I recently purchased the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. And in this article I want to give you my full review of my hazel color Pixel 9 Pro XL. I would say this is as premium as an iPhone for Android devices. So if you like the iPhone design and you love Google devices and you love Android phones. This is going to be one of the best picks out there period on any smartphone.
New Box, Prices, Color | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
I am here to help you to master your technology Google pixel 9 Pro XL review. First thing I want to start with how cool the box is. It’s really light, different and definitely better for sustainability. So, I think you’re going to quite like what Google’s doing with the packaging. This year there’s just a charging cable in there. Some warranty and there’s not much else to speak of. But the entire Google pixel portfolio is going to have like this more recyclable material on their packaging.
So nice job this year on this one. Also I want to talk first about the price of this phone. This phone costs like $1,200 with tax in my area. It’s $1,099 retail but you got to fact in the taxes where you’re at. And if you buy it on a carrier, sometimes they have some extra fees and charges. So, let me know how much you paid for your Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. But out of the pixel 9 series there is multiple versions of it, the 9, the 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL. We also have the Google Pixel 9 Pro fold, which is a folding device. But out of all of them this is like the best version of it, like the best camera and the biggest battery. So I think this is the best pixel in the lineup out of the standard candy bar style smartphones.
For sure with the Google Pixel 9 pro XL, you can also get this phone in multiple different colors, including Porcelain, the Obsidian, the Rose Quartz, it’s like a pink color. And of course my favorite is the Hazel, it’s more of a grayish green color, I really enjoy it definitely quite nice. And one that probably won’t chip as much like the obsidian black, will probably get some little paint chips. Because when you paint these things black, they usually get some shipping or some kind of like wear and tear that just doesn’t look pretty. So this is the option I would go with.
Body and Build of device | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
So let’s start with the body and the build. This phone weighs 221g. It immediately struck me that it felt pretty light in the hand for its size. I was like wow, this is premium. It feels relatively light and super large at the same time. It’s a very practical flat screen as well without curved edges on the body. I definitely prefer that I really like the rounded corners on this body as well. It’s a very nice departure from some of the previous pixels very beautiful flat edges. And it really makes this phone feel different more premium than before.
And the camera bar really sets pixel apart. I’m glad they have their own unique flavor of like a design element. That just sets them apart from the competition. We are having Gorilla Glass victus 2, on the front and the rear. And of course, even though this is a shiny Edge, this is not stainless steel. This is an aluminum edge, you’ll see little lines for reception. You have the volume rocker power button, a little bit higher. So if you like your power button lower, this is not going to be your favorite but not bad. You’ll see USBC, SIM card tray.
So you still have a SIM card tray that’s going to be huge for some people who really don’t like e-sim. And you’ll see, we have a speaker Grill. We’ll talk about audio performance later. Horizontal camera bar, a thermometer, it’s like a sensor to measure temperature. We also have the flash and the triple camera setup, the G logo, signifying Google. You’ll see none of that FCC branding, none of that stuff.
So, honestly this is the most premium looking Google Pixel I’ve seen yet. One of the things, I’m not a big fan of though is the camera hole is definitely bigger than the camera punch hole I’ve seen on some competing Galaxy phones. Also these probably aren’t the thinnest bezels in the world. But they’re definitely very thin and they’re not going to really anger or irritate anybody when it comes to the design elements of this phone. It’s just a really practical, modern, clean, and updated version of the pixel.
Display Quality | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
Taking things over on to the display 6.8 inch of Glory, 2000 nits of usable brightness with 3000 Peak. However I noticed that even though it’s 2000 nits it doesn’t seem to look as bright as what I’ve seen on some competing options. I don’t know if it’s like they’re doing something for battery. If you do turn off adaptive brightness, you can tweak it a little bit higher. But just like previous pixels I feel like I have to like crank the brightness up to get that full juicy brightness. however I had no trouble seeing this in direct sunlight. And this has a 88% screen to body ratio. So, some phones with curved edges might go over 90 and some with thinner bezels might be in the 89 to 90 range as well. So, again this is not the thinnest bezels but that’s not really a problem.
We are looking at a 20/9 aspect ratio and what that means is that, the phone is going to feel a little bit taller. It’s still pretty wide, it’s slightly taller, and slightly narrower. It’s very slight and almost nobody would be able to tell a big difference. We’re also looking at at 486 pixels per inch density. So what that means is that you have a super high resolution. and you’ll see very sharp. On day to day I really noticed it’s a great reading experience on this phone due to that sharpness. Again this is an OLED panel as you would know and 120 hz, of course HDR 10 plus support. Scrolling is pretty smooth with the 120 hz.
Let’s talk about display. You’ll see that we have the ability to have gesture navigation, three button modes for this display. Also they have this touch sensitivity, they have adaptive touch. It’ll adjust environments, maybe even I’ve heard that this phone could even respond to wet fingers because of this new adaptive touch. You also have a screen protector mode which will increase the screen sensitivity. I actually have a screen protector on mine right here. And then it does come with the high resolution and put on full resolution if you want to get that top resolution.
