About a week ago, our review units of the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro XL arrived in the office and I was only partially interested in checking them out. While I tend to like Pixel phones just fine, the last couple iterations have been devices I’ve largely lived without. For me, the superior processing power of the Galaxy S23 Ultra held more appeal over the past couple years.
Sure, the UI isn’t as fun or polished as Google’s take on Android, but it’s also not a stumbling block for Samsung’s phones as it once was. Instead, it was something I got used to as I settled in with life apart from Pixel for a while. advertisement These new Pixels are downright gorgeous And then the Pixel 9 Pro XL arrived.
Thinking I’d crack it open, take a look, and move on, I had no idea whatsoever the visceral reaction that awaited me when I unsheathed this phone from its packaging. (A quick note on that, kudos to Google’s more environmentally friendly boxing this time around – it looks good and is clearly easier on Earth.) Sure, the new Pixels look good in videos and photos, but holding this phone in my hands shifted something in me that I wasn’t expecting at all.
Unlike the past few Google-made phones, I knew my SIM was going in this phone immediately. This was before any tests or benchmarks were run on it: I just knew I wanted this device in my pocket. advertisement I don’t know if it’s the flat screen (coming over from the still-curved Galaxy S23 Ultra), the flat, .