Pixel 9 long-term review | Good, but no longer the best base model.

thanks to Google's decision to get ahead of the curve and drop brand new devices in August were're almost 100 days into the life cycle of the pixel 9 the big drop of5 means the final puzzle piece has been added but does that make the entry level model a better by now a little bit later down the line well let's get into it so after a few months of learning to love the new frame the pixel 9 has definitely stood out in the 9 series lineup and I would love to Google at least Goble to listen

to the outcry for a full matte finish across the entire series The polish free shaty has been absolutely perfect but that glossy back plate definitely detracts from this Premium Edition initially I definitely found the flatter profile a little bit off-putting but it definitely just gives you more to grip hold of however the downside is that the thicker protective cases that you can buy substantially increase this profile I found that this year a Slimmer case or a thin protective cover is about all like in stomach we also really need to make more premium casemakers design and

produce accessories for the pixel Series this is a public call out to you Nomad by the way yes things are improving year-over year but I would love more options to protect my phone so let's see if we can get some more people involved in making cases for the pixel series I will say I didn't feel strongly about the camera Island at first in terms of the design but it has grown on me steadily as it offers a solid Edge to rest your fingers in when taking photos or in portrait orientation there's also the added bonus

of no wobble when you put this flat or face up on a desk but a case definitely fixes that with most phones anyway anyway I mention this because even a somewhat Small Change helps with those ergonomics I love the pixel 8 because it was great to use onehanded the pixel 9 continues that but with more grippable areas for you to latch onto I'm not sure if the flat side profile helps but it definitely doesn't hind you and as great as this base model feels s's case I know that most people will want a layer of

protection and as I said earlier I would 100% recommend going for something as as slim line as humanly possible that way we don't lose out or add too much bulk and I'm enamored by the mouse super thin case lineup this year for the entire pixel series I've gone and picked up one of these for every single one of my devices I picked one that color matched with the Wintergreen model and I have to say it's absolutely gorgeous this year the screen is still one of the best selling points a return to uniform bezels is almost

enough for me to recommend someone upgrade from an older model with a heavy emphasis on almost realistically the indisplay fingerprint scanner upgrade is likely going to be enough for a lot of you out there who've had problems with older Optical fingerprint scanners and want to stick with the pixel series I'm not sure if the scanner is actually getting faster The more I've used it but instantaneous unlocks are now available with no issues base unlockers improved too although it could be a little bit better in low light scenarios but with no IR scanner to get it

working I don't expect that to change all too drastically you're probably aware that Google has almost always done displays correctly and the pixel 9 remains no exception to that rule truthfully in terms of its overall quality um it's not all that different to the pixel 8 don't get that Twisted though the screen is excellent and I love that bump in brightness it just means he catered For even in those bright environments and all those mixed lighting conditions and this ties in though to how much Fuller the speakers sound this year if the maximum volume could

get another bump up then dare I say it they could be Practically Perfect the same can be said of the haptics which have grown on me exponentially since I picked this out of the box they're excellent in the first place but every time I switch away from a pixel9 device now I'm actually reminded that just how good the typing experience and general haptics are this time around naturally a phone needs a good strong connection as well and connectivity with that updated exus modem has not let me down in the hundred or days so that I've

had this phone in my pocket even when roaming in Mainland Europe it's been an absolute beast in terms of connecting to networks it's like Google's decided to listen to those complaints first and fix those that are easy to resolve right away so the biggest reason beyond the fact that we're almost a third of the way into a year with this phone that we are revisiting the pixel 9 at least this point in its lify is the upgrade to Android 50 it wouldn't have been fair to not review this with that latest update and I think

this alone has made some of the biggest changes to the day-to-day experience while I will say Android 14 has been a fine update overall the tailored OS for the latest pixel or at least a tailored OS for the pixel has always been a given since the series Inception and it's true that Android 15 is not a Quantum Leap at least visually where it is a big leap is in that core experience though the pixel 9 feels much smoother more responsive and the added coat of paint just tightens up the cohesion of this brand new form

factor the realignment of the status bar is one of those with the selfie camera itself but it's it seems small but it's actually important in terms of when you're looking at this on a day-to-day basis I'm also excited for the 80% charge limit to come with that December pixel drop alongside some other tweaks to the overall look and feel which you can already test as part of those QPR vas there's just lots of refinement overall which tightens up a very class experience it could also be that the extra 4 GB of RAM over the pixel

