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(Pocket-lint) – The Pixel 6a is Google’s latest affordable phone, picking up on the design of the Pixel 6, keeping many of the same hardware points and landing with a price that’s a lot more accessible.
Google has seen success in these devices, with the Pixel 4a being well received, success it is looking to emulate here. The Pixel 5a fell into an odd position with a limited global release, but the Pixel 6a looks like a stronger proposition.
We’re in the process of fully testing this phone and will update with a complete review as soon as we can.
First impressions of the Pixel 6a are great. This is a nice-looking compact phone that offers considerable power for the price. That might be hampered by weaker thermal management than the larger Pixel 6 devices can achieve, but we’re still testing in some of these areas.
There’s great overall build, a decent display that’s nice and vibrant, only really let down by sticking to 60Hz, but the addition of an IP67 rating on a phone at this price will be welcomed.
Many are likely to be drawn to the Pixel 6a because of the camera. This is similar to the Pixel 5 camera arrangement so doesn’t have all the advantages of the more expensive Pixel 6 phones. First impressions are solid, however, thanks to Google’s AI photography tricks and access to the same premium features as the more expensive phones.
Overall, the Pixel 6a is looking like great value for money, delivering flagship power and camera performance at mid-range prices. We’re still testing some aspects of this phone and will deliver a definitive review in the near future.
- Great-looking phone
- Flagship power
- Great updates policy
- Storage limited to 128GB
- Display only 60Hz
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Design and build
- Two-tone Pixel 6 design
- 152.16 x 71.80 x 8.85mm, 178g
- IP67 protection
The Google Pixel 6a picks up on the design from the Pixel 6, most identifiable by the camera bar that runs across the top of the phone. That divides the rear of the device with a two-tone finish.
The phone is finished in plastic – or 3D thermoformed composite – but there’s a nice quality to it. It’s glossy, so will attract some fingerprint smears, but on the lighter colours these aren’t too noticeable.
It’s a compact device – a little smaller than the Pixel 6 – but certainly manageable for smaller hands or those who don’t want something huge.
It carries an IP67 rating to protect against spills and splashes and this used to be something of a rarity in phone in this price bracket, although Samsung is doing its best to change that with devices like the Galaxy A53 5G, which also offers IP67.
Overall there’s ample quality and certainly nothing that reveals it’s in a lower price bracket. In reality, it’s the colour combinations that make this phone a little more unique and lead you towards something that feels like it’s been considerately designed.
There are stereo speakers on this device, pumping out of the bottom of the device and through the ear speaker at the top of the display. They offer appreciable quality, although it does sound a little strained at top volumes.
Still, it’s perfect for sharing videos or gaming. There’s no 3.5mm socket, something that’s available on a range of rival devices.
Display
- 6.1in, 2400 x 1080 pixels, 429ppi
- OLED, 60Hz
- HDR support
The Pixel 6a is the smallest of the Pixel devices, coming in with a 6.1-inch display compared to the 6.4-inch on the Pixel 6 and 6.7-inch on the Pixel 6 Pro.
It’s an OLED display showing the great colour saturation and deep blacks you associate with that tech while carrying a 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 429ppi – that’s nice and sharp so this is a great-looking display.
The slight downside is that it’s limited to 60Hz, so there are no faster refresh rates to smooth out scrolling. Many rivals now have that offering – the OnePlus Nord 2T for example – available for around the same asking price.
Do faster refresh rates really make a difference? Yes, there’s a visible difference in some situations, mostly when scrolling through things like Twitter. But in daily use, it’s really not a deal breaker, so its omission has to be considered alongside some of the benefits this phone offers in other areas.
It’s also worth adding that we’ve found the auto-brightness to be well suited on this device, bumping itself up appreciably in full sun to cut through reflections and preserve image fidelity.
Everything we’ve seen far on this phone suggests it’s going to be a great compact device, but we still have some testing to do and we’ll report back when we have a definitive evaluation of it.
There is an under-display fingerprint scanner on this phone and we’ve found it to work reliably at unlocking the phone.
Hardware and performance
- Google Tensor with Titan M2
- 6GB RAM, 128GB storage
- 4400mAh, 18W wired charging
One of the highlights of the Pixel 6a is that isn’t using a mid-range platform like many similarly-priced competitors. Instead it uses Google’s Tensor hardware, the same as you’ll find in the Pixel 6 Pro – so you could say this is flagship-level power.
