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Shadowing practice: Google Pixel 6A Review: Can You Feel It?

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  1. Hey what's up, MKBHD here, and this is Google's new budget phone, the Pixel 6a.0:02
  2. We knew this was coming, I've had my hands on this phone for a little over a week now, and I have my thoughts sort of summarized into one major0:09
  3. thought, which is there's a lot of competition in this budget phone space now, and this phone isn't the obvious hands -down winner that it might have once been.0:17
  4. But this year, more than ever, I think the primary reason for that comes down to the display.0:28
  5. And I'll explain what I mean.0:35
  6. So what we're getting with this Google budget phone is, and this may sound familiar, a new chip, the exact same one that's in the flagship models, the same software0:36
  7. experience as the flagships, but just with some cheaper hardware surrounding it.0:44
  8. You know, kind of like the iPhone SE.0:48
  9. But Google's version, and so the price here is $449.0:50
  10. It really looks just like any other of the Pixel 6 phones.0:55
  11. I mean, that's the one thing I like about the whole lineup.0:59
  12. They are unmistakably pixel.1:01
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  1. You've got the two -tone colors, the camera bar across the middle is recognizable as a pixel from a mile away.1:02
  2. The only difference here is, well, it's a slightly new color.1:08
  3. This one is a sage green.1:12
  4. But also the camera bump isn't as tall.1:13
  5. So it's a bit slimmer.1:17
  6. It doesn't protrude out of the phone as much.1:18
  7. So I don't really use the ledge as a grip as much anymore as I used to on the other phones.1:20
  8. Everything else, though, on the outside, is pretty much the same.1:25
  9. It's got the aluminum rails, same power and volume buttons on the right side with a notch between them.1:28
  10. The speakers and the slightly off -center USB -C port at the bottom, it's all back.1:33
  11. On the inside, though, this phone is IP67, not IP68.1:38
  12. And there is no wireless charging.1:42
  13. That to me was kind of a bummer.1:45
  14. I know we're probably saving a couple dollars here, but this phone still has a glass back.1:46
  15. And I don't know, if you've used wireless charging before, then it's kind of worth noting that this one won't have it.1:50
  16. And then also the Pixel 5a had a headphone jack.1:56
  17. This Pixel 6a does not have a headphone jack.1:59
  18. So again, if you use that, then that's another thing to note.2:02
  19. But really around the front here is where the Pixel 6a actually most reflects its price.2:06
  20. So we've got a 6 .1 inch, flat 1080p OLED display at 60 Hertz with a top -center hole punch and an in -display fingerprint reader.2:10
  21. Visually, it's an OK display.2:20
  22. It's decently sharp with good color and it gets bright enough to support HDR and not totally suck outdoors.2:23
  23. But also, it has some pretty serious off -axis rainbowing and the auto brightness is a little finicky and the fingerprint reader is definitely slow.2:29
  24. It's on the slow side just like it was on the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro.2:39
  25. Now this may be forgivable stuff in a budget phone.2:44
  26. We've seen stuff like that around this price.2:46
  27. But what really takes it a tier down for me is the 60 Hertz specifically because this one feels slow.2:48
  28. Actually, let me be more specific.2:56
  29. So this is a 60 Hertz display.2:58
  30. There's lots of other 60 Hertz displays in phones out there.3:00
  31. Having a tensor chip, which is a relatively high -end chip inside, should mean that the phone still feels fast and it still opens apps pretty fast.3:03
  32. And that's still mostly true here.3:12
  33. But for whatever reason, the responsiveness and the actual smoothness of the display, this is not smooth.3:14
  34. So I think this is absolutely going to be one of those things that you either feel and notice right away or you just never notice.3:21
  35. Like, I think there's a lot of people who are going to be looking to get a Pixel 6a that are coming from an older phone, coming from a budget3:28
  36. phone, coming from other 60 Hertz phones.3:34
  37. And this will probably feel right in line.3:36
  38. But even amongst the 60 Hertz phones, I feel like this is one of the choppiest ones.3:39
  39. And now I've also recently come from a world of 120 Hertz and 165 Hertz flagship phones and gaming phones.3:45
  40. And that's not the normal place a 6a buyer will come from.3:53
  41. But the second you experience 120 Hertz on a phone, you are way more likely to notice the dropped frames in animations all the time, even at 60 Hertz.3:56
  42. Literally just scrolling around, pulling down the notification shade, opening and closing apps, normal stuff is just constantly slightly choppy.4:06
  43. Now the funny thing is it's hard for me to show you this stuff on camera.4:14
  44. This is a 30 FPS video and these things are happening somewhere between 30 and 60 FPS.4:17
  45. But yeah, this is one of those things where I bet if you get to see a 6a in a store or try it out, then you'll feel what I'm4:24
  46. talking about.4:31
  47. But it really is a feel thing.4:32
