the only thing you’re paying.
                                        Okay, it’s more difficult than that, because the Pixel 3, considering the camera is the same, is the only phone that Google see as a principal competitor, and taking all the things before away, it seems that Google knows how weak is the Pixel 3 to the competition, so the sacrifices to make that difference between the Pixel 3a and the Pixel 3 cannot be only the processor.
                                        What I wanted to mean with all of this, is that Google made this phone to compete with their own Pixel 3, to give you an alternative to the trashy known phone, with more trash in them, but for less cash. This way to look the market is bad, and being the only option with the stock android experience as fluid as they’ve done, obligate the people who like a balanced phone to look elsewhere.
                                        Google, if you made a bad flagship who can’t compete with all they have, you can’t do a mid range phone worse than it only for showing. You should do a great mid range phone, to shut the mouth of all, and to increase your sells and popularity, for being known as the company who listens their clients and to make everyone hyped to the next flagship, to correct what you made it wrong.

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