Google Pixel 9 evaluation: Formally an excessive amount of AI

The brand new Google Pixel 9 is teeming with AI — and I don’t really feel any otherwise about it now than I did a yr in the past.

That’s to say, once I regarded on the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Professional telephones final yr, I got here away considering Google was specializing in the mistaken issues. After years of each new Pixel era introducing genuinely helpful options like dwell transcription within the Recorder app and tons of digicam trickery, the Pixel 8 era introduced us a bunch of novel (however finally ineffective at greatest and vile at worst) AI options.

That strategy has solely modified somewhat in 2024 with the Pixel 9. Google’s entry-level flagship is $100 costlier than the Pixel 8 at $799 — and for that value you get extra RAM, higher cameras, and most notably, a bundle of much more new AI options that left me questioning why anybody would use them in any respect.

That is nonetheless a really stable Android telephone, however Google’s foray into AI are beginning to really feel just like the sorts of manufacturer-specific bloatware you used to purchase Pixel telephones to keep away from.

Google Pixel 9 value and specs

I’ve already established that the Pixel 9 acquired a $100 value bump from final yr as much as $799.

However right here’s particularly what that will get you:

• Google Tensor G4 chip

• 12GB RAM

• 128GB storage

• 6.3-inch show

The one {hardware} variant for Pixel 9 is a 256GB mannequin that provides an additional $100 onto the value tag. Except for the brand new Tensor chip (which has turn into an ordinary expectation for every new Pixel telephone at this level), the largest improve over the Pixel 8 right here is 12GB of RAM, up from 8GB final yr. 

That ought to theoretically enable the telephone to deal with extra duties directly, however actually, it’s there for AI options. We’ll get to these in a bit.

Google Pixel 9 design

An important factor to know concerning the Pixel 9, design-wise, is that it is available in a pink, or “Peony,” this yr. Glorious work by Google. Our evaluation unit wasn’t pink, and I’m very jealous of those that handle to get their arms on the Peony mannequin. The opposite accessible colours are the a lot much less hanging Porcelain, Wintergreen, and Obsidian selections.

As for design modifications, Google went with flat, aluminum sides going across the telephone, versus the curved surfaces on the Pixel 8. I don’t love this. It makes the Pixel 9 much less ergonomic within the arms, and I continuously really feel like I’ve much less grip on it than I might a telephone with curved sides. 

Whether or not it’s truly at risk of falling out of my arms and onto the cement or not, you by no means desire a telephone that feels that method.

The one different main design change value noting is that the previous side-to-side digicam bar on the again has been changed by a horizontal, oval-shaped digicam bump that appears extra like one thing you’d see on different telephones. It’s much less distinctly Pixel than earlier than, however I wouldn’t say it seems to be unhealthy. Simply totally different.

Google Pixel 9 show

Whereas I’ve misgivings about different features of the Pixel 9, the improved show shouldn’t be certainly one of them.

Google bumped the max brightness up from 2,000 nits on Pixel 8 to 2,700 nits on Pixel 9, making this an important telephone to be used exterior on a sunny day. Whereas strolling round my neighborhood, I by no means had bother seeing the display, which has turn into an issue for my barely older iPhone. 

The adaptive 60-120Hz refresh charge that graced final yr’s entry-level Pixel is again and unchanged, which is for one of the best. As just lately because the iPhone 15, Apple’s equal handsets (as within the non-Professional fashions) are nonetheless locked at 60Hz. Google (in addition to most different opponents at this level) continues to lap Apple on this regard.

Oh, and also you get an additional tenth of an inch in comparison with the Pixel 8. The Pixel 9’s show is 6.3-inches, whereas the Pixel 8’s was 6.2-inches.

Google Pixel 9 AI options

Up to now, I’ve established that this can be a telephone with good specs and a pleasant show. I don’t love the best way it feels in my arms, however hey, you may at all times purchase a case. Now, it’s time to get into what I dislike about Pixel 9: its extreme reliance on AI options.

Similar to how the Pixel 8 launched the Magic Editor function for quick-and-dirty picture edits, the Pixel 9 brings with it round half a dozen new toys to play with, of various ranges of usefulness. By that, I imply they fluctuate from “inoffensive” to “I don’t know why this exists.” 

For example, you should utilize the Reimagine function in Magic Editor to take a photograph of a avenue and use AI to show the road right into a river. Or you should utilize Add Me to create group images that by no means actually occurred as a result of one particular person needed to maintain the digicam.

There’s additionally a brand new native Pixel Climate app that’s largely the identical because the Apple one, nevertheless it offers you a fast AI abstract of the day’s climate whenever you boot it up.

For instance, right this moment’s abstract in Brooklyn reads “Pleasant afternoon with comfortable temperatures and clean air.” That’s all true, and it’s additionally data I may glean for myself by simply scrolling down and taking a look at the remainder of the climate app for 15 seconds. 

That’s my main drawback with all of this. Google goes so exhausting on these options, championing them as the large promoting factors of the Pixel 9 household, and none of them are actually transformative nor modern in ways in which matter. I don’t want an AI to summarize the climate for me when each climate app already has a visually interesting method to do this. 

The entire picture modifying options like Add Me and the expanded suite of Magic Editor options rub me the mistaken method, too. Google has gone notably exhausting on attempting to promote these options as methods to create magical household reminiscences, both via Add Me’s potential to create excellent group images or Magic Editor’s potential to make mundane pictures look spectacular. Nevertheless, to me, that is the alternative of what reminiscences ought to be about.

