9 THINGS I LEARNED - SWITCHING FROM THE APPLE iPHONE SE TO THE GOOGLE PIXEL 4A

GOOGLE GETS A LOT RIGHT.

- MICHAEL SIMON

While you can spend a thousand bucks or more on a phone if you want, you don’t actually need to anymore. In the past few months, Apple and Google have both released impressive midrange phones that cost less than $400 and bring many of the features usually reserved for premium handsets, including wireless charging, all-screen designs, and impressive battery life.

But as with all things Apple and Google, the iPhone SE (go.pcworld.com/ip20) and Pixel 4a (see page 35) are not created equal. But I wanted to see just how different they are.

I had been using the iPhone SE since receiving it in early June, so when the Pixel 4a arrived on my doorstep, I popped out the SIM and jumped back into the world of Android. Here’s what I learned:

SPEED ISN’T ALL THAT IMPORTANT

The biggest selling point of the iPhone SE is its processor. Apple gave its low-cost SE the same A13 chip that’s inside the flagship iPhone 11 Pro, and you can definitely feel the power when launching apps and multitasking. It’s a whole lot faster than the Snapdragon 730G inside the Pixel 4a. But while using both, the Pixel 4a didn’t really feel that much slower during day-to-day use thanks to Android 10. Frankly, the people buying these phones aren’t going to be looking for flagship-level speeds anyway. It’s nice for sure, but not necessary.

64GB OF STORAGE ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH

The iPhone SE might start at $399, but most people should opt for the $449 model with 128GB of storage. System files and formatting take up 5GB-10GB or more, and when you factor in photos, videos, and apps, 64GB can fill up very fast.