There’s a dip in RAM to 6GB and the storage comes in at 128GB, which isn’t huge and there’s no option to expand this, with no microSD and no option for more physical storage.
We’ve not had the chance to exhaustively test the Pixel 6a, but we have found that it can get hot under load and when in hot environmental conditions. With the UK experiencing record-breaking temperatures, we’ve found the Pixel 6a to run hot – but we need to spend more time with it to evaluate its performance under more regular use.
While there’s plenty of power, there’s no wireless charging on this phone and to juice the 4400mAh battery it will support 18W wired charging, with no charger supplied.
That’s not the fastest, but at the same time, it’s fast enough.
Again, we can’t yet fully evaluate the battery life and we’ll be updating to a full review as soon as we have a better picture of this device’s performance.
Camera
- Dual rear camera:
- Main: 12MP IMX363, f/1.7, 1.4µm, OIS
- Ultrawide: 12MP IMX386, f/2.2, 1.25µm
- Front: 8MP IMX355, f/2.0, 1.12µm, fixed focus
Pixel phones are known for the camera, because of the efforts that Google has been putting into computational photography. There’s a hardware departure from the other Pixel models, with the 6a more closely reflecting the loadout on the older Pixel 5.
That means there’s no 50-megapixel sensor as you’ll find on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, but you get two good cameras rather than a collection of junk cameras like you’ll find on many rival devices.
First impressions of the camera are good: it’s simple to use, offering that familiar point-and-shoot reliability, without having to mess around with options to get a decent result. You’ll get Night Mode that will swing in to make those low light photo possible and what we’ve seen so far is as impressive as you’d expect – but we have more testing to do.
The camera produces nicely balanced images and from the tests we’ve run so far, there’s good consistency in colour balance between the ultrawide and the main camera.
0.6X ULTRAWIDE
There’s no optical zoom, instead offering a 0.6x ultrawide and then out to 7x digital zoom. This digital zoom isn’t particularly noteworthy and gives pretty mottled results which might not be hugely useful. On paper that might make some rivals look attractive, but generally speaking, longer digital zoom just gets worse, so it’s not worth having.
The edge detection on Pixel phones is often excellent, relying on Google’s AI to help boost these features, but Google Photos also offers many of these features in the editing options – and those apply to all the images in your gallery, not just those that come from this camera.
Some of the headline features include face deblur to fix motion in photos that you don’t want, while magic eraser is a really smart Photoshop option, able to remove things you don’t want from photos. It’s really effective and easy to use.
Video runs up to 4K/60fps and is nicely stabilised, including some smart options like cinematic pan, features that will be familiar from the other Pixel 6 models.
We still have testing to do on the Pixel 6a to get a full assessment of its performance, but we’ve shared some images taken so far – and we’ll add to the selection in the future.
Software
- Android 12
- 3 years of OS updates
- 5 years of security updates
One of the advantages of opting for a Pixel device is that you’ll get a bloat-free device, no preinstalls, no duplication of apps – and you’ll be front of the line for updates to new versions of Android. It’s expected to get three OS updates, taking it through to Android 15 in 2024.
There’s also the promise of 5 years of security updates, which is a great commitment to ensure that phone remains useful well into the future.
The software experience on the Pixel 6a is essentially the same as it is on the other Pixel devices, allowing themed customisation through Material You, a fast and fluid experience day-to-day and great features like the Recorder that will live transcribe as someone is talking to you.
While purely Pixel-exclusive software functions are pretty rare, some do still remain to differentiate from other Android phones – the flipside being that many devices – Samsung for example – has many more options out of the box.
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The Google Pixel 6a delivers some flagship hardware at a mid-range price point. There’s the widely-lauded Pixel camera on the rear which offers a great experience while not using the latest hardware from Google. This is a compact phone with a great display, albeit limited to 60Hz refresh rates. The inclusion of the IP67 protection is a great benefit in this price bracket. The Google Pixel 6a is an ideal phone for someone looking for a compact and powerful device offering good value for money – with the bonus of 5 years of software support.
Writing by Chris Hall.
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