Every August, Google introduces a new lineup of Pixel phones that sound awfully familiar to last year’s models and critics swoon.
This edition of the newsletter isn’t meant to sell you the new Pixels, because frankly, Google doesn’t like me, for whatever reason, and won’t send me review units so I can’t tell you about them without spending big bucks. But that’s okay. I’ll live.
And if you like saving money, so will you.
If you like to save money, so will you. The new Pixels are all $100 more than last year. But this year I went out and bought the recent Pixel 10A for the collection, to keep up with the format and be knowledgable when someone asked me about how to do things on the Pixel.
You might want to consider the 10A. This is the most affordable, full-featured phone available. It retails for $500, but it’s on a summer sale for $424 through Sunday at the Google online store and physical retailers. So if you’re reading this and need a phone for that student in your life, you can’t beat the price. And no, I don’t get a commission from that sentence.
Google says the Pixel 10A is “the best-in-class camera” and qualifies it by saying that’s only among smartphones selling for under $500.
That’s a hard comparison as rival Samsung has a bunch of A series Galaxy budget phones, but they’re hard to find domestically. The A56 from last year retailed for $500, but it’s currently sporadically available. The Samsung $399 A36 is in-stock, but feature by feature it pales to the Pixel, with battery that won’t last as long, inferior video features, while the Pixel has way more camera tools, including low-light and AI tools.
Apple’s comparable 17E starts at $599, with twice the storage, at 256 GB.
The Pixel 10A has two lenses, .5 ultra-wide angle and 1x normal, although the Google spec sheets claims digital zoom on top of those, and longtime readers know what I think of that. Don’t waste your time for lousy cropped photos.
The iPhone 17E has two lenses, 1X normal and 2X, while this Galaxy has two as well, an ultra-wide .5 and 1x.
Do you love being in Google land? Because if so, the Pixel 10A would be perfect for you, connecting you to Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Photos, Docs, Drive, Gemini and more. They are baked into the experience instead of living as Google apps inside Apple's world.
Some critics raved about the use of the phone itself for calls, and the spam filter, but I bought the 10A as a wifi camera, so I have no experience with it as a phone.
So this I know: before I get to the camera, you get a beautiful, clean Google phone with easy access to all your apps, one that’s speedy, with a long-lasting battery and a big, bright 6.3 inch viewing screen.
I don’t have a cheap phone to compare it to. I did do some back to back shots with the iPhone 16 Pro compared to Pixel 10A and the 16 won every time with crisper, better exposed, more colorful shots. You would expect that from a phone that originally cost twice as much as the Pixel 10A. You can buy a used 16 Pro for $500-$600, so perhaps it’s not a bad comparison.
Gimmicks
Pixels have become increasingly loaded with computational-photography tricks. Some are useful. Some feel like gimmicks. One of them is available on the 10A (and 11 series) and it’s rather silly. “Add Me,” does exactly what it says. The idea is that one person takes the first group photo, then trades places with someone from the group; the Pixel guides the second composition and combines them so the photographer appears in the final image. Or, you can do double exposures, like below.
However, after putting forth the effort, you say, why?
However, the others on the 10 series are pretty cool:
Face Unblur automatically sharpens the face if you end up with a blurry portrait and does it well. Photo Blur is similar, and you’ll find it in Google Photos under the Edit tab.
Exclusive to the 11:
Magic Capture: Leave the camera on in video mode, and it automatically selects a winning frame so you don’t have to.
Camera Coach: Screen instructions for how to get a great shot.
Camera Looks: Finally, Google will let us turn off the auto color enhancer and run the camera to produce heavily un-processed photos. Thank you Google!
The higher end 11 series offers real telephoto (5x) and promises of improved low light performance, plus a wider point of view on the selfie camera at a much higher price. All the 11 series phones went up by $100, with the 11 starting at $899, the Pro at $1,099 and the Pro XL at $1,299. However, the internal storage on all increased from 128 GB to 256GB.
So now you know what a great deal with 10A is. If you can live without a telephoto lens, you’ll get what is arguably the best deal and best phone in mobile at this price.
Would I switch from the iPhone? No thanks. Video and photos still look more professional to me on the iPhone, and I like the Mac eco-system from iPhone to Apple computers. r
But I love the price and what you get for it. Meanwhile, if $424 is too much, you can always step back in time and get an old-fashioned flip phone, sans camera, even today. How does $20 sound?
What is a view?
YouTube announced this week a new measurement system this week that counts a full view of a video at only one second. It says its doing this to be in line with how they count views on Shorts, which have dramatically more viewers than longform. And it’s how Facebook, Instagram and TikTok do it too.
I don’t care the rationale—if someone watched a Photowalks episode for one second and tuned out, as far as I concerned, that ain’t a view. YouTube says this will make it easier to present info to brands for sponsorships, but the people who work there are not stupid. If everyone’s numbers get dramatically higher, they’ll know the numbers are bogus.
The new section of YouTube analytics to check will be “Engaged Views,” which shows how long someone really watched.
A World Photography Day Treat
The fine folks at the Port of Los Angeles invited a bunch of local photographers to enjoy a cruise of the L.A. harbor on Wednesday, World Photography Day and what a fine night that was.
First of all, huge thanks for the invite and secondly, continuing the conversation about having a telephoto lens in your phone, this shot of the Angel Gate Lighthouse, which isn’t connected to the mainland, was shot on the iPhone 17 Pro Max at 8x (240mm equivalent) a lens choice not available on the Pixel 10A or the 17E.
Here’s what it would have looked like with the smaller lens.
Our August Photo Contest
The entries are pouring in—thank you! We will announce the winner and runner-ups on the 9/3 Photowalks Live show on YouTube at 8 p.m. ET and in a followup here as well.
The gist is that we’re taking great photos on our phones but leaving them in the Camera Roll where most people can’t see them. So let's share with other Photowalkers! The photos that are coming in already are amazing. I can’t wait to see more!
Submit here: https://forms.gle/2LXU3RcsegLx9HRv8
Thanks as always for taking the time to watch, view and listen! If you enjoyed today’s edition, let me know and share it with a friend.
Jeff