Google continues to crank out new smartphones with fabulous cameras, intuitive interfaces, and powerful processing. The A series signifies the pared down, affordable options in each series. The latest is the Google Pixel 9a, part of the Pixel 9 line, and it’s available in Canada starting at $679. Despite coming in at under $1K, it’s not a massive step-down from the Google Pixel 9 when it comes to features. Plus, the phone boasts the biggest battery of any Pixel phone to date. We were gifted a Google Pixel 9a to test and have spent the last week enjoying its features.
Key Features of the Google Pixel 9a
As noted, one of the features that stands out with the Google Pixel 9a is that it has the biggest battery yet of any Pixel device. At 5,100mAh, it will give you more than a day of use per charge at a rated 30+ hours. Extend this to up to 100 hours (that’s more than four days!) with Extreme Battery Saver mode. With support for fast charging, you will rarely find yourself in the red, plus it supports Qi wireless charging, too.
The Pixel 9a has a 6.3-inch Actua display boasting 2,424 x 1,080 resolution, 60-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, up to 2,700 nits peak brightness, and HDR support. Covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, it’s made with composite matte materials and has a satin metal frame and fingerprint-resistant coating. Google says it’s the most durable A-series phone to date, also offering IP68 dust and water resistance.
Launching with Android 15, the Pixel 9a comes with 8GB RAM, 128GB or 256GB storage, and the Google Tensor G4 chip with a Titan M2 security co-processor and Google VPN included. With Google Gemini integration, you get all the same AI features you get in the other Pixel phones.
The cameras are impressive, too, with a 48MP wide dual rear camera system, 13MP ultra-wide lens and Super Res Zoom up to 8x, and 13MP front camera. Try AI camera functions like Add Me for adding the photographer to a group photo so no one misses out, Night Sight, Face Unblur, Magic Editor, Magic Eraser, Best Take, Photo Unblur, and more. It is also the first A-series device from Google to include Astrophotography. For videos, leverage features like Audio Magic Eraser.
Other features include Family Link, Google Wallet, theft protection, car crash detection, find my device, and more.
How is it different from the Google Pixel 9? Aside from some cosmetic differences, including a new streamlined, slightly domed design for the cameras, the Google Pixel 9a is missing a few features you’ll get in the step-up Google Pixel 9. The Google Pixel 9 offers faster charging, has improved cameras, and more RAM at 12GB.
Available in Obsidian, Porcelain, Iris, or Peony, the Google Pixel 9a starts at $679. Like other Pixels, it comes with seven years of OS and security updates and frequent Pixel Drops. You also get three months of Google One, three months of YouTube Premium, and six months of Fitbit Premium.
Google Pixel 9a Review
The Google Pixel 9a feels sleek in the hand with its nice, rounded corners. The camera is now almost flush into the back versus the typical camera bar found in previous generation phones. This was presumably designed to allow more room for packing the larger battery and better vapor chamber inside. Indeed, the Pixel 9a can last for days without needing a recharge, a fantastic feature for power users.
As slim as the Pixel 8a thanks to the new camera model and skinnier pOLED display, you get a 6.3-inch screen with the same long and narrow design that is customary with the Pixel line. For those who prefer slimmer and smaller phones, it’s a good option.
Most people will be concerned about the basics: usability, battery, performance, and, of course, the cameras. I’ve already touched on the battery. In terms of usability, you’ll get the same experience with which you’re familiar when it comes to Pixel devices, which is one of the most intuitive and easiest to use interfaces out there. Fingerprint and face unlock work flawlessly and you can navigate the phone, switching among apps, with ease.
Gemini Integration
What really sets this phone apart is the deep Gemini integration. While you get Gemini with all the latest Android phones, the AI assistant is built right into this phone’s DNA. Press the power button down and it will instantly call up the Gemini assistant. From there, you can ask it just about anything. You get not only a visual response but also an audible one with details. You can inquire about your calendar for the day, add appointments, look into the weather or traffic, get help researching a vacation or a night out – you name it. And it’s all done in conversational fashion.
I even asked it for details about an injury my son recently had with his foot. I asked if I should be concerned that he still has significant pain even though it has been confirmed that there’s no fracture. The assistant went on a tangent, explaining what could be the issue and advising why I should seek assistance from a medical professional. He even addressed my question in the response, and continually referred to my son as “him,” intelligently understanding that I was asking about a male.
When I added that my son has already seen a doctor, Gemini went on to advise that this context helps and added details about monitoring his symptoms and paying attention to changes. Most alarmingly, the assistant also provided a sense of empathy (or as close to empathy as a machine can get) in the fact that I’m still concerned. It was literally like talking to a human person helping me through my feelings.
Gemini Live Screen Sharing
A new feature that just launched for Gemini Advanced users is the ability to share your screen to get instant information. Hold the camera up to virtually anything, like a landmark or item, and it will analyze and identify it for you. I tried it using my smart TV remote, and it instantly recognized what it was, what model, and asked if I needed help with it. I pointed it at a messy drawer and asked for suggestions on how to organize it, and it happily obliged with some good tips.
The feature isn’t foolproof, of course. I pointed it at a cordless vacuum I have set up for review and it identified it as the wrong model. When I noted this, he said, “my bad” and tried again with a different model. When I finally told him what specific model it was (admittedly, the brand has many vacuums that look similar), he was able to provide helpful information about it. I asked, for example, if it could do wet mopping as well and he said no and advised of its key features. He even provided alternative options from the same brand that do include wet mopping. Neat!