8 is making things feel a little bit snappier there are no doubt some under the hood alterations that speeds up regular processes though by no means is the pixel9 a Powerhouse performer now that this update has arrived but I do still think that the 10c G4 is going to be powerful enough for anyone who isn't practically abusing their phone with Benchmark tests and running the highest quality games I'm still annoyed that ufs 3.1 storage persists as I'm switching between devices a lot recently and it does start to become noticeable I do think faster storage would

have made a big difference to how Snappy every little interaction can feel as it's already good as it is so why wouldn't they have done this I will say that's not an indictment of the performance at least right now anyone who comes from an older device you'll have a great time there's no question about that it's Kudos as well to how streamlined the experience is on pixel in general that things still feel so slick with this older storage Tech tensor of a chip platform hasn't really particularly been that great while the G4 chip inside the

pixel 9 isn't the most powerful it still offers some minor refinements I have noticed better thermals this year the pixel 9 just doesn't get as hot to the touch like some other of its predecessors even during the summer launch period I can't say it overheated or became a laggy mess due to bad heat dissipation I'll stopped short of saying thermal management is fixed but it is exponentially better than any other previous tensor powered pixel and overheating dare I say it might be a thing in the past one thing to consider though is an upgrade beyond

the base 128 GB of storage this time around if you can stomach the uplift in actual cost for the first time I've gone for the 256 GB model for the entire pixel Flagship lineup taking money out of my own pocket to do so I usually fill my phone with video recordings downloaded memes and just general junk and I'm finding I'm less worried about deleting files this time around having to shuffle things around which means I have less stress when I want to do things like record some 4K 60 FPS videos which can fill up your

phone very very quickly if you have a 128 GB stor storage variant that said you should be okay if you're not a heavy user of your phone if you do go for the base model this time around so we know that Google is selling the pixel9 series on a ton of AI features and Gemini being baked in but I have to say the only one I'm still using on a nearly daily basis is pixel screenshots for me I think this might be the killer software Edition I tend to take lots of screenshots for receipts directions

my favorite recipes messages and tons more on top of that and I haven't even used the collections mode all that often and it's still a must for me the ability to tap and search for a term like cars or recipes and pull up all of those screenshots with that context is a huge huge time saer and it helps keep me organized without much effort on my part to add to that pixel studio and reimagine have improved drastically with more protective guide rails and limits for specific image generation since the launch of the pixel 9 the

latter is actually very impressive and something I feel myself using more and more as time passes one of the most annoying aspects of Google's approach though to these pixel features is the regional locks I would love to have had more AI powered functions like call notes for instance but we're still in a mind field of availability and it's something I do think if Google can fix I might and many other people out there might be more stoked about some of these AI editions as it stands it means I just can't recommend them all too highly

as I don't know if it's going to be available in your region and you might have to have a little bit of research beforehand to work out if they will be available down the line Gemini live and pixel weather have also broken free of the pixel9 series 2 so being able to have contextual conversations with Gemini I think that's fine in its own right I will say I don't use it every day but it is good for getting information on sporting events for instance where to watch specific TV shows or just getting a general overview

of the subject although it isn't always accurate is it a killer feature again I'm not so sure definitely not like pixel screenshots at least in my opinion one of the biggest changes I have noticed since the Android 15 update though is improvements to the overall device lifespan I will say it isn't a huge life changing uplift but a noticeable upgrade to a fairly acceptable key area of the pixel 9 whether it's the culling of some processes that were available in Android 14 or some other under the hood changes the update has made a meaningful difference

