Google Pixel 6 Pro review

3 November 2021


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  • Anonymous
  • gBV
  • 04 Nov 2021

Nick Tegrataker, 04 Nov 2021As for the camera performance.. During the day, it's b... more"but the main problem I have with Pixel 6 Pro's camera is the way it handles the noise - the noise reduction algorithms seem to treat shadows and areas with darker colours (like browns and deep greens) more harshly in general, and leave a lot of weird patchy artifacts as a result"
That's one of the reasons why it is worse than previous Google phones.
See support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/133610912/to-google-s-camera-engineers-pixel-6-suffers-from-aggressive-and-patchy-noise-reduction?hl=en

For example also see the right edge of gsmarena's 12th "1x" sample image. A huge amount of noise reduction is applied to the lawn. The Pixel 5 doesn't have this issue. This has nothing to do with the sharpness of the lens.

The periscope camera seems to suffer from this issue, too. For example the last 4x image and the fourth 4x image. It's unexplainable as even a travel zoom camera, which doesn't combine frames, doesn't perform that badly.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • U@5
    • 04 Nov 2021

    Puppy , 03 Nov 2021Youtuber : Pixel 6 Pro has best screen ever Reality: is... moreThe best comment here!! Nice review of the phone

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • U@5
      • 04 Nov 2021

      thunderresistant, 03 Nov 2021What a joke) Half-baked overhyped weirdo. Have had Nexus,... moreGoogle pays YouTubers yo hype its phones.

      That's why the reviews are overwhelmingly positive

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • gBV
        • 04 Nov 2021

        Jiggar, 04 Nov 2021Bro I literally have a Pixel 3a and it takes magnificent ni... moreThat's simply not true and I tested multiple Pixel 3a. Exposure time per frame can be 1/3s -1s and the total exposure time can be up to 7 seconds and the OIS isn't very good. Even Google wrote in their blog:
        "Optical image stabilization (OIS), which is present on Pixel 2 and 3, reduces handshake for moderate exposure times (up to about 1/8 second), but doesn’t help with longer exposures or with moving objects"

        Of course, some people might not notice slightly blurry 12 megapixel photos because even Full HD only has 2 megapixels and noise makes it harder to see blurry images. Anyway, HDR+ enhanced is far more reliable and gives you sharper photos far more often due to an exposure time of 1/5s per frame.

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          • Pop
          • Dk5
          • 04 Nov 2021

          When launch in india?

            • S
            • Street Puppy
            • 0p}
            • 04 Nov 2021

            Anonymous, 04 Nov 2021I thought dual pixel AF still uses phase detection for focusing?Phase detection uses few pixels to focus.
            Dual pixel can use many.
            Also DP sensors have 2 photodiodes per pixel.

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              • daredevil1
              • Bb{
              • 04 Nov 2021

              I was on the fence about this one but after those terrible battery results its a no-go. Thanks google.

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                • DMX
                • CH9
                • 04 Nov 2021

                I'm going to wait for January, which is when they begin to solve all the bugs and problems in the next generation and there will be more stock, and of course it will be cheaper 😁😁

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • vxx
                  • 04 Nov 2021

                  AnonD-492870, 04 Nov 2021It is a figure of speech not literal...lol'Just thank the manufacturer and stop complaining' is a classic rhetoric that many brand fans use to defend their favorite companies, so I understand why some people may get offended by it.

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                    • Aren
                    • vG%
                    • 04 Nov 2021

                    I am very fond of my pixel 3(even though it barely give 4 hours sot at this point), it still takes comparable to better photos than most new phones under 600$ and I really hoped I would get a revolutionary camera with the new pixel 6 but damn, from the samples I can just tell my phone is still better than pixel 6 as far as photos go.

                    I guess I will run this till the free google photos storage runs out and then look for alternatives, my dissapointment is immeasurable though my day is still fine. Really wish it gets better with updates and the availability also improves, I am really dreading leaving the software.

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                      • Rizdog
                      • tAV
                      • 04 Nov 2021

                      Sam, 03 Nov 2021Dave2d was the only one to say the video from pixel 6 us tr... moreHe didn't say it's trash, he just said it's not much better than Pixel 5, which as we expected it to be much better given the new sensor, is disappointing. Have a look at his video, I think he's trying to say the colours are too saturated, he just wished they would be more nuanced like iPhone 13.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • n70
                        • 04 Nov 2021

                        Anonymous, 04 Nov 202199% of devices with periscope have PDAF for it, not dual pi... moreI thought dual pixel AF still uses phase detection for focusing?

