Google Pixel 9 smartphone: hands-on review

Google’s new generation of Pixel phones are here and in this review I was one of the first to get hands-on with them at Google HQ in California just before launch. In this video review of the 2024 Google Pixel 9, I’m going to take you thorough the phone with a focus on several of its new features, software tweaks, apps and improvements.

Google Pixel 9 smartphone review

I do want to thank Google for gifting me this phone. Though the company has supplied it to me, they have not made any requests or asked me to say or not say anything about the device, and I got to test it out as I wanted to at home, so you can consider these thoughts my own

There are a handful of key things about the phone to note.

Watch my hands-on video review of Pixel 9

AI services built in with Gemini

The first is that it’s Google’s first AI-powered phone, with Google Gemini layered into the operating system. We’ll get into Gemini more in a sec.

The phone also boasts a suite of new features and services. For starters the screen is bigger and brighter than Pixel 8 and the phone is made to be twice as strong, according to Google. I’m not going to drop test this so early in my time, with it, so I’ll take Google’s word for this for the moment.

The camera is the same as you’ll find on the more expensive Pixel 9 Pro models; an Advanced dual camera system that shares the same wide and ultrawide as the Pixel 9 Pro, as well as Even better video quality and low light performance.

Pixel 9 also ships with some of the cooler new features like Circle to Search, Add Me where you can digitally insert yourself in a photo, Pixel Studio where you can create any image from a text prompt, Pixel Screenshots which is a unique new app to keep screenshots and notes organized by making them much more searchable. Plus there’s Call Notes which can transcribe and even pull highlights from phone calls and an improved weather app.

Let’s dig a bit deeper on a few of these, starting with the AI-power of Google Gemini.

Google Gemini on Pixel 9

On new Pixel 9 phones, Gemini should already exist as a standalone app. If you don’t see it when you set up your phone initially, give it a few minutes as it should automatically update and populate for you.

From there you can simply open the Gemini app and type, talk, or upload a photo.

To get started, I tried asking Gemini to help plan a meal with what’s in my fridge.

It can also help you write a thank you note or birthday card. Help explain a concept in a kid friendly way. Read and summarize a webpage.

If you opt for the higher tier plan from Google you can access a more advanced version of this assistant called Gemini Live, which might seem familiar since it’s very similar to the pro version of Chat GPT where you can carry on a free flowing conversation with your assistant.

If you want to learn more about Gemini on Pixel 9, I’ve got a full video where you can see what’s involved, how to set it up and how you can interact with it.
But just to give you a rough idea, you can start a conversation, and keep asking questions of Gemini in a true back and forth conversation. You can even interrupt Gemini while it’s speaking to you to interject a new question or move it to a different topic. In my early testing, the assistant is actually extremely capable and seems able to answer all of my questions and fulfil every request.

Circle to Search

Circle to search, as the name suggests, lets you draw a circle around an object on your phone screen to look it up. It’s ideal if you want to look up and unique vase you see in a YouTube video, or a shirt you saw in a photo online. It’s basically made to be a visual search engine that’s a little more seamless than something like a Google image search.

To enable this feature you need to get it set up. But this is not intuitive how to do it. I found the easiest thing to do was just to open the YouTube app and then push and hold on the small line that appears near the bottom navigation bar. When you push and hold, the menu option should open up on screen that allows you to set up the feature.

Once you do this the first time, if you are in an application that lets you use Circle to Search, you can just push and hold that spot on the screen again and then a veil will appear over the screen. Just draw a circle around what you’re intending to look up and the phone will show you search results.

Add Me

If you are forever taking photos of other people and never get to be in them, you’ll love the Add Me feature. Add Me let you stitch together two images; one that you take, and another that someone else takes, so everyone can be in the same photo.

I initially thought this was app that would be right for creating fake photos… But the way the app behaves you actually have to take two photos in the same session to allow the app to stitch them together. It’s not as though you can take an older photo, then take a photo of yourself, and then have them edited together. That would be something more like a post-snap Photoshop edit, while this works inside the camera while images are being taken.

