Review: Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL - Ambitious but Clipped

When Google introduced its new Pixel 9 series, it was of course as a platform to showcase the company's latest advancements in artificial intelligence. This time, the focus was partly on photo editing and partly on getting the phone to understand information in images and speech.

As usual, not all features are available in Swedish yet. In fact, an unusually large portion of the demonstrated features are missing in the Swedish Pixel 9 Pro. Google says that, as usual, they are working to bring the features to us in Sweden as soon as possible, but considering that we are still waiting for features introduced with the Pixel 7, one should not have too high hopes of seeing these features soon. We will go through what works, what you can get to work, and what is definitely missing later in the test, but let me first introduce the two phones in this test.

Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL represent the best Google has to offer in mobile technology. Unlike previous years, the Pro series comes in two formats (three if you count Pixel 9 Pro Fold), so you no longer need to choose a larger phone to get Google's best cameras. Pixel 9 Pro has exactly the same format as Pixel 9, and the latter differs by having slightly less storage, lacking wide-angle, lacking a temperature sensor, and having a slightly worse screen, along with a couple of other small differences.

But the difference between Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL is exclusively in size. Pro XL has a 6.8-inch screen compared to 6.3 inches, and a larger battery, otherwise, the features and design are identical.

Familiar but stylish design

The shape is recognizable for anyone who has seen an iPhone 15 Pro: Matte flat glass back, polished metal frame that is straight but rounded and completely flat screen (just like the cheaper iPhone 15, Pixel 9 has a glossy glass back but matte metal frame). However, the camera island stands out, still in a wide panel with straight edges but now rounded corners, the panel is the same size on Pixel 9 Pro as on Pixel 9 despite having an extra camera here.

I haven't been very fond of the design of the latest Pixel phones, but this I buy straight away, the Pixel 9 series is really stylish. The fact that the camera island is a panel that stretches across the entire upper part of the phone also has the advantage that the phone sits steadily on the table if you use the phone without holding it.

According to Google, the Pixel 9 series is 50 percent more durable than its predecessors. That's a claim that's hard to interpret without backing it up with numbers, but the phones are at least as waterproof according to IP68 as before.

The screen on the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL is now brighter and has thinner black bezels around it than on the Pixel 8 Pro. The refresh rate varies between 1 and 120 Hz to save battery but at the same time provide smooth scrolling. The screen has different resolution and pixel density on the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL, but the difference is small and nothing I notice. I never feel that the adaptive refresh rate fails to make the swipes on the screen smooth and responsive. The screen has good color reproduction and performs quite well in daylight but not quite as well as Samsung's best. In full sunlight, I also notice a shadowing around the edges of the screen, as if the maximum brightness doesn't quite reach all the way to the edge. It's nothing that directly worsens the experience of the phone.

The screen is surrounded by stereo speakers that do a really good job of delivering rich and clear sound that sounds balanced between the left and right speakers.

Not the fastest

The chipset in the phones is Google's latest Tensor G4 made in a 4-nanometer process. According to Google, they are not aiming to win any performance tests but to provide the best possible user experience, which is exactly what you say when you know you have nothing to show in performance tests. At best, the Pixel 9 Pro performs roughly like last year's top models and often like the year before's in our tests.

At the same time, it doesn't really matter. The system runs incredibly smoothly without stuttering, surely helped by Google's generous provision of 16 gigabytes of RAM. Opening web pages and launching apps is something Google has worked hard to make fast, and it shows. Performance might seem limiting if you play heavier games on the mobile.

And perhaps the battery life. The result in our screen time measurement is surprisingly poor but holds up when we retest, and we also note that the phone's battery drains quickly under higher load. It is probably the case that Google's chipset is not as efficient in power management.

Both the RAM and the chipset are supposed to facilitate the functions for artificial intelligence that we will get to shortly, but first, let's go through the cameras.

The main camera is 50 megapixels, with a 1/1.31-inch sensor. It is assisted by a telephoto camera with 5x periscope zoom at 48 megapixels, and a wide-angle camera at 48 megapixels. The wide-angle camera is new, the other cameras have exactly the same specifications as the cameras in the Pixel 8 Pro. Google, on the other hand, always emphasizes how important post-processing is, how multiple exposures are combined into a perfect image, and that they have fine-tuned the color reproduction further. The faster processor allows for filming video more zoomed in and under darker conditions.