I fell deep into this feature, spending a good 15 minutes walking around my home asking it about random objects, having full-on conversations about everything from a signed poster from a TV show to a hat with a restaurant’s logo on it. It was able to provide tons of useful information. But there were a few times it could not identify items, like specific sculptures and a specific brand of automated shades. It also told me when I asked when a new show was coming out and where to buy a specific brand of tequila in Ontario that it can’t access such information.
While I had fun with it at home, it’s easy to see how screen sharing can be useful while out and about and especially for travelers. Sure, it’s a tad creepy, especially in the conversational way in which the assistant replies, addressing specific things I have mentioned, expressing commentary (“that looks like a pretty cool sculpture!”), and picking up on my very natural conversational method versus robotic commands. When my partner decided to challenge it about its very existence, the male voice began to contribute to a debate, posing its own questions, even asking how he felt about different perspectives to keep the conversation going. It’s both impressive and frightening.
Trying Out The Cameras and Camera Editing Features
All of the cool photo capture and editing features found in the Google Pixel 9a are available in other phones in the line as well. You can see some examples and learn more about many of them in my Google Pixel 8a review from last year. While I did not have a Google Pixel 9 on hand to compare for this phone, I decided to use the Google Pixel 8, the step-up version in last year’s line.
Add Me Is A Fan Favourite
I thought Best Take, introduced with the Pixel 8 series, was the most exciting photo editing feature I’d see for a while. But then, Google went ahead and launched Add Me, which has blown me away. It solves an issue we all face: you want to take a group photo, but it inevitably means someone is left out of the image. The other option is to awkwardly ask someone walking on the street to snap the pic for you and hope they know what they’re doing, or interrupt the waiter to snap some shots. In comes Add Me, an AI-powered tool that lets you effectively stitch together two photos into one so everyone gets in the pic.
Take the first photo of the group or person, then have the other person or someone else in the group take the phone and head over to where the photo was taken. The new photographer will see an outline of the first photo you took and position you just right so you are seamlessly added to the shot. Think stepping to the far right of a group shot. When done right, it looks like you were there the whole time. It’s an absolute genius feature and I can’t wait to put it through its paces more.
For now, since I’m a work-from-homer, I settled for a test shot with my 13-year-old son. Taking a photo of him atop a living room chair, I then sat on the chair and he framed the photo such that the two were put together and voila! These two shots became one – no more need for using the front camera or setting up a tripod or timer. Admittedly, this isn’t the best example of what the feature can do. But I can see how incredibly useful it would be and will be trying it out again once I’m in a group setting.
Magic Editor
There’s another feature called Magic Editor. It launched with the Pixel 8 series and is now available on all Pixel devices as well as through Google Photos. It’s a fun feature that allows you to add things to photos, adjust the look, even reimagine an image in a new way. It doesn’t always work, like when I tried to remove a logo from a T-shirt and just got a blurry mess in its place. But I did find some interesting ways to use it.
In this image from a recent event, for example, I reimagined the TV the background to display just a plain, blue sky and it came out nicely. The feature worked flawlessly in many cases, but it can’t handle more complex tasks with busier photos. In essence, it’s magic, but not totally magic.
Overall Photo Quality
Overall, photo quality is decent, similar to what you’ll get from the Google Pixel 8. That phone has similar camera specs with a 50MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide, and 10.5MP front. Here are a few shots that I took for comparative purposes.
In terms of the front camera, I snapped a selfie in a dark living room using both the Pixel 9a and the Pixel 8 and the result? The photos are virtually indistinguishable from one another. If I didn’t tell you these two photos were taken with two different phones, you probably wouldn’t have guessed.
For fun, I shot the same selfie image using my iPhone 15 Pro and OnePlus 13 for comparison, all in the same lighting and all using the standard photo mode. The Pixel phones take much softer photos while the iPhone 15 Pro image has harsher lighting and the OnePlus 13 image more detail. With the OnePlus 13, it’s worth noting that while you can’t tell with this image, zooming in provides much more detail than with any of the other phones.
Should You Buy The Google Pixel 9a?
The great thing about Google Pixel phones is that you get seven years of software and security updates. But this also means that you might be less likely to upgrade so soon. Since they hold their value longer, they’re also attractive for resale and hand-me-down. If you’re buying new, the Pixel 9a is an affordable option that rivals more expensive devices while still boasting a premium feature set.
Keep in mind that many of the cool, new features like Add Me are available on older model phones like the Google Pixel 8 too thanks to Google’s promise of frequent Feature Drops. So, you don’t need to upgrade to be able to leverage everything.
But if you’re buying new, the delta in price between the Google Pixel 9a and Google Pixel 9 is pretty significant: the Pixel 9a starts at $679 and the Pixel 9 at $1,099, a full $420 more. Is it worth it for the faster charging, improved cameras, and more RAM? For some, yes, especially if you’re a gamer or power user. But the Pixel 9a has fantastic battery life as it is, and 8GB RAM will be more than enough for most average users. The cameras, based on my observations, capture wonderful photos for everyday users and social media sharers. You can’t beat the handy photo editing features either.
So, should you upgrade from, say, a Google Pixel 8? Not yet. But if you’re buying new and want something that won’t break the bank, the Google Pixel 9a is a fantastic option that will literally save you hundreds. It’s far less expensive than many other premium Android phones on the market right now. And while it doesn’t necessarily fall into the “premium” category, you get a pretty premium experience anyway.