Google Pixel 9 5G 128GB (Porcelain)

The Google Pixel I think is a decent smartphone that has no bloatware of any kind, though I won't say as compared to the other brand of a smartphone of a different OS that I have (iPhone with IOS), it can be a learning curve being introduced to the Android OS, however there can be similarities with different twists when its commonly navigating the home screen, accessing settings, taking photos and video, switching between apps and so on.I have taken photos so far with the smartphone which features a 50 megapixel main camera and what I like with the camera app is the feature of having the photo always level, to which we always want the photo at zero degrees; I haven't so far encountered or seen a setting for that for the iPhone's main camera app as I have looked as ... MoreThe Google Pixel I think is a decent smartphone that has no bloatware of any kind, though I won't say as compared to the other brand of a smartphone of a different OS that I have (iPhone with IOS), it can be a learning curve being introduced to the Android OS, however there can be similarities with different twists when its commonly navigating the home screen, accessing settings, taking photos and video, switching between apps and so on.I have taken photos so far with the smartphone which features a 50 megapixel main camera and what I like with the camera app is the feature of having the photo always level, to which we always want the photo at zero degrees; I haven't so far encountered or seen a setting for that for the iPhone's main camera app as I have looked as much of the settings as I can.Going back to the Pixel, the Magic Editor is quite a feature I have read about, but will be needing some practice on moving objects, expanding, as I know what's great is the Add Me feature in group photos which the person taking the photo, can be in the group photo as well being added later and that places of a person in the group trades to take the other photo, which is convenient than having two pictures with the two different persons; its just one.Video recording was briefly taken and seems to be on par and usual; much more to tinker settings and experiment with later on, but it feels common with the zooming in and out and so on.Regarding the phone and dimensions and though this is a non pro size, its fits well and has quite some screen area as front facing camera is a dot.I have used a nan sim card with ATT from a family members phone and it works well accepting the network, making calls, etc. I think Google can do a better job of the placement of the sim card tray; i is at the bottom which could be where the speakers and microphone are placed and the hole for the sim card ejection, is on the same area of the sim card slot but the adjacent/opposing microphone hole can be mistaken for the sim ejection hole to put in your sim ejecting tool or safety pin and it did however unfortunately happened with me for a split second of putting the tool in that microphone hole. Of course I was careful in time, but others may need to be aware about this. I think the sim card slot (if google pursues in next pixel models that support a sim card) should be on either side of the phone.This phone will serve as an travel overseas phone and to use the country's service provider whenever we visit, and use it to make calls and surf the web, and use it as a tethered hotspot with our smartphones to make voip calls and also surf the web are our phones still are currently locked to our service provider at moment (and though our service provider has "international day passes", it more costly). But also it would be used to add a line to our account which we'd port our landline # soon since the old POTS will be phased out very shortly.

So the Pixel 9 continues the industry trend to market primarily on Artificial Intelligence features and capability. Google Gemini, Add Me, Screenshots, Pixel Studio, etc. I'm of the mind that AI things are interesting, and can be fun, but there is too much mud in the water as far as the morality of how these companies have obtained their datasets that kind of puts a damper on the whole thing for me, and this is the biggest issue in the Image generation side of the whole AI generative content thing. But my personal feelings on all that aside, the Pixel 9 is a solid new entry in the Pixel lineup, and this years entry feels far more like a flagship device than they have in years past.I love the matte finish on the frame, but wish they would have continued that with ... MoreSo the Pixel 9 continues the industry trend to market primarily on Artificial Intelligence features and capability. Google Gemini, Add Me, Screenshots, Pixel Studio, etc. I'm of the mind that AI things are interesting, and can be fun, but there is too much mud in the water as far as the morality of how these companies have obtained their datasets that kind of puts a damper on the whole thing for me, and this is the biggest issue in the Image generation side of the whole AI generative content thing. But my personal feelings on all that aside, the Pixel 9 is a solid new entry in the Pixel lineup, and this years entry feels far more like a flagship device than they have in years past.I love the matte finish on the frame, but wish they would have continued that with the back glass like they did on the pro models. The