AI - Organizer - Page 24

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Setting a new mid-range standard

11:37 am | August 19, 2024

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Two-minute review

With the resurrection of the Razr and introduction of the Edge series, Motorola has made quite the comeback. Competing with companies like Google and Samsung for the claim of best Android phone, with multiple appearances in our list of the best cheap phones and best foldable phones, Motorola has extended its purple patch with the Edge 50 Pro. While it’s difficult to call it cheap at £599.99 / AU$999, I so thoroughly enjoyed my time with this handset that I think it deserves a place in our best phones list.

Coming in a few design variants – two vegan leather Black Beauty and Luxe Lavender colors, and the sleek Moonlight Pearl – the Motorola Edge 50 Pro immediately differentiates itself from the Edge 40 Pro with those flashier options, but it's also lighter and thinner than its predecessor while remaining similarly designed. One of the key positive differences is the rear camera bump. What was previously a discolored block that jutted out of the Edge 40 Pro is now an aesthetically pleasing ridged design that matches the phone’s color.

Before I go on, I should mention that the Motorola Edge 40 Pro was the brand's flagship device in 2023. So, while it has retained its naming rule, the Edge 50 Pro now sits between the budget Edge 50 Fusion and flagship Edge 50 Ultra, which is currently only available in the UK and select locations. As of writing, the only offering in the United States is the Motorola Edge 2024, which has specs that differ slightly from the Fusion.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro's Midnight Peal backing with brick background — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

For a mid-range device, the Edge 50 Pro impresses – starting with its stunning curved 6.7-inch OLED screen. And while the curved edges and the accidental touches they induce won't be to everyone's liking, the 2,000-nit brightness, 1220 x 2712 resolution and Pantone-validated colors go a long way in providing an immersive experience when watching content on the go. I also love how the display flows into the aluminum frame, adding to the premium look of the device.

The camera, however, is undoubtedly its greatest asset. The Motorola Edge 50 Pro boasts a trio of rear lenses (50MP main, 13MP ultrawide, 10MP telephoto), an impressive 50MP selfie camera and AI tools for autofocus and automatic tuning that make taking bad photos nigh impossible. There's also a suite of features like Long Exposure Mode and Scan that are both fun and useful, and set up to make photography or scanning documents easy for complete novices. AI features are running rampant here, not only appearing in the camera, but also creating wallpapers that offer the most stylish of users the ability to match their phone to their outfit.

The battery life and charging speed deserve to share the spotlight with the camera here. The included 125W charger will provide 70% battery in just 15 minutes, and its 4,500mAh pack will have no problems seeing you through the day – it easily survived from 5:30am through until 7:30pm during my testing, with plenty of battery still left over. And, if you're ever stuck in a situation where you need your phone to last, it will last multiple days with minimal use (it lasted five whole days with four hours of screen time).

There were a few problems that kept popping up during my time with the Edge 50 Pro, though. While it might not be an issue for everyone, I found the Pearl model – which was sent to me for this review – to be severely lacking in grip, so it might be worth going hands-on before purchasing. And, while I generally enjoyed the curved display, it made taking landscape-orientation photos especially tiresome, as my palm would often hit the 'back' button on the bottom of the screen.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro curved edge display and metal frame — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

There was also quite a bit of noticeable stuttering and lag when using the camera app, especially in burst mode. While the photos typically turn out great, the display couldn't keep up. So, those who want to take their photography seriously, and gamers who need lag-free high frame-rate performance might be disappointed.

The biggest thorn in the Motorola Edge 50 Pro's side, though, is that it will only receive three years of software support and four years of security updates. Despite that, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is an exceptional device for the average user. A better processor and longer software support might make this the perfect handset, but you’d likely also be paying more, and that £600 / AU$1,000 mark is a line in the sand that many people won't want to cross.

For just under that price point, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is a sublime mid-range phone that provides a premium experience.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Price and availability

Announced April 16 in the UK and May 23 in Australia
Launch price of £599.99 / AU$999 (unavailable in the US)
Available in three colorways and one storage option

Released in select markets across April and May, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro has a distinct lack of choice when it comes to storage in the UK and Australia – with only some locations like India getting multiple options. UK buyers are stuck with the 512GB model for £599.99, while Aussies have only the 256GB model that will set them back AU$999.

If things weren’t already confusing enough, the US doesn’t get the Edge 50 Pro, but another model called the Motorola Edge 2024, which is almost exactly aligned specs-wise with the Edge 50 Fusion, but with a slightly smaller screen and lighter weight.

Motorola refers to its Edge phones as “uncompromising premium”, and while that's not quite the case with the Edge 50 Pro, which makes some concessions to keep its price down, it's a fantastic option for those looking for a high-quality handset without breaking the bank. It sits on the higher end of what we would deem as a mid-range smartphone, but it’s still well priced considering you get the full package – stunning looks, great camera, decent performance and excellent battery.

