Not too long ago, there were plenty of reasons to spend $900+ on a smartphone. Today you will have to find an excuse to pay so much.
Cheaper phones have become increasingly indistinguishable from high-end ones with the “pro” moniker, and the few features that set them apart rarely justify the extra cost.
For example, the Pixel 7A, Google’s new phone, priced at $500, is in many ways on par with its premium counterpart, the Pixel 7 Pro, which costs $900. And based on my tests, I would recommend the budget model for most Android users.
For most of the last decade, the biggest downside to buying Android phones over Apple iPhones was that most Androids got software updates—important for security—for about two years, while iPhones received updates for about six. Many Android phone manufacturers had trouble keeping up with updates because they relied on chips and components from a variety of different manufacturers.
So spending more on an Android once made sense. Samsung’s high-end Galaxy phones received software updates several years longer than other Androids, in part because the South Korean manufacturer tightly controlled its hardware production.
But in 2018, Google acquired phone maker HTC, allowing it to make its own mobile computing chip, called the Tensor. Google now controls its Pixel hardware and Android software, being able to guarantee software updates for at least five years. The Tensor chip also makes Pixel phones faster and more power efficient.
Packing the same Tensor chip as the higher-end Pixel, the Pixel 7A offers the best value for money among Android phones.
The most obvious difference between the Pixel 7A and the higher-priced Pixel is the screen. At 15.5 centimeters, the screen is slightly smaller than the Pixel 7 Pro’s 17-centimeter display. Google also says that the Pixel 7 Pro’s display glass is of higher quality.
The other main difference is the camera. The Pixel 7A has a dual-lens camera, and the Pixel 7 Pro has a triple-lens system that can zoom to a higher resolution. But the camera software is the same.
In daylight, I took photos of my dog, Max, with both phones, and the images on both looked sharp and detailed. Although photos taken with the Pixel 7 Pro looked slightly better, they didn’t look $400 better.
Finally, the Pixel 7A’s battery lasted long enough to get through a normal day of general use.
So choose a phone based on your needs and preferences. A budget phone like the Pixel 7A might be just the thing.
By: Brian X Chen
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6725622, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-05-22 22:10:07
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