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Transcript
00:00Cheese!
00:01Oh, beautiful.
00:02You look great.
00:03Hey guys, I'm Tom from Tech Chap, and are you Team Pixel or Team Galaxy?
00:07These, for my money, are the two best mid-range phones you can buy, and conveniently enough,
00:12they're also the same price, at least here in the UK.
00:14For £449, you can bag yourself either a Pixel 7a or a Galaxy A54, although in the US, this
00:20is actually $50 more expensive at $499, and while the truth is you really can't go wrong
00:25with either, they're both fantastic phones, if you are looking to upgrade, hopefully by
00:28the end of this video, you'll have a better idea which is right for you.
00:31And if it is helpful, a little like and subscribe would be amazing.
00:35Okay, let's kick off with this guy, the Pixel 7a, and the headline upgrades versus last
00:39year's very popular 6a include a faster 90Hz refresh rate, up from 60.
00:45We also get Google's latest Tensor G2 processor, which is the same chip used in the flagship
00:50Pixel 7 Pro, and they've bumped up the RAM from 6 to 8GB, which is very nice, and it
00:55certainly feels fast, but then again, Pixels always do.
00:58The bigger upgrades for me are that we finally get face unlocking and also wireless charging,
01:03plus the cameras have had a big revamp with more megapixels and bigger sensors.
01:07The 7a also comes in four flavours, I have three of them here, I've got charcoal, sea
01:11and snow, although there is also a very funky coral colour available exclusively on the
01:16Google Play Store.
01:17And they've also tweaked this rear design to make it look a bit more like the Pixel
01:207 and the 7 Pro, although from the front, nothing's really changed.
01:23We still have these pretty chunky bezels, and it does look a little bit sort of brick-shaped,
01:28it kind of actually reminds me of one of the old Nokia Lumia phones, but what I do still
01:32love is just how small this is, it's just a 6.1-inch screen, which means it's incredibly
01:37easy to use one-handed, and it will fit in anyone's pocket or purse or clutch bag or
01:42whatever it is you use, and as an overall package, I think the 7a is actually really
01:45good value for money.
01:47So a strong start for Team Pixel, but let's jump over to Team Galaxy with the A54, and
01:52did you know the A-series, Samsung's A-series actually account for 60% of their phone sales?
01:57These are incredibly popular phones, and like the Pixel, the A54 also comes in four flavours,
02:02I have the awesome violet one here, that really is what it's called, but you can also get
02:06lime, black or white.
02:08So the big upgrades include the Exynos 1380 chip, which is a good 40% faster than last
02:13year's 1280, the screen is also a touch smaller actually, 6.4 rather than 6.5 inches, and
02:19it is 20% brighter.
02:21It also now comes with 6GB of RAM as standard, and higher SKUs get 8, and the cameras have
02:25also been upgraded with bigger sensors, and while it retains the main, ultra-wide and
02:29the macro lens, Samsung has dropped the 4th depth lens, 4th depth lens, 4th, 4th depth
02:36lens, they've dropped the 4th depth lens, anyway, they still have three of them, although
02:42the macro is not particularly useful.
02:44Let's start the side-by-side, and picking them both up, the A54 is a noticeably bigger
02:48phone, we're talking 6.4 inches versus 6.1, so it's a fair bit taller, wider and a little
02:54bit heavier.
02:55Both phones mimic the design of their flagship counterparts, albeit with chunkier bezels
02:59and a bit more of a cheap plasticky feel to them.
03:01Although I must say, the Pixel's aluminium frame, where your fingers kind of rest when
03:05you're holding it, does make it feel just a little bit more premium, but they're both
03:09incredibly comfortable to use, thanks to the relatively smaller screen sizes, and also
03:13these nice rounded corners.
03:15They both get IP67, water and dust resistance, so while I probably wouldn't take it in the
03:19shower with me, they'd certainly survive a dunk in some water.
03:22Both phones can also be unlocked with your beautiful face, or your mucky paw prints via
03:26an in-screen fingerprint reader.