Value Score: 4.5/5

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Specs

Motorola Edge 50 Pro on brick background — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

Here's a quick summary of the key specs:

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Design

Motorola Edge 50 Pro Moonlight Pearl back and camera array on white desk — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

Stylish back panel in all three colors
Curved screen makes for wonderful viewing
Too thin and long to comfortably hold and use in one hand

Whether you opt for the more reserved yet equally stylish vegan leather colors or the piquant Moonlight Pearl, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is very pretty. With a large 6.7-inch curved display that blends into its aluminum frame behind which its vegan leather or pearl back sits, it's made for the fashionable phone user.

My favorite design element however – and one that I think is subtly crucial to its elegance – is its rear camera bump. Opting for a ridged design while matching the color and pattern of whichever model you choose, the result is a camera array that looks as if they’re being pushed out of the back of the phone. I think its seamless appearance is much more appealing than the discolored block of the iPhone 15 or spider-like eyes of the Galaxy S24.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro side profile

(Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

A quick internet search will show that curved phone screens are generally disliked – at least by a loud minority – but I came away liking the curvy Motorola Edge 50 Pro. The screen follows the curved edges, offering a supreme viewing experience, but it’s also what makes its usability a little frustrating – an already-narrow design combined with an end-to-end curved display meant that I had to constantly remain aware of my hand placements to try and reduce accidental touches.

While I was sent the Pearl model for this review, I also got to spend some time with the leather versions and was impressed by how they felt in the hand. Despite having the same narrow design, the texture provided by the leather made them grippier to hold one-handed despite my large mitts. That said, they felt like they'd attract lint and dust, which the sleek acetate Moonlight Pearl Motorola Edge 50 Pro is totally immune to.

The Gorilla Cornish Glass 5 used on the body did put my mind at ease though, knowing it would be safe from a few scrapes – that said, I wasn’t comfortable doing a drop test to see how it would handle a 6-foot plummet to concrete. It's worth noting that there is a One-Handed Mode on the Edge 50 Pro that helps by halving the screen vertically, making it much easier to reach all areas of the (halved) screen with your thumb. It's easy to switch on and off, but the obvious drawback is the loss of half the display. A case could add grip, but not only would that add unwanted bulk and cover up the stylish back panel, but it would like also cover the curved edges of the screen.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro camera bump — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

I've yet to meet a phone whose camera bump I really liked. I'm well aware that one of the downsides to phones remaining thin while possessing large sensors is a camera bump, but sue me for getting annoyed when a handset rocks when I place it on a table rear side down. While it's a necessity with modern phones – and I certainly don't want them any thicker – some handsets like iPhone 15 and Samsung Galaxy A55 do it better than others. The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is not one of those phones, so you'll have to lie it face down, which isn't the worst thing given how charming it is.

This phone screams class and is almost as durable as it is attractive thanks to its Gorilla Glass, aluminum frame and IP68 rating. However, the narrow design and slippery rear panel on the Pearl model hampered my ability to hold it comfortably. If looking to buy a Motorola Edge 50 Pro, I'd opt for a leather model despite the Pearl’s good looks.

Design Score: 4/5

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Display

Motorola Edge 50 Pro display in the sun — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

6.7-inch OLED, 2712 x 1220 resolution
2,000 nit peak brightness
Curved edges can be annoying, but are worth the immersive viewing

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro boasts an OLED display, but instead of using the traditional glass layer, it uses a plastic substrate that makes it a touch more flexible. And this is what has allowed the phone maker to create the curved edge-to-edge viewing on the aptly named Edge 50 Pro. This design choice, as I’ve previously mentioned, make it very easy to accidentally open ads or videos while doing something else.

Despite that, I think that curved 6.7-inch pOLED display makes any video content a joy to watch, whether it’s random YouTube videos of cute kittens or the latest episode of House Of The Dragon. Moreover, Pantone-valided colors (which means what you see on screen is already color optimized and certified by the company that pioneered color matching) makes everything look true-to-life. You will, however, need to remember to change the settings to enable the Pantone colors, otherwise you'll be enjoying Motorola's own vivid colors (the default setting) – which are good in their own right.

The Edge 50 Pro's display also excels outdoors, thanks to its 2,000-nit peak brightness. Doubling that of the Samsung Galaxy A55 and equalling the output of the pricier Google Pixel 8, you'll have no issues watching, reading or taking selfies out in the sun.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro playing 4K video — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

It might be a victim of the phone's design, but I personally didn't like the size of the display, finding it difficult to reach and use all areas of the screen despite having large hands. While I have no issue shifting my grip to get my thumb up to the top corner, I found that the lack of grip on the Pearl model I used for this review made that a slightly nerve-wracking experience.

Nonetheless, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro display is yet another aspect of the phone that is difficult to find too much fault with. Offering as close to a cinematic experience when watching content as a handset this size can, snappy response, as well as beautifully vibrant, true-to-life colors, it provides a stellar user experience and elevates your entertainment of choice.

