Google’s Pixel phones may be still be niche devices but the tech giant is committed to them. At last week’s AI event, Google unveiled not only the new Pixel 9 and 9 Pro, but also the 6.8in Pixel 9 Pro XL model, and a new Pixel 9 Pro Fold device, proving just how much it wants to make a mark in the smartphone market.
The phones are also a handy way to showcase Android software and, in particular, the AI tools that the platform is hoping will win over users and convince them of the value of the technology.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL does a decent job of that, delivering a not-quite-perfect Gemini-backed experience, but one that gives a bit of optimism about the future of all this technology. And it is delivered in a redesigned package that looks not entirely unlike the iPhone 15 Pro Max at first glance.
Google has got rid of the curved edges, and the selfie camera is a small cut-out on the display. Flip it over and the differences are more obvious. Google has retained its camera bump on the back, but it has changed from a bar that stretches the width of the phone to an oval. For the 9 Pro XL that houses a 50-megapixel main camera and a 48-megapixel ultra-wide lens for macro focus shots, with a 42-megapixel lens on the front for selfies.
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It’s not just about looks. The Pixel 9 Pro XL has the larger display – 6.8 inches to the 6.3 inches of the regular Pixel 9 Pro – but aside from that, there is little else to distinguish the two devices.
That display is not only bigger, it is also brighter, at 3,000 nits at peak brightness. That makes it easier to see in strong sunlight, and that extra screen space will be put to good use framing camera shots and editing video footage. It has an adaptive refresh rate that makes for smoother scrolling.
On the inside you get the new Tensor G4 chip, which will power all the new AI features that Google is hoping will appeal to users. That is backed up by 16GB of RAM for the Pro models (12GB for the Pixel 9).
You will certainly use it. Google has been trying to make the case for AI in our smartphones, and some of the features announced for the Pixel 9 series may well convince users that AI isn’t as much of a gimmick as they may have thought.
There is a lot crammed in here. Magic Editor makes a comeback, removing unwanted distractions from your images, reducing noise on your video’s audio and now with a new feature that allows you to convincingly “reimagine” a picture with some AI elements. A photo of a Waymo taxi on San Francisco’s streets was transformed into a dystopian wasteland with a few text commands.
New tools will also reframe your shots for you, giving you a wider angle than you originally took, for example, and straightening things up if your original shot was just a little off. It’s hard to take a bad photo these days, or at least one that is so bad a little AI editing can’t fix it. Occasionally it glitched a bit and made a bad edit or two, but a quick refresh would usually jolt it back to something more useful.
The Video Boost technology, meanwhile, made a noticeable improvement to some videos of a live music event, making them clearer and brighter than the original footage.
Another AI feature is Pixel Studio, which will create images for you from a few prompts. If you want an AI-generated image of a campfire, it will oblige; likewise, you can build on that to add elements
Google has added a number of clever elements to the camera app itself. The Add Me technology removes the conundrum of whether you leave someone out of the group shot or risk handing your phone to a random stranger and trust they won’t make off with it. Now, you simply take the first shot of the group, then line yourself up in a second separate shot. The phone will then process them into a single image, and you get your perfect group shot.
It has prompted some debate about the level of manipulation we are willing to endure, but that issue has affected the entire photography industry for some time.
Other useful features include the selfie timer. Hold your palm up to the cameras and it will start a timer, allowing you to rearrange your facial expression into photo mode in time. Or you can use the improved panorama mode, which not only gives you a better guide to make sure your shots don’t go wonky, it also works well in low light.
Gemini Live will let you interact with Google’s new assistant in a more conversational manner. You can talk to it in normal language, interrupting and changing your mind as you would with a normal conversation. It works well 99 per cent of the time, and while it might not be exactly like having a chat with a person – it’s still a little stilted – it is easier than most interactions with digital assistants.
On one occasion, when I correct Gemini Live for giving me some out-of-date information – it confidently tells me Google’s chatbot is known as Bard, a name it ditched earlier this year in favour of Gemini – it apologised for the error.
While most of the AI features will be available on all Android devices capable of running them, Google has held back a couple just for the Pixel. The most useful of these is Screenshots, a separate app that will automatically store, analyse and organise any screenshots you take, making them searchable and allowing you to extract useful information when you need it.
For example, I use it to help plan a holiday for later in the year, screenshotting various hotel and flight options. When I want to recall some of that information, I just ask a few questions within the app rather than of Gemini itself, and the relevant details are presented back to me.
It is still a little clunky, but this is the very beginning of these tools so you would expect them to improve over time. It runs on device too rather than in the cloud, which should allay any concerns about privacy.
Another AI feature is Pixel Studio, which will create images for you from a few prompts. If you want an AI-generated image of a campfire, it will oblige; likewise, you can build on that to add elements, change the style to a retro computer game, or regenerate the entire image.
It doesn’t do images of people yet, flagging any such requests as inappropriate and refusing to produce anything.
Good
Google has gone all out on AI, but it hasn’t abandoned other features. The camera takes great photos, and while the AI features are useful for editing and adding yourself into family photos, they aren’t the sole reason for buying the phone.
Video Boost is a useful feature, and the low-light capabilities of the phone, even in panorama mode, make it more versatile.
Battery life lasts the day plus more.
Bad
The new Pixel 9 Pro XL is probably on the pricier end of things, especially for Google’s range of devices.
The new AI features seem to work okay, but they can be a little clunky at times. It will be more useful when Gemini can dig into all your apps and bring up information that you need; at the moment, some things are handled by Google Assistant, some by Gemini and some are not yet supported. It can get a bit confusing.
Everything else
The new design has strong iPhone vibes from the front, but the redesigned camera bump immediately marks it out as a Pixel.
Verdict
Google‘s AI is useful, but the Pixel 9 Pro XL is more than the sum of some AI parts.
