Google Pixel 9/Pro Review: Gimmick or Good?

Summary

The video script reviews Google's new Pixel 9 series, highlighting the phones' hardware upgrades and AI capabilities. The author praises the improved design, bright screens, and the new ultrasonic fingerprint reader but expresses concerns about battery life and charging speeds. The script delves into the camera quality, noting the processed look of photos, and discusses the integration of Google's Gemini assistant, which offers conversational AI but also coexists with Google Assistant. The review also explores various AI features, categorizing them as useful, average, or gimmicky, and concludes that the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro are Google's finest work yet, offering a smart and pleasant user experience with optional AI enhancements.

Takeaways

• 📱 The new Pixel phones feature updated designs, specs, and features, but also come with new price tags.
• 🤔 The Google event focused more on software than hardware, which was unusual considering the history of Pixel and Nexus devices.
• 👍 After two weeks of use, the reviewer found the new hardware to be flagship quality, with brighter screens, improved bezels, and a new ultrasonic fingerprint reader.
• 🔒 There's a desire for the fingerprint reader to work from a completely off display, similar to Samsung phones.
• 🔋 The phones have similar battery sizes to the previous models, with good but not outstanding battery life, and lack fast charging capabilities.
• 💡 The new Pixel 9 and 9 Pro share the same primary and ultra-wide cameras, with the Pro model adding a telephoto lens for 5X zoom.
• 📸 The camera photos are very processed, with lots of HDR, contrast, and sharpening, which may not appeal to everyone.
• 📱 The Pixel 9 series comes with Android 14, not the latest Android 15, which is a notable discrepancy for Google's own phone.
• 🌐 Google's new Gemini assistant is deeply integrated into the Pixel 9, offering conversational AI capabilities that are rapidly improving.
• 🤖 Gemini and Google Assistant coexist on the Pixel 9, which may cause some confusion for users.
• 🛠️ The Pixel 9 introduces several AI features, some of which are useful like Gemini, Call Notes, and Video Boost, while others are more gimmicky.

Q & A

What is the general sentiment towards the new Pixel phones in the script?

The script expresses a mix of excitement and skepticism towards the new Pixel phones. While acknowledging the new designs, specs, and features, it also points out the new issues and higher price tags, suggesting a need to delve deeper into the phones' capabilities.

How does the author feel about Google's event announcing the new Pixel phones?

The author feels that the event was more of a software showcase that happened to include new phones, which did not instill confidence in the hardware of the Pixel phones.

What new hardware features are mentioned in the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro phones?

New hardware features include brighter screens with 2,700 nits for the Pixel 9 and 3,000 nits for the 9 Pro, even bezels, OLED panels with wrapped edges, and a new ultrasonic fingerprint reader that is faster and more reliable.

What is the main criticism regarding the fingerprint reader on the new Pixel phones?

The main criticism is that the fingerprint reader does not allow unlocking at any time when the display is completely off. It requires the always-on display to be on, or the power button to be pressed, or a notification to be received before unlocking with a touch.

What is the new chip featured in the Pixel 9 phones?

The new chip featured in the Pixel 9 phones is the Tensor G4, which includes a more powerful and dedicated NPU for AI tasks and additional RAM also dedicated to AI tasks.

How does the author feel about the camera capabilities of the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro?

The author feels that while the cameras are quick and easy to use, producing consistent good pictures, they tend to have a very processed look with lots of HDR, contrast, dynamic range, and sharpening, which may not be as natural as some users prefer.

What is the new selfie camera feature on the Pixel 9 Pro?

The new selfie camera on the Pixel 9 Pro offers a significant improvement in detail and color, providing a high-quality selfie experience with a lot of dynamic range.

What is the issue with the Android version on the new Pixel 9 phones?

The issue is that the Pixel 9 phones launch with Android 14, even though Android 15 was previewed in February and is expected by the end of the year, making the new Pixels not the first to feature the latest Android version.

What is Gemini, and how is it integrated with the Pixel 9 phones?

Gemini is Google's newest AI assistant, deeply integrated with the Pixel 9 phones. It is designed to be conversational, context-aware, and capable of performing various tasks and providing information.

