The Pixel 4a and Pixel 4a (5G) are a pair of Android

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s designed, developed, and marketed by

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

as part of the

Google Pixel Google Pixel is a brand of consumer electronic devices developed by Google that run either ChromeOS or the Android operating system. The Pixel brand was introduced in February 2013 with the first-generation Chromebook Pixel. The Pixel line inclu ...

product line. They collectively serve as mid-range variants of the

Pixel 4 The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as the successors to the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. They were officially a ...

and

Pixel 4 XL The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as the successors to the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. They were officially a ...

. The Pixel 4a was announced on August 3, 2020 via a press release, while the Pixel 4a (5G) was announced on September 30, 2020 at the " Launch Night In" event.

Specifications

Design and hardware

The Pixel 4a and 4a (5G) resemble the Pixel 4, but have a

polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily work ...

unibody construction and

Gorilla Glass Gorilla Glass is a brand of chemically strengthened glass developed and manufactured by Corning, now in its seventh generation. Designed to be thin, light and damage-resistant, the glass gains its surface strength, ability to contain flaws, and c ...

3 for the screen. Both devices are available in 'Just Black'. 'Clearly White' is exclusive to the Pixel 4a (5G), only on

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

with millimeter-wave (mmWave) support at launch. A limited edition 'Barely Blue' color for the Pixel 4a was later added to the Google Store. The back houses a capacitive fingerprint sensor centered below the camera lens. Both have stereo loudspeakers, one located on the bottom edge and the other doubling as the earpiece, and a 3.5mm

headphone jack A phone connector, also known as phone jack, audio jack, headphone jack or jack plug, is a family of electrical connectors typically used for analog signal, analog audio signals. A plug, the Gender of connectors and fasteners, male connect ...

. A

USB-C USB-C (properly known as USB Type-C) is a 24-pin USB connector system with a rotationally symmetrical connector. The designation C refers only to the connector's physical configuration or form factor and should not be confused with the conne ...

port is used for charging and connecting other accessories. The Pixel 4a is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G system-on-chip /

Adreno Adreno is a series of graphics processing unit (GPU) semiconductor intellectual property cores developed by Qualcomm and used in many of their SoCs. History Adreno (an anagram of AMD's graphic card brand '' Radeon''), was originally developed ...

618 GPU, while the Pixel 4a (5G) is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G system-on-chip / Adreno 620 GPU. Both have 6 GB of RAM, with 128GB of non-expandable internal storage. They lack

wireless charging Inductive charging (also known as wireless charging or cordless charging) is a type of wireless power transfer. It uses electromagnetic induction to provide electricity to portable devices. Inductive charging is also used in vehicles, power too ...

, water resistance, Active Edge and the Pixel Neural Core (PNC), all of which are standard on the Pixel 4. The battery capacity is 3140 mAh for the Pixel 4a and 3885 mAh for the Pixel 4a (5G); fast charging is supported at up to 18 W (USB Power Delivery, using in-box adapter). The Pixel 4a and Pixel 4a (5G) feature a

1080p 1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen vert ...

OLED An organic light-emitting diode (OLED or organic LED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light i ...

display with HDR support measuring 5.8-inches and 6.2-inches respectively. The display has slim uniform bezels, and a circular cutout in the upper left hand corner for the front-facing camera, with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The Pixel 4a and Pixel 4a (5G) have a raised square module housing the camera. The Pixel 4a has a single rear-facing camera, with the same 12.2-

megapixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...

sensor found on the Pixel 4; the Pixel 4a (5G) adds a secondary 16-megapixel ultrawide sensor. The front-facing camera has an 8-megapixel sensor. Both phones can record video at 4K resolution; the Pixel 4a is limited to 30 fps, and the Pixel 4a (5G) supports 60 fps. They have Google Camera 7.4 with software enhancements, including Live HDR+ with dual exposure controls, improved Night Sight with Astrophotography mode, and improved Portrait Mode with more realistic

bokeh In photography, bokeh ( or ; ) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in out-of-focus parts of an image. Bokeh has also been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light". Differences in lens aberrations and ...

. Google also offers unlimited cloud photo storage at "high quality"; original resolution storage requires users to pay for

Google One Google One is a subscription service developed by Google that offers expanded cloud storage and is intended for the consumer market. Google One paid plans offer cloud storage starting at 100 gigabytes, up to a maximum of 30 terabytes, a ...

Software

The Pixel 4a shipped with

Android 10 Android 10 ( codenamed Android Q during development) is the tenth major release and the 17th version of the Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer preview on March 13, 2019, and was released publicly on Septembe ...

and version 7.4 of the

Google Camera Google Camera is a camera phone application developed by Google for the Android operating system. Development for the application began in 2011 at the Google X research incubator led by Marc Levoy, which was developing image fusion technology fo ...

app at launch, while the Pixel 4a (5G) shipped with

Android 11 Android 11 is the eleventh major release and 18th version of Android, the mobile operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. It was released on September 8, 2020. The first phone launched in Europe with Android 11 ...

and version 8.0 of the Google Camera app at launch. Both are expected to receive 3 years of major OS upgrades with support extending until 2023, and have features such as Call Screen and a Personal Safety app.

Reception

The Pixel 4a was released to generally positive reviews with many reviewers praising the camera quality and overall value for money.

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

's Lynn La gave the Pixel 4a a score of 8.4/10, considering it to have the best photo quality among phones in the same price range. Dieter Bohn of ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...

'' praised the phone for its excellent camera and acceptable battery life, but criticized the mediocre video recording performance and lack of wireless charging and water resistance. Brian Chen of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' compared the Pixel 4a with the second-generation iPhone SE, remarking that the Pixel had superior low light photos, and a better display and battery life, but the iPhone had better performance. Samuel Gibbs of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' stated that the phone operated smoothly and had better battery life than the Pixel 3a XL and the iPhone SE.

Known issues

Fixed issues

* Some Pixel 4a (5G) users reported touchscreen problems. Google addressed this in a February security update.

References

External links

* {{Android smartphones Google hardware Android (operating system) devices Mobile phones introduced in 2020 Google Pixel Mobile phones with 4K video recording Mobile phones with multiple rear cameras Discontinued smartphones