  48. And this is purely coming from my decade of phone testing experience.4:33
  49. This one feels choppy.4:37
  50. Now depending on who you are, even all of this might be acceptable, knowing still that things are technically launching quickly and you're not lagging out and you're actually launching4:39
  51. at a normal speed.4:49
  52. But I'm combining all of this with my knowledge of what I've just seen happen with the last year of Pixels, which is they haven't aged particularly gracefully.4:51
  53. So I've seen what happened to the 6 and the 6 Pro and I worry about how this phone will age considering how it feels now.5:01
  54. It's guaranteed three years of software updates, but what does this phone look like in three years?5:08
  55. Now the good thing is everything else about the Pixel here is exactly what you'd expect.5:13
  56. The same software experience as the Big Brothers with Material U, Google's widgets and dynamic colors and stock apps like the calculator and settings and camera, etc.5:18
  57. Google's smartest features are all here like assistant, call screening is awesome, live translate and the sorcery that is basically instant speech to text everywhere in this phone.5:28
  58. Thanks to the Tensor chip, they're all so good.5:38
  59. The haptics are also pretty good, which is great to see in a budget phone along with the stereo speakers here.5:41
  60. Really the only variables that could have come up as a surprise potentially would be battery or cameras.5:46
  61. So, Pixel 6a's battery is about 4400mAh and it turned out to be fine.5:51
  62. There were some concerns because oh it's a Tensor chip, it's a higher end chip, uses more power, maybe in a smaller phone that's bad, but turns out 60Hz kind5:57
  63. of balances that out so I had pretty good battery life.6:05
  64. I was just mildly annoyed by not having wireless charging.6:07
  65. But then there's the cameras.6:11
  66. So with the camera, unlike the previous pixels, this does not share the same cameras as the more expensive brothers, the 6 and the 6 Pro.6:12
  67. Instead, it has a downgraded 12 megapixel camera setup for both the standard and the ultra wide, which might look disappointing on paper, but this is the old Sony IMX3636:20
  68. sensor, which some of you nerds will already recognize is the same exact sensor that was in the Pixel 5 and the same that was in the Pixel 4 and6:32
  69. the Pixel 3 and the Pixel 2.6:42
  70. In other words, this is an older, smaller, lower resolution sensor, but it is also absolutely a tried and true great smartphone camera because of Google's computational photography chops.6:44
  71. So I really appreciated that even with the lower number, with the Tensor chip processing things happening really fast, the shots that come out of this camera are crisp, contrasty,6:56
  72. and confident just like they were with the older pixels.7:05
  73. The colors are on point too, not too much over processing happening, and there is not too much fringing at the edges either with close up subjects, and the dynamic7:09
  74. range and how it handles highlights is a plus.7:16
  75. So I mean, it's easy to see why they stuck with this for so long, and the fact is, this is still easily a top two budget smartphone camera.7:20
  76. Easy.7:28
  77. It also has the ultra wide that the iPhone SE doesn't have, and it takes decent looking 4K videos up to 60fps.7:29
  78. These cameras are like pizza.7:36
  79. Sure they're not super new and groundbreaking, there's nothing that would impress you about them on paper, but they get the job done in a design that you can dress7:39
  80. up like a Ninja Turtle if you get the right D brand skins.7:46
  81. You know, the ones linked in the description.7:50
  82. The conversation around the Pixel 6a is probably the most interesting when you consider the competitors.7:52
  83. Just the other phones that you could get for $450, and there's some other really good ones, so to make it easy, I think you should get the Pixel 6a7:57
  84. if you value the Google software experience, those features, and or the camera way over everything else.8:06
  85. But if that's not you, you could get a Samsung Galaxy A53 for $100 less, and that's going to have a 120Hz display that has expandable storage, or you could8:16
  86. get a nothing phone, which I just reviewed, which has all those quirky lights features on the back, but that's also got a much bigger, much, much smoother 120Hz display8:27
  87. and all of their features.8:36
  88. You could even get an iPhone SE if you wanted to, which yes, is going to be a 60Hz single camera set up with a smaller battery, but that's also8:38
  89. a flagship chipset.8:47
  90. That's also wireless charging, and that's also let's be real, it's an iPhone, which is enough of a feature for some people.8:49
  91. And then there's some Nord phones and some Poke phones and some Moto G's all with their own merits.8:55
  92. So yeah, Pixel 6a turns out is really all about the Google software experience and the camera for the price, that's where it excels.9:00
  93. But yeah, if you're shopping around, keep your eyes open because there's a bunch of good stuff, and while good phones aren't getting cheap, cheap phones are still very much9:09
  94. getting good.9:18
  95. There you have it.9:20
  96. That's been it.9:21
  97. Thanks for watching.9:22
  98. Catch you guys in the next one.9:23
  99. Peace.9:24

