First impressions of the new Google Pixel 9 smartphones, including the Pixel 9 Pro Fold

In the early hours of the morning today we saw Google announce all their new mobile devices for 2024 with the Pixel 9 series taking centre stage.

We were able to get hands on with Google’s new devices for a couple of hours last week and walked away extremely impressed.

First thing you notice is the new design of the Pixel 9 phones.  They are now much more square shaped with sharp edges than last year’s Pixel 8 phones. They still feel comfortable in the hands but there is a bit more bite to them thanks to this new boxier design.

The design is very reminiscent of an iPhone 15 design with the shape being more of a box with side rails rather than a rear surface that curves around to meet the front.

I compared the Pixel 9 to the Pixel 8 and while they are very similar sizes, the Pixel 9 is ever so slightly larger/taller but if you like the size of the Pixel 8 you most likely won’t find the Pixel 9 too big.

This year Google finally released a Pro smartphone with Pro specs but non-pro sizing with the Pixel 9 Pro.  I held the Pixel 9 Pro next to the Pixel 9 and was amazed that they were identical in size. It’s not that I didn’t think it could be done, it’s just that it has not been done by any smartphone manufacturer for a long long time. That is, putting flagship, Pro, premium specs inside not only the largest device but also a smaller footprint device.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL is larger obviously than the Pixel 9 and the Pixel 9 Pro but when comparing it to my Pixel 8 Pro they appeared to be virtually identical in size.

The camera visor or island, or whatever you want to call it, has been redesigned this year with the sharp edges of it matching the overall design of the smartphone. I quite like the way Google has done it this year with the island not going all the way to the edges – it shows they thought about the overall design when one piece matches the other (there’s no excuse for them not to though).

Google also showed off the new colours of the Pixel 9 series to us with the Rose Quartz of the Pixel 9 Pro being a soft pink and actually a great looking colour, for everyone. These days you see a lot of guys wearing that pink pastel colour so I think that the Rose Quartz colour that the Pixel 9 Pro is available in is suitable for anyone and everyone.

The new Peony colour of the Pixel 9 is a much brighter and sharper pink which is not my style but I’m sure it is someone’s?

The star of the show was obviously the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and it’s easy to see why. The Fold when opened is incredibly thin and it is hard to believe that they managed to fit the hardware in such a thin body.  The crease of the fold on the inner display was minimal with the hinge itself allowing for easy opening and closing.

The rear of the phone houses the triple rear camera with the camera island totally different to the rest of the Pixel 9 series which is a strange aesthetic choice by Google. I assume this was done like this to enable them to fit all the hardware inside without increasing thickness.  What surprised me about the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is its size. Even when folded it didn’t seem to be much thicker or bigger than the Pixel 9 Pro. It does have the same outer display size as that on the Pixel 9 Pro so that should not come as much of a shock.

I also need to give a notable mention to the new Pixel Buds Pro 2 and the Pixel Watch 3.

The Pixel Buds Pro 2 have an entirely new design which will hopefully allow it to sit in the ear a lot better without causing too much annoyance.  I struggle with the original Buds Pro to find anything close to comfortable so hopefully the new design solves that for me.

The Pixel Watch 3 was displayed in two sizes and from afar they looked exactly the same. Up close there is a slight difference but remember one is 41 mm and one is 45 mm so there is only a 4 mm difference between the two anyway. I did quite like the 45 mm size, much more than I did the 41, so hopefully it will be big enough for me but I’ll be sure to try and get my hands on one to test that out.  Aside from the slightly bigger size the watches looked virtually identical to the Watch 2 but with a new display that is brighter and bigger.

I look forward to getting my hands on as many of these devices as possible in the coming weeks.  Google is often all about software but with the Pixel 9 series of phones the design is fresh (for Google) and brings a new excitement to the phones.  There is a lot of new AI software of course but that will have to wait for the full review.

Keep an eye out for the full reviews of the above products in the coming weeks on EFTM