GoKawiilThe bulk of Google's updates this year are around photography and mostly in the software. As far as the hardware changes, the Pixel 11 Pro's 50-megapixel main sensor is a bit bigger than before, while the telephoto camera is also slightly tweaked with a larger half-inch sensor. The front camera is the same 42MP system as on the previous model.
The main updates on the software side are Magic Capture, Instant Night Sight, Camera Looks, Creator Suite, Pro Stable Video and the expansion of Pro Zoom to 120x (up from 100x before).
I'll dig into each of these, but before I get into the nitty gritty of the new features, I'll just point out that, in my experience, Google still has a superior Portrait mode to Apple. It's easier to use and works in a much wider range of scenarios, whereas on iPhones you're still required to be a certain distance away and wait for the camera to decide when it's ready to capture a portrait with a blurred background.
Camera Looks
That said, Apple might have the upper hand when it comes to built-in filters. Camera Looks is ostensibly Google's answer to the Photographic Styles that were introduced on the iPhone 13 series. Apple did update these styles when it launched the iPhone 16 models, which made them more elegant and pretty.
The Pixel 11 Pro's Camera Looks feel like the initial version Apple rolled out. There are four looks that are more permanent: Original, Natural, Shadows and Vanilla. Pick one of these and your preference will remain active the next time you open the camera. From the Looks picker, you can swipe through a carousel of six additional filters. These will remain active for that shooting session and revert to your default look after. The options here are: Default, Editorial, Velvet, Classic, Digi, Black Tie and Minimal.
The difference across the entire lineup, permanent or not, is not huge. You can customize each look to your preference, but because Google is likely not using depth information the way Apple is, the filters feel surface-level. When you swipe between, say, Luminous or Ethereal on iPhones, you'll see a fairly drastic change in background colors, skin tone, overall hues as well as highlight and contrast levels.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
I don't want to dwell too long on a feature that's something you'll likely play with once and forget about after landing on a favorite vibe. But I do think this is one area of photography where Google lags behind Apple, and that's worth noting since that's somewhat rare.
Instant Night Sight
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