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Introduction
The Google Pixel 5a is the third iteration of Google's Pixel "a" Series: smartphones based on the Google Pixel experience made with lower-cost entry points in mind. There's also now more emphasis on battery life and water resistance. The latter is a welcome feature to the "a" Pixel family. The phone Is very similar to the Pixel 4a 5G in size, appearance, and specs. They aren't identical, but pretty darn close.
Although it has the same chipset, RAM, and layout, the dimensions are slightly different, less than a millimeter difference in each dimension. The battery capacity is significantly better: about 15% more capacity than the Pixel 4a 5G. The phone's construction is now made of a sturdier aluminum and resin unibody construction like the Pixel 5. The new build is also IP67 water resistant.
Google Pixel 5a 5G specs at a glance:
- Body: 154.9x73.7x7.6mm, 183g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 3), aluminum/plastic unibody; IP67 dust/water resistant (up to 1m for 30 mins).
- Display: 6.34" OLED, 60Hz, 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 415ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SDM765 Snapdragon 765G (7 nm): Octa-core (1x2.4 GHz Kryo 475 Prime & 1x2.2 GHz Kryo 475 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 475 Silver); Adreno 620.
- Memory: 128GB (non-expandable), 6GB RAM.
- OS/Software: Android 11.
- Rear camera: Wide (main):12.2MP, f/1.7, 27mm, 77˚ (wide), 1/2.55", 1.4µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; Ultrawide angle: 16 MP, f/2.2, 119˚, 1.0µm.
- Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.0, 24mm, 83˚ (wide), 1.12µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps; gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4680mAh; Fast charging 18W.
- Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader; 3.5mm jack.
The Google Pixel's cameras are of the biggest selling points for the Pixel phones, but you'll soon learn that its hardware is exactly the same as the 4a 5G and the Pixel 5's, verbatim. We don't anticipate there to be any significant difference in camera quality. Performance is also predictably decent on the Snapdragon 765G paired with 6GB of RAM.
These changes do come with a price hike. The Pixel 5a is the most expensive "a" series ever at $449, but will the improvements to the hardware retain their value in the long term? Is the Pixel 5a a solid entry into the Pixel family?
Let's start answering that by opening the box first and see what's inside.
Unboxing
The packaging is similar to what we've seen from Google for years. The box shows a photo of the Pixel 5a to actual size and the phone lays face down when you pull the lid off.
Under the plastic-wrapped Pixel 5a you'll find a USB-C to C charging cable, an 18W USB-C charger, and a USB-C to USB-A adapter which Google calls its "Quick Switch Adapter". This lets you transfer data from another phone to the Pixel 5a.
Next up, we'll take a closer look at the new Pixel's hardware.
Metal and plastic unibody
Remember the metal/plastic hybrid design that was used on the Google Pixel 5 last year? Well, the Pixel 5a utilizes the same construction philosophy. The plastic exterior is built around an aluminum diecast piece that reinforces the unibody's construction.
Even though the Pixel 5a is made of plastic, you can still feel the coolness of the aluminum seep through to the exterior. Along with this new construction, the 5a is now certified for IP67 water resistance.
The texture doesn't feel quite the same as the Pixel 5's, which felt somewhere between plastic and ceramic.
The grain on the Pixel 5a's plastic is matte and smooth, though the "Mostly Black" finish on this Pixel 5a is a lot like Apple's "Midnight Green", only a little darker and made of plastic. The 5a's finish doesn't grip as well as the Pixel 5's grittier finish. It's also not very resistant to fingerprint smudges. If you can get over the smudges, the phone feels durable enough to carry without a case.
We continue to compare the 5a to the Pixel 4a 5G since they are so close in dimensions. At 154.9x73.3x7.6 mm, the 5a is just 1mm longer, 0.3mm narrower, and 0.6mm thinner than the 4a 5G. It also weighs more at 183g (4a 5G was 168g).
