The Pixel 7a is on the market immediately after the presentation

As if even Google knew that everyone had already seen the leaked information, the product premiere was fast-paced.

Google’s annual developer conference, I/O, began on Wednesday evening, Hungarian time, at seven o’clock in the evening, during which the company’s representatives spoke about their new developments. These mostly revolved around the offered services and software, from which end users can try out, for example, Bard AI, the automatic answers and text creation that implements the possibilities provided by AI, or the Magic Editor image editor already this summer, for now only in English. A slightly more tangible novelty than these is the one coming to the Android system, using Android devices Find My Device Network.

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You can guess what it is about from the name: a location network similar to Apple’s solution, in which the participating Android devices now determine their position by communicating with other nearby devices in addition to the active Internet connection and the last Bluetooth connection point. By the way, a limited number of Apple products participate in the system, the AirTag trackers also appear on the network developed by Google, as a collaboration between the two companies, so the Android system can also warn the user if an unknown tracker is traveling with them. In addition to AirTag, Android can also warn Tile, Chipolo, and Pebblebee devices.

In addition to phones, Bluetooth earphones and headphones can also be found and tracked by Google Find My with its network, the Pixel Buds products in the first round, but soon also some products from Sony and JBL.

The colors of the new Pixel 7a [+]

The first hardware product from Google was none other than the Pixel A series 7a. Everything about the phone has been leaked in recent weeks, so the presentation did not contain many surprises, it is a slightly smaller Pixel 7, which is a few points weaker than last fall’s model, but in return it is 50 euros cheaper. In Europe, the price of the 8/128 GB model will be 509 euros, the phone has LPDDR5 type RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. The phone is available today — that is, in the markets where Google officially sells, such as our closest Germany — and according to the German Google Store, those who order before May 22nd will receive a free Pixel Buds earphones and a protective case that matches the color of the phone. they get alongside the Pixel 7a. There is also the possibility of device credit up to a limit of 250 euros, here the iPhone 11 is shown as an example, for which Google gives a discount of 250 euros. By the way, the company emphasized that the brand that can show the greatest growth is theirs with Pixel phones in the areas where they are present, but there was not a single mention of the fact that they plan to expand their official presence. Thus, 7a is also available in these countries: USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, India.

Until May 22, customers who shop in the Google Store will receive free headphones and a case [+]

A Pixel 7a it is produced in four colors (white, dark gray, light blue and Google Store exclusive coral), the device housing is IP68, 152 x 72.9 x 9 millimeters and 193.5 grams. The display is a 6.1-inch OLED panel with a refresh rate of 90 Hz, an aspect ratio of 9:20, a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels (429 ppi) and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 tempered glass. HDR support is provided, there is an always alert display and a fingerprint scanner integrated into the display.

Under the hood is the Google Tensor G2 SoC and Titan M2 security chip, information on Tensor performance can be found on the relevant page of our Pixel 7 test. At first glance, the Pixel 7 and 7a do not differ in cameras either, but this is not true, the new mobile uses an unknown type of 64 megapixel wide-angle camera with Quad Bayer filter. According to Google, it has a 72% larger sensor than the Pixel 6a’s main camera and has motion tracking focus, with a pixel size of 0.8 μm — which is smaller than the Pixel 6a’s 1.4 microns or the 7’s 1.2 microns —, the aperture is f/1.89, the angle of view is 80 degrees and the sensor itself is 1/1.73″. For a tip, it is Sony IMX686 or Samsung S5KGW1, the former is more likely, but I have not found exact information about the sensor yet. After 4:1 binning, the photos are taken in 16 megapixels, and the high resolution is used by the zoom function, which promises 8x magnification. Probably, just like the Pixel 7, the 7a will not be able to take high-resolution photos in the native camera software, but in return, the user will get Google’s excellent image processing software with night mode, etc.

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There is also a color sensor and an ultra-wide camera on the back, the latter has 13 megapixels (1.12 microns) and a 120-degree field of view for f/2.2 lenses. The front camera is also 13 megapixels (f/2.2, 1.12 microns), here the focus is fixed, but the field of view has increased to 95 degrees. The rear cameras can record 5K 60 fps videos, the front camera can record 4K 30 fps videos, but the software records 1080p videos by default, here, unlike the photo, it is possible to manually switch to a higher resolution.

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A novelty in the A-series is that there is a possibility for wireless charging under the glass back panel, but this model cannot recharge, it is possible to use eSIM and nanoSIM together, as well as sub-6Ghz 5G and mmWave 5G in North America . NFC is provided, there is 6 GHz Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) and stereo speakers. Under the back is a 4385 mAh battery, which draws 18 watts wired or wireless. The Type-C connector has also been updated to USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, but the factory-supplied cable is USB 2.0, and there is no wall adapter in the box. The phone has a two-year warranty, and updates will come for 5 years.