I spent a weekend with Google’s $499 Pixel 8a, and here’s my buying advice for 2024

I have been daily-driving the Google Pixel 8a for rather less than per week now, and it is most likely probably the most confusingly good Pixel telephone I’ve ever examined.

In a vacuum, the Google Pixel 8a is one of the best telephone you should buy for lower than $500. It nails the necessities with a smooth-looking, brighter-than-ever show, a digicam system that’ll finest any Samsung Galaxy A-series system or iPhone SE, and an Android working system that can give and provides for one more seven years. When you’re in determined want of a brand new telephone — emphasis on “determined want” — this might be the final cease of your procuring journey.

Additionally: Google Pixel 8a hands-on: 3 options make this my favourite $499 telephone at present

That is as a result of if time isn’t of the essence, you will face the dilemma that many different potential Pixel 8a patrons should now confront: Google’s frequent reductions on older however extra succesful fashions. This is applicable to all producers and different product classes, after all, however it’s particularly notable with Google’s Pixel line of telephones.

Take final 12 months’s Google Pixel 8, for instance, which retailed for $699 and dropped to $549 only one month after launch. In April, it was offered for $499 throughout main retailers, together with the Google Retailer, the identical value as the brand new Pixel 8a. Spec-for-spec, the Pixel 8 is the superior system in each approach, from the show and construct high quality to the digicam system (bear in mind: extra megapixels don’t at all times imply higher image high quality).

Naturally, since launching the Pixel 8a, Google has pulled again promotions of its flagship fashions, rendering such a comparability much less related. Nonetheless, with main commerce occasions on the horizon, together with Amazon Prime Day, this is my shopping for recommendation after having examined each telephones and coated a number of gross sales occasions previously.

Additionally: Google Pixel 7a vs. Google Pixel 8a: Which mannequin do you have to purchase?

When Google does run promotions on its Pixel telephones, anticipate the corporate to keep up no less than a $100 value hole between the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a. Meaning if the Pixel 8 drops to $549, the Pixel 8a will probably be priced at $449. And if the Pixel 8 drops to $499, the Pixel 8a will likely be offered for $399. Google had an identical pricing technique with final 12 months’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7a, and I would not be shocked to see issues repeat itself in 2024.

That begs the query of whether or not or not the older Pixel 8 is definitely worth the $100+ value distinction. From my expertise, I would take the cheaper Pixel 8a, and this is why:

1. With the identical digicam lenses obtainable, I’ve discovered the output from each the huge and ultrawide cameras practically indistinguishable between the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a. (It jogs my memory of Marques Brownlee’s newest Blind Smartphone Digital camera Take a look at, which noticed the Pixel 7a beating out the Pixel 8 Professional.) The one time I’ve observed a distinction between the 2 digicam programs is in low-light environments, with the Pixel 8 capturing particulars in darker spots higher — however by a small margin.
2. Whereas the Pixel 8a has a much less shatter-proof Corning Gorilla Glass 3 layering, it is naturally extra scratch-resistant. I do not typically drop or injury my telephones, however I do get an terrible lot of micro-scratches from taking them out and in of my pockets and luggage, and each day use.
3. The roughly eight-month hole between releases means the Pixel 8a ought to obtain working system, Pixel Characteristic drops, and safety patches for longer than the Pixel 8.

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

Regardless of which of the 2 telephones you purchase, you will be armed with a Pixel system that ought to final you for years and years. Purchase the Pixel 8a if you happen to’re on a funds and do not wish to guess on Google (or one other producer) to low cost its older fashions considerably. As long as the Pixel 8a and Pixel 8 are separated by no less than $100, I would at all times advocate the previous.

 But when the Pixel 8 is ever priced the identical because the Pixel 8a, there’s extra to realize with the older however nonetheless succesful Google telephone.