There's nothing new or original about the 5a's design. It has the same look and feel as three other Pixel smartphones: the Pixels 4a, 5, and 4a 5G. All have plastic unibodies, rear-mounted fingerprint scanners, and punch hole selfie cameras adorn the upper left corner of the screen. This punch-hole is as small as they come, so no complaints there.
The display is ever so slightly longer, bumping the size from 6.2 to 6.34 and changing the aspect ratio from 19.5:9 to 20:9 (compared to the 4a 5G). That OLED panel is protected by a flat slab of Gorilla Glass 3, and an in-call speaker slit sits above the screen. This doubles as one of the phone's loudspeakers.
The bezels are nicely thin all the way around, making for a uniform design that's pleasing to the eye.
Moving up to the top edge, the Pixel 5a has a 3.5mm headphone jack - a regular feature of the Pixel "a" Series. To the right of that is a microphone.
Top and right
All buttons are on the right side of the phone. The volume rocker sits below the power key, which has a new wavy texture. The 5a's predecessors had smooth matte power keys, while the Pixel 5 used a glossy metal one.
Left and bottom
The left side of the phone has the single nanoSIM tray, and the bottom contains (from left to right) an in-call microphone, USB-C port, and loudspeaker.
Around back is the same camera setup from the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G, including a 12.2MP main camera and 16MP ultra-wide. The ol' faithful rear-mounted fingerprint scanner is easy to find by feel alone.
Aside from being uninspiring, the build is sturdy, while water resistance is an added plus. We do wish there were more exciting colors, and we wish Google went with the grittier finish that was on the Pixel 5 here, as it would help with grip and it may hide smudges a bit better.
Next up, let's check out how the phone did in the display and battery tests.
6.34" OLED screen
The Google Pixel 5a sports a 6.34" OLED screen with a traditional 60Hz refresh rate. This display has a resolution of 1080x2400 px, coming out to about 413 ppi. Support for HDR video is nice to have on this bright and vivid screen. The OLED panel is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.
In our brightness measurements, the 5a maxes out at 508 nits when brightness is adjusted manually. Google advertised a maximum brightness of 800 nits, and we were happy to see that our readings surpassed even Google's estimates. With Adaptive brightness enabled, we were able to achieve 861 nits of peak brightness. Indeed impressive, performing just as well as Samsung's entry-level Galaxy S21.
The minimum brightness tested was 2.2 nits, comfortable enough to use in the dark, just as it is easy to see in bright daylight.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 861 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 856 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 846 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 818 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 803 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 787 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 756 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 716 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 699 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 650 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 639 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 634 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 633 | ∞ | |
| 0.408 | 577 | 1414:1 | |
| 0 | 514 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 511 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 508 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 475 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 472 | ∞ | |
| 0.334 | 472 | 1413:1 | |
| 0 | 456 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 444 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 443 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 438 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 416 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 378 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 323 | ∞ | |
The 5a's display comes tuned to the DCI P3 color space (Adaptive mode) and offers an sRGB (Natural) mode. If both of those are too saturated or not saturated enough for your liking, Boosted mode is a nice balance between the two. Even so, the default Adaptive profile is pleasantly saturated.
The Natural setting yields the most accurate colors with an average deltaE of 1.3 and max deltaE of 2 deviations. Maximum brightness and color calibration are both strong points for the Pixel 5a's display, as well as its size. The size sits in a sweet spot that's not too large nor too small.
Sadly, there's no high refresh rate capability on this display and it's limited to 60 Hz. Not a deal-breaker, but considering the feature is widely seen on many mid-range and entry-level smartphones, we can't help feel some disappointment that we don't get it here.
The Pixel 5a's display is compatible with HDR content, though the app will specifically need to support HDR playback for the Pixel 5a, such as with the Netflix app. YouTube offers HDR compatibility, and there's a lot of HDR content you can watch.
Aside from not using a higher refresh rate to enhance the experience, there's not much to complain about on the Pixel 5a's OLED panel. It's excellently bright and amply sized for content consumption. It's also well-tuned for color accuracy and pleasantly vivid by default.