What are some of the new AI features on the Pixel 9 phones categorized as 'useful' by the author?

The author categorizes Gemini, Call Notes, Video Boost, and Add Me as 'useful' AI features. Gemini for its assistant capabilities, Call Notes for summarizing phone calls, Video Boost for improving video quality, and Add Me for including the photographer in group photos.

What is the author's view on the 'meh' AI features of the Pixel 9 phones?

The author finds features like the new weather summaries in the weather app, Magic Editor's Reimagine feature, and the Screenshots app to be 'meh' or okay. They offer some utility but may not be groundbreaking or essential.

What AI features does the author consider 'gimmicks' on the Pixel 9 phones?

The author considers Zoom Enhance and the Pixel Studio app as 'gimmicks'. While they work and can be fun to use, the author questions their practical utility for the average user.

What is the author's final verdict on the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro phones?

The author concludes that the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro represent some of Google's finest work yet, offering a smart, AI-capable smartphone experience in nice hardware, with additional AI features that users can choose to utilize or ignore.

Outlines

00:00

📱 Pixel 9 Series Review Overview

The script begins with an introduction to the new Pixel 9 series, highlighting the updated design, specs, and features. The author expresses initial skepticism due to the product presentation at the Google event, which seemed more focused on software than the phones themselves. However, after two weeks of use, the author is ready to discuss the pros and cons. The hardware is praised for its flagship feel, with improved brightness, even bezels, and an ultrasonic fingerprint reader. A new Tensor G4 chip and increased RAM dedicated to AI tasks are mentioned, alongside a desire for more AI capabilities despite the phone's high price tag.

05:01

🔋 Battery Life and Charging Concerns

This paragraph addresses concerns about the Pixel 9's battery life and charging capabilities. The author notes similar battery sizes to previous models and satisfactory battery life, but criticizes the lack of fast charging, comparing it unfavorably to competitors. The design of the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro is discussed, with a preference for matte sides over glossy. The paragraph also touches on the base storage starting at 128 GB, expressing a desire for a higher initial storage option in the current tech landscape.

10:02

📸 Camera Features and Android Experience

The script discusses the camera experience on the Pixel 9, noting the shared primary and ultra-wide cameras between the models, with the Pro offering an additional telephoto lens. The author describes the camera results as processed and punchy, with a new selfie camera on the Pro receiving praise. The paragraph also covers the Android experience on the Pixel, expressing disappointment that the phone launches with an older version of Android and humorously addressing Google's history with software updates. Unique Pixel features like call screening and the 'Now Playing' song identification are highlighted as missed aspects when using other phones.

15:04

🌟 Gemini Assistant and AI Features

The author delves into the Gemini assistant, which is deeply integrated into the Pixel 9 experience. After initially being outperformed by Google Assistant in basic tasks, Gemini has improved and now offers conversational AI capabilities that can handle more complex user requests. The script also mentions Gemini's ability to access and interact with other Google services when permitted. The author finds Gemini useful but acknowledges that it is not exclusive to Pixel phones, raising questions about the necessity of the dedicated AI hardware.

20:08

🤔 AI Features: Useful, Meh, or Gimmicks?

In this section, the author categorizes the AI features of the Pixel 9 into useful, mediocre (meh), and gimmicks. Useful features include the Gemini assistant, Call Notes, Video Boost, and Add Me, with the latter being a camera feature for group selfies. Meh features are the new weather summaries and Magic Editor's Reimagine tool, while gimmicks include Zoom Enhance, which doesn't live up to its promise, and the Pixel Studio app, which generates new images but lacks a clear practical application.

🌧️ Final Thoughts and Sponsor Acknowledgment

The script concludes with the author's overall impression of the Pixel 9 series, positioning it as a smart and capable smartphone with nice hardware and additional AI features that users can choose to engage with or ignore. The author invites viewer comments to gauge interest in the AI features and expresses pride in completing the review before inclement weather. The video is sponsored by Anker, and the author provides a brief overview of the Anker Prime lineup of charging products.

