A few months ago I reviewed both the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro XL, but but there was one phone missing in the mix, that finally lands in Australia next week in the standard sized Pixel 9 Pro.
This is the first time that Google has made its Pro phone available in the smaller size, and I’m super glad they have as 6.3 to 6.4-inches for a phone is the perfect size, but if you wanted the Pro features in previous years, you had to go for the bigger phone, so to have both options available now is fantastic.
The reality is that almost everything that I said in my original 9 Pro XL review holds true here with the only difference being the actual size of the screen, the battery size (these come naturally just in the changes in phone sizes) and the charging speed with the Pixel 9 Pro supporting 27w charging speeds (same as Pixel 8 Pro last year) with the larger Pixel 9 Pro XL featuring 37w charging.
I truly believe that unless you want the biggest phone on the market, the Pixel 9 Pro remains the best Android phone that now comes in a size that feels most right for people. I’d argue that if even looks more impressive than the Pixel 9 Pro XL, as the smaller size makes it look high-end matched with those glossy/metal features that were previously exclusive to the larger phone.
This is my first time checking out the Hazel colour with my other units coming in Porcelain and Mint, and I have to say that I really love it. It has a little bit more personality than Obsidian, but still looks super high-end in its finish.
What’s absolutely clear this year is that there’s more choice especially for Aussies with the Pixel 9 range consisting of the Pixel 9, 9 Pro/9 Pro XL and The Pixel 9 Pro Fold – there truly is something for everyone.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro starts at $1,699 AUD which comes in at $1,50 cheaper than the Pixel 9 Pro XL. It’s out in Australia on October 24th and can be purchased in Porcelain, Hazel, Rose Quartz and Obsidian from the Google store HERE.
ORIGINAL PIXEL 9/9PRO XL REVIEW:
The Google Pixel Pro has been improving steadily since I started covering it 2-3 years ago, but the Pixel 9 range feels like it really coming to its own, taking things up a notch with an improved design that looks and feels premium.
In the range you’ve got the Pixel 9 which is your standard (but slightly larger) 6.3-inch phone and then you’ve got the new Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL which are identical except for size at 6.3-inch and 6.8-inches respectively. This is a great move as a massive bugbear I’ve had with flagship phone drops is that certain features are locked behind the larger phone, which not everyone wants so I applaud Google for this.
As far as the design goes, there’s significant changes all round. Both devices are flatter (much like the iPhone) with rounded edges which makes them a lot easier to hold and less slippery than the last few Pixel devices. The standard 9 back is made up of a glossy glass panel whilst the 9 Pro uses a matte aluminium finish that looks super high-end, and similarly, the edges on the 9 are a more matte finish whilst they’re a lovely, high-end aluminium on the sides.
Without doubt the most talked about change is the one to the iconic camera visor which now features a cut out rather than a strip that goes across the entire phone, at first it’s quite different to look at but I absolutely love the design after living with it for a few weeks. I think it’s super stylish, it’s different and eye-catching to the point that looking at the old one looks so out of place now.
The display on both devices have been hugely improved as well with the Pixel 9 now 35% brighter and Pixel 9 Pro being brighter with up to 2,000 nits in HDR with 3,000 nits of peak brightness. Really, you can’t go wrong with either of these displays but the brightness on the 9 Pro is a huge improvement with that display being even more stunning.
These phones are both powerhouses utilising the Tensor G4 chip, but also both coming with 4GB of more ram which allows you to zip around with ease, no matter what you’re doing on the phone, There isn’t a better place to use Android as an OS. The battery life on both devices have also been improved quite significantly as well.
The cameras on the Pixels have been best in class over few years, but they’re even better on both devices. The 9 Pro in particular now has a 42mp sensor on the front which allows for 30% more light sensitivity, and on the back you’ve got 48mp on ultrawide and telephoto and 50mp on the wide lens.
It’s hard to take a bad photo with this phone no matter which mode or lens that you’re using, and I was thoroughly impressed moving about in my yard and taking photos on the range of modes.
Similarly on the Pixel 9 you’ve got that same 50mp wide lens with a 48mp ultrawide lens without the upgraded front camera. Again, you’re really getting a great camera phone beyond the needs of most people, regardless of which phone you’re getting.
As with any Google phone, the improvements come in the way of features and mainly AI features in a big way this year. Building on the likes of Magic Eraser, Add Me is a brand new feature that essentially allows you to add the photographer into the photo with a second pass. This basically guides you through the process of taking a photo, then telling you to line it up in the exact same spot to add the person that took the first photo. It works super well, and whilst it once again raises the question of what is reality and what is the purpose of a photo, it does its job well if you want to use it.
Magic Editor from last year has some improvements now as well, with the ability to reframe photos which is super helpful for turning photos into different dimensions, or maybe you want a more zoomed out image. Again, it just depends what you’re wanting to use it for, and does make you question reality at certain points, but it works really damn well. You can also re-imagine photos in Magic Editor, which is basically just using AI to re-write parts of the photos to change the scenery which is a lot of fun to play with.
Similarly, there’s improvements in the way of Zoom Enhance which uses AI to enhance things in the distance, and Video Boost has also been improved to allow you to upscale to 8K with video rendering now faster as well.
Probably the biggest addition of AI comes in the way of the assistant, which now uses Gemini out of the box. I hadn’t used Gemini too much, but these devices come installed with it as the main assistant as well as one year free of Gemini Advanced through Google One AI Premium ($32 a month after that) which allows you to use Gemini Live.
I was really impressed with how quick and responsive Gemini was as a regular assistant but it was Gemini Live that made me a believer in AI. This basically allows you to pull up a responsive AI bot that is responsive and takes into context what you’ve said and also remembers past conversations, so that it’s a lot more natural than your usual assistant. Testing with the likes of my partner and mother, we were all super impressed with how natural it was and what it knew about the variety of things that we were asking it.
It’s quite clear that there’s still a bit to go with this though, as it definitely could do better at integrating into other apps, and there was also times that it wouldn’t remember previous things that we’d spoken about which breaks the experience a little, but when it works, it feels quite magical and like a legitimately great use of AI that could change the way we use our phones.
Pixel Screenshots is another great new app that utilises AI to make your life easier. I’m somebody that takes a lot of screenshots (over 65,000 to be exact), and this app basically helps you not only sort these and create labels for your screenshots, but you can literally just ask it to search for something and it does a great job of finding it.
The other piece of the puzzle is that both the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro have seen another decent increase in price, which won’t be to the delight of everyone, but these do feel like extremely high-quality flagship phones and the build quality represents the jump in price, so it’s hard to complain. Both phones are out now with the Google Pixel 9 starting at $1,349 AUD and the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL starting at $1,849 AUD.
