Google Pixel 9a: A top-smart smartphone in its price range
Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Lounge Shouvik Das 5 min Read 16 Apr 2025, 09:27 AM IT The Google Pixel 9A’s design feels soft, especially in the ‘porcelain’ color summary, with Indian consumers not actively looking for new smartphones, makes the Google Pixel 9A a pitch for new buyers on a tall old schools when Buy. While the Google Pixel 9A is for sale in India, there is a very, very strong matter to be made for this new phone that takes over the lofty mantle. The Google Pixel 9A does not do much wrong with the bat. Of course, compare it to the Pixel 9 Pro Series, and you see a clear difference between what the two phones look like. But it is not a gap in the class of quality – both feel very well built, and in reality the Pixel 9A feels somewhat more south than its ‘pro’ versions, at least for us. This minimalist design works well. For the Urbanite, aesthetics play a key role in everyday paraphernalia – from table lamps to water heaters. In this world, design-led firms actively chase the right amount of minimalism to make gadgets-typical as cold and too technical right in the idea of sound, near-earth items around us. The Google Pixel 9a, on this note, feels soft. Especially in the ‘porcelain’ color, it feels calm and comfortable – a phone that fits into your life. This is a big win for Google, because in terms of its overall design, the Pixel 9a feels soft and seamless. Yes, the boundaries around the screen are too visible – but for everyday use, it feels like a phone you don’t need to be specially careful to handle it. Also read: It’s time to have your smartphone cleaned without removing favorites in a world where flagship phones use more glass and metal and make it prone to damages, it is a big win for Google. In the long run, you feel that the Pixel 9A can be used without a back cover or an external screen protection at the top – although both are good ideas to protect your investment in the long run. While Google has been making this ‘a’ version of its pixel zone for six years – this is the seventh version, the series has always promised the best of Google’s Pixel experience without the elevated price tag. Now it feels that the Pixel 9A should stand on its own as a phone that does not give you extra frills, but has more than everything you want from a new phone. In fact, the starting price of £ 49.999 is more than 7% lower than its predecessor – perhaps an effect that Google is gathering its pixel zone here in India instead of paying a large import tax of 15% of its costs. At this price, you get all the latest AI chops from Google (including things like ‘Add Me’ in the camera, and the ‘Magic Editor’ in Google Photos), the same 6.3-inch OLED screen as the Pixel 9, the latest generation ‘TENSOR G4’ processor and 256 GB fixed storage. With which it leaves you is a phone that uses the minimalist Android software interface that Google has been marketing half a decade, without any extra apps being forced on you. The screen provides the contemporary standard of 120Hz update rate-according to simple terms, which means your eyes will consider it silky. For some reason, Apple still does not offer it in its base (nor the iPhone 16, let alone the iPhone 16th). Score: Google One, Apple Nil. This simplistic design and interface is combined with a battery that easily lasts a full day, at least for now. It is about two weeks since the device has been activated, which is nowhere to enough time to assess an endurance of a telephone battery. But with early signs, the Pixel 9A seems to be good enough to have a complete working day, even after one year – when your limited guarantee is out on the phone. All this makes the phone very functional. The smooth OLED screen with a smooth jerk means that you can stream live sports without a hiccup, or play most of the latest video games compatible with Android without feeling limited. The Pixel 9A is heated if you play intensive games for more than 30 minutes, but this phone is not intended to be a direct game anyway. For most casual and sporadic games, this is sufficient. However, is it too good to be true? Not quite. The Pixel 9A makes a clear exchange with its camera with a main camera of 48 megapixel with a sensor that is the smallest of Google’s latest phone cameras. Of course, it provides a good enough camera for the occasional social media post, but the trade-in in detail, shadow levels and color balances are clearly visible. Fortunately, Google’s ‘Cheaper Flagship’ can still take out the smartphone with the Pixel 9A still portrait photos as opposed to the Apple iPhone 16E – a peculiar restriction in the latter. But the 13-Megapixel Ultrawide camera can rarely be useful, and we would rather have taken a telephoto camera for optical zoom here. However, make no mistake – for most everyday situations, such as a quick look at a volatile moment in nature as you drive up the hill, or an impromptu photo of a new dish you try in a restaurant, the Pixel 9A does provide acceptable photos. Its results just are not as strikingly detailed or consistently rich as the ‘pro’ pixels, or even the Samsung Galaxy S25 and the Apple iPhone 16E. Then why are we setting up a seemingly ordinary phone? All things considered, the Pixel 9a at the moment is the only smartphone in the market that shows that you can get a top smartphone that you give everything and take three or more years without placing yourself through two years’ EMIs or a major credit card account. At £ 49.999, the Google Pixel 9A is the perfect balance of everything you need in a phone -5g connection, a good battery, a wonderful screen, the glittering AI features and a good processor to make sure your phone stays smooth over the years. Yes, the storage is restrictive, and the camera is not the best. But for the price you pay, there is no better smartphone in the market at the moment than the Google Pixel 9A. In the end, it can bring more buyers to the table. After all, the smartphone industry is likely to continue with incremental innovation in the coming years. With a smartphone showing balanced innovation without giving up its statement too much, the Pixel 9A shows the compass on fair market prices one that could lead to flagship smartphones getting cheaper in India in the coming years. Also read: The Trouble with Falling on Your Ai Companion Catch All the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and latest news updates on Live Mint. 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