Keywords

💡Pixel phones

Pixel phones refer to a line of smartphones developed by Google. In the context of the video, the Pixel phones are the main subject, with the speaker discussing their new designs, specs, features, and issues. The video script mentions 'new Pixel phones' and discusses their hardware and software advancements, indicating that these phones are a significant focus of the review.

💡Hardware

In the video script, 'hardware' refers to the physical components and design of the Pixel phones. The speaker praises the hardware, noting improvements such as brighter screens, even bezels, and an ultrasonic fingerprint reader. This term is central to the discussion of the phones' flagship quality and user experience.

💡Tensor G4 chip

The 'Tensor G4 chip' is a specific component within the Pixel phones that powers their performance. The script mentions that while it's not significantly more powerful than its predecessor, it does include a more powerful NPU dedicated to AI tasks, which is a key selling point for the new Pixel phones.

💡AI tasks

AI tasks in the video script relate to the artificial intelligence functionalities of the Pixel phones. The speaker discusses how the new Tensor G4 chip and additional RAM are dedicated to enhancing AI capabilities, which is a theme throughout the discussion of the phone's features and performance.

💡Camera visor

The 'camera visor' is a design element of the Pixel phones discussed in the script. The speaker mentions that the new design is less of a visor and more like a 'shelf island,' which is a change from previous models. This term is important for understanding the aesthetic and ergonomic updates to the phone's design.

💡Battery life

Battery life is a critical aspect of smartphone performance discussed in the video. The speaker mentions that while the battery size is similar to previous models, the battery life is good but not exceptional, with the XL model reaching about 37 watts of charging speed. This term is relevant to the overall user experience and practicality of the devices.

💡Android 15

Android 15 is a version of the Android operating system that is mentioned in the script. The speaker notes the irony that the Pixel 9s, which are Google's own phones, launch with Android 14 instead of the latest Android 15, indicating a delay in receiving the newest software updates, which is a point of critique in the review.

💡Gemini

Gemini is Google's newest AI assistant, deeply integrated into the Pixel phones as discussed in the script. The speaker describes Gemini as conversational, context-aware, and rapidly improving, highlighting its deep integration with Google services and its potential as a unique selling point for the Pixel phones.

💡AI features

AI features encompass a range of capabilities in the Pixel phones that utilize artificial intelligence, as mentioned in the script. The speaker categorizes these into useful, meh, and gimmicks, reflecting on their practicality and innovation. This term is central to the video's exploration of the phones' advanced capabilities.

💡Add Me

Add Me is a specific AI feature of the Pixel phones that allows users to be added into a photo after it's been taken, as described in the script. The speaker finds this feature useful for group photos, indicating how AI can enhance the photography experience on smartphones.

💡Pixel Studio app

The Pixel Studio app is mentioned as a tool for generating new images on the device. The speaker acknowledges its ability to create images quickly but questions its practical use, illustrating the ongoing debate about the utility of AI-generated content in smartphones.

Highlights

New Pixel phones have been released with updated designs, specs, and features.

The phones are positioned as flagship quality competitors from Google.

Announcement event felt more like a software showcase with phones as an accessory.

Hardware improvements include brighter screens, even bezels, and an ultrasonic fingerprint reader.

The new Tensor G4 chip and additional RAM are focused on AI tasks.

Aesthetic changes include squared off sides and a new camera visor design.

Battery life is good but charging speeds are not as fast as competitors.

The Pixel 9 and 9 Pro share the same primary and ultra-wide cameras, with the Pro having an additional telephoto lens.

Photos have a processed look with lots of HDR, contrast, and sharpening.

The new selfie camera on the Pro model offers improved detail and color.

Gemini, Google's new assistant, is deeply integrated into the Pixel experience.

Gemini is conversational, context-aware, and rapidly improving.

The Pixel 9s launch with Android 14, not the latest Android 15.

New features include Call Notes, Video Boost, and Add Me in the camera app.

AI features are divided into useful, okay, and gimmicky categories based on the reviewer's experience.

The phone is considered the smartest in the room with its AI capabilities and hardware design.

Sponsored content includes the Anker Prime lineup of charging devices.