I take a large number of pictures with the cameras and compare, mainly with a couple of different Samsung phones. Compared to Samsung, Pixel has more natural but slightly less vibrant colors in the pictures. The sharpness is excellent, but when the contrasts are large in the image, the Pixel 9 Pro leans towards the darker side, causing parts to be underexposed. Sometimes it looks more natural, sometimes the picture just feels more murky because of it. The light sensitivity is excellent, and the Pixel 9 Pro handles night photography excellently. On the downside, I am not particularly impressed by the artificial blur in portrait mode. Here, I think Samsung is significantly better at identifying what is hair strands and what is background.

For zoom, Google takes advantage of the cameras having a higher resolution than what is used. For two times zoom, the main camera can thus be used by utilizing the full resolution and cropping the image. At five times zoom, the telephoto camera takes over, and it can in turn be cropped to 10 times zoom. In all these zoom steps, you get images that are better and sharper than if you zoomed in digitally in images at the previous step. Google claims that through digital post-processing, you get sharp images even at 20 times magnification, but I'm not sure if I agree; it mostly feels like the image becomes a bit more harshly sharpened. 30 times zoom is the most the camera allows, and then you start noticing flaws. But the zoom camera still impresses; I compare it with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which is the phone I've tested with the best zoom camera, and it's hard to crown a winner, both are about equally good in all zoom steps.

The front camera in Pixel 9 is also new, with higher resolution and autofocus. But personally, I have never met anyone who prefers a high-resolution front camera that can accurately reproduce every blackhead over a camera with a bit of blur that gives you smooth skin.

Unique but missing AI features

With the camera, we finally come to Google's unique AI features. There is a new panorama function with an improved interface that also works well in the dark. I don't know if it's as common to take panoramic pictures anymore as it was a few years ago. Maybe it will become more common again with the Pixel 9 Pro, because the result is truly excellent. The AI manages to stitch the images together without me noticing any seams. However, it cannot detect and remove, for example, a couple walking by, who therefore appear multiple times in the picture.

Another AI-driven feature is called Add Me. The idea is that you should be able to take group photos where even the photographer is included, by first taking a picture with the mode, then you take your place in the scene and one of the others takes another picture, and the two are then merged into one image. The user interface for the feature is pedagogical enough, but the times I try to use the feature, I find that the result doesn't look particularly convincing, and honestly, it's quite cumbersome as well.

Then we have post-processing of the images, Google Photos is somewhat of a playground for AI features from Google. Previously, you have had the ability in Pixel phones to remove objects in the image and have the place where they were retouched, with mixed results. A new feature, however, is Zoom Enhance, a function that detects that you have taken pictures with the telephoto camera and allows you to sharpen them with artificial intelligence. None of the attempts I make are particularly successful, rather the sharpening often feels a bit like a Picasso interpretation of the subject, where a blurry but striped shirt gets a strange zigzag pattern. I also have no luck with the Video Enhance feature that is supposed to make my video clips better. At least they don't get worse, but I have a hard time seeing any difference in them.

A feature that works and impresses is Audio Magic Eraser. You open this feature in a video clip, and the AI identifies different sound sources, person one speaking, person two speaking, machine noise, traffic noise, and more. Then you can enhance, reduce, or completely remove individual sounds. The result is, as mentioned, impressive, but not necessarily natural. If I remove background noise, the voice of the speaker often sounds processed and unnatural, a bit like when speaking in a headset in a noisy environment.

Hard to find

In tests of previous Pixel phones, we have complained that while Google is good at coming up with advanced features, they hide them among cryptic settings, making it almost impossible to discover them. A nearly obvious example of this is the AI feature Auto Framing. You click on an image in Google Photos and choose to edit. Then you find both buttons with vague options like "enhance" and a dropdown menu with other vague options like "suggestions," both with the same symbol that I assume is supposed to represent AI, and next to them a button completely lacking text with a completely different symbol that might also be supposed to represent AI. If I press that button, I come to a new menu where I can choose different parts of the image to edit, but if I refrain from doing so and press another button, also without text and with yet another symbol that probably means AI, I get the option Auto Framing.