It’s kind of neat how it works; essentially you’ll want to take the photo a bit wider than you might otherwise to allow for room to insert yourself. Then you’ll be prompted to take another photo, with the first snap overlaid on screen so you can place yourself in the right spot. The camera software will pull the two images together and create a seamless photo. And since you’re taking those photos at the same time, the light should look natural and the photo quite seamless.

Pixel Studio

Pixel Studio is going to be a tool I use a lot. This new app can create any kind of image from a written prompt.

Pixel Studio Ai image generator.

I asked it to create a YouTube thumbnail and it did a pretty good job, save for getting the aspect ratio wrong, and using an older phone instead of the 9. But as we all know by now, an AI outcome is only as good as the prompts.
You can use pixel studio to create anything from random images that look futuristic and strange, two more relatable Instagram ads or feature images for your blog.

Pixel Screenshots

As someone who is constantly saving screenshots, I love that Google has come up with a way to organize and search them better. The new Pixel Screenshots app has made it so much easier to find what I want to remember. Screenshotting anything on the phone (hold the power and volume-down buttons) will automatically save it to the app, and then you can go in and browse or search for what you want.

Rather amazingly, if you save the screenshot from a webpage, the app will know that and if you tap the Chrome web browser button beneath it, it will take you back to that very same webpage automatically. This is super handy if you screenshot a product you might want to buy later.

New Pixel Weather app

The new Weather app is a nice addition, which apparently didn’t really exist before, though I have to admit I didn’t really notice. A dynamic weather app has long been a staple of other phones so I suppose it’s high time it came to Pixel.

Weather app widgets.

You can choose which cities you want to keep tabs on, and fully customize any of the information you get in it. Once you dive into each city’s specifics, you can adjust information in widget form to show what you want to see and what you don’t care about.

At the top is also an AI weather report which summarizes the forecast for you in a nicely conversational tone, and below that it will give you an hourly and a daily forecast. Underneath that are the series of widgets which you can move around as you wish. The background is also dynamic and will update based on current conditions.

Magic Editor for Photos

Google’s magic editor also makes photo editing a lot easier than it ever was. Just open up a photo, it’s when you just took on your phone, or a photo that’s older from another device. Top on the magic editor button and it will cycle through several options for you to customize the look from improving the sky, to adding a sunset like glow.

Also use what’s called the Reimagine feature which allows you to highlight certain aspects of the photo and then type in a command for how you would like that portion of the photo changed.

To use this feature open up a photo and select the edit command on the bottom of the screen. Tap the magic editor button which is on the left-hand side next you will circle, or draw in an area to select what you want to edit then look for the reimagined command along the bottom when you tap this it will open a text prompt where you can add whatever you want. Then magic editor will generate four options for you to choose from. If you don’t like any of those you can get it to generate a new set of results until you’re happy.

The results are shockingly good.

Camera quality

I have long been a fan of Google pixel phones and they’re outstanding photography qualities. The pixel nine is no different. It takes stunningly beautiful photos with its 50MP camera.

Overall review: Google Pixel 9

Overall I’m extremely impressed with the new Google Pixel 9 smart phone. The hardware is quite beautiful and the phone is really nice to look at, hold, and view. from my week or so with the device it seems fast and responsive, and incredibly easy to use as all Pixel phones are.

I found all of the new features now bundled into the phone are incredibly intuitive and easy to use, and actually perform far better than I thought they might at this early stage. I think the new Google Gemini and Gemini Live are going to be game changers for the average person in terms of not only giving access to AI assistance right on a device you’re going to use every day, but also for how we are going to search and research.

I think the new Screenshots app is going to be super helpful for me personally and the editing features for the phone and the camera are incredibly useful.

I’m coming weeks I’ll be getting hands on with the Pro versions of the Pixel 9 phone, so I might have more to say at that stage, but for now I’m really loving this phone and all it can help me do.

Pixel 9 starts at about $1099CAD/999USD and you can get them from Google.

You can check out my other reviews of the previous generation of devices or see what else Google has for you… like it’s new Pixel 9 Fold.