Google Pixel 9 Pro XL Long Term Review: A Photographer’s Dream

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL price is 89,999 rupees in India. This price is for 256GB storage and 16GB RAM. While it’s 512GB of storage with 16GB of RAM, which I’m using, priced at 94,999 rupees in India. There are other storage and RAM models available, which check on Flipkart and Amazon before buying. This phone is available in Porcelain, Rose Quartz, Hazel, and Obsidian colours.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL packs the following items inside the box:

• Phone
• Type C cable
• SIM ejector tool
• Documentation

Before we talk in detail about the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.8-inch LTPO OLED screen
• Chipset: Google Tensor G4 (4 nm)
• RAM & ROM: 128GB 16GB RAM, 256GB 16GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM
• Software: Android 14, upgradable to Android 16, up to 7 major Android upgrades
• Rear camera: 50MP, 48MP, 48MP
• Selfie camera: 42MP
• Battery: 5060mAh
• Weight: 221 grams
• Dimensions: 162.8 x 76.6 x 8.5 mm

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL comes in several colour options, including Porcelain, Rose Quartz, Hazel, and Obsidian. But I’m using its Obsidian colour, which is more eye-catching. I liked its design, matte finish back and glossy aluminium frame. But many of us may find the fingerprint smudge on the back annoying, as it’s not visible from a distance but can be seen up close.

Google made abslute stunning frame with a similar flat design on both sides and a rounded corner. While using I felt like an Apple iPhone 15 Pro. This phone weighs 221 grams and measures 162.8 x 76.6 x 8.5 mm, which I felt little bit heavier. So, I would suggest you use it with a case to prevent accidental falls because its glossy frame is slippery.

Google added an IP68 rating to protect it from dust and water. So, it is immersible up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. Moving on to the ports, the top has a microphone and a slightly recessed or different material on the phone’s metal frame.

It might be a mmWave 5G Antenna Window (you can read about it in detail on the web, or comment down, I will come with a detailed article) that helps receive the fastest 5G network.

There is nothing on the left side, while the right side has a power button and a volume button. At the bottom, you can find a SIM tray, a speaker strip, and a Type-C jack.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL comes with the best camera capabilities, featuring a triple rear camera setup of 50MP wide, 48MP periscope, and 48MP ultrawide sensors.

I can definitely say that it rocks in every segment, but has some issues in edge detection in very bright light, and sometimes uneven colour and pixelated image in ultrawide mode. But note this is very slight.

To review this phone camera, I even visited the Taj Mahal and Delhi night food market, and I’m writing a detailed camera review. Here, I will share my experience briefly, anyway. In bright light, the Pixel 9 Pro XL produces exceptional detail, excellent dynamic range, and balanced contrast.

Colours lean toward natural tones rather than oversaturated hues, making it ideal for landscapes such as the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. You can see whites stay clean and accurate, shadows preserve good detail, and HDR performance is reliable, even in harsh sun.

I’m totally with Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), who has often praised the Pixel camera’s capabilities, particularly its use of computational photography and AI features.

I observed minor inconsistencies in edge detection in portrait mode. But it only happens when your clothing colour closely matches the background. I don’t think this is a big deal, because separation becomes harder with the same subject and background colour. But overall, edge separation is still among the best in the industry.

The 48MP ultrawide captures a wider field of view with good dynamic range and sharpness. For architectural subjects such as the Taj Mahal, the ultrawide maintains symmetry and effectively limits distortion. It captures a near-real image with accurate colour.

I even noticed that I clicked some ultrawide pictures in bright light, where I got slightly uneven colours. Sometimes, you may notice minor pixelation in very high-contrast corners. These issues are subtle and appear only when zooming in. But overall, the ultrawide holds up exceptionally well and is a substantial upgrade over earlier generations.

Quickly, regarding telephoto and zoom quality, it offers excellent images at 5x, but at the upper end, you will not get social media-friendly photos, though they are acceptable. I mostly clicked images in 2x because I liked the framing.

One of the essential things is night photography with Pixel. During the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL long-term review, I even visited Sheen Bagh night food market to click tasty food and even them as well. This phone had excellent exposure control and accurate colour tones, even under mixed neon and warm lights.

You can see well-balanced colour in Ras Malai and Gulab Jamun. Delicious Kunafa, chicken tikka, and mutton kadhai also come with accurate colour tones, just like the fantastic taste. One also needs to know that moving hands, a light, and subjects are handled better than most competitors.