to how long you'll be able to use your phone on a day-to-day basis I actually found that I could kill the pixel 9 in a day without too much effort pre Android 15 it has improved to be a capable Companion now one that I can rely on a lot more it's just more in lock step with other phones with similar battery capacities and while I wish the charger was a little faster I do think you will have solid battery experiences with the base model this year tensor G4 is just better at managing power draw since

updating to Android 15 so as long as you're not using GPS or shooting hours and hours of 4K video per day I think you can be confident that your phone won't die during the middle of a busy day so as for the camera there is something about using a pixel camera system that gives me confidence when I'm about to take a photo however I'm actually starting to realize how often I use a telephoto lens and it becomes apparent when a phone doesn't have that dedicated Zoom the pixel 9 sadly is no different and while I

do think it has a very very competent dual camera system that captures crisp clear and high quality photos it's actually starting to become apparent that a tel photo zoom lens might be super handy rather than a dedicated Ultra wide maybe on top of that zoom in hands should have at least come to the pixel9 to help boost those 8X images with that main sensor because they just aren't as good as what a dedicated telephoto can do at those smaller Zoom ranges and this AI powered function would have made a big difference despite that minor gripe

I do adore the images I've taken with the pixel 9 I just know that in a lot of cases it'll nail every aspect of a photo before I take the phone out of my pocket and actually hit that shutter button a pixel camera just gives you that confidence that you can capture some of the best photos the that plus Point aside I think Google needs to do something about the difference between the image you see in the viewfinder and the actual end result once the super slow processing is done a photo can still look drastically

different and in some cases very rare cases almost unrecognizable it is a double- HED sword though as you do get a good photo in the end of the day but it's not always one that you expected while framing up the shot this is most pronounced in other modes like portrait mode rather than the main mode one upside is that portrait mode itself can detect edges better now after a few C updates and updates to the system Edge detection still isn't perfect but it's way better than it was at launch you're using or at least I

think you probably better off using the main wide lens punching in marginally and then relying on the natural Focus falloff for a better portrait style photo anyway and that's something to bear in mind if you are going to use this to take those portrait St photos on the go anyway magic editor that's another app that has improved drastically here too this means you can take that photo and make those meaningful edits to get something that maybe is a Wandering tourist photo bomb in a perfectly poised shot or I can make those tweaks and feel not

as guilty and also get rid of those annoying aspects without it really detrimentally affecting the end result I also have yet to find a situation where i' use the ad me function I'm not discounting it but it just has little to no use in my day-to-day life I think if you're in a big group or traveling with friends and family I can totally see how it could be one of those killer editions but personally I think most people will just take a selfie as it's faster and less relying on somebody else especially a stranger you

might not know the fact of the matter is in isolation the pixel 9 has a great camera that's backed by some iffy but interesting a features the core experience is excellent It's just overshadowed by the more flexible pixel9 pro and pro XEL across Stills and particularly video modes it's definitely something to consider as it's one of the strongest reasons to upgrade from an older model as well so rounding this all out there is an abundance of improvement in the pixel 9 that undermines just how good Google's core phone actually is it's a great package that

has 100% that has some flaws of its own the thing is I don't think these get in the way of a good time that said at the recommended $799 retail price I do think it is a tough sell because there are other phones that will give you a little bit more bang for your book at least in terms of the overall package once you start to factor in discounts tradings and rebates it definitely becomes an easier sell as a lot of phones do and a lot of products do the pixel 9 underpins the improvements that

Google has made to the 20 24 lineup but by modern smartphone standards it sat on the limit of what I'd consider a mid-range which would be fine if it were a little bit cheaper or priced like its predecessors I actually didn't want this to be my conclusion but the pixel9 is somewhat overshadowed by one of its siblings the pixel 9 Pro which has all of the benefits and all B basically none of the downsides and while I can easily recommend the cheapest device in the N9 Series this year the middle child is going to give

you all of those best bits in the exact same chassis with fewer compromises to boot you'll need to work out if that extra $200 price increase is worth it before you start to factoring discounts that do start to chip out this cost discrepancy I really love the pixel 9 but I have to say it's just not the best base model anymore [Music] [Music]