Display Score: 4.5/5

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Software

Motorola Edge 50 Pro applications — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

Easy and in-depth customization
AI wallpapers are fun, if gimmicky
Gestures are helpful, even if most go unused

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro might be just another phone running Android 14, but it adds enough Moto flair to differentiate itself, thanks to Hello UI.

From the second you power on the Edge 50 Pro and “hello Moto” blazes onto the screen – making full use of the phone's wonderful display I might add – this is very clearly Motorola-tweaked software.

If the first thing on your mind when setting up a new handset is "how can I make this feel like it's mine?", you’ll love the Motorola Edge 50 Pro's offering. As soon as the home screen appears for the first time, you're urged to head into the settings to begin your customizations.

The 'Personalize' tab is boldly sitting in the upper echelon of the Settings pane and, within, there's an almost never-ending pool of personalizations available. From switching up the font – which makes a massive change in and of itself – to wallpapers, icon shapes and colors, you can convert almost every facet of the device to suit you. And, if you're just looking to make a quick all-encompassing change or don’t want to fall down the proverbial customizing rabbit hole, there are five pre-made themes that will change all three facets listed above. During my initial setup, I only changed the icon shape, but the Merlot theme – which turned the control center a winey pink, squared the icons and added a pretty blue and pink wallpaper – was calling my name.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Image 1 of 7

Motorola Edge 50 Pro Moonlight Pearl — Motorola Edge 50 Pro settings and personalisation (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

Image 2 of 7

Image 3 of 7

Image 4 of 7

Image 5 of 7

Image 6 of 7

Image 7 of 7

If you like your wallpaper to match your daily mood, weekly vibe, outfit or your favorite movie, the folks at Motorola have you covered. Not only is there a pool of categorized images to choose from, as well as a bunch of dynamic wallpapers just a download away, but there's even AI-driven help to find the perfect wallpaper for you – and change it as you please. For example, if you think your black T-shirt would be great as a wallpaper on the Edge 50 Pro, just take a photo of it when prompted within settings, and let Moto AI do the rest.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro's software isn't just about aesthetics. Offering a super-intuitive user experience, I found the gestures very helpful, even though I didn't find a lot of use for them. I got the most out of the Shake-To-Torch gesture to turn on the flashlight – not having to open the phone and press a button was surprisingly helpful – and I also enjoyed grabbing screenshots by just tapping the screen with three fingers. With so many options, there's undoubtedly one or two that will enhance your experience.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro gestures — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

It's not all fun and games though – while the actual software on the device is hard to find fault with, Motorola's support of that software is lacking. With Google providing seven years of software support and Samsung matching that for its flagship S-series handsets, any less than that is a little disappointing. Motorola is only going to offer three years of software updates and four years of security support. Heck, even the Galaxy A55, Samsung's much cheaper budget offering, is receiving four years of OS updates. So while Motorola's ongoing support isn't terrible, it's certainly not great.

Software score: 4/5

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Cameras

Motorola Edge 50 Pro camera array — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

50MP main, 13MP ultrawide and 10MP telephoto
50MP front-facing selfie camera
Pantone-validated color spectrum

A smartphone’s camera is arguably one of its most important features, allowing users to quickly snap a pic for either social media, work, or just take a random shot of that morning muffin you so enjoyed. And for a phone that doesn’t cost the earth (well, almost), I think the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is arguably the best camera phone in the mid-range category.

Aided by what the brand calls Moto AI, which uses adaptive stabilization to automatically adjust for movements when filming or shooting stills, even photos you think will be blurry because your hand is shaking or the subject is moving rapidly, come out crystal clear. Whether you're taking photos of your little one playing, dogs running around the park or flowers blowing in the wind, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro's camera is up to the task even when the person controlling it isn't.

And my experience with the Edge 50 Pro just went from great to impressive the more I tried it. Whether you're using the trio of rear cameras or the 50MP front-facing selfie camera, you really have to try to take a bad photo with the Motorola Edge 50 Pro. The 50MP main camera, 13MP ultrawide and 10MP telephoto lens provide plenty of versatility and fun in a variety of scenarios, including macro close-ups and long exposures.

Image 1 of 6

Motorola Edge 50 Pro — Long exposure of traffic (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

Image 2 of 6

Image 3 of 6

Image 4 of 6

Image 5 of 6

Image 6 of 6

The main 50MP camera is excellent, and will be what you're using most of the time. However, I got way more use out of the 10MP telephoto lens than I thought I would, with some excellent results during optimal ambient light conditions, though it does struggle a little in low-light settings. So while you'll have no problems zooming in on your child during their school play, it doesn't cut through a dimly-lit theater as well as the main camera.

The ultra-wide lens gets you a wider field of view, but that comes at the cost of clarity when compared to the main and telephoto lenses. So while it might be tempting for landscape photography, I found myself opting for the clarity of the main lens more often than not.

Image 1 of 3

Image 2 of 3

Lemons using main lens

Image 3 of 3

Macro lemon

If its baseline performance wasn't enough, Motorola has packed the Edge 50 Pro's camera with both helpful and fun features. With Motion, Video, Photo, Portrait, Pro and Scan modes available even before you tap on More, there's a plethora of tools to work with. In my opinion, the Scan mode deserves a special mention.