I’m not a mother or father, but when I had been, I might not need my baby to develop up and discover out each image I took of them was truly faux and enhanced by AI trickery. That picture of you sitting in a flowery subject with a sizzling air balloon within the sky within the background? That’s faux, sorry, child. I cared extra about making my social feeds look good than providing you with an correct glimpse of your childhood.

And that claims nothing of Pixel Studio, a brand new text-to-image generative AI instrument that, properly, turns your textual content prompts into pictures. That is normal Midjourney-level stuff and it really works in a short time and effectively on the Pixel 9, however to what finish? So I can ship my buddies an clearly AI-generated picture of a lizard in a cowboy hat? That seems like a good way to get banned from the group chat.

That’s to not say it’s all ineffective. Pixel Screenshots is probably the lone instance of Google leveraging AI in a method that could possibly be life-saving. The thought is that it catalogs each screenshot you’re taking and memorizes the on-screen textual content or different pertinent particulars for you. If you want to recall one thing you took a screenshot of six months in the past, you don’t have to scroll again via your library anymore. Merely open the Screenshots app, seek for what you want, and it ought to be there.

There are additionally methods to generate to-do lists and summarize telephone calls, which I may see coming in helpful in some unspecified time in the future. 

However broadly talking, one thing like 75 p.c of those AI options (at the least) really feel tacked-on, like Google solely put them there as a result of the corporate spent an excessive amount of on AI growth and desperately wants some return on funding. I strongly really feel that no one truly wants issues like Add Me, Pixel Studio, or Magic Editor. Simply take an actual picture of your children and be taught to like imperfections.

Google Pixel 9 efficiency

All of these superfluous AI options are enabled by the brand new Tensor G4 chip and the 12GM of base RAM that include each Pixel 9. Given all of that, and the truth that Pixel telephones are typically very performant, one may anticipate the Pixel 9 to excel right here. It doesn’t, actually.

That’s to not say there’s something overwhelmingly mistaken with the best way the Pixel 9 works on a day-to-day foundation. Apps load rapidly, the telephone by no means seized up or slowed down in my time with it, and it didn’t get heat on me after an excessive amount of common use. Nevertheless, that’s all been true of the previous few Pixels, so it’s not likely spectacular anymore.

Compounding that’s the comparatively low Geekbench multi-core rating of 4,358. That’s decrease than the Samsung Galaxy S23, which isn’t even the most recent Samsung flagship. There’s already an S24! Once more, I didn’t run into any apparent issues with the Pixel 9’s each day efficiency, however by the numbers, it isn’t as highly effective as even some older opponents. 

Google Pixel 9 battery life

One space the place the Pixel 9 is straight-up unimpeachable is the battery life.

I’ll maintain this transient: It rocks. I ran a TikTok video on loop on the Pixel 9 display with the brightness at 50 p.c and, after 19 hours and 20 minutes, it ran out. It truly did higher than the Pixel 9 Professional XL on the similar take a look at, as the larger premium Pixel telephone acquired 18 hours and 51 minutes of battery. It additionally lasts longer than the Pixel 8, which gave me somewhat greater than 15 hours from the identical take a look at.

While you’re not operating movies constantly, it lasts even longer. I used to be capable of go about 24 hours between prices when utilizing the telephone usually. Google did not drop the ball right here.

Google Pixel 9 digicam

Specs-wise, Google solely made one main change with the Pixel 9 cameras: The ultra-wide lens on the rear has been upgraded from 12MP on Pixel 8 to 48MP on Pixel 9. The 50MP principal lens and 10.5MP selfie cam are unchanged from a yr in the past.

Unsurprisingly, I used to be capable of get nice-looking pictures out of the Pixel 9 digicam although I am not a photographer by commerce. Google has at all times packed glorious cameras into these telephones, utilizing a mix of {hardware} and software program processing, and the Pixel 9 is not any totally different.

For example, whereas you aren’t getting the eye-popping 30x zoom discovered on the Pixel 9 Professional fashions, the 8x zoom can produce very clear outcomes from a distance.

Excuse the truth that I do not actually like taking selfies, and thus am not excellent at them, however the selfie lens and portrait mode work in addition to ever.

Except for only a megapixel improve, Google claims that the ultra-wide lens has vastly improved gentle sensitivity. My yard has at all times made for an important low-light testing floor at evening, and although the shot I acquired got here out somewhat blurry, it’s certainly a lot simpler to see than it was in actual life.

For enjoyable, I additionally tried out portrait mode at evening, and it really works very properly.

Is the Google Pixel 9 value it?

For those who’re a Pixel devotee, and your M.O. is to maintain utilizing your subsequent Pixel the best way you have at all times used your older ones, the Pixel 9 will serve you good. It is acquired implausible battery life and high quality cameras to go together with ample on a regular basis efficiency. It is also a lot simpler to see within the daytime whereas exterior, which is a plus.

However Google has merely gone too far with its AI options this yr. I am simply not impressed that the climate app can sum up a temperature chart in a single sentence as a result of my mind also can try this immediately by trying on the chart. I do not need images of my buddies and family members to exist on this bizarre aircraft the place they’re all artificially edited. If I wasn’t capable of stand in for a gaggle picture as a result of I used to be holding the digicam, then so be it. Life is filled with imperfections and we do not profit from pretending in any other case.

I am going to concede that the Pixel Screenshots app is genuinely helpful, however past that, I might actually quite see Google concentrate on actual innovation or, within the absence of that, a telephone that’s extra comfy to carry than this one.