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Google’s mid-range smartphones have been extremely well-rounded over the past few years, and the Pixel 8a improves on that already excellent value proposition. It even comes close to the basic Pixel 8 in many areas. However, Google has historically maintained several degrees of separation between its flagship and affordable lines. So does the Pixel 8a’s budget heritage shine in aspects like charging speed and battery life? We conducted extensive real-world testing to find out.

With its 4,492 mAh battery capacity, the Pixel 8a comes close to the more expensive Pixel 8 and its 4,575 mAh cell. Given that both Google phones have the same SoC, you’d expect battery life to be on par as well. Fortunately, this seems to be the case.

In 4K playback, the Pixel 8a lasted a full 170 minutes longer than the base Pixel 8. The mid-range Pixel also lasted longer in camera and video use. However, it fell short of the Pixel 8’s 30 minutes in our gaming benchmark. The same goes for our web browsing test, where the Pixel 8 has a slight edge.

Compared to its predecessor, the Pixel 8a delivers even more impressive results. The newer phone packs an extra 100mAh capacity along with a more efficient chipset in the form of Google’s Tensor G3.

Except for our gaming and web browsing tests, the Pixel 8a outperformed the 7a by a significant margin. When playing at 4K and using a camera, for example, the difference was a whopping three hours of extra runtime. However, it’s worth stressing that you won’t notice that much of a difference on a typical day of mixed smartphone use.

Overall, the Pixel 8a should see you through most days comfortably, even with fairly demanding workloads. Previous Google chips drained the battery faster, so we’re pretty happy with the Pixel 8a’s results. However, it’s worth noting that you won’t have enough juice left for the second day of use.

Google’s 2024 mid-range phone can only draw 18W of power when plugged into the wall, meaning the Pixel 8a’s charging speed is the same as previous generations. We’re disappointed to see this spec remain unchanged, given that the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro received incremental power increases to 27W and 30W respectively.

We tested the charging performance of the Pixel 8a and found that it takes about 100 minutes for the phone’s battery to go from zero to full. Fortunately, while the 18W spec hasn’t changed from the Pixel 7a, the new phone doesn’t get as hot. This in turn allows it to maintain higher power levels for longer. Compared to its predecessor, the Pixel 8a reaches key milestones like 25%, 50% and full charge about five minutes earlier.

But compared to the more expensive Pixel 8, the Pixel 8a takes an extra 23 minutes to fully charge. The difference thankfully won’t be as obvious for short charging periods — the Pixel 8 is only faster to reach 50% in about five minutes. However, the gap widens quite a bit once the battery reaches its maximum capacity.

Still, the Pixel 8’s charging speed is outpaced by much of the competition, so it’s not a big win for the two Google phones. As we’ll discuss in the next section, you’re better off looking at competing smartphones if you need faster charging speeds.

It’s rare for $500 smartphones to include wireless charging, so we’re happy to see it on the Pixel 8a at all. However, the disparity in charging power between Google’s flagship and the affordable line continues here. The Pixel 8a consumes just 7.5W via the Qi wireless protocol. Meanwhile, the Pixel 8 can draw up to 18W from Google’s Pixel Stand. Even if you stick to Qi-certified chargers, the Pixel 8 has a higher 12W cap.

In practice, you’ll have to wait a few hours for the Pixel 8a’s battery to charge using only wireless charging. The wait won’t be excruciating if you’re charging overnight, but you might as well plug in at that point and reduce potential battery degradation from wireless charging.

The Pixel 8a is in line with other smartphones in its class when it comes to battery life. The Tensor G3 may not be the most efficient processor, but it’s still a big improvement over its predecessors. The 4,500mAh capacity also strikes a perfect balance for a phone this size, as a larger battery would have necessitated a thicker and heavier design.

You can get smartphones with much larger batteries for under $500, but you’ll have to make sacrifices elsewhere. For example, the OnePlus 12R offers a 5,500 mAh battery, but at the cost of a much larger footprint. A larger display will drain the battery faster, so we can’t directly compare the capacity between smartphones of different sizes. Still, the 12R will at least limp to two days of use.

However, one area where the Pixel 8a clearly falls behind the competition is in terms of charging time. Even significantly cheaper smartphones offer faster recharges these days. The Nothing Phone 2a is perhaps the best example — it can use 45W via USB PD PPS and fully recharge in about an hour. The aforementioned OnePlus 12R does even better, thanks to its 80W (100W outside North America) SuperVOOC charging, which charges a fully depleted phone within half an hour.

More established brands have started to offer competitive charging speeds as well. Samsung’s 25W super fast charging has become the standard for most of the company’s smartphone portfolio. Therefore, mid-range phones like the Galaxy A55 reach various charging intervals a few minutes faster than the Pixel 8a.

Does the Pixel 8a’s slow charging speed bother you? Not quite — it’s still a very well-rounded phone with enough battery life to last through the night between charges. However, those with more active or travel-oriented lifestyles will likely find themselves frustrated with the Pixel 8a’s charging at times. If you happen to fall into that category, the Pixel 8 may offer better value, even if it costs quite a bit more.