Battery life
The phone is equipped with a considerably larger battery compared to its predecessors. The Google Pixel 5a has a 4,680 mAh battery, which pairs nicely with the power-efficient Snapdragon 765G. We expected to see great battery life here, and we have to say we were not disappointed with the results.
The Google Pixel 5a receives an overall score of 122h, the highest of any Google Pixel device that we've tested. The previous record for a Pixel device was held by another "a" Series Pixel, the 3a XL scored 98h (overall) when we reviewed it.
Google appears to be using a much more power-efficient display panel, which managed impressive web and video scores of 18:27h and 21:32h, respectively. Combined with a call score of 32:57h and great standby times, the Google Pixel 5a 5G can delve into two-day battery life depending on your usage. We were quite surprised with the Pixel 5a's screen-on performance. We actually thought the web test result seemed kind of high that we had to run it more than once to confirm our results.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Charging speeds
The Pixel 5a ships with the same 18W USB-C charger we've seen included with several Pixels before. It's rated at 5V@3A and 9V@2A, and using a faster adapter won't make it charge any quicker.
The Pixel 5a reached a 42% charge in 30 minutes and 75% after one hour. A full charge was finally achieved about 1h40m after plugging in. While the charging speeds aren't as impressive as other devices we've seen in this price range, battery endurance makes up for it.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- OnePlus Nord 2
98% - vivo X60 Pro
68% - Poco F3
67% - OnePlus Nord N10 5G
65% - OnePlus Nord
60% - Apple iPhone 12
58% - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
58% - Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (25W PD)
55% - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
55% - Google Pixel 4a
45% - Google Pixel 5a 5G
42% - Google Pixel 5
41% - Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (18W QC3.0)
40% - Realme 8 5G
29%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- OnePlus Nord 2
0:31h - OnePlus Nord N10 5G
0:52h - Poco F3
0:56h - vivo X60 Pro
0:58h - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
1:04h - OnePlus Nord
1:05h - Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (25W PD)
1:13h - Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (18W QC3.0)
1:25h - Apple iPhone 12
1:30h - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
1:32h - Google Pixel 4a
1:37h - Google Pixel 5a 5G
1:40h - Google Pixel 5
1:54h - Realme 8 5G
2:20h
Stereo loudspeakers
Unfortunately, we’re unable to replicate our usual in-studio sound test from where we’ve conducted our review of the Pixel 5a 5G. Still, we can offer a few words about how these loudspeakers sound.
The Pixel 5a’s stereo speakers are plenty loud, and they don’t suffer from distortion at maximum volumes. Listening to voice-only audio like podcasts or YouTube videos through these loudspeakers is very pleasant. You can hear depth in spoken word with no noticeable distortion. Cranking up the volume to show a few co-workers a funny video shouldn’t be a problem with this phone.
Drum and bass tend to drown out at anything above 60% volume when listening to music. You can kind of make out most of the music’s nuances and instrumentals when listening at around 50% volume, but anything higher than that will make the track sound tinny and small.
Android 11 now, 12 later
The Pixel 5a comes pre-loaded with Android 11, but will soon be updated to Android 12 (currently in beta testing). We're also preparing a full review of Android 12 so we'll go over some of the Pixel-exclusive features that are ready to go out of the box.
One of the newer Pixel features is "Hold for me". This detects when you're on a phone call where an operator may be putting you on hold - Google Assistant will offer to wait in your place. What this will do is let you exit the call screen and continue what you were doing until someone gets back on the line.
When Google Assistant hears someone on the line, it will notify the operator that you'll be will be with them shortly, all while pinging you to hop back on the call. You can also decline or answer phone calls by using voice commands with Google Assistant.
Hold for me settings
One more call feature here: Call screen is a great feature that lets Google Assistant answer calls from unknown phone numbers, so you don't have to. When there's an incoming call, you'll have the option to answer, decline, or Screen Call. It will ask the caller to offer more information about why they are calling. Robo calls don't make it past this screen and always disconnect the call. You can then block and report the number as spam.
