Google Pixel 4a vs OnePlus Nord - Which should you buy - Android

The budget smartphone market has become incredibly competitive over the past year or so thanks to ever-climbing flagship prices. Two of the hottest on the block are the Google Pixel 4a and the OnePlus Nord.

The former utilizes software to the fullest to get the most out of its limited hardware, while the latter relies more on specs to get the job done. Two completely different approaches to a mid-range smartphone, but which one comes out on top?

Find out in Android Authority’s Google Pixel 4a vs OnePlus Nord hands-on comparison.

Read the full reviews: Google Pixel 4a review | OnePlus Nord review

Google Pixel 4a vs OnePlus Nord

Specs

Design and display

The designs of these smartphones differ greatly. The OnePlus Nord has Gorilla Glass 5 on both front and back with a plastic rail around the outside. The power button is on the right and the volume rocker is on the left. OnePlus’ signature mute toggle switch also resides on the right-hand side. The USB-C port is rated at 2.0 speeds and the optical in-display is faster than most other mid-range phones.

The most striking part of the design of the model I’ve been using is the Blue Marble colorway, which really pops in certain lighting conditions. It looks even more dramatic in person, though there’s also a far more muted Gray Onyx option too. The phone feels premium in the hand and a lot like a flagship thanks to its tapered glass back and large size.

The OnePlus Nord looks and feels more like a flagship.

Comparatively, the Pixel 4a feels “cheaper” with its full polycarbonate build. However, its buttons — which are all on the right-hand side — feel crisper and more tactile. The single black color is a bit boring but isn’t offensive to look at by any means. The Pixel 4a’s USB-C port is rated at 3.1 speeds and there’s even a headphone jack at the top.

The device’s haptics are also more impressive than the Nord’s. The rear capacitive fingerprint scanner is faster and more accurate than the Nord’s in-display reader and can be used to pull down the notification shade. Its single punch hole is also smaller than the Nord’s double punch hole as it’s only housing a single camera. However, the bezels are ever so slightly thicker on the Pixel 4a.

On paper, the Pixel 4a’s 5.81-inch 60Hz display shouldn’t be as impressive as the Nord’s 6.44-inch 90Hz panel.

However, the Pixel 4a’s panel came out as the better of the two in our display testing. It has better color accuracy and is more precisely calibrated than the Nord’s panel. In everyday use, it doesn’t make a major difference to the user experience, but holding both devices side by side shows the discrepancies in image quality between the two.

See also: The best budget phones you can currently buy

What does make a difference is the OnePlus Nord’s higher refresh rate display which, when combined with the increased screen real estate, help the device feel smoother, snappier, and more like a flagship phone.

The form factor is the biggest difference between these two phones. Even if you’re not so concerned with aesthetics, the OnePlus Nord is a significantly larger device than the Pixel 4a. Those after a more compact phone may want to opt for Google’s budget handset.

Performance, battery life, and software

Unsurprisingly, the OnePlus Nord’s more powerful Snapdragon 765G handily beat out the Pixel 4a’s 730G in our testing. Between the impressive raw performance, the faster display, and the snappier animations in OxygenOS, the OnePlus Nord feels a lot quicker under the finger than the Pixel 4a. Just flicking between apps, the Nord is noticeably faster.

The story continues for gaming. The Snapdragon 765G’s more powerful Adreno 620 GPU makes short work of 2D games and runs some 3D titles at 90fps. The Nord struggles with more graphically intensive games such as Fortnite and PUBG Mobile, though the games are still playable. The Pixel 4a doesn’t cope as well. Gameplay is less immersive with hangs and lagging being more frequent due to its weaker chipset.

With all that said, the Pixel 4a is still a very capable performer and a significant upgrade over its predecessor. Check out our Pixel 4a performance deep dive below for more.

Read more: Is the Google Pixel 4a powerful enough for a budget phone in 2020?

For software, picking between the Nord’s OxygenOS and Google’s Pixel Experience will come down to personal preference. Both are very clean versions of Android 10. Similarly, both companies support have impressive track records with updates and version upgrades. You would expect this from Google, of course, but OnePlus is one of the best out there for long-term software support. OxygenOS is the more feature-rich of the two with a wide variety of customization options that look set to expand further when OxygenOS 11 rolls out.

However, Pixel Experience does more with the hardware that it’s running on. It manages to make a Snapdragon 730G feel almost as smooth as the more powerful 765G in basic tasks. The Pixel 4a also processes images faster than the OnePlus Nord in our testing while also besting it in image quality thanks to Google’s celebrated computational photography smarts (more on this later). Pixel Experience also maximizes battery life by culling background tasks and adds in handy features like Now Playing, which detects ambient music and displays the title and artist on the lock screen.  

Picking between OxygenOS and Pixel Experience will come down to personal preference.

The OnePlus Nord’s battery may be larger than the Pixel 4a’s cell, but Google’s budget phone wasn’t far behind the Nord in our Speed Test G battery tests. This is likely due to the Pixel 4a’s less power-hungry chipset and Google’s battery software optimizations. Thankfully, both devices will give you all-day battery life as long as you’re not a power user.