Google has finally made Android’s iPhone. The search giant has been aiming to make the Android version of the iPhone for years. Not because it wants to be as bland as the iPhone, but to entice iPhone users over to Android. You see, Google doesn’t really want to take customers away from Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus and other Android OEMs. They want to grab more iOS users. Their main goal is to grow the Android user-base, and taking Samsung customers won’t do that. However, taking Apple’s customers will.
Now with the Pixel 9, Google finally has that iPhone that everyone’s been looking for. Not only in the design, but in performance, battery life and software updates. This year, Google made a somewhat significant design change to the entire Pixel 9 lineup, moving to a flat sides approach here, along with a flat camera bar. Which makes it look like an iPhone while at the same time keeping it looking like a Pixel. And that was a genius move by Google. The Pixel 9 is a fantastic phone, and I’ve loved using it over the past week or so. I couldn’t help but think that this could be the best “default” Android phone out there. Does someone need a new phone? Get the Pixel 9. It’s $799 and offers quite a bit at that price.
Google Pixel 9 Review: Hardware & Design
The iPhone design comparisons are going to continue, so buckle up. Much like the iPhone 14 (non-Pro model), Google has adopted a matte rails approach, with the glossy back. Now, Apple did change this up with the iPhone 15, to make the back a bit more matte, so here’s to hoping Google does that next year. While the back is glossy, it doesn’t show fingerprints as much on the lighter colors. If you were to pick up the Obsidian model, it would definitely show the fingerprints. But here on my Wintergreen model, they are pretty tough to see most of the time. If you’re worried about it, just grab a case. You were going to anyway.
Even the camera bar sports a flat sides look, which keeps the Pixel’s aesthetic while also looking more like the iPhone. This was a great choice by Google, instead of blindly copying the iPhone like every other OEM did when Apple introduced the notch. Or like Samsung appeared to have done with other Apple products – Apple Watch Ultra and AirPods. In the early renders of the Pixel 9, I was not too impressed with the design and actually rather hated it. But over the years, I’ve learned to reserve final judgment for when I see it in person. And now, I love this design. It’s stunning and definitely looks more premium than the Pixel 8.
Another point I’d like to give Google is, the fact that the dimensions on everything here, is the exact same as the Pixel 9 Pro. Meaning that you can rock a Pixel 9 Pro case on your Pixel 9 and vice-versa. That was incredibly smart of Google. As it means case makers only need to make one version for two phones. This was done by keeping the camera bar the same size despite the Pixel 9 having just two cameras instead of three.
Finally on design, the most important part, the Pixel 9 is so comfortable to hold in the hand. I still feel that this size phone is the perfect size. It fits in the hand nicely, and you can still use the entire phone with one hand. Instead of these much larger phones that require two hands to send a text. Though, I do wonder how long it’ll be before Google launches a Pixel XL to go with the Pixel Pro XL.
Google Pixel 9 Review: Display
This is the best display in this price range, hands down. While Samsung might have a scientifically better display on the Galaxy S24, the Pixel 9 has a great-looking display that also gets very bright without destroying the colors. And that’s what’s really important. We’ve seen lots of phones with bright displays, but they tend to always mess up the colors at their maximum brightness settings. Not the case with Pixel 9. It does get a tad brighter than the Galaxy S24, and honestly, I’d say the Pixel 9’s display does look better.
Last year, Google launched its Actua and Super Actua displays. These are essentially marketing terms for these new displays that get very bright. But Google did more than just give us bright displays. These displays are absolutely beautiful, and it’s one of the main reasons I kept coming back to the Pixel 8 Pro last year, and will likely do the same this year (but with Pixel 9 Pro), after reviewing various other devices.
The colors are natural and not oversaturated, though you want some more saturation you can switch over to the Vivid option. Unfortunately, unlike other phones, Google doesn’t let you fine-tune the display’s temperature, contrast, etc.
When it comes to testing, we were able to get it to reach about 1797 nits of brightness. That’s close to Google’s number for high-brightness mode of 1,800 nits. Keep in mind that while peak brightness is 2,700 nits, you will almost never see that. That requires the absolute perfect conditions, not only on the display but also on the battery and processor.