If there is someone on the line, whatever they say will be transcribed in real-time and fed to you on the screen. If deemed worthy, you can jump into the call. Think of it as the modern-day answering machine.
Call screen settings
One of Pixel's unique features is Google's powerful audio recording app. This comes pre-loaded onto the Google Pixel and transcribes audio directly into text, even without an internet connection. This feature showcases Google's strong speech-to-text capabilities and leverages Google cloud storage with the ability to backup recordings to Google Drive.
What's nifty is you can trim or edit voice recordings by simply cutting paragraphs of text, and the audio version will reflect that. This has so much potential for 'trimming the fat' out of lectures and meetings or re-arranging ideas from an interview to make them tell a story.
Pixel recording app
Moving along to the device's everyday features, view and reply to message notifications directly from the lockscreen. You can also send message notifications to "Bubbles" so you can continue the conversation without being completely pulled out of another app.
Notification shade • notification bubbles
When enabled, Now Playing shows you the track playing where you are. It can ID music tracks playing in the background and will keep a record of all the music it tags so you can go back and see if it found that one song you heard at that one place.
Now Playing
In the home screen, you'll find the "At a Glance" widget, which shows various information depending on context. It usually shows the day of the week, date, and current weather, but it will sometimes show upcoming calendar events, reminders, and weather alerts. It can also show upcoming alerts from a work profile if applicable.
Home screen • Google Feed *At a Glance settings • App drawer
We like the snappiness and smoothness of Android 11 on the Pixel 5a, and we anticipate that Android 12 will be just as smooth, if not smoother, once it arrives.
Performance
Google stuck to the same midrange chip that came on the Pixel 5. The Snapdragon 765G is built on the 7nm process and is a solid choice for a balance between performance and efficiency. 5G is supported on this chipset through the integrated X52 modem, though only the sub-6GHz kind.
This chipset has two core clusters. The first is a performance cluster with dual ARM Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and 2.4GHz. The other cluster is made of six smaller ARM Cortex-A55 cores with clock speeds up to 1.8GHz. Graphics are powered by the Adreno 620 GPU.
Like its predecessors (4a and 4a with 5G), the Pixel 5a comes equipped with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 internal storage. There is only one memory variant, and the storage isn't microSD card expandable.
Back when we reviewed the Pixel 5, we found performance underwhelming. It felt like the Snapdragon 765G was under-tuned to compensate for the added battery draw that 5G brought with it.
With the larger battery, we are expecting to see somewhat better results out of these benchmarks. Even so, day-to-day performance is what the Pixel is known to excel in, and this was true of the last models with midrange chipsets.
Let's look at the performance benchmarks. We compare it to both the Pixel 4a and the Pixel 5, as well as a couple of other devices running the same chipset. We also included the Dimensity 1200 and the Snapdragon 780G.
