Mario Bautista
4/5
Google recently unveiled its Pixel 9 series comprising four phones – Google Pixel 9, Google Pixel 9 Pro, Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. This year the 2024 Pixel lineup comes integrated with a load of AI features along with an advanced processor – Google’s own Tensor G4 chip.
The Pixel series have long been celebrated for their photography prowess.The Pixel 9 series is no exception with Google introducing AI-powered features like Add Me to the phones. The standard Google Pixel 9 comes with a starting price of Rs 79,999 and is already up for grabs. Google Pixel 9 continues Google’s tradition of blending distinctive design with performance and AI-driven innovations this year, delivering a smartphone experience that’s both intuitive and powerful. Featuring the latest Tensor G4 chip, an improved 6.3-inch OLED display, and standout features like Gemini AI and Live Transcription, the Pixel 9 is designed to make everyday tasks smarter and smoother. But does it live up to the expectations of its predecessors?
In this review, we’ll dive into its performance, display, camera capabilities, and unique features to see if it’s worth the upgrade. We have been using Pixel 9 phone as our primary phone for about a month now and here’s what we think about it
Google Pixel 9 design
At first, the Pixel 9 looks no different than its predecessor Pixel 8. A closer look reveals that the pill-shaped camera module now has round corners, a departure from the edge-to-edge sharp design before. The aesthetic has been followed to the phone’s body, which unlike Pixel 8 has curved edges. Despite a protruding camera module, the phone does not wobble when kept on a flat surface. Then there is a flat, aluminium-glass back, giving an iPhone-like feel. Despite glass-finish, the smartphone offers a strong hand-grip, thanks to the matte-finished edges. Even though it looks all fancy and glass-like, it’s not a fingerprint magnet.
Now, let’s talk about buttons. The power button and volume button are placed on the right. Left edge is clean. Top of the phone is the microphone, the SIM card tray and charging port are placed at the bottom along with the microphone. A little important to state here is that if not paying enough attention, you may confuse the microphone at the bottom with the SIM card tray. It is advisable to practise caution as you may end up damaging your phone’s microphone.
At 198 grams, the Pixel 9 phone does not feel heavy. Also, it can slide into your pocket easily. Overall, it is a premium-looking phone with a standout camera module.
Google Pixel 9 display
On the front, the Google Pixel 9 has a 6.3-inch FHD+ OLED display, delivering a bright and clear view. The phone’s screen is adequately bright with 2700 nits of peak brightness. We did not face any issue while using the phone outdoors. The phone’s brightness automatically adjusts to your surroundings, ensuring optimal visibility whether you’re stepping indoors or heading out into the sun. It seamlessly adapts to your lighting conditions for a comfortable viewing experience.
The touch is responsive. With a 120Hz refresh rate, scrolling through social media feels incredibly smooth, and transitions between apps are fluid. The phone features adaptive refresh rate varying from 60Hz to 120Hz, which means Pixel 9 intelligently switches between 60Hz and 120Hz depending on what you’re doing, optimizing battery life without sacrificing performance.
The display quality is premium with balanced contrast, colour production and deeper blacks. Compared to the predecessor, bezels have become thinner by up to 15% which means a larger display. Despite that the bezels are noticeable on Google Pixel 9. Both front and rear of the phone comes protected with Corning Glass Victus 2.
Google Pixel 9 AI features
Let’s cut to the chase and get to the AI features of the phone straight away. Running on Android 14, the smartphone comes with a lot of AI features. Whether you are capturing a photo or editing one once it’s clicked or answering a call or drafting an email, AI is there to help. Gemini AI has become more advanced than before. You can simply long press the power button to wake up Gemini AI. The assistant comes handy to make calls or send messages hands-free.
We tried asking it to draft an email for us and it did a pretty good job. We specifically like the Live Transcription capability of Pixel 9. The phone efficiently converts speech to text instantly, making it easy to follow conversations, lectures, or meetings. It distinctly identifies different speakers, which is truly impressive. Also, the transcription happens in real time, so you can watch as words appear on the screen, ensuring you don’t miss important details.
You will get a lot of AI during calls too. One quirky feature is the audio emoji that plays various sound effects and can brighten up the conversation. We particularly liked the Call Notes feature. Powered by Gemini nano, it generates a brief summary of calls. It can be enabled from the call UI during a call. Once enabled, the caller on the other side will be notified. Once disconnected, the call summary appears automatically. The feature comes handy when you schedule a meeting or a doctor’s appointment.
AI has made its way to the Pixel Weather app as well. The app now gives an AI-generated weather report for your saved locations. Then there is Pixel Studio – the AI-powered image generator that lets you create images with simple prompts. In case you are unhappy with the results, you can edit the image mid-way. Also, you can add stickers and captions to your images, as you like. Next is the Pixel Screenshots which basically helps you organise your screen grabs in a more convenient and easy-to-find way. Using AI, it can also remember the webpage you took the screenshot from.
All these AI features on your phone come handy and elevate the smartphone experience. Having said that, AI is in early stages of development and there’s still a long-way to go.