In the real world, this display is very bright. I’ve had no problem whatsoever using it outdoors in direct sunlight. I can see the display very easily, and even better, it doesn’t heat up as much as the Pixel 8 series did when I was outdoors.
Google Pixel 9 Review: Performance
This is perhaps the most important section of any Pixel review, especially after moving to Tensor. Google knows that the Tensor chipsets have become well-known for running hot, running slow, and just being a not great experience at all. Google addressed that with Tensor G4, and it’s actually very noticeable.
Here’s a real world example of how performance has improved. Typically, when I’m outside walking my dog, I’m scrolling away on my phone at the same time. With Pixel 8 Pro, it would be noticeably warm on an 80-degree day. Which you kind of expect that, between the weather, using 4G/5G and the max brightness of the display. But, when I do the exact same thing with the Pixel 9, it stays the about same temperature as when I’m indoors. That also helps with battery life, as the battery is not working harder to keep the phone cool.
Another example is with photo processing. With Pixels, you know after you take a photo, and then you want to view it, you need to wait for it to “process”. Well, on the Pixel 9, that process is basically instant. I compared it to the Pixel 8 Pro from last year, and it was significantly faster. Now this might not be all because of the new Tensor G4, as Google did also bump the RAM up to 12GB this year for AI. But these are welcomed improvements.
The other big area of performance that Google was really lacking in, was the modem. Since switching to Tensor back on the Pixel 6, signal strength has been piss poor on Pixel phones. Typically losing signal quite often, not able to hold onto signal well, on WiFi or mobile data. That problem is gone. I’ve not dropped a single call – though I did only make a handful of them. I’ve also noticed that internet speeds (across WiFi and mobile data) are significantly faster by about 20%.
At home, I have an 800Mbps connection from Comcast. Though I never really see those speeds on WiFi, I do get close on the Pixel 9. I did speed tests sitting at my desk, one right after the other (so that one wouldn’t get priority over the other). The Pixel 8 Pro was able to get 426Mbps download and 23.6Mbps upload, that download speed is not bad by anymeans. But the Pixel 9 smoked it. Getting 645Mbps download and 23.8Mbps upload. I didn’t expect the upload to change much, as Comcast says this plan gets you a max of 24Mbps, and that’s about where we are. But in download speeds, that’s about a 50% change in speed. I’ve noticed similar differences out on mobile data, where the Pixel 9 is typically about 20-25% faster than the Pixel 8 Pro on the same network.
Benchmarks
So, real world examples is one thing, but let’s talk about the raw performance of the Tensor G4. As we always do, we run three benchmarks for performance. This includes Geekbench 6, 3D Mark, and then a video export test with Capcut.
For Geekbench 6, the Pixel 9 did score a little lower than the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL did (surprisingly, the Pixel 9 Pro scored the best). With a score of 1,771 in the single-core and 4,502 in the multi-core. On the GPU test, it actually outscored both models, but very marginally. It scored a 6,560 in the GPU test, while the Pixel 9 Pro was 6,519, and Pixel 9 Pro XL was 6,464. These results put the Tensor G4 right in between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Gen 3. That doesn’t sound quite as impressive since Qualcomm is announcing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in October. However, that is a nice jump from last year’s Tensor G3. And gets us even more excited for the Tensor G5 which should be manufactured by TSMC instead of Samsung.
Next up is the 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test. This test is aimed at pushing the phone to its absolute limit. This uses a 60-second loop that it runs 20 times. Each loop gets a score, and at the end, you get a Best Loop score, Lowest Loop Score and then a stability percentage. The stability percentage is taken from the scores of each loop. On the Pixel 9, it had a Best Loop score of 2,554, a Lowest Loop score of 1,754, giving it stability of 68.7%. The Best Loop score is similar to the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL, but the stability is much lower, and that likely comes down to the vapor chamber that is in the Pro models, but Google decided to leave out of the regular Pixel 9, unfortunately.
Finally, our video export test. For every phone that we review, we run this test. Basically we have the same 60-second clip that we load into Capcut, then we export it at 1080p30 and time how long the export takes. Pixel 9 had a pretty good score with 12.62 seconds, that is just two one-hundredths of a second slower than the Pixel 9 Pro. That puts it at about the same speed as the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3.
