Finally, Google launched the Pixel 5a, its mid-year launch ahead of the much more hotly anticipated Pixel 6 series, coming in a month or two.

It’s a slightly amazing device: 

• Google has essentially perfected the Pixel 4a 5G with the release of the 5a. It’s the 4a 5G Plus. 4a 5GS.
• The Pixel 5a sticks with exactly the same chipset, memory, camera setup, and 18W wired charging. But it has switched up the build and other components as follows: A metal unibody design, a slightly bigger display (6.34-inches, up from a 6.2-inch screen), a much, much larger battery, and an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance — a first for the A-series lineup.
• Google dropped the price by $50, and it now starts at $449.
• Good luck getting one, though, if you’re not in the US or Japan, the only two launch countries.
• And that release availability makes even less sense than ever! Google’s not using a new chipset from Qualcomm, which may have led to constrained supply. It’s using the same one from last year! Google, Google, Google, why isn’t this phone more available?

$ for ?:

• Maybe Google is admitting that this phone is uniquely competitive in the US market. 
• A $450 Android phone sticking with a 60Hz display, an older chipset, and a camera setup that hasn’t changed in years, would, in many parts of the world, be a bit of a stinker for those that live for best specs. You’re paying a high price for features you’re not getting.
• But competition is stifled in the land of the free. The $400-$500 range includes Samsung’s A52, (or the just launched A52s) and Apple’s iPhone SE. Apple can get away with it because of iOS; Samsung’s A52 has a few nicer options and is regularly on sale for cheaper.
• If you look at the UK, Europe, India, and of course China, $450 gets you, at least: a better display, a better SoC, faster wired charging, maybe even wireless charging, and some kind of telephoto option.
• The Poco F3, for example, is about $400, and packs a Snapdragon 870 chipset, 120Hz OLED screen, and 33W charging.
• Even just-as-new sub-$200 phones have 90Hz displays which present smoother, snappier scrolling. It’s not a big thing, but it’s the future.

The experience:

• What is crucial though is the software experience. Google’s ageing camera gets by because it’s optimized enough to often beat our fancier hardware, though the lack of zoom is getting very tired. 
• Google brings to Android its Pixel software, promises of updates, and nice Google add-ons like Google Recorder app, Call Screening for spam calls, and more.
• And where Chinese OEMs crush the Pixel on specs and value, they don’t always deliver when it comes to a better Android experience, which Google mostly gets right.
• The other bonus from Google is Android updates, beta testing of next Android editions, and tighter integrations with Assistant. 
• Our Pixel 5a review says: “No, it’s not the most exciting phone you’ll see in 2021, but it works, and that’s exactly what it’s supposed to do […] it just works.”
• That’s enough for a large part of the market. Other headlines were “boring but better than ever” and “it’s not broken, so Google didn’t fix it.”