Google Pixel 9 Pro XL Review: Better Than Expected?

The most common controversial thing about this flagship phone is that one side of people says the Google Pixel phone is not a good flagship phone, while the other side says they are the best flagship phone.
Are Pixel series phones really a waste of money? Or are they giving us much more than we expect from them?
Don’t panic or get confused. I am here to answer all your questions and provide a clear perspective on the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL.

After spending a long time using the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL as my daily driver, it is no longer difficult for me to highlight the good and bad aspects of this phone. By reading this article, you will gain proper knowledge about the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. Here, I will share my experience with the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, including its camera, features, performance, and many other things. So, let’s skip the intro and dive deep into the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review.

Design

If you notice one thing, most companies like Samsung and Google are launching similar designs from their past series with only minor changes. I think they do this so people can easily identify from a distance whether it’s an iPhone or a Samsung phone. Google Pixel was also following this pattern in their past series, launching phones with minimal design changes.

However, this time, Google has completely changed their design. If you compare the Google Pixel 8 series with the Google Pixel 9 series, the design has been totally revamped. Now, the design looks more familiar to the iPhone’s style. As we expect a well-designed flagship phone, Google did not disappoint us with their new design. It gives a premium feel when you hold it.

Build Quality

Although the design of this phone is quite similar to the iPhone, it doesn’t use titanium like the iPhone does. Instead, Google used aluminum for the body frame. The weight of this phone is 221 grams, which is close to the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Let me tell you one thing—although the weight is similar, you won’t feel it as heavy when holding it. The weight of this phone is very well-balanced. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra feels much heavier, and you’ll notice the difference immediately when holding it for the first time. However, that’s not the case with the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL.

The back panel features Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection. With its flat yet slightly curved design, it’s easy to hold and comfortable to keep in your hand for extended periods.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL also has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, meaning it can survive being submerged in up to 5 feet of fresh water for 30 minutes without taking any damage.

Overall, the build quality of this flagship phone is impressive. I wasn’t disappointed at all with its design and build quality.

Display

This time, the display is much more impressive than before. The phone features a 6.8-inch flat LTPO OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 1344×2992 pixels, offering a pixel density of 486 PPI. With its 3000 nits peak brightness and HDR10+ support, you won’t face any issues using it outdoors.

Not only does the back panel have Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection, but the display also uses the same protection.

I played 4K videos on this phone and was impressed with the viewing experience. The colors, contrast, and sharpness were more than enough to provide an excellent experience. From display visibility to touch response and media consumption, there’s nothing to complain about.

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL Review: Better Than Expected?

The phone features an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that quickly and accurately detects fingerprints. The touch response was super fast for unlocking the screen. Although the fingerprint sensor is positioned slightly higher, it’s perfect for a phone with such a large screen.

The sound quality is also excellent. It delivers clear, smooth, and loud audio, providing a great experience for listening to music and other sounds.

Performance

Most of the time, Pixel phones receive an underrated rating for their performance. The controversy always starts with the performance of Pixel devices. Does that mean we’ll get the same issues as the previous series this time? Let’s find out in detail!

This time, Google has used the Tensor G4 chip. The use of UFS 3.1 storage is disappointing—it’s not sustainable for a flagship or even a budget phone. Google could have easily provided UFS 4.0 storage, but they didn’t.

From regular use to multitasking, the phone delivers a smooth experience and didn’t disappoint me. Previously, users complained that during regular tasks, the phone would overheat. However, this time, Google has resolved that issue. During my daily use, I didn’t encounter overheating with regular tasks.

The gaming performance is good but not the best. While normal flagship phones can easily provide a 120 FPS gaming experience, this phone didn’t quite meet that expectation. After playing PUBG for some time, I noticed some lagging issues. Additionally, during heavy gaming sessions or intense tasks, the phone did heat up. However, during regular use, as mentioned earlier, this wasn’t a problem. That said, most Pixel users don’t buy this phone for gaming, so this may not be a major issue for them.

Overall, it’s an excellent phone for regular use and provides a good experience for daily tasks.

Camera

The most interesting and famous aspect of the Google Pixel is its camera. Most people buy Pixel phones solely for the camera, which provides the best-quality photos and videos. Even though users face some issues and problems with the phone, its excellent camera ensures they are not dissatisfied. The camera compensates for other shortcomings in the phone.

With a 48 MP ultra-wide lens, a 50 MP primary lens, and a 48 MP telephoto lens, the camera setup makes the phone stand out. During my daily use, I captured countless moments, and the photos impressed me with their color accuracy, contrast, sharpness, and subject detail.

Primary Camera

The main camera produces excellent photos with accurate color reproduction, sharpness, and contrast, as evident in the pictures.

Primary Camera in Low Light

Low-light performance is equally remarkable, with the main camera delivering great results. There’s no reason to complain about its performance in low-light conditions.

Ultra Wide

Ultra Wide Low Light

Overall, all the photos captured by the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL are impressive. Each photo taken with different lenses consistently delivers high-quality results. The color, contrast, and sharpness are well-rendered in every shot, making it easy to win users’ hearts with its outstanding photo quality.