Transcripts

- So I really like these new Pixel phones.

New designs this year, obviously,

but also new specs, new features,

also new issues, but of course, new price tags,

so we really gotta jump into the nitty gritty of

what's actually good about them.

(upbeat music)

(upbeat music continues)

(upbeat music continues)

So we've been hoping for a real, complete,

flagship quality competitor from Google for a while now.

And on one hand, it feels like we finally got 'em,

but on the other hand...

Did you guys watch the Google event announcing these things?

Like, I feel like you can learn a lot about

how a company really feels about

the products that they're presenting

by just watching the announcement event,

and these felt like a software showcase

that just also happened to have some phones to go with it.

Which I guess is not insane

when you know the history of Nexus and Pixel,

but it did the opposite of giving me

confidence in these phones.

But now I've been using these phones for two weeks straight,

and I actually feel like I can tell you

what's good or bad about them.

(upbeat music)

So, hardware is mostly what I'm talking about

when I say these phones feel like flagships, in a good way.

Like, it would be easy to dismiss them as

almost the same as last year just squared up,

but there are a lot of other little things too.

Like, the screens are brighter at their max brightness,

2,700 nits for the Pixel 9 and 3,000 nits for the 9 Pros,

and then the even bezels all the way around,

that requires some extra consideration,

wrapping the edges of the OLED panels under those corners.

And there's a new ultrasonic fingerprint reader

under here on all of them, finally.

It's way faster and more reliable

than the disappointing optical ones from before.

The only thing I wish, and it's such a small thing,

but I wish I could just unlock at any time

when the display is completely off.

Like, currently, you have to have the always on display on,

or hit the power button or be getting a notification,

and then you can unlock with a quick touch.

But like on Samsung phones,

that spot on the display is always a hotspot no matter what,

you can just unlock by touching there,

so I kind of wish the Pixel would let me

do that from a blank screen, too.

The haptics are really nice again,

and the buttons are really clicky this year.

(buttons clicking)

But then of course, the hardware

is what's on the inside too,

so that is the new Tensor G4 chip,

and a bunch of extra RAM.

Now, the Tensor G4 isn't actually

that much more powerful than last year's chip,

in fact, you probably won't notice a difference

for 99% of the stuff you do on the phone,

but what's actually significant is a new NPU

that's way more powerful and dedicated to AI tasks,

and the way more RAM is also dedicated to AI tasks.

I'm told a big portion of the RAM

is literally reserved for AI stuff.

So I will get to all that AI stuff in a minute, don't worry.

But just in the world that we're living in,

where the meta for a lot of these major new smartphones is,

okay, minor new improvements here and there,

but mainly just a bunch of new AI features and capabilities,

I'm glad that the Pixel also got

a bunch of meaningful feeling hardware stuff, too.

And then obviously, yes, you do have the squared off sides

that I just know are supposed to fit in

with the iPhones and Samsungs of the world.

I've said it before, I like the look and feel,

and that also applies to this new camera visor,

which is less of a visor

and I guess more of like a shelf island now.

Kind of looks a bit weird in some renders,

but you just kind of have to trust me,

seeing it in person, it's fire.

I like it.

Even if it will totally collect dust in just the same way

as the last year in the corners, it's nice.

Oh, and I almost forgot, there is a new size,

so you can have a Pro phone, but without it being an XL.

Love the choice.

I am a little worried that that one

probably won't sell as well as the two extremes,

but I'm just, I'm glad we have the choice this year.

Be happy about it before it gets discontinued.

So anyway, it all sounds pretty good,

but I do have a few gripes,

which I'm allowed to, it's $1,000.

So, the size of the batteries

is about the same as last year,

4,700 milliamp-hours in the smaller size ones,

5,000 milliamp-hours in the big phone,

and I've had pretty good battery life,

like, A minus battery life with the XL.

Consistently five plus hours of screen on time,

lots of heavy, high brightness use.

But they still don't charge that fast.

Like, the XL is maxing out at like 37 watts,

and it's actually slightly slower on the smaller phones.

