After a brief delay, the Google Pixel 9a has launched in Australia, bringing a new look and features including more AI to their mid-tier range.
The Pixel 9a launched at the same price as last year’s Pixel 8a, with the 128GB model priced at $849. The 256GB model has seen a slight price increase over last years model, starting at $999.
Powered by Google’s Tensor G4 processor, the Pixel 9a comes with 8GB of RAM, enough to run their Gemini Nano AI model with a few reduced features, though all the neat AI powered camera features we saw launched on last year’s Pixel 9 series.
The main body and camera system have been redesigned, with the removal of the camera bar on the rear making for a flatter profile, and the camera sensors have changed though still promise excellent performance.
Will the Pixel 9a live up to the fantastic Pixel 9 series from last year? I used the Pixel 9a for three weeks and here’s how it went.
The Pixel 9a is slightly taller and wider than the Pixel 8a, but it manages to pack in a larger and brighter 6.3” Actua Display. The larger display minimises the bezels surrounding it, though they are still pretty notable.
The main design change for the Pixel 9a is the new flat back with more rounded corners. The flat design allows the Pixel 9a to lay absolutely flat, with the camera island now sitting flush with the composite rear.
The rear has a lovely matte finish and feels a little more grippy than last year’s model and does an excellent job of hiding fingerprints – though I used the Google Pixel 9a case with it for most of the review for a little protection.
It’s a decently durable device though, with Gorilla Glass 3 on the display, and in a first for their mid-tier A-series phones, the Pixel 9a now includes an IP68 water and dust resistance rating adding to that durability.
While Google sent over an Obsidian (Black) coloured Pixel 9a for the reivew (and it looks good), the phone is also available in Porcelain (White), as well as two more exciting colours, Peony (Pink), which was launched with the Pixel 9 last year, and a new colour: Iris (Lavendar) which looks gorgeous – and seems to be regularly out of stock on the Google store.
There’s a metal frame with a satin finish on the edges just like last years, with the volume rocker and power button on the right and SIM tray, USB-C port and downward firing speaker on the bottom.
The Pixel 9a includes a 6.3” Actua pOLED display It’s larger than last years by 0.2″, though it retains as similar FHD+ resolution and 20:9 aspect ratio – but it’s all about increased bnrightness this year.
The Actua display has been updated this year to be 35% brighter than last year’s with a peak brightness of up to 2700 nits. It’s super bright, brighter than other phones in this class, and more than enough to be seen easily on a bright sunny day, and even easier to see indoors.
The slightly larger display is also more roomier, and still includes the Smooth Display refresh which operates between 60-120Hz, so it’s nice to scroll around.
There’s an optical fingerprint sensor built-in to the display. It’s slightly slower than the ultrasonic sensors used on the full Pixel 9 series, but it works and you also get the alternative of facial unlock which is accurate and secure, with support for unlocking your apps for biometric authentication.
On the audio front, the Pixel 9a has stereo sound with the earpiece paired with the downward firing speakers on the base. It’s a decent quality sound which handles full volume with minimal distortion.
The Pixel 9a is powered by the Tensor G4 processor with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and comes with either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
The processor is the same as the rest of the Pixel 9 series with Google listing a 30% performance increase in web browsing over the Pixel 8a.
The Tensor G4 powers the Gemini Nano on-board AI experience including features like Circle to Search, Add Me and Best Take in the camera and Pixel Studio for generative AI images. While Google says it’s the same processor as the Pixel 9 series, you do miss out on a couple of AI experiences including the Pixel Screenshots app, as well as Call Notes, a call summary feature – though that one doesn’t appear to be available in Australia anyway.
As we found on the Pixel 9 reviews, the Tensor G4 is a pretty capable processor. The performance is good, loading and switching apps easily and with the 120Hz Smooth Display on-board it makes for a very pleasant experience.
How does it do on benchmarks? Well, we waited a little longer this year and it’s now able to install and run Geekbench and 3DMark – and here’s how they went.
The connectivity side includes LTE and 5G (sub 6GHz), as well as WiFi 6E, Bluetooth v5.3, NFC and all the location services. The network speeds will differ on your location and carrier, however on Telstra I saw very fast speeds on both 4G and 5G networks.