It’s not that much different when you’re going about your day-to-day. So if you want to save some battery. I would recommend just go high resolution throughout the day, when you’re sitting down and reading something. You might want to go to the fool to get that sharp text. Though you can have natural or adaptive color modes. Now adaptive is going to basically adapt to the environment. But it also gives you more of a vivid look. So the natural will be the more toned down look. The Adaptive will be the more colorful looking version.
We always have an always on display for pixels so that’s awesome available. You’ll turn it on there and we’ll go ahead and showcase. If I lock the screen it will give you an always on display, quite nice. And then if you have that enabled you can use the fingerprint from the lock screen. So you’ll have to have that on but taking it back and wrapping up on display, you’ll see the dark mode is available that could be scheduled out. You can change a display text sizes and things of that sort to really enhance this for you. And your display experience also be complemented by a nice NightLight at night to make it easier on the eye.
Comes to the actual content though it is stunning it’s a beautiful panel for watching video. I think the 20/9 makes it a little bit less wide than some other phones but it’s a very small difference. It’s not anything that serious, definitely makes for a comfortable holding for day to day but very rich colors, very nice OLED panel. I also noticed it’s not like way oversaturated or way under saturated. It’s kind of like a nice sweet spot. And overall just a very enjoyable experience here. It’s vibrant, it’s useful, and it’s fast. This is my favorite of the lineup when it comes to the standard smartphones and their display area.
Software, AI, Gemini | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
The Pixel 9 Pro XL stands out with its new software features, including a screenshot search tool that lets users find specific content like locations or objects in saved screenshots. The phone also includes a body temperature sensor, allowing users to check their temperature.
The Gemini AI assistant offers powerful generative AI capabilities, such as creating images based on user descriptions and providing specific responses to questions, like how to cook a steak. It can analyze the content on the screen and assist with tasks across apps. Combined with a clean, bloatware-free interface and seven years of updates, this provides a smooth and efficient user experience.
Performance Real World G4 | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
So, software is all amazing and all that stuff. But how is the performance and I’m going to give you my real world take versus my speed tests. So, in my speed tests I’m not super impressed with the pixels performance by comparison to the other phones in the benchmarks. However in the real world using this day-to-day I have noticed that there is some jankier scrolling in Chrome. But I don’t know if that’s a chrome specific thing on certain websites. I was scrolling and it just looked a little weird. I think this needs some updates maybe Android 15.
Whatever it’s just not as fast to me as some of the other phones with Snapdragon CPUs out there. But it still performs near a flagship level for me and. definitely I don’t think it’s going to be a deciding factor to not by this phone just because it has a tensor G4 chip that isn’t as fast as a Snapdragon chip. Because it has all the optimizations for AI and it still runs very fast. If you’re that type of person who is into the latest and greatest you really need your latest and greatest Tech features, the best chip out there. This one is not going to please that person. But if you don’t care about that, you care about the daily experience and you want the Google clean, Google pixel experience. It’s not a deal breaker. That’s it bottom line on performance.
Storage for the Price | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
One of the cons I have with this phone, is that they’re charging 1100 $ for 128 gb, that forces you to basically in the future. You’re going to have to use some of the Google Cloud Storage. Now Google has some of the best cloud storage out there. I don’t really have a problem with that. It’s a really good service, however what I have a problem with it is starting at 128 gb. I think this should start at 256 GB at $199. But they’re starting that one even higher than this one. So not a fan of the storage here I think there should have been a 256 gb to start.
Then maybe like that’s just where it starts we go 512 gb and then 1 tb. I love that they threw on the 16 gb of RAM that allows the AI run good . And also for you to have an amazing RAM management. So everything stays open in the background due to that high level of RAM. I think this is the type of RAM you would get on some laptop computer. So it is definitely up there when it comes to the RAM and it holds everything pretty well. Now Google just reloaded there cause that was a feed of news. But you’ll see it just holds everything well and very good on the RAM. but I wish it would start at a 256 gb at the same price as the 128 that’s a better value in my opinion.
Cameras | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
So we’re looking at the cameras. We’re looking at similar to last year but a little bit better, 50 mp on the main camera, that’s a wide sensor, 48 apix Periscope telephoto. It goes five times optical zoom and also we have a 48 mp Ultra wide. This also has laser autofocus. In addition to that we do have best take Zoom enhance, boosting video, 8K for the first time. I feel like on a pixel, 830, this is 830 and then 4K 60 ois, 10bit HDR raw modes. This thing is loaded, it’s a really loaded camera experience. And pixel has always been one of the better ones out there for the camera.
The fingerprint is pretty good and it’s just I’m missing cause I got a screen protector. So let’s go over here and you’ll see very fast, very fast shutter. We go five times and it could go best. It could go Zoom 30 times and with the AI processing, their Zoom looks better than some other digital Zoom just keep that in mind. Then if we go over to the video mode, you could see video boost settings, you have 4K, 60 FPS, 10bit HDR, standard stabilization or you can lock that stabilization and you have the motion for when you’re doing like action video.
