Google Pixel 6 Pro: The Google Phone Levels Up To Flagship-Level
Google premium hardware brings forth a flagship-level feel to the Pixels that felt like was always missing. So no polycarbonate body present this time around as we’re getting better. As far as the body, you got glass + metal on top of an aluminum frame, and a large camera bar. And then on the front side, you got a curved display w/ good touch resistance on the sides. It feels amazing in hands despite being a slippery, fingerprint magnet.
Google somehow managed to improve their haptics even more so on the Pixel 6 lineup. If that’s a thing for you. As far as the in-display fingerprint reader, I would have preferred the return of their Face unlock. Its a little higher than towards the bottom but still at a good placement. It’s not as instant on other devices like OnePlus or Samsung but not as bad as mid-range ones.
Now the 6.7inch 120Hz QHD+ curved OLED display + 3120 x 1440 resolution is a huge improvement. The panel is brighter, superb color reproduction, & good viewing angles. The faster refresh rate is a welcome addition as you can notice the fluidity of scrolling apps, navigating, & gaming over the 90Hz one on the Pixel 5. It does switch between 120Hz, 60Hz, and 10Hz based on what you’re doing. However, its still not as bright as the competition but still an improvement over previous Pixels.
It offers an expensive feel in hand despite being a slippery, fingerprint magnet.
- 6.7inch curved OLED 120Hz HDR display w/ 3120 x 1440 resolution
- Google Tensor CPU
- 12GB of RAM + 128GB of storage
- A rear triple camera setup w/ f/1.8 50MP main wide sensor, f/2.2 12MP ultrawide sensor, & a f/3.5 48MP telephoto sensor
- A f/2.2 11.1MP selfie camera
- Under display fingerprint sensor
- IP68 dust/water-resistant body
- Stereo speakers
- 3 mics
- Android 12 w/ Pixel Experience
- 5003 mAh battery w/ 30W fast-charging, fast wireless charging, & reverse wireless charging
Google's 1st take on their own processor is a good & smart one.
Taking a page out out of Apple’s page, Google debuts their Tensor CPU to handle CPU, GPU, AI, image processing, & more offline. Coupled w/ 12GB of RAM, it felt like a powerhouse w/o any hiccups or slow-downs. It could easily handle gaming as well w/ smooth + fast handling of Call of Duty Mobile. I would game for an hour or so as it would still get warm but not ridiculously hot though. So Google’s chip is doing a lot but in a good way but appears to handle it very well.
Google put a massive 5003 mAh battery inside of the 6 Pro & w/ all that it is doing, it is very necessary. Between the 120Hz 6.7inch panel, 12GB of RAM, & Tensor’s power consumption does make for an interesting experience. Many have been getting mixed results but I’ve been getting around 9 hours of on-screen w/ constant usage. On light usage, I can get under 24 hours on a single charge. Not terrible for me but I do miss that Pixel 5a 2-days of juice though.
Now onto the where Google continues to excel at: the cameras. The new star of the show is a 50MP wide which is a larger sensor which brings in more light, detail, & data but still outputs a beautiful 12MP image. Their 12MP ultrawide remains the same as previous years w/ a great 114-degree angle + lens correction to prevent the fisheye-look. And then we have the new-and-improved 48MP Telephoto sensor which pulls off sharp imagery w/ its 4X optical zoom. You can get somewhat useable shots when you go up to 20X digital zoom w/ their AI-enhanced Super Res Zoom. With all of these shooters you’ll get the usual Pixel image which I love as you’re tastes may vary. You’ll wind up w/ high contrast, super-detailed, & cooler results in both normal + low-light.
Night Sight is still good by brightening up the right parts & sharpening imagery while still looking natural & shot at night. But it still takes a few seconds to pull off shots despite doing it ahead of their competitors. On the front side of things, the new 11.1MP wide sensor to help w/ the selfies. It’s what you would expect but in low-light situations, the results are a bit grainier than its past 8MP selfies. So far its been a bit hit or miss for me.
Everything you'd expect from Pixel cameras but now w/ flagship-level video - finally.
So did Google finally beef up their video quality to catch up to their photos? Yes. I was actually a little nervous as they didn’t really dive into it during their keynote. But low and behold, its finally good. Its been getting better incrementally but made a huge leap forward this time around. We think they’ve leveled up to Samsung quality video in 4K@60fps. Not quite up to iPhone-level but way closer than ever before.
Now one of the big new features here is the new Magic Eraser feature which acts like Photoshop to remove things/objects. You just go to edit a photo and you can circle or scribble out an object you want out of it. Give it a second or 2 and its gone as you can still see the shadow of the removed object. It does work as advertised but it is not perfect.
Also new but in beta, is Google’s new Motion Mode w/ Action Pan + Long Exposure options. Where its AI takes over instead of a Pro mode to adjust shutter speeds for motion + long exposure shots. So this will help you to catch a moving car for light streaks or person/child to blur everything but their face and get them at a touch of the shutter button. While it takes a second or 2 to capture and you’ll get amazing results w/ the option to choose between Motion Mode on/off to share.
And last but not least, their Real Tone feature. This is a part of Google’s latest AI-powered image-rendering that helps w/ getting more life-like colors which comes to skin tones for people of color. While we didn’t put this particular feature through extensive testing, it does seem to be a bit more accurate or as effective as advertised.
So Android 12 has been in beta for a few months now as I’ve been running it on the Pixel 5 and the 5A 5G. And Google’s latest software shines here on the Pixel 6 Pro w/ its 120Hz display + Tensor chip. So there are a lot of new little things like scrolling screenshots, face detection for auto-rotation, double tap on the back to access Google Assistant, new widgets, the ability to have your wallpaper color scheme match your icons, display relevant info on your display like boarding pass, use voice commands w/o saying ‘Hey Google’, and privacy dashboard to lock down your on-device security.
And along w/ the little, there are tons of big things as well. You got Live Transcribing where you can translate languages like English, French, Japanese, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Polish, and Russian at launch. When using select messaging apps like Android Messages, Whats App, Signal, Line, Twitter, IG, FB Messenger Lite, Google Chat, GroupMe, Snapchat, or Verizon Messenger; you can translate it w/ a press of a pop-up button.
Transcribing now levels up to 10 w/ the new voice typing as its now faster thanks to Google Assistant-powered typing. And speaking of the Assistant, you got the best spam call filter as it gets even better. Now you can see wait times for businesses before calling, automatic transcribing of menu options, and can now hold for you so you won’t have to.
Well, it took Google 6 attempts to really get it right. But I think w/ the Pixel 6, they got top-notch hardware to go along w/ their top-notch software and competitive pricing. As far as the negatives about it, the battery life is good but could be better and that in-display fingerprint reader needs a lot of work. Bring back Face Unlock please Google! But other than that, it is a really good premium take on the Google Phone.
They’ve entered flagship-level devices and I like it. Now, if you weren’t a fan of Pixel phones previously, the new hardware may not persuade you. But for everyone else, this is definitely a device for you to check out. Especially w/ the regular Pixel 6 starting at $599 as the 6 Pro starts at $899. I think they surpassed OnePlus and caught up to Samsung on many levels. Maybe w/ the Pixel 7 they can take out Apple. We’ll see in about a year.
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