The Pixel 4a recently passed Zack Nelson’s Durability Test. The mid-ranger can be a worthy buy if you want something durable. It came before the Pixel 5 but it’s only now that we’re seeing a camera review by DxOMark. The group described the Pixel 4a as an “excellent single-camera smartphone”. It received an average score of 111, just after the old Huawei Mate 20 Pro and Huawei P40, and tied with the Huawei Mate 20X. It is 20th on the current ranking for the mobile phones. But then its score is lower than the Pixel 4’s 113.
The Google Pixel 4a has been delayed a bit but it soon received siblings in the form of the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4a 5G. The smartphone arrived with a decent 5.81-inch OLED screen, 1080 x 2340 pixel resolution, 3140mAh battery, Snapdragon 730G processor, 6GB RAM, and 128GB onboard storage. It already runs on the latest Android 11 OS.
When it comes to the imaging department, the device boasts a single 12.2MP shooter with f/1.7-aperture lens, Dual pixel PDAF and OIS, and LED flash. The camera is capable of shooting 2160p videos in 30fps (or 1080p and 30/60fps).
So how did the Pixel 4a’s camera perform? The DxOMark team said both photos and videos show fast and accurate autofocus and mainly accurate exposure. Photos show neutral and repeatable white balance. There is pleasant white balance in night shots. When it comes to videos, you will notice preview exposure is similar to capture. Outdoor videos present well-managed noise while both indoor/outdoor videos show vivid colors.
Photos and videos also show limited dynamic range, orange color cast under tungsten low-light conditions, and low detail in most conditions. Outdoor group portrait photos show limited depth of field. Long-range zoom photos sometimes show autofocus failures. Bokeh photos also sometimes present depth estimation errors. Deformations and frame shifts are sometimes visible in most videos.