The final part of the first day of the Google I / O 2022 event dedicated to developers also ended with some small hardware-level gems, including the presentation of the proprietary mid-range Pixel 6a.
Listen to this article
During the day one of the Google I / O 2022 event, Big G with the promise of unveiling the new Pixel 7 and 7 Pro in the autumn, anticipated in the design images and already with Android 13 on board, has however brought hardware products to be marketed first, starting with the rumored new Pixel 6a.
The new smartphone (71.8 × 152.16 x 8.85 mm), with a stylistic continuity solution compared to the 6 and 6 Pro models, has a metal frame, with the back in a two-tone version, materialized in the darker lower part and in the upper one, separated from the room bar, lighter: specifically, the shades chosen by Google are three, namely Charcoal black, Chalk white, and Sage sea green. Thanks to the original cases, then, it will be possible to customize the appearance even more, creating even more contrasting combinations.
At the front, the hole at the top in the center bears the same 8 megapixel camera, with fixed focus, of the Pixel 6, via Sony IMX 355 sensor wide-angle at 84 °: the screen placed just below, including an optical biometric scanner for fingerprints (interfaced with the Titan M2 cryptographic chip), within very thin frames (4.27 mm at the top, 3.935 mm at the sides, 5.71 mm at the bottom), it is formed by a 6.1-inch OLED panel, resolved in FullHD + according to an aspect ratio of 20: 9, with a wide color gamut, HIAA center, and only 60 Hz of refresh rate. Behind, the aforementioned camera bar (1.08 mm protrusion) horizontally carries a 12 megapixel main sensor (Sony IMX363, dual pixel) and an ultra-wide angle (Sony IMX386) still 12 megapixel.
On the software side, the Real Tone function uses an algorithm that faithfully renders the various pigmentations of the skin, the Night Sight credibly illuminates photos taken in low light, while the Magic Eraser retains the ability to delete unwanted guests in the photos, but relaunches with the ability to change the color of objects: there is also the Face Unblur which, taken from moving faces, takes care of making them sharper.
Driving the Pixel 6a is the Tensor GS101 processor, with two Cortex X1 cores operating at 2.8 GHz, made with 5 nanometer lithography by Samsung and flanked by a Mali G78 GPU: the RAM (LPDDR4X) reaches 6 GB, while the 128GB storage. Equipped with 5G, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS L1, NFC, Wi-Fi 6E, NFC, the device in question implements a 4,400 mAh battery, which can be quickly charged to 18W via microUSB 3.0 Type-C, capable of guaranteeing 24 hours of average use thanks to the Adaptive Battery function which, essentially, via machine learning, by learning about the use of the user, proceeds to sip the energy for the less used apps. Under Extreme Battery, the autonomy rises to 72 hours.
Android 12 closes the general picture (with Android 13 which will see it among the first beneficiaries), with 5 years of security updates, monthly functional updates (via the Feature Drops program), and related features such as Live Translate (translations not only of what is in audiovisual reproduction, but also SMS, text framed by the camera, road signs and, for now in English, the ability to interpret in real time). Pre-orderable from July 21, the Pixel 6a will be available for purchase from July 28, at a price of $ 449.