English speaking practice with MKBHD's Pixel 6a review

This clip is Marques Brownlee, MKBHD, reviewing Google's Pixel 6a straight to camera. It is commentary, not a scripted scene, so the sentences move the way people actually explain things: a claim first, then qualifying, backtracking and adding asides as he goes. At B2 level and 197 words per minute it moves quickly, which makes it solid english speaking practice once you can already build full sentences and want to catch up to natural speed, and decent english listening practice for the same reason.

The accent is American, and the tone is confident, informal tech reviewer talk, closer to explaining a purchase to a friend than reading from a script. He states his verdict in the opening lines, then works through the phone point by point: chip, price, colors, camera bump, ports, IP rating, wireless charging, headphone jack. Noticing that order, conclusion first, evidence after, is worth doing before you try to speak in the same rhythm.

The american accent and phrasing in this Pixel 6a review

A few lines from the opening show what to listen for if you want to improve your english accent on this kind of fast, conversational speech.

  • "Hey what's up, MKBHD here, and this is Google's new budget phone, the Pixel 6a." runs as one breath group. The commas mark small pauses, not full stops, so shadow it as a single flowing line rather than reading each word on its own.
  • "They are unmistakably pixel." is short and flat, with all the weight sitting on one word. Practising where the stress lands on "unmistakably" is a fast way to work on american accent training without a long line to manage.
  • "That to me was kind of a bummer." shows a hedge, "kind of a bummer", dropped into the middle of a complaint the way people soften things in real conversation. Say it exactly as transcribed rather than tidying it into a cleaner sentence.

How to shadow this Pixel 6a review for english shadowing practice

Work the opening in a fixed order rather than jumping around the clip.

  • Listen to lines 1 through 5 once without repeating anything, just to hear where he pauses before "thought" and before "I'll explain what I mean".
  • Shadow line 1 alone, "Hey what's up, MKBHD here", five times before adding the rest of the sentence, matching his pace rather than slowing it down.
  • Take "They are unmistakably pixel." and repeat it until the stress falls on "unmistakably" the same way he places it.
  • Move to the run of hardware details from "It's got the aluminum rails" through the headphone jack lines, and shadow them as one sequence, since that stretch is where the pace picks up.
  • Finish by recording yourself on "That to me was kind of a bummer." and "This Pixel 6a does not have a headphone jack.", two short factual statements that are easy to check against the original for rhythm.
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