The new Google Pixel 9 is packed with AI, but it still looks the same as it did a year ago.
So when I saw the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones last year, I thought Google was focusing on the wrong thing. For years, each new Pixel generation introduced some really useful features, like live transcription in the Recorder app or camera tricks, but the Pixel 8 generation introduced a bunch of novel (but ultimately useless at best and crappy at worst) AI features.
This approach has changed only slightly with the Pixel 9 for 2024. Google's entry-level flagship costs $799, $100 more than the Pixel 8, but for that price you get more RAM, a better camera, and most notably, an even bigger set of new AI features that will make you wonder why anyone would ever use them.
This is still a very solid Android phone, but Google's forays into AI are starting to feel like the kind of manufacturer-specific bloatware you once avoided by buying a Pixel phone.
Google Pixel 9 Price and Specifications
We can already see that the Pixel 9 is now $799, up $100 from last year.
You won't notice that it has more RAM than it had before. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
But specifically, it looks like this:
Google Tensor G4 chip
12GB RAM
128GB storage
6.3-inch display
The Pixel 9's only hardware variant is the 256GB model, which costs $100 more: Aside from the new Tensor chip (which is now standard on new Pixel phones), the biggest upgrade over the Pixel 8 is the increase in RAM to 12GB, up from last year's 8GB.
In theory, this should allow the phone to handle more tasks at once, but it's actually there for AI features, which we'll explain in a moment.
Google Pixel 9 design
Design-wise, the most important thing to know about the Pixel 9 is that it's coming in pink, or “Peony,” this year. Great job by Google! The unit we reviewed wasn't pink, but we're super jealous of anyone who gets the Peony model. Other color options include the less-obvious Porcelain, Wintergreen, and Obsidian choices.
Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
As for design changes, Google decided to surround the phone with flat aluminum rather than the curved surface of the Pixel 8. I don't really like this, as the Pixel 9 feels less ergonomic in the hand and has always felt harder to grip than phones with curved sides.
Whether or not there's actually a risk of it falling out of your hand and onto the cement, you definitely don't want a phone that looks like that.
The other big design change to note is that the traditional side-by-side camera bars on the back have been replaced with a horizontal oval camera bump that looks more like what we've seen on other smartphones. It looks less Pixel-like than before, but that's not to say it looks bad, it just looks different.
Google Pixel 9 Display
While I have misgivings about other aspects of the Pixel 9, the improved display isn't one of them.
It's a very bright display. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
Google increased the maximum brightness from 2,000 nits on the Pixel 8 to 2,700 nits on the Pixel 9, making it the perfect phone for outdoor use on a sunny day. I found the screen didn't obscure my view while walking around the neighborhood, which was an issue on some older iPhones.
The 60-120Hz adaptive refresh rate that graced last year's entry-level Pixel returns unchanged, which is a good thing: Apple's comparable devices (non-Pro models) were still locked to 60Hz until the recent iPhone 15. Google (and most other competitors at this point) continue to be outdone by Apple in this regard.
Yes, it's a tenth of an inch larger than the Pixel 8. The Pixel 9's display is 6.3 inches, compared to the Pixel 8's 6.2 inches.
Google Pixel 9's AI features
So, we know that this phone has great specs and a beautiful display. I don't really like the way it feels in my hand, but you can always buy a case. Now, let's talk about what I don't like about the Pixel 9: its over-reliance on AI features.
Just as the Pixel 8 introduced the Magic Editor feature to allow for quick and easy photo editing, the Pixel 9 has about six new features with varying levels of usefulness — that is, they range from “harmless” to “I don't know why this is here.”
For example, you can use the Magic Editor's Reimagine feature to take a photo of a street and use AI to turn it into a river, or you can use Add Me to create a group photo that never would have happened in real life because one person had to hold the camera.
It works, but at what cost? Credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
There's also a new native Pixel Weather app that's nearly identical to Apple's, but when you launch it, it gives you a quick AI summary of the day's weather.
For example, today's weather summary for Brooklyn says, “A pleasant afternoon with comfortable temperatures and clean air.” All of this is true, and it's information you could glean yourself by simply scrolling down and spending 15 seconds looking at the rest of the weather app.
That's my main issue with all of this: Google has put a lot of effort into these features, touting them as big selling points for the Pixel 9 family, but none of them have been transformative or innovative in any significant way. There's no need to have an AI summarize the weather for you when all the weather apps do it in a visually appealing way.
I also don't like the photo editing features like Add Me and the expanded Magic Editor suite. Google is especially keen to sell these features as a way to create magical family memories, with Add Me's ability to create the perfect group photo and Magic Editor's ability to make mundane shots look amazing. But to me, this is the opposite of what memories should be.
I'm not a parent, but if I were, I wouldn't want my kids to grow up and find out that all the photos I took of them were fake and edited with AI tricks. A photo of you sitting in a flower-filled field with a hot air balloon in the background? That's fake, sorry. I was more concerned with making my social feeds look good than I was with giving an accurate glimpse into your childhood.
