Google Pixel 7a Android Phone Review: Near Pixel Perfect

Past A-series Pixel phones have skipped wireless charging, but the Pixel 7a breaks that trend. This phone sports wireless charging at up to 7.5W. That's not impressive compared to the 23W wireless speed of the Pixel 7 Pro, but you only get the max if you're using the second-gen Google Pixel Stand anyway. You can place the Pixel 7a on the Pixel Stand, which enables several useful features like smart home controls and Assistant commands. However, it's not worth getting the Pixel Stand for the 7a as it'll still only charge at 7.5W. A cheap Amazon special Qi pad will work just as well.


You don't get a charger with the phone (a common shortcoming in 2023), but it'll work with just about any USB-C charger in the world. The Pixel 7a doesn't have any special charging requirements, but neither does it offer high speeds. It tops out at 18W, which is a few watts lower than the flagship Pixels and far short of the likes of Samsung and OnePlus flagships.

Pixel 7a Battery Life

The Pixel 7a has a smaller battery than most smartphones, which hover around 5000mAh. Google's Pixel phones tend to have smaller cells, and the 7a is no different with its 4380mAh battery. That's slightly smaller than last year's Pixel 6a. 


The move to a 90Hz dsiplay does seem to have taken a bite out of the Pixel's battery life—the Pixel 6a did much better in our rundown test. Regardless, despite its smaller battery, the Pixel 7a will have no trouble lasting the day. You won't get much more than that, though. However, in the always-on PCMark Work test, the device lasted nearly 14 hours. If that's not enough, you can keep the display at 60Hz and regain some battery life.

Pixel 7a Conclusion: Everything You'll Likely Need, For Less

Google hit on a successful formula when it release the Pixel 6, and it's been building on that over the past two generations. The Pixel 7a offers the best parts of the premium Pixel experience and loses surprisingly little. This year's phone even added wireless charging and a new camera sensor, plus its Coral color is pretty spiffy. 

It can be easy to forget while you're using the 7a that this is supposed to be a budget-oriented Pixel at just $469, currently. It's just as fast as the Pixel 7, and the software is identical. We love features like Call Screen and Hold for Me, and the addition of Clear Calling to improve audio has made phone calls on the Pixel even better. Google's robust update guarantee is also a selling point, with three guaranteed OS updates and five years of security patches. Samsung does a bit better on its flagship phones, but Android updates are much slower. 

It wouldn't be a Pixel without a killer camera, and the new Pixel 7a delivers. Keep in mind, there's no full-resolution mode for the camera, so the 64MP resolution is largely academic. We can say the images this phone produces are crisp, evenly exposed, color-accurate, and bright enough in all types of lighting. The old 12MP sensor was still fine for casual snapshots, but the 64MP upgrade gives you a little more resolution for zooming. There's no telephoto lens on this phone—you have to go all the way up to the Pixel 7 Pro to get that. 

We also like that a phone this affordable gets the same high-end Tensor G2 processor as Google's other Pixel phones. We've found this and other Pixel phones to be buttery smooth and a pleasure to use, but in terms of raw processing power, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is a better chip. That might matter if you're playing mobile games all day and demand the best performance, but for everyone else, the Pixel 7a is all the phone you'll likely need (and then some).