I’ve used Google’s $499 Pixel 8a for per week. This is my shopping for recommendation for 2024

I have been daily-driving the Google Pixel 8a for a bit over per week now, and it is most likely essentially the most confusingly good Pixel telephone I’ve ever examined.

In a vacuum, the Google Pixel 8a is the perfect telephone you should purchase for lower than $500. It nails the necessities with a smooth-looking, brighter-than-ever show, a digital camera system that’ll finest any Samsung Galaxy A-series machine or iPhone SE, and an Android working system that may give and provides for an additional seven years. If you happen to’re in determined want of a brand new telephone — emphasis on “determined want” — this could be the final cease of your buying journey.

Additionally: Google Pixel 8a hands-on: 3 options make this my favourite $499 telephone at present

That is as a result of if time is just not of the essence, you may face the dilemma that many different potential Pixel 8a consumers confront: Google’s frequent reductions on older however extra succesful fashions. This is applicable to all producers and different product classes, after all, nevertheless it’s particularly notable with Google’s Pixel line of telephones.

Take final yr’s Google Pixel 8, for instance, which retailed for $699 and dropped to $549 only one month after launch. In April, main retailers, together with the Google Retailer, offered it for $499, the identical value as the brand new Pixel 8a. Spec-for-spec, the Pixel 8 is the superior machine in each approach, from the show and construct high quality to the digital camera system (bear in mind: extra megapixels don’t all the time imply higher image high quality).

Naturally, since launching the Pixel 8a, Google has pulled again promotions of its flagship fashions, rendering such a comparability much less related. With main commerce occasions on the horizon, together with Amazon Prime Day, here is my shopping for recommendation after having examined each telephones and coated a number of gross sales occasions previously.

Additionally: Google Pixel 7a vs. Google Pixel 8a: Which mannequin do you have to purchase?

When Google does run promotions on its Pixel telephones, anticipate the corporate to take care of at the least a $100 value hole between the Pixel 8 and the Pixel 8a. Meaning if the Pixel 8 drops to $549, the Pixel 8a will probably be priced at $449. If the Pixel 8 drops to $499, the Pixel 8a shall be offered for $399. Google had an analogous pricing technique with final yr’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7a, and I would not be shocked to see the corporate repeat its strategy in 2024.

Is the older Pixel 8 well worth the $100+ value distinction? From my expertise, I would take the cheaper Pixel 8a, and here is why:

1. With the identical digital camera lenses obtainable, I’ve discovered the output from each the broad and ultrawide cameras almost indistinguishable between the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a. (It jogs my memory of Marques Brownlee’s newest Blind Smartphone Digital camera Take a look at, which noticed the Pixel 7a beating out the Pixel 8 Professional.) The one time I’ve seen a distinction between the 2 digital camera programs is in low-light environments, with the Pixel 8 capturing particulars in darker spots higher — however by a small margin.
2. Whereas the Pixel 8a has a much less shatterproof Corning Gorilla Glass 3 layering, it is naturally extra scratch-resistant. I do not typically drop or harm my telephones, however I do get an terrible lot of micro-scratches from taking them out and in of my pockets and luggage, and day by day use.
3. The roughly eight-month hole between releases means the Pixel 8a ought to obtain working system, Pixel Function drops, and safety patches for longer than the Pixel 8.

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

Regardless of which of the 2 telephones you purchase, you may be armed with a Pixel machine that ought to final you for years to return. Purchase the Pixel 8a if you happen to’re on a funds and do not wish to wager on Google (or one other producer) to low cost its older fashions considerably. As long as the Pixel 8a and Pixel 8 are separated by at the least $100, I would all the time advocate the previous.

If the Pixel 8 is ever priced the identical because the Pixel 8a, there’s extra to achieve with the older however nonetheless succesful Google telephone.