Finally, the search engine giant is offering an affordable, somewhat-slimmed-down form of its Pixel flagship. Meet the refurbed™ Google Pixel 3a.

Power behind the scenes

The Pixel 3a has a slightly weaker processor and graphics card than the Pixel 3. The built-in Snapdragon 670 is definitely one of the better chips - offering plenty of power - but the use of Google’s own features sometimes results in slower processing compared to the premium model.

Graphics performance

With the Adreno 615, the graphics performance here is slightly slower than current smartphone GPUs in the premium class. That said, the RAM amounts to 4 GB - identical to the premium Pixel model - giving a very nimble feel with intuitive, user-friendly operation.

A lens with an eye for detail

There are almost no compromises when it comes to the camera, earning the Pixel 3a a top price-performance ratio. This variant of the Google Pixel also comes with a very powerful 12.2 MP camera that includes the much-praised features of the Google Pixel camera. The Pixel Visual Core provides all the smart features like Night Vision function for shots around a campfire, as well as the stunning portrait mode. The only cutback on the camera is that they’ve taken out the spectral/film sensor.

Design & Size

The design of this completely renewed smartphone is almost identical to the previous model, with a screen size of 5.6 inches (OLED) and a resolution of 2220 x 1080 pixels. The only difference is the back of the Pixel 3a, which is made of plastic here.

Valuable feature

Top styled from head to jack. That’s right: the refurbed™ Google Pixel 3a still has a jack to plug in headphones. Handy for anyone who hasn’t gone wireless.