Google, the granddaddy of Android, just released the Pixel 3a, a much cheaper version of their
flagship Pixel 3.
This is the purplish color.
At a price of $399, the phone is hundreds of dollars less expensive than most flagships.
But does cheaper price mean cheaper build quality?
Does the 3a stand for “affordable” or “absolutely breakable”?
There's only one way to find out.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
Google has done really well on my durability tests for the past few years, but pulling
the 3a out of the box makes me wonder if this phone will continue at the durable trend or
not.
It's got a plastic body, but still maintains that Pixel vibe with the glossy top section
and matte body.
With everything being plastic though, this is going to be interesting.
Let's start with the scratch test.
Google has gone with Dragon Trail glass this time around, instead of Gorilla Glass.
It's just a different glass manufacturer.
I have a super interesting sapphire video coming out in the near future, so watch out
for that.
We normally would see tempered cellphone glass, branded or generic, start scratching at a
level 6, with deeper grooves at a level 7.
And that's still true with this Pixel 3a.
Keys and coins won't cause any damage to the surface, but anything harder than a level
6 will cause damage, so a screen protector is still always a good idea.
The front facing camera is an 8 megapixel little guy, also protected under that same
front glass.
The earpiece is wide and open up here in the large top bezel.
It's a metal mesh screen.
The metal mesh is glued to the bottom side of the glass display, and with enough force
can be removed.
Obviously nobody is going to do this with their own phone, but over time with temperature
fluctuations, the adhesive on the mesh screen can lose it's grip since that's the only thing
holding it in place.
So after a few years of owning the phone, this might come loose.
It is just aesthetic though, so losing it probably isn't a big deal.
The sides of the Pixel 3a are made from plastic.
It is a super hard plastic though, with a glossy finish.
The plastic underneath the finish is basically the same color as the outside, so any dings
or scratches in the surface should just blend in for the most part.
The bottom of the phone has it's USB-C port and loudspeaker.
The phone might be plastic, but it still feels good.
I personally would have no complaints about using a plastic phone as long as it got the
job done.
The right side of the phone has more plastic, along with the plastic volume rocker and plastic
neon power button.
It's not textured.
And what is this?
A head phone jack?
Thumbs up for that.
Google previously killed the jack, which was pretty wack.
They got a bunch of flak/borderline attacks for following Apple's pack and lacking the
jack.
But it's good to see it now back.
Google should get a stack of lilac plaques for that.
Having the jack back is a borderline aphrodisiac.
The dual LED flash is made from plastic, and the single 12 megapixel camera lens is protected
with a layer of glass.
The rear fingerprint scanner follows the same plastic flow with everything else on the phone,
and is made from scratchable plastic filling material.
I scratched it up pretty heavily though with my razor blade.
And even with that damage, the phone was able to register, recognize my fingerprint, and
unlock every single time.
One thing the Pixel 3a does not have though, is a wireless charging coil like the one you
can see here inside my custom clear Pixel 3.
Wireless charging can function through plastic, but I imagine Google left it out of their
new phone to keep the price down, which is fine.
Wireless charging is a slightly convenient gimmick that I do enjoy having, but is not
totally mandatory.
[Scratching sounds]
The frosted portion of the Pixel 3a is made from plastic, so it's a level 3, slightly
abrasive textured surface, instead of the frosted glass panel of the Pixel 3...which
was a level 6 slightly abrasive textured surface.
So we won't see the same material transfer on the plastic version of the phone that we
saw on the more expensive glass version.
The value Google is giving us with this phone is pretty incredible.
Apple's cheapest phone, the iPhone XR, is still nearly double the price, yet comes with
a lower resolution and no headphone jack.
If you buy a Pixel 3a instead of the iPhone XR, you can also go get yourself an Xbox and
still have money left over.
The difference in price is insane.
I'm all about making good financial decisions and keeping money in my piggy bank.
Speaking of poor financial decisions, I asked dbrand if they wanted to sponsor this video
and maybe send over some Pixel skins I could show off, but instead of sending me Pixel
skins, they sent over pixels skinned...like a lot of them.
Weird flex dbrand.
I really am capable of applying your colored phone stickers on my own.
I'll leave a link in the description if you want to customize your own phone and help
dbrand recover a bit from their poor financial decision.
The Pixel 3a has a 5.6 inch 1080p display, and is using an OLED panel, which means that
after about 20 seconds we start seeing permanent white marks displaying on the screen as the
pixels get hot and they never recover.
This doesn't really mean anything specific, mostly it's just a reminder that holding a
lighter to your phone is probably a bad idea.
The ultimate test of structural durability though is the bend test.
This is the place where you find out if saving hundreds of dollars on a phone makes it weaker
or not.
If a phone can't survive a bit of stress, then maybe it's not worth purchasing.
Let's see if this little plastic piggy makes it home or not.
The first flex of the Pixel 3a is rather unnerving, bending like a stack of Post-It Notes.
The whole phone yogas into a “u” position, but then straightens back out like nothing
happened.
When bent from the opposite direction we get the same result, the phone flexing quite a
bit but then locking out and returning back to normal, with no permanent damage done to
the frame or the screen.
The Dragon Trail glass holds up even with the scratches and imperfections we introduced
into the surface, so that's definitely good.
The phone creaks like a wooden boat in the middle of the ocean, but still totally survives
my durability test.
If you want a solid budget phone with a fantastic camera and headphone jack, this might be the
best cheap phone of the year.
I'll be checking it out from the inside to see if there's water resistance in there.
Do you care if your phone is made from plastic?
Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already.
And who do you think flexed more in this video: dbrand or the Pixel 3a?
Let me know down in the comments.
Thanks a ton for watching and I'll see you around.