Google Pixel 9 Pro XL Review: The AI Revolution Has Arrived, but It Comes at a Cost
Love it or hate it, AI features on smartphones are here to stay. And this year, even Apple, a company known for its measured approach to innovation, has joined the AI party. Google, however, is doubling down on the AI integration with the Pixel 9 Pro XL, and it has delivered a device that, at times, feels more like a glimpse into the future than a traditional smartphone. But is this new breed of AI-powered device worth the price of admission?
Google 9 Pro XL Review: Design: Finally feels just right
The Pixel 9 Pro XL breaks away from the Pixel 8 Pro’s design, adopting a more familiar, yet more premium feel. Flat sides, bevelled edges, and a flat back echo the design cues of recent iPhones, although the tiny selfie camera embedded in the display is a clear indicator of its Google lineage. The rear camera module now resembles a flattened capsule, but it still protrudes significantly. While the mix of glass and metal exudes a sense of luxury, the real highlight is the top-notch finish: smooth edges, well-integrated camera module, and flawless port integration. The Pixel 9 Pro XL manages to remain slim and surprisingly light, despite the inclusion of vapour chamber (VC) cooling and wireless charging. It also retains the IP68 rating, ensuring protection against water and dust.
Google 9 Pro XL Review: Display: All about those rounded corners
The 6.8-inch, 1,344 x 2,992-pixel, 1Hz – 120Hz display is a significant upgrade, especially in terms of brightness (peaking at 3,000 nits). Colors appear natural and vibrant thanks to the LTPO OLED panel and the Natural color preset. While not as sharp as the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display, it still provides a very enjoyable viewing experience. The under-display fingerprint reader has been upgraded to an ultrasonic sensor, offering reliable and quick unlocking. Facial recognition, utilizing AI-based technology, is also a viable unlock option, provided sufficient light is available.
However, the excessive curvature of the rounded corners, paired with the skinny bezels, leads to wasted screen space, echoing the design choices made by Apple. Pushing the status bar further up towards the selfie camera barely makes a difference in the amount of unusable space. The usable area of the 6.8-inch display effectively drops to 6.7 inches, matching the Pixel 8 Pro. Ironically, the Pixel 7 Pro’s display feels larger due to its wider aspect ratio and sharper corners. Despite this, the well-spaced-out content and overall aesthetics remain pleasing.
Google 9 Pro XL Review: Software: AI or nothing
The familiar Pixel UI returns visually, but beneath the surface, it’s a completely different beast, fueled by a powerful dose of AI.
Add Me, one of the many new AI-powered features, lets you add yourself to photos even if you weren’t physically present, blurring the lines between reality and fabrication. This playful feature is sure to spark both amusement and ethical dilemmas.
Pixel Screenshots simplifies the process of managing screenshots. Organize and find details within your screenshots, and even extract information from them later.
Pixel Studio, a beta feature which lets you create unique images with AI, allows for both fun and surreal creations. Want an edible dog that looks like cake? A pizza made entirely of Oreo cookies? Pixel Studio delivers. However, the tool has limitations, which are constantly changing with Google’s ongoing efforts to refine its capabilities. While the tool shows promise, it also raises questions about the role of creative professionals in the future.
Reimagine, another AI-powered feature within the Photos app, enables you to reframe or completely change the background of a photo while retaining the subjects. The results can be impressive, often blurring the line between original and AI-generated content.
Zoom Enhance utilizes AI to sharpen photos captured at high digital zoom by adding pixels, though the results while improved, fall short of a truly transformative experience.
Gemini Live, the star attraction of the Pixel 9 Pro models, offers a conversational AI assistant. Although not as sophisticated as OpenAI’s GPT-4, Gemini Live is exceptionally responsive. It is important to note, however, that while Gemini Live is conversational, it is not action-oriented. So setting alarms or making calls still require using Google Assistant or Gemini.
While Gemini Live is a fun conversational partner, its accuracy can be inconsistent, which makes its subscription-based model ($25 per month after a year of free usage) seem less appealing. Unfortunately, its knowledge base often leans heavily on US/EU data, which can lead to inaccurate suggestions for India-specific products and services.
AI features extend beyond the obvious. The weather app integrates AI-powered weather reports, Keep suggests lists based on your habits, and the new Car Crash Detection feature adds another layer of safety for Pixel 9 and 9 Pro users in India. It’s worth mentioning that Satellite SOS, launched with the phones, is currently available only in the US.
