Joe Maring / Android Authority
I’m used to declaring Google’s latest and greatest its, well, latest and greatest. Most years, that means switching my SIM card into whatever Pixel Pro I can get my hands on and keeping it there for as long as possible between reviews. This year, though, I feel a little different.
I thought the Pixel 10 Pro would come in and sweep me off my feet — and to an extent it has — but it’s actually reminded me just how good the Pixel 9 Pro already was. Here’s why I think I’ll be sticking with age before beauty, at least for a little longer.
Google’s cameras were already great
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
On paper, there’s at least one thing that hasn’t changed from the Pixel 9 Pro to the Pixel 10 Pro: The cameras. Sensor-wise, Google maintained the same mix of wide, ultrawide, and telephoto flexibility it had last year, but powered them up with a bit of help from the Tensor G5. The result is a trio that has gone from maxing out at 30x zoom to 100x zoom, with some help from AI processing.
The problem, however, is that Google’s Pro Res Zoom feels like a case of two steps forward, one step back. Yes, it’s far more flexible than before, and it works brilliantly on large, stationary subjects, but Google is so careful about its AI algorithms that you can’t really trust it with humans, text, or many other soft shapes, just in case it warps them. I, unfortunately, find that this usually means long-range photos with people in them typically come out looking like fuzzy stickers on sharp backgrounds.
I'd miss Pro Res Zoom a whole lot more if I could actually use it on human subjects.
With the Pixel 9 Pro, though, I don’t have that issue. I don’t have to worry that scenes I capture from across the harbor or far down the beach will come out with uneven AI. Yes, I might have to worry about Google’s unforgivable color science — which is a serious issue — but I’ve grown accustomed to adjusting colors and exposure after pressing the shutter button, and I don’t mind continuing to do so.
That said, I won’t pretend to know why Google hasn’t addressed the color science issue on its Pixel 9 Pro. Everything looks much better on the Pixel 10 Pro, as my colleague Rita explored, but I can’t imagine that it’s tied so tightly to the Tensor G5 that it couldn’t be fixed.
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