Google describes Auto Framing as a way to make your pictures look better by giving them the perfect framing, but if your picture is already good, Auto Framing often just makes it worse by adding AI-generated environment around the picture and makes it less focused. It works best for straightening a tilted picture, as it fills in the missing content. Which sometimes turns out well, sometimes not. At least you get several image suggestions to choose from.

Reimagine Magic Editor is a feature that, according to Google, is only available if you have chosen English as the language. Word against word here, because I say it is available in Swedish. Reimagine Magic Editor, which is about as hard to find as Auto Framing, is a more open AI-based image editing that you control with a text prompt. For example, I can take a picture, select the sky, and write that I want a meteor shower, and I get a night sky with shooting stars. I select the lawn and ask it to add a dinosaur. It works. It is reminiscent of Samsung's feature where you can draw something on a picture and have it AI-generated, but driven by text instead. It is impressive but at the same time feels like a gimmick.

Google has some self-awareness that their special features are well hidden; in the Tips for Pixel app, you will find instructions on how to access the features I have described.

A feature that definitely does not exist in Sweden is Pixel Studio, an app where you create AI-generated images from scratch. Google has not explained why, but it probably has to do with the fact that all language functions are not available in Swedish. This is likely the reason why the advanced screenshot app, which should be able to interpret, for example, text in an image and add dates to the calendar, among other things, is also missing on Swedish Pixel phones. It's extra frustrating because it was one of the most impressive features Google showcased in Pixel 9.

Talk to Gemini

If you buy a Pixel 9 Pro or Pro XL (but not Pixel 9), you get one year of Google One AI Premium, which otherwise costs 255 SEK per month. This gives you access to 2 terabytes of storage in Google Drive and Gemini advanced. I can't determine the difference between the AI language model Gemini Advanced and regular Gemini, but the most noticeable extra feature you get is Gemini Live, which means you can have a spoken live conversation with Gemini, which responds in real-time. Unfortunately, this is yet another feature that is not available in Swedish, but in this case, it's enough to set Gemini to English as the language; you don't need to change the entire phone.

Gemini Live is truly impressive. For example, I try asking if Gemini has suggestions for vegetarian recipes for a picky child, and I receive excellent serious suggestions. I point out that he doesn't like sauces, and Gemini follows up with new suggestions that are completely realistic and sauce-free. All of this as a natural conversation where I don't think about how I formulate my prompt but just say what I want to know and follow up as I would in a regular conversation. This is truly a feature that would make a difference in Swedish, but as mentioned, Google doesn't have a history of being quick to introduce language features in Swedish.

If we continue with features you miss out on as a Swedish speaker, there are live transcriptions and summaries of phone calls, as well as AI support in the Keep notes app. Of Google's news in the system, the majority are missing for Swedish users.

This makes the Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL less unique, but not necessarily bad for it. The phones are not exactly cheap, they are priced comparably to the iPhone 15 and Samsung Galaxy S24 series. Even without the AI features, they deliver a quality feel, cameras, and user experience that can well compete with these phones. Especially the smaller Pixel 9 Pro may have one of the best camera setups you can find in a reasonably compact phone today.

Questions and Answers

I read that the Pixel 9 Pro has a thermometer, is that true? Yes, it can measure the temperature of solid surfaces, liquids, and you will be able to take the temperature of people when the phone starts selling. You hold the phone's camera close to what you want to measure. I think it works better for solid objects than liquids and have not had the chance to try it on people yet.

How is the fingerprint reader? It is located in the screen, is of the ultrasonic type, and is said to be twice as fast as the one in the Pixel 8 Pro. The registration of fingerprints is worryingly troublesome, but after that, it has worked quickly and flawlessly for me.

Does the phone have an Always On display? Yes, you can see the clock and notifications on the screen even when it is otherwise off.

An alternative

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra offers you a similar camera setup and advanced AI-based image editing features, but in a slightly bulkier format.

Camera example

Even at ten times zoom, you get images that feel sharp and detailed.