Now, I'm not saying you gotta go thermonuclear level,

Realme, 320 watt fast charging, light your phone on fire

charging speeds or anything like that,

I'm just saying fast charging would be nice.

50, 60 watts, that's it.

I feel like that's just not that insane

but would be significantly better for using the phone.

Now, I also need to say, Pixel 9

has matte sides with glossy back,

but the Pixel 9 Pro has glossy sides with the matte back.

We've seen this strategy before.

I just think the matte sides look

and feel so much better than the glossy,

so I kind of wish you could get like a matte on matte look,

but that's just me.

And then one more thing, of course,

these phones start at higher prices,

or at least the base one starts at 799,

but this is a $1,000 phone

that starts at 128 gigs of storage.

Thanks, Apple. I guess that's the standard now, too.

But it's 2024. I would've liked, you know, 256 to start.

(upbeat music)

So cameras have always been

a big part of the Google phone experience,

or at least they have for a while now,

and on Pixel 9s, that's still true,

but not in exactly the same way.

So, all across the board, the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro

actually share the same primary camera

and the same ultra wide.

The Pros just get that extra telephoto, the 5X zoom.

And the primary camera that they all share

is basically the same as last year.

The ultra wide is new, it's 48 megapixels instead of 12,

but it bends down to 12.

So, look, shooting with these new cameras,

it's great, it's a quick smartphone camera app,

there's a bunch of easy to use modes,

it's responsive, focuses quick, it's easy

to get consistent good pictures that process pretty quickly.

What I mostly notice about these photos

is they still look very processed to me.

Like, this is the Pixel look now these days,

with the last few generations, just lots of HDR,

lots of contrast, lots of dynamic range.

Also, lots of sharpening.

It's just not as natural of a look

as we've seen in some others.

It's just more on the punchy side.

Which is honestly great for just sharing a photo

on social media, but some may prefer a more neutral photo.

The new selfie camera on the Pro

actually feels like the biggest improvement

as far as detail and color over the regular Pixel 9,

which doesn't get this, but I'd say

this is a pretty nice selfie camera,

just so much dynamic range.

But if you wanna see and hear what video footage

from the Pixel sounds like, I shot an entire video

on the auto focus channel on the Pixel 9 Pro XL

in 4K30 with, actually, no external hardware.

I didn't even plug in a mic. This is just the built-in mics.

So yeah, just me holding a phone.

If you don't zoom in at all, the videos look great.

They're sharp, but obviously still very processed,

and you can see it, like, prioritizing segmentation

and, like, lighting on my face and shifting colors around.

So, I'll leave a link below if you wanna watch that

whole eSprinter review when it goes live.

And you might as well subscribe over there

while you're at it for other car videos.

But this is all part of the Pixel experience.

Just like, they're still tuning these cameras,

they may end up looking a little more natural in the future,

even though it's been a generation.

That's one of the things that you can get outta this phone,

but also, when they present these things,

it's all about the features,

the smarts, the crazy AI magic editor

and all this AI stuff on these phones.

There's a lot to the Pixel experience.

(upbeat music)

So, Google makes Android,

Google makes their own Android phone,

therefore the Google Android phone should be

the vessel for showing off the latest

and greatest from Android, right?

I mean, Android 15 preview just got shown off in February.

It's coming out by the end of the year.

These phones launch with Android 14.

That's not a joke.

All these Pixel 9s are running

the second latest version of Android out the box.

Obviously, they should be first in line for 15,

and then the seven years of promised software updates,

but that's still hilarious.

But every time I go back to using a Pixel, you know,

I'm reminded of all this stuff

that I miss when I use other phones.

Like call screening. So good.

I mean, I know Samsung kind of has like

a janky Bixby version of it, but it doesn't work as well.

I've tried.

The now playing feature also.

that just kind of ambiently tells you

what song is playing in the background

wherever you're at, love it.

And now there's all this new stuff that they're adding

that also may or may not hook people to the Pixel.

So, Call Notes is a new one. Pretty useful.

Summarizes phone call that you're on with a recording.

And the new Pixel Weather app.

Originally, I wasn't gonna give that much of a chance to it,

but honestly, it's turned out to be just as good as

basically any other Android weather app I've tried.

