Google announces the Pixel 9a, its new entry-level smartphone that competes with Samsung's Galaxy A56, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, and the iPhone 16e. Let's take a look at what it's all about.
A flat camera block
Before diving into the smartphone's inner workings, let's take a look at its new design, the subject of numerous leaks. The 9a is necessarily inspired by the Pixel 9. It takes its codes: the flat edges, the harmony of colors between the back and the frame, itself adopting a glossy finish to give a slightly more bling bling side to the whole.
Two major differences emerge, however, to mark its difference. The first is immediately obvious, the camera block has become completely flattened and barely protrudes from the body of the phone. This gives an oblong black surface located at the top left of the smartphone, accompanied by a flash. The Pixel 9a plays the sobriety card and gets rid of the very pronounced horizontal bar of its big brothers.
The other major difference is to be found at the level of the borders around the screen, a little larger, even if they retain their uniformity. Understand by this that you will not find the chin on the lower part of the screen that some competitors adopt for reasons of economy. Another nice detail is that the Pixel 9a is a waterproof smartphone, it is IP68 certified.
Finally on the design, the Pixel 9a is slightly thicker than the Pixel 9 (8.9 mm vs. 8.5 mm), but also lighter (185 g vs. 198 g). This weight saving should be appreciable in everyday use, probably due to the plastic back panel, where the Pixel 9 opted for glass.
Battery, screen, chip and photo sensor… many changes
The Pixel 9a is a modestly sized smartphone. This might lead to concerns about a somewhat limited battery life. While we'll have to wait for the full 01Lab test to be sure, on the hardware side, Google has strengthened the battery by going from 4492 mAh to 5100 mAh.
The screen has also been reworked: the diagonal size has gone from 6.1 to 6.3 inches, and peak brightness has also increased to 2700 nits compared to 2000 nits previously. A sign that we're not dealing with a high-end device, the refresh rate only fluctuates between 60 and 120 Hz and cannot go lower. This should result in a slightly less fluid impression and slightly higher power consumption.
Photo: a new sensor and a host of features
For photography, Google is relying on a new 48 Mpx main sensor for its wide angle. It benefits from a wide f/1.7 aperture but its size has been slightly reduced. On the wide-angle side, the Pixel 9a adopts a 13 Mpx sensor, the same as last year.
Beyond the hardware, Google's smartphone is full of new software in photography:
- Macro focus
- The Add me function which allows you to add the person taking the photo by taking a second shot;
- The best shots and magic retouch functions;
Tensor G4: the same chip as the Pixel 9
More broadly, with its Tensor G4 chip, the same as the Pixel 9, the Pixel 9a logically benefits from most of the new AI features given to its big brother. We will thus find the improved magic eraser, the audio magic eraser, night vision, astrophotography and even the night vision panorama
Gemini, Google's voice assistant is of course part of it. In a future update, it should recover the new features of Gemini Live capable of analyzing your screen live.
Finally, the Pixel 9a still supports WiFi 6e like its predecessor, a standard already a little outdated by WiFi 7 but which will be more than enough for its price range.
Price and availability of the Google Pixel 9a
The Pixel 9a will be available during the month of April at a price of 549 euros, with 128 GB of storage. We will have to wait a little longer to know the price of the 256 GB version, but the Pixel 8a last year was offered at 609 euros in this version last year. As for the colors, four shades are offered: black, white, pink and lavender.
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