smooth back glass feels slippery, almost greasy, and that sucks because otherwise the phone looks amazing. and makes me feel like a skin, or case is almost mandatory to keep it from feeling like dropping it is an inevitability rather than a bad handling issue.Performance wise we aren't really looking at any major gains from last year, but we did get increased ram, mainly to handle those AI workloads on device. Add Me, in the camera, being probably the most interesting if you remember that it's there after the initial novelty wears off. This lets you, as the name suggests, add yourself to group photos in instances where you don't have someone outside the group to take the picture or have a reliable way to prop the device up and use a timer. It's also just interesting in that you can just use it to take pictures that can't exist, like a picture of yourself, hanging out with, yourself... Good fun nonsense. But I feel like this is less of an AI feature and more of an editing feature that's automated?Contrary to the popular opinion from what I have seen others saying, I happen to like the screenshots app. Keeping my screenshots out of my photo gallery, and separated out and indexed in a clean and easy to navigate way is nice, an added bonus being if your pulling up a screenshot to show someone, and they accidentally swipe or back out there's no chance of them seeing the nonsense photos you have taken as well, so that's a fringe benefit. If you know, you know.We get the same main cameras as the Pro this time minus the telephoto one, and that means not losing out on camera quality, though the pro still gets the better front facing camera, so if your big into the selfie game, you might still prefer that one. I myself don't tent to take pictures of myself, so no loss for me. Overall the camera quality is good, though the sometimes can look a little over processed to me, sometimes a little too sharp, but still good quality, and I don't think it will make your pictures look bad on your insta.For mobile gamers, sorry to say, your still getting left out. The latest Snapdragon in competing phones still puts this to shame, that isn't to say you can't game here, but your not going to be putting the settings on Max in every game you try, CoD Mobile runs well though, I myself do not game on my phone that often, I have plenty of other devices for that, and the few mobile games I do play, I tend to play on a tablet because my eyes suck and a smaller phone screen doesn't let me enjoy the experience as much as I'd like.Overall the Pixel 9 is a nice phone, I think the focus on AI is more of a detractor from the phones general premium feel and smooth operation. There's a lot to like here, it's been a joy to use, and coverage is generally pretty good in my area, but I've not had any signal quality issues, dropped calls, or other problems of note. So if your looking for a clean android experience with a solid camera and smooth performance with a longer software support cycle than most, the Pixel 9 is a pretty good choice.

Being a digital creator means I’ve got my phone on me at all times to capture content, take notes, take calls, and do research. The Google Pixel 9 is the fourth Pixel phone I’ve had over the years and so far it does not disappoint. Whether I’m capturing footage at events for my small business or being the designated photographer at a friend’s party, I’m always ready with my trusty Google Pixel phone. Not only am I regularly using my phone to capture good footage for multiple social media accounts, I also listen to plenty of music, audio books, and videos throughout my day. Having a reliable phone with a good camera and a long-lasting battery is a must. The Pixels improve every year, and the Pixel 9 is offering a newer processor, higher quality camera, and 12GB RAM ... MoreBeing a digital creator means I’ve got my phone on me at all times to capture content, take notes, take calls, and do research. The Google Pixel 9 is the fourth Pixel phone I’ve had over the years and so far it does not disappoint. Whether I’m capturing footage at events for my small business or being the designated photographer at a friend’s party, I’m always ready with my trusty Google Pixel phone. Not only am I regularly using my phone to capture good footage for multiple social media accounts, I also listen to plenty of music, audio books, and videos throughout my day. Having a reliable phone with a good camera and a long-lasting battery is a must. The Pixels improve every year, and the Pixel 9 is offering a newer processor, higher quality camera, and 12GB RAM (an improvement on the Pixel 8’s 8GB RAM).CAMERA APPThe main difference I noticed about the rear camera is that the Pixel 9’s Ultrawide lens (0.5x zoom) now has 48MP compared to the Pixel 8’s Ultrawide 12MP lens. The field of view is just a few degrees narrower on the Pixel 9, but I’m okay with that if I’m getting better quality overall. The Macro Focus was one of my favorite updates on the Pixel 8 so I’m happy that the Pixel 9 macro’s closest distance limit improved from 3cm (Pixel 8) to 2cm (Pixel 9). The macro focus is great for detail shots on a product shoot so even having that little bit of extra wiggle room is great.Portrait mode is such a great feature to have when I don’t have a professional camera on me. Back in April I went to a couple birthday