Google Pixel 9 Review: Matured Design, But Still Gets Hot

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Google’s latest Pixel 9 lineup now consists of four phones instead of two, and there’s a size and shape for everyone. Do you want a compact phone? You have the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro. Do you like big screens and can’t lie? There’s the Pixel 9 Pro XL. And finally, there’s the Pixel 9 Pro Fold for all the productivity freaks. You also get updated designs with the new Pixel phones. While you can still tell they’re Pixel phones from the back, the smaller Pixel 9 looks a lot like the Samsung Galaxy S24 from the front.

And because it’s a Google phone, you also get plenty of new AI features. I’ve been using the base Pixel 9 for almost a week now, and while it feels like a mature piece of hardware, it’s still not quite there yet. If you want to understand what I mean, you should read the full review.

The Pixel 9 is available in India in a single 12GB RAM and 256GB storage option at Rs. 79,999.

Google Pixel 9 Design: Flagship level

• Dimensions – 152.8 height x 72.0 width x 8.5 depth
• Weight – 198g
• Colours – Obsidian, Porcelain, Wintergreen, Peony

In terms of design, everything is now flat, and everything is iPhone 15 and Samsung Galaxy S24-like. The phone has an aluminium flat frame with rounded corners and a matte finish that reminds me very much of the iPhone. The smallest Pixel is also no longer as compact as it once was. The Pixel 9 is taller and wider than both the iPhone 15 and the Galaxy S24. Also gone is the camera visor, which is replaced by a camera bar that runs horizontally across like the visor, but it’s now pill-shaped, resembling the Google search bar. However, you can still tell it’s a Pixel phone.

The design is very similar to the iPhone 15 and the Galaxy S24

The rear panel is a slab of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 with a polished finish and a Google logo positioned at the centre. The right frame houses the power and the volume buttons, and there’s a microphone up top, a USB Type-C port, a speaker grille, a SIM card tray, and another mic at the bottom. The left side is left empty. The new flat design makes it feel more flagship and premium now, but I prefer the curved back design and the camera visor look of the Pixel 8.

Pixel 9 is now also taller than its predecessor, but that’s mainly due to the slightly bigger display. It also retains the IP68 rating, and that camera bar can still be used as a finger rest.

Google Pixel 9 Display: Brighter and better

• Panel – 6.3-inch OLED, full HD+ resolution
• Refresh rate – 60 to 120Hz
• Protection – Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2

The display on the Pixel 9 is now bigger and brighter than the Pixel 8, but it also has uniform and slim bezels all around. It looks like Google finally decided to wrap the display inwards at the bottom to get rid of the thicker chin on previous non-pro Pixel phones. The new 6.3-inch OLED display, which Google has branded ‘Actua’, offers 2,700 nits of peak brightness, 24-bit depth for colours, and an adaptive refresh rate between 60 and 120Hz. It’s still not an LTPO panel, but it is definitely better than the older model.

The phone has an LTPS panel and only offers a 60 or 120Hz refresh rate

You get excellent colour output and plenty of contrast, and it also does justice to HDR videos. The panel supports both HDR10 and HDR10+, and you will get Widevine L1 certifications. The software offers Natural and Adaptive colour modes. While I had no problem using the Pixel 8 outdoors, the Pixel 9 is even better, and everything’s easier to read.

Pixel 9’s display houses a hole-punch cutout at the top and now offers an ultra-sonic in-display fingerprint sensor. This is a nice upgrade from the optical one on the Pixel 8, which was slower and less accurate than other flagship phones. The new fingerprint scanner on the Pixel 9 finally gets it on par with other flagships, and it works great. It’s fast and works even with wet fingers.

Google Pixel 9 Software: More AI

• OS – Android 14
• Software support – 7 Years
• Latest security patch – September 5

Pixel phones were known for their cameras, but now they’re also known for their AI software features. And there’s a lot on the new Pixel 9 lineup. The Pixel 9 runs Android 14 out of the box, and I received the September security patch during the review period. This is a bit strange for a new Pixel phone, as the Pixels of the past have almost always run the newest Android version out of the box. However, the Pixel phones came early this year, and Android 15 just hit AOSP.

You will get 7 years of OS updates on the Pixel 9

Luckily, Google continues to promise 7 years of OS and security updates on its flagships, so the phones should be good for a while, at least software-wise. There’s a new Weather app on the phone, and you get plenty of customisation options across the system.

Now, let’s talk about the phone’s AI features. You can now use Gemini Live with the Google One 2TB plan that gets you a free month of Gemini Advanced. It lets you use the Gemini 1.5 Pro model with a 1 million token context window, which basically enables you to throw complex problems at the AI assistant without worrying about any limit. You also get access to Gemini Live, which I found to be super useful and very impressive. It worked flawlessly and had a very natural tone. I did find it hallucinate sometimes, but the ability to have a free-flow conversation with an AI is quite cool. It’s like the ChatGPT Voice option on the ChatGPT app.

