The Google Pixel 6 Pro is Google's flagship phone for 2021.
I've been using the Pixel 6 Pro that Google set me for over the past month.
So I'm gonna walk you through my impressions of this phone after a month, how it’s camera
stacks up against the competition, how it compares to the Pixel 6 I purchased, the downsides
I’ve found so far and my overall recommendation on if you should get the Pixel 6 Pro.
First, let's start off with the all-new design of the Pixel 6 Pro.
And personally, I'm a huge fan of this design choice, the camera bar on the back makes it
instantly recognizable as a brand and the phone feels premium in your hands with it’s
polished metal finishes.
Its the most premium feeling device Google has ever made.
Another difference when you first pick one up compared to last year’s Pixel 5 or even
the Pixel 4 XL, it’s much larger with it’s 6.7 inch display.
It's basically the same size as the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which I assume is the phone that
Google designed the Pixel 6 Pro mainly to compete against.
Now after a month, I'm actually quite happy with this size and have adjusted to it pretty
well.
And the reason for that I think is, while, yes, Google did make a very big phone with
the 6 Pro, they also did a really good job keeping the weight down.
At 210 g, its only 17 g heavier than the Pixel 4 XL so you probably won’t notice much difference
if you’re switching over from that phone, it’s 6 g heavier than the iPhone 13 Pro
which has a much smaller screen mind you, and it’s 19 g lighter than the S21 Ultra,
making it light enough for me, at least to use were the Ultra...the Ultra is just a really
heavy phone.
Now, if you're upgrading from the Pixel 5, you are going to notice a difference in the
weight from that phone to the 6 Pro as the weight difference there is substantial.
But again, over the past month, it has been something that I've grown accustomed to.
The display on the Pixel 6 Pro is a snappy OLED display that can go up to a 120 hz refresh
rate and ramp down to 10hz to save battery.
It also comes with Gorilla Glass Victus which improves upon the scratch resistance of the
display from previous pixels.
Screen brightness maxes out at 500 nits for everyday and 800 nits for HDR content though
it’s not going to beat the around 1000 nits of brightness of the 13 Pro and S21 Ultra
can reach.
And on those phones, it's going to be easier to see the display in direct sunlight.
Now when looking at the Pro vs. the regular Pixel 6, the other display characteristic
that differentiates the Pro is a curved display, just like the S21 Ultra, and overall I’ve
been happy with it.
You can see some shadows on the side of the screen but like the iPhone's notch or a hole
punch camera, it's something I've gotten used to ignoring very easily.
The only issue I’ve had with this screen so far is accidentally selecting something
in an app like YouTube while holding the phone, which isn’t something that happens to me
on the Pixel 6 with it’s flat screen.
Now, there's some limited options right now when it comes to putting a curved glass screen
protector on this phone.
You can put a flat glass screen protector on it, it'll work, but its not ideal, but
if you go that route, do make sure that the screen protector you get is certified to work
with the in-display fingerprint sensor.
Now, the last thing I want to mention about the design of the Pixel 6 Pro are the color
options.
If I had to do it all over again, I'd go for the Stormy Black version because the 5 millimeter
wave antenna cut out at the top of that phone blends in way better than it does on my version,
which kind of cheapens the look of it.
Next up, let's talk cameras.
The Pixel 6 Pro has an all new camera system.
A 50 MP wide camera which uses pixel binning technology to create a 12 MP image but also
has improved low light performance and a great 1.8 aperture.
A 12 MP ultra camera with a 2.2 aperture and a 48 MP telephoto camera with a 3.5 aperture.
The system also includes a laser autofocus system and spectral and flicker sensor which
you’ll remember was missing from this year’s Pixel 5a.
The front camera on the Pro is 11.1 MP with a wide 94 degree field of view.
So what do those specs actually get you in practice?
Well, simply put the camera is fantastic.
It produces images that give you this great high contrast look and this year especially,
can also produce some very vibrant shots.
Compared to the Pixel 5 from last year, I think the main things you’ll notice are
just how much better the camera sensors are and the telephoto that is very good.
Now how does it compare to the S21 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro?
While in general, it depends on what type of look you like for your photos and the situation
you're shooting in.
For example, when taking a photo of a sunset, I’ve found the 13 Pro and S21 Ultra retain
the shape of the sun better and have a more vibrant look, whereas the Pixel looks a bit
more muted.
Now in other scenarios like fall colors, I’ve found the Pixel’s photos are more vibrant,
and love showing a saturated blue sky and does a very good job picking up the warmth
of the leaf colors compared to the iPhone.
One thing to note though, the Ultrawide on the Pixel just isn’t as good as the iPhone’s
in my experience which also has a wider angle, so images look a bit more dramatic.
