The much-awaited and rumored budget Pixel smartphone of the year is finally here. Google has officially taken wraps off the Pixel 5a with 5G that has exclusively been announced for the United States and Japan. If you are someone reading this and are not from those two countries, you will not be able to get the device through official means.

The latest Pixel 5a with 5G is a direct successor to the last year's Pixel 4a 5G. There are some noticeable improvements but nothing so significant that you would want to trade in your old Pixel right away. The major differences include a relatively bigger display, a bigger battery, and an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance. The last one is a first for a budget Pixel smartphone.

The Pixel 5a 5G sports a 6.34-inch Full HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) OLED display with HDR, 20:9 aspect ratio, Always on Display, and Pixel-exclusive Now Playing feature. Under the hood, it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G with Adreno 620 GPU and Google’s Titan M security module.

The phone is available in a single configuration: 6GB RAM with 128GB storage. The dual rear camera setup includes a 12.2-megapixel dual-pixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture and a 16-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture. The front camera is an 8-megapixel sensor with an f/2.0 aperture.

There is a 4,680mAh battery to keep the lights on and is supported by 18W fast charging. The good thing is that Google has bundled the phone with an 18W USB Type-C charger which means you will not have to look for a fast charger separately. It will boot Android 11 out of the box with a minimum of three years of software updates promise. Other features include a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Google has priced the Pixel 5a 5G for $449 in the United States. It will be available in a single Mostly Black color option with sales beginning August 26th.