Gemini Live on Pixel 9 works great, and it feels like you’re talking to a human

You also get access to several in-built AI features such as ‘Help me create a list’ in the Google Keep notes app and a new AI weather report in the Weather app. The former can be quite handy, but I’m not sure if the AI summary is actually useful.

The Pixel Studio app lets you quickly generate AI images, but there are limitations

There’s also the new Pixel Studio and Pixel Screenshots app this year. The latter helps you remember something you took a screenshot of and organises your screenshots. I didn’t really find the Pixel Screenshots very useful as I have a bad memory and can’t really remember what screenshots I took in the first place.

Meanwhile, the Pixel Studio app was fun as it lets you create images using AI. Of course, there are limitations to what you can create, and it’ll not let you create any human subjects, but you can get some cool images for creative purposes. Simply open the app, tap on Create, and type in your prompt. You can also try different styles for the output, add stickers and text to the created images, and you can also use the app to create stickers from photos on your phone.

The Pixel Studio app won’t let you create images with humans

Apart from the Gemini and AI features sprinkled across the UI, you also get a couple of new Camera AI features. New this year is Add Me, which lets you add yourself in group pictures where you’re the one behind the camera. It’s fun and can be used for other creative ways as well.

You can use the Add Me feature to create fun pictures [Tap to expand]

Google has also added a new Auto frame and Reimagine tool in Magic Editor. The former uses AI to reframe old photos for better storytelling and can also expand the image. This mostly worked well, but some of the crops were weird. Meanwhile, the Reimagine tool can be used to change how your photos look, and it works really well most of the time. I was able to find an elephant on a road nearby and make my friends believe that I had recently travelled to Paris. The AI-generated images can be super realistic, which is both impressive and scary.

This is a Reimagined image. Guess what’s not real? [Tap to expand]

Asked the Reimagine tool to add an elephant, and it did [Tap to expand]

Finally, the Google Pixel 9 also improves the Audio Magic Eraser feature, which lets you remove noise from a video. This works well and is slightly better than what we got on the Pixel 8.

Unfortunately, the non-Pro Pixel still doesn’t get access to features such as Video Boost, Night Sight Video, Zoom Enhance, and a few others. However, there are a lot of AI tools on the phone that’ll help in a lot of ways and make life easier and fun. Maybe you can even use the Reimagine tool to reimagine your life.

Google Pixel 9 Performance: Still runs hot

• Chipset – Tensor G4
• RAM – 12GB
• Storage – Up to 256GB

I honestly think Google should cut ties with Samsung for the Pixel processors and just go back to Qualcomm. The Tensor G4 chipset is new this year, but it’s still not a performer and continues to run hot even when doing basic things. While you will not see any lag or random app freezes, the phone will get warm after 30 minutes on Instagram. However, this happens with some apps, and I didn’t face any heat issues when watching YouTube videos. Run a game, the phone will heat, open the camera and it just takes less than a couple of minutes for the rear panel and frame to get warm. Google should’ve really added a vapour-cooling chamber on the phone. The Pro models have it, even phones that cost half the price run cooler and offer vapour cooling.

The phone doesn’t have a vapour-cooling chamber

As for gaming, you can play all kinds of games on it, but you won’t enjoy it after 15-20 mins. With BGMI, for instance, I got excellent frame rates, and everything ran smoothly, but the phone became too hot to use after about 35 mins. For regular use, performance is enough. App launches are fast, and they even stay in memory quite long. Overall, it doesn’t feel slow unless you give it some heavy stuff to run. I ran some synthetic benchmarks on the phone just to compare the numbers to similarly priced phones, and here’s what happened.

It is worth noting that I wasn’t able to install most of the benchmarking apps as Google didn’t allow them. I had to sideload them and that could be why some of the scores are lower than I expected them to be. Either way, if you’re buying a phone for performance, this is not it.

Moving on to speaker, earpiece, and cellular performance. The Pixel 9 gets a hybrid dual speaker setup with a primary loudspeaker at the bottom and an earpiece that acts as the second speaker. Audio separation is good, and the speakers do get plenty loud without any crackling, even at full volume. The speakers do lack bass, though. Call quality is good, and connectivity is also improved compared to the Pixel 8, thanks to the use of a newer modem.

Google Pixel 9 Cameras: Going wider

• Main rear camera – 50-megapixel, f/1.68, OIS, Octa PD
• Ultrawide camera – 48-megapixel, f/1.7, Quad PD, 123 degree FoV
• Selfie camera – 10.5-megapixel, f/2.2, autofocus, 95 degree FoV, Dual PD

The main rear camera on the Pixel 9 uses the same sensor from last year, but you get a new 48-megapixel ultrawide camera that’s also used on the Pro models. Google also added autofocus on the front camera, but the sensor remains the same as last year. Another feature that remains the same is the absence of a Pro mode in the camera app, which is disappointing.

