I spent two hours with Google’s new Pixel 9 phones. Here are 5 things I love
For the last few years, Google has released new Pixel phones every October. This tradition has been pretty consistent, but not so for 2024. This year, Pixel fans are getting new phones earlier than ever.
Google officially announced the Google Pixel 9 series on August 13, about two months earlier than we initially expected. We also have more new Pixels than ever before — including the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. I recently had a chance to spend a couple of hours with all of the non-folding new Pixels, and even after a brief hands-on session, there’s already a lot that I like.
Google’s new designs are fantastic
As you’ve probably seen in leaks over the last few months, the Pixel 9 series looks a bit different this year compared to previous generations. Ever since the Pixel 6 launched in 2021, Pixels have featured an iconic camera bar design that stretches across the entire backside of the phones. That changes with the Pixel 9 series, which has a floating camera module on the back with a distinct oval shape.
It is a pretty different aesthetic, but I’m quite happy with it. It still looks distinctly Pixel to my eyes, and it acts as a nice area to rest your finger when you’re holding the phones. It also makes the Pixel 9 feel a bit fresher and newer compared to previous generations, which is not a bad thing at all.
The rest of the hardware for the phones is outstanding. Compared to the Pixel 8 series, the Pixel 9 features much flatter frames that are not too dissimilar from that of the iPhone 15. Looking at leaked renders online, I didn’t like this change. After using the phones for myself, though, I think I love it. All of the phones still retain rounded corners, and the construction of the phones is very smooth and seamless where the frame meets the front and back glass. In other words, you get phones that are easy to grip without any sharp or uncomfortable edges. I need more time to decide if I like this better than the Pixel 8 or not, but right now, I’m pleasantly surprised.
The smaller Pixel 9 Pro is lovely
For the last few generations, Google has given us two mainline Pixels: the Pro model with a bigger display and the best specs, and the base model with a smaller display and pared-down specs. That changes with the Pixel 9 family.
The base Pixel 9 has a compact 6.3-inch display, but you now have your choice of two Pro phones. If you want a big display — a 6.8-inch one, to be exact — the Pixel 9 Pro XL is the phone to get. It also gets you more RAM, better display specs, and nicer cameras. However, you can also choose the Pixel 9 Pro, which has the same enhanced specs as the Pixel 9 Pro XL but with a much more compact 6.3-inch display (just like the regular Pixel 9).
In other words, you can get all of the Pro specs — including a triple-camera system, 16GB of RAM, and more display brightness — without having to buy a big phone. It’s incredible news for people who like small flagships (including yours truly), and it’s one of the things I’m most excited about. I don’t dislike big phones, but there’s something charming about getting a no-compromise smartphone experience in a truly compact body. That’s precisely what the Pixel 9 Pro promises, and after getting to try it out for myself, I think Google knocked the small flagship formula out of the park.
These displays look incredible
Google introduced its Actua Display technology with the Pixel 8 series last year, and the result was excellent displays for both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Google’s Actua Displays are back for the Pixel 9 lineup, and they’re better than ever this year.
How so? For one thing, all of the displays are brighter. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro offer 2,000 and 2,400 nits of peak brightness, respectively, which is very good! But the Pixel 9 series is even brighter, offering up to 2,700 nits on the Pixel 9 and up to 3,000 nits for the Pixel 9 Pro/Pro XL. In person, the screens on all three phones look fantastic — they’re sharp, colorful, and plenty bright. All three Pixel 9 phones also get Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for better durability, which was previously only available for the Pixel 8 Pro last year.
My favorite display upgrade is how Google improved the bezels. The bezels on all three Pixel 9 phones are now uniform. And they’re thinner, too — up to 35% thinner on the Pixel 9 compared to the Pixel 8. It’s an easy upgrade to overlook, but it really does make the phones look so darn good. You get more room for your content, more display real estate in similar form factors, and phones that look higher-end than ever before. What’s not to like here?
Google’s new photography features are wild
As with every Pixel release, photography is a big focus for the Pixel 9 family. There are ample camera specification upgrades across the board, and we’ll dig into how the new sensors perform in our upcoming reviews. What I will talk about now, though, are two new photography software features being introduced with the Pixel 9 series.