Scanning documents is one of the great annoyances of life if you don’t own a printer/scanner. There are already some handsets that allow you to use the camera app or, in the case of iOS, the Notes app to ‘scan’ documents, this mode on the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is powered by Adobe Scan and produces some excellent results. All you have to do is point at a document and the Edge 50 Pro will do the rest.

Image 1 of 5

Image 2 of 5

Image 3 of 5

Image 4 of 5

Image 5 of 5

All the fun and artsy features like Long Exposure, Timelapse, Photo Booth, Spot Capture and Dual Capture reside under the More tab. This is also where you’ll find more professional ones like Ultra-Res, Tilt-shift, Panorama and Night Vision. You can also add any feature you regularly use to the main camera page and remove any you don't touch, giving you quick access to modes you really want. In my case, I found it much easier to use the Macro mode on this phone than any other that I’ve tested previously, thanks to a quick activation option in the settings – and the results were impressive.

Image 1 of 11

Image 2 of 11

Image 3 of 11

Image 4 of 11

Image 5 of 11

Image 6 of 11

Image 7 of 11

Image 8 of 11

Image 9 of 11

Image 10 of 11

Image 11 of 11

While I was utterly impressed by the photos the Edge 50 Pro took during my testing, I found the camera app itself to be rather sluggish, particularly when used over long durations. It didn't really slow down my ability to take photos or use the device, but I think it will affect the overall experience for some users.

Camera score: 5/5

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Performance and Audio

Motorola Edge 50 Pro Dolby Atmos — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset
12GB RAM
Stereo speakers, tuning by Dolby Atmos

Everyone uses their phone differently – some use it for the basic functions of calls, texts, light gaming and media streaming, while others put their handsets through more intense workouts like 4K video editing or hardcore mobile gaming.

If you belong in the latter camp – meaning you regularly play high-graphics games, watch a lot of high-resolution content on your phone or do a lot of productivity work – you might need to look elsewhere for a more powerful phone. That's not to say the Edge 50 Pro lacks in performance – it doesn’t and far from it – but anything too intense will slow things down.

For the average user, though, there’s smooth and fast gameplay on offer here, plus more than enough system memory to keep several apps running simultaneously. Despite my issues with the camera app becoming sluggish after long periods of use, I didn’t experience too much of a drop in overall performance in general usage.

But that’s what benchmarking is for – to break down and analyze how a phone performs when put through stress tests that mimic different activities, and how it compares to other devices.

In my benchmarking tests, I compared the Motorola Moto Edge 50 Pro with the cheaper Samsung Galaxy A55 and flagship Samsung Galaxy S24.

For reference, the two Geekbench tests measure the processors single-core and multi-core power. 3D Mark:Wildlife tests how your device handles extended periods of heavy use and Sling Shot tests features like instant rendering, uniform buffers, multiple render targets and transform feedback. The higher the score, the better.

The Edge 50 Pro doesn’t necessarily have great processing power, which explains the sluggishness of the camera app – outscored by the Samsung Galaxy A55 – but it showcases its mid-range excellence in its 3D Mark tests, slotting in between the budget option from Samsung and its flagship.

Another area that the Motorola Edge 50 Pro excels at is audio. With Dolby Atmos support, it enhances the cinematic experience when watching videos on the phone. The stereo (or dual) speakers are loud and clear – I could even enjoy music and podcasts while in the shower. And, while I personally don’t watch movies on my phone without headphones, you'd be very happy if you did. If you don't, pairing a set of Bluetooth headphones is utterly easy – it quickly connected to both my third-generation AirPods and my Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones.

Performance and Audio score: 4/5

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Battery

Motorola Edge 50 Pro charging — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

125W fast charging
50W wireless charging
Five-minute charge gives you enough battery for the day

I've already taken you through what I think makes the Motorola Edge 50 Pro an excellent phone, but its battery might be its biggest asset. Boasting a capacity of 4,500mAh, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro will easily see you through a regular day of average use, which I define as messaging, social media, emails, browsing, video streaming and a few calls.

During my testing, I found that the Edge 50 Pro dropped to just 65% battery after 6.5 hours of screen time during the day. That was 6.5 hours of YouTube and benchmark tests, and the latter can be very power hungry.

Where the Motorola Edge 50 Pro truly excels is just how dang fast it charges. With the included 125W charger – yes, included – Motorola claims the Edge 50 Pro can charge completely in just 17 minutes. In my tests, my review sample of the Edge 50 Pro went from 20% to 100% in 19.5 minutes.

