Google Pixel 6A started at $449: everything you need to know

Today at the I/O 2022 conference keynote, Google announced its long-awaited budget Pixel phone, the Google Pixel 6Athe brother of the flagship Pixel 6 Pro and the Pixel6 smartphones, released in October 2021.

The main innovations of the Pixel 6 series are the new extremely elegant high-end design and Google’s own proprietary System-On-Chip (SOC) Tensor, a bold move that allows the search giant to stop relying on the Qualcomm Snapdragon -Leave hardware.

Starting at just $449, the Pixel 6A starts at a similar price point to its predecessor, the Pixel 5A, and features the same Tensor chipset as the more expensive 6 and 6 Pro models (except for 6GB RAM vs. 8GB/12GB )!

A rumor recently spotted in the wild claimed that the Pixel 6x possibly later in 2022, so the 6A might not be the last sibling in the Google phone Gen 6 family.

Google Pixel 6A release date, price and availability

Pre-orders begin July 21, and the device will be available on July 28, 2022 for $449 in three colorways: Charcoal, Chalk, and Sage. The Pixel 6A is sold in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Industrial design

The Pixel 6A is based on the same new chipset platform and design language as its older siblings, with a significant upgrade in elegance compared to its predecessor, the 5A. On the back, the 6A has the same black camera bar as the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, an iconic design feature that makes the new Google Phone 6 series stand out from the crowd.

Surrounding the chassis is a tactile aluminum frame and 3D thermoformed composite back, which could mean the back cover is plastic. It comes in three flavors: Charcoal, Chalk, and Sage.

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The 6.1-inch FHD+ (2400 × 1080) OLED 60Hz display features an under-display fingerprint sensor, which is a nice improvement over the Pixel 5A’s rear sensor. Compared to the Pixel 6 (6.4-inch FHD+), the smaller screen size of the Pixel 6A delivers a higher pixel density of 431 PPI. The decision to go for a more compact chassis is probably one of the small compromises that allowed Google to keep the same high-end Tensor SoC in the 6A for such a low price.

camera hardware

The dual rear camera system features a 12.2MP widescreen f/1.7 shooter with OIS and a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera with a 114° field of view (FoV).

On the front, the selfie camera has an 8 MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and an 84° FoV.

camera features

real tone

real tone is a photo function that was introduced last year for Google Photos and the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro cameras. Real Tone allows the camera to better represent all skin tones, especially darker skin tones that require very different automatic settings than light skin tones.

Google is now expanding its Real Tone feature with a new set of filters for Google Photos.

At Google I/O 2022 Annie Jean Baptiste announced that Google launches”Use the Monk skin tone scale to create more inclusive products for Google. […] Developed by dr Ellis Monk, the scale adds a critical step to our product development and testing to ensure the technology powering our future works well for everyone. Our research has shown that more people in the US feel that the Monk scale more accurately reflects their skin tone compared to the current industry standard. This was especially true for people with darker skin tones.

We are testing the scale globally and in various product settings and will continue to improve it to reflect people everywhere. At Google, we started using the Monk scale to improve understanding and representation of skin tone in products in photo and search.”

Later this month, Google will launch new Real Tone filters, designed to work well on all skin tones and rated using the Monk scale. With true tone filters, users can apply the beauty and authenticity of professional editing to their photos with just a few taps.

The new Real Tone, developed with the Monk scale, will be available for photos and I suspect Google could also update the version used in the Pixel 6 series camera.

Google shares its research with the Monk’s skin tone scale to all developers at skintone.google.

night vision

That night vision mode improves camera performance in low light conditions.

Magic eraser

Magic eraser removes unwanted objects or strangers in the background with a few taps. Users can also change the color of any object to either match the scene’s color scheme or to tone down an object’s appearance.

Hardware, on-chip security and performance

With the Tensor SoC, the Pixel 6A gets 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage.

The hardware platform for the entire Pixel 6 series, including the 6A, consists of the Tensor processor and the Titan M2 security chip, which communicates directly with the Google Tensor Security Core.

The Tensor Security Core, which resides inside the Tensor SoC, combines a dedicated CPU, ROM, one-time programmable (OTP) memory, crypto engine, internal SRAM, and protected DRAM. On Pixel 6, 6 Pro, and now 6A, the main responsibilities of the security kernel include protecting user data keys at runtime, securing secure boot, and communicating with Titan M2. If you’re a security freak, find out more about Titanium M2 here.

There were extensive on-stage presentations at I/O 2022 showcasing the new security and privacy features recently developed by Google to improve user privacy and security across all of Google’s software and hardware products.

On the performance side, Google claims its machine learning AI runs five times faster on Tensor than on the hardware on its previous phones, while the Titan M2 outperforms the Pixel 6 series “more resistant to attacks.”

battery

The Pixel 6a has a very decent one 4410mAh battery capacity, close to the 5000 mAh seen in larger smartphones. Google claims a “24-hour” battery life for the “average Pixel user,” meaning most people can probably use it for a full day without worry. According to Google specs, there’s also an “Extreme Battery Saver” mode that could triple battery life.

If you need to top up the battery, it can charge with 18Wwhich is a satisfactory speed in this market segment.

Pixel 6A contest

That Pixel 6A offers an excellent feature set at an affordable price, putting it on par with the following competitors:

That Samsung A53which launched in March 2022 for around $450 Moto Edge gen2 launched in September 2021 for now $699 reduced to $449 with 256 GB of memory and the OnePlus North 2 5G launched in July 2021 for €399 (now priced at around $320).

With a 6.1-inch OLED 60Hz display, the Pixel 6A is the smallest of the range, while the Moto Edge 2021 is the largest with a 6.8-inch 144Hz IPS LCD. The other two competitors come in at 6.43 inches with a 120Hz Super AMOLED for the Samsung phone and a 90Hz AMOLED for the OnePlus Nord 2. All the phones get the same 2400×1080 resolution, and there the Pixel 6A being the smallest device, the display delivers the highest pixel density of 431 PPI.

On the camera side, the Pixel 6A has a smaller sensor than the other rivals, with the Moto Edge 2021 having the largest, followed by the OnePlus Nord 2 5G. In mobile photography, not only the sensor sizes have to be taken into account when assessing the image quality, other factors such as the f-number and the image processing software are also decisive.

The Google Pixel 6A gets a bright primary lens with an f/1.7 aperture. In addition, the Google phones are known for their excellent camera software.

All phones, including the Pixel 6A, have a dual camera system with a wide and ultra-wide lens, the Galaxy A53 gets an additional third shooter for macros, and the Nord 2 has a depth sensor.

The Pixel 6A’s best high-end feature is its Tensor chipset, the same processor that powers the more expensive Pixel 6 Pro. This SoC could deliver better performance than the competition in the affordable phone category.

It would be great to see how the Google Pixel 6A fares in the real world. We can’t wait to get our hands on a device.

Filed in . Read more about Android, Editorspick, Google and Google I/o.

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