Google Pixel 8avsSamsung Galaxy M35

Google Pixel 8a

Samsung Galaxy M35

Google Pixel 8a

The Google Pixel 8A is the latest installment in the pixel series, offering a more affordable option without compromising on features. This phone boasts a compact design with a plastic back and aluminum frame, making it feel comfortable to hold. It also features IP67 water resistance, which is slightly less than the flagship Pixel 8. The display is a 6.1-inch OLED screen with a 1080p resolution and Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The refresh rate has been upgraded to 120Hz, providing smoother performance and improved brightness. We measured a maximum brightness of 750 nits manually and over 1500 nits with auto-brightness enabled. The phone runs on Google's latest Tensor G3 chip, which provides decent performance for everyday use and some gaming. However, thermal management is an issue, causing the phone to throttle heavily during prolonged stress tests. The battery life is around 11 hours and 25 minutes, with an active score of 4500mAh. The camera setup features a dual-camera system with a 64MP main sensor and a 13MP ultra-wide lens. Photos from the main camera are excellent, with good detail, natural colors, and balanced sharpness. The ultra-wide camera produces detailed and sharp photos with realistic colors and dynamic range. Night mode processing is also effective, producing well-exposed photos. The phone's software experience is clean and stock Android-like, with AI-based features such as real-time translation of conversations. It comes with the latest Android 14 installed and promises 7 years of software updates. Overall, the Google Pixel 8A offers a compact design, excellent cameras, and a clean software experience at an affordable price point. While it may have some downsides, such as slow charging and heavy thermal throttling, it's still worth considering if you're in the market for a phone with great camera capabilities and software features.

Samsung Galaxy M35

The Samsung Galaxy M35 is a budget-friendly smartphone that offers impressive performance, camera capabilities, and battery life, making it a solid choice for those looking for a Samsung phone under 20,000 rupees. Under the hood, the phone is powered by the Exynos 1380 chip, which was surprisingly effective in handling demanding tasks like gaming. The M35 handled games like BGMI, Call of Duty Mobile, and Genshin Impact with minimal lag, even after extended periods of playtime. However, it did struggle to maintain high frame rates in Genshin Impact, especially on high settings. The camera setup features three cameras, including a 50MP main lens, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, and a 2MP macro lens. While the photos taken by the main camera were decent with good detail and natural colors, they looked somewhat soft. The ultra-wide camera performed well in matching the color of the main camera, but portrait mode was not its strong point. The phone's battery life is where it truly shines, lasting a day and a half on regular use, even with heavy usage like gaming. However, charging was slower than expected, taking around 2 hours to fully charge from 0 to 100%. The Galaxy M35 also features a punch-hole display, side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and surprisingly good sound quality courtesy of the dual speakers. The display itself is bright and smooth, reaching up to 1,000 nits, and protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy M35 offers great value for its price, with impressive performance, camera capabilities, and battery life making it a solid choice for those in the market for a budget-friendly smartphone.