Google 9 Pro XL Review: Performance: Meh
Despite boasting a powerful Google Tensor G4 processor and 16GB of RAM, the Pixel 9 Pro XL struggles to keep up with the competition in terms of raw performance. Premium flagships and foldables like the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, leave the Pixel 9 Pro XL in the dust.
While smooth performance and effortless multitasking are assured, you won’t be experiencing flagship-level gaming performance. The VC cooling system does a good job of keeping the phone cool, but the display’s slow touch sampling rate hinders the gaming experience, despite the Adaptive Touch feature which attempts to adjust touch sensitivity automatically.
The camera system, which benefits from the VC cooling, still stumbles after shooting a few portrait photos in a row, echoing the issue experienced with the Pixel 8 Pro.
The dual speakers offer rich sound quality, but the placement of the bottom speaker, prone to muffling and being covered during gaming or video consumption, is a design flaw.
Google 9 Pro XL Review: Cameras: ‘Pixel’ perfect?
The 50-megapixel main camera delivers detailed images, excellent dynamic range, and sharpness. Colors appear accurate and natural, while 2X magnification, which now utilizes a digital crop of the main sensor, produces impressive results. The Portrait mode works well with strong backlighting and dim light, delivering images at 1.5X, 2X, or 3X. Edge detection remains a mixed bag; some photos showcase flawless edge detection while others reveal significant flaws.
The 42-megapixel selfie camera struggles with edge detection, especially when compared to the Pixel 8 Pro. While the high-resolution sensor is present, the overall image quality remains similar to the Pixel 8 Pro, with only slight improvements in daylight and low light.
Google’s 5X telephoto camera captures sharp photos with detail in various lighting conditions. Zoom capabilities are decent up to 10X, but beyond that, image quality suffers. Zoom Enhance, a sharpening tool in the Photos app, can improve blurry images captured at 15X or 30X, but these results are far from transformative.
The ultra-wide camera produces slightly soft images in daylight, with blown-out highlights and purple-fringing, a noticeable difference compared to the Pixel 8 Pro. However, in low light, the Pixel 9 Pro XL captures more detail, particularly in darker areas.
Video quality benefits significantly from the new VC cooling system, preventing the overheating issues that plagued previous Pixel models. While video quality is decent, the Pixel 8 Pro offers better detail and less noise. Stabilized frame rates remain a challenge, particularly when panning or walking, though Video Boost, which arrived with the Pixel 8 Pro post-launch, addresses these issues.
Video Boost, with its twice-as-fast video rendering, improves clarity, boosts contrast and colours, and provides smooth stabilization. It even works for footage captured in low light, reducing noise and producing exceptional results. The processing time for Video Boost is a drawback, as it requires patience and lacks an estimated completion time.
Google 9 Pro XL Review: Battery: Meets expectations… for a Pixel
The Pixel 9 Pro XL boasts a 5,060mAh battery, a modest 10mAh increase over its predecessor. Our video loop battery test resulted in a score of 12 hours and 19 minutes, slightly lower than the Pixel 8 Pro. With heavy usage, encompassing photography, video recording, and calls, the Pixel 9 Pro XL managed to deliver just a full day of usage, hitting 18 percent by the end of the workday. While acceptable for a Pixel, this battery life still pales in comparison to the competition.
Recharging takes 1 hour and 30 minutes with a 65W GaN charger. Google claims a 45W charging rate is achievable with its proprietary charger, which, unfortunately, is not yet available in India.
Google 9 Pro XL Review: Verdict
The Pixel 9 Pro XL, with its base 256GB variant priced at Rs. 1,24,999 and the 512GB variant at Rs. 1,39,999, is finally the top-end Pro model we were hoping for last year. While it may not match the raw performance of flagship devices from Samsung or Vivo, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is a powerhouse of AI features that can significantly change how you interact with your smartphone and the world around you.
Google emphasizes the "helpful" and "time-saving" aspects of these AI features; however, the line between helpful and intrusive can be blurred.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL makes a strong case for the future of AI on smartphones. However, the choice to embrace these features, with their potential for both benefit and unease, ultimately rests with the user.
This iteration of the Pixel Pro feels more premium than any of its predecessors, addressing many of the hardware shortcomings that have plagued the line for years, including heat management, display brightness, and more. While battery life remains a concern, and Gemini Advanced features come at a premium price, the Pixel 9 Pro XL offers a compelling reason for Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro users, and even curious iPhone owners, to consider an upgrade. Google has, finally, delivered a Pixel that gets many things right.
