Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 stars4 month review
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2019
After having this phone for 4 months I thought I should at least post my impressions on using this phone on a daily basis. I can say I’ve been really happy with it.
Coming into this phone knowing about the lack of water resistance and questionable physical durability I knew that I would have to treat it very gingerly if it was going to hold up at all, which has not been an issue after 4 months of use. I have been very proactive in not doing anything to challenge it’s physical limitations. Although I’m curious how well this phone could survive a significant drop unto a hard surface, such as concrete, I’ve been very protective of this device and very careful in how I’ve handled it and that’s been no problem for me.
What’s really blown me away about the Pixel 3a is something very few have mentioned which is how well wifi-calling works with it. My provider, Mint Mobile, which is a T-Mobile reseller supports wifi-calling but it has to be configured on the phone you are using in addition to enabling it on the provider. No problem with Mint Mobile and an unlocked Pixel 3a. So, the cellular signal in my house is not the greatest. It’s ok but nothing to write home about so call quality is not always the greatest. That’s where wifi calling comes in and the beauty of it is that it’s totally transparent, coming on at home and at other places where the cellular signal is poor or non-existent. Since wifi is available where I need it, most everywhere these days, call quality is not an issue, even in an environment with a poor quality cellular signal. What strikes me the most is the phone’s ability to transition to and from wifi calling without call interruption or loss. So, when I leave my house while in a call, I don’t lose the call as the phone transitions from wifi calling to cellular. For me, this has been the biggest plus of the phone.
Of course the quality of the camera is the one outstanding feature that is most often talked about and I have to admit it can take incredible pictures. I also like the display and battery life is more than sufficient for my purposes. I’m not a game enthusiast so game performance is of no importance. The phone is very responsive and I really haven’t experienced any performance issues. YouTube, YouTube TV and Pluto work wonderfully on this device. I think the sound, both on speakers and bluetooth is very good.