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00:00First of all, can we talk about something for a second?
00:06Google is the worst company on earth at keeping things a secret.
00:10And I don't think it's on purpose.
00:12Like some people think it's an intentional leak and oh, they're letting stuff get out
00:15about their phones so that's free press.
00:17No, I think they're just bad at it.
00:19Like really, really bad at it.
00:21So everything about the phone is already out before it even comes out.
00:24That's just the way it is with Pixel phones now.
00:26Pixel anything.
00:27Anyway, this is the Pixel 7a, you've probably heard about it or seen some things and it
00:33turns out pretty much everything you've seen is true because it's a Pixel.
00:36But really what you should know is this is the new midranger from Google and it's a bit
00:39more expensive than the previous one.
00:427a costs $499 and it's very similar to the Pixel 7.
00:49Let's talk about it.
00:50So first things first.
00:51Yes, the price did go up.
00:52The Pixel 6a was $449 at release.
00:56This is the 7a.
00:57So there should be a good reason to add $50 more.
00:59So let's just start with what's new, which is wireless charging and a new 90 Hertz display.
01:05Honestly, these are welcome features.
01:07Wireless charging is a nice one for convenience.
01:09I will say it's definitely not fast wireless charging.
01:11It's only 7.5 watts here.
01:13So I've noticed literally when I'm navigating and this is wireless charging in my car and
01:17it's got high brightness GPS stuff going, it just holds its charge.
01:20It doesn't lower or go up.
01:22It just stays the same.
01:23But hey, if you have a wireless charger sitting around at the desk at work or at the bedside
01:28or something like that, it'll definitely be good for a trickle charge overnight, which
01:32not every phone in this price range can say they have.
01:34So that's good.
01:36And then the 90 Hertz display is a funny one because it's actually off by default on this
01:42phone.
01:43Like when you first take it out of the box and start using it, it's a 60 Hertz phone,
01:46but you can go into the display settings and turn on smooth display.
01:50It's 50% more frames and it's dramatically smoother, about as smooth as the Pixel 7 was.
01:57It's also the same Tensor G2 chip and the same eight gigs of RAM.
02:00So performance feels pretty similar to the Pixel 7 at 90 Hertz.
02:04It makes a big difference.
02:05I do not enjoy using this phone at 60 Hertz for this price.
02:10It did seem a little bit choppier, like it was dropping frames and actually operating
02:14at 45 to 55 Hertz.
02:16So yeah, turn on that 90 Hertz.
02:18Low quality wise, that is where you'll see, at least on paper, it does take the small
02:21step down from the Pixel 7.
02:25Plastic back and the rails are still metal, which is nice.
02:29And it is also IP67 instead of IP68.
02:34But honestly, you'd be hard pressed to notice.
02:36Just like using this phone, holding it, there's no creaking, no bending, nothing screams low
02:41quality about this build at all.
02:43So I think that was well done.
02:45And this is a slightly smaller 6.1 inch flat display.
02:49Still 1080p and it's up to 90 Hertz, like I said.
02:52And it does have some serious color shifting and banding when you get off axis.
02:57But honestly, it's still bright.
02:59It still looks good enough for this price.
03:01It's Gorilla Glass 3.
03:02And also, even though the display is slightly smaller, the slightly thicker bezels just
03:07bring it right back up to basically the same size of a phone as the Pixel 7.
03:11So it feels like another fair trade.
03:12And then there is a new set of colors.
03:14This little light blue is called Sea.
03:17As in ocean.
03:18It's the sea.
03:19But there's also a Charcoal and Snow, which are the black and white ones.
03:22And there's also a red, like coral colored one.
03:25That one is an online only Google store color.
03:28Pretty fire actually.
03:29But you know, channel sponsor dbrand will let you spice it up.
03:32I've never actually shouted out the JerryRigEverything Teardown Skin, because usually dbrand has to
03:37wait for someone to actually do the teardown.
03:39Luckily though, they were able to pull some strings and get this one made ahead of time.
03:43So it's ready right for launch.
03:44And this is a rare first look at the inside of the phone on camera through this skin.
03:50And it's 15% off too, along with everything else on their site right now for you guys,
03:56as long as you go to dbrand.com slash MKBHD and use code everything.
04:01But bottom line, it's still very much looks like a Pixel.
04:05The metal wraparound visor, the pill cutout for the camera, the antenna bands in the
04:09right places, the slot speakers, the buttons are still very clicky.
04:14I mean, this is, they've done the hardware well.
04:16This is a very good trade off for the hardware price.
04:18And then do I really even need to get into the software?
04:20Because the story kind of writes itself.
04:23They do all the same software stuff in the A series phones as they do on the more premium
04:27Pixels, which I like.
04:28Not everybody does that.
04:29So all the same features, all the same stuff that I like about every other Pixel is also here.
04:34I've called the Pixel the smartest smartphone in the world because of how good Google Assistant
04:38is, how good the voice to text is with all the on-device transcription, the incredible
04:44voice recorder app, the Google Assistant stuff that screens calls and waits on hold for me,
04:49the now playing feature that hears songs in the background wherever you go and identifies
04:53them for you, the material you stuff throughout everything that identifies your wallpaper
04:58and matches your system colors to it.
05:00And of course the promised three years of software updates, which hilariously isn't
05:04the longest promise support in the industry anymore.
05:07That actually goes to Samsung's phones, which promised like four to five years of support.
05:11But nevertheless, no surprises here.
05:14So really my only two question marks when I got this phone were battery and cameras.
05:19So battery would be kind of interesting because it's roughly the same size battery as the
05:24Pixel 7.
05:25So would it have the same battery life or not?
