I never thought I would be happy with a "mid range" smart phone.

[DamianP]

So after almost a month of using the 3aXL as my daily driver, I'm shocked to say it has met my needs and have not found it lacking in CPU, ram, or storage(yet).
Do I wish it had 128 GB of memory? Sure. Makes me not be a pack rat of data but it hasn't caused me pain.
The only space I see some performance issues is for photo processing.

I am used to flagships but have to say overall I'm going to keep this as my daily driver until I see what additional value the Pixel 4 offers. If it's double the price and battery life is worse it will be hard for me to move, but we will see.

Battery performance is key for me and the 3aXL is fantastic with 7.5 hours of SOT for me.

 

[jhilker]

Re: I never thought I would be happy with a "mid range" smart phone.

I totally agree with you. I always had a 200 GB card installed on previous phones, but found I used just a fraction of the space, even downloading tons of music on Google Play Music. It really hasn't been an issue with me. I just try to keep a look at storage at least once a week to clear out cache as needed.

 

[tfitzpat03]

I love my 3a as well. I have been used to using phones with midrange specs. My needs do not require the top of the line specs.

The only thing that I wanted that was top of the line was the camera and support. Google has checked both of those boxes for me in a big way. They also gave me top of the line call quality on At&t which is a major plus.

 

[DamianP]

I love my 3a as well. I have been used to using phones with midrange specs. My needs do not require the top of the line specs.

The only thing that I wanted that was top of the line was the camera and support. Google has checked both of those boxes for me in a big way. They also gave me top of the line call quality on At&t which is a major plus.

Agreed on ATT having both HD voice and wifi calling when I need it!

 

[DamianP]

I'm seriously amazed at battery life. Yes, this is a heavy use day and running beta 6 Android Q, which seems to have better battery life than Pie.

 

[Ry]

Mid-range is where it's at!

 

[Rukbat]

It depends on what's important to you. If you need an SD card (they're handy for booting bricked phones), PIXEL ISN"T FOR YOU AT ALL> If you're into nightime photography, the Visual Core chip makes life a lot easier. But if you're into battery life, the 3a XL is going to last for a lot of SOT.

 

[neil74]

I do not need an SD card but 64gb is not quite enough for me. If there was a 128gb option I'd already have one!

 

[Golfdriver97]

I actually think more people might be surprised how much they DON'T need in a smartphone. The latest Note release just seemed to be a spec bump for the sake of specs.

Smartphone specs in general for flagships is getting to the point where people are paying for a very good gaming PC/moderate video editing PC only to turn around and do it again in 2 years.

 

[jasonb]

I actually think more people might be surprised how much they DON'T need in a smartphone. The latest Note release just seemed to be a spec bump for the sake of specs.

Smartphone specs in general for flagships is getting to the point where people are paying for a very good gaming PC/moderate video editing PC only to turn around and do it again in 2 years.

This is exactly what I compare this to. Back a few years ago computers and laptops were getting faster and with more storage and all that constantly. But they have been to the point for a while now where they aren't advancing at a fast rate anymore. These cell phones are becoming the same. From one year to the next they aren't different enough to justify replacing a $1000 with a new $1000 phone. The 670 chip is fast enough for what most people do in the same way a Chromebook is enough for what most people do. Most people don't need an 855 chip with 12GB of ram. The 670 with 6GB of ram would be perfect, I'd just like to have an SD card slot for music though.

 

[Golfdriver97]

This is exactly what I compare this to. Back a few years ago computers and laptops were getting faster and with more storage and all that constantly. But they have been to the point for a while now where they aren't advancing at a fast rate anymore. These cell phones are becoming the same. From one year to the next they aren't different enough to justify replacing a $1000 with a new $1000 phone. The 670 chip is fast enough for what most people do in the same way a Chromebook is enough for what most people do. Most people don't need an 855 chip with 12GB of ram. The 670 with 6GB of ram would be perfect, I'd just like to have an SD card slot for music though.

The RAM for VR, maybe. But VR is such a niche that it's a poor excuse reason. I agree that 6 would be enough for most users, especially if Samsung toned down their own version of Android a little.

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

I just bought the Pixel 3a and coming from the Moto X4. This smartphone is really great. I can't say enough good things about it. It is really snappy and I love the camera. The size is perfect too. I used to go for the largest smartphones. But I have scaled back a lot lately. I just want something that is comfortable in my hands now.

 

[Golfdriver97]

But I have scaled back a lot lately.

For me, one thing I look for is how easily I can do what I want with one hand. Some of these hybrids (I refuse to use the more widely used word for the large sized phones), are getting to be such monstrosities now, that soon, we will be putting a 10" phone screen to our ear for a phone call.

 

[mustang7757]

I think midrange phones today are excellent buys but of course depends the manufacturer.

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

I think midrange phones today are excellent buys but of course depends the manufacturer.

Depends on your needs as well.

 

[mustang7757]

Depends on your needs as well.

Definitely agree

 

[ahaxton]

I actually think more people might be surprised how much they DON'T need in a smartphone. The latest Note release just seemed to be a spec bump for the sake of specs.

Smartphone specs in general for flagships is getting to the point where people are paying for a very good gaming PC/moderate video editing PC only to turn around and do it again in 2 years.

Agreed. My wife and I are on T-Mobile and use Jump to go from flagship to flagship each year. This year we took a leap and went with the 3AXL after very positive reviews, thinking worst case we pay off half and Jump back to a flagship. We have both been VERY surprised at how much we don't miss. The only thing I miss is wireless charging, but we got wireless receivers on Amazon and fixed that. We couldn't be happier.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Agreed. My wife and I are on T-Mobile and use Jump to go from flagship to flagship each year. This year we took a leap and went with the 3AXL after very positive reviews, thinking worst case we pay off half and Jump back to a flagship. We have both been VERY surprised at how much we don't miss. The only thing I miss is wireless charging, but we got wireless receivers on Amazon and fixed that. We couldn't be happier.

And to be fair, the wireless charging isn't a need. It's nice to have, don't get me wrong, but it's not like it's a crucial feature.

Funny thing about wireless charging, I went to a Caribou a month ago, and saw the charging mats. I could not, for the life of me, recall if the Pixel 3 had wireless charging. Instead of searching the net, I just dropped it on the pad. Started charging. Found my answer in less time than to open my phone and dive in a browser.

Do I like it? It's ok. But I honestly do find that more useful than an extra 6 GB of RAM.

 

[mustang7757]

Like to shed my experience with wireless charging, it's always best if you can have couple ways to charge the phone, as in my experience charger port do wear out and if it doesn't work any longer if you have wireless charging you can delay getting the phone repaired because of another option to charge . Especially if you hold onto your phones longer, Just my opinion on it .

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

Wireless charging is ok, but not worth that kind of money.