Google has this year shot their shot early, with the release of the Pixel 9 smartphones two months earlier than the Pixels have been before. Not only that but this year there are four new Pixel 9 smartphones with the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 XL launching in retailers today.
I’ve had a week with the new Pixel 9 but if you prefer the larger, more premium Pixel 9 XL you can check out Dan’s review of that here.
My main go-to Pixel this past 12 months, except when on holidays and I wanted the extra camera power, was the Pixel 8 so I felt ready and well-qualified to review the Pixel 9.
The Pixel 9 starts at AU$1,349, up from the $1,199 of the Pixel 8 not 10 months ago and it may be difficult to see why but there are some spec bumps, a new processor and an improved camera but is it enough to justify that price bump?
Read on to hear my thoughts on this year’s Pixel 9.
Design
The soft curving rear of the Pixel phones of previous years are gone, replaced with a newer boxier design and a metal frame around the sides of the phone. It reminds me a lot of the iPhone 15.
The corners still have a small rounding off to them so it’s not a true sharp edge but it feels very iPhone in the hand. The small rounding keeps it comfortable in the hand with the top side, next to the display actually feeling a lot better to use as it rounds around onto the flat display.
The display is a nice size 6.3-inch Actua display but is still 1080P, one of the downgrades you get in the cheaper and lesser Pixel. It is still protected with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 though.
The rear of the phone has a new camera bar with it now a pill dumped onto the back, not going all the way to the sides like it did previously. I think I actually prefer this new camera island over the old one. It just seems more stylish to me.
Overall, the phone is 152mm x 72mm x 8.5mm in size – so slightly taller and wider but thinner than last year.
This year the Pixel 9 is available in four different colours – Peony, Wintergreen, Porcelain and Obsidian and in 128GB or 256GB variants. We received the Porcelain variant and I like it with the glossy rear cover – a slight off white flavour. In person, the Peony is quite a strong, bold pink but the Wintergreen is a soft green that looks really nice.
Interestingly, you can buy cases to match these colours but you can also buy cases for the Pixel 9 in the other colour variants of the Pixel 9 Pro – Rose Quartz and Hazel. This is because the Pixel 9 Pro is exactly the same size and the camera bar is exactly the same length in both so the case for one will fit the other.
The new design from Google is something I am here for. It feels a lot more premium and stylish with a lot more attention paid to details and its architecture.
Display
The 6.3-inch Actua display is bigger than last year’s 6.2-inch OLED display and has the same resolution and refresh rate (60-120Hz) but this year the peak brightness gets a big bump up to 2700 nits.
It is a big display, and it is easy to read in sunlight – when I’ve seen the sun here in Melbourne in August. The smoothness of the display looks great when scrolling through apps etc, especially with the buttery smoothness of the Pixel software.
Underneath the display is a new, much faster ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. Finally it is lightning fast, accurate and reproducible – finally.
Camera
This year there are still only two rear cameras in the camera bar but this time they are both exactly the same as the two main cameras in the Pixel 9 Pro models. This is a significant improvement on last year’s model. The two cameras are:
- Wide camera – 50 MP Octa PD wide camera
- Ultrawide camera – 48 MP Quad PD ultrawide camera with auto-focus, 123 degree FOV and macro focus for shots as close as 2cm.
Advanced dual rear camera system: 50 MP wide | 48 MP ultrawide with Macro Focus | Super Res Zoom up to 8x and optical quality at 0.5x, 1x and 2x.
It lacks the telephoto lens of the Pro models but the ultrawide camera is capable of performing much of those tasks – albeit to a slightly lower level.
The front-facing camera is once again a 10.5MP Dual PD selfie camera with auto-focus which is a disappointment given the Pro models got an upgrade to a 48MP selfie camera. In real life though it doesn’t make much difference to be honest as they are all pretty good by now and Google does so much with software this lower camera is far from a deal breaker.
Once again the images produced by the Google Pixel 9 are as close to real life colouring as any other smartphone out there with other companies enhancing colours and saturating images far too much. The night images were really good, again — Google really does do the best night photography.
There were a couple of times I got a blurry image when there were too many focus surfaces in the image but as a whole it performed really well in all light conditions – and even did well with running dogs!
Camera AI
Dan covered the Camera AI in his Pixel 9 Pro review so I’m not going to cover it in any great detail but I will mention a couple of my favourite features – yes, every new camera AI feature on the Pixel 9 Pro also lands on the Pixel 9.
Add Me
This is great for those who take a lot of shots with friends etc. This way everyone can be in the photos – eventually. It seemed to work well when I tested it out but you do have to be patient to take the second shot without disturbing the scene too much in between the two images. Sure, the software does tell you where everyone was to help replicate the image but it’s easier to just not move much in the first place.
Auto frame
This is some crazy wizardry right here. It can change things in an image, it can remove things, add things and more. AI image generation based on your own image. At what point are you creating a new memory rather than capturing the memory as it was?
“Auto frame in Magic Editor was trained on known photographic techniques to emphasise the subject and improve storytelling. Now, you can automatically reframe your photo, new or old. It can suggest the best crop and even expand your image to get more of the scene.”
This works ok, not perfectly but it was able to expand scenes or offer better cropping for better story telling quite well. If you are making an album you may take the time to do this but I dare say most of us won’t.
