Design and Build

First of all, the 3a XL idea with its 6.0-inch size is an interesting concept especially for those people who are part of the mid-range price category. Furthermore, the phone is made of polycarbonate with an unibody design that measures 8.2mm in thickness, and it weighs 167g. The model comes in Just Black, Clearly White, and Purple-ish color variants, and the display is 6.0-inch. It doesn’t offer water/dust resistance, but it has a rear fingerprint sensor. People appreciate the phone not feeling heavy with features but the build quality is more budget than the Pixel 3 XL.

• Polycarbonate chassis, 8.2mm thick
• 167g weight
• No water/dust resistance
• Rear fingerprint sensor

Display

The 6.0-inch 2160 x 1080 OLED display with 402 PPI and a brightness level of ~400 nits is the main character trait of the Pixel 3a XL. The phone has a 60Hz refresh rate and is protected by Dragontrail Glass. On top of that, users can now enjoy the brilliant colors and the opacity of the picture while watching the stream and playing games because of the suitable display energy that it generates, still, it is lagging behind the Pixel 3 XL in terms of the display.

• OLED, 2160 x 1080, 402 PPI
• ~400 nits brightness
• 60Hz refresh rate
• Dragontrail Glass

Performance and Software

The Pixel 3a XL model has a Snapdragon 670 processor, 64Gb of storage with 4Gb of Ram (non-expandable memory). The Android 9 Pie system, which can be upgradable to Android 12, is a clean one with Google Assistant and quick-to-come updates (stock). With a very good level of performance it serves all daily tasks without any hassle, though it is one step behind the Pixel 3 XL. The benchmark scores are ~300 (Geekbench 5 Single-Core) and ~1200 (Multi-Core).

• Snapdragon 670, octa-core
• 4GB RAM
• Android 9 (up to Android 12)
• Google Assistant

Pricing and Availability

Originally priced at $479 (4GB/64GB) in May 2019 on Google’s store, carriers, and retailers, the Pixel 3a XL was a retired model already from July 2020. Now it has been refurbished and is available for a price range of ~$120–$220. It is the best-served mid-range smartphone for people who are looking for a bigger size one which has no compromise in basic specs such as camera and operating system.