So you can get to it by tapping the weather widget

on the home screen, and it's got this really pretty UI

where you can rearrange the big tiles

and put the ones you care most about closer to the top.

It doesn't let you change your weather source,

but I mean, I'm already nitpicking at a level

that only weather nerds will really care about.

And they also threw in an updated panorama UI in the camera,

and I don't know if anybody cares about this,

but the temperature sensor in the Pros works on people now.

I don't know if you caught that.

And it gives these live temperature readings now

as you move around an object.

None of which is medical advice, by the way.

I'm actually impressed by Google's commitment

to this particularly useless app.

Like, Google, I know you get a lot of heat

for killing things typically, but I give you permission

to stop working on the thermometer app.

I think you've done it.

But there's one thing that, again,

if you watched Google's event,

that is really supposed to stand the Pixel out

from the rest of the world of smartphones,

and that is because this is where Gemini lives.

This is this deep, deep integration

with Google's newest assistant here.

Literally, the boot up animation on this phone

is the Google logo, and then it turns into

the Gemini logo before it starts up.

Like, these are basically Gemini phones,

so let's talk about it.

(upbeat music)

So, ignoring the fact that Google has this

horrible habit of rebranding and renaming things

in the most confusing way possible, it seems clear

that Gemini is the thing we should be focusing on here.

Like, there's a lot of pressure on this little box

to be as useful as possible.

And it actually delivers.

Like, I have found Gemini to be very useful,

and also rapidly improving over the past couple weeks

and gaining new capabilities,

and it's still, it's very conversational,

it remembers context, it gets questions

correct most of the time.

It's good.

I clearly need to do an updated assistant battle,

because the last one I did was with

Google Assistant, not Gemini.

But see, that's the weird thing.

Google introduced this huge, new Gemini assistant

to everyone, but also, Google Assistant

still exists alongside Gemini on these phones, too.

Like, it's two different assistants.

Matter of fact, for a little while,

Google Assistant was actually better than Gemini

at a lot of things for what regular people

were doing with it, because Gemini couldn't set timers,

it couldn't get directions to places,

it couldn't do basic home controls.

And so Google Assistant would be the thing

that it would fall back on

and that people would continue to use.

It was confusing.

Even now, on the Pixel 9,

you can hold down the power button

or swipe up from the corner to get to Gemini,

but the permanent Pixel home screen widget

on everyone's phone, if you tap that microphone,

that's the old Google Assistant.

But today, now, Gemini can actually set timers and alarms,

and it can listen and tell you what song

is playing in the background, when it couldn't before.

And it can do home controls like changing my Nest

thermostat temperature and turning smart lights on.

But for some weird reason,

when it's doing all of these new capabilities,

it's showing me a little Google Assistant logo

in the corner, as if to tell me, like,

okay, it works, and we have this new capability,

but Gemini is doing this through the old Google Assistant,

which, why even tell me that?

Just do the thing.

So anyway, then also, in the settings,

you'll be able to have these Gemini extensions,

which when you enable them,

will let Gemini see more into your actual life,

like, through other apps like Google Docs

and Drive and your calendar.

And to me, that's really where it becomes the most useful.

Like, I start asking it to find emails for me

and tell me the traffic to my next

calendar event and things like that.

That is just like talking to a normal person,

and it's super useful.

But then Gemini Live gets into this

slightly less comfortable sometimes,

but also sometimes very useful,

fully conversational mode with Gemini.

So you just open it like this, and let's full screen.

So, okay, I've got this wasp nest in my studio,

and I need to get rid of it.

What do I do?

- [Assistant] Wasps are pretty aggressive,

so getting rid of the nest safely is the priority.

Do you know what kind of wasps are in the nest?

That will help me figure out

the best way to help you remove it.

- I have no idea, but they're all

really active all the time.

- [Assistant] Okay, that makes sense.

To start, it's best to try and figure out

what kind of wasps you're dealing with.

Are they yellow and black with a narrow waist?

If so, they're probably yellowjackets.

Or are they more brown or gray with a wider waist?

