The screen is brighter now, reaching a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, and I haven’t had any trouble reading it in sunny conditions (though it hasn’t been as sunny as I’d like it to be these past few weeks). I appreciate the glass upgrade from Gorilla Glass 3 to Gorilla Glass 7i. It should be more protective, and anecdotally, I don’t see a single scratch on the Pixel 10a’s screen after two weeks of use. (I’d still snag a screen protector to be safe.)

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Another notable upgrade is in charging speeds—30-watt wired charging and 10-watt wireless charging. I’ll admit I haven’t noticed the benefits of this yet, since I’m often recharging the phone overnight. You can get up to 50 percent in 30 minutes of charging with a compatible adapter, and that has lined up with my testing.

My biggest gripe? Google should have taken this opportunity to add its Pixelsnap wireless charging magnets to the back of this phone. That would help align the Pixel 10a even more with the Pixel 10 series and bring Qi2 wireless charging into a more affordable realm—actually raising the bar, which wouldn’t be a first for the A-series. After all, Apple did exactly that with the new iPhone 17e, adding MagSafe to the table. Or heck, at least make the Pixel 10a Qi2 Ready like Samsung’s smartphones, so people who use a magnetic case can take advantage of faster wireless charging speeds.

Battery life has been OK. With average use, the Pixel 10a comfortably lasts me a full day, but it still requires daily charging. With heavier use, like when I’m traveling, I’ve had to charge the phone in the afternoon a few times to make sure it didn’t die before I got into bed. This is a fairly big battery for its size, but I think there’s more Google could do to extend juice, akin to Motorola’s Moto G Power 2026.