Apple is planning to unveil its new iPhone 16 fashions in September, however Google determined to maneuver its normal October smartphone announcement to August, beating Apple to new AI-powered gadgets. We picked up Google’s new Pixel 9 Professional XL and thought we would examine it to the iPhone 15 Professional Max since we do not have an iPhone 16 to pit in opposition to it simply but.
Design sensible, the Pixel 9 Professional XL has an iPhone feel and appear, and Google has finished rather a lot higher matching software program with a high-end smartphone design. The Pixel 9 Professional XL has a extra premium design than prior Pixel fashions, and that is the primary time that Google has finished two “Professional” fashions like Apple. Google did not use titanium and as a substitute opted for stainless-steel for the chassis, so the Pixel 9 Professional is bulkier and heavier than the iPhone 15 Professional Max.
Google has adopted a novel digital camera design for the Pixel sequence, and the Pixel 9 Professional XL has a digital camera bar with a triple-lens setup. There is a 50-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 48-megapixel telephoto lens (with 5x zoom just like the iPhone 15 Professional Max), and a 48-megapixel extremely huge lens, pixel binned to 12-megapixels.
That final digital camera is what we’re anticipating to see for the iPhone 16 Professional fashions, with Apple planning to undertake a 48-megapixel Extremely Huge digital camera that does higher in low gentle. Proper now, the iPhone 15 Professional fashions solely have a 12-megapixel Extremely Huge digital camera. Pixel binning signifies that a number of pixels are mixed to create a greater picture with no bigger picture measurement.
We’ll save a full digital camera comparability for when the iPhone 16 Professional Max launches, however the Pixel 9 Professional XL is taking unimaginable photographs, which is to be anticipated from any premium smartphone as of late.
All the Pixel 9 smartphones have an entire host of AI options, a few of which Apple cannot but match with Apple Intelligence. There is a “Reimagine” function for including AI objects into present photographs, which Apple has no plan to undertake. When the brand new Pixel telephones first got here out, reviewers have been in a position to do issues like add lifeless our bodies, bombs, and blood into their pictures, however Google has shut that down. Google additionally tweaked its Pixel Studio picture technology app to stop individuals from utilizing it to do issues like create Nazi variations of Elmo.
Different picture capabilities embrace “Add Me” for placing an additional individual into a picture (AI artifacts included), Video Increase for enhancing video content material, and Zoom Improve for digital zooming in additional than the 5x optical zoom with enhanced readability.
Google added Name Notes, which is basically an identical to the decision recording possibility Apple launched within the iOS 18.1 beta. You may document a cellphone name and get a transcription of what was stated. The Pixel Climate app affords an AI roundup of native present and upcoming situations, which is beneficial, and there is a surprisingly good Screenshots app.
In the event you screenshot an article or a web site, the Pixel 9 will keep in mind the place the screenshot got here from and it will possibly carry you again to that web site later. It would not work inside apps, sadly, but it surely’s nonetheless good to have.
With Gemini built-in into the Pixel 9 fashions as a substitute of Google Assistant, you may have dwell conversations with an AI. It is undoubtedly bizarre to have a chat together with your cellphone, and which may be one thing that by no means actually catches on. Plus it prices extra cash since you’ll want the premium model of Gemini. Total, the Gemini integration is best with context and is extra useful than earlier than, so it is going to be attention-grabbing to see the way it compares to the revamped model of Siri that Apple is engaged on.
We’ll come again to the Pixel 9 Professional XL later in 2024 and 2025 to see if Apple is ready to match the function set each with the iPhone 16 fashions and with future Apple Intelligence capabilities.