In Geekbench 5, the Pixel 5a was at the bottom of the charts. On this test, it scored the lowest among other Snapdragon 765G devices, while the Pixel 4a's Snapdragon 730G yielded a higher multi-core score. It doesn't look good for synthetic benchmarks so far.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro
3490 - Oppo Reno5 Pro 5G
3091 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
2909 - OnePlus Nord 2
2792 - Realme GT Master
2773 - OnePlus Nord
1953 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
1820 - Oppo Reno5 5G
1813 - Google Pixel 5
1647 - Google Pixel 4a
1626 - Google Pixel 5a 5G
1337
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro
1034 - OnePlus Nord 2
814 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
803 - Realme GT Master
791 - Oppo Reno5 Pro 5G
712 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
636 - OnePlus Nord
610 - Oppo Reno5 5G
608 - Google Pixel 5
594 - Google Pixel 5a 5G
574 - Google Pixel 4a
553
The Adreno 620 GPU is adequate for handling modern games. It would be nice if the Pixel 5a supported a refresh rate higher than 60Hz, but it won't matter much for gaming since the Pixel 5a's graphics performance isn't exactly stellar. The Snapdragon 778G on the Realme GT Master and the MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ of the Oppo Reno5 Pro 5G both show a significant advantage in frame rates above the Snapdragon 765G.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro
96 - OnePlus Nord 2
75 - Oppo Reno5 Pro 5G
74 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
65 - OnePlus Nord
38 - Google Pixel 5a 5G
37 - Oppo Reno5 5G
36 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
32 - Google Pixel 4a
30 - Google Pixel 5
22
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro
86 - OnePlus Nord 2
57 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
57 - Oppo Reno5 Pro 5G
57 - OnePlus Nord
34 - Google Pixel 5a 5G
33 - Oppo Reno5 5G
31 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
28 - Google Pixel 4a
27 - Google Pixel 5
22
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro
59 - OnePlus Nord 2
46 - Oppo Reno5 Pro 5G
43 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
40 - Realme GT Master
33 - Google Pixel 5a 5G
21 - OnePlus Nord
21 - Oppo Reno5 5G
20 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
19 - Google Pixel 4a
17 - Google Pixel 5
13
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro
51 - OnePlus Nord 2
38 - Oppo Reno5 Pro 5G
36 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
35 - Realme GT Master
29 - Google Pixel 5a 5G
19 - OnePlus Nord
19 - Oppo Reno5 5G
17 - Google Pixel 4a
16 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
16 - Google Pixel 5
12
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- OnePlus Nord 2
4224 - vivo X60 Pro
4203 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
3136 - Oppo Reno5 Pro 5G
2713 - Google Pixel 5a 5G
1674 - Oppo Reno5 5G
1658
1107
1033
In AnTuTu tests, the Pixel 5a did about the same as last year's OnePlus Nord, and the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G performed a little bit better running the Snapdragon 750G.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro
639612 - Poco F3
631850 - OnePlus Nord 2
512164 - Realme GT Master
488456 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
465534 - Oppo Reno5 Pro 5G
435166 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
334981 - Oppo Reno5 5G
317762 - OnePlus Nord
312794 - Google Pixel 5a 5G
291303 - Google Pixel 5
289261 - Google Pixel 4a
268714
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro
720352 - OnePlus Nord 2
598022 - Realme GT Master
542323 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
522490 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
386474 - Google Pixel 5
386220 - Oppo Reno5 5G
377615 - Google Pixel 5a 5G
373168
The Snapdragon 765G is a nice fit for the Pixel 5a overall. Although we argued against it for the Pixel 5's case given the retail price, the Pixel 5a's price range suits the 765G better for both popular games and daily tasks. Multitasking feels quick and effortless, even when switching between resource-hungry social apps.
While we certainly were not impressed with the Pixel 5a 5G's thermal management, it did OK for the most part. We tested the phone under constant loads and checked the throttling using two apps.
Benchmark stability tests
This is perhaps due to the Pixel 5a's plastic and metal unibody construction, which makes it harder to properly conduct heat to the phone's exterior. While there weren't any major drops in performance, the Pixel 5a did struggle with maintaining maximum performance over time which shouldn't have been too much of a challenge with this midrange chip.
To sum up performance, the Pixel 5a is not among the best performers, but it's good enough. It will perform well enough for the average user, and it should be more than enough to keep up with socials, emails, messaging, and casual gaming. If you are someone who will continually use a smartphone for long periods without breaks, you might want to look at something with better thermal management.
Same camera hardware
There is nothing new about the Google Pixel 5a's camera hardware, and that may or may not be disappointing, depending on your expectations. We'll quickly cover the hardware and jump right into camera samples.
The Pixel 5a's got the same dual camera setup as the Pixel 5 before it. It consists of a 12.2MP 1/2.55" main camera sensor with f/1.7 aperture, OIS, and Dual Pixel phase detection autofocus and 1.4µm pixels. Meanwhile, the second shooter is a 16MP 119˚ ultra-wide with f/2.2 aperture, and 1.0µm sized pixels. The front camera outputs 8MP images, and the sensor sits behind an f/2.0 aperture lens.
