Google has just released the brand-new Pixel 7A. A new budget phone with a $500 price point.
If you remember, the more expensive $900 Pixel 7 Pro released earlier this year,
and it barely survived my durability test. So it'll be interesting to see how
this Pixel 7A holds up at half the price. With no further ado, let's get started.
[Intro]
Inside the box we get a USB-C cable, a USB adapter, and a few Post-It note sized papers.
No charging brick, but that's pretty normal these days. At first touch I'm going to be honest, the
Pixel 7A just feels good. A tad heavier than it appears. The bezels are a bit chonky, but the perk
of having a flat screen makes up for it. One minor difference I noticed right off the bat is that the
camera visor is not connected to the phone body - a small structural detail that might come back
to haunt us later. The Pixel 7 Pro has the camera bump visor unified with the phone frame, but we'll
find out if that's an issue soon enough. All in good time. First we find out what this $500 phone
screen is made from. I do like that since it's a cross panel bump, there is no rocking of the
phone. Plastic scratches at a 2 or 3, sapphire at an 8 or 9. And tempered glass, like we see here,
does scratch at a level 6, with deeper grooves at a level 7. The Pixel 7A is using Gorilla Glass 3.
There is a hole punch 13 megapixel selfie camera up at the top of the display protected
with the same glass, along with a razor thin earpiece slit below the top two antenna lines.
The sides of the phone are made from metal, along with the volume rocker and power button,
which are both removable. Not sure what's up with removeable buttons these days. But even
with detachable hardware, the 7A is a solid IP67 water resistant. Thumbs up for that.
Minus the two antenna lines, there's not a whole lot going on at the top of the phone.
The left side of the 7A, as well, is made from metal, with just a SIM card tray placed in the
lower third. The metal tray does have a rubber ring, but no expandable storage.
Down at the bottom we do have our lower stereo loudspeaker, along with our 18 watt
charging port. Revisiting the camera visor we find that the hump is also made from metal,
just a separate piece from the frame of the phone. Probably since this phone opens up from the back
instead of the front like we saw on the Pixel 7 Pro. Inside the hump we have our 64 megapixel main
camera, along with a 13 megapixel ultra wide. Both protected with glass and a single color LED flash
which lights up pretty good.
Now, a big difference between the 500 Pixel 7A and the $900 Pixel 7 Pro is the back panel
material. The Pro is made of glass, and as we can see the 7A has plastic. Some people might
say plastic is inferior, but I disagree. On a tool which is meant to have a long useful life,
plastic is just fine. Kids toys are made from plastic and they're durable. My Milwaukee power
tools are made from plastic. Plastic does a great job of not shattering into a million pieces on a
whim. Do you know what else does not do a good job of not shattering into a million pieces?
This thing...that I can't actually say out loud since the image is technically patented and I'm
scared of the patent owner's lawyers. If you know what this is, definitely don't write it
in the comments. Just give me a teardrop emoji and I'll understand what you mean.
Hard to be a security guard for a princess when your weapon keeps exploding.
Speaking of security, the Pixel 7A does have a fingerprint scanner,
but I tried setting my fingerprint twice and it did not work either time. Yeah,
I might be playing more video games than usual, but my thumbprint is still here. So
I think Google might have just cheaped out on the optical sensor. The display, however, is pretty
standard for the price range. It's a flat, 6.1 inch, 90 hertz, 1080p, OLED that lasts about 25
seconds under the heat from my lighter before going white and then surprisingly recovering.
Finally, the bend test. The $900 Pixel 7 Pro was toeing the line
between this life and the next. With the 7Z being $400 cheaper,
it's interesting to see that there is almost no flex at all when bent from the back. And again,
almost no flex when bent from the front. The 7A absolutely clobbers the durability of the 7 Pro.
It's even better than the 3x more expensive ROG Phone 7 Ultimate. Nice work, Google. It's
official, for half the money, the Pixel 7A is stronger and more durable than the Pixel 7 Pro.
If you want a sneak peek of the insides I'll tease my Teardown Skin for a second. My mom
always said that true beauty lies on the inside. I don't think she intended for me
to make a career out of insides, but here we are. You can help me make my mom proud by grabbing one
of my Teardown Skins. Link in the description. Or if you want even more protection, dbrand's grip
case maintains the exquisite clickiness of the buttons while leaving nothing to the imagination.
Let me know what phone you want to see tested next down in the
comments. And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.