The Google Pixel 9a is just about the best $500 phone we’ve ever tested, with the build quality, performance and battery life of rivals that are much more expensive.

The issue with the Pixel 9a’s selfie camera pops up when you’re in a poorly lit room. You may notice that the edges of the viewfinder will start flickering a gray-ish tint in the darker spots of the screen. In my case this was the bottom corner of the image.

While the Pixel 9a is a proper 5G phone, its support isn’t as complete as its siblings. The Pixel 9 and 9 Pro models can support mmWave for ultra-fast connections in certain regions, but the Pixel 9a is limited to 5G Sub-6. This can still be fast, and it reached over 200Mbps in my testing, but it’s just not as fast.