Don't Buy the iPhone 11 (Get a Pixel 3a)
This is the new Pixel 3a.
It’s a budget option phone with the same fantastic camera from the pixel 3 coming in at $399 for the base model with 64GB of storage. (I got mine for $150 after trade in)
The sides squeeze for Ok Google.
The fingerprint reader is fast and well placed.
It comes preloaded with Android 9 and in a rare move for any manufacturer in 2019, the Pixel 3a has A HEADPHONE JACK.
Camera performance, as should be expected from the exact same camera and software in the pixel 3, is fantastic, quick and produced what, to my eyes, were maybe even slightly better pictures than my pixel 2. Though the difference was so subtle as to be meaningless. None of the tests were scientific by any means, but it handled different lighting conditions, video, movement, pretty much everything with a quality that is still shockingly great. I find myself leaving my nicer cameras at home when going places with my daughter because I can so consistently rely on this camera to perform and be quick, quality and pocketable after the cool stuff is over. The camera alone is worthy of your $400. It’s amazing that there’s a great phone that comes with it.
BUT Apple just released the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. They REVOLUTIONIZED the camera, they changed the game and they priced it aggressively at $700. So now which phone should you get?
If you’re like me, you watched EVERY review on the iPhone 11 that dropped on Youtube. Pretty much everyone loves that phone. And with good reason. My cousin purchased the Pro version and it performs exceedingly well. Face ID is super fast, the phone feels nice in the hand and as with all Apple devices, iOS feels super smooth in day to day use. HOWEVER, that camera that everyone was raving about just doesn’t do it for me the way that my much cheaper Pixel 3a does. You can see in the examples below, the Pixel does a better job at detecting the edge of human subjects, even in low light, it tended to produce images that felt more true to life for me and in many cases, that extra clarity made the image feel as though it was a picture from a much higher end phone.
The iPhone by contrast felt washed out and in many cases was so soft as to remind me of a front facing camera.
The iPhone trended warmer than the Pixel which a ton of people favor, it makes skin tones appear a bit more flattering at times, but the images just never worked for me when held up against the Pixel.
The shot that made me stop pursuing the iPhone is below. I snapped this quick shot with my Pixel 3a and then the same shot with his iPhone, both in portrait mode. And you can see for yourself, the result was underwhelming. The necklace is cut off and over blurred in the iPhone picture and the overall detail is just way too soft. Additionally, unlike the Pixel, I can’t just opt to keep the non-portrait version of this picture. The iPhone is all or nothing and this example bummed me out.
I wanted the iPhone for it’s camera, that’s the way I use my phone, and yet, in pictures it was falling flat. See below for more examples. The backlit photo shows the pixel struggling with edge detection but nailing color. The whiskey is close but the Pixel is closer to life and finally the carousel shows a drastic difference in quality and detail. (For full quality photos and videos I’ve uploaded everything to a google drive link that I will keep alive for at least 3 months for anyone wanting to pixel peep)
What about video?
iPhone blows the Pixel 3a out of the water when it comes to video capability. Framerate options and stabilization and general ease of use make this the best video camera in a smartphone. Period. I hold it against any action cam at this point and believe it makes a strong case for leaving the GoPro at home.
You can see in the video that the Pixel slow mo was just abysmally grainy and of much lower quality. The iPhone gave me an image that I feel I could use just about anywhere and hold up with footage captured on actual cameras. It’s just that good. If you need a video camera in your phone and that’s a bigger priority than the photos, the iPhone is your best bet under a $1000. The Pixel 3a does a decent job with quick videos and handles day -to-day use okay, but the dynamic range and general smoothness of the iPhone is just absolutely insane. This is the only part of that phone I wish that I had on mine.
So the Pixel is a decent camera and an okay video camera.
How’s it hang everywhere else?
Really damn well.
Side by side with the iPhone it is only slightly more sluggish when switching apps or pulling up websites. The snapdragon 670 is only faltering when in direct competition. Spotify opened fine, switching between Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat in the constant misanthropic digestion of social media for hours a day has been…..great? The phone handled it better than my serotonin.
Double tap to wake worked consistently and much better than on the pixel 2 and I found myself relying on it to skip songs on Spotify with less effort while driving and it was a nice quality of life perk that I enjoyed.
However, I noticed a slowdown after a couple months of use that gave me pause. The generally great performance on my Pixel became a little sluggish. I don’t notice all the time but texting has some odd errors due to the input lagging a bit, the apps will hang sometimes on open now and I generally wait an additional half to full second for things to work. That’s frustrating and in a device of this cost I don’t bum too much but it needs to be talked about. No one else that I have spoken with that has the Pixel 3a suffered from this lag so it could just be me. I have since removed most social media apps from my phone sparing Instagram and I still see the dip in performance as though the processor just can’t keep up. Keep that in mind when considering the phone. It’s rocking an older processor and paying for it in small ways.
(changing animation speed in developer options (decent instructions found here) helped make the phone as a whole feel slightly better. It doesn’t fix the aforementioned issues, but it may be a decent enough stop-gap for you, it worked great for me)
I’ve now used the Pixel 3a for about 5 straight months and I still feel absolutely stoked about the purchase. There are a few downsides and trade-offs with a phone at this price.
Most notably, The glass is lower quality “dragontrail” instead of the gorilla glass found on it’s bigger brother and while I didn’t expect this to be an issue, I’ve already found a small scratch on the screen from some pretty light use. The iPhone reportedly has issues of micro scratches but my cousin uses one of those annoying tempered glass screen protectors and didn’t have any issues.
So which phone should you buy? The Pixel 3a. Absolutely. If you’re even considering a budget device, this makes a very good case for how unnecessary the bells and whistles on flagship phones have become. If you need under the glass fingerprint readers, and live for a screen with fast refresh rates and fluid response, let’s be honest, you weren’t considering this phone anyway. It’s not built for you and you’ll prolly want to hold out til October for the Pixel 4. But for the rest of us, that make out purchase decisions around the camera, the cost savings here is enormous and even if I can only get a solid year out of this device, I feel like I got a lot of value for my $150.
But if you abhor Google and love the Apple ecosystem, the iPhone 11 (NOT the Pro, which only has a slightly nicer screen and a telephoto lens to account for the extra $300) is a great value. It’s the best phone Apple has ever released and makes a great case for jumping ecosystems for the Apple-curious among us. The video capability alone is worth at least making it a consideration as a great travel camera and vlog accessory.
I dig the Pixel, and I hope this starts a trend for lower end devices from Google.
I also dig the iPhone, and want to see minor improvements to the camera edge detection algorithms and a LONG OVERDUE overhaul of the OS that allows me to move icons to the bottom row and improves navigation within apps.
Both of these are great phones, save a few hundred dollars and see what 2020 has from Apple, I have a feeling the wait and saved money are worth it.
Stuff above linked below:
Buy a Pixel 3a: https://amzn.to/2rwIeMb
Buy and iPhone 11: https://www.apple.com/iphone-11/
Gear I filmed this with:
Canon 5D mkiv: https://amzn.to/2qJn9Oq
Canon 16-35 L: https://amzn.to/32HR1rq
Sigma 50mm 1.4 ART: https://amzn.to/32m7v8C
100mm Macro: https://amzn.to/2pLnbF7
Yongnuo y300 light : https://amzn.to/2pAgx4K
Diffuser : https://amzn.to/2JRYRs6
Aputure Mini Light: https://amzn.to/2WP5UXY
(If you buy through links here or on the site it will likely give me a small commission that helps keep the site running and almost buys me a latte sometimes. So thanks)