Now one thing you can do with the Pixel 6 Pro you just can’t with an iPhone is take
shots of the moon with Super Res zoom, which actually look pretty decent, and to be fair,
the S21 ultra can do this as well with similar quality and automatic detection.
Low light photos overall look pretty good from the Pixel 6 Pro though one thing to be
aware of is the Pixel 6 Pro takes a few seconds to capture night sight shots, but once it
does, I think you’ll be pretty impressed with the quality of shot you get.
New this year are face unblur that’ll help eliminate blurry faces and a new motion tab
with action pan that you can use against a moving object to create a motion blur around
it and long exposure, perfect for things like water falls or traffic to create some cool
effects that look pretty good, if you look up close at some of these pictures of the
stream, you can kinda tell they weren’t taken with a DSLR, but for social I think
that feature will work quite well.
Now turning to the selfie camera, in my experience it’s performed rather well, and is very
consistent in the choices it makes, with corner cases where it’ll just totally look better
than iPhone’s selfie camera like this shot at sunset.
Google also made a big push this year to fix the Pixel’s camera algorithm to properly
show correct skin tones for people with darker skin complexions with a feature called real
tone,
A couple of other outlets have done quite a bit of in-depth testing on this feature.
And I've left links in the video description below to their reviews and stories around
this feature for you to learn more, so definitely check those out.
And next up, let's talk video quality.
Overall I’d say the video quality on the Pixel 6 to me has been in the same range as
the S21 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro, which is something you’ll remember, last that I would
have never said with the Pixel 5.
Google did a much better job this year on their video quality, and some of that has
to do with the tensor chip’s ability to apply the photo processing techniques they
use to each frame of a video being captured and the results are pretty impressive.
The telephoto camera’s video is actually quite decent, and 4k 60fps looks great in
many situations I’ve tested it in.
In general, I think low light performance on the camera has definitely improved from
the Pixel 5, but you’ll still see more noise in videos compared to the iPhone 13 Pro’s
camera, especially in low light, though the Pixel 6 isn’t far behind and in a lot of
situations, and I’ve found I prefer the Pixel’s color science about half the time
in shots like this one, like with photos, it’s better at picking up fall colors.
Now, another area Google improved upon with these 6 and 6 Pro’s camera system this year
is a color shifting issue that was very noticeable with the Pixel 5 last year.
Here’s a shot I did last year with the Pixel 5 trying to capture fall colors, you’ll
notice how the color shifts in an out pretty quickly there.
Well Google has finally fixed that issue, here’s a shot of the same area one year
later, just with slightly different weather conditions.
Everything looks as it should..
Now as with all camera systems, there are a few quirks with the Pixel 6 Pro’s camera
system that I want to mention.
There’s no 4k 60 with the wide or ultra wide cameras.
Theres also a color shift when you switch between the telephoto and ultra wide cameras.
Often I’ve found the ultrawide camera has a more blue tint to it where the main sensor
and telephoto look a bit warmer.
Also, when you switch to the telephoto, it’ll take a second or two for it to switch on and
then the image will become clear.
And lastly, unlike with the iPhone, there’s not macro mode with the Pixel 6 Pro, however,
I’ve been able to get a similar look with the telephoto lens.
You just can't get quite as close to a subject as you can with the iPhone 13 Pro’s camera
system.
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Now, last feature related to cameras that I want to mention with the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro
that's a really cool is Magic Eraser.It allows you to go into a photo and remove objects
or people from the background, like this trashcan.
Now I find it works best when you’re trying to take an object out of a more uniform background.
I’ve also found it works very fell for blemishes or acne on your face.
And the coolest part is not only does it work on photos you took with the Pixel 6 Pro, but
other photos from your Google Photos library as well.
All right.
Next up, let's talk about Tensor, the custom-made processor that Google put in this phone.
Overall, the performance of the phone has been stellar and on par with what I experience
with my Galaxy S21 Ultra, haven’t run into any lag or performance slowdowns at all and
gaming like on Fortnite, which you can download on a Pixel, works great.
But Tensor isn't just there for performance.
It's also there to enable features like the Magic Eraser and the new video processing
and the new updated speech dictation that uses Google's natural language processing
directly on the device.
It's super fast and has phonetically based suggestions and decisions that it makes.
And It remembered how to spell my last name correctly, which is a first on a pixel device.
Typically it spells my last name wrong and the cool thing is it can also remember how
you spell your friend's names correctly as well.
Its easy to make quick adjustments by tapping a word and saying what you want to say instead
and I love that you can give it commands like send, clear, or new paragraph.
And that's just one of the many parts of Android 12 that I've come to enjoy on my 6 Pro.
Another new part of the Pixel experience this year is called Material You.
It makes the phone’s hardware and software feel much more closely aligned by being able
to auto pick a color scheme that matches the background image on my phone which in turn
matches the sorta sunny color of my Pixel 6 Pro.