03:28We also get stereo speakers on both, although side-by-side I did notice the Samsung produces
03:32a slightly fuller and richer sound, I think the speakers are a touch better on the A54.
03:36Let's unbox these guys, we've got the brand new Poco F5 and F5 Pro.
03:41Let's unbox these guys, we've got the brand new Poco F5 and F5 Pro.
03:47But overall, aesthetically, I do think the Pixel stands out a bit more and I love the
03:50ultra-compact size, but really there's not much in it between them.
03:54So let's move on and talk about these screens.
03:57Both use Full HD plus AMOLED panels and are impressively bright for mid-rangers.
04:02I measured a peak outdoor brightness of around 1240 nits on the Pixel versus 1350 on the
04:07Galaxy, so it is a tiny bit brighter, and also a minor point but I do prefer the brightness
04:12slider on the Samsung, I feel like on the Pixel the usable brightness range is all in
04:16like the top 25% of the sliders.
04:18And I appreciate on the Samsung we also get support for HDR10 plus, but I would say those
04:22are fairly minor points.
04:23There are two big differences when it comes to the screen with these guys.
04:26The Samsung is that little bit bigger and also boasts a faster refresh rate, 120 versus
04:31190Hz, although in the Pixel's favour the smaller screen means it's actually a little
04:35bit sharper, 429 pixels per inch versus 403 if you're wondering.
04:41In truth though, while the Samsung does have the smoother, faster refresh rate, actually
04:45using it every day, the Pixel does feel faster.
04:48So let's move on and talk about performance.
04:54And if I show you my results from Geekbench and 3DMark, it's, well, they're pretty
04:59I think.
05:00And ironically, Google's Tensor chips are based on Samsung's own Exynos designs, which
05:03we have in the Galaxy, but the G2 is just significantly more powerful.
05:07And the Pixel also boasts 8GB of RAM as standard, whereas the cheapest A54 has 6.
05:11Although for storage, while both come with 128GB as standard, which is pretty good for
05:16mid-range phones, you do have the option of paying 50 quid more to get a 256GB version
05:21of the A54, which you don't on the Pixel.
05:24They're both very capable phones and you can comfortably run any app or game on both,
05:28but the Pixel is noticeably faster in day-to-day use, and you also get much higher and more
05:32consistent frame rates in demanding games, and in terms of just future-proofing, the
05:36Pixel with its G2 should hold up for longer.
05:38But speed and benchmarks, most of us, it's not really a big deal.
05:43Really the two big factors after the price are the battery life and the camera.
05:47So let's talk about battery.
05:48And on paper, the A54 should blow the 7a out of the water.
05:52It's got a much bigger 5,000mAh battery versus, I think, 4,385mAh on here, and, well, it does
05:58actually.
05:59To give you an example, after one hour of YouTube and then one hour of various social
06:03media apps, a bit of light gaming and shooting some video, the Pixel was down to 82% versus
06:0888% on the A54.
06:10And it gets worse.
06:11Leaving them overnight, the Pixel lost a whopping 10% to the A54's 6.
06:16So while I can get to the end of the day with both, the Pixel 7a is basically out of juice
06:20by 11pm at night, whereas the A54 still has maybe 15% left.
06:24So definitely a win in terms of battery life for the Samsung.
06:27However, I would say because the Pixel 7a supports wireless charging, which this doesn't,
06:33it's slow at like 7.5 watts.
06:35But I am more likely to top this up throughout the day with various wireless chargers I have
06:39in my house or on my studio desk or in my car even.
06:42So that does go some way to mitigate the battery deficit versus this guy a little bit.
06:46Although this does get slightly faster wire charging, 25 watts versus 18.
06:51But I think for me, wireless charging is more important.
06:53Now if there's one area I think we all expect the Pixel to win, it's in the camera department.
06:57But let's see if that's actually true.
06:59So starting off with a blind A-B test, which do you prefer, the left or the right?