You have a macro mode where you can macro Focus that can be on auto or not it’s really up to you. You have a blurring mode over here which can do a cinematic blur in the background for a video, this is pretty cool as well. And then you have night sight and video boost. So there’s a lot of improvements here to night side as well. With the boosted mode you can definitely get.it’s going to take some time but you can really enhance the night mode photography. So if you’re in the night mode I’m not really into that. But if you are you’re going to like this phone a lot.
It’s still the great pixel experience where it takes a photo, it processes it and makes it just really sharp and beautiful. And then if we go and flip this thing to the front, They improve this front facing camera as well. This got to be a larger version of a sensor than before. So, it’s 42 megapixel now. So that’s better than before and it can do 4K 60 on the front so very nice as well. It’s an improved front-facing camera. But that’s all I have to say about the camera and as a whole you’re getting Flagship level cameras on Pixel always. And this is no exception. So check it out and let me know your thoughts.
Battery Life Experience | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
Battery life 5060 mAh. This is one of the biggest on a phone right now. And this thing let me tell you is insanely good. On battery life this is a 2-day phone for medium to heavy users for sure. This battery is ridiculously long lasting that’s all. I got to say reverse wireless charging is on board also could charge 70% in just 30 minutes. In addition, That’s pretty amazing and this phone really just has one of those batteries that you can just count on it’s charged to 100 there is no way. Ynless you’re on your phone all freaking day long and you don’t like ever get off your phone. This phone is going to easily extend into the second day.
You can see something like 18 hours of video playback time on here. And if you don’t use the phone that much I honestly think some people might make it 3 days into the third day on this phone if you don’t use it a ton. So this phone is a really impressive here. This phone eminds me a lot of what OnePlus did with a 12 earlier this year with their 5,400 Mah hour battery. I love when they go over 5,000 mAh, it just gives the battery much better run time. And probably will last longer as well because if it has more cells in there.
It should last a little longer than a smaller battery. So, this is one of my favorite areas and something you should note too is while the tensor G4 isn’t the best for performance always, compared to some of the snapdragons. Because the tensor G4 is very well optimized and it really enhances the battery. Also the pixel ows you to learn your battery usage over time. And it increases it even more. So you have adaptive charging, you have battery saving modes, battery usage it’ll tell you. You can put the percentage you have a battery widget and you can use for all your pixel products. So, one of the best areas of this phone is the battery.
Audio Performance | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
So, in terms of audio, I would expect the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL has very loud but it really doesn’t have no issues there. Tt’s not the best I’ve ever heard and the loudest volume. But it gets loud enough and I think. You’ll be pretty happy with its audio performance. So I’m not really disappointed with it. I think you’re going to enjoy it. Literally I forgot this but some special features like Circle to search, I should have talked about that in the software.
It’s one of the best features of Android phone today just hold down and circle to search whatever you want like pixel studio. It’ll talk about that and give you a quick search. You can do that on other Android phones now. So it’s becoming more widespread but that’s still a good feature for this. This also has things like emergency SOS and crash detection. So this has got that great feature that, a lot of people like from the iPhone. It’s on here as well satellite SOS service.
Phone Call Quality | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
I also noticed that the phone call Quality and reception strike was better than my past pixel experiences. It held on pretty good strength here throughout the day. No major issues whatsoever in that respect. So thumbs up for the phone call Quality and reception strength. That’s been pretty good as well.
Should You Buy This? Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
So, let me discuss my final thoughts on this phone. Google is demanding a little bit more of a price on this phone. And I think it’s easy to see why, we have a more premium build than ever before, larger battery, not way larger than the 8 Pro, but a bigger screen. And you have a more premium design and more AI features. It definitely feels like it’s worth the price until I see the benchmarks for the tenser G4. So I actually think this is $100 overprice personally. This should be $999. I feel like but still this is not cheapy phone.
This is top of the line you’re going to really love the Google pixel 9 Pro XL if you know you love Android devices. I don’t agree with some people’s statements that this is just a developers phone blah blah, this is a consumer grade phone for people who use Google services. This is one of the best period for a Google power user. Also most people don’t have to pay the full price for this phone. There will still be trading incentives all year long, it’s just the pre-order one is probably the best. But I do think it’s just slightly higher priced, because of that weaker CPU.
I think it’s going to be a tough sell for people who do pay attention to competition. But if you know you like the pixel, this is going to be a great option overall. I would say on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give this a 9 out of 10. This thing is a really good phone. And it has a great camera, great battery, smooth performance, long software update and very well supported in general, nice OLED display, so it’s a great phone. So I’m happy with the Google pixel 9 pro and this year XL. 9 Pro is going to be the smaller option if you want that and then you can get the folding version which is a major departure from the original fold. Let me know your thoughts on the Google pixel 9 Pro XL.
