First, I really like the Pixel 3a XL, despite its humble innards, and you can read my thoughts as they evolved over time in Google Pixel 3a XL Review: The New Sweet Spot, Where the Google Pixel 3a Falls Short, and Revisiting the Google Pixel 3a XL.

Second, I was somewhat taken aback by some of the responses to my recent post, The Problem with the Pixel 4a (Premium).

For those non-Premium readers who didn’t see that post, the basic gist is that the Pixel 4a is an improvement in many ways over the Pixel 3a series, and is decidedly superior to Apple’s over-hyped iPhone SE.

And the Pixel 4a falls short in two key areas: It only has a single-lens camera system at a time when even sub-$400 phones (save the overrated iPhone SE, of course) have multiple lenses.

Indeed, Google doesn’t offer any upgrades; the Pixel 4a is what it is, and there are no user-configurable changes that can be made, at purchase time or at any time thereafter.

The Pixel lineup has been a failure for Google, and it is cutting costs in all-new ways with the Pixel 4a and, soon, the Pixel 5.

As to my other issue with the Pixel 4a, I expect the single-lens camera system to be a mixed bag.

By all accounts, it’s an improvement over the excellent single-lens camera system in the Pixel 3a/3a XL, and I did love that camera.

But it lacks an ultra-wide-angle lens, which I missed in the expensive Pixel 4 XL.

A phone that is superior, in every way save one, to the Apple iPhone SE, which is $50 to $100 more expensive than the Pixel 4a depending on whether you configure it with an acceptable amount of storage.

The Pixel 4a’s polycarbonate body is matte where the 3a’s was glossy and even somewhat slippery, and I’m curious to feel it in person.

And the Pixel 4a, like the original Ford Model T, is available in one color, and one color only: black.

The display is small by modern smartphone standards, but the 5.8-inch OLED panel is superior to the even smaller 4.7-inch LCD panel in the iPhone SE, and its resolution (2340 x 1080) and pixel density are both higher.

It makes the iPhone SE look like the 2014 design that it is, which is great.

Those are all welcome improvements, and while the iPhone SE has the decided edge from a performance standpoint, it only comes with 64 GB of RAM in the entry-level $400 model; you will need to pay $450 to equal the Pixel 4a’s 128.

It can shoot video at just 1080p/60 fps max, but it does come with all the standard Pixel 4 camera goodies, like HDR+, and Night Sight, programmatic Portrait Mode.

Unlike the iPhone SE, the Pixel 4a both supports fast charging and actually comes with an fast-charger in the box, in this case an 18-watt unit.

The Pixel lineup has its problems, but the clean Android software image is always a highlight, and Google will support the handset with a minimum of three years of OS updates.

That could get interesting because the Pixel 4a ships with Android 10, even though Android 11 will be finalized within the month and will arrive on this handset very soon.

Overall, the Pixel 4a looks really solid, and it beats all of its competition in all the ways that really matter.

But the display, form factor, storage, and camera advantages of the Pixel 4a are to me—and, I suspect, most others—far more important.