Pixel 9 Pro XL: A 6-Month Real-World Review

It’s been 6 months since I bought a Pixel 9 Pro XL, and after spending half a year using it alongside other flagship phones, I feel it’s time to share my thoughts. While I don’t think there’s such a thing as a perfect phone, I’ll take you through whether this is the closest Google has come to making one, plus if Gemini is actually useful, how good the new camera system is, and whether this is a phone I’d recommend.

Physical Design & Build Quality

The first highlight of this phone is its physical form factor. It feels somewhat similar to an iPhone in certain respects, with its rounded corners and side rails, yet still maintains that distinct Pixel look with the gorgeous camera bar. I think this is by far the best-looking Pixel Google has ever made, and the materials feel in line with the price. It’s still lighter than other phones, like my iPhone 16 Pro Max at 221g, although a bit heavier than previous Pixels. It’s actually heavier than the brand new Galaxy S25 Ultra, and I’m hoping Google keeps it at this weight or even trims off a few grams in the next iteration of this phone.

Fingerprint Sensor & Software Features

Something I immediately noticed with this Pixel is the new ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. This finally gets rid of the occasional lag and the bright light shining at you in the middle of the night that older Pixels had. The software features are another major highlight, as with previous Pixels. The animations on this phone feel fast, and I haven’t had any performance issues with the Tensor G4 chip Google put in this phone.

Another thing I’ve always loved about Pixel phones is the typing experience, and the Pixel 9 Pro XL doesn’t disappoint. I find I type on it the most accurately, and Google’s speech dictation, which uses on-device models, is pretty accurate in my experience and works well. The phone also features adaptive sound and vibrations that adjust to your environment, making notifications more noticeable when you need them. The updated Pixel weather app, with its AI summary and new design, has been great for those who spend a lot of time on phone calls. The call quality has been solid.

Call Quality & Assist Features

Now, these are the mics during a phone call on the Pixel 9 Pro XL. I’m just recording this call on my iPhone, not using any buds or anything. Let me know how you thought the audio was, and here’s an example of how the microphones on the phone itself sound when recording into the recorder app. Let me know what you think, and here’s how it sounds if I were actually just talking on the phone to someone. Does it sound pretty decent?

And of course, because it’s a Pixel, you get all the great call assist features like Direct My Call, which helps you visually see options in a call menu, Hold For Me, which comes in handy when you call customer service, Live Captions for phone calls (which you can find in accessibility settings), a new scam detection feature, and then there’s my personal favorite: call screening. The Pixel will pick up the call for you, ask why someone is calling, and if they respond, it’ll let the call ring through and actually show you in plain text what the person said to the assistant before you pick up the call.

Another feature I’ve come to appreciate that’s new this year is Pixel Call Notes, which can record phone calls, automatically summarize them, and highlight what you need to know, along with providing a full transcript of the call. While this feature isn’t exactly a differentiator, it’s something I’m glad is here. Both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the S25 Ultra have similar features.

Small Software Features

Some other software-related things I’ve enjoyed with this phone are all of the small touches you get, like the Now Playing feature, which identifies music playing in the background, and Flip to Sh, where when you put your phone face down, it automatically turns on Do Not Disturb. You also get the excellent grayscale color scheme at bedtime. You can turn on color scheming for the icons, though frustratingly not all of them will work by default (looking at you, Snapchat). Oh, and yes, this phone still has a thermometer built into it. It’s still a bit of an oddball thing to put in a phone, but that one time I needed it, I was glad I had it.

Battery Life

Next up, battery life. This has been a pleasant surprise with this phone for me. It has easily lasted all day on trips and has been generally comparable to my iPhone’s battery life, which is the most recent other phone I’ve been testing over the long term. Speaking of other phones, the 9 Pro XL’s battery is also noticeably better than my Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The Pixel 9 Pro will be close to 50% battery left by the time I put it on the charger, while the 9 Pro Fold will be closer to 20% with the same kind of use. My screen time per day is only about 1 or 2 hours on average, with maybe another 2 to 3 hours of background activity for music and podcasts.

