Pixel 9 Is the Best Google Phone for Most People
There were a lot of new additions to the Google Pixel 9 lineup when it launched in late August, including two size options and a foldable version, but these were mostly reserved for the Pro models. As for the base phone, there isn’t much flash. But inside it feels almost as good as its more expensive cousin. With a redesigned camera panel and some upgraded camera specs, this is the best base model Google phone in a while, putting it on par with the Pixel 9 Pro, and I’m willing to bet some less discerning eyes won’t notice the difference. Before you spend $999 or more on the Pro, consider choosing the regular Pixel 9 over the regular Pixel 9. You might be surprised.
Redesigned camera panel
This year, most of the aesthetic changes come to the Pixel 9 Pro, which is now available in two sizes, as well as a foldable version. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing new about the standard Pixel 9.
The most notable update is the redesigned camera panel that Google also added to the Pro. Unlike previous models, the camera panel on the Pixel 9 no longer spans the entire width of the phone, but is instead isolated in its own little oval. From a functional standpoint it doesn’t make a big difference, but it does make everything look a little cleaner, if only because it’s a little smaller and more rounded. It’s also now a little easier to hold the phone horizontally without accidentally touching the camera lens.
Otherwise, the Pixel 9 still uses the typical candy bar format. There are no additional buttons, the corners are still rounded, and the dimensions and weight are the same as the Pixel 8 – 6 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches and weighs 7 ounces. The speakers at the bottom of the phone are combined into one hole, but their capabilities remain the same.
What’s a little disappointing is that, like the Pixel 8 but not the budget update 8a , the back panel here is still glossy, meaning it looks fashionable but is prone to reflections and fingerprints. I prefer a matte finish and the 9 Pro is the only way to get it.
Pixel 9 colors include peony (pink), wintergreen (light green), porcelain (white), and obsidian (black). It’s a shame that Bay Blue doesn’t return from the 8 Pro and 8a, but it’s still a more robust set of colors than the base Pixel 8 had at launch, so I’m crossing my fingers to see more. within a year.
Disappointing AI additions
Google Pixel phones are known for their exclusive software like Live Transcribe or Magic Editor , and the company is being especially generous this year by making its biggest additions available on the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. I already reviewed these apps – Screenshots, Pixel Studio and Gemini Live – when reviewing the Pixel 9 Pro , and they work just as well here.
However, I only really like one of them. The Screenshots app uses artificial intelligence to add descriptions to screenshots on your phone, allowing you to quickly search for them, just like you would in Google Images. It’s great for instantly searching for documents like concert tickets or boarding passes, and while the descriptions aren’t always strictly accurate, they usually contain enough keywords to show the picture you’re looking for at the top of the results. My only problem is that this only applies to screenshots and not photos, although they promise that this will happen in the future .
There’s definitely a privacy issue here, especially since Screenshots can also read and summarize any text that might be in your Snaps, although a Google spokesperson told me that all Screenshots processing is done on the device. It’s just a simple, unobtrusive utility that doesn’t require me to change the way I use my phone and does things I couldn’t do before, making it my clear favorite despite its more modest nature.
A little more flashy is Pixel Studio, essentially an AI image generator built into your phone. Pixel Studio uses a combination of local and cloud AI models and allows you to more easily edit and blend images created by Gemini. Google suggests using it for things like birthday invitations, since it currently can’t feature people with even simple queries like “grocery store cashier.” Unfortunately, this means that it is quite limited compared to its competitors, but even this did not stop it from delivering unsatisfactory results.
Despite its inability to create people, Pixel Studio can create copyrighted characters, and I was able to take a few photos of Mickey Mouse in a number of compromising positions. Again, check out my Pixel 9 Pro review for more details, but even a few weeks after launch, it’s clear that security measures still need to be taken unless Google wants to switch to Grok entirely.
