Don’t Wait for the Pixel 9, Buy the Pixel 8a instead

howtogeek.com:

We're just a few months away from the launch of Google's next flagship phone, the Pixel 9. But if you want a great Google phone, you don't need to wait for the next flagship—you'll be just as happy with the $500 Pixel 8a.

Pre-orders for the Pixel 8a began on May 6th, with orders shipping on May 14th to line up with I/O 2024. You can find the phone at the Google Store and most third-party retailers.

Flagship Specs, Affordable Pricing

Like all of Google's A-series smartphones, the Pixel 8a offers flagship performance and photo quality at a mid-range price. It runs on the year-old Tensor G3 processor, packs a 6.1-inch 120Hz OLED display with a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, and features a 64MP camera with optical image stabilization and AI enhancement functionality (plus a secondary 13MP ultrawide lens).

The Pixel 8a's cameras are a rehash of last year's Pixel 7a. Normally, this is the kind of thing that would raise a red flag, but the Pixel 7a absolutely dominated in blind camera tests, beating both the Pixel 8 Pro and the Pixel Fold. Thanks to new AI enhancement technology, the Pixel 8a takes photo quality even further. It's arguably the best low-price camera phone on the market.

Google-exclusive features are on full display, too. The Pixel 8a offers Call Screen functionality and can automatically recognize music that's playing in the real world. Its Voice Recorder app offers automatic AI transcription, and Circle to Search (which is slowly finding its way to non-Google phones) is included by default.

Also, Google's A-series devices have supported wireless charging since 2022. The lack of wireless charging turned a lot of people away from the first few A-series phones, so it's worth mentioning here.

These are the kinds of features that you'd expect from a $1,000 smartphone, but the Pixel 8a starts at just $500. Plus, it includes seven years of Android updates, just like Google's flagship devices.

Google Pixel 8a

The Google Pixel 8a is a mid-range