- This video is sponsored by Amazon Education.
The Pixel 6 Pro is, in my opinion,
Google's most premium phone
that it's ever released
from a hardware perspective.
It's a phone that has given the Pixel line,
what I hope will be,
a true visual identity going forward.
I know the Pixel 6 Pro
has been going through some issues,
and that Google has been trying to drop software updates
to fix these things,
but it's been a few months.
So, let's talk about the Pixel 6 Pro.
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First, touching on the hardware.
As I mentioned a minute ago,
this is Google's most premium smartphone
and it's very apparent
when holding it in your hand.
It's substantial.
I like what Google's done
with this new IP68 certified design,
and the addition of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
on the front and back
with that shiny aluminum frame.
The two-tone color scheme is interesting,
and this Sorta Sunny one here
that Google sent over for review
is definitely my favorite,
but you can also get it
in Stormy Black and Cloudy White.
Now, one note though,
to me, the phone is definitely large.
If you're used to smaller and sleeker phones,
adapting might be a challenge with the Pixel 6 Pro,
especially if one-handed use is important to you.
But that said, it's not as easy
as just choosing the standard Pixel 6 instead
since there are enough differences
between the two devices
besides just the size.
Now, while I'm not a case guy at all personally,
and prefer using my phones naked,
I also acknowledge that over 90% of people slap a case
on their smartphone,
and I think that's a very good decision
here on the Pixel 6 Pro.
First, that curved edge display
is something that I've never been a fan of,
due mostly to phantom touches.
The display will pick up your palm,
touching those edges as input,
which can be frustrating to say the least.
Secondly, if the protruding camera bar bothers you,
a case will make that more flush.
All right, next, we've got to talk about this display.
What we have here is a 6.71-inch,
LTPO AMOLED panel
that provides plenty of space
for whatever you want to do,
whether it's watching a video
or multitasking.
It also sports things
like 120-hertz Dynamic Refresh Rate,
HDR for those colors and deep blacks,
with a 1440 by 3120 resolution,
giving you 512 pixels per inch
and a 19.5 by 9 aspect ratio.
If I had a complaint about the display,
it's that they don't seem
to be as high quality
as what you get on the latest iPhone
or Samsung devices.
There's color shifting,
went off angle,
and shadowing under the curved edges
that's apparent when viewing lighter colors.
Now, this doesn't mean these displays are bad, mind you,
just that they aren't the best out there.
As far as biometric authentication goes,
the Pixel 6 Pro does fingerprints and fingerprints only.
That's not necessarily a bad thing,
but I know a lot of people will compare this
to something like a Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus or Ultra,
where you have multiple methods,
fingerprint and face scan, for example.
The disappointing part on the Pixel's
is that the in-display fingerprint sensor is slower.
In fact, it's slower than the rear fingerprint sensor
on previous Pixel devices.
It's also optical instead of ultrasonic,
so, the screen needs to light up when you authenticate,
which is not the best when in a dark room.
If fingerprint unlock is going to be the one method
of authentication offered,
you need to make sure it's really good.
But on the Pixel 6 Pro,
it's just okay.
Then there's Google's Tensor chip.
Tensor is the chip that powers the Pixel 6 lineup,
rather than something like the Qualcomm Snapdragon series.
It's Google's first custom processor,
which is similar in vein
to what Apple does with its A series chips.
Google says the chip rivals the Snapdragon 888 in power,
and that certainly seems to be the case.
Tensor leans heavily on AI,
which helps with tasks like translating languages,
optimizing battery usage, gaming,
speech recognition,
and several camera features.
Alongside the Tensor chip,
the Pixel 6 Pro sports 12 gigabytes of RAM
and up to 512 gigabytes of storage.
And if you wanna be impressed,
open up Dictation and just start talking.
It's scary how good the Pixel 6 Pro is
at capturing what you're saying perfectly.
When it comes to battery,
I had zero complaints.
You can easily get through a full day of usage
without having to worry.
Often, I'd finish the day
with about 30% battery life remaining,
even while using the Always On display
and taking the phone out for a day of photo shooting.
If you're a light user,
I wouldn't doubt
that you could get two full days
out of the Pixel 6 Pro.
23-watt wireless charging
and 30-watt fast wire-charging
are supported here too.
And fast-wire charging will take you
from zero to 50% top-up in 30 minutes.