Truth be told, once the novelty of putting cartoon characters in mature situations wears off, I won’t be able to use Pixel Studio for many things: more mundane use cases seem about as appealing as a ‘make-your-own-greeting-card’ program from the ’90s. . Gemini Live is also something I don’t use often. Essentially, it takes Google’s Gemini chatbot and lets you interact with it via voice, giving you an AI-generated companion in return. The underlying technology here is impressive: Gemini Live sounds friendly, and I was able to turn it off and change the theme frequently without issue. But the problem is that it still makes mistakes just as often as a regular Gemini chatbot.
I asked Gemini Live to tell me to carry an umbrella in 80-degree weather, or to tell me Kamala Harris would be debating Tim Waltz the night I wrote this review. As with most AI hallucinations , these statements were spoken with complete certainty, making it difficult to trust anything Gemini said. I was able to call up the hallucination app and get it to correct the errors, but if I did it too many times it would just crash, leaving Gemini feeling a little frustrated as the kid who takes the ball and goes home.
Besides Gemini Live, Google is also pushing Gemini more aggressively into the Pixel 9 lineup, making it the default replacement for Google Assistant . This is a mistake, to be honest. Gemini can do some simple things like setting timers or alarms, but for now it still can’t do other common tasks like setting reminders or turning on Live Captions—something Google Assistant does with ease.
Apart from new dedicated apps, Google’s existing features also received several AI updates this year. They’re most visible in the Photos app, where you’ll be able to access Add Me and Rethink.
I was looking forward to the Add Me feature, which uses artificial intelligence to combine two photos so that no one is left out of the frame. You simply take a photo of your group, pass the phone to someone who was in the first group photo, and take a new photo of you. The phone then intelligently blends the photos so you can see everything at once.
Unfortunately, this didn’t work in practice and all results looked noticeably altered. When my fiancé and I tried this, our height in relation to each other was wrong, the shadows and lighting didn’t look natural, and we had better not stand close to each other or else this feature might blend our bodies together, blending the photos. It’s a nice demo, but I wouldn’t use it for even a casual social media post.
Reinvention is a bit of a touchier topic. Essentially, it allows you to use AI to create fake images from your real photos. Like Pixel Studio, it tries to introduce security measures, but still can’t catch everything. For example, I was able to add realistic used needles to several photos without any problems. You can imagine the problems that could arise from something like cyberbullying if edited photos of the target were posted online or shared with a less-than-astute authority figure.
I’m not the first to raise this issue , but since I’m posting this review a month after launch, I’m sorry Google hasn’t done anything about it yet.
Unfortunately, while it’s great to see Google’s new AI features coming to all Pixel 9 models, they still ultimately feel like betas to me. This isn’t a good sign for where Google’s Pixel software will go in the future, especially as it continues to explore sensitive topics like AI imaging.
Professional cameras
I liked the Pixel 9 Pro’s camera setup, and the good news is that photos taken with the regular Pixel 9 look almost as good. This is because these phones have the same wide and ultra-wide sensors, so both standard shots and close-ups will look the same across devices. Plus, no matter which phone you choose, they’ll compete with photos taken on the iPhone 15 Pro.
If this sounds too good to be true, the catch is that the Pixel 9 doesn’t have a telephoto lens. Optical zoom reaches a maximum of 2x, and software zoom does not allow for more than 8x. Not that you really want to get past it – the photos start to look pretty murky even before that.
The front camera also has a maximum resolution of 10.5MP versus 42MP on the Pixel 9 Pro, so selfies will look more detailed on the more expensive model.
Here are a few shots of the Pixel 9 taken at different times of the day. Please note that for this web page I had to compress them, and that night shots use Pixel’s “Night Sight” feature to intelligently brighten the background.
Here are some similar shots from my iPhone 15 Pro. Overall, it’s impressive that a non-pro phone can hold its own against Apple’s premium cameras.
Unfortunately, despite its camera power, the base Pixel 9 doesn’t have Pro camera controls in the menu, continuing a disappointing trend on Google’s part. This means you can’t enable 50MP photo mode, which saves 50MP JPEG files on the phone, even if the camera has a 50MP sensor. You can still shoot photos in RAW format, so you still have the ability to use the full power of your camera, but the RAW file format can be annoying for casual users. Most people will probably continue to take 12MP photos without realizing that their phone can do more. This will be great for their storage space, but Google has no excuse for limiting 50MP photos to the Pro models when the base hardware is perfectly capable of taking them.