The first is called Add Me. Say you’re with a couple of friends and want to get a group photo together, but no one is around to take the picture for you. With the Pixel 9, you open the camera app, choose the new Add Me mode, and take a picture of your friends. The Pixel 9 then prompts you to change places with one of your friends, so you’re in the frame while one of them takes a second photo.
The Pixel 9 then takes those two photos, uses a bit of AI magic, and creates a single composite image with everyone in the same picture. And the results are good! I’m eager to see how Add Me works in the real world, but in my demo with a few Google employees, the example they showed me was impressive.
The other photography feature I’m excited about is Auto Frame. Auto Frame is a new option available in Magic Editor, and it does what the name suggests. If you take a picture that’s not properly framed or something is slightly cut off, you can tap Auto Frame to use generative AI to fix things for you. Google showed me a couple of examples of Auto Frame in action (which you can see above), and it’s pretty cool. You get a few different options when you use the feature, including shots that are zoomed-in and centered, zoomed out more, etc.
I’m in love with Pixel Screenshots
When you get your hands on any Pixel 9, you’ll find a new app called Pixel Screenshots. Let’s say you took a screenshot of an upcoming music festival you saw on Instagram, and you want to remember what day the tickets for the festival go on sale. As it stands today, you’d need to endlessly scroll through your screenshots until you find the one you’re looking for. With Pixel Screenshots, you can simply open the new app and search “When do the festival tickets go on sale?” Pixel Screenshots will surface that screenshot, paired with a clear answer at the top of your screen.
And that’s just the start. Screenshots with a lot of text get AI summaries to make them easier to digest. You can also group screenshots into folders, set reminders about certain screenshots, and more. I saw another example where someone did a Google Search for “When are the Olympics closing ceremonies.” They then took a screenshot of the search result and tapped a single button to make a calendar event for it. The gist is that the Screenshots app will make it much, much easier to find information about the screenshots you’re taking, and it has the potential to be incredibly useful.
A couple of things I’m worried about
As you can see, I’m looking forward to the Pixel 9 series a lot. However, it’s only fair to mention a few concerns I have, too. Perhaps the biggest is the Tensor G4 chip powering the Pixel 9 lineup. The Tensor G4 appears to be a pretty subtle upgrade compared to the Tensor G3. The G3 chip wasn’t terrible, but it was behind competing chipsets from Qualcomm and MediaTek. I expect good performance out of the Pixel 9 phones — especially with 12GB of RAM for the base model and 16GB of RAM for the Pros — but Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (and soon the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4) may still have a pretty big technical lead.
Similarly, I’m concerned about battery life. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro never impressed in this department, with their 4,575mAh and 5,050mAh batteries, respectively, producing mediocre one-day battery life at best. The Pixel 9 and 9 Pro each have a 4,700mAh battery, while the Pixel 9 Pro XL gets a 5,060mAh battery. Those are bigger numbers, but not by much. Combined with tepid efficiency improvements for the Tensor G4, it’s not particularly promising. I hope I’m proved wrong once I begin my reviews of the phones, but this is top of mind.
The Pixel 9 series makes a great first impression
I’ve had a roller-coaster relationship with Google’s Pixel phones. The Pixel 7 series was an absolute mess for me — with endless bugs and performance issues that made me not want to use the phones. The Pixel 8 was a night-and-day difference, with the Pixel 8 Pro being one of my favorite phones from 2023.
Two hours isn’t enough time to form a full opinion on the entire Pixel 9 series, but from what I’ve seen so far, I’m counting down the days until I get to use these phones again. Between great hardware, a properly small flagship, notable display upgrades, and some really impressive software features, Google’s doing a lot right. The Pixel 8 lineup left big shoes to fill, and it seems that the Pixel 9 series won’t have any issue doing precisely that.
The Pixel 9 starts at $799, the Pixel 9 Pro starts at $999, and the Pixel 9 Pro XL starts at $1,099. Preorders for all three phones are live now.