CNET’s key takeaways
Android phones usually get a foul rap for being overly convoluted. And to be truthful, that is usually effectively justified. Samsung’s Galaxy S25 vary, for instance, has deep menu programs for messing about with practically each facet of the telephone, together with options such because the Edge Panel sidebar and a wide range of Samsung’s personal AI instruments. You even get Samsung’s model of some apps, so you find yourself with two apps for pictures, two apps for internet looking and so forth.
For a lot of Android customers, the deep customizability of the OS has at all times been a promoting level over the extra simplistic iOS discovered on Apple’s iPhones. However simply since you need an Android telephone, would not essentially imply you are a fanatical tech nerd who desires to tinker with menus all day.
The Pixel 9 Professional is the best Android telephone I’ve ever used, and there is plenty of key explanation why.
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My expertise with the Pixel 9 Professional
First, it is Google’s personal telephone, which means there is not any secondary producer software program pores and skin excessive of the working system. It is pure, uncut Android. Google’s interface is clear, straightforward to learn and uncluttered. Naturally, it makes use of Google’s personal apps by default. Samsung, in the meantime, masses its telephones up with its personal browser, e-mail consumer and photograph gallery, all of which sit beside Google’s Chrome, Gmail and Photographs apps, which means you have already got duplicates of every instrument.
Samsung just isn’t the one phone-maker to do that. Nearly all Android telephone corporations load their telephones up with at the least their very own browser and gallery app, whereas some corporations, like Samsung and Honor, go so far as making their very own e-mail shoppers and calendars.
I lately reviewed the Honor 400 Pro, and one of many massive points I discovered with that telephone was how a lot unsolicited stuff comes pre-loaded as normal. Third-party apps from TikTok, LinkedIn, WPS workplace, Temu and a wide range of others are all proper there as quickly as you flip it on for the primary time, making the telephone really feel cluttered, bloated and sophisticated earlier than you’ve got even had an opportunity to put in one app of your personal. The Pixel has none of this.
It is the identical with AI instruments. Samsung has its Bixby assistant, plus an enormous number of its personal AI capabilities. The Honor 400 Professional packs a bunch of AI options for real-time translation and transcription, as do the OnePlus 13 and varied different current Android telephones. However all of them include Google’s Gemini Superior, too, together with Circle to Search. The Pixel would not have to pointlessly double up. If you wish to use AI along with your telephone, its instruments are baked into the guts of the telephone expertise with out you needing to additionally activate and signal right into a third-party service.
This straightforward method extends to the digital camera, too. Open the default digital camera app and also you’re met with a neat interface, comprised largely of the shutter button and zoom ranges, with different taking pictures modes discovered alongside. It would not attempt to overcomplicate issues right here, as a substitute letting you shortly shoot photographs with out messing about with settings.
It is an method that works right here, and because of this, the Pixel 9 Professional takes a few of my favourite automated photographs from a phone camera, doing a fantastic job of balancing publicity and colours. I like the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera, however to get the perfect from it, that you must shoot in Professional mode, taking guide management of the settings, which makes it extra suited to superior photographers who wish to fine-tune their photographs.
The digital camera’s easy software program makes it straightforward to take pictures with little effort in your half.
The Pixel does supply deeper management if you would like it, conveniently hidden behind a small settings icon, relatively than requiring you to modify fully right into a “Professional” mode. For these of you eager to take guide management of your white stability to heat up a phenomenal sundown, the Pixel 9 Professional presents a straightforward method in.
The specs
- 6.3-inch LTPO OLED show, 2,856×1,280 pixel decision, 1-120Hz adaptive refresh fee
- Google Tensor G4 processor
- 16GB RAM
- 4,700-mAh battery
- 50 megapixel most important digital camera, 48 megapixel ultrawide, 48 megapixel telephoto zoom
CNET’s shopping for recommendation
Google has clearly taken notes from Apple’s method in making the Pixel vary. Apple’s telephones could also be derided by Android followers for his or her lack of customization and “locked down” nature, however iPhones are famously extra easy to function. They’ve built-in {hardware}, software program and providers that make them straightforward to know whether or not you are new to smartphones or a veteran gadget obsessive.
Apple’s “you do issues our method” method is a giant a part of the telephone’s success, and the Pixel 9 Professional feels just like the closest approximation of the Apple expertise you’ll find on Android. For those who’re on the lookout for a clear expertise with a smartphone that does not attempt to get in your method with useless extras, the Pixel 9 Professional is actually value a glance, especially with it currently being $200 off.
Watch this: Google Pixel 9, 9 Professional and 9 Professional XL Fingers-On