Image 1 of 3

Image 2 of 3

Image 3 of 3

Motorola claims you'll get 12 hours worth of battery life from just a five-minute charge with Charge Boost activated. From my experience, that claim is true – my phone jumped from 11% to 41% in the five minutes it took me to brush my teeth and comb my hair one morning. And if you were being conservative with your phone use for the day, I have no doubt that would be enough to last the entire day. Need another point of comparison on how good Motorola’s fast-charge feature is? The test unit went from dead to 28% in 30 minutes – which would see you through the day with conservative use.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro turbo-charging — (Image credit: TechRadar / Max Delaney)

The Edge 50 Pro gets quite warm when charging with the 120W charger, but that heat didn't negatively impact performance, nor did it retain the heat for long.

If you're a big proponent of wireless charging, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro has you covered there too, with up to 50W wireless charging support. To achieve that number, though, Motorola says you'll need the Motorola 50W TurboPower Wireless Charging Stand which, at the time of writing, is near impossible to find where the handset is available. I had no issues with my third-party 15W charger, though of course the speed didn't blow me away.

Battery score: 5/5

Should you buy the Motorola Edge 50 Pro?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider...

If this review of the Motorola Edge 50 Pro has left you wondering about other mid-tier alternatives, take a look at a few listed below. I’ve also compiled a specs comparison between them and the Edge 50 Pro for a clearer snapshot.

How I tested the Motorola Edge 50 Pro

Review period: four weeks
Testing included: Everyday use including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
Tools used: 3D Mark: 3D Mark: Original, 3D Mark: Extreme, 3D Mark: Slingshot Extreme (unlimited), Geekbench 6.2.2, Geekbench, native Android stats

The first step in reviewing the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is the same as any phone, and that means downloading and running benchmark tests. Once that was done, I used it as my daily device – taking it to work, to the gym, on dog walks and pretty much everything else that makes up my everyday life.

From scrolling mindlessly for way too long on the couch, catching its fall with my foot at the gym, listening to podcasts on the bus and being pulled in and out of my bag, I put this phone through its paces to see how it handles the trials and tribulations of life. And, from minor drops onto carpet and unfortunate meetings with the corner of my desk, as well as playing music in a steamy bathroom and getting splashed while doing the dishes, it had no issues.

The final moments with the phone were spent concentrating on battery tests – this included checking how it performed with less-than-average daily use, letting it sit in my bag and only using it for only a couple hours, seeing how quickly it charged from dead, as well as 5-,15- and 30-minute speed tests.

I have tested other budget and mid-range phones for TechRadar previously, which gives me a unique perspective on how the Motorola Edge 50 Pro compares to competitors on the market.

Onyx Boox Go Color 7: Two-minute review

I’ve reviewed quite a few Boox ereaders over the last few years and have always been impressed by their design and the versatility of having Android as an operating system. The Go series carries on this tradition with the 7-inch Boox Go Color 7 ereader, which is essentially a color version of the Onyx Boox Page.

They’re both quite similar physically, featuring page-turn buttons on the wider bezel, flush screens and a plastic build, but the Go Color 7 features a textured rear panel that makes it grippier to hold, and that’s a good thing as it’s quite a thin device (6.4mm / 0.25 inch thickness). The texture also means you won’t see any fingerprints on the rear of the ereader but, sadly, the smooth front panel is a magnet for smudges.

Onyx says that the Go Color 7 is water resistant, but doesn’t provide any rating to suggest how much moisture it can survive. My suspicion is that it might just be splashproof and not submersible as the Kindles and Kobos are, but that’s better than the Page which has no waterproofing at all.

Physically, the Go Color 7 is a lovely device, although I personally would have preferred a little space between the two page-turn buttons, but that’s me nitpicking. What really lets this ereader down is its usability.

For starters, the black-and-white text, which has a resolution of 300ppi, lacks contrast and sharpness as compared to the Kobo Libra Colour, despite both ereaders using the same E Ink Kaleido 3 screen technology. Adding weight (or Enhancement as Onyx calls it) does absolutely nothing. Colors face a similar problem, and they’re noticeably more muted on the Boox compared to the Kobo, and any text in color comic panels, for example, isn't as sharp. If you make adjustments to the color, which Onyx lets you do but isn’t possible on the Kobo, they reveal a lot of texture on the page background that detracts from the reading experience.

That’s not to say the readability is bad – it could be better – but it’s compounded by a whole lot of other software flaws. For example: tap-to-turn doesn’t auto rotate when you turn the device (when you swap hands); the default fonts folder isn’t linked to Storage to make sideloaded fonts work easily; and you have to jump through hoops to use a wired connection for file transfers when using an Apple PC (MacBook or iMac).

These issues become cumulative and make using the Go Color 7 far from enjoyable and hard for me to recommend, at least not till Onyx releases firmware updates to fix some of the software problems that plagues this ereader. It also means that despite the versatility of having the Google Play Store at your fingertips, the higher price tag compared to its Kobo competitor doesn’t add any value.

