Pixel 9 Pro XL Review - Don't be fooled by gimmicks... 😑 (With Sound Test)
Some People Don't Like Pixels Because...
People have expressed some very valid concerns about the Pixel 9 Pro XL, and the Pixel series in general. In this review, I want to be as fair as possible about this device. I’m not going to bash it, nor am I going to astroturf it. Instead, I’ll just cover some pros and cons, including its camera performance, new features, battery life, and its audio, which is something you don’t often see in a Pixel device review.
Add Me, Magic Editor and Video Boost Review
The Pixel 9 Pro XL has some new AI features surrounding the camera like Add Me, Magic Editor and Video Boost. However, as someone who has used it, I’ll advise to NOT place all your trust in these features. Some features allow you to save your shots and make the Pixel 9 Pro XL more fun with different options. You can even invent entirely new photos from existing shots using generative AI.
But are these features good enough for me to rely on? In some situations, yes. For example, Add Me.
AI features: Add Me
The concept is that the person who’s helping you to shoot the photo could even swap in and be included, but since I don’t have many friends, I’ve mostly used it to shoot silly photos. It’s a lot of fun. But problems like crop-overs can happen when bodies crisscross each other.
In other words, Add Me requires the person joining the shot be physically separate from the other people in order for it to work well. Is it a feature I will use often? Probably, but not all the time.
AI features: Magic Editor
Using Magic Editor, you may reimagine photos and autoframe pictures to make them look more aesthetically pleasing. For instance, when the subject’s too distant, it will crop in, when the subject’s too near it will zoom out and generative AI fills in the blanks around the edges.
However, autoframing doesn’t always get it right, like when it decided that my closeup of this PS4 controller needed a wider frame, and because the AI doesn’t know what’s beyond the edges, or what a PS4 controlloer looks like it started filling in the edges with random buttons.
It could work better with a landscape shot or a background with repetitive patterns, althought not always. So it’s better to frame your shot properly from the start. Again, is this a feature I will use frequently? Nah. Knowing how to properly frame your shots in the first place is better. (But it can be fun for making fake photos using generative AI.)
AI features: Video Boost
Aside from that, Video Boost is a feature I’m excited about. Here’s why. The Pixel 9 Pro XL already has one of the best camera arrays. 50MP main cam, 48MP ultra wide, 48MP 5x telephoto and a beefy 42MP front selfie.
This means little to no compromise in resolution whether ultrawide or telephoto, and better low light performance. But, it’s still a phone camera, with its tiny sensors and glass. Therefore, there are situations, where you do need to clean up the video, especially in low light, upscale it to 4K (even 8K!) to make it look more crisp, and remove weird artifacts particularly from light sources.
Before, this requires professional video editors, and it’s a very resource hungry process. Now, this can be done on the Pixel through Google’s remote servers. The 9 Pro XL will transmit the upscaled video to your phone after making a backup, uploading and rendering the video remotely.
However, there are six limitations on video boost. It only works with the main cameras not the front one, is limited to 10 minute clips, only works over WiFi, takes a few hours to process, it processes one file at a time, and locks you out of ultrawide zoom or macro modes.
It is also not possible to export the processed videos directly on the phone. You’ll have to grab a link using the ‘share’ button, and download it separately from that link. It isn’t a very intuitive process.
So I will recommend not making this part of your workflow, just use it casually. But if you do want to integrate it into your workflow, planning your shots in advance is very important.
Camera Performance
Then, we come to the actual camera performance. Pictures taken with the main cams look sharp and well exposed, with muted color saturation and very low noise. Although macros have quite a bit of oversharpening, but still looks okay. Super Res zoom works well at 10x and 30x, even in moderately dim lighting (20x only for videos). On the other hand, it’s going to appear rather noisy in darkness. While the AI features can help in some extent, but the results aren’t too fantastic when you try to clean it up. Hence, I would only use Super Res Zoom in areas with good lighting.
Another criticism is the camera tends to crush highlights. This makes pictures appear flatter compared to those shot with iPhone 15 Pro. While it’s better at controlling exposure, but the pictures don’t look as natural.