Battery and charging
The battery life on the Pixel 9 is just good but still not great. It will last me as a heavy user from the start of the day until the end of the day but that’s it. There were times I had some battery anxiety but it lasted – you can always turn on extended battery life if you want to eke out a few more hours though. I didn’t have to do that at any time.
The battery is a 4,700 mAh battery that can be charged using the Google 45W USB-C charger (not included) up to 55% “in about 30 minutes.” We were unable to test these numbers without a charger from Google so you’ll have to take their word for it.
Wirelessly, the Pixel 9 has wireless charging – “Fast” but officially not supporting Qi2 standards. I have subsequently read online that Google stated to some outlets that it supports Qi2 charging speeds but doesn’t include the magnets for the magnetic hold effect of Qi2 (and MagSafe) — I don’t think this is official though so we’ll have to wait and see on that Very disappointing from Google. You can always easily buy a case with the magnets included though so there is that.
Software
The Pixel 9 launches with Android 14, with Android 15 undoubtedly coming in the next month or two. Powered by the new Google Tensor G4 processor, the software experience is once again second to none – not even the iPhone is anywhere near the smoothness of the Pixel experience. It is fast, smooth and incredibly enjoyable.
Google’s Assistant Voice typing deserves a mention once again. As someone who is on the road a lot for work I often have to quickly reply to messages without touching my phone. Assistant Voice typing is the fastest and most accurate voice typing on the market. No other brand or manufacturer comes even close. It not just listens to what you are saying but checks to see if it makes sense and corrects it to what it should be more often than not.
With a Pixel you will always be on the latest, greatest and safest Android software with “Seven years of OS, security and Pixel Drop updates from launch.”
Gemini AI
This year, more than ever, the Pixel phones are all about Google’s AI, Gemini AI. Keep in mind that to get the full functionality out of Gemini AI you’ll need to purchase a Google One AI Premium plan (12 months is free with the Pro models) which is incredibly disappointing.
Don’t make a phone all about the AI when you have to then purchase a further subscription to get full use of it. Maybe they’ll start offering free phones with any subscription purchase?
Gemini now also includes Gemini Live, a conversational experience that, while still in development, responds quite well. There’s no multi-modal input in Gemini Live as yet so you can’t show it a picture and nor can it output anything yet but you can simply just talk to it.
When I first started using Gemini Live it spoke back in an American accent before it learned to add a bit of ocker Aussie to the twang. Didn’t take it more than a sentence or two though. I’m not entirely convinced on the usefulness of it just yet but the more we use it the more use cases we may well see it being handy for.
My main issue was thinking of commands for it. If you hesitate for too long in your command it will start executing a random command it thinks you asked even though you may have only been half through what you wanted to ask it so think first before you speak.
I was able to ask it the difference between two models of cars though and it gave me a quick summary which was incredibly handy when looking for a car for my daughter. For things like this I think it could be a great time saver and very handy tool.
Pixel screenshots
This, even though it came with the phone, was not in the app drawer to begin with. Turns out I had to go into the Play Store, remove the update and then update it again.
This AI tool uses Gemini AI to analyse and summarise the screenshots you’ve done allowing them to be searchable. It seemed to work well but I think I’d like its analysis to go deeper – for example, I took a screenshot of a supplement, rather than summarising what was visible on the bottle it would have also been nice for it to look it up in the background and give me a synopsis of the product.
You have to go into the Screenshots app to add it automatically to a folder or to analyse it etc rather than go directly there from the screenshot. This is a real pain and something Google will hopefully fix soon.
Pixel Studio
This is an AI image generator on your phone – for quick access? I don’t mind doing them to add into a chat quickly etc but I’m not convinced of its ability in this case. I asked it to create an image for me of a west highland terrier male and female dog and it gave me a Westie and a Scotty dog!
Final thoughts
By itself the Pixel 9 is a great phone. The operating system is buttery smooth giving a great experience, and you will continue to get updates for 7 years which is impressive.
The display is bright but not the brightest. The design is finally super premium and stylish and the camera is one of the best on the market, even though it is a dual camera system — the two cameras in the rear system are exactly the same as the two main cameras in the Pixel 9 Pro models.
Software on Google phones is second to none, especially when it comes to camera computational software with this year’s additions being once again magical. Gemini AI is useful in parts but at the moment it feels like an AI solution looking for an application. If you build it, they will come?
The Google Pixel 9 has seen a price increase this year and the $1,349 makes it pricey. The next step up if the Pixel 9 Pro — a phone the same size but much better specs when it comes to camera, memory, display and more — including 12 months of included full use of Gemini AI. This makes the Pixel 9 a tough sell.
If you definitely do not want to fork out the extra $350 for the Pixel 9 Pro then I can recommend the Google Pixel 9 to you. It will take the best images in its class and I’m not convinced that for most of us the extra camera on the Pro models is really going to make much difference in real world situations.
The Google Pixel 9 is available now in Obsidian, Porcelain, Wintergreen and Peony starting at A$1,349 from the Google Store online, as well as JB Hi-Fi, Telstra, Optus, Harvey Norman, Officeworks and Vodafone.
Scott is our resident open technology expert. If you can mod it, or want to use it your way, Scott has probably done it. From Laptops to phones, headphones and game consoles, he’s played with it and wants to see the next generation.
