Google Pixel 9

Technical specifications

Hello. Yesterday I replaced the 6a with the 9. I will let you know in a month how the new model performs.

I do not recommend it, I returned it quickly.
Google Tensor G4 is a failure.
It is, after all, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1,
but that is not all, because the phone's performance drops to as low as 50% and it tends to heat up; there is plenty of information about this.
Just type tensor g4 into Google and go to the news category.

Unfortunately, everyone praised these phones, but to receive such a low-quality product for this price, it is better to buy an iPhone cheaper and better.

This phone is only suitable for browsing the internet and taking photos.
A more demanding game heats up this phone.

A very mediocre phone for an excessive price.

I bought it not long ago and... I returned it quite quickly (a big plus for the ME store here, as it went quickly and efficiently). But to the point. First of all, for the year 2025, the screen, which is the basis of every smartphone (after all, we look at it and perceive the quality of the product through it), is simply tragic. Just 421 pixels per inch (screen resolution 1080 by 2424) is a truly weak result. For comparison, my old phone (HTC U11) has as much as 534 ppi and a resolution of 1440 by 2560. And it is a phone from 2018! Secondly, I was very disappointed by the cameras, which are so praised, but in reality, they are simply mediocre. Again - my HTC from years ago takes much better, more natural-looking photos than the new phone from Google. Why is that? It is simple. The Sony IMX362 sensor has "only" 12 MP, not 50 like in the Pixel, so thanks to that, the size of a single pixel on a similarly sized sensor is physically larger, and that translates to higher photo quality. Another myth is pure Android. It is not an advantage. A good developer creates software that improves how Android works and makes it run well even on weak components. Speakers - again - worse than in the HTC phone from 2018! In summary, do not listen to any testers/youtubers on the internet, because they usually do not really know what they are talking about and have not noticed that over the years, the quality of smartphones, instead of increasing, has... decreased. They do have higher specifications, meaning more RAM, better processors, but a good phone is not built on specifications alone, but on software quality.

Generally, this phone has no features/advantages to justify paying almost 3000 PLN for it, because from the competition (POCO, Vivo), we can get much more for the same money. So do not be fooled - a well-known logo and good build quality are definitely not enough to buy this phone.

Great phone, but not without flaws.

Pros:
- build quality, fit, materials used, the Wintergreen color is wonderful!
- ergonomics of use, the protruding camera bar makes it easier to grip, and one-handed use is also possible
- cameras, wide and ultra-wide are the same as in the Pixel 9 Pro, they perform great in all conditions, RAW files are even better and you can extract a lot of detail from them
- thanks to the 50MP sensor, you can achieve 2x lossless zoom, even 3x is good (especially with good processing from the raw file)
- battery, I use adaptive charging up to 80% and with intensive use it lasts 5-6 hours
- speakers, for the first time I do not feel like putting on headphones when it is not necessary
- immediate updates
- system, it seems simple but in reality it is functional
- intelligence of the system itself, a multitude of functions that adapt to our habits
- the function of "scanning" the screen by Google using the bottom bar is sometimes very useful
- Material You overlay with adaptive widgets, adjusting their color to the wallpapers, many external applications extend its capabilities
- advanced security

Cons:
- performance for this price could be much better, games unfortunately run only "ok"
- the phone quite often heats up above 40°C
- only 128/256GB of internal memory
- Google algorithms sometimes process photos too aggressively, making them unnatural, pastel, and over-sharpened (as I mentioned before, RAW processing makes a huge difference)
- large bezels for the years 2024/2025, the competition has thinner ones
- software locking of PRO functions and 50MP in the camera app for the base version, which was introduced solely to increase sales of the PRO version

I do not understand. Everyone on the internet is saying how great this screen is, but for me, this screen looks like newspaper paper. Like a cheap screen protector from China. No uniform color (especially light shades) is actually uniform on this phone. They look as if they have some kind of texture, which they should not have. Try watching bright videos on something like this or even look at the status bar in light mode. It looks as if it were evenly covered in fingerprints - that is a comparison of the impression. For several days, I was in disbelief and checking if by any chance there was a factory protector applied (there is not, I even searched for information online). For me, this makes the phone unacceptable nowadays.

I compared the 9a in the store (because I started with it, thinking it was a matter of pOLED instead of OLED) with the 9 Pro and the 8a. There was no 9 in the store. I thought the 9 would be better, but it was not. The 9 Pro and even the budget 8a had beautiful, clear displays, without any texture on uniform colors.

Review after the first month of use.
The phone is responsive, takes very nice photos, and records video excellently. I do not play games, so my unit does not get excessively hot. A slight warmth can be felt during recording. The battery has not run out once by the end of the day. It easily lasts until morning. On weekends, away from work and only on WiFi, it easily lasts a full two days. The speakers sound very pleasant; it is better compared to the 6a, although for the price of that device, it was good. I do not miss the predecessor. The current one is excellent, and the successor will also be a Pixel. It is charged with a non-original 30W charger and charges like the original one. It is important for the voltage and amperage to match the original. On a different 30W charger with different voltage and amperage, it naturally charges slower. I recommend this model. Best regards

I bought this phone because my old one started to slow down. But what I bought cannot even be called a phone. I fully agree with Jakub, who presented a comparison to the HTC U11. The display quality is a disaster, saving a series of photos takes a very long time, after opening several applications it performs slowly as if it lacked memory, the photos look very digital, fingerprint unlocking is a parody ? you have to press several times and the phone does not unlock every time, browsing photos in the gallery and some websites looks as if the phone is struggling to perform, the speakers have such sharpened high tones that they are painful to the ears, music through headphones on an external DAC is a failure. This Google Pixel phone is a disaster. This is my worst phone, and I have had several of them.

I am very disappointed with this phone and deeply regret the purchase. I switched from an iPhone 14 Pro Max (the display failed), and here is what I can say about this phone:

- the battery is a major disappointment; it is fine when idle, but any activity causes an incredible drain. It is hard to last half a day even with light use... (for comparison, my iPhone had 84% battery health and lasted all day)
- very poor screen compared to the competition, poor visibility in sunlight, washed-out colors - I found no advantages
- the system, despite being a flagship from Google, is very boring, with a lack of interesting features found in competitors

In summary: boring, unremarkable, with a weak processor for the price. This phone should cost 1/4 of its price. The current price is completely unacceptable.

The delay during recording in Messenger and Snapchat is a parody, problems like those from phones in 2015. I switched to this inferior device from an iPhone 13 because the location services broke there; I wanted to try something new instead of repairing it, but this is an absurdity. The battery is weaker, the main camera itself is good, the photos are nice, but that is the end of the advantages. Photos take an unknown amount of time to load XD a total failure

The phone is very good. I have been using it for half a year; I switched from an iPhone 16. The battery is a positive aspect, as it lasts for 2-3 days. The camera takes very natural and nice photos. The system is very fast (faster than iOS in my opinion). I believe that for such a price, the phone should meet the expectations of most people. In my opinion, the Pixel is like an iPhone with Android. I recommend it!