What's missing from this camera setup is a couple of things. The Pixel 5 and 4a 5G both had a "Spectral sensor" and an added forward-facing microphone. The former is used for the camera to detect flicker in ambient light sources and adjust the shutter speed accordingly. The mic and sensor were probably removed for cost savings and/or to compensate for the component shortage.
Image quality
The camera on this device is a joy to use; all it really requires you to do is carefully compose the shot and let the software do the rest.
Daylight images
Dynamic range and contrast are excellent, details are rich in daylight, and colors are pleasing to the eye. In some cases, you may find some noise in darker areas of the scene as the software tries to bring out details there. This tends to be the case more so with shots taken indoors.
The ultra-wide camera is capable of some nice shots as well. The 16MP sensor down-samples resulting shots down to the same resolution as the main 12.2MP camera.
Daylight ultrawide
In overcast or indoor situations, you'll notice a bit more noise in the resulting images. In direct sunlight, you're able to get nearly identical image quality between the two cameras. Noise can sometimes appear in darker areas or clipped highlights upon closer inspection regardless of the camera used. Overall, the ultra-wide camera does the job well and is consistent with the main camera's colors, contrast, and details.
2X Daylight photos
Zoomed photos are also possible, but they are cropped from the main camera since there's no dedicated zoom shooter. We are covering these shots because there is a 2X button clearly marked throughout the camera's UI. Still, photos are more than usable, and details are generally good. You may notice a subtle softness to the photo that's a result of the crop but taking photos of anything with fine geometric patterns may cause a moiré effect because of the image processing.
Portrait samples in daylight
Portrait photos shot in daylight look great if the lighting in the background is separated enough from the foreground. The bokeh effect is convincing enough but can occasionally suffer in some situations. This mode can be hit or miss depending on the lighting situation.
Night Sight
Google's Night Sight normally kicks in automatically when it needs to, and you'll know by the little moon symbol that appears over the shutter button. Night Sight works best on still subjects, though it can still catch the occasional person in motion without too much blur.
Night Sight (main camera)
You can take Night Sight photos with the wide-angle camera as well. Details are mostly there, but with the dimmer aperture of the ultrawide camera's lens, ultrawide Night Sight shots are generally softer than those from the main camera.
Night Sight (ultrawide)
8MP selfies with HDR+
The 8MP selfie camera takes selfies with pleasing colors, accurate skin tones, and there's some flattering skin smoothing going on that can be disabled if you prefer.
Daylight Selfies
Like with the main cameras, the selfie camera's dynamic range is excellent, so you shouldn't see shadows crushing or highlights or clipping. Selfies have a distinct softness to them that's a result of the image processing on the 8MP selfie camera and the lack of autofocus. Still, the focus distance is pretty good, and selfies come out sharp enough. White balance and contrast remain consistently accurate between the front and rear cameras.
Despite having a single camera on the front, this 8MP selfie camera is capable of taking some nice-looking portrait selfies without a secondary depth sensor.
Selfie portraits
By default, the zoom factor changes to 1.2X when switching to the portrait mode on the front camera, so we kept it there for these samples. The subject line is generally good for posting to social media, but peeping closer, you'll occasionally find faults in the subject line. The bokeh line is realized well when lighting is ideal.
Night Sight selfies
Selfies can be shot in Night Sight as well. Occasionally, you may come across a nice Night Sight selfie, but that only really happens if you (your hand, and maybe a couple of friends) manage to stay still enough during the capture. Resulting Night Sight shots look softer than regular selfies, but they manage to capture the overall scene with good dynamic range, colors, and contrast, but not without some noticeable noise. It may be a good idea to shoot at least one or two alternative shots when using this mode.
Night Sight selfie portraits
Video quality
The Google Pixel 5a supports 1080p@30/60fps and 2160p@30/60fps in regular video and 1080p@120fps or 720p@240fps slow motion. Although Google delivers solid performance for still images, the Pixel 5a's is anything but consistent when it comes to video recording.