Its front camera also delivers the best images in every condition, from bright to low light. At the same time, you can record the best videos in 4K at 30fps with the front and rear cameras. I record a few reels as well with this camera.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL comes with a 5060 mAh battery, offering great battery life on a single charge. I got almost nine hours of screen time battery life. But it totally depends on your usage: if you play heavy games or record video continuously, you might get seven hours of screen time. You get almost 2 days of battery life. I watched a complete T20 game continuously, after fully charging and 30 per cent left at the end.

During the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL long-term review, the charging time was the most frustrating aspect for me. Due to its massive battery capacity, the uncapable charger takes almost 2 hours to fully charge. I used Apple 20W and OnePlus 100W chargers, but the charging speed was the same, which was low. I think if you use an authorised Google Pixel charge, then it may charge rapidly.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL comes with a 6.78-inch LTPO OLED display with a resolution of 1344 x 2992 pixels and a 486 PPI density. Its large display delivers an excellent movie-watching experience. Moreover, it supports HDR10+ technology, allowing you to watch high-quality movies on YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and other OTT platforms.

It also has a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, with a Mohs level 4 to protect the display from accidental damage. But sadly, I got a green line on the screen. I’m not so clear how it happened, but serious concern it durabilty. I can assure you this did not drop, which you can see in the corner images in the design section.

I updated this phone from Android 15 to 16 a few months back. But I think this is a very fundamental practice. Plus, I have seen some posts on social media claiming that they faced a similar green line issue anonymously.

Google has a special repair program for certain Pixel phone models, including Pixel 8, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold. If these phones have issues such as green or pink vertical lines or flickering screens, the program can help. It gives extra coverage for three years after you buy the phone. However, the phone needs to be inspected, and this program does not cover damage from things like cracks or water spills.

During the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL long-term review, I also used this phone smoothly with a 120Hz refresh rate. Moreover, you can change it to turn off the setting for a lower refresh rate.

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL offers exceptional performance with Google Tensor G4 (4 nm) for gamers, photographers, cinematographers, and editors. But when it comes to long gaming sessions or extended photography sessions, you might see some colouration on the display, like frame drops and buffering.

During the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL long-term review, I sometimes played three to four consecutive BGMI sessions for three to four hours, and I observed some frame drops and heating as well.

A similar thing happened when I was shooting continuously at the Taj Mahal: I had a little bit of lag, but shot 1000+ images in a single day. This is not a big issue for me because I was testing it at its peak, which is not practical in daily life. Google also added a vapour chamber (VC) cooling system to the phone to prevent overheating during intense use.

Talking about the chipset, the Google Tensor G4 (4 nm) is more specialised for on-device AI tasks, leveraging custom Google TPUs for specific features (like Photo/Video magic) with better efficiency in those AI workloads.

But uses a less efficient Samsung 4nm process than TSMC for Snapdragon. While its front-end competitor, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, generally outperforms in raw CPU/GPU benchmarks, offering superior gaming and heavy multitasking performance thanks to faster cores and an Adreno GPU.

Let’s move on benchmark side as well. I ran several Benchmark tests on the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL to assess its performance across different aspects. Its Geekbench scores are 1997 in single-core and 4803 in multi-core. The maximum in the CPU throttling test is 60 per cent. Moreover, its Antutu score is 1695406. The 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test for stability has an overall score of 72.2%.

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL does not have a specific UI like others. It uses stock Android for a clean and simple experience with rich AI features. This phone runs Android 14 but can be upgraded to Android 16, which I’m using.

Moreover, Google promised up to seven major Android upgrades to support long-term use. There is no bloatware at all, you will only few system apps and Google-owned apps, obviously.

There is less customisation in the app widget and other animations, such as One UI 8 and Colour OS 16. But you can set a photo frame on the home screen with a specific frame and a person, which will change automatically after a few seconds. You will also find the last opened app icon on the home screen, just near the App Dock.

It comes with several AI features with Pixel Studio. Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is packed with Gemini Advanced for deep research & app integration. It also has powerful photo tools like Magic Editor (AI object placement/background change). You may think a basic feature of Add Me. But its is very interesting allowing blend yourself into group shots without asking any strangers to “please take our group photo”.

Camera Coach for better shots, which helps me a lot, and Call Notes (AI summaries for calls). It offers priority access to next-gen AI, enhanced video zoom with Video Boost, and seamless multitasking across apps, leveraging Google’s advanced models for a truly smart phone experience.

During the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL long-term review, I created a few images in Pixel Studio using shorter prompts. But you can deatiled prompt to excellent image results.

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