Thermals
Thermal testing on the Pixel 9 is probably more important than any other phone we’ve had to test. And that’s because it is so well-known for overheating over the years.
For testing the thermals, the Pixel 9 is put through three tests. The first one is 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test. Right after that benchmark finishes, we measure the temperature in the middle of the screen (where it’s typically the hottest). The Pixel 9 hit 110.8 degrees Fahrenheit. That is actually a pretty respectable temperature for this test. Almost identical to the HONOR Magic6 Pro, Motorola Razr+ (2024), Xiaomi 14, and even the OnePlus 12 with that huge vapor chamber inside.
The next test we run is Genshin Impact. We play this game at full brightness and max graphics for an hour, then measure the temperature. Genshin Impact is typically the most demanding mobile game out there, which makes this a pretty good test. And the Pixel 9 hit 107.3 degrees Fahrenheit, showing that the vapor chamber in the Pixel 9 Pro models do make a huge difference.
Finally, video recording. Typically when you record video on a phone at 4K, it heats up quite a bit. So we do a 10-minute recording at 4K30 – we chose 4K30, because not all phones are capable of doing 4K60 yet. We do a temperature check at 5 minutes in and at the end of the 10 minute recording. Pixel 9 hit temps of 97.2 and 99.3 degrees respectively.
The conclusion I’ve come to after running these tests is that, Google has done a lot to mitigate overheating on the Pixel 9 series. And it might not matter whether the Pixel 9 has a vapor chamber or not, it still does a good job of keeping the phone fairly cool. That could also explain why we are seeing such big jumps in battery life, which we’ll talk about next.
Google Pixel 9 Review: Battery Life & Charging
Another pain point for Tensor-powered Pixels has been the battery life. Particularly at launch. After a few updates, Google sort of figures out battery life and it gets better – though still typically behind the competition. But that’s not the case this year, and some of that might come down to the Pixel 9 series launching on Android 14 (which came out in October 2023) versus Android 15.
I’ve been testing and reviewed all three slab Pixel 9 phones, and I can say battery life is very similar between the three. On the Pixel 9, I’d typically unplug around 6 or 7AM and use it all day as my daily driver, ready to put it back on the charger around 11PM that night. That’s a 16-hour day or so, generally with between 5 and 6 hours of on-screen time. The Pixel 9 would be around 35% at that point. By contrast, the Pixel 8 Pro would be closer to 20%, and typically below 20%. So it’s a pretty good battery boost here, and very similar to the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL. Is this a battery champ? Of course not. Will it get you through a full day, even a heavy day? Sure will.
The Achilles heel here is charging, however. Google has upped the charging speed to 27W, but keep in mind that max charging speed you will not see for very long. In fact, I think I saw it for about a minute. It typically was charging from 0 to 100 at 23-25W up until it hit 80%, then it would start to trickle down as most batteries tend to do. This is a 4,700mAh capacity battery, so it is not fast, unfortunately. Thankfully, battery life is pretty good, so I really only need to charge it at night, and as long as it’s full when I wake up, then the slower charging is perfectly fine.
Benchmarks
On every phone we review, we run a battery and charging. For the battery life, we charge the phone up to 100% overnight to ensure it is fully fully charged. Then, open up a YouTube video that is 24-hours long and let it play on full screen and at maximum brightness until the phone dies. For the Pixel 9, it was able to keep going for 23 hours and 30 minutes. That’s about an hour and a half longer than the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL. It’s about two hours less than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which we still call our battery champ. So it’s not bad at all. Compared to last year, the Pixel 8 Pro only lasted 14 hours and 15 minutes.
On the charging side, we grabbed a 60W charger to charge the Pixel 9 from 1% to 100%. And used a USB-C cable that showed us the charging speed, so we could see how well it’s doing and how often it hit 27W – not that often. It was the slowest of the Pixel 9 series, charging in one hour and 32 minutes. Surprisingly, it was 13 minutes faster than the Pixel 9 Pro with the same battery capacity, charging speed and charger.