But the phone isn’t just for photography—it excels in video quality too. You can record 8K 30 FPS videos with the primary camera and 4K 60 FPS videos with both the selfie and primary cameras. There’s nothing to criticize when it comes to video recording. The color accuracy and subject detail in the videos are significantly better than before.

Additionally, after capturing a video, you can easily isolate and edit elements like noise, voice, and music separately. This is a fascinating feature and incredibly helpful for content creators.

Some issues with the camera

When you take a picture, it takes time to capture, which we don’t expect from a flagship phone. But don’t be disappointed; though it takes time to capture, after you see the photo, you won’t have any reason to complain.

I don’t know why, but though it has a 5x telephoto lens, you can’t use it while taking portrait pictures. Why Google did this, I don’t know, but normally other flagship phones have this lens, and they can capture photos, but this one can’t.

Another bad thing is that when you start video recording and zoom in to capture distant subjects, it takes time to get clear, which is not good.

Also, it drains the battery when you take photos or record videos.

Software & UI

One thing that makes me wonder is that this is Google’s latest flagship phone, and Google’s latest software is Android 15, but they used Android 14, which seems strange.

You can customize the software, and when you take a screenshot, it will give you a reminder and notifications on your phone screen. Also, if you double-tap on the camera, it automatically shifts to zoom. One of the most interesting things about this phone is that it detects your face and will not automatically shift to landscape mode. It recognizes your face and automatically detects which orientation it should take.

They’ve also added a temperature feature to this phone. You can see the temperature of objects, but it doesn’t capture human body temperature.

AI Features

The difference that sets the Pixel apart from other flagship phones is its software and AI features. This time, Google introduced more AI features than phone hardware features. In my opinion, it felt more like a software ceremony than a phone launch ceremony. Google focused more on AI features and less on phone details. Let’s dive into these AI features.

This time, Google added some of the most interesting features to the Pixel. You could even say it’s a photo editor flagship phone. Why am I saying that? It’s common for flagship phones to have photo editing features, right?
But Google didn’t just add basic editing tools; they went beyond that. Now, let’s explore what’s different.

For example, imagine you have a photo of you and your friends, but you want to add yourself and your friend to the same frame so it looks like you both took the photo at the same time. Normally, this kind of edit would take 20-30 minutes in Photoshop or other editing software. However, with this phone, you can do it in just a minute. You simply select two photos, combine them, and within seconds, the task is complete. However, if there are too many shadows, they might be detectable.

Another interesting feature is taking a photo to enhance the scene. Suppose you want to capture a road covered in water. You simply take a photo of the road, select it, and voilà, the result is a road that looks like it’s submerged in water.

Isn’t that impressive? It would be nearly impossible to capture that without specialized equipment. 99% of people would fail to recreate this. Normally, doing such edits in Photoshop would take 1-2 hours, but this phone does it in seconds. Overall, the photo editing features of this phone are hard to match with professional software.

Additionally, it comes with an auto-framing feature, which adjusts the composition of your photos automatically.

Google also added a screenshot feature. When you take a screenshot, it automatically saves to both the gallery and a screenshot app. If you want to search for anything in the screenshot, you can easily do so.

It also includes personal Google Assistant and Gemini Assistant. Plus, features like “Circle to Search” and many others, which are common in other flagship devices, are also available on this phone.

There are many more AI features, and it’s tough to cover them all in a single post.

Battery Life & Charging

The battery capacity of this phone is 5060mAh, which is good. The battery backup is quite reliable and can easily last a long time with daily use. However, it drains significantly when the camera is in use. While taking photos or recording videos, the battery drains quite heavily. For instance, using the camera for about 30 minutes can drain up to 40% of the battery. Why does this happen? It’s because the phone’s features and AI processes are constantly working to enhance the quality of photos and videos, which results in higher battery consumption.

For charging, you get 37W wired charging and 23W wireless charging. This is decent and acceptable for a flagship phone.

Verdict

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is a solid flagship phone. Google has delivered on its promises with this device, and we got all the features they aimed to provide.

However, in my opinion, the performance could have been slightly better, and the battery life needs improvement, especially since it drains significantly during camera use.

If you like the phone’s design and the overall Google experience, this phone is definitely worth considering. It offers a unique experience, especially with the Pixel 9 Pro XL’s innovative features.

In today’s world, AI is everywhere, and if you want to stay updated, embrace AI, and stand out from the crowd, this phone is a great choice. It offers an extensive range of AI features that are not available in other flagship phones.

Who should buy this? If you’re someone who values a premium vibe, stunning design, smooth daily performance, and the best camera for capturing photos and videos, along with a passion for exploring AI features, this phone is definitely worth it.

This has been my journey with the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. From beginning to end, it didn’t disappoint me in any major way. Overall, I had a satisfying user experience with this phone. Let me know if you’re planning to buy this phone and use it in your daily life