Google Pixel 9: A Solid Smartphone Overshadowed by AI Advancements

Google Pixel 9 review: a good phone overshadowed by great ones

Google's cheapest Pixel 9 offers almost everything that makes its top-flight sibling one of the best smaller phones available, cutting a few key ingredients to price match Apple and Samsung. The Pixel 9 costs £799 (€899/$799/A$1,349) shaving £200 off the asking price of the stellar Pixel 9 Pro while sitting above the excellent value sub-£500 Pixel 8a from May. That pits the new Pixel directly against Apple's new iPhone 16 and Samsung's Galaxy S24. The Pixel 9 is identical in size and shape to the 9 Pro with matt aluminium sides and glass front and back. It has the same bold camera design on the back and a similar good-looking 6.3in OLED screen on the front. The display is not quite as sharp or bright as the 9 Pro, but the difference is minor. Inside it has the same Tensor G4 chip with at least 128GB of storage, but less RAM with only 12GB not the 16GB of its more expensive sibling. In day-to-day usage the different is not noticeable and does not hold the Pixel 9 back in apps or AI for now. The battery lasts about two days between charges, which is very good for a phone of this size. It fully charges in just over 80 minutes using a 27W or greater USB-C charger, though one is not included in the box. The Pixel ships with Android 14 and seven years of software support including an upgrade to Android 15 in the autumn, making it one of the longest-lasting phones on the market. Like its pricier siblings, the Pixel 9 runs Google's latest Gemini Nano AI models. It has Google's new Screenshots app, which collects your caps and makes them searchable rather than cluttering up your gallery. The Pixel Studio app quickly generates images via text prompts with a range of styles and lets you edit them. Google's most advanced AI editing features in Photos can automatically reframe an image using generative AI or "reimagine" it to fully recast a photo or insert objects using text prompts. But unlike the Pixel 9 Pro phones, it does not come with a bundled year of Google's £19 a month Gemini Advanced subscription that is required to access the impressive new Gemini Live fully conversational AI assistant experience. It still has free access to the standard Gemini assistant for text and one-way requests, and you can take out the subscription at extra cost, though it may not be worth it at the moment. The Pixel 9 has the same 50-megapixel main and 48MP ultrawide cameras as the Pixel 9 Pro, but lacks a telephoto zoom camera and some of the high-end features, including zoom enhance, full resolution capture and pro controls. Photos from the main camera, in particular, are great across a range of lighting conditions. The ultrawide is pretty good too, and has a fun macrophotography feature for closeup shots. The main camera can zoom in on the sensor for a 2x magnification, but relies on digital zoom to go further, which can produce good results in bright light up to 8x. The 10.5MP selfie camera is a step down from the more powerful sensor on the 9 Pro, but still captures nice, detailed images. The new Add Me feature inserts photographers into group shots by merging two photos taken back to back. An augmented reality overlay shows where the original photographer needs to position themselves to be added to the shot. It can trip up on certain objects in the scene, such as the occasional legs being blended into table tops, but can produce good images with a bit of practice. The camera is still one of the best on a phone, but the lack of a telephoto camera really holds it back. Google does not provide an expected lifespan for the battery but it should last in excess of 500 full charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity. The phone is repairable by Google and third-party shops, with published repair manuals and genuine replacement parts to be available from iFixit. The Pixel 9 Pro is made with at least 20% recycled materials, including recycled aluminium, plastic, rare earth elements and tin. The company breaks down the phone's environmental impact in its report. Google will recycle old devices free of charge. The Pixel 9 is undoubtedly the best non-Pro flagship phone Google has made. It has a good balance of premium looks and features, shaving a bit off the cost of its top-tier phone of the same size. The problem is that without a telephoto camera and the best AI features, which are limited to the more expensive 9 Pro series, the standard Pixel 9 is just a bit too close to the much better value Pixel 8a in features and capabilities. That leaves it in a difficult spot. If the £999 Pixel 9 Pro blows the budget, then £800 for the Pixel 9 is still a lot to spend when you can get 80% of the experience for just over half the cost with a £419 Pixel 8a. The Pixel 9 is therefore a good phone that is overshadowed by better Google phones at both ends of the spectrum. I would wait for a sale to make the price more tempting.

