After a surprisingly low-leak lead-up, Google's Pixel 5a with 5G is now official. On paper, the phone is a successor to last year's Pixel 4a 5G with most of the same specs — Snapdragon 765G, 6GB RAM/128GB storage, the usual Pixel primary and wide-angle camera — with an added IP rating and a 20% bigger battery. Available today for pre-order at 0 in a "Mostly Black" (but actually dark green) colorway, the Pixel 5a arrives on August 26th.

SPECS

If you remember last year's Pixel 4a 5G, which was one of our favorite phones, then you've basically seen the new Pixel 5a. Like last year, it has a Snapdragon 765G (the same chipset behind the Pixel 5), plus a big but dated 60Hz OLED display, 6GB of RAM, and 128 GB of storage, all powered by Android 11 — soon to be Android 12. But this isn't just 2020's mid-range phone regurgitated in a dark green color for 2021, Google has improved last year's phone with the addition of an IP67 rating, bio-resin-coated metal body, a 20% larger battery, and a bigger display/footprint, all at a $50 price cut.

The new Pixel 5a comes in a "Mostly Black" colorway that is actually a very dark green, which is nearly black in poor lighting. It's accented by a new "olive-colored" wavy power button and has a rear-mounted capacitive fingerprint sensor. Up top, Google's managed to keep the headphone jack even with the new IP67 rating and bigger battery. And of course, it has 5G — it's right there in the name. But this time, that's just the sub-6 variety. There's no mmWave variant like with the Verizon version of the 4a 5G or the Pixel 5, and you aren't paying extra for something you cant use outside a handful of street corners in super-big cities.

The upcoming Pixel 6 is set to revamp Google's camera system, but the Pixel 5a keeps things as they were: You get the same now quite-old (but still good) 12.2 f/1.7 primary shooter, paired with the somewhat new 16MP ultra-wide that debuted last year. It has all the usual Pixel camera features, including astrophotography, Night Sight, and the new-ish Portrait Light, among others.

Software-wise, it ships with Android 11, but Google promises the usual slightly-behind-Samsung three years of updates, and it will almost assuredly get the brand-new Android 12 on day one in the next few weeks to months.

New cases, available in Black Moss, Maybe Moon, Likely Lime and Partially Pink.

Pre-orders for the new Pixel 5a open today at $450 at both the Google Store and Google Fi, set to arrive in your hand on August 26th. If you're wondering whether or not it's worth your money, we can tell you.