Pixel smartphones from Google come to the market already in the ninth version. I tested the top model Pixel 9 Pro XL with a large 6.8-inch OLED display. The Tensor G4 chipset could also be an attraction for potential buyers. Since Google has an important position in the consortium developing Android, we can consider Pixel smartphones as reference devices for this platform. Currently, the new Pixel models have Android 14, but Google promises seven years of updates.
It is obvious at first glance that you are dealing with a premium device. The display is protected by durable Gorilla Glass Victus 2, the back wall is also made of the same glass, which is slightly matte. The arrangement of the buttons on the right side will take some getting used to, the power/sleep button is above the two volume buttons. Traditionally, the Pixel has a slot for only one SIM card, so if you want to use the services of two operators, the second one must be an eSIM. The smartphone has three microphones, one each on the top and bottom and the third on the back between the camera lenses. A closer look at the top side shows the mmWave antenna cover for 5G. It goes without saying that it is resistant to water and dust according to IP68 requirements.
The front wall is dominated by an LTPO OLED display with a diagonal of 6.8 inches, a resolution of 1344 × 2992 pixels, a variable refresh rate with a maximum of 120 Hz and a maximum peak brightness of up to 3000 nits, so that there is no problem with readability even in direct sunlight. Automatic brightness control in the dark and in the evening sets a little lower brightness than it should be. Under the display is a fast and reliable ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. You can also use secure identification with Face Unlock facial biometrics.
The electronic heart of the smartphone is the Tensor G4 chipset with the Titan M2 AI coprocessor. It has 16 GB of LPDDR5. The chip is optimized for machine learning and AI applications. According to Google, the G4 makes apps launch 17% faster and web browsing 20% faster than last year’s models. All applications and the latest “A” games ran as smoothly as possible, because nothing else can be expected from a flagship reference smartphone. In the Geekbench test, I achieved a single-core score of 1935 and a multi-core score of 4607. The tested smartphone had 128 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The battery lasts for one and a half days of normal use, but only for the third and subsequent days, because you will be using the new smartphone more often than usual for at least the first two days. You can charge the battery with a capacity of 5060 mAh with a maximum power of 37 W or a 23 W wireless charger. As with almost all new smartphones, you won’t find a charger in the package.
For stereo sound, the engineers fine-tuning the sound system prioritized fidelity and low distortion over high volume. The sound also contains relatively rich lower mids, it would not be technically correct to talk about bass for devices with such a small speaker volume.
The rear camera lenses are on a raised platform across the full width of the rear wall with semi-circles on each side. I recommend the original case to get this platform almost flush with the back of the case. The main camera lens is slightly wide-angle, so it has a similar angle of view to the human eye and an aperture of f/1.7. Its sensor has a resolution of 50 Mpx. With a resolution of 48 Mpx, the sensors of the ultra-wide-angle camera with a viewing angle of 123˚ and the periscopic telephoto lens with a 5-fold optical zoom and a focal distance of 113 mm after conversion to full frame cannot be put to shame. Both the main camera lens and the telephoto lens have effective optical stabilization. By default, the images are 12.5 Mpx, which in practice means combining four physical pixels into one image to capture more light.
The cameras produce excellent images even in the evening and at night with low or street lighting. Photos have a high dynamic range of brightness and colors that are brilliant, but not oversaturated. Even night images look implicitly like night. I have to commend the compression to JPEG, which preserves a high level of detail. Of course, in Pro mode you can also shoot in RAW format and then edit the images in programs such as Adobe Lightroom or Zoner Photo Studio.
Video can be recorded up to 8K/30 fps. Since I don’t have an 8K TV, I set the resolution to 4K. In this resolution, the supported frame rate is 60 fps, but both mirrorless cameras, with which I then combined the video from the Pixel, are set to 30 fps, so I also set the smartphone this way. I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the video and the effectiveness of the OIS. Switching the zoom during filming is also well resolved. The artificial blurring of the background also works very well, even with fragmented objects. The Video Boost function in the cloud resamples 4K/60 fps footage to 8K/30 fps.
I recommend trying the rich palette of AI functions to improve photos, to add a person to the shot, to remove unwanted objects, or to replace them with something else that fits the shot. People have conflicting opinions about removing objects from the frame or changing what’s in the frame, but you’ll definitely appreciate the Add Me feature. First, you will take a picture of people without you, that is, the photographer, by counting on a place for you. You will then be photographed by one of the people who have already been photographed. For example, you sit on a bench with others. Then you stand up, so that there is an empty seat for you. You take a picture of others, sit in your original place, and someone will take a picture of you there, with the display showing people who have already been photographed. The result looks realistic, without visible artifacts in the background. Auto Frame can automatically change the composition. If the objects in the frame are zoomed out, the AI fills in the missing areas, usually very well.
Of course, I also tried the AI Gemini functions, but you need English to use them, and even then, some of them seem a bit incomplete, which will definitely improve in the form of ongoing updates. I mainly missed remembering the previous challenges.
From the perspective of app developers, it will depend a lot on what AI APIs Google and other vendors of developer tools and libraries make available to them, as well as defining the interface between on-premises and the cloud. Some AI functions will be able to be performed directly in the smartphone through the NPU, thus saving communication time. For more complex functions, it will be necessary to send the input to the cloud and wait for the results to be generated and sent.
PROS, CONS:
+ Design, excellent cameras, performance, battery life, AI features
– Some AI functions are not in Slovak
PARAMETERS:
Processor: eight-core Google Tensor G4 with core frequency (1 × Cortex-X4 3.1 GHz + 3 × Cortex-A720 2.6 GHz + 4 × Cortex-A520 1.92 GHz), 4 nm technology, Mali G715 MC7 graphics; display: 6.8-inch LTPO OLED 120 Hz, HDR10+, 2000 nits (3000 nits peak), resolution 1344 × 2992 px, 426 PPI, 20:9; RAM: 16 GB, storage space 256 – 1 TB (depending on the version); camera: rear ultra-wide-angle 48 Mpx, f/1.7, viewing angle 123˚, dual pixel PDAF; main wide-angle: 50 Mpx, f/1.7 dual pixel PDAF, OIS, periscopic telephoto lens 48 Mpx, f/2.8, 113 mm equivalent, 5× optical zoom, PDAF, OIS; front camera: 42 Mpx, f/2.2, 17 mm; 5G connectivity, Wi-Fi 7, bluetooth 5.3; operating system: Android 14; battery: 5600 mAh; dimensions: 162.8 × 76.6 × 8.5 mm, weight: 221 g
Price: from 1219 EUR according to the configuration
Source: www.nextech.sk