Camera System

Now let’s talk about the standout feature of this phone: the camera system. Overall, it’s the smartphone camera system I have the least frustrations with. It’s my favorite one to use because of its default color choices. It just doesn’t blow all the highlights out like my iPhone, and it doesn’t oversaturate or over-sharpen photos like Samsung’s phones have tended to do in the past. While Google doesn’t have a similar feature to Apple’s updated Photographic Styles, which lets you adjust how overprocessed your photos look after the fact, Google doesn’t really need that feature because their photos just look right from the get-go.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL’s camera system is much more in line with producing photos how my actual dedicated cameras take them. This is largely due to the fact that Google rebuilt the entire HDR pipeline from the ground up for the Pixel 9 Pro XL and other 9 Pro phones. You can definitely tell there are still photos from a smartphone camera, but sometimes they surprise me, like this waterfall photo from my Iceland trip. That’s one I still can’t believe a phone took. The coloring and overall look here are pretty stunning.

Video Quality

What about video quality? In my experience, this has always been the Achilles’ heel of Pixel camera systems, but not anymore. The video quality is quite good, especially if you use Video Boost, which now renders two times faster and can upscale 4K to 8K, which I don’t frankly need. Even more important is that you can now use Video Boost with any lens, and yes, you can use it to shoot 4K at 60 fps. I find it makes subtle but often noticeable improvements in video footage quality, though you still have to wait a bit for Google servers to process the footage.

Gemini AI Assistant

Let’s talk about Gemini, Google’s AI assistant built into the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Honestly, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Gemini is actually useful. Not only can it help you accomplish things on your phone, like opening apps or adding things to your grocery list, but in 6 months, I think Google has closed the gap compared to the Google Assistant quite a bit. Just before filming this, they announced they’ll phase out the Google Assistant for Gemini, and I can see why. Over the past six months, there have been many times where I’d ask the assistant on Nest Hubs for something and it failed. But when I’d ask Gemini, I often got the correct answer.

What have I used Gemini for? General search queries, how to use devices, cooking suggestions, and sometimes general questions like, “Is SNL new this weekend?” It’s actually better than the Google Assistant at responding to such queries. However, for answers that need 100% accuracy, I often find it’s quicker to get the information directly from the source instead of using Gemini and verifying the answer. Gemini does have some limitations, like not being able to play music from Apple Music, but it now works with Spotify and controls parts of the Pixel phone related to Gemini. While I don’t think Gemini is just AI hype, it certainly has some utility.

AI Features

As for the other AI features on the phone, some are genuinely useful, like quick edits with Magic Eraser, Magic Editor, or the new Zoom Enhance feature, which gives digitally cropped-in photos more detail. However, in some cases, it ends up oversharpening the photos. Other features like the new Pixel Studio image generator I haven’t used much, and it feels more like AI hype, though it can still be fun. The same goes for the Reimagine feature, which lets you add objects to your photos. I rarely use it, mainly as a party trick. I also didn’t use the Add Me feature much, though we tried it out a lot on our trip to Iceland and Ireland with mixed success.

Downsides

There are a few downsides with the Pixel 9 Pro XL. The biggest issue for me is pulse width modulation (PWM) and overall display quality. The Pixel’s PWM is around 240 Hz, which is on the lower end compared to competitors like Apple and Samsung. PWM controls brightness by rapidly turning the display on and off to adjust brightness levels. I can’t tell if it’s the lower PWM number, but the Pixel’s display is my least favorite to look at among flagship phones. Additionally, the Pixel lacks white balance adjustment, unlike phones from Samsung or the S25 Ultra.

Another downside I’ve encountered is when using Gemini and Pixel Buds Pro 2. If I try to use the wake word to activate Gemini while the buds are in my ears, my Nest Hub devices don’t realize I have the buds in and start playing music, which can be quite frustrating.

Final Recommendation

So, do I ultimately recommend the Pixel 9 Pro XL? Yes. This is probably the best Pixel phone I’ve used in terms of software quality and performance. If you’re someone who already uses a Google Nest Hub, Google’s AI-powered features will work seamlessly with your devices. While the camera system isn’t perfect, it’s my favorite in terms of actual use and produces photos that are most similar to what my high-end cameras shoot. Even the new video recording features have caught up.

The software is intuitive, fluid, and continuously updated with security fixes and new features. Plus, the battery life is better than I expected. Ultimately, it feels like Google has learned from its previous mistakes, but not everything is perfect.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this phone to anyone looking for an Android flagship experience that feels fresh but also grounded in practicality. The Pixel 9 Pro XL is the closest Google has come to building a perfect phone, and it’s well worth considering.