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GRAMGoogle’s new superphone is all about battery, camera and smarts, leading a new line of Android devices that can run the company’s Gemini artificial intelligence system with a next-generation conversational voice assistant that’s a major step forward.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL is the largest regular phone Google makes, priced at £1,099 (€1,199/$1,099/AU$1,849), and for the first time this year it’s joined by a smaller 9 Pro model with the same specs and camera that costs £999 (€1,099/$999/AU$1,699). The XL is therefore aimed at those who want a huge screen and a big battery.
The phone’s design is even more brutal and interesting than last year’s Pixels. The camera bar on the back now stands out in shape, reminiscent of Google’s Nest doorbells. The sides of the aluminum body have been flattened, also resembling Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The huge, super-bright 6.8-inch display rivals the best from Samsung and other brands, and excels when watching videos or using it outdoors in direct sunlight.
Inside is Google’s latest Tensor G4 chip, which is up to 20 percent faster at browsing and 17 percent quicker at launching apps, making it a bit snappier in everyday use than its predecessors. The XL handles games and apps without a hitch, but it doesn’t quite match up to rivals from Qualcomm and Apple for processing performance in benchmark tests. Instead, Google designed the chip with the help of its Deepmind subsidiary to increase efficiency and AI processing power, allowing it to run the company’s Gemini Nano and other models significantly faster.
The result is noticeably longer battery life than its predecessors. The 9 Pro XL lasts up to 52 hours with over seven hours of active screen-on time on a combination of 5G and Wi-Fi. That’s two days of uninterrupted use between charges and rivals some of the longest-lasting phones on the market.
Budget
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Screen: 6.8-inch 120Hz QHD+ OLED display (486 ppi)
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Processor: Google Tensor G4
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RAM: 16 GB RAM
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Storage: 128, 256, 512 GB or 1 TB
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Operating system: Android 14
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Camera: 50MP + 48MP ultra wide angle + 48MP 5x telephoto, 42MP selfie
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Connectivity: 5G, eSIM, Wi-Fi 7, UWB, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 and GNSS
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Water resistance: IP68 (1.5m for 30 minutes)
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Dimensions: 162.8 x 76.6 x 8.5 mm
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Weight: 221 grams
Next-generation AI features
The Pixel comes with the same Android 14 as previous models and seven years of software support, making it one of the longest-lasting phones on the market.
The big news is related to AI. The 9 Pro XL is one of the first phones to incorporate Google’s latest technology. Gemini Nano AI Models on the device, which has enabled a host of new features that inject AI into everything from the keyboard to the weather app.
One of the most interesting is the New screenshot app to collect your screenshots and make them searchable so you can ask it for a ticket reference for a concert you’ve saved and it will give you a summary and show you the correct page. Sometimes the summary isn’t 100% accurate, but it’s accurate enough to show you the correct screenshot so you can take a quick look.
He Pixel Studio App It quickly generates images in a variety of styles using text prompts, allowing you to edit them, insert objects, and turn parts of the image into stickers. It’s pretty fun, but needs an internet connection to work. It still doesn’t generate images of people or other blocked terms, and it struggles with text on images.
Magic Editor in Google Photos also has some improvements, including the ability to automatically reframe an image by cropping or expanding the canvas using generative AI. The “reimagine” feature goes a step further and can completely reframe a photo using text, for example, making it look like a cityscape is sunken underwater. There are safeguards on what can be inserted into images, but, as with all things, they can be circumvented. How far you go with this is up to you.
Gemini live
The most impressive AI feature is the new Gemini Live ExperienceUnlike text chat or previous voice assistants, Live is completely conversational, with human-like responses, a bit of personality, and just the right level of brevity.
Simply talk to Gemini as if he were a person to have a fluid and open conversation. In one conversation I had, we talked about the fastest parkruns in south-east London and detailed the fastest courses to achieve a personal record. He told me all sorts of facts about each park, including the running surfaces and the journey time by car or public transport to start from my house. We then talked about the weather forecast and whether the number of people likely to attend might be a barrier.
It’s not always perfect. It can go on a bit, but you can just talk over it to interrupt it. In a conversation about kids’ names, it kept suggesting “Jasper” over and over, sounding almost comically obsessed with it. But in all my interactions with it, Gemini Live is light years ahead of what you’d get from Siri, Alexa, or others, and it really does seem like something I could use on a daily basis.
It’s not exclusive to the Pixel, but Live requires a £19 per month subscription. Gemini Advanced Subscription to access, one year of which is included free with any of the Pixel 9 Pro phones.
Camera
The 9 Pro XL’s triple camera setup on the back is similar to last year’s Pixel 8 Pro, with a 48MP ultra-wide camera, a 50MP main camera, and a 48MP 5x telephoto camera, all of which are excellent.
It captures very detailed and sharp photos overall, but it’s particularly good in low light and preserves detail very well in high-contrast scenes. The Pixel has an additional 2x zoom option on the main camera and a 5x telephoto camera, the latter of which produces the equivalent of a 10x optical zoom to significantly close the distance to objects. The additional digital zoom of up to 30x is also very good in bright light.
The new 42MP selfie camera on the front is noticeably brighter and a bit sharper than previous iterations. But Google’s new “Add Me” feature may be the best for group photos. It combines two photos taken back-to-back to allow the photographer to add themselves to group photos by swapping camera duties with another member of the group for the second photo. An augmented reality overlay shows where the additional people should be positioned to be in the combined shot. It works well enough, but it does require the second photographer to know how to use the mode properly, so it took a bit of practice to get right, and sometimes it couldn’t handle certain objects, like mistakenly blending legs into the edges of tables.
The camera app has plenty of other fun and creative modes, but the Pixel is still better than anyone else at getting good photos in tough conditions without any user expertise required.
Sustainability
Google doesn’t provide an estimated battery life, but it should last more than 500 full charge cycles at least 80% of its original capacity. The phone is serviceable. by Google and third party storeswith original spare parts available from iFixit Coming soon. Screen replacement will cost around £200.
The Pixel 8 Pro is made with at least 18% recycled materials, including recycled aluminum, plastic, rare earths, and tin. The company breaks down the The environmental impact of the phone In its report, Google recycle old devices free.
Price
The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL costs from £1,099 (1.199 €/$1,099/1,849 Australian dollars).
For comparison, the Pixel 8a costs £499the Pixel 9 costs £799the Pixel 9 Pro costs £999The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra costs £1,149 and the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max costs £1,199.
Verdict
With the Pixel 9 Pro XL, Google has produced its first true superphone to rival Samsung’s S24 Ultra and Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max.
A huge, glorious display, long-lasting battery, outstanding design and class-leading camera make it one of the best phones you can buy. However, it’s very large and requires two-handed use most of the time, so if that’s an issue, its smaller sibling, the 9 Pro, may be a better option.
Google’s innovative AI additions continue to be a mix of fun tricks and useful tools, especially in the camera department with features like Magic Editor and Add Me. Gemini Live is an impressive addition and significantly improves AI assistants on a phone, but whether it will be worth the monthly fee after the first free year remains to be seen.
This year’s price increase stings, but the Pixel still outperforms rivals from Samsung and Apple, and it gets seven years of software support, so it should last a long time.
Advantages: seven years of software updates, excellent camera with 5x and 10x optical zoom, great display, great battery life, recycled aluminum, impressive local and generative AI features, Gemini Live included for one year.
Cons: price increase, face unlock option isn’t as secure as Face ID, raw performance is far from best in class, temperature sensor is still a gimmick outside the US, AI doesn’t always get things right.
