Google Pixel 4a 5G: Price, Specs, Battery and Much More

The Google Pixel 4a 5G is a ‘lite’ edition of the Pixel 5, as it has much more in common with the company’s latest flagship than the reasonable Pixel 4a. The Google pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 have the same connectivity specs, appearance, rear cameras, and chipset. There are very few differences between the two mobile phones. At the same time, the Pixel 4a is dissimilar in approximately all those respects.

The Pixel 4a is a little uneventful as mobile phones go. There are no particular selling points mainly stimulating here, at least none that we have not seen before. There are no apparent flaws that might critically put you off purchasing the phone. The camera’s performance was a little feeble in our experience – pictures we took seemed a little dull and dim, and specific modes did not always work as projected. We cannot help but feel that Google is losing its edge in the mobile phone photography field compared to competitors.

pixel 4a 5g
Credit: Amazon

The Pixel 4a 5G does not fetch anything new regarding design, with a plastic back, a ‘punch-hole cut-out on the screen. The rear-mounted fingerprint sensor which it feels like we have seen in every single phone this year. The Google Pixel 4a 5G is not awful: you get a pleasant, sparkling Android experience, with the stock operating system (SOS) looking and running just as Google planned. The battery life is also inspiring for a Pixel mobile phone.

There is also a headphone jack of 3.5mm, which you do not notice in too many mid-range or top-end mobile phones these days. Regardless of this being a phone from Google, which is made up to indicate affordability, this indeed is not what we’d call a ‘cheap’ 5G phone.

Price and Availability of Google Pixel 4a 5G

The Pixel 4a 5G price is $499 / AU$799 / £499, for 128GB storage and 6GB RAM, so it’s a little costly to compete in the ‘cheap 5G mobile phones’ class, though it’s more reasonably priced than some other 5G mobile phones on the market.

For evaluation, the Google Pixel 4a costs $349/ AU$599 / £349, while the new Pixel 5 is $699 / AU$999 / £599, so the Google pixel 4a 5G sits approximately between those devices concerning price.

The official release date of the Google Pixel 4a 5G mobile was 15 October 2020. However, pre-orders started when the smartphone was announced on 30 September, and plenty of retailers announced their contract pricing at that time.

Design of Google Pixel 4a 5G

  • 5mm headphone jack
  • Plastic sides and back
  • Back and sides surfaces are textured
  • Houses a fingerprint sensor
  • Pixel 4a 5G is likable lightweight at 168g

The Pixel 4a 5G won’t win any race for stylish looks, although it does transport back some features of prior generations’ Pixel mobile phones that we missed. The Google Pixel 4a 5G has plastic sides and back, but back and sides surfaces are textured, so the handset does not feel as inexpensive in the hand as many plastic mobile phones do. It’s not somewhat the aluminium of the Google Pixel 5, though, or the glass of many more premium smartphones.

G pixel 4a 5G design
Image: Techradar

Read About: Realme7 5G

The rear of the mobile phone houses a fingerprint sensor that is not too high up, so we found it simple to reach. This placement was admired in earlier Google Pixel smartphones. Still, it does make it unworkable to unlock your mobile phone while it’s face-up on a surface devoid of picking it up, which some will see as an inconvenience. Overall, though, we are a fan of it here, particularly since the Google Pixel 4 ditched the scanner to make facial recognition its sole means of unlocking.

Discussing previous Google Pixel handsets, concerning the Pixel 4a and pixel 5, there’s no Active Edge here, which is a disgrace since that was one of the best features of prior mobile phone models. This lets you squeeze the phone to mute incoming calls, notifications, alarms or summon Google Assistant. At the top-left on the rear of the phone, there’s a camera bump, which is not too high-flying, so you won’t see that irritating ‘rocking’ when you place the mobile phone flat on a desk. It is a square block, which will be well-known to people who’ve seen a Google Pixel phone since pixel 4.

The power button and volume rocker are on the right edge of the phone, while the 3.5mm headphone jack is at the top edge, and there is a USB-C port in the typical location on the bottom edge. Some people do not like this position of the headphone jack as if you have got headphones plugged in simultaneously as a charging cable. Your mobile phone will be sprouting wires from both ends, which seems to be awkward.

The Pixel 4a 5G is likeable lightweight at 168g, but it’s, in fact, bulkier than the Pixel 4a (143g) and Google Pixel 5 (151g), although the difference is not massive. The Pixel 4a 5G is superior to its Pixel contemporaries.

Display of Google Pixel 4a 5G

  • The display is 6.2 inches
  • Display resolution is 1080 x 2340
  • The refresh rate is 60Hz
  • Display use OLED tech

The Google Pixel 4a 5G’s and the Pixel 5 have two differences. Its display is 6.2 inches across, a touch superior to the 6-inch Pixel 5. Its refresh rate is 60Hz, not 90Hz, like the Pixel 5.

google pixel display
Image: Tom’s Guide

See Also: Oppo Reno4 5G

The resolution is 1080 x 2340, which is relatively standard, though since the screen is lesser than many other phones. The pixel-per-inch count is reasonably high. The display uses OLED tech, as Google tends to utilize for its mobile phones. Owing to this, the colours look vibrant, with good colour accuracy and contrast. Though, we investigated that the max brightness a little low.

