Google Pixel 9 Pro XL offers a glimpse into AI’s potential (review)

The Pixel 9 Pro XL smartphone lives up to its billing as an Android flagship equipped with the latest tech advancements. We check out what AI capabilities Google has brought to its latest smartphone.

If you hold any of the latest Pixel 9 models without a case, one of the first things you’ll notice is the camera bump. The Pixel series has long been known for its distinguishable feature – vertically aligned cameras. However, this year's models make the bump even more pronounced.

The camera bump boldly highlights one of the phone's key characteristics, its camera, which is supercharged with AI software.

I tried out the camera and other features for a week when testing Google’s debut Pixel model, the 9 Pro XL. The XL, with a 6.8-inch screen, is basically the same size as last year’s Pixel 8 Pro but now carries the "XL" designation in its name, while the regular Pro comes with a smaller 6.3-inch screen.

The Pro XL’s 6.8-inch display was too large for my mid-sized palms, and if Google had allowed me to, I would have gone for a smaller Pro version.

Browsing and watching videos on a slightly larger 6.8-inch Super Actua display resulted in a comfortable viewing experience, as its peak brightness of 3000 nits makes it the brightest smartphone display of all. Meanwhile, an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120 Hz also contributes to a better overall experience, including gaming.

AI-supercharged camera

The Pixel series smartphones have always been known for their superior camera and software, and Pro 9 XL is no different.

The Pro’s camera has a triple setup with the same megapixel count as last year: 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide, and 48MP telephoto with 5X optical zoom. Only the front camera has been majorly upgraded from 10.5MP to 42MP.

In my experience, you can make decent pictures with both the rear and front camera, though in some instances, I would still prefer shots taken with my iPhone 12, as the colors on the iOS device look more natural and realistic.

However, the Pixel 9 Pro XL phone stood out because of its AI-enhanced software, which can compensate for a lack of photography skills or photo-editing knowledge.

With the Pixel 9 series, you can still use tools like Magic Eraser and Magic Editor to remove objects or change your scene, and you can also try some additional features.

For example, after taking a shot, you can use the “Reimagine” tool to change the background of your image with a text prompt. It doesn’t always give you the desired result, but it is a fun and easy way to add more creativity to your images.

If you don’t like the composition of your freshly taken picture, you can use Magic Editor’s AI Autoframe feature, which may suggest a wider view of your image, or use Gen AI to fill in the blanks around the subject.

Pixel 9 now also comes with Zoom Enhance, enabling the capture of details up to 30X zoom with the help of AI.

One more interesting tool, Add Me, uses AI to help everyone be in a group photo, even the photographer.

I noticed that the latter feature particularly impresses people. After seeing the edit, some were fascinated by the AI’s capabilities, while others seemed a bit skeptical and dismissed the picture as fake.

In addition to photography, the Pixel 9 Pro series also comes with upgraded Video Recording capabilities. The Video Boost feature now uses HDR+ across the full zoom range, allowing you to upscale 4K videos to 8 K resolution and pull 30-megapixel HDR stills from the video.

Upscaling is done in the cloud and takes time. It took me around 30 minutes to upload and upscale an 8-second video.

Not the most powerful SoC

At the heart of every Pixel 9 smartphone is Google’s custom-made Tensor G4 System on a Chip (SoC), which, according to benchmarks, will not be the fastest.

Early comparisons on platforms like Antutu and Geekbench suggest that the G4 will be inferior to Qalcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen3, which powers all the best Android flagships, such as Samsung GalaxyZ Fold 6.

However, Google during its hardware announcement on August 13th claimed that the latest SoC is made for practical usage and real-world improvements, including powering AI.

For example, the SoC will power the multimodal capabilities of Gemini Live, Google’s advanced voice assistant that allows free-flowing conversations. Soon, it will allow you to screen a picture with concert dates and add them to your calendar. However, for now, Google Live’s abilities are limited to speaking.

For smoother AI and overall performance, the Pixel 9 Pro (XL) now comes with RAM upgraded to 16GB of RAM instead of 12GB in the previous version, which is what you would expect from a top-of-the-line flagship.

However, it’s a bit odd that the company still ships a base model with 128GB of storage, as most flagships now have a minimum of 256GB.

The smartphone’s 5000 mAh battery lasted more than a day of testing, though using Gemini Live multiple times drained it very quickly.

Now the phone comes with 45-watt wired charging (it does not come with a charger), allowing it to be fully charged in under an hour.

The price and the final word

Google charges $1100 for the base model Pro XL, which is $100 more than the 6.3-inch Pixel 9 Pro. The only differences between these two are the screen size and battery life.

There is also a cheaper regular Pixel 9 option, which is powered by the same G4 Tensor chip, has less RAM, and has a slightly less-capable camera, but it still supports AI photo editing.

Overall, after testing the smartphone for a week I’d say that the latest Google flagship offers a solid experience. The Pixel 9 Pro 9 (XL) has a bright screen, a decent battery life, and AI capabilities, some of which will be improved over time.

However, some aspects, like the long-term performance of Google's G4 SoC, can't be fully assessed in just a week of testing. After a few months, we'll have a more comprehensive view of the smartphone's overall performance. In the meantime, there may be deals that could reduce the price by $100 or $200.