A graphic novel page displayed on the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 review: price and availability

Announced June 2024
Launch price of $249.99 / €279.99 / AU$459
Available to buy directly from the Boox Shop and at select retailers

The Boox devices aren’t known for their affordability, but can offer bang for buck because of how versatile they can be on account of running Android. So it’s not surprising that the Boox Go Color 7 comes into the market with a price tag of $249.99 / €279.99 (about £239) / AU$459, which is the same price as the Boox Page (the B&W version of the Go) in the US and the European Union, but AU$40 more expensive in Australia. If you purchase it directly from the Boox Shop, it’s possible to get a little discount, but I think the Kobo Libra Colour offers more bang for your hard-earned buck.

With writing capabilities and a more optimized display that offers both superior sharpness and color saturation, in my opinion the Kobo Libra Colour for $219.99 / £219.99 / AU$359.95 is the better device. Even if you pay extra to buy the Kobo Stylus 2 to take advantage of the note-taking features, it’s still the better purchase on account of its more intuitive user experience and fewer software issues.

• Value score: 3 / 5

The native library app on the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 review: specs

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 review: design and display

Slim design with plastic build
Page-turn buttons
7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 display doesn’t seem to be optimized for reading

With a similar aesthetic to the Boox Page, the Go Color 7 has a lovely slim profile with an even thickness of only 6.4mm (0.25 inches). That’s just marginally thicker than the Page (6mm / 0.24 inches), but they both weigh in at a mere 195g and don’t put any pressure on the hand or wrist during long reading sessions.

The Go Color 7 takes it a step further by offering a little extra grip via a textured rear panel, which I found good to have as it makes holding the device a little more secure than the Page. However, I personally prefer the asymmetric thickness of the Kobo Libra series and the Kindle Oasis – this ensures your thumb is more securely placed on or near the page-turn buttons and is a little more ergonomic. With the Go Color 7 and the Page, I found I had to keep shifting my grip marginally every few minutes to avoid building up fatigue in the thumb joint and wrist. So while the slim profile is lovely to look at, it’s not ergonomic for single-hand use. I also think Onyx should consider adding a small gap between the two buttons – an issue I also had with the Page – to make each easier to find by touch and improve the ergonomics.

Etched branding on the rear of the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — Subtle Boox branding on the rear of the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

What I really love about the buttons is the ability to customize them on a per-app basis. You can set one of three specific functions for all the apps you have on the device (including those downloaded from the Play Store), choosing between page-turn for library or reading apps, set them to scrolling (which is great for web browsing), or use them as volume controls for music or audiobooks. You can even set secondary functions for long presses if you want to via the Settings pane.

Despite having the page-turn buttons, you can use tap-to-turn via the screen if you prefer. However, I found that this functionality doesn’t auto-rotate when using NeoReader (the native library app). It does work for third-party reading apps like Kindle or Kobo, however.

Along with the page-turn buttons, the Go Color 7 also features a single speaker and a mic, housed at the top and bottom of the edge bordering the broader bezel. There’s even a microSD tray that can add more storage to the already-available 64GB. This is handy if you like audiobooks – audio files are typically larger than ebooks, so can eat through onboard storage quite quickly. The top edge houses a small power button.

I was sent the black Go Color 7 for this review, but there’s a white option as well which, I think, looks nicer – all the buttons are silver, adding a little life to the otherwise featureless plastic build. I also think that smudges and fingerprints will be a lot less visible on the white than on the black – the textured rear panel picks up nothing, but the top, smooth bezels are magnets for any oily substance on your fingertips.

Image 1 of 3

A thumb near the page-turn buttons of the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — The page-turn buttons are close together on the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Image 2 of 3

The USB-C port, speaker and microSD tray on the side of the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — A speaker and a microSD card add value to the Go Color 7 (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Image 3 of 3

The rear panels of the Onyx Boox Page (right) and the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 (right) — The smooth rear of the Onyx Boox Page (left) shows fingerprint smudges more than the textured rear of the Go Color 7 (right) (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

The 7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 display is currently the best color e-paper screen tech available and has been used on my pick of the best ereader you can buy right now – the Kobo Libra Colour. The difference here is that the screen is set flush with the bezels on the Go Color 7, which makes it a little more reflective compared to the sunken display on the Kobo. It also means it picks up a lot of fingerprints when you use the screen for functions like tap-to-turn or the keyboard.

The screen is front-lit, with both white and amber LEDs, so you can adjust from cold to warm hues as you see fit. However, there’s no way to make this transition automatic at a specific time – as is available on the Kindle Oasis and several Kobo models – so that you read in colder light during the day and warmer light for evening or nighttime reading. That said, no Boox tablet has this feature, but you can always find your preferred brightness, then add in a little warmth to suit your needs and leave it at that.

I did, however, find that the screen light isn’t as bright as I’ve seen on other ereaders, Boox models included. For example, a side-by-side comparison with the Boox Page shows the latter can get a lot brighter at full bore, while the Go Color 7 looks like it’s barely at half brightness even though I’ve got the light turned up to the maximum. This isn’t a huge concern, but it could make a difference to some users when reading in certain light conditions.