It feels fresh and I think this is the first time I've ever said this, but Android today
just feels more visually consistent and just way more interesting than iOS.
I also love the at a glance feature on the home and lock screens that show you upcoming
calendar events or flights, and best of all, if you have a work profile on your Android
device, at a glance will integrate with your work calendar as well as your personal one.
I love that you can even turn on themed icons in the phone’s settings to automatically
transform icons you place on the home screen to match your Material You theme.
Now they work for most of Google’s apps but not every app will work with this feature
when added to your home screen.
And speaking of home screens, Google actually updated several of their widgets to match
the new material you theme, though widgets from third parties could still use some love
and be updated to match the material you theming.
The typing experience for me on the Pixel 6 Pro has been the best typing experience
Google has ever made for a pixel phone and for me at least it's been the best typing
experience I've had on any phone period.
Thanks to the fantastic haptics that Google put into the six Pro, which feels much more
pronounced than on previous pixels and among the best haptics I've experienced on a phone.
Some of this is likely due to the fact that Google put their haptic engine towards the
bottom of the 6 Pro because they didn't do that on the 6 and the haptics aren't as pronounced
on that phone with its typing experience.
There's also a new way to trigger the Google Assistant this year with the 6 and 6 Pro by
default.
You now do this by long pressing the power button which to me has been a much better
feature than the hot corners that we had with the Pixel 5, which still can be enabled though
on the 6 Pro if you like that feature.
Another feature I’ve found very useful on this phone is auto rotate with face detection.
Google uses the front facing camera to detect the orientation of your face so it won’t
rotate the phone to landscape while you’re lying down reading on your phone which so
far for me, has worked pretty well.
As in years past, The Pixel 6 Pro features call screen and Hold for Me but new this year
is a new feature that’ll tell you the best times to call a customer service number so
you won’t wait on hold for so long.
Live translate was also updated this year and expands to not just caption videos in
other languages but also help translate messages in chat apps and all the translation runs
much better thanks to the Tensor chip and new language processing models that run on
the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro.
There’s also a new quick tap features where you can double tap the back of your phone
to launch an app, view recent apps and if you miss the back fingerprint sensor for bringing
down the notification shade, you can set-up quick tap to do exactly that.
So how's the battery life on the phone?
For me it's been pretty good.I’m seeing my phone last me almost two days on a full
charge, now I’m not shooting 4k 60 for a few hours every day, so your mileage may vary,
but overall, based on my experience, I think this phone will easily last most people all
day and should last even heavy users all day.
Now, if you're coming from a pixel 5, to the 6 Pro or 6, you'll appreciate the Google has
ditched the approach they took to last year's Pixel 5 with this speaker system.
and the speaker on the Pixel 6 Pro sounds much improved.
Also, the flashlight has been improved as well, it’s more of a true white and very
nice.
Now the last thing I want to talk about with this phone is the fingerprint sensor.
A lot has been made about it and in my experience at least, it is slower than the Pixel 5’s
fingerprint reader and the S21 Ultra’s ultrasonic reader, and sometimes, it won’t get a good
read and you’ll have to retry or press down harder.
It's something you do get used to when using this phone for over a month, but when you
compare it to the competition, it's definitely been the largest downside for me to using
a Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.
And it makes me wish that Google had figured out a way to put face unlock back into a pixel.
All right.
So that's everything I like about the Pixel 6 Pro's experience and some of the downsides
I’ve found with it as well.
You get a lot of cutting edge features with this phone but also a phone that does the
basics very well.
And one of the best parts of this entire experience is the price of this device.
It starts at $899 with 128 GB of storage, which represents a great value and undercuts
the competition from Samsung.
The Pixel 6 Pro is a phone made by Google that’s firing on all cylinders.
It gives you enough new and unique experiences with it’s camera system and custom Tensor
chip but also does well with battery life in my experience and has a more modern form
factor, which wasn’t the case with the Pixel 4 XL, the last premium phone Google put out
on the market.
I fully recommend the Pixel 6 Pro to people who want that pixel experience and all the
features and functionality that come with that experience.
Plus, they want to in a phone with a better screen, premium materials and one that has
a telephoto lens.
Now, if you don't need all of those add-ons or think it’s worth the price difference
compared to the Pixel 6 at $599, then the 6 is still an excellent choice and we’ll
be doing our one month later review on that phone soon so make sure you’re subscribed
to see that.
If you already have a Pixel 5 or older, I do recommend upgrading to this year’s generation,
it's a huge leap forward in the Pixel
If you have any questions about the Pixel 6 Pro, want to share your experience with
it or a previous pixel device, leave a comment below.
Hit that thumbs up button if you liked this video and found it helpful and subscribe to
the channel to see more pixel and Google related videos like this one.
For 6 Months Later, I'm Josh Teder, thanks for watching.