Google Pixel 8a Review: Possibly The Best Midrange Phone Yet

The Pixel 8a won't blow you away with its longevity, but the battery life should be good enough for almost anyone. It easily lasts through a day with heavy usage at with the display configured for 120Hz, including web browsing, messaging, gaming, phone calls, and streaming video. It might be a two-day phone if you take it easy. The 4,492mAh battery is much smaller than many competing phones, although it is a bit larger compared to last year's budget Pixel (4,385mAh). 

Google Pixel 8a Battery And Charging

Charging this phone is not the best experience, however. The Pixel 8 and 8 Pro got improved charging specs last year—27W and 30W, respectively. The new budget Pixel, however, is still limping along with 18W wired and 7.5W wireless charging. It takes long enough to recharge this phone that we often had to unplug before it was full during our normal daily routine.

Google Pixel 8a Review Conclusion: An Easy Budget Buy

If you need a new phone, and a $1,000 flagship device isn't in the cards, it's hard to go wrong with the Pixel 8a for about half as much. The hardware looks and feels more expensive than the price tag would suggest, and the screen upgrade makes it totally readable outdoors. We also appreciate that Google offers a few fun colors in addition to its white and black models.

The flagship Pixel phones do provide a better camera experience, but the Pixel 8a is no slouch. There's no $500 phone we'd rather use to snap photos. If you pay more, you can get additional cameraa and lenses and marginally better zoom performance, but the Pixel 8a should be an excellent camera for anyone who's not picky about smartphone photography.


Google's latest take on Android is streamlined and attractive, though it is starting to bulk up with generative AI features that don't always work as expected. The Pixel 8a still ships with Assistant as the default voice control entity, but that might not be the case for much longer as Gemini continues improving and adding features. Circle to Search is the only truly new AI feature for the budget Pixel line, but this is mostly just a new way to access Google Lens. If you want to tinker with Google's other experimental AI features, you'll have to install the Gemini app, which the phone does recommend when you launch Assistant.

Perhaps the best thing about Google's Pixel 8a software isn't how it works—it's how long it'll work. This is the first A-series phone with a seven-year update guarantee. That covers both OS and security updates. It's fantastic that a $500 phone could theoretically last you into the next decade. You'll probably need a battery swap in there at some point, but the phone feels solid enough that it should be able to go the distance.