My biggest concern with the Go Color 7’s display is its lack of sharpness in grayscale and comparatively low saturation when reading in color. I go into more detail in the User Experience section of this review, but it seems like Onyx hasn’t optimized the E Ink Kaleido 3 screen correctly for use. In comparison, the Kobo Libra Colour is sharper and the colors look better on the same screen tech.

• Design & display score: 3.5 / 5

The power button on the top of the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Onyx Boox Go Color 7: Software

Slim version of Android 12
Full access to the Google Play Store
Microsoft OpenAI Azure GPT-3 available as an AI assistant

Onyx has been using Android as its operating system for a long while, with full Google Play Store access on its devices. The latest version of the OS to be used in Boox tablets is Android 12, which might seem outdated and can be deemed a security concern, but I doubt anyone will be using an ereader like the Go Color 7 for any sensitive transactions.

If you’ve used an Onyx Boox device before, you’ll be quite familiar with the setup on the Go Color 7 – nothing has really changed on that side of things. You get easy access to the library app, the bookstore, device storage, apps and settings via a navigation menu on the bottom of the home screen, and you can experiment with each of them quite easily. The bookstore, however, is not ideal as there’s really not a lot of options available to purchase, so you’re better off using the native browser to purchase content online, which then gets saved to the device.

Image 1 of 3

The Apps pane on the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Image 2 of 3

Text enhancements for comics and graphic novels in the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Image 3 of 3

Settings available when reading a comic or graphic novel file on the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

There’s a lot going on in the Settings pane, and that can take some time to wrap your head around, but there are settings for each native app as well, accessible when you open them. That said, some of these individual settings are hidden away, which isn’t ideal. The Apps pane is arguably the most intuitive section on the device, and it lists the Play Store separately. You just need to sign in and you’re ready to download any app you see fit for use on the Go Color 7 – in my case, I had the Kobo reading app installed, along with a couple of benchmarking applications I used to get more information on the device. I also downloaded a Mahjong game app for a bit of distraction.

There’s a customizable Floating Toolbar in the library app that I really like. It gives me quick access to some shortcuts, particularly the font styling and menu options for each book. While you can sideload fonts, you will need to create a new Fonts folder within the Storage pane for them to get activated – the existing Fonts folder listed in the Storage menu is not linked correctly and doesn’t work – just one of Boox’s many software failings on the Go Color 7, but this issue plagues all of Onyx’s tablets.

A hand holding the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

You can use a wired connection to transfer files, but I found that Apple devices like MacBooks and iMacs don’t register a Boox device – it’s only possible on a Windows PC. Again, another software issue. I’ve found that the best way to add content to the Go Color 7 is wirelessly by either using BooxDrop or signing into a supported cloud service like Dropbox or Google Drive. However, files downloaded via the cloud don’t seem to get stored anywhere on the device – when plugged into a Windows PC, I found the library to be empty despite having ‘downloaded’ a bunch of EPUB files. Checking the breadcrumbs on the device for the files also show no pathways. I even tried an app called File Manager+ to find the files, but to no avail. So while I can open and read the files I’ve transferred, I actually can’t find them within the device’s internal pathways – another software issue that I haven’t come across on other Boox tablets previously.

To change things up on the Go Series of Boox tablets, Onyx has added an AI Assistant app. This is essentially Microsoft’s OpenAI Azure GPT and you can get it to write you a short story or start a simple conversation. It works fine, but I think it’s superfluous – I never found the need to use it, but did so only for testing purposes.

• Software score: 3 / 5

A graphic novel page displayed on the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 (left) and the Kobo Libra Colour (right) — Colors on the Kobo Libra Colour (right) have a touch more saturation than the Go Color 7 (left) and a lot of grain/texture is visible on the Onyx too (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Onyx Boox Go Color 7: User experience

Nice to use in one hand
Clunky, overwhelming interface
Screen not optimized for readability

One of the best things about a Boox tablet is the native file support, which is handy because you can sideload a heck of a lot of files to read on the Go Color 7. New here is the addition of one used in China for some academic journals, so while it may not have wider appeal, it takes the document file support to 20 – one more than the older models of Boox tablets.

However, having extensive file (and font) support only goes so far if the screen itself hasn’t been fully optimized for reading – the main function that the Go Color 7 should be good at. I found that despite the 7-inch screen having a 300ppi resolution for black-and-white text, the displayed page lacked sharpness and contrast. Edges are fuzzy when compared to the Boox Page and the Kobo Libra Colour, and the latter uses the exact same screen tech.

Onyx allows you to add weight to the text – it’s called Enhancements and is available in the NeoReader (the default library app) settings – but it does absolutely nothing. And I do mean nothing – as you slide to enhance text, there is no visible change at all. This isn’t a problem with the Boox Page, it works just fine there, even for sideloaded fonts. And a side-by-side comparison with the Kobo Libra Colour revealed a marked difference in contrast between the two competitors that you can see in the image below.

