Pixel 9 Pro Preview: a Great Phone Made Even Better

How do you improve a superb phone? The Pixel 8 Pro was such a good phone that despite drawers full of review units, I bought one and haven’t regretted it in the slightest. With great cameras, a premium design, and excellent performance, there was very little to complain about. With Google’s discounts, it was a steal.With the Pixel 9 Pro line, they didn’t have many issues to address, unlike the Fold 2, but have made everything incrementally better.To start, the screen. The Pixel 8 Pro had a fabulous screen, but with the 9 Pro, it’s a variable refresh rate of between 1 Hz and 120 Hz rather than just 60 Hz to 120 Hz. It gets up to 2,000 nits of indoor brightness or 3,000 at outdoor peak. It’s offered in two sizes: 6.3 inches corner to corner on the 9 Pro or 6.8 inches on the 9 Pro XL.Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, on left, and 9 Pro XL, on the right. Courtesy of GoogleThe differences between the two extend beyond this with a $100 price bump, a bigger battery — the XL having a 5,060 mAh battery compared to the 4,700 mAh — and presumably better internal cooling to allow faster charging. Despite having a bigger battery, it charges to 70% in 30 minutes on Google’s 45W charger, whereas the Pro can only go up to 55% in that time.This is the biggest improvement, but you also get a bump to the cameras with a 50MP wide, 48MP ultrawide, and 10 times optical zoom 48MP camera. The zoom appeals to me as 10 times optical strikes me as the sweet spot, and then you can digitally enhance that up to 30 times zoom. Compared to the standard Pixel 9, it also comes with a multi-zone laser autofocus sensor rather than just single zone, which could have a noticeable effect but may not. The biggest specification bump here is the new 42MP selfie camera, which Google promises will produce “sharper and brighter photos in low light.” I’m not one for regular selfies, but they’ve always been fine on the Pixel line, so a minor improvement here is fine.Pixel 9 Pro XL in Sage. Courtesy of GoogleThe Pixel 9 Pro also comes with all the new AI features and apps available on the rest of the Pixel 9 range, which you can read about in the Pixel 9 preview, and their standard seven years of OS and security updates.The 9 Pro also comes with the temperature sensor gimmick of the 8 Pro, a feature so unused that I didn’t bother mentioning it in the review for my Pixel 8 Pro, and an offline satellite SOS feature, which means you can call for help even when out of service. This was something that Apple pushed first, and though it won’t be widely used, it could save lives when it is.On paper, the changes seem relatively small, but I think they will add up to a meaningful improvement. One immediately obvious thing is how nice the colors are, as the Pixel Pro line doesn’t just come in your standard cream and black versions but also a dark grayish green called “Hazel” and a light pink called “Quartz Peony.” Premium phones often drop the fun colors, so it’s great to see Google break that norm.The Pro XL will be available on the online Google Store and on shelves on August 22, starting at $1,099 for the 126GB storage version, but you’ll have to wait until September 4 for the smaller Pro, which starts at $999. You can pre-order now, but my review of the Pro and XL should be out before it releases.

Pixel 9 Pro Preview: a Great Phone Made Even Better

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