After some battery wobbles that had me temporarily concerned, I've quickly come to regard the Google Pixel 7a as the best affordable phone you can buy right now. It's got the power, the cameras and the looks to impress.

Performance capability well beyond its price point, Great camera improvements for this generation, Android software just runs best on Google

Battery life isn't great – and charging rather slow, Pricier and chunkier than its predecessor, Screen is fairly heavy on bezel

Google’s Pixel “a” series has been around for a few iterations now (since the Pixel 3a) and typically offers great value for the price, considering the internals are mostly identical to their flagship lineup.

Solid design, Same Tensor processor as Pixel 7/7 Pro, Decent camera with great photo features like Face Unblur and Magic Eraser, Great battery life, IP67 rating, Wireless charging, Very reasonably priced

Different camera than in Pixel 7/7 Pro, Photo quality a bit odd once using the Super Res Zoom feature, Camera bump begs for case to be used, Only one RAM/storage configuration available

Google’s mid-range series of smartphones has never been this good. While I would have liked to see better battery performance, the rest of the Pixel 7a is a triumph.

Excellent camera for the price, Plenty of upgrades over the Pixel 6a, Smart software, Some nice colour options, You want a great phone for a good price: The Pixel 7a ticks a lot of boxes and comes with features often ditched at this price.

Middling battery life, Achingly slow charging, You’re after a multi-day device: The battery life isn’t bad – it’s just not a phone that’ll handle extended heavy use throughout a day and it won’t go multiple days between charges.

Past A-series Pixel phones have skipped wireless charging, but the Pixel 7a breaks that trend. This phone sports wireless charging at up to 7.5W. That's not impressive compared to the 23W wireless speed of the Pixel 7 Pro, but you only get the max if you're using the second-gen Google Pixel Stand...

Great big small phone. With the release of the Pixel 7a, Google have updated and improved on their mid-range series - not only in terms of processor choice, but also with brand-new features.

bright 90-Hz OLED screen, IP67 certification, 6-GHz WLAN and USB 3.2, wireless charging, good main camera, long update supply

neither DC nor PWM dimming, slow fast-charging, limited USB port, severe throttling under load

I’ve always appreciated that Google has never tried to do too much with its Pixel A phones. The Pixel 7a is a simple device that packs a nice screen that’s now even better thanks to a 90Hz refresh rate, solid performance and cameras that can hang with rivals twice its price.

The Pixel 7a is a big improvement over the more expensive Pixel 7, making it very easy to recommend. Excellent contrast Punchy colours Dynamic sound Poor dark details Tough competition from Sony

Despite some shortcomings, the Pixel 7a proves to be a definite step-up from previous A-series handsets from Google, and does enough to blur the difference between flagship and midrange devices.

The Pixel 7a comes with an improvement in display quality, boosts to performance, as well as consistently terrific mobile photography.

The Tensor G2 is still prone to heating, and other factors including battery endurance and charging speeds aren't particularly impressive.

Phenomenal camera for the price; Excellent Google software; Strong performance; Water-resistant;

Slow charging; Wireless charging is unreliable; Not as fast as the Pixel 7; Only 90Hz display;

The Pixel 7a is the best mid-range Android phone available. It squeezes even more of the premium smartphone experience into a smaller, cheaper model. Google’s top chip, plenty of RAM and a decent amount of storage, make it faster than most competitors.

Pros: brilliant camera, excellent smaller screen, top performance, decent battery life, wireless charging, face and fingerprint unlock, water resistance, recycled aluminium and plastic, five years of security updates, Android 13, smart software features, competitively priced.

Cons: no optical zoom or macro photo mode, face unlock option not as secure as some rivals, battery life short of best-in-class, fairly slow charging.