Google Pixel 9 Pro: Goodbye Pixel, Hello Gemini AI

Have you ever stayed up late, deep in conversation with a close friend? Well, that happened to me with the new Google Pixel9 Prowhich I have been testing for the past week. One night, when I couldn’t sleep, I decided to “talk” to the main function of the phone: Twins live – a fundamentally new assistant conversation mode.

I told Gemini I was having trouble sleeping and asked what I could do. Gemini, in a disturbingly human voice, offered ways to sleep better and suggested I reduce stress at work—and yes, I realize the conversation itself was work.

During the “conversation,” Gemini understood my rambling, half-witted questions, pauses, mumblings, and digressions in much the same way a human would. The entire interaction felt natural, and I never had to say, “Hey Google.” At one point, Gemini told me to read Pride and Prejudice to help me fall asleep. I began to feel like Gemini really understood me.

But the entire time I was talking to Gemini, I kept thinking: Am I like Joaquin Phoenix in the movie Her? Then I had a terrifying epiphany: Am I going to fall in love with a Pixel phone?

Then everything stopped. My new friendly helper fell silent. The twins stopped and wouldn’t talk to me. Was it something I said? Had the twins abandoned me?

Within five minutes, I began to truly understand the hype around Gemini and the potential of Google, only to see it fail. We are still a long way from the time when generative AI and large language models become a seamless, trustworthy part of our everyday reality.

I’m not alone in my experiences with Gemini. My CNET colleagues Lisa Eadicicco and Andy Lanxon raved about the AI-powered assistant in their reviews of the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL, respectively. And like me, each of them ran into issues. Similarly, Eadicicco made Gemini stop responding, which she found confusing. Lanxon got inaccurate answers, such as when she asked him to recommend places to get a drink, and Gemini suggested a bar that closed years ago.

It became clear during testing Pixel9 Pro that the phone itself isn’t a shiny new Google product, the Gemini is. With its latest line of phones that includes Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL AND 9 Pro FoldGoogle just wrapped it up in four different packages. Want Gemini in a phone that won’t break the bank too much? Get the Pixel 9. Hoping to use the Gemini with a great telephoto camera? Well, there’s the Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL. Want a bigger screen for the Gemini that can fold down to fit in your pocket? Consider the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

Of course, Gemini isn’t exclusive to Pixel phones, which dulls the Pixel 9 Pro’s shine a bit. Google has traditionally positioned its Pixel phones as the ultimate Android experience, and it clearly wants Gemini to play a big part in that appeal this year.

There are other new AI-powered tools and features, like Call Notes, which can transcribe and summarize phone conversations. There’s a new Screenshots app, which is an on-device hub for storing and quickly finding information contained in screenshots. The Pixel Studio app can generate clip art-like images from text suggestions. There’s also a Reimagine tool in the Photos app’s Magic Editor, for changing and generating aspects of a photo from a suggestion.

All of these, as well as the Add Me camera tool (which uses AR to help add photographers to group photos), are ostensibly trying to solve a specific problem or use case. But they’re often not problems or uses that apply to me. Yes, it was cool to generate an image of an iguana in a tuxedo tap-dancing, but how many times am I going to use that?

For better or worse, the Pixel 9 Pro’s AI outshines the hardware, which is a shame because the phone’s design is actually quite nice. I’m glad Google made a smaller version of the Pixel 9 Pro XL, but it’s a far cry from being a small phone in the way that 5.9-inch Asus Zenfone 10 Or 5.4-inch iPhone 13 Mini were. It’s essentially the same size as the regular 6.3-inch Pixel 9, but with higher-end features like a better display, a higher-res selfie camera, more RAM, a telephoto camera, and a thermometer (yes, Google kept it).

The Pixel 9 Pro feels better built than previous Pixel phones, thanks in large part to a new flat design that’s reminiscent of the Galaxy S24 and iPhone 15. The camera bar that defined the look of recent Pixel phones has shrunk to a thick, flat, pill-shaped camera bulge. It’s almost like the phone is wearing a tiny VR headset.

The new ultrasonic under-display fingerprint reader is lightning fast. In CNET’s San Francisco office, my colleagues and I spent a few minutes marveling at how quickly the Pixel 9 Pro unlocked.

The cameras are largely the same as those in last year’s Pixel 8 Pro, and take equally excellent photos. But they also suffer from some of the same pixelation issues in low-light photos and in Night mode. 9Pro and 9Pro XL get a new 42-megapixel camera for selfies and video calling, which I think is a definite improvement over the 10.5-megapixel front-facing camera on the Pixel 8 Pro.

During my time with the Pixel 9 Pro, battery life was good and lasted me a full day. But I worry about how the battery life will be as new features and AI tools are added in the coming years.

This Pixel 9 Pro costs $999so is the Pixel 8 Pro. But that’s not the whole story. The $1,099 Pixel 9 Pro XL, aside from the name change, is a true sequel to the 8 Pro in every way. I think the Pixel 9 Pro is worth the price, but I can’t believe I’m only getting 128GB of storage for a thousand dollars. The $300 Moto G Power 5G has 128GB of storage and costs $700 less!

Google’s Pixel phones used to be the showcase for the latest version of Android. Now, they’re clearly the showcase for Gemini. If you need more proof, the Pixel 9 family runs the current version of Android, not a new and upcoming version of the operating system like previous Pixels. It’s another sign that the Pixel 9 series is a turning point for Google, as it moves away from the Pixel phone we’ve known for years and toward a future where AI features are the biggest draw. We’re just not there yet.