Performance is still lacking
The base Pixel 9’s performance should be about the same as the Pixel 9 Pro since it has the same chip, the Google Tensor G4. It has less RAM and didn’t always perform as well in my tests, but the Pixel 9 definitely felt like it could keep up with the Pro in real-world use, meaning it does have some issues.
In Geekbench 6 , a synthetic benchmark for testing overall performance in different types of tasks, I got a score of 1227 in single-core tasks and 3172 in multi-core tasks, indicating that, at least on paper, this phone has strong processor performance. limited. For comparison, I got a score of 1924/5628 on the Pixel 9 Pro and 2938/7250 on the iPhone 15 Pro. Interestingly, my results were even lower than the Pixel 7 .
Of course, synthetic tests are not always a great indicator of real-world usage. To test real-world in-hand performance, I used the Pixel 9 in Genshin Impact , a graphically demanding open-world game. Here I got results that were roughly on par with the Pixel 9 Pro, although I was sometimes a few frames behind it. I got between 50-60fps on the game’s lowest settings and around 40-55fps on the highest settings, although the numbers were more consistently high on lower settings. I would also not recommend playing for long periods of time on high settings, as under such loads the phone will heat up quite quickly and eventually become painful to the touch. This is subjective, but for me heat was a bigger issue with the 9 than the Pro.
While this phone isn’t designed for gaming, my issues don’t necessarily paint a good picture for other high-end apps like video editors. This problem isn’t new to the Pixel, as Google’s chips are designed to put Pixel-exclusive software and artificial intelligence at the forefront. It works great for them, providing a great balance between performance and efficiency. But those who regularly venture outside the Google ecosystem will likely prefer a phone with a more versatile Qualcomm chip, like the Samsung Galaxy S24 .
Battery life
I’m still finishing up testing the Pixel 9’s battery as I had to restart it after a crash on my end. I’ll update this review with my own numbers soon, but for now Google is promising a battery life of over 24 hours in “average” conditions.
Strong display
Not much has changed on the Pixel 9’s display compared to the Pixel 8. It’s still 6.3 inches long, still uses Google’s Actua screen technology (the company’s marketing term for a bright OLED display), and its maximum brightness is still the same. is 2700 nits.
This is plenty for most people, although I found that I needed brightness somewhere in the range of 80% indoors and 90% outdoors. However, I’ve become a bit of a brightness snob lately and most people will probably be ok around 60%. It’s probably best to just leave your phone’s adaptive brightness feature turned on and let it choose for you.
One good display upgrade is actually as simple as tweaking the software. For some reason, the Pixel 8 required you to dig into the settings to enable the 120Hz mode, which provides a smoother display at the cost of some battery life. This means most people probably never bothered with it, but my review model had it enabled by default. To check if you have 120Hz enabled, go to Settings > Display and make sure the Smooth Display switch is turned on. I’d say it’s worth using Smooth Display as the phone will automatically lower the frame rate when you enable the always-on display, which will help counteract battery drain.
As for viewing content, it’s OLED. Blacks are deep, colors are vibrant, and text is easy to read, especially in dark mode. While I was writing this review, I was using the Pixel 9 to watch a stream of Astro Bot , and the game looked so beautiful that I had a hard time not buying it outright. (I still haven’t finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. )
Is the Pixel 9 worth buying?
The Google Pixel 9 is a little scrappy phone, and while it’s not as bright as the Pixel 9 Pro, Pro XL, or Pro Fold, it’s probably enough for most people. It’s one of Google’s most generous models, packing all of the biggest new AI additions to the Pixel 9 lineup, as well as an updated camera setup that’s almost as good as the Pro model. The screen isn’t as bright or as high-resolution, and the base model still has the same issues as its more expensive sibling, especially when it comes to third-party app performance, but you won’t be missing out on much if you go with the regular one this time around. Pixel. It’s still a commitment, starting at $799, but if you’re not yet into the Google ecosystem and don’t want to buy an older phone, this is a good way to do it while spending a little less.