There’s a new ultrawide camera on the Pixel 9

Alright, let’s talk about camera quality. The main rear camera continues to take excellent daylight photos with no noise, great dynamic range, pretty accurate white balance, on-point exposure, and plenty of detail. The images have a contrasty Pixel look with slightly darker shadows and a very natural look. Saturation isn’t boosted like on the Galaxy S24, and pictures aren’t on the warmer side like the iPhone 15. Skin tones are also very well done on the Pixel 9.

You also get 2x digital zoom on the phone, and it’s pretty much the same as last year when it comes to quality. The 2x images retain a lot of detail and are sharp, especially when there’s plenty of light. The images are better in comparison to the iPhone 15. The portrait photos on the Pixel 9 are good but not great. I found most shots to have too much blur, which doesn’t look nice on people’s shots. Edge detection is mostly good, but things like hair can make things difficult for the software. Once again, skin colour is very accurately depicted in Portrait shots.

The ultrawide camera is new, but you can’t immediately tell it’s better than the Pixel 8. There’s more detail in the corners of a photo when compared to the 8, but the centre area looks pretty much identical. What I like the most is the consistency in the colours between the main and the ultrawide camera. The sensor also allows for Macro photography, and you can get pretty close to the subject – 15mm to be exact. You can get some really detailed shots in macro mode.

Daylight photos from Main camera, Ultrawide, and 2x Digital zoom [Tap to expand]

Portrait shots: 1.5x, 2x [Tap to expand]

In low light conditions, the main camera does a pretty good job, and with Night Sight, you get better results. What’s also nice is the fact that you no longer have to hold the phone still for 6 seconds like you had to on the older Pixel 8. Like the competition, you can get usable low-light photos in just 3 seconds. The Pixel still delivers darker shadows in low light, which can make the image look softer. However, you do get the astrophotography mode on the Pixel, which is still better than the competition. Yes, it takes much longer to produce a great night photo, but it’s worth the wait.

Lowlight photos: Main camera, Ultrawide, 2x Digital Zoom [Tap to Expand]

Turning around, the selfie camera produces better results than before, thanks to the addition of autofocus, which lets you take closer selfies. Plenty of detail, accurate skin tones, and good colour reproduction exist.

In terms of videos, the Pixel 9 can shoot 4k60fps on all three cameras, with the rear sensors offering additional support for 4k 24fps and 4k 30fps. You also get a 10-bit HDR recording. Video performance is pretty good, and I like the stabilisation on the Pixel, and it also offers three modes – Standard, Active, and Locked. Videos have slightly warmer tones and darker shadows with contrast on the higher side, but the colours are well-saturated. The focus is good, but the software does try to brighten up faces. It does a commendable job in low light conditions, but I wish Google also offered Video Boost and Night Sight video on the smaller Pixel. You do, however, get a Cinematic blur feature in the video, which is okayish. Overall, you’d be surprised at how well the video recording on the Pixels has compared to the iPhone.

Google Pixel 9 Battery: Can run longer now

• Capacity – 4,700mAh
• Fast charge – Up to 45W
• Wireless charging – Up to 15W

The battery performance on recent Pixel phones hasn’t exactly been great, and that’s mostly the same with the Pixel 9. Most days, I got a day’s worth of usage, but I had to plug the phone in at night as I’d be left with less than 20 percent charge. My days mostly included using the phone for calls, texting, checking emails, doom scrolling on Instagram and Twitter, playing a game or two, watching YouTube videos, using the camera, and browsing the web.

You’ll need to buy a charger separately

In our HD video loop test, the Google Pixel 9 lasted about 25 hours, which is pretty good for a Pixel. It’s also an improvement over the Pixel 8, and that’s thanks to the slightly larger battery. Charging is also faster, with the new phone now supporting up to 45W fast charging with the right adapter. I used Google’s 30W adapter and got about 51 percent of charge with 30 minutes of charging, and a full charge from 1 percent took about 1 hour and 30 mins.

Google Pixel 9 Verdict

The Google Pixel 9 is a very mature phone, and that’s a good thing. It finally feels as premium as its competition and packs in some nice upgrades. There’s a slightly better and bigger display, a nicer ultrawide camera, autofocus on the selfie camera, many new AI features, better battery life, and an overall nicer package. However, it’s also a little more expensive than last year.

Should you buy it over the Pixel 8? I don’t think you should. I’d wait for Google to fix the heating issues first because I believe that’s the only thing holding me back from recommending this phone to my friends or anyone who asks me what phone to get.

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 (Review) is a good alternative. It’s more compact, offers on-par camera performance, and has a great display and battery life. However, you won’t get the same AI features, and the phone runs an Exynos chip in India, which does run hot. There’s also the OnePlus 12 (Review) or the Xiaomi 14 (Review), both of which are good alternatives and cheaper. The former has a larger display, a very capable camera setup, and longer battery life, whereas the latter is better overall as a phone. Then there’s the iPhone 15 (Review) from the Apple camp, which is faster, is more compact than the Pixel 9, offers better video performance, and similar battery life. You can also consider the newly launched iPhone 16, but obviously, we’ll have to review it first to see if it’s worth it.