Is it worth choosing a cheaper smartphone from Google? We're testing Pixel 10a. The truth about performance, screens and cameras
Pixel 10a is a fairly compact smartphone with a screen AMOLED 120 Hz diagonal 6.3 inches. The device has a solid, aluminum framerear, matte plastic panelwhich, however, looks like satin glass, and the front of the housing is covered with damage-resistant glass Gorilla Glass 7i.
Pixel 10a is a waterproof phone – it has been certified IP68. Its dimensions are 154 x 73 x 8.9 mmand the mass – 184 grams. It is available in four housing colors in Polish stores – grey, black, raspberry (in photos) and light purple.
See also: Five iPhone features that few people know about. You may be surprised
Pixel 10a
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
The older Pixel 9a had a camera island protruding only a millimeter above the back panel. Pixel 10a takes this even further – now it is completely flush with the back of the housing. This is an unusual stylistic phenomenon in the smartphone world. It must be admitted, however, that the Pixel 10a lies on the countertop as if glued to it and when operated in such conditions it does not move sideways even a little.
When choosing a pixel, however, you need to remember one functional issue – Google mounts the control buttons backwardsso the power button is higher than the volume control. This takes some getting used to.
Pixel 10a
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
The smartphone has a card drawer that holds only one module Nano SIM. Additionally, we can use virtual cards eSIM. There was also plenty here stereo speakersand works well under the screen optical fingerprint reader.
New-old Pixel. Meet the Google cloners
It cannot be denied that Pixel 10a draws heavily on the style of the older model. However, in my opinion there is nothing wrong with it. What is much less pleasing is the fact that 90% of them are identical. technical specifications.
Pixel 10a and Pixel 9a therefore combine: the same chipset (G4 tensorthe remaining models of the 10 series already work with the newer Tensor G5), the same amount of RAM (8GB), the same amount of memory for data (128 or 256 GB), the same cameras, batteries (5100 mAh) and screens. In this situation, it's tempting to joke that Pixel 10a should be called Pixel 9b.
Pixel 9a vs Pixel 10a (right)
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
So what has changed to justify the presence of this letter “b”? Important things include the presence of a new, more energy-efficient modem that supports emergency satellite communication Samsung Exynos 9400 (in Pixel 9a it was Exynos 9300). A newer module has appeared Bluetooth 6.0 (the Pixel 9a had Bluetooth 5.4) and we have symbolically faster charging – wired 30 W (formerly 23 W) and iinduction 10 W (formerly 7.5 W). In this situation, you have to admit that the updates are not very groundbreaking.
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Performance of a solid mid-range
The same chipset, the same amount of memory and the same screen make the Pixel 10a work as efficiently and smoothly as the older Pixel 9a. Fortunately, Google tries to optimize the software of its smartphones, they receive monthly updates and even the weakest pixels work efficiently for years (the manufacturer maintains an update schedule for 7 years). However, if you look at the performance test results (table below), you will quickly notice that last year's flagship Google Tensor G4 chip, today it deserves to be included in the group of solid average players. For comparison, I also included the results of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra in the table, which actually runs the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.
| Pixel 10a | Pixel 9a | Galaxy S26 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
AnTuTu Benchmark 11 |
1381569 points |
1495916 points |
3911365 points |
|
Geekbench 6 (single) |
1708 points |
1729 points |
3685 points |
|
Geekbench 6 (multi) |
4449 points |
4455 points |
11263 points |
|
Geekbench AI (NNAPI, single precision) |
379 points |
366 points |
772 points |
|
PCMark (Work 3.0) |
14534 points |
15960 points |
21402 points |
|
3DMark (Wild Life Extreme) |
2686 points |
2692 points |
7794 points |
|
CPDT (sequential reading) |
1.16 GB/s |
1.08 GB/s |
3.38 GB/s |
|
CPDT (sequential recording) |
247 MB/s |
358MB/s |
1.36 GB/s |
A Google smartphone wouldn't be complete without AI features. In Pixel 10a we will find a full arsenal of artificial intelligence solutions, starting with Gemini, through the “select to search” function, the magic eraser in the camera and many others. Unfortunately, not all of the advanced features work in Polish anymore, but most of them do.
Bright screen – but what's with those frames?
Pixel 10a does 6.3-inch 120 Hz AMOLED screen about resolution 1080 x 2424 pixelsi.e. FHD+ class. It is bright (2180 cd/m2)easily readable outdoors, and with a diagonal of 6.3 inches, the FHD+ resolution is more than comfortable.
Pixel 10a
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
However, what is surprising is what they are very thick frames around the screen. They do not look modern, but they also unnecessarily increase the dimensions of the phone – Pixel 10a is therefore a noticeably larger device than smartphones with the same size screens: Pixel 10 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S26 or iPhone 17.
For those more interested in the parameters of the screen used, I also present charts from measurements of the quality of the displayed image. The panel displays colors from the cinema color space DCI-P3and their default tone is close to natural (white temperature is 6503K).
See also: Is your smartphone running slower? One trick may be enough to improve
Color gamut and white temperature graph on the brightness scale measured for the Pixel 10a screen
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
Cameras – modest but functional
Pixel 10a uses the same cameras as its predecessor. At the back you will find a module 13 MP wide angle (f/2.2, FF, 1/3.1 matrix”, 4K/30 fps movies) and standard 48 MP (f/1.7, PDAF, OIS, 1/2.0 matrix, 4K/60 fps videos).
At the front, in the hole in the screen, the wide-angle module works again 13MP (f/2.2, FF, 1/3.1″ matrix).
Pixel 10a (top) vs Pixel 9a
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
The quality of photos taken with a smartphone during the day does not disappoint. They are sharp, have natural colors (some may prefer slightly more saturated colors), and the quality of details is appropriate for the price class of the smartphone. Of course, the technically better standard module fares better in terms of recorded details.
Sample photos from the wide-angle module (click to enlarge)
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
Sample photos from the standard module (click to enlarge)
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
If you need a photo for social networking sites, you can also use both Pixel 10a photo modules at night – the colors and atmosphere of the night will be well preserved. Unfortunately, the wide-angle module records poor quality details in such conditions (this can be seen on a 1:1 scale). Therefore, if they are important to you, it is better to try to stick to shooting with the standard module at night.
Sample night photos from the wide-angle module (click to enlarge)
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
Sample night photos from the standard module (click to enlarge)
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
Are you interested in more photo and video examples? A more detailed analysis of them? In such a situation, I recommend reading the full review of this smartphone, which we published on the Komputer Świat website.
Google Pixel 10a – buy or maybe it's better to skip it for now?
If you've reached this point, you already know that the Pixel 10a is not a perfect smartphone. However, it is a neat, solidly made, easy-to-use medium device with a bright screen, a battery that lasts for a day and a half and a camera more than sufficient for typical, amateur photo sessions.
See also: Phone market under pressure. There are first winners and losers of the memory crisis
The biggest market problem of the Pixel 10a in this situation is the presence of the older Pixel 9a in stores, which you can buy at a good price (from PLN 1,600). Meanwhile, you have to pay at least for the Pixel 10a PLN 2,100 (started from PLN 2,450), and the real differences between these smartphones are not worth paying an additional PLN 500. Good news – Pixel phones are getting cheaper quite quickly, so you'll probably be able to get the new 10 at a much better price soon.