But there's no charging adapter included in the box,
so, shop accordingly.
Now, before we talk about my biggest disappointment
with the Pixel 6 Pro,
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And once again,
big thank you to Amazon Education
for sponsoring this video.
Now, back to the Pixel,
as I said, let's move on to my biggest disappointment.
For me, the problem that I just can't look past
is the buggy software experience.
Now, I know even hearing me say that sentence
about a Pixel device might feel strange
because nailing the software
is kind of what the Pixel has been known for,
that and the amazing camera.
Now, this device is running the latest version of Android,
Android 12.
But it seems that with every update,
the phone gets buggier instead of better.
Now, granted, Google is fixing things with these updates,
but it just feels like the Pixel 6 Pro
is a product that's in beta
rather than a finished one.
Even with security patches,
which you think would be pushed
to Pixel devices right away,
the Pixel 6 Pro is starting to get them later
than Samsung's smartphones.
And to me, that's just strange.
That said, this is still a flagship level device,
if not right in the same territory.
It'll be a fine phone for most people out there
looking for a great piece of Android hardware.
It's just that when you come across several bugs
in the software,
you're gonna be annoyed.
And the Pixel 6 Pro still hasn't fixed all that
even a few months after launch.
Now, something you can't take away
from the Pixel series though
is the camera.
And this year, the sensors and lenses
are all new for the first time since 2017.
The main sensor is way larger
than the one used in the Pixel 5 and earlier.
And the Pixel 6 Pro is the first in the lineup
to have a trio of wide, ultra wide, and telephoto cameras.
Now, the main camera is a 50-megapixel sensor
that is hard-coded
to generate 12 and a half megapixel pictures
with an optically stabilized f/1.85 lens.
That means you won't be able
to capture the whole 50-megapixel resolution,
and the photos will not be any sharper or more detailed
than other 12-megapixel images.
Still, the images are very good in both normal
and low light,
and very competitive with the best from Apple,
with the classic Pixel look,
that's high contrast,
slight over exposure,
extreme sharpness,
and cooler white balance.
I won't say there's a clear winner here.
Some images from the Pixel 6 Pro look better.
Some images from the iPhone 13 Pro look better.
And which you prefer really comes down
to your own personal preferences,
which I've been saying about smartphone cameras
for several years now.
Google's artificial portrait mode
is also largely unchanged.
It aggressively blurs the background
to the point where sometimes it almost looks
like the subject is a cardboard cutout
placed into the scene.
Some people love this,
but I'm more a fan of the Apple and Samsung approach
to portrait mode than Google's.
One area I'd like Google to improve is
how long its amazing night mode takes
to actually capture a shot.
It's incredible how much detail the night mode
is able to capture,
and I'm talking about in super dark scenes.
But it takes a few to several seconds to do so.
And a lot of the time,
either the subject or the person taking the photo
loses patience and things get blurry.
The iPhone 13 Pro lineup's night mode
takes about half as long to capture night scenes
as the Pixel.
Ultimately, while the hardware has been upgraded,
the images themselves are hard to differentiate
from a Pixel 5 or earlier.
This just goes to show that the Pixel images
rely heavily on AI processing,
and that's totally fine.
Google has mastered that art
and it makes for great images.
While the ultra wide camera is kind of forgettable,
the telephoto is really good
and produces sharp, detailed images.
I'm glad to see it was included here.
Google has also made a big deal about tweaks it made
to its image processing algorithm this year
to better handle darker skin tones
which it's calling Real Tone.
You may have seen this
in the Super Bowl commercial
that Google dropped this year.
This is a problem that's been
in the photo industry for many decades
that's been ignored,
and it's cool to see Google tackling it.
The Pixel 6 Pro has a lot going for it,
and it could have been one of the better smartphones
for the year,
since it launched late in 2021.
But the buggy software experience
has certainly been a letdown.
Now, if you're interested in the Pixel lineup
due to the features I mentioned here,
the standard Pixel 6
has a lot of the same features as the Pro
minus the telephoto camera,
and it has a flat display with a lower resolution
and lower refresh rate.
I personally think it works better when using it,
and you can get this one for hundreds less than the Pro,
making it the overall better deal in my opinion.
Thanks for watching us always, guys,
I appreciate your support.
I am Andru Edwards
and I will catch you in the next video.