It's been two and a half years since we broke the story that the Nexus brand was going away to be replaced with an entirely new brand and vision — what ended up becoming the Pixel. With it came an equally dramatic pricing change: Nexuses had slowly increased in price over the last few generations, but the big bump in pricing with the Pixel, followed by further raises with the Pixel 2 and 3, truly left behind the Android enthusiasts who loved the low price and high value the Nexus line provided previously. For the first time since the original Pixel launched, we have a phone that bears the Pixel name but a Nexus price: the Pixel 3a. The small size, plastic build and $399 starting price will give any Nexus fan flashbacks to the Nexus 5x and even the original Nexus 5 before it. Google Pixel 3a XL hands-on preview: The best camera gets cheaper

Let's make things clear from the start: the Pixel 3a isn't a Nexus, and the Nexus line isn't coming back. The Nexus was nominally aimed at providing developers with an inexpensive phone running Google-sanctioned Android. But its barebones software sprinkled with little Google flourishes, paired with guaranteed updates and great capabilities for the money, quickly made it the enthusiast phone of choice. The Nexus 6P was already starting to creep toward focusing on consumers (and higher prices), rather than developers — but that switch really didn't arrive until the first Pixel did. The Pixel 3a takes the best consumer-facing benefits of the Nexus line and adds in Pixel polish and focus. The Pixel 3a, like the rest of the Pixel phones, is coming at things from the exact opposite side from the Nexus. With the Pixel, Google is targeting mass-market smartphone buyer, not the enthusiast or developer. And the Pixel 3a is just a continuation of that mission — this time focused on price-conscious consumers in order to add value to the Pixel and Google brands as a whole starting at a lower price point for even wider reach. But the crucial difference with the Pixel 3a is that it blends the best consumer-facing benefits of the Nexus line with the already consumer-focused vision of the Pixel. Like Nexuses before, the Pixel 3a makes strategic cuts in hardware in order to hit a tantalizing price point — enthusiasts sure love that. But it does so while retaining all of what makes a "Google" phone so great — everyone loves that. Sure the hardware quality is clearly a step down, and you don't get features like stereo front-facing speakers, water resistance or the latest processor. But even at $400, you get Google's simple hardware design, Google's excellent software with guaranteed updates, and most importantly the exact same camera quality that makes the Pixel 3 and 3 XL the benchmark for phone cameras at any price.