Google Pixel 9 review: Say, cheese and AI please!

I was prepared to be a little disappointed when I switched out from the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. I loved that device, although it has its own little idiosyncrasies, which you can read more about here! I wasn't sure I would love using the more compact flagship, which also has a 2-camera primary setup, given that the full-fledged setup on the 9 Pro XL gave me some stunning shots and portraits. But, hazards of the job, I had to switch and here's how that journey went! Design Despite my preference for bigger displays, the Google Pixel 9 somehow felt just right in hand. With its 6.3-inch Actua display, the device has been redesigned to make it less slippery, which is a blessing because I've lost count of the number of times my Pixel 8 has fallen off perfectly flat surfaces. The polished glass back and the matte finish metal frame look elegant, although I've got the plain vanilla Porcelain version. There are two interesting colours -- Peony and Wintergreen -- which I would choose any day over the Porcelain and Obsidian version. Cameras The Pixel 9 sports two cameras in the primary setup -- a 50 MP wide camera and a 48 MP ultrawide camera. Surprisingly, even with the telephoto lens, the photography experience on this device was brilliant. The photos are true to what you'd expect of a just-launched Pixel smartphone. In daylight, the colours are crisp, the overall tones and hues are true-to-scene, and the images are full of detail. Even in low light, the smartphone manages to deliver some fairly well-lit images and minimises noise to a large extent. The portrait mode continues to be a delight to use, the cinematic mode videos somehow seem nicer when shot on the 9 Pro XL. Not to say that the ones on the Pixel 9 are disappointing, they're just not as holistic as the ones on its slightly more powerful sibling. Google Pixel 9 The 10.5 MP selfie camera is the same as last year's Pixel 8. An upgrade would have been nice here too, although for snaps in daylight and even video calls, I wouldn't mind using this at all! Only in limited light, the selfie camera delivers some mixed results, otherwise in daylight you'll get some really pleasant selfies. All the AI features I wrote about when I reviewed the Pixel 9 Pro XL, also find a home in the Pixel 9, which is great news! There's Add Me, where you can "insert yourself into a photo where you originally weren't there. There's Gemini built-in, to make interactions with your phone more personalised and engaging. Quick AI-fuelled features such as web page summaries, auto-drafted emails, messages, changing the tones of your writing and mails, auto-transcription as well as auto-note taking contribute to offering fairly meaningful experiences on the smartphone. Tech Specs The Google Pixel 9 runs on the latest Google Tensor G4 chipset and offers a single 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage variant. The Google Pixel 9 will be getting a whopping seven years of OS upgrades and security patches. With a 4,700 mAh battery, the smartphone kept me company for most of my workday. I mostly used it to take photos, listen to Spotify, respond to emails, the occasional video call and there would be about 10 per cent left by 10 PM when I'd have to plug it back in again. When in a hurry, I could charge it for 30 minutes to have it back to the halfway mark from zero. Verdict The Google Pixel 9 brings in flagship experiences across the board -- be it the super sharp bright display, excellent audio quality (not that we are streaming music on the device's speakers any longer!), excellent dual-camera setup supported by new-age AI post-processing tweaks, as well as the AI-features that have inextricably found their way across apps to helps you write, create, speak, remember and learn better, with less effort. I would have loved to see an upgrade on the selfie camera. It would've also been nice to not see it get a bit warm while shooting photos and videos on sunny afternoons. However, despite these drawbacks, the Google Pixel 9 remains one of the best Android experience you could have, encased in a body that feels sturdier than ever. SnapshotPrice: ₹79,999 Pros: Excellent display, great camera, meaningful AI features, sturdy build quality compares to previous year's models Cons: Selfie camera same as last year, heats up a bit while capturing video outdoors during the day SHARE Copy linkEmailFacebookTwitterTelegramLinkedInWhatsAppRedditPublished on September 19, 2024