A fine affordable smartphone but the Pixel 9a is the better buy

The Google Pixel 10a has the same 48-megapixel main camera, 13-megapixel ultra-wide and 13-megapixel front camera as the Pixel 9a. Such a lack of progress isn’t overly concerning, given that the Pixel 9a took fine photos for the money.

Camera hardware is never the main focus in a Pixel phone. Google’s image processing does a lot of the heavy lifting here, resulting in shots with an almost uncanny level of clarity and contrast, even at night.

Images taken with the Pixel 10a’s main camera are generally pin-sharp and well exposed, pulling detail out of shadow while taming brighter areas. The ultrawide is the weak link, producing grainier and less natural-looking snaps.

Google’s 13-megapixel front camera might not be the star component as found in the Pixel 10 Pro, but it does capture natural selfies with rich skin tones. Portrait shots make the subject pop, though some edge detail is lost.

There is no dedicated telephoto camera, so you’re best advised to stop at the 2x zoom mark. These cropped-in shots still look decent, but zooming in any further will see the detail level dropping off dramatically.

No one handles AI-powered image editing better than Google. In the Pixel 10a, as with other Pixel phones, you can fire off a quick snap and be pulling off major edits within a couple of taps, all without ever having to leave the camera app. Some of the AI-powered tools found in Google’s Pixel Studio suite can carry your image into uncanny territory, allowing you to fundamentally transform it using simple language, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

New to the A-series is ‘Camera Coach’, which talks you through improving the framing of your shot in real time. ‘Auto Best Take’, meanwhile, blends similar photos to produce group shots where everyone looks their best.

The Google Pixel 10a is reasonably well equipped for a sub-£500 phone, but we’ve seen it all before. The specifications are almost identical to the Google Pixel 9a which, at the time of writing, Google is still selling as new at a steep discount.