The Wifi is fast, connecting with the Nest Pro Wifi I use, and I easily connected my Pixel Buds Pro using Fast Pair. The Pixel Watch transfers over quite easily as well if you want to use one of those as well.
There’s a great mid-tier camera system in the Pixel 9a, with a 48MP main sensor paired with a 13MP ultra-wide sensor with 120° field of view on the back, and a 13MP selfie camera embedded in the display.
The main rear sensor has a lower MP count than last year’s 64MP sensor, however the 48MP sensor is larger with a wider aperture, which allows more light into that sensor for brighter images.
The larger sensor works wonders for the Pixel 9a, with good shots in almost any lighting conditions. It doesn’t quite hit the low-light performance of the Pixel 9 series phones, showing where some savings have been gleaned, but it offers some good shots in its own right.
The Pixel 9a doesn’t include an optical zoom, opting to include their AI driven Super Res Zoom up to 8x. It works decently for a 2x zoom, but tends to be just ok at 8x.
Google’s AI magic is on display in the Google Photos app where you can reimagine, refocus, or pretty much do almost anything you want.
At 5100mAh, the battery on-board is the largest we’ve seen in the A-Series to-date. Google spruiks upwards of 30 hours of use, with up to 100 hours using their extreme battery saver.
In real world use, the battery life is great. It easily gets you through the day even with fairly intense use, and it also charges fairly quickly as well.
That charging is still a sticking point, with no charger included in the box – though you do get a new USB-C cable. The official 45W Google charger they recommend is priced at an additional $49.99 – however you’ll be guaranteed 23W charging speeds.
That 23W gets you from dead flat to full in just under 2 hours, and you can get a shade under 40% in 30 minutes, so it’s not super fast.
The Pixel 9a, with Android 15 is capable of limiting battery charging to 80% which can be better for your battery health long-term. It’s a handy feature and can be paired with their smart charging which slowly charges overnight before ensuring you hit max charge when you wake up.
There is support for wireless charging at 7.5W, so no sign of Qi2 here yet. It works on the Pixel Stand 2 as well as other generic wireless chargers – but it doesn’t support reverse wireless charging if you enjoy that feature.
The Pixel 9a comes with Android 15 on-board with the March 5th security update installed.
There’s an Over-The-Air (OTA) update ready to bring you up to the May 5th update, and it’s the first of many, with Google offering ‘7 Years of Software Support from Launch’. This includes OS updates and those monthly security updates which also include their often feature filled Pixel Drops.
The Pixel experience is, as usual, very stock in terms of look and feel. There’s a few Pixel exclusive apps installed like the Pixel Recorder and Pixel Studio apps. You’ll also find the Fitbit app installed ready to track your health after Google dropped their Fit platform.
Of course the pièce de résistance for the Google, Pixel and yes, Android experience is now Gemini. Replacing Google Assistant, the Pixel 9a includes Gemini Advanced, which includes Gemini Live their conversational model. The big rub of this intelligent AI is finding things to do with it – which at this stage constists of me asking it what it can do, and trying it. I, like a lot of people are waitinf for a killer use-case for AI, and while it’s fun to talk with Gemini Live, and get a more intuitve result through Gemini, we’re still waiting – but Google, and the Pixel 9a is ready to go when that use-case appears.
The Pixel 9a is essentially the best priced look at Android on the market, or more precisely, Google’s vision of Android on a smartphone in this price range.
It runs great, has excellent battery life, the best camera system in its class, a pleasant new flat design – though I still prefer the camera bar, and it’s also more durable and comes with a bigger, brighter display.
The only downsides is the lackluster charging and lack of charger, and the price tag really drives it into a more premium mid-range category, and there are plenty of good phones under this price – but they aren’t Google’s phone, and that means something when it comes to the Android, and now Gemini releases – though the 9a is a little hampered in that department and misses a couple of features like Pixel Screenshots.
Overall, this is a great phone in this category and should be on your list to check out.
Daniel has been talking about, learning about and using tech since he was able to toggle switches and push buttons. If it flashes, turns on or off or connects he wants to use it, talk about it and learn more about it. Like this article? Buy me a coffee!
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