GoKawiilGoogle's $499 Pixel 10A uses nearly the same cameras as last year's Pixel 9A, but I wanted to see how its photos directly match up to its midrange Android rivals: the $650 Samsung Galaxy S25 FE and the $550 Motorola Edge.
I traveled with all three phones around St. Petersburg, Florida, checking how flexible each was in different environments, from bright outdoor settings to an indoor coffee shop and an evening brewery. All three environments can be challenging for the small image sensors on each phone.
While I find the cameras on all three phones to have different strengths and weaknesses depending on the setting, I'm quite impressed with how the Pixel 10A keeps up. In my tests, the photos include lots of detail, even though certain settings appear to involve a lot of processing to improve them.
Watch this: Unboxing Google's Pixel 10A: Everything That Comes With the $499 Phone 00:48
Wide and telephoto cameras
Starting with photos taken on the sidewalk in downtown St. Petersburg, I notice that all three phones handle bright sunlight slightly differently, especially how it's depicted on the street.
Taken on the Pixel 10A's wide camera at 1x. Mike Sorrentino/CNET
For the Pixel 10A, the sun provides a slight exposure mark over the Bay First sign at the top of the frame, but it remains fairly cordoned off to focus on the rest of the streetscape. Zooming in, you can see the Century 21 location, but the street is captured in the most detail, with the phone's camera maintaining its natural gray color.
Taken on the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE's wide camera at 1x. Mike Sorrentino/CNET
Taken on the Motorola Edge at 1x. Mike Sorrentino/CNET
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