The first truly AI phone is here — Pixel 9. Sure, the new AI-packed iPhone is coming in a few weeks but for the time being, this is the device to have. But can we even call this a phone? It’s a bunch of Google AI features that needed a device, which in this case is Pixel 9. There is also the Pixel 9 Pro that gets you more AI goodies but, for most people, Pixel 9 offers a good overview of AI features.

The last few years have been about the camera having more pixels, a better processor, more RAM, a bigger vapour cooling chamber, a brighter screen and so on. The Pixel 9 has all the hardware you will need — it has a 6.3-inch Actua display, 12GB RAM, and the latest Google Tensor G4 processor, on the rear are 50MP main and 48MP ultra-wide cameras and there is a 10.5 dual PD selfie camera with autofocus on the front. That’s it about hardware; we will get to the battery in a bit.

From the front, it looks like an iPhone, complete with flat sides and uniform bezels and on the back is a camera band. Google didn’t want to save money, so let’s not nitpick: This is a flagship phone that does all the flagship-y things; it’s not cheap.

Reimagine is a powerful AI feature that lets you select an area of a photo and type in text to alter it

Do you want an AI phone or not?

There is Google Gemini all over the phone and that’s where all the magic and problems begin. What’s a photo? That’s the question you will ask after using the device.

As Android phones go, Pixel’s as good as anybody at this point. When you consider the AI features, especially in the photography department, I feel like Google is leading the Android pack. Samsung offers several Galaxy AI features but once you use Pixel 9, the idea of what AI can do becomes clearer.

The photos look very good. It doesn’t seem too overprocessed in the way many Android phones do. After using the camera on this phone for a few hours, you may gravitate towards the Pixel more than ever. Even when it processes photos, especially under low light, it looks clean versus everybody else doing a decent job.
That’s fine. Jump into the Photos app… it can take a hammer to the idea of truth.

When you load a photo and have given all the permission, you need to tap on a little sparkly AI icon and that’s it. You circle something in the scene or you tap on a subject to select it and then you get this new option that says Reimagine.

For example, I chose the photo of my cat looking at a phone. I selected the object and asked Gemini to Reimagine it with a mouse. In five-10 seconds it returned with a realistic-looking mouse. I took a photo of a food kiosk selling pav bhaji and asked Gemini to Reimagine the tomatoes on display as bottles of ketchup, it did the same once again in the blink of an eye. Gemini even provides a few options to choose from.

In this picture, notice the tomatoes getting replaced by bottles of tomato sauce

There are a few guardrails but I wonder how long it will take for users to get around it. I tried making my daughter look taller than she actually is but Gemini didn’t help.

Last year, you could pick an object in a photo and then move it… change the size. This year, it’s like kicking the door down of generative AI and you just write in a text prompt of what you want and let the phone do all the heavy lifting.

In 2024, you have to be good at writing prompts and perhaps less at taking photos. Also, you don’t have to be super smart to get around the guardrails.

You have to offer several permissions before getting things done but Google has made it convenient to alter images. If I had to download a separate app and pay for it, I would have been less alarmed. Google wants the tools to be in our hands. To get something done on Photoshop there is a learning curve; here it’s all about text prompts.

Add Me

That’s the name of a feature in the camera department. We often take group shots using the selfie camera because we want everyone to be present in the shot. What if there are only two people around and a “proper” photo needs to be taken? Enter Add Me, which is a new option in the camera section. First, you take a picture of a person or a group while leaving some space in the frame where you can join in. Next, ask the other person (or anyone in a group) to leave the frame and take another shot but this time you are posing in that empty space in the frame. AI can bring it all together.

There are fuzzy edges and photos are not always perfect but this is a clever implementation of AI but I wonder if people will start using this feature often.

AI and more AI

It’s not just photos, Google has packed in a lot of other AI features. Call Notes summarises phone calls that you are on with a recording (somehow it didn’t work for me in India). The Weather app is also very good.

Gemini Extensions are helpful. When you enable them you will allow Gemini to see more into what you do, like through apps such as Google Docs, Drive and Calendar. I can start asking it to find emails. That is just like talking to a normal person. Video Boost is another cool feature (needs the Pixel 9 Pro model) that brings about a difference in video quality.

Gemini has been improving over the last few weeks and it is becoming useful — it remembers context; it gets answers correct most of the time.

Here’s a flaw: Google Assistant exists on the phone alongside Gemini. You can hold down the power button to get Gemini but on the permanent Pixel screen home widget, if you tap that microphone, it’s the old Google Assistant.

Should you buy it?

Pixel 9 better exposes a scene, offering more detail in the shadows

I am disappointed about one aspect. This is a Pixel phone that Google manufactures. Google also delivers Android. But the phone comes with Android 14 out of the box. And battery life? It’s all right… it’s not different from last year.

Apart from that, the new Pixel phones offer Google enough wriggle room to continuously add new AI features. It will be the same for Apple’s forthcoming Apple Intelligence. Suddenly, the Android world has become a smaller space. There are Pixel and Samsung phones… then the rest. Pixel 9 is an AI party with a promising AI after-party.

At a glance

 Device: Pixel 9

 Price: ₹79,999

High notes

 Packed with AI features

 Seven years of software
upgrades

 Good battery life

 Excellent camera
performance

Muffled notes

 Comes with Android 14

 AI in photos can be misused