05:27But then also cameras because for the first time in a while, there's new cameras in here,
05:31all new cameras that we've never seen in a Pixel before.
05:34So a departure from the tried and true.
05:36So first for battery, 4,385 milliamp hours, 18 watt charging, kind of slow and seven
05:44and a half watt wireless charging, even slower.
05:47And then total battery life, I'm going to say average at best.
05:50So it's a full day of use, but definitely nothing more, even at 90 Hertz, which is fine.
05:56You know, it's mid range.
05:57So I got quite a few days with the three to four hours of screen on time at 90 Hertz with
06:02my typical usage and I'd have like 10% left at the end of the day.
06:05So I'm not really worried about it dying before the end of the day, unless it's crazy
06:10heavy.
06:11But even then, the wireless charging can kind of save you if you want to prolong its death
06:15a little bit.
06:16We'll see how this ages over time.
06:18But for now, I'm giving it a C plus battery life, if that makes sense.
06:22But let's talk about these cameras, okay?
06:24So Pixel 6a last year, played it super safe with the cameras because it used the same
06:3112 megapixel sensor from the previous like four years of pixels in a row.
06:36That infamous IMX363 sensor that did so well.
06:41This one has a brand new 64 megapixel main camera paired with a 13 megapixel ultra wide
06:47and a 13 megapixel selfie camera.
06:50So when I first started testing it, I mean, I'm thinking, all right, well, this new sensor
06:54keep up with the old tried and true Pixel 6a because we all know how good those old
06:59cameras were.
07:00But pretty quickly, it became clear that Google has done the work to tighten up the
07:04processing with the new sensor and actually sort of match it this time and take advantage
07:09of the actual larger sensor.
07:10So it's not just about the megapixel count, matter of fact, this 64 megapixel sensor
07:15bends down to 16 megapixels by default every time.
07:18And there is no way in Google's app to take full 64 megapixel photos.
07:23But it's more about the larger size of the sensor, which can bring in more light and
07:27give a more shallow, natural depth of field.
07:30So yeah, pixel photos look pretty good for a $500 phone.
07:35There are tons of dynamic range without being too HDR-y and it actually kind of feels like
07:39they've evened it out a little bit so it's a little less contrasty, but it still has
07:43that famous contrasty pixel look.
07:46And then that f1.9 max aperture combined with the new sensor means you can take closeups
07:50of things and have a really shallow depth of field and you can take better low light
07:55photos with faster shutter speeds at night with night sight.
07:58There is no macro mode, I noticed, but you can get pretty close up, probably, I'm gonna
08:03say like five inches away from the subject and still be fine, not too much fringing.
08:08The ultra wide here has a lot of the same characteristics, but it's particularly distorted
08:14and warped at the corners.
08:15I feel like this is something like I would expect Google to improve more with their software.
08:20Maybe they'll update this over time.
08:22But for now, the distortion look is pretty noticeable, but it is wide.
08:25And then the selfies, they look like pixel selfies, honestly, very solid, no complaints,
08:30tons of range.
08:31That's a good selfie camera.
08:33For video, you can do 4K 60 from the main camera, which the Samsung A54 I just tested,
08:38I don't think could even do that.
08:39But then it's 4K 30 from the other cameras, which is fine, looks normal.
08:46This is a top three mid-range smartphone camera, but hold on to that thought.
08:51All the rest of the little parts of this phone I've tested were right in line for
08:54this price.
08:55The haptics were pretty good, not as good as the more expensive pixels, but pretty
09:00good.
09:01The optical fingerprint reader is just a beat slower than the super fast ultrasonic ones,
09:06but none of the pixels have particularly fast fingerprint readers anyway, so this is par
09:10for the course.
09:11And when the sun hit it, I could also see that it was slightly angled to the right.
09:16Not sure if that's normal or not, I just know I haven't seen it like that before.
09:20But let's be real here.
09:21The A series, it all comes down to the price point.
09:23And this one has gone up, so it is still mid-range, but it's like upper, like premium mid-range
09:29at 500 bucks.
09:30Verizon is also going to sell a millimeter wave version and theirs will be 550 bucks.
09:35Classic Verizon, but still premium mid-range, right?
09:38This is a good phone and I think a lot of people will get it and really like it.
09:43But for the price, I would actually rather go for the Pixel 7.
09:48It is six months older, yes, than this brand new A series phone, but it's going to have
09:54the same specs.
09:55It's the same Tensor chip and same RAM and everything, but it will have more capable
09:59cameras on the back and the front, a faster 20 watt wireless charging, and then a bunch
10:05of the smaller little things, better haptics, better speakers in the cheaper phone.
10:09It's actually glass on the back, like there's just a bunch of little things that add up
10:12to a better experience overall.
10:14It's thinner bezels, better accessories because it's six months old already.
10:18It's also IP68 instead of IP67.
10:21And this phone is like 599 standard and it was when it came out, but it's regularly
10:25on sale for much less than that.
10:27If you can get this phone, Pixel 7, for in the 500 to 550 range, I would take this over
10:34the 7A.
10:35But I guess that's just the middle child effect because Google is now trying this sort of
10:38newer thing where they're offering more things at once, more pixels for different prices.
10:44They're keeping the 6A in the lineup at 349, which I think is a really good deal.
10:50And so now you can get a Pixel anywhere from 350 bucks to 1800 bucks.
10:55Choice is yours.
10:567A is kind of right in the middle.
10:58Let me know what you think about this phone and whether or not you'd get this or the
11:01older 7.
11:02In the meantime, thanks for watching.
11:04Check out all the new stuff on the channel if you haven't already, and I'll catch you
11:07guys in the next one.
11:09Peace.