Pixel 4a extensive photo shoot shows off the skills of a phone that still isn't official

Peter, 04 May 2020

This is starting to get ridiculous – Google still hasn’t announced the Pixel 4a, but there’s little about the phone that hasn’t leaked. TecnoLike Plus, the same YouTube channel that showed off a hands-on video with the 4a back in March, is now back with a pretty extensive photo shoot with Google’s mid-ranger that answers one burning question – is one camera enough?

The camera hardware is nothing spectacular with its 12.2MP Sony IMX363 image sensor and f/1.73 aperture, but as always with Google, it’s the image processing that counts. All the photos below were shot by Julio Lusson, who runs the TecnoLike channel. You can see his analysis below as well as some full resolution samples.

And here come the samples, starting with day time shots taken outdoors:

Google Pixel 4a: outdoor photos Google Pixel 4a: outdoor photos Google Pixel 4a: outdoor photos Google Pixel 4a: outdoor photos
Google Pixel 4a: outdoor photos

Now some indoor photos:

Pixel 4a: indoor photos Pixel 4a: indoor photos Pixel 4a: indoor photos Pixel 4a: indoor photos
Pixel 4a: indoor photos

Next up, night time shots that compare a normal photo with no flash, a photo with Night Sight enabled and a photo with flash. As you can see, the flash works only for close up shots.

Pixel 4a night shots: No flash Pixel 4a night shots: Night Sight Pixel 4a night shots: Flash on
Pixel 4a night shots: No flash • Night Sight • Flash on

Pixel 4a night time photos: No flash Pixel 4a night time photos: Night Sight Pixel 4a night time photos: Flash on
Pixel 4a night time photos: No flash • Night Sight • Flash on

One big problem with a single camera setup is zooming – here’s how the Pixel 4a handles that task.

Pixel 4a zoom test Pixel 4a zoom test Pixel 4a zoom test
Pixel 4a zoom test

Another potential problem is bokeh calculations without a depth sensor (something that Google was traditionally quite good at).

Pixel 4a Portrait mode: Off Pixel 4a Portrait mode: On Pixel 4a Portrait mode: Off Pixel 4a Portrait mode: On
Pixel 4a Portrait mode

Of course, there’s another high profile 2020 smartphone that will rely on a single camera, the new iPhone SE. It will be interesting to see those two go head to head and how well they can fend off the multi-camera competition. There are a couple of shots that compare the Pixel with a Redmi Note 7.

PS. Google will finally unveil the Pixel 4a on May 22, so we only have three more weeks of waiting.

Source (in Spanish) | Via


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Reader comments

  • PYess
  • 21 May 2020
  • rxi

Same here and that's the only reason I'm looking to swap that with a Pixel 4A.

  • Greatwhite
  • 20 May 2020
  • NG1

im still using the Pixel 1 and my battery is almost done.

Whoops, definitely meant to reply to the person you did about it not being better camera-wise than the P2!

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