And there's no mention of Pixel Studio, the new text-to-image AI tool that turns text prompts into images. It's standard Midjourney-level stuff, and it works pretty quickly and efficiently on the Pixel 9, but what purpose does it serve? So you can send your friends an obviously AI-generated photo of a lizard wearing a cowboy hat? That seems like a great way to get kicked out of a group chat.
Pixel Studio on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
That doesn't mean they're all useless. Pixel Screenshots might be the only example of Google leveraging AI in a life-saving way. The idea is that it catalogs every screenshot you've taken and remembers on-screen text and other relevant information for you. If you need to remember a screenshot you took six months ago, you no longer have to scroll back through your library. Just open the Screenshots app, search for what you need, and it'll be there.
Pixelated screenshots actually make a lot of sense. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
It also provides a way to create to-do lists and summarize phone calls, which may come in handy someday.
But broadly speaking, about 75 percent of these AI features feel like tacked-on (at least). It feels like Google just shoved these features in there because they spent too much on AI development and desperately need a return on their investment. I strongly feel like features like Add Me, Pixel Studio, Magic Editor, etc. are things that nobody actually needs. Take real photos of your kids and learn to love their imperfections.
Google Pixel 9 Performance
All of these extra AI features are powered by the new Tensor G4 chip and 12GB of base RAM that's in every Pixel 9. Given all of this, and the fact that Pixel phones are generally very high-performance, you might expect the Pixel 9 to excel here, but that's not actually the case.
I don't like the flat sides. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
That's not to say there's anything hugely wrong with the Pixel 9's day-to-day performance — apps load quickly, the phone never froze or slowed down during my time with it, and it never got too hot with heavy everyday use — but that's all been true of the last few Pixels, and it's just not all that impressive anymore.
Compounding this is a relatively low Geekbench multi-core score of 4,358, which is lower than the Samsung Galaxy S23, which isn't even the latest Samsung flagship. And there's already an S24 out! Again, I didn't encounter any obvious issues with the Pixel 9's day-to-day performance, but the numbers show it's not as strong as some of its older competitors.
Google Pixel 9 Battery Life
One thing the Pixel 9 is absolutely impeccable at is its battery life.
Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
Simply put, it's impressive. With a looped TikTok video playing on the Pixel 9's screen at 50% brightness, the phone lasted 19 hours and 20 minutes. That actually beat out the Pixel 9 Pro XL in the same test, which lasted 18 hours and 51 minutes on the larger, premium Pixel phone. It also outlasted the Pixel 8, which only lasted a little over 15 hours on the same test.
If you're not playing videos continuously, it will last even longer. With normal use of the phone, it lasted about 24 hours without a charge. Google didn't fail me here either.
Google Pixel 9 Camera
In terms of specifications, Google made only one major change with the Pixel 9 camera: the ultra-wide lens on the back has been upgraded from 12MP on the Pixel 8 to 48MP on the Pixel 9. The 50MP main lens and 10.5MP selfie camera remain unchanged from a year ago.
Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
Not surprisingly, even though I'm not a photographer professionally, I was able to take some great looking photos with the Pixel 9's camera. Google has always put great cameras on these phones through a combination of hardware and software processing, and the Pixel 9 is no exception.
For example, you won't get the eye-popping 30x zoom of the Pixel 9 Pro model, but the 8x zoom will give you very clear results even from far away.
I was standing about 50 yards away from here. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
I'm not a huge fan of selfies so I'm not very good at them, but the selfie lens and portrait mode are still excellent.
Good portrait mode. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
As well as upgrading the megapixels, Google claims the ultra-wide lens also offers a huge improvement in light sensitivity. My backyard was the perfect location for some low-light testing at night, and while the photos I took were a bit blurry, they were far more visible than they would appear in real life.
It's pitch black at night. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
Just for fun, I also tried out the nighttime portrait mode and it worked very well.
This is also impossible to see with the naked eye. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
Is the Google Pixel 9 worth buying?
If you're a Pixel aficionado and plan on sticking with your next Pixel as much as you did with your previous model, the Pixel 9 is a great choice: Not only does it handle everyday performance well, it also has great battery life, great camera quality, and is much easier to see outdoors in broad daylight, which is a plus.
But Google has gone too far with its AI features this year. I don't like it when a weather app can summarize a temperature table in one sentence, because my brain can do that in a second, too. I don't want photos of my friends and loved ones to exist in this weird world where they're all artificially edited. And if you can't replace group photos because you own a camera, so be it. Life is full of imperfections, and pretending that it isn't does you any favors.
I'll admit that the Pixel Screenshots app is really useful, but more than that, I'd like to see Google focus on real innovation, or failing that, develop a phone that's easier to hold than this one.