The smartphone boasts of many AI features especially for the camera. Like Magic Eraser, Add Me and more. We will talk about them in the camera review.
Google Pixel 9 Performance
Now, on to the performance of the Pixel 9. It is a typical Google phone, running on Android 14. Google is giving seven major OS upgrades through the years. The Pixel 9 delivers a clean, bloat-free version of Android, free from unnecessary apps or custom skins. This means you get a smooth, uncluttered user interface that’s easy to navigate and feels fast. It’s the closest representation of Google’s vision for Android.
Pixel 9 embraces the Material You design language, allowing for extensive customisation. You can personalise your phone’s look with dynamic theming, where the system colours change to match your wallpaper, providing a more personalised appearance across the UI. The lock screen looks clean, but as mentioned above, it is customisable and you can add more shortcuts on the lockscreen. You can also tweak the clock layout on the lockscreen. You can also customise the notification shade, add or remove shortcuts as you like.
Google Pixel 9 comes powered by the company’s own Tensor G4 chipset that powers the entire Pixel 9 lineup. The chipset is engineered with a focus on AI and machine learning tasks, making the Pixel 9 smarter and more efficient in daily use. From faster voice recognition to improved real-time translations and smarter photo processing, the processor accelerates AI-driven features, allowing for seamless integration across apps and service
The smartphone is smooth to handle day-to-day tasks – browsing, streaming, calling and others. The device manages to efficiently handle AI-related tasks that we talked about above
You will not face any lag while playing regular games on the Pixel 9 phone. However, it is not one of the best choices for heavy gaming. Google Tensor G4 processor also includes better heat management, ensuring that performance remains steady without overheating during extended gaming sessions.
Google Pixel 9 camera
Camera has always been a strong point for Pixel phones. This time too Google Pixel 9 delivers a praise-worthy performance in this department. Let’s get done with the on-paper specifications first. The smartphone features a 50MP main camera with an aperture of f/1.68, dual-pixel PDAF, Laser AF, and OIS. It is paired with a 48MP ultrawide secondary camera with f/1.7 aperture. For selfies, there is a 10.5MP camera at the front with f/2.2 aperture size and dual-pixel PDAF.
Talking about the AI camera features, we will begin with the most-talked about Add Me feature. Ever felt bad for the person clicking a group photo, being left out himself? Not anymore. With the Add Me button, you can tap in the photographer in the frame! How? You begin with clicking the first photo, which can have as many people as you like. In case you have a frame in mind, pose accordingly, leaving the space empty for the photographer. Then, one person from the group handles the camera, while the photographer fills his left out area. What Pixel does next is that it uses AI to join both these photos together and Ta-da! You have a photo without missing the photographer.
Google Pixel 9’s main camera, which is a 50MP wide camera, captures images that are rich in details. Colours are balanced with no unnecessary saturation and contrast spike. Images captured look close to reality with impressive depth and details. It offers Super Res Zoom of up to 8x and optical zoom quality at 0.5x, 1x and 2x. Even for the zoomed shots, the clarity and colour consistency remains decent.
For low-light conditions, there is Night Sight mode. Google Pixel 9 does a solid job in capturing photos at night. While it adds light to the photos to brighten them up, this at times can be a bit excessive. The 48MP ultrawide camera also does an excellent job. Ultrawide shots are sharp and solid. There is a dedicated Portrait mode which captures finest portraits with excellent background blur.
Selfies clicked using the Google Pixel 9 are excellent. Skin tones are accurate and images look decent. The smartphone’s rear can record video in up to 4K at 24fps. Optical image stabilisation (OIS) works well. There are three stabilisation pre-sets – Standard, Active and Locked. However, 8k recording is missing from the phone.
Editing tools on the handset include Unblur, Magic Editor and Magic Erase. All three are powered by AI. The Magic Erase feature allows you to remove unwanted objects/faces from the photos. The unblur tool is easy to use and comes handy for blurred photos. We must state that these are some of the best AI camera features in a smartphone right now.
Google Pixel 9 battery
In terms of battery performance, the Pixel 9 is a powerhouse. Equipped with a 4,700mAh battery, the handset can easily last a day and more. The smartphone comes with a USB Type-C cable. With a 25W Samsung adapter, it takes about one hour and 30 minutes to juice up to 100%. While a 45W adapter, the charging time reduces to about 50 minutes.
Verdict
At Rs 79,999, Google Pixel 9 emerges as a solid flagship smartphone, offering an improved design, excellent camera capabilities, and cutting-edge AI features. Powered by Tensor G4 chip and equipped with innovative features, along with a stunning OLED display and advanced camera capabilities make it a top choice for photography enthusiasts and media consumers alike. Google Pixel 9 also stands out for its clean Android experience that many Android flagship fails to offer. The integration of AI across various functions, from call management to photo editing, adds significant value to the user experience. While the phone’s strength lies in its premium camera, the suite of AI features coming with the phone makes it a compelling choice for Android users. If you are looking for a device that prioritises functionality with a clean user experience, the Pixel 9 is certainly worth considering.