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                          • salty1863
                          • n37
                          • 04 Nov 2021

                          Anonymous, 03 Nov 2021Considering youtubers said y Pro has better battery life th... moreYeah, you are right! Pixel's have always been notoriously bad for battery life ( something that has always put me off buying a Pixel) The 6 however I was optimistic. It looks like the outdated 5G modern could point to these week scores, however the phones performs well when over 4g. Not a sacrifice you should be having to make in 2021 however as 5G reception isn't great around this way up to now I'm seeing good battery results. about 7 hours SOT, plenty of spotify streaming, taking photo's and this is spread across a day and a bit.

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                            • AnonD-492870
                            • 4Ib
                            • 04 Nov 2021

                            Nick Tegrataker, 04 Nov 2021"just be grateful they don't want you to sell you... moreIt is a figure of speech not literal...lol

                              AnonD-492870, 04 Nov 2021It is like anything in this world. Far from perfect. Even i... more"just be grateful they don't want you to sell your car to get one"
                              I don't have to be "grateful" to Google for anything, I'll simply get phones from other brands if they can't do their stuff right. I have no intention to support particular companies just because of what they are.

                                As for the camera performance.. During the day, it's better than Pixel 5 and even keeps up with the Snapdragon variant of S21 Ultra really well in terms of detail rendition, which is a good sign. Sharpening is a bit strong (though to be fair, this is my criticism for most phone cameras), but the main problem I have with Pixel 6 Pro's camera is the way it handles the noise - the noise reduction algorithms seem to treat shadows and areas with darker colours (like browns and deep greens) more harshly in general, and leave a lot of weird patchy artifacts as a result.

                                I found the zoom performance also pretty lackluster. Why even bother using a Tetracell sensor if you're just going to stretch out an image taken at the binned resolution? Sure, Google's approach is still better than *just* upscaling and interpolating because of super res stacking, but some other companies have already combined a similar technique to Quad Bayer/Tetracell's full resolution output to yield significantly better sharpness. This is especially baffling when there's literally a GCam port for Mi 10 Ultra that does exactly that (combine frames in 48MP mode) and the results are absolutely commendable. The same goes for low light shooting, it's not bad by any means but definitely could've been better (less fuzziness, shorter shooting duration etc) than this, in some scenes Pixel 5 is very close and this shouldn't be happening considering the massive light intake advantage that 6 Pro has.

                                DxOMark has put up some samples from Pixel 6 Pro on their website along with iPhone 13 Pro and P50 Pro, and I prefer P50 Pro's shots in all but one scene, which is disappointing given that P50 Pro is quite handicapped in terms of pure hardware specs. Google really needs to develop a better way to post-process the images, as their current way of doing it.. just doesn't feel right.

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                                  • Lancewood
                                  • bJb
                                  • 04 Nov 2021

                                  And how many units Google expect to sell? 10mil? 20mil? LOL

                                    AnonD-492870, 04 Nov 2021It is like anything in this world. Far from perfect. Even i... more+1000 google reward points!

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • m62
                                      • 04 Nov 2021

                                      I might have cared if they brought a headphone jack back. They didn't, so I'll stick to the Zenfone 8, despite the scary ramdump issue a few people are experiencing. To bad, but they forgot that Pixels should really be a good allrounder, which includes hasslefree audio

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                                        • Haplo
                                        • MIn
                                        • 04 Nov 2021

                                        rizki1, 04 Nov 2021worse than I thought before the review.. dark screen only 8... moreWho cares about performance benchmarks if the software is great and phone has better responsiveness then any android competition?
                                        And battery life - according to many reviews it should improve with time after the first couple of days. Some are claiming its on par with S21 Ultra - or maybe a little worse.
                                        Camera... that really sets it apart. Sure for landscapes, architecture other flagships might occasionally be better. Also for selfies. But if you actually make photos of humans with the rear cameras, I think only iphone 13 max comes close (plus maybe some chinese phones with extremely limited availability). Same deal with low-light photography (unless you're very lucky and could get your hands on a Mi 11 Ultra).

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