My previous phone was a poco f3. I initially had some negative feelings as well with the charge time of the pixel 7a, and battery life. Which felt like a downgrade. But now after 3 weeks, battery life is ok. I think I was using the phone more in the first week. Still at 90Hz. Now it lasts a day for me. I have battery saver going on from 30%. The phone is snappy and the software is perfect. I charge before going to sleep (adaptive charging since the latest updated charges till 80% first 2 hours, to 100% just before you wake up (it calculates that based on usage) to keep battery happy).
If you are using your phone extensively with lot's of screen time or gaming, you will need a power bank or recharge during the day, and ultimately this will frustrate you and you will be happier with another phone that charges with 50 watt or more.
Ultimately, google should invest in / enable faster charging as well. Once you get used to fast charging, like I was, it takes a couple of weeks to get used to slower charging. And I think, as you can see in reviews, most people don't wait 3 weeks and spew out their initial feelings. I think there is no way around it, google and also apple must go forward and let their phones charge faster. My super old Oneplus 5 is 5 years old with faster charging and still lasted a day, so the argument of long battery life is a bit outdated? Anyway now also the EU will make a bill that will need every phone to have an easy replaceable battery, probably in 5 years or so all phones might have an easy to remove cover and battery.