The Camera of Google Pixel 4a 5G

  • 16MP shooter with an ultra-wide f/2.2 lens
  • 2MP f/1.7 primary camera with optical image stabilization
  • 8MP, f/2.0 front-facing camera
  • Video recording at 1080p or 4K at 30fps or 60fps

The Pixel 4a 5G has two rear cameras, likewise the Pixel 5: a 16MP shooter with an ultra-wide f/2.2 lens and a 12.2MP f/1.7 primary camera with optical image stabilization. The Google Pixel mobile phones usually have held high spots in our directory of the most excellent camera phones. Still, we did not locate ourselves chiefly blown away by the Google Pixel 4a 5G’s performance. However, it’s not dreadful, but not incredible either.

camera
Image: Tom’s Guide

The pictures we took looked a little dim and dull compared to other Pixel phones we have tested. Although the depth and quality were there, the photos will be imported into editing apps to make them look great. Google’s real power concerning cameras lies in its software, so the deficiency of effective AI optimization here is hard to digest.

There’s a fair amount of noise in low-light settings – a judgment supported by our Google Pixel 5 review. It showed the same thing, especially for ultra-wide snaps. Night Sight mode occasionally made a modest improvement to dark pictures, but other times had a slight impact. Portrait mode added excellent background and blur effects to some images. Moreover, it did not appear to tweak shadows or highlights much. It makes portrait snaps seem slightly flat compared to the same shot taken with different mobile phones. A specific problem was with fundamental shooting modes.

camera2
Image: Tom’s Guide

The Google pixel 4a 5G has 8MP, f/2.0 front-facing camera. The Selfies seemed slightly better than pictures taken using the main camera, with more vibrancy. But owing to the comparatively low resolution, these snaps will only be appropriate for social media. The Portrait mode on this camera occasionally had a problem distinguishing our faces from backgrounds.

 Specs of Google Pixel 4a 5G

SpecificationsGoogle Pixel 4a 5G
Display6.2-inch OLED
60Hz refresh rate
2,340 x 1,080 resolutions
Gorilla Glass 3
StorageStorage 128GB
no microSD card slot
RAM6GB
ProcessorQualcomm Snapdragon 765 G
2.4GHz + 2.2 GHz +1.8 GHz, 64-bit
Adreno 620
Titan M Security Module
CameraCamera Main:

12.2MP dual-pixel
1.4μm pixel width
Autofocus with dual pixel phase detection
Optical + electronic image stabilization
ƒ/ 1.7 aperture
77° field of view

Secondary:
16MP ultra-wide
1.0 μm pixel width
ƒ/2.2 aperture
107° field of view

Front:
8 MP sensor, f/2.0, 1.12µm pixels, fixed focus, 83-degree field of view
Battery3,800mAh
18W fast charging
No wireless charging
USB-C USB-PD 2.0
Headphone portyes
Dimension and Weight153.9mm x 74 mm x 8.2mm(8.5 mm for mm-Wave variant)
168g (171g for mm-Wave variant)
SoftwareAndroid 11
Three years of OS and security updates
ColoursColours Just Black, Clearly White
Price$ 499

The Software of Google Pixel 4a 5G

  • Google Pixel 4a 5G runs Android 11
  • Google’s newest operating system is pre-installed

The Google Pixel 4a 5G is the first mobile phone in which Google’s newest operating system is pre-installed. The Google Pixel 4a 5G runs Android 11 and Pixel 5.Android 11 is not bombarded with maximum features. Still, there are a few improvements, like built-in screen recording, improved typing and app prediction, and easy access to Google Pay card and smart home settings.

See Also: A Fan Edition of Google Pixel 5

As Google projected it, this is ‘stock’ Android, so it’s a clean experience with no disruptive design choices or bloatware. Google normally introduces novel builds of Android to its mobile phones first, so if you acquire the Google Pixel 4a 5G, you will likely be first looking for Android 12.

The Battery Life of Google Pixel 4a 5G

google pixel battery
Image: Tom’s Guide
  • Battery of 3,885mAh
  • No wireless powering

The Google Pixel 4a 5G has a battery of 3,885mAh. That’s a slight on the small side for a mobile phone, and it’s adequate to raise some red flags specified Google’s risky track record when it’s about battery life in its phones. However, the Google Pixel 4a 5G battery life is admirable. The Google Pixel 4a 5G battery always lasted for a full day with medium or heavy usage. However, Battery can drain at a quick pace when we record a 4K video, but it was just fine in customary use.

pixel battery
Image: Google

We are not much inspired in the case of charging as there’s no wireless powering. There is only 18W wired charging which is towards the slow end of the spectrum.

Should I Purchase the Google Pixel 4a 5G?

Buy it if:

  • You are looking for a mid-sized 5G mobile phone
  • If you prefer ‘stock’ Android
  • You are looking for an affordable video shooting phone

Do not buy it if:

  • You do not require a mobile phone that’s both cheap and 5G
  • If you want to take great snaps
  • You are a mobile phone gamer

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