Google Pixel 9 Review: Software
Let’s get this part out of the way now, the Pixel 9 launched on Android 14 and will get 7 years of updates. It will be updated until August 2031. Some are complaining because of the Pixel 9 launching on Android 14, it means it won’t get the full 7 years of updates, as Android 15 will be the first one. But let’s face it, how many of us will still have a working Pixel 9, come 2031?
Secondly, I actually think that Google’s launch with Android 14 was a good idea. Typically, the Pixel launches with a ton of bugs. I’ll never forget the amount of bugs the Pixel 6 launched with. With the Pixel 9 series, I’ve seen almost no bugs. That isn’t to say it is bug-free, but it is much more stable than previous launches. This is due to the fact that Google has had a solid year working on Android 14, so it’s pretty stable now.
Of course, Android 14 is only part of the software story with Pixel 9. For the past few years, each version of Android has had fewer and fewer upgrades – at least for end-users. With most of the new features coming from Feature Drops (Android and Pixel). However, with Pixel 9, a lot of the new features come from Gemini.
First up is Gemini Live. This feature was actually announced at Google I/O back in May. Essentially, you can have a conversation with Gemini, including interrupting it, adding questions, etc. Gemini Live has about ten different voices you can choose from, and it sounds incredibly natural. One of the issues I had at first was that I could not see what Gemini Live was saying, only hear it. But when you back out of the Gemini Live, you’ll see what Gemini said, in case you need to go back and see what was said.
Then there’s Pixel Studio. This is a new app that uses Generative AI to create images. It’s honestly pretty cool, with some guard rails, though more are needed. With Pixel Studio, you give it a prompt and then it creates an image. You can choose the style, from cinematic to 3D cartoon and even stickers. There are some truly cursed images from Pixel Studio, like an Oreo Pizza. But it is loads of fun.
The software is really stable this year, at least in my experience. And that’s a refreshing change from recent years with Pixels.
Google Pixel 9 Review: Camera
The main difference between the Pixel 9 and the Pro models is the lack of a telephoto camera. Instead, the Pixel 9 has a 50-megapixel primary sensor and a 48-megapixel ultrawide (with Macro Focus). It also sports Single-Zone LDAF instead of Multi-Zone LDAF, which is like the Pro models. Sometimes, you can notice a difference in focusing speeds, though it’s really only noticeable if you’re using the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro side-by-side. Otherwise, you get most of the same camera features as the Pixel 9 Pro, except for Pro Controls, High Res, and Zoom Enhance. But new features like Add Me are here.
Magic Editor’s new Reimagine feature does continue to amaze me, and it’s here on the Pixel 9 as well. It’s not always perfect, and there are plenty of ways that it’s a dead giveaway that the picture has been edited with AI. But it is a fun tool to use.
The camera experience is pretty much what you’d expect from a Pixel camera. Pretty good pictures from basically any situation. There are also goodies included, like Add Me, which allows you to put everyone in the picture – including the photographer. I wasn’t blown away by the pictures coming out of this camera. Don’t get me wrong, they are good; I’ve just used phones with better cameras, like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and the OnePlus 12. Honestly, I’d love to see what Google could do with a 1-inch type sensor on their Pixels with their computational photography chops, but I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon.
Here are some samples taken with the Pixel 9.
Should you buy the Google Pixel 9?
So, should you buy the Google Pixel 9? If you’re in need of a new phone, for sure. If you have a Pixel 8, or really any other 2023 or 2024 phone, probably not. It’s a good phone, but I’m not sure it’s worth upgrading from a Pixel 8 unless the battery life is really irking you, then it might be worth upgrading. I really like the Pixel 9, and actually the entire Pixel 9 series this year. It’s a perfect set of phones, with plenty of choice for everyone.
You should buy the Google Pixel 9 if:
- You have a 2+ year old phone that needs upgrading.
- You want the magic of Google’s Pixel camera at a lower price.
- You like having a smaller phone and don’t need a telephoto camera.
You should not buy the Google Pixel 9 if:
- You have a Pixel 8.
- You need a telephoto camera.
- You want the best performance on any smartphone today.
