Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review

Android 14 with Gemini

Since the Pixel 9 phones arrived before the launch of Android 15, the new generation of Pixel phones come with Android 14 OS out of the box. It is a clean version of the popular operating system and one that contains the new Gemini AI.

Google promises seven years of complete software support for all Pixel 9 phones, meaning they will receive seven major OS upgrades through the years and all security patches. You can also rely on spare parts availability for that period should anything happen to your Pixel.

Google's clean Android 14 is fast and fluid, and quite familiar as it has been around for almost a year already. The lockscreen is clean and simple; the homescreen supports app icons, folders and widgets; there is an app drawer, and the notification shade with the quick settings is here to stay.

Android 14

The interface supports various customizations through the Style menu - you can change the accent colors, wallpapers, icon shape and style. You can also place more shortcuts on the lockscreen and change the clock style.

Google's app suite includes the mandatory Phones and Messages, Files and Drive, Gmail and Chrome, Photos and Camera, Calculator, Calendar, Contacts, Clock, Maps, Safety, Thermometer, Wallet, Watch, YouTube and YT Music. There are some new apps you will see here - Gemini, Screenshots, Pixel Studio and a brand-new Weather app.

Thermometer • Weather

Google's Gemini AI plays a major role in the Pixel 9 series. You can ask Gemini a lot more stuff to do, make whole conversations even - be it about interviews or book/essay ideas, you name it. It can give you ideas on what to cook based on a photo of your fridge contents, while Magic Editor can remove distractions from photos and even generate a whole scenery in a photo - think dramatic sunset where there's a dull one.

You can ask for ready to paste text for emails, summary of emails or other texts, and more. It will be also able to listen to your calls and make a summary of the conversation - with the other side being notified of that, of course. This way, if the call is important and jam-packed with information, you will be able to remember everything like dates, hours, meetings, plans, etc.

Google Gemini in action

Gemini is still in the development stage, but it is ready to be used and is quite fun! Cook, write, create content, search, ask questions. Plus, it speaks 100+ languages from the get-go.

Pixel Studio is your next stop, where you can create custom images. Note that creating images of people is not supported just yet. Here you can try to create various absurd pictures, or help your ideas get visualized, or make your concert poster, or maybe your next book cover. And for the most time - the creator works very well and you can then customize further the style of the picture with the additional options.

Pixel Studio

The Pixel Screenshots app is your screenshot organizer, where you can deep search through your countless screen grabs. Product keys, trailer screenshot, phone numbers, sports, recipes, favorite foods, gift ideas, that t-shirt stamp, landmarks, companies, places to visit - ask here and you shall get an answer and a screenshot summary if possible. The app uses Gemini to identify content across all of your screenshots, so you can then use it to recall information in them.

Pixel screenshots

Circle to Search is also available - just press and hold the nav bar at the bottom of the screen and then doodle on anything on your screen that you want to search for. It eliminates the need to screenshot and open it with Google Lens and it really works as advertised - you circle something, Google finds it for you.

Circle to search

Magic Editor is available in Photos with various tools such as Zoom Enhancer, Magic Eraser, Blur/Unblur, and various other tools.

Magic Editor

The Camera app features some neat AI tricks like Add Me - if you are in a group, you can add the photographer now via this feature - you take one shot with the group and one with him and the AI will combine them. Or you can clone your subject in one and the same photo (we have samples on the next page). Best Take is also available, where you can replace faces/objects with a better version of them.

Add Me

Google Gemini can also make use of Google's most advanced AI called Gemini Advanced - and it gives you more accurate and focused generative AI responses. It normally requires a paid subscription, and it is not yet available in all markets, but it will be free for one year for all Google Pixel 8 Pro or 9 Pro XL owners. Most of the features are available for free, though, the ones we talked about already and they work very well even without the Advanced version that seems to be targeting power users.

Finally, Satellite SOS is becoming a more and more common feature on new smartphones. Google has partnered with the Garmin Response emergency response coordination services for the satellite SOS feature of the new Pixel 9 series. Currently, this service is only available in the US and only for users of the new Pixel 9 series: the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL and 9 Pro Fold. Older models are not supported.

Garmin Response handles over 17,000 SOS activations a year in more than 150 countries so we should probably see the service outside the US some day. That's how Apple started too - maybe once all the kinks are worked out, Google will expand the service to new markets. Garmin is already working with a global network of search and rescue professionals, coast guards, embassies and other organizations that can get you out of trouble.

Google has another partner in this, Skylo. Skylo is a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) service provider, that is to say, it works with a number of satellite operators and carriers around the world to provide emergency connectivity in areas with no cell or Wi-Fi connectivity. Skylo's network works 24/7 globally, so that is not a barrier to a wide expansion of the Pixel 9 satellite SOS functionality either. And, perhaps, more than that.

Software and performance

The new Pixels run on the next-gen Google chipset - the Tensor G4. It contains a brand-new CPU with eight cores, one core fewer than the G3's - 1x3.1 GHz Cortex-X4 & 3x2.6 GHz Cortex-A720 & 4x1.92 GHz Cortex-A520. All cores have been upgraded to their respective latest generation.

The GPU stays the same as on the Tensor G3 - Mali-G715 MC7 - but it has a higher clock at 940Hz, up from 890Hz.

All new Pixels have more RAM than before - 16GB of LPDDR5X.

The TPU for AI tasks is unchanged since Tensor G3 - still in its third generation.

Finally, there is a new energy-efficient modem provided by Samsung - Exynos 5400 - with Satellite connectivity support.

Unfortunately, we are not able to provide you with benchmark scores at this time as the benchmark apps we use were reported as "incompatible" on the Play Store and sideloading them got us results which were way too low (lower than Pixel 8 Pro, for instance) to be considered as representative. Let's hope the limitations are lifted later down the line and we are able to offer you proper benchmark scores.

Update, 02 Sept, 2024: We received another unit of the Pixel 9 Pro XL and reran the benchmarks. While the numbers are still way behind the competition, at least now the 9 Pro XL outperforms the PIxel 8 Pro (itself not particularly great in comparison to its peers at the time).