Those would be paper wasps.

- You know what, I don't wanna get that close to 'em.

How about I just find pest control nearby? Can you do that?

- [Assistant] Okay.

- So this is all at the mercy of your internet connection

and it not hallucinating and getting everything right,

but when it does, it's actually, it can be super useful.

Especially when you have, like,

a bunch of follow up questions about something

and you wanna just keep going, then it's less of

a bunch of typing Google and just talking to it.

It's fine.

So I do think Gemini is actually really good at this point.

I will plan on doing a comparison to

the new Siri, of course, probably ChatGPT,

and probably some others in some updated assistant battle.

Feel free to get subscribed

if you want to see that when it comes out.

But as of right now, yeah, I'm a fan of what assistant,

assistant, of what Gemini is doing.

But the thing is you can do any of this

with Gemini on any Android phone.

Matter of fact, Google literally demoed Gemini

with a Galaxy S24 Ultra at their own event.

Like, they didn't even try to hide it.

So if that's not unique to Pixel

and it's basically the Gemini phone, like,

what's the point of all this new

NPU power with the Tensor G4

and all this extra RAM dedicated to AI tasks,

what exactly is that good for?

Well, there are a bunch of other AI tasks.

(upbeat music)

So here's how I wanna go through these.

There's a bunch of new AI features on the Pixel 9s,

and I wanna just sort of divide them into

useful, meh, and gimmicks,

based on my own experience with them

over the past couple weeks.

I've been trying 'em all, using 'em,

putting 'em through their paces, and I have some thoughts.

So, some of 'em are really good

and add to the Pixel experience,

and others, not that great, kind of overrated.

So, under useful, I'm putting Gemini, of course,

just the assistant overall.

It's quick, it gets things right. Fine.

Then I have Call Notes, Video Boost, and Add Me.

So, Video Boost actually seems to make

a surprising difference at how good

the video quality comes out of a Pixel

and what you can get outta these.

Call Notes is convenient, because if you have

the guts to turn it on on a phone call,

it can record everything, ingest it all,

transcribe it, summarize it,

and give you that after the phone call,

which, it's just useful.

And then Add Me. (chuckles) Oh, Add Me.

Add Me is interesting.

It's good, it works pretty well,

I just, I'm not sure if people are going to actually use it

or if they're gonna, like, try it once

and then forget about it and go back to taking selfies,

but it does what it's supposed to.

It's right there next to the portrait mode.

It's easy to access in the camera.

And so if you need to take a group shot

and you actually have no one to take it for you,

this feature is genuinely useful.

It just combines two pictures,

and boom, everyone's now in the photo.

In case you were wondering, yes,

you can do Add Me with yourself,

and yes, if you pixel peep, you can tell

that it's not perfect every single time.

There are fuzzy edges.

Like, it's clearly using the base frame from the first photo

and then compositing in the last person.

But in general, like, the fact that

Google has leaned this far in

and created a genuinely useful feature out of thin air

by just abandoning reality in the Pixel camera app,

I guess, yeah, you gotta give 'em credit.

It's just will people actually know to use this

or will they just go back to taking, like, a selfie

with everyone behind them so they get everyone in the shot?

I don't know. Only time will tell.

So then there's meh, there's, like, the okay stuff.

So, I have the new weather summaries in the new weather app.

They're AI generated.

So right at the top of the app there,

it gives you some text to describe the day for you,

so you don't have to look at all those

confusing numbers underneath.

Honestly, it's actually kind of useful sometimes.

But is this really AI?

Like, maybe the sentence structure is coming from an LLM

or something, I don't know, whatever.

It's fine.

It certainly didn't tell me about all this

clouds coming in, probably gonna dump some rain

and also ruin my lighting.

But then Magic Editor got this Reimagine feature

that lets you highlight any part of an image

and then enter some text

to turn it into something else completely different

to have your photos look like, I don't know,

a fantasy land or something that also never happened.

It does outright refuse to do

some of my more dramatic edits,

like, it doesn't seem to wanna reimagine people ever,

but it'll happily add objects to the background

or change the setting entirely, if you're into that.

