Arrived as stated. It is a replacement for my sons phone, one that he dropped and broke. So this new phone appears to do everything he wants, google, various apps even the route finder sat nav thing. He is pleased and hasn’t said something is wrong with it. It does ring, because I’ve heard it, but it doesn’t mean he will answer it. Seems to be the right size – not sure how long it took to charge and set up but he was operational within about 2 hours. Screen looks ok. He bought the case and screen protector so we don’t have a repeat of phoneagedon. Seriously seems ok – sorted out a problem but really it’s a phone that does stuff.

Amazing phone takes really good photos and feels great on the hand, just the size is small for my liking it’s just a personal preference but really good quality phone

I got this Pixel 6A as a secondary/ back up phone to my Pixel 7 Pro and wasn’t the slightest bit disappointed. I find the size very comfy to hold and as someone who relies on the TalkBack text to speech software it runs very smoothly on Android 13. Very easy to set up, and you get Googles free 15gb cloud storage (3 times more than you get with Apple)

Weight is about 180g plus case, vs 140g last phone, and it feels heavy. Battery lasted about 3 days so far but I am a very light user, it’s on “dark theme” (so some screens black with white text which must save power?) and I mainly use on wifi – and haven’t tried it on 5G yet (which might eat more battery?). The camera is better than I expected and the keyboard works well. I set the font on largest and display size largest as my eyesight not great close up, it works and I like the big clock on the locked screen.

I’m a little late to the Pixel 6A review party because the first parcel delivered to me contained, not a the gleaming new phone I was expecting, but hair products unlikely to be needed by a man of my advanced years. Imagine my chagrin. But the Amazon customer service machine swung into action and I soon received a Pixel 6A, and you know what? It’s not at all bad. I find the size nicely pocketable and the weight reasonable, it’s big enough but not a monster. Like myself.

Display

The screen is certainly sharp enough, but perhaps a little lacking in punch, it can seem dim. If adaptive brightness is enabled, as it is by default out of the box, you’ll typically be looking at brightness in the 30% – 40% range, obviously to conserve battery power, which does not much impress.

A fairly low-grade of gorilla glass is used for the screen so I use a protector, but touch accuracy, responsiveness, and haptic feedback, are all fine.

Battery & Charging

If you routinely exhaust your existing phone’s battery in the course of a day then possibly the Pixel 6A is not for you because it does not have huge battery capacity. But for a light user, as I am, battery life should not be a problem.

I charged the phone to 100% at midnight and left it powered ON overnight. The following day I used it for about 40 minutes navigation, a couple of dozen photos, some web browsing, this and that. At 9.30 in the evening the charge showed as 47%. I connected a power pack, and by 10.00 the charge was 75%, reaching 92% at 10:30. So the battery capacity is not awesome and the charge rate does not dazzle, but honestly? It’s OK for me, and while your milage will most certainly vary, unless you’re a seriously heavy user making and receiving calls all day then you should be fine.

Performance

The phone is zippy enough, I’ve yet to notice any lagging, Apple won’t be fretting, but in its price band the 6A has to count as a powerhouse. I’ve not found it gets noticeably warm, but I’m not a phone gamer.

Camera

You’ll already know the 6A does not have telephoto, and I guess you won’t be buying if that’s a big issue for you. In the vast majority of scenarios the two lens camera is fine for me, producing pretty good shots. My attached photo of pink geraniums was taken on a dull afternoon with 5x zoom.

Fingerprint Unlock

No unlocking method, I’m quite sure, is as plain reliable as Apple’s Face ID, and I’ve never come across a fingerprint recognition system remotely as effective. But you don’t get a new iPhone at the Pixel 6A’s price, sad to say. Initially my 6A finger sensor was plain unreliable to the point it was almost useless, but since I installed the QPR Beta 1 update it has worked very well. Note: You have to register with the Android Beta Program to be offered Beta updates, but the fixes should be rolled out in a public release of Android 13.

My method of maximising fingerprint recognition reliability is:

– [ ] Ideally, don’t use a thumb or index finger, those digits are our most vulnerable to nicks and abrasions etc in daily use. I use my right middle finger, which works fine for me because I usually hold a phone in my left hand and poke at it with my right rather than use it one-handed.
– [ ] Use all the fingerprint enrolment slots, the Pixel 6A has only four, for your chosen finger. This gives the recognition algorithm a vastly greater chance of recognising the print because it has a larger data set to compare with.

Here I should say I have never experienced the widely-reported Pixel 6A problem of the phone unlocking for any old random fingerprint.

Overall

With the fingerprint recognition issue seemingly resolved I am now happy to recommend the Pixel 6A. At the price I don’t think you can buy better.