It's not to say the videos are bad, but the range of video resolutions and frame rates don't perform consistently across the board. Let's start with 4K video.
The main camera's video performance for 2160p@30fps looks great for the most part. There's a moment when the exposure is adjusting that you can notice noise in some of the clipped highlights, but nothing major. Details are abundant, and colors are well-represented. Sadly, the dynamic range is not as amazing as HDR+ manages in still photos.
Any video that you take in 2X zoom is a direct crop from the main camera since there is no dedicated zoom camera. Keep this in mind when you decide to shoot a video that's zoomed in. You can see there's a noticeably higher amount of noise at this zoom level, no matter which resolution. While Super Resolution somewhat works for stills, it does not translate into video.
As expected, there's a noticeable dip in details when switching to the ultrawide camera. Remember, there is also no autofocus on the ultrawide camera, so images won't be as sharp as on the main camera. Also, areas closer to the edges and darker parts of the scene are notably softer.
Competitors
For the competitors, we've only listed devices close to the Pixel's price range that are only available in the US. Starting with Google's own, the Pixel 4a makes a case for an affordable and compact smartphone with solid performance. The 4a is $100 cheaper than the 5a 5G but doesn't support 5G and omits the ultra-wide camera.
Google Pixel 4a
Samsung's Galaxy A52 5G is just a bit more at $499, and while we did like it for its 120Hz display solid quad-camera setup, microSD support, and 3.5mm headphone jack, it would be better suited at a discount.
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
Apple's closest offering is a nearly three-year-old device that's still a nice value today. Even though the iPhone XR has no 5G support nor an ultra-wide camera, it has great battery life and a very capable single-cam setup. Besides, Apple is sure to support the XR for at least another couple of years of iOS updates. The iPhone 11 starts at $50 more and adds an ultra-wide camera.
Apple iPhone XR • Apple iPhone 11
The choice for alternatives in this range is slim, hence Google's decision to limit the release to two markets.
Verdict
The Pixel 5a is an interesting price point of $449 in the US. While It's a shame the phone isn't available outside of the US and Japan, it doesn't make sense for Google to launch the Pixel 5a outside of these markets since the competition and alternative devices are not as threatening as they are in other markets like the EU and India.
The Google Pixel 5a could have been a more compelling smartphone had it arrived with an LTE chipset instead of the Snapdragon 765G. Thus, it could have been sold at $349 or maybe even $399 to directly compete with the iPhone SE.
The Pixel 5a is essentially a repackaged Pixel 5 with a larger screen and significantly better battery life, but no wireless charging. It feels like Google could have released this device earlier in the year to stagger it further from the imminent launch of the Google Pixel 6 duo.
What we've concluded is that the Pixel 5a should have been the Google Pixel 4a 5G from the start. Meanwhile, the Pixel 5 should have been the Pixel 4a 5G, and the Pixel 4a 5G that was forgotten next to the Pixel 5 didn't need to exist. We acknowledge that the pandemic caused chip shortages that must have resulted in Google scrambling to make sense of the last two generations of Google Pixels, the four models of which (including 4a, 4a 5G, 5, and 5a 5G) are all very similar.
Google's Pixel 5a 5G has imposter syndrome out of the box: Google doesn't believe that it's worthy enough to compete in markets outside of the US and Japan. The Pixel 5a 5G is a great phone with excellent battery life, a great camera, snappy software, and a bright display. However, this year's "a" Series device is catching up to support 5G and was obviously not meant to be competitive enough in markets like EU, South America, China, and India.
Pros:
- Large and super-bright OLED display
- Excellent battery life
- Solid still image performance
- Stereo speakers
- First in line for OS updates
- IP67 water resistance
Cons:
- Limited market availability and only one color and storage option
- No support for high screen refresh rate
- No mmWave variant for Verizon 5G UWB in the US
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