I don't know. What is a photo anyway?

And then the last meh, but not least,

or whatever, is the Screenshots app.

Am I missing something here?

I mean, I get the premise.

You have some screenshots on your phone that you've taken,

where you want to save some critical information in them,

so they built a place where you can organize 'em all

into collections, which is convenient.

You can search through them.

You can have it remind you at a certain date

and time of a specific screenshot,

and even link you back to the webpage

that you took a screenshot of.

And it makes all this information searchable.

But I'm sitting here thinking,

shouldn't this have been built into Google Photos?

Like, did you know that Samsung's Photos app

already built in the smart linking

to any website you take a screenshot of?

I mean, don't get me wrong, it works.

It does what it's supposed to.

My theory is they're probably doing slightly more analysis,

more processing of all the bits of text

and information in each photo

than they would with the normal Google Photos app,

so that is what enables all the indexing and everything.

And then maybe if it goes well,

they'll also bring all that to the Photos app, maybe?

Or if it doesn't go well, then they can kill it easily.

I don't know, whatever. It's fine.

That's not, though, as bad as my gimmicks section.

So, Zoom Enhance. Have you heard about this?

There's a new edit feature finally shipping

in the Photos app that encourages you to zoom all the way in

on a photo and then let it do its Pixel magic,

where it plays this whole animation

like it's gonna reconstruct your photo

and find some hidden details, but it kind of never does.

At the end of the day, all it does is

sort of turn up the clarity filter

and maybe add what feels like some fake texture

where it thinks there should have been some.

I'm not buying it.

And then there's the Pixel Studio app,

which is just this neat little app

to generate new images completely on device.

And again, what I'm not saying is that it doesn't work,

it actually does work impressively well.

In like three seconds on device,

it can generate whatever you want.

It's just that I don't...

I guess I don't really see a real genuine use for this

other than just messing around.

Which, hey, honestly, that's fine too.

If you just wanna mess around and make a

meatball sub with legs, then you got it.

Knock yourself out.

(upbeat music)

So, before it starts pouring rain,

the meta with new smartphones in 2024 is,

you know, slight improvements across the board,

but then also some splashy new AI features

that are only available on the newest one

because the new chip and the new neural cores

and it's just special for that reason.

So, that's what's happening.

And if you want, you could easily

throw these new Pixels into that camp.

But the reason you'd buy this phone

is really just the same as ever for a Pixel.

It's the smartest smartphone in the room,

and it's now also in a piece of kind of nice hardware

that's a pleasure to hold and use.

And then there's a bunch of AI stuff on top

that you can try and either take it or leave it.

It's kind of just up to you

if you wanna get a bunch of use outta that stuff

or literally never touch it at all.

I'm curious if you leave a comment down below

what sort of stuff you think you would use

or buy the phone to use, or which stuff

you don't think is that useful at all.

At the end of the day, we'll have to see how it ages,

but I'm thinking Pixel 9 and 9 Pro

is some of their finest work yet.

Also, shout out to Anker for sponsoring this video.

Their new Anker Prime lineup is their most advanced

multi-device fast charger they've made yet.

That includes three charging stations, one docking station,

one wall charger, one power bank, and one new cable.

So the two that stand out to me the most

are the Anker Prime charging station

and the Anker Prime power bank.

The charging station is this desktop accessory

that can kick out 250 watts in total

among its four USB C and two USB A ports,

and then it has a display that can show you

how much power each port is drawing actively.

And then it lets you customize charging priority

on each port, so you can let it just sort of auto adjust

and make the highest demanding items

get the max charge that they can take.

And then the power bank

has a 9,600 milliamp-hour capacity,

and there's two USB C ports on it,

and up to 65 watts output from this thing.

But it can also be a wall charger, too.

So, that 1.3 inch display is gonna show you

how much battery you have left

and how much power each of those ports is outputting.

So you can check 'em out,

and the rest of the Anker Prime lineup,

in the video description.

But either way, that's been it.

I got this in before the pouring rain started,

so I'm pretty proud of that.

But let me know what you think in the comments below.

Talk to you guys in the next one. Peace.

(upbeat music)