parties and I was the unofficial photographer for the events which led me to take beautiful portraits of the birthday ladies with my Pixel 8. There were no special events the week of this review, but if the Pixel 8 can take great photos, I know the Pixel 9 can surpass or at least match the quality. One of the parties was outdoors during the day, so the footage I got was crisp and clear. The portraits outdoors were gorgeous. The second party I went to was at a salsa bar at night so while it was a low-light environment, the camera quality was still top notch. (I debated sharing the portraits in this review but since they were not taken with the Pixel 9, I decided against it. I’ll include other photos I took with the Pixel 9.)GOOGLE PHOTOS: MAGIC ERASER, EDITING TOOLS, BEST TAKEI am on the Photos app all the time! I love looking through my photos, creating albums, and sharing them with friends & family. It’s great to be able to share a link with a group of people so they can either download the photos/videos for themselves or even just write comments for me to look back on later. Not only do I love being able to organize my media in Photos, but I love all the editing options too. The editing tools just keep getting better as the years go by. Photos editing is great because I have access to sky enhancements, filters, highlights/shadows, contrast, brightness, and so many basic editing features along with more advanced ones. I’ve been a fan of the Magic Eraser since it was available - it’s so convenient to get rid of things like power lines in a background or a crumpled napkin on a table in a group photo directly on my phone rather than pulling the image into a desktop photo editing program. Speaking of pulling photos into an editing software, I’m so used to having to do this with group photos to get everyone’s best smile but the Pixel’s “Best Take" feature works well in a pinch!BATTERY LIFEWith as much as I use my phone on a daily basis, good battery life is very important to me. The Pixel 9 has an improved battery rating at 4700 mAh, compared to the Pixel 8’s 4575 mAh rating. I’m confident that the new Google Tensor G4 processor can handle the upgraded battery rating - I haven’t had any issues yet. My screen time Monday - Friday is about 8h per day, which I classify as somewhat heavy usage, so on my heaviest usage day this week I went from 100% charge at 6:30 am to 18% at 9:15 pm. On camera-heavy days, I definitely make a point to charge my phone beforehand and carry a portable charger with me. I personally like adaptive charging to keep my battery healthier for longer.SCREENSHOTS APPScreenshots can get real messy, real quick. But now that I’ve found the Google Screenshots app, I’m finally able to organize and review my screenshots in a helpful and productive way. The Screenshots app allows you to select screenshots and put them in a collection for maximum organization. Viewing one of the screenshots lets you see an AI generated summary which usually writes out any text in the image. So for example if I’m looking up gift ideas and I screenshot something from the shopping tab in my Google search, the screenshot summary will have titles, descriptions, ratings, price, etc. There are also quick features like image sharing, image editing, setting reminders, or doing a Google search on that specific screenshot.GOOGLE AI FEATURESThe AI features that I like the most on the Pixel 9 are the Magic Editor in Google Photos and the generated summaries on the Screenshots app. The Magic Editor is so neat to use especially when I just want to edit a portion of a background. The Auto Frame feature is great because it generates any missing piece of the image in order to frame the subjects better. Sure, I could just crop or re-frame myself, but the generative feature is helpful. I use AI as an aid, so I don’t expect it to be perfect. When using the Reimagine tool, I got better results asking for something like “blue and yellow flowers and a sunset background” in comparison to the questionable results I got when I asked it to “create a bowl of dog treats”. I had to find a balance between asking for a general change and specific material generation.Pixel Studio was interesting to use, but I noticed it only creates square images and I’d like to have more sizing options. I don’t know how much I’ll continue to use this app given that I can’t seem to use any of the stickers I made outside of Pixel Studio. I’m not a huge fan of completely AI generated images because I like to create my own photos, but I suppose it’s just another tool to have in my pocket.OVERALLThe Google Pixel 9 does a great job of meeting my daily phone needs. If I’m not using my phone for entertainment, I’m using it to capture content for work and leisure. The two things I value most in a phone are camera quality and battery life so my favorite upgrades on the Pixel 9 are the ones that improve on those two features. I’ve been making social media content and photo albums with ease for the last few years and the Pixel is my most used tool to achieve those goals. The fact that I can edit and organize directly in-phone or in Photos is a huge plus for me. There are a lot of extras, like AI features, that are nice to have but I may not use on a regular basis, however I don’t think it’s fair to dock points for having more features than I need.