In terms of color accuracy, it slightly over-filters the yellows, so skies look a bit more blue, and greenery a bit more green. However, that can be adjusted in post. The front selfie camera captures great photos, but it has weird vertical watercolour artifact while shooting videos in low light. Even though it’s 42MP, it still looks rather noisy. As there’s no way to change the resolution of the front cam, I’m guessing it’s only 42MP in bright scenery, and it pixel-bins to 12MP in low light.
In general, the camera performance is great in decent lighting, and Super Res zoom is amazing, much better zoom than most phones, a real peeping tom cam if you ask me. But, it struggles in low light.
Battery Life and Charging Speed
As for battery life, you should get a full day of battery. I used the camera, watching YouTube, browsing X and some other apps, and got about 3 hours 11 minutes of screen on time (SoT) from 37% battery. If the load is consistent throughout the day, I could have possibly gotten 8 hours 15 minutes SoT from a full charge.
Needless to say, actual SoT varies according to usage, but it wasn’t necessary for me to charge it till the next day. Charging it back to full at 45W from 10% took just little more than 1 hour using the supplied USB cable. That’s fast.
( Please take note that this is with Screen resolution set to full, and Always-On display turned off. Your mileage could vary depending on settings. )
Thermals
Regarding thermals, it only got moderately warm when using the camera, never hot. For other apps, it just got a mild warmth, so it never reached the point of throttling, and the phone’s UI felt very smooth throughout. Therefore, in my opinion, I would say any online benchmarks claiming about the 9 Pro XL overheats and throttles don’t reflect real life usage, unless you live in the tropics like me and you’re always using the phone under the hot sun, which I seldom do.
Pixel 9 Pro XL’s Sound
The speakers sound clear and loud, although it’s not the loudest I’ve heard. I usually keep the volume at 80%, because I find the upper mids start to distort at 100% volume. The speakers don’t have much of a diffuse stereo effect, and there aren’t any EQ settings for them either, but overall they sound good enough.
👉 Have a listen to the sound samples
One thing that I’m not too happy about is that it doesn’t seem to support head tracking yet. When I used the Sony WF-1000XM5 with the Pixel 8 Pro, head tracking worked for certain content, but on the 9 Pro XL, there is no option it (although it does support spatial audio.) Perhaps it will be added in the future since I’m running a pre-release firmware, but as of now, it’s not available.
Biggest Pros and Cons of Pixel 9 Pro XL
The biggest argument against Pixel 9 Pro XL has always been its use of the Tensor G4, which is regarded as a heavily modified, underclocked mid-tier processor based off the Exynos 2400, and shouldn’t be in flagship devices in the first place. For those who are specs-centric, gamer or not, that’s a good reason enough to skip it. But to everyone else who casually games on mobile or doesn’t game at all, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is the definitive Android experience.
To be honest, this phone feels fantastic when you first pick it up. Build quality is so much better than the 8 Pro, it feels so premium, with curved bezels that make it nicer to hold, and the polished metal feels more like an iPhone than a Pixel. The screen is super bright, fluid and responsive. Easily the poshest Android device I’ve ever used.
But let’s not be shallow, is this a good option than everything else out there?
When it comes to the camera, maybe. Super Res Zoom is still awesome, but the camaras themselves are good, but not mindblowingly good, especially in low light.
The AI camera features like Super Res Zoom Add Me, and Video Boost stand out among others. Other AI features like Circle to search isn’t so unique anymore, but Pixel Screenshot, a feature that allows me to search for content in screenshots is quite smart! This could save me a lot of time, as I’ve got information scattered across thousands of screenshots.
Pixel devices are also the first Android phones to get security updates and new features, and you’ll get a guaranteed 7 years of support.
And finally, no bloatware, it’s 100% Android. Therefore, while the Tensor might be the biggest argument against Pixel phones, the biggest case for the 9 Pro XL is that it’s the definitive Android experience.
(Affiliate Links Disclosure)
When you make a purchase through the Affiliate Links on this site, the site earns a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support!