07:04Well if you thought the Pixel was on the left, you'd be right.
07:06And my impressions so far are that once again, the camera is a huge selling point of the
07:10Pixel and it simply can't be beaten at this price point.
07:13Don't get me wrong.
07:14The A54 isn't bad and in good light it can take a decent photo.
07:18But too often it looks like they've whacked up the sharpness, contrast and saturation
07:22to make it pop.
07:23Sometimes it works and with video, which I'll come to in a moment, it does look a touch
07:26more detailed.
07:27But for photography, portraits, low light and even shutter speed, which is really important
07:31if you're trying to snap a shot of your fast moving kids or pets, Sylvie absolutely
07:35hates her picture taken so being able to get a shot in focus is a rare treat.
07:40And overall, the Pixel comes out on top nearly every time.
07:43It's not flawless.
07:45Sometimes shots can come out a little bit on the soft side and also night sight shots
07:48can sometimes be too bright like it's trying to recreate daylight, it's a bit unrealistic.
07:52But altogether, in my opinion at least, you can't beat the 7a's camera for this kind
07:56of money.
07:57And the contrast between them is even more stark with the selfie camera, which doesn't
08:01appear to have been improved at all on this year's A54.
08:03Come on in.
08:05This is the studio and I'm actually recording this on the A54 and the 7a in 4K 30.
08:11I should actually mention the 7a can shoot 4K 60 and the Samsung can't so points to
08:16Pixel there.
08:17But you can have a little bit of a behind the scenes, it's a complete mess at the moment
08:20this studio.
08:21Don't even look over there.
08:22So don't look over there.
08:23But I'm also jumping into the microphones so tell me which one you think sounds better
08:29and as we just do a little spin and change the lighting, let me know in the comments
08:33which you think has the best video camera.
08:38And then switching over to the front selfie camera, they can both record at 4K 30, which
08:43actually some flagship phones can't, like OnePluses and Xiaomi's and Oppo's, so that's
08:48pretty cool.
08:49And also looking at the screen side by side as I'm recording this, the Pixel does definitely
08:52seem to have a wider viewing angle.
08:54I am holding these at arm's length and you can also see how messy my studio is back there
08:59as well.
09:00So yeah, let me know which one you think looks and sounds better.
09:03Whee!
09:04Okay, last but not least, let's talk about the software.
09:07And of course, Pixel has the advantage of being Google's own phone.
09:11So this is always going to be the first to get Android updates.
09:13It ships with Android 13, but 14 is right around the corner, so if you want the latest
09:16updates to all the latest features, that is a key selling point of the Pixel.
09:20However, this guy offers four years of full Android updates versus three, bizarrely, on
09:26Google's own phones.
09:27So you'll get slightly longer support with this, but much quicker support with this.
09:31But which one is best?
09:33Let's wrap this puppy up.
09:34The Galaxy A54 offers a bigger, faster, and slightly brighter screen, punchier speakers,
09:39a decently longer battery life, and also an extra year of Android updates.
09:43However, the Pixel 7a feels faster, the Tensor G2 is significantly more powerful, the camera
09:48is fantastic, and it will also be the first to get updates.
09:51For my money, I think I'll go with the Pixel 7a.
09:54This is the one I'd recommend to my friends.
09:56And also, judging by my little Instagram story poll the other day, and Tom at The Tech Chap
09:59if you don't already follow me, most of you guys would as well.
10:02But all that could be a bit of a moot point if you can't actually buy this in your country.
10:06Because the problem is, Google doesn't sell the Pixel everywhere, and Samsung's phones,
10:09including the A54, are sold in far more countries than this.
10:13So maybe this whole video was a bit pointless if you can't buy that, but hopefully it's
10:17given you a better idea of how they compare.
10:19But what do you reckon?
10:20Which one came out on top?
10:21Let me know in the comments below.
10:23Thank you so much for watching, guys.
10:24If you want to see more from me, hit that subscribe button below, and I'll catch you
10:26next time right here on The Tech Chap.