Google is known for its Pixel series of smartphones and there is no denying in admitting the fact they are considered as one of the best if not ‘The Best’ android smartphones. Google Pixel series is usually powered by vanilla android platform with no custom skin or UI. This makes them popular among those users who hate the concept of custom UI and pre installed bloatware. Not only this, Pixel smartphones are like Apple’s iPhone. They will continue to receive priority updates directly from Google for at least 3 years and this makes them different from other android smartphone.
But this time I am not sure about the success of their latest Pixel series smartphone named Pixel 3a. If we take into account the tagline which Google is using to promote Pixel 3a on ecommerce platform Flipkart that is ‘Love it or Return it’, i can say that even Google is unsure about the success of Pixel 3a. Lets get into the main reasons why i think that Google Pixel 3a will not be as successful as its predecessors.
- First and foremost reason is weak SOC (CPU) which Pixel 3a is utilizing. I am in no way saying that Snapdragon 670 which Pixel 3a uses is a weak SoC but at Rs. 45,000 i expect something more powerful. Samsung Galaxy A70 at Rs. 28,999 comes with a Snapdragon 675 which is superior to 670. I really expect Google to go with Snapdragon 7 series with Pixel 3a but i guess they decided to go with profit.
- Single physical SIM. Currently in the market every other smartphone company is launching dual SIM smartphones but i guess Google want to go in a separate direction in this department. I would like to mention they do have option for secondary SIM in the form of eSIM.
- Single Primary Camera of 12.2 Mega Pixel and supporting Exmor RS CMOS sensor. Pixel 3a is touted as the best camera phone right now by Google. I do agree on this fact that dual, tri or quad camera configurations are not necessary for clicking good photos but you know the saying ‘More the Merrier’, same is applicable here also as general public will tend to go with Galaxy A70 or others with tri camera configuration and cheaper in price at the same time. I will get back to the primary camera at the end of this article.
- Plastic body. Yes at 45,000 Rs. everyone expects something better than plastic but Pixel 3a XL/non XL disappointed us in this department also.
- 4GB RAM. Again i agree that you can make an efficient OS and apps so that they don’t consume lots of RAM but at Rs. 45,000 i expect at least 6GB of RAM. I don’t know about others but some may don’t care about this at all.
- 64 GB of internal storage and no memory card slot. This is a bummer for me at least as i keep a lot of music, movies in my phone to watch/listen them on the go and 64 GB of storage will definitely not help me in that. And of course you will be getting lot less than 64 GB actually.
- Looks. Pixel 3a scores very poorly in the looks department. The phone seems to be similar in design to Galaxy Y with big chin and bezels.
Now let’s go to the only pro of this phone that is its photo taking abilities. Though hardware wise Pixel 3a is not that great but from software point of view its doing pretty well. So well that Google is challenging you to use the phone for 30 days and if you don’t like it, return it for 90% of the amount. The ability of camera to shoot high quality low light photos is made possible using Google software and is currently unmatched in the industry. So if you want a phone to shoot high quality low light photos then that is the only reason to buy Pixel 3a otherwise go for Galaxy A70 or wait for Galaxy A80.