Discover the in-depth review of the Pixel 9 Pro, covering camera quality, performance, battery life, and connectivity. Find out if it’s the right phone for you!
This phone has improved significantly, but there are still a few areas that need refinement. The Pixel 9 Pro is larger in size, which helps with thermal management. It also includes a telephoto lens, making it a more practical choice.
After using it extensively for travel and photography, I observed key aspects such as heating, connectivity, performance, and camera quality.
There are no major heating issues. Even after prolonged usage, including 4K 30fps video recording for about 40 minutes, the temperature remained around 42-44°C. Thermal management is noticeably better compared to some other devices. During video calls, the temperature rises slightly, but it remains manageable.
The phone has a glass back, a metal frame, and an IP68 rating, making it durable. However, it does not come with a charger in the box, and it supports 27W charging, which is not the fastest but still reasonable.
Connectivity has seen some improvement. The network reception is stable, and there are no major issues with WiFi connectivity. However, I did notice that Jio WiFi calling sometimes causes a delay in receiving messages.
The display is quite impressive. It features a 6.3-inch 1.5K screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a brightness level of 2000 nits. The display is flat, ultra-sharp, and has a fast fingerprint scanner that unlocks the phone quickly. The brightness and viewing angles are excellent, making the overall experience smooth.
In terms of performance, the phone is powered by the Tensor G4 chipset and comes with UFS 3.1 storage and LPDDR5X RAM. It promises seven years of software updates, ensuring long-term usability. However, the AnTuTu score is below 12 lakh, which means it is not as powerful as Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. While it handles everyday tasks well, it is not ideal for heavy gaming. Casual gaming is fine, but for high-performance gaming, better options are available in this price range.
The camera setup includes a 50MP main sensor, a 48MP ultra-wide sensor, a 48MP 5x telephoto lens, and a 42MP selfie camera. The 5x telephoto lens offers good zoom capabilities, maintaining decent details even at 30x digital zoom. The ultra-wide camera produces consistent colors, and autofocus is quick and reliable.
While the portrait mode captures good background blur, it needs improvement, especially in sunset lighting, where skin tones appear overprocessed. The selfie camera sometimes struggles with backlight and can produce unnatural skin tones.
For video recording, the phone supports 4K 60fps and allows seamless lens switching. There is also an 8K video enhancement feature, though it takes time to process and may not be practical for real-life usage. One drawback I noticed is that the selfie video contrast is quite high, which makes skin tones look unnatural in certain lighting conditions.
The phone comes with a 4700mAh battery, and its battery performance has improved compared to previous models. It lasts a full day with regular use, and there are no major issues related to heating or call drops.
In conclusion, this is a ₹1,00,000 smartphone, though with discounts, it can be purchased for around ₹90,000. The price is expected to decrease over time. This phone does not focus on extreme gaming but excels in clean software experience, photography (with some weaknesses in portraits and selfies), and premium design.
For users who value long-term software support, smooth performance, and a refined user experience, the Pixel 9 Pro is a great choice.
