Google Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL first impressions: Tensor is in top form!

Google’s Pixel phones are supposed to be the iPhones for Android. I think Google has taken that a little too seriously. The result? The new Pixel 9 series phones look and feel exactly like iPhones, but that’s just one of many problems with these devices.

Before we get into it, a quick refresher: Google unveiled six new devices during last week’s Made By Google launch event. While the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel Buds 2 Pro, and Pixel Watch 3 are likely to go on sale in India next month, the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL will soon be available in the country.

I got the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL And even though I only used the phones for a few hours, the immediate thought was that Tensor got it wrong again!

Yes, it does enable some interesting AI features on the device, but the performance of both phones is nowhere near what one would expect. It’s even more annoying considering that both phones are quite expensive. The Pixel 9 is priced at Rs 79,999 in India and the Pixel 9 Pro XL costs Rs 1,24,999. Here are some quick thoughts.

Hits and misses

It’s clear that I’m not very happy with the design of the Pixel 9 series. Most of it is very personal and subjective. In general, I love curved displays. I loved the Pixel 8 Pro too. But this time around, Google has made some controversial design decisions. There’s a flat display, flat edges, and rounded corners on both the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL. It just takes away all the uniqueness of the phone. And I didn’t even like the feel of the phone in my hand.

That said, the build quality of both phones is good. The Pixel 9 has a matte finish on the frame, while the Pixel 9 Pro XL has a glossy finish. The volume and power buttons on the edge are easy to reach. The bottom has a USB-C port and a SIM slot.

Both phones are 8.5mm thick and feel heavier than they actually are. However, the Pixel 9 is relatively lighter at 198 grams. The Pixel 9 Pro XL weighs 221 grams. Both phones have Gorilla Glass 2 Victus and are IP68 rated for protection against dust and water.

Both phones also have very similar, really good OLED displays. The Pixel 9 comes with a 6.3-inch FHD+ (1080×2424) OLED display that varies between 60 and 120Hz refresh rates and has a peak brightness of 2,700 nits. The Pixel 9 Pro XL has a slightly larger 6.8-inch 1.5K LTPO OLED panel that varies between 1 and 120Hz refresh rates with 3,000 nits of peak brightness. The displays are crisp, sharp, and clear. The Pixel 9 Pro XL definitely feels brighter than the Pixel 9.

Tensor Strikes Back

Google’s Achilles heel is its Tensor chips. They have let us down year after year, but this time things have gone a bit further. The Pixel 9 Pro scored around 1.3 million points in AnTuTu. Even mid-range phones like the Realme GT 6T and Poco F6 did better. And they cost less than Rs 30,000. Things are even worse with the Pixel 9. It barely managed to hit the 1 million mark.

I don’t usually pay too much attention to synthetic benchmark scores, but there are some things that are hard to ignore. For example, the phones got really hot. In fact, the Pixel 9’s temperature rose by almost 10.5 degrees while running AnTuTu. I could feel the heat all over the back panel, especially under the camera.

Both phones also struggled during the CPU throttling test. Just look at the graph – it’s completely in the red. There’s too much throttling and the average scores are really bad. I don’t even know how to justify this performance. The Geekbench 6 scores are pretty average too.

Also, interestingly, Google launched both new Pixel phones with Android 14 this year, despite Android 15 being announced during Google I/O in June.

The only positive thing I could see during my use were the new AI features. These include the much-hyped Add Me and Pixel Studio. They weren’t available on my unit by default and I had to update several system apps before I got them. In case you can’t find them, that’s what you need to do. However, I’m really impressed by both features. Add Me, in particular, delivered some really great results. Images don’t look at all like they were taken separately.

Other goodies include 7 years of software support on both the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL. Both phones also have decent battery sizes. The Pixel 9 comes with a 4,700mAh battery and the Pixel 9 Pro XL has a 5,060mAh battery. Both phones support 45W wired charging and also support wireless charging.

Maintains camera quality

My favorite part of the Pixel remains its cameras. The Pixel 9 has a dual rear camera system with a 50-megapixel wide-angle sensor and a 48-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor. The Pixel 9 Pro XL retains both of those sensors along with an additional 48-megapixel telephoto sensor that supports 5x optical zoom. On the front, the Pixel 9 has a 10.5MP selfie shooter compared to a much better 42MP selfie shooter on the Pixel 9 Pro XL.

It’s still very early, so I don’t have much time to take a lot of photos. However, I loved everything I managed to get. All of these images are very nice, colorful, and sharp. They maintain excellent detail and contrast. I’ll put the cameras through a detailed test and talk about their performance in my final review.

Look, the display is good, the cameras are fantastic, and even the battery feels solid. The only thing that lets it down is the performance. Still, I don’t want to be too hasty and write these phones off. I think there’s still a lot of potential in both the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro. All they might need is a good update from Google that identifies and fixes some of these issues.

What can you do until then? Wait and watch. Both phones are quite expensive and I don’t recommend buying them right away. Wait for the fixes to come. Wait for the Big Billion Day sale to come. See how the price drops, how the issues are fixed, and then they can still be a good buy.