The Google Pixel 3a is pretty cool — but here’s why you might still want to get the Pixel 3. Zain Hussain Follow May 8, 2019 · 4 min read

Google I/O 2019

On the 7th of May, Google unveiled it’s new highly affordable Google Pixel phone — the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL during it’s annual Google I/O conference.

The Pixel 3a and 3a XL come with the same camera, capable of taking jaw-dropping photos, the super smart google assistant (that will be receiving incredible breakthrough in the coming updates, announced at Google I/O), and the superb battery — making it one of the best phones you can buy on the market.

They also brought back the headphone jack, for you w̶e̶i̶r̶d̶o̶s̶ wired-headphone enthusiasts that still haven’t decided to get wireless headphones.

But there’s a lot that the phone has had to sacrifice to be able to sell at such a low price point, and I’ll go through them, in no particular ranking order, in this article.

Pixel Visual Core

One of the reasons that the photos taken by the Pixel 3 devices are so stunning is really due to Google’s image processing techniques, and that requires a lot of processing power.

Google created a custom ‘visual core’ chip that is embedded in the Pixel 2 and 3 devices, enabling high-level, rapid image processing without using much power at all. This Pixel Visual Core is missing from the Pixel 3a devices, meaning that the images are processed using the device’s onboard CPU and GPU, and thus it is not as power efficient, and most importantly nowhere near as fast as the Pixel 3. While this isn’t a deal-breaker (since you still come out with the same quality of photos as the big brother Pixel), it does mean that your overall experience with taking photos may not be as smooth as you would have expected.

Processor

The Pixel 3a and 3a XL use a less powerful Snapdragon 670 chipset, compared to the flagship-class Snapdragon 845 processer on the Pixel 3 and 3 XL. The 670 isn’t too bad, it’s better than a lot of Android phones on the market and a decent processor for the price point that the Pixel 3a is selling at, however you may not be particularly pleased at times and possibly wish you had chipped in just a bit more for the Pixel 3.

Water resistance

This is another sacrifice that wasn’t exactly mentioned explicitly during the announcement. The Pixel 3a and 3a XL are not water resistant.

Front facing speakers

Image credits: Android Police (https://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSC01587.jpg)

The Pixel 3a does not have front facing speakers, which are really something to consider if you’re an avid media consumer and desire a high-level of audio immersion when watching videos on your Pixel.

Wireless charging

The pixel stand is quite useful, I use it myself regularly, but I don’t particularly see this as a major sacrifice at all since it’s really just… not a big deal.

Materials

While the design seems quite identical from a design point of view, the phones do use different materials for their finish. The Pixel 3 has a smooth glass back (which I absolutely adore), while the 3a is made out of polycarbonate, which is a posh word for shitty plastic.

Google Photos

A key selling point of Google Pixel devices (and a truly valid point), is the fact that you get unlimited photo storage with google photos at full, original quality.

Image credits: IG @googlepixel

In the fine-print you can see that the Pixel 3a and 3a XL do not have full quality, but in fact high quality. Which is still of great quality but you may want to have your best shots kept at original quality.