The smartphone industry has a bit of a problem right now. First, there’s those expensive high-end phones like the Samsung Galaxy handsets, iPhones and Huawei’s. You usually buy them on a contract. However, there’s now cheaper phones that are getting scarily close to the specs of those flagships. They don’t spend as much on advertising, so don’t have that brand-awareness, but the likes of Oppo, Honor, Xiaomi, OnePlus and others are getting more sales thanks to cheaper prices.
This, then, could be the driver behind Google announcing a new phone which costs a mere £399. There’s a couple of versions – the Google Pixel 3a with a 5.6″ display and the Google Pixel 3a XL with a 6″ display. The latter costs £469 and you get free delivery on either. Compare that to a regular Pixel 3, which costs a massive £739.
Specs include that latest version of Android which will (this being a Google device) be getting all the latest updates, plus dual-band WiFi, NFC, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0 and stereo speakers. Both models are powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 CPU (2GHz + 1.7GHz 64-bit octa-core), plus there’s an Adreno 615 GPU, 4GB RAM and a 12.2 dual-megapixel rear shooter.
The camera comes with dual-pixel phase detection, optical and electronic image stabilisation and it’s f/1.8. They’re really pushing the camera quality and low-light capability. There’s also an 8 megapixel selfie cam which is fixed focus.
The Pixel 3a has a 3000 mAh battery whereas the Pixel 3a XL comes with a bigger 3430 mAh battery and it gets Qi wireless charging. Both have fast charging via the 18W adapter. It’s available in white, black or purple. Only 64GB storage though, so you’ll have to make full use of the Google Photos cloud storage.
Buy online at Google.com or from Argos, MobilePhonesDirect or Carphone Warehouse. EE will also be selling it on a contract basis. If you buy a Pixel 3a or Pixel 3a XL before May 22nd you get yourself a Google Nest Hub for free!
Phew. I got all the way through that without mentioning the iPhone SE..