Google today dropped yet another line-up of sorts in its Pixel range of smartphones. The new budget friendly Pixel 4a, which starts at $349, was announced today. Two yet to be launched devices were also teased — a more expensive 5G iteration of Pixel 4a as well as a new flagship called Pixel 5. Both of those latter phones are the first in the series to feature 5G capabilities.
As is the case with most Pixel devices, the specifications are nothing to brag about. At the same, they are nothing close to bad. They are just, what you call ‘decent’.
To start with, the Pixel 4a carries on the best feature from its predecessor, along with usual mid-range smartphone specs. Its the camera. The Pixel 4a sports the same camera setup as the 4, with minor changes on the design front. The phone comes in ‘Just Black’ with a 5.8-inch OLED display. It has a matte finish that feels secure and comfortable in your hand and includes Pixel’s signature color pop power button in mint.
Under the hood, do not except some unnecessary bumped up raw processing speed. The Pixel 4a is powered by a Snapdragon 730G Mobile Platform, Titan M security module for on-device security, 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage with an even bigger battery that Google claims, will last all day. Again, those specs are clean, and just ‘decent’.
In the smartphone world, when one talks about Google’s Pixel line of smartphones, it is rare that you hear extreme reactions on either end of the spectrum. When someone like say Samsung launches a phone, it has so much of glitz and glamour that there are extreme opinions on both the good and the bad sides. Pixel smartphones however, haven’t had that moment.
Now that is because of several reasons. For one, all the Pixels that have been launched thus far are genuinely decent smartphones. There is hardly anything really negative or something really exceptional about this lineup. Except for the cameras ofcourse, which are genuinely top drawer. Apart from that, Google’s Pixel range is perhaps the only one in the swarm of Android devices, that are just what they need to be. OnePlus used to be a brand in that category but the pricing that it is headed to, has helped it made out of this critical yet still unaddressed category.
As for availability of the new Pixel 4a, the device now available for pre-order in the U.S. on the Google Store and on Google Fi. It will be available to customers on Aug. 20 through the Google Store, BestBuy.com, Amazon and more, as well as U.S. carriers including Google Fi, U.S. Cellular and Verizon. The device will come soon in India but no definitive timeline has been announced.
