Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
Google entered the Smartphone market all the way back in 2010, with the original Nexus line up of phones and at the same time introducing the world to the ‘Android’ operating system. Google being a software company, relied on outsourcing manufacturing of these phones to LG and they were never really competitors to the iPhone. The Pixel line up, introduced in 2016, was when people really stood up and started to notice Google phones and take them seriously.
The first Pixel’s were plagued with issues, such as overheating and it took a couple of generations for them to catch up with the iPhone, who had a significant head start in the smartphone arena. Google have often been accused of copying Apple, but if you look at the majority of phones available today, they all look relatively similar as there isn't a huge amount you can do with a rectangular piece of glass and metal!
The Pixel line up had always caught my eye, but it took me awhile to finally take the plunge and change over, until I saw a really good offer on a Pixel 8 Pro. Coming from the iPhone 15 Pro Max, I was concerned I might regret my decision and feel like the phone wasn’t as premium, but I was wrong…The moment I opened the packaging I knew this was a premium product aimed at the top end of the market. The device felt well put together and worked really well.
My experience with the Pixel 8 Pro, brings me onto the Pixel 9 Pro, which is what this article is about. I had no plans to change to the 9, but after seeing a really good trade in offer on the 8 series, I decided to trade up! The Pixel 9 packaging, was very close to Apple and as usual these days you don't get a charger in the box, which is a shame considering the phone now supports 45 watt charging speed (iPhone 16 only goes up to 20). The device felt very premium, even more so than the 8 series, which is saying something. I love the aluminum design with the polished sides and glass back, it felt like an iPhone but had its own unique style. I think this is a good thing and not something Google should be slated for, as they have listened to what people want and delivered it.
The Display:
The screen (without getting to tech) is a ‘Super Actua’ OLED, which is fantastic. It is very similar to the 8 series, but has a few minor tweaks, such as increased brightness. The display can now hit 3000nits, which is 1000nits brighter than the iPhone. After using the Pixel 8/9 and iPhone series outside on many occasions, I can honestly say all of these devices wont have any issues in bright sunlight. The changes in the screen on the 9, isn't a reason to upgrade over from the Pixel 8 alone. One thing I have noticed about the Pixel series screens, is that they don't look quite as vibrant as the iPhone displays. Now, in the display settings you can select two options (natural and adaptive) which is supposed to change the color vibrancy. I didn't really notice much change between the two, but I did find the screen sometimes bit to washed out on some occasions, compared to the iPhone. It might well be the case that the Pixel is giving a much more natural image, where as the iPhone is over saturating colors to appeal to more consumers, but it is something to be aware of before buying.
The display can now reach 3000nits of peak HDR brightness
Super Cameras:
Pixel fans have always raved about how good the cameras are and this is the main reason I decided to change over, as I love smartphone photography. The Pixel 9 series have inherited their cameras off the 8 series, which is not a bad thing. So on the non-pro models you get a ultra-wide (48 megapixel) and wide lens (50 megapixel). On the pro models, you also get a 5x telephoto (48 megapixel) lens, which I did love using. This is the same set-up as the iPhone line up, showing once again Google’s aim at getting iPhone users to switch to Pixel.
The quality of the camera on all three lenses I think is really good and I still say it is better than the iPhone 16 line up for still images. The pictures just look more ‘dslr’ like than the iPhone (although I did love the new photographic styles). The main lens, like all phones gives you the best results as has the largest sensor, but I still loved the results from the other two. I found myself getting great images in all sorts of different lighting conditions and with different scenes. Part of this, comes down to the software side of things, which I think Google has done very well. The photographic processing side of the phone, is very clever in my opinion and doesn't over process the photos, like a lot of phones do. If you want a phone, where you can be confident that you will get a really good photo 99% of the time, without doing much after editing, then this is a phone to consider for you.
Google has put a lot of work and all its eggs in one basket, being confident that the future is going to be ‘AI.’ This is reflected in the camera system, being very ‘AI” based, such as ‘Add me’ and ‘Best Take.’ I enjoyed playing around with these features, but found the add me to be gimmicky in some situations as it required everyone to stay in the exact same positions (which with small children is not easy). ‘Best Take,’ carried over from the 8 series I have used on several occasions and is really useful, as it is so hard to get everyone to look at the camera, at the same time. You simply take several shots and then select a face for all the participants, which gives you a great group image.
Video performance is also good, but no where near as well developed as the iPhone, which is partly down to the lack of power of the Tensor chips. Whilst the new iPhone 16 Pro can record comfortably in 4K 120 HDR, the Pixel series struggles to do 4k 60 without the help of ‘Video Boost.’ This is something Google introduced in the Pixel 8 series and essentially is them saying, look our phones cannot process video as well as the competition, so to make up for this, we will upload your video to our cloud servers to process them for you. It basically takes a low resolution video, which is available instantly and then uploads this to the cloud for high resolution processing. Now, the results are impressive and you do get really nice looking videos, even in low light. The problem is, you have to wait ages for the video to process and it also uses up mobile data if you don't have an unlimited plan. Also, it isn't switched on by default, so you have to remember to enable it each time. The iPhone, however has been able to shoot in 4k 60 HDR for sometime, but the Pixel cant do this without video boost. The iPhone is still better for video, but Google is catching up.
Video boost to 4k 60 HDR looks brilliant, but takes some time
It’s all about AI…
AI is at the heart of the Pixel 9 series, which is all run by the Tensor G4 chip. These are Google’s own in-house developed chips, then built by Samsung, so Google are still reliant on a third party to manufacture these chips. They simply aren’t as good as snapdragon and A series iPhone chips, meaning the phones do feel sometimes underpowered as mentioned in the camera section above. Now, this used to be acceptable when the Pixel cost substantially less than the iPhone, but Google are now charging the same price. To be fair to Google in everyday use, you do not notice any issues, as opening and closing apps is as quick as any other phone in this price range. It does start to show though, if you use the ‘Pro’ features on the phone, such as setting the camera to full resolution, 50 megapixel and taking lots of photos quickly. The phone simply cannot keep up and will just freeze, meaning you may miss that perfect shot. This does not happen on iPhones and something I have enjoyed about going back to iPhone. Same with gaming, the Pixel cannot run games as well as the competition, but it is better than the 8 series.
The AI features do make up for some of these short comings to an extent, such as Gemini Advanced which I think is the best virtual assistant on the market. This comes bundled with the phone for one year, but then Google expect people to pay a subscription after to use this, which I’m not sure they will do! I think Apple will catch up with Google soon and offer decent AI on their devices also, but they aren’t there yet and Google currently have the edge.
Google need to watch out:
As much as I love the Pixel series and I would have stuck with the 9, if it wasn’t for some of the camera issues, I think Google need to make sure they work on their hardware as the AI advantage wont help them forever. As Apple and other manufactures begin to offer similar AI features, consumers wont be able to forgive Google for offering expensive phones, with sub-par performance. There are rumors that the Tensor 5 next year, will be developed in house and be more powerful, which it definitely needs to be!
The cameras are brilliant and most people will be very happy with the results from them. The phone also offers a great Android experience, not full of bloatware like other phones, so the Pixel’s still offer the best Android experience in my opinion.