Two comic screenshots from Boox Go Color 7 and Kobo Libra Colour — A closer look at the difference in color saturation and page texture between the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 (left) and the Kobo Libra Colour (right) (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

The optimization (or lack thereof) of the screen also affects the color saturation which, compared to the Kob Libra Colour is lacking. However, unlike the text Enhancements, the color customizations work. Some users might like the changes these offer, but I personally didn’t like any of the tweaks I made, but I should note that this was because I also had the Libra Colour in front me at the same time and much preferred the default color settings there – so I will admit to a bias in this case.

I tried adjusting the screen’s light to see if that helped with the display issues but the Boox frontlight system isn’t as bright as what you’d find on the latest Kobos or Kindles. Moreover, the light on the Boox is a lot bluer than on a Kobo or Kindle, which I personally didn’t find pleasing. That said, the Boox allows much more warmth to be added to the frontlight compared to a Kobo or Kindle, which can turn a page entirely yellow. If that’s not to your liking, you can opt to read in dark mode, which will reverse the grayscale display colors but not affect anything in full color.

The dull screen of the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 (left) beside the brighter screen of the Onyx Boox Page (right) — The Onyx Boox Page (right) has a brighter screen light at the same setting than the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 (left) (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

The device can be set to automatically rotate orientation when you swap hands, which also swaps the page-turn buttons accordingly. What it doesn’t do is automatically change the tap-to-turn functionality, which is strange as it works fine on the Boox Page – another software failing on the Go Color 7.

This isn’t the first software issue I’ve listed – all the previous issues I’ve noted previously in this review have a cumulative effect on the user experience, making it rather difficult to recommend the Go Color 7 to anyone looking for a new ereader. Some of these niggles can be solved via firmware updates but Onyx isn’t very good at fixing existing problems, so I won’t be holding my breath.

A page of an ebook displayed on the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 (left) and the Kobo Libra Colour (right) — The image doesn't do it justice, but the text on the Kobo Libra Colour (left) is sharper than the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 (left) when using the exact same font (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

As with all Boox tablets, the user interface requires some getting used to – there’s a lot happening here and it would be nice if Onyx could figure out a way to simplify the settings. Some important settings – like those from NeoReader – are hidden away while there are other not-so-important features that take center stage – like choice of servers (which automatically connects you to the closest option as soon as you set up the device). Using NeoReader as the default library app is also not the most enjoyable – there’s a lot of information included on a page that can be distracting. I’m referring to the battery, time, page numbers and the like shown on the screen when you’re reading. You can choose specific combinations of these, but I found them all to be overkill for a library app – I would prefer to be given the option to select individual bits of information that I want to see rather than combinations (or pairs) of them, just so I can reduce the clutter on a page.

I no longer expect finesse from Onyx’s user interface but what makes these little niggles stand out even more is the Go Color 7’s other software flaws.

• User experience score: 3.5 / 5

Text styles and enhancements for ebooks on the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 review: Performance

Not a lot of ghosting
Impressive battery life
Snappy screen responsiveness

Despite the software problems plaguing this ereader, the Go Color 7 performs well – so well, in fact, that this is the first Onyx device that I’ve tested that hasn’t made me complain about ghosting. That’s not to say it’s entirely gone, but of all the very many Boox tablets I’ve tested over the years, this has the least amount of ghosting issues. It’s most prevalent when using the AI Assistant app, where the keyboard invariably has an underlay of the graphics visible when the app is first opened, and then the shadow of the keyboard remains when the AI-generated response is displayed. That said, I think the AI Assistant app is superfluous on an ereader and really didn’t use it much, so the ghosting didn’t bother me overmuch.

The Go Color 7 uses the 2.4GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor that has been used to previously power budget phones like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11, Samsung Galaxy A53, Oppo Reno 7 and Realme 9 – when used in a low-power device like an ereader, it’s more than enough to run it smoothly. Paired with an Adreno 610 graphics chip, the Boox Go Color 7 has the exact same specs as the note-taking 10-inch Onyx Boox Note Air 3, which also performed quite well in our tests.

I didn’t notice any lag in opening apps, nor were there any problems with rapidly switching between apps or features. The screen is very responsive, whether you’re tapping to turn a page or typing something via the on-screen keyboard. In fact, it has one of the fastest response times when using the on-screen keyboard to type – it’s still not quite real-time and I don’t expect it to be, but it’s as close to that as is possible for an e-paper display to be.

The Onyx Boox Go Color 7 beside the white Kobo Libra Colour — The black Onyx Boox Go Color 7 (left) beside the slightly larger, white Kobo Libra Colour (right) (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Like other Boox devices, you can, in theory, watch videos and play some mobile games on the Go Color 7, but don’t expect refresh rates and graphics like you’d see on your phone or tablet – E Ink screens aren’t optimized for real-time responsiveness. Even a simple task like scrolling through social media or even the Play Store can cause a few little hiccups as the refresh rate is not high enough for these kinds of tasks. That said, it’s good enough to play something like Solitaire or Mahjong, or browse the internet.

And even with internet usage, there’s more than enough battery life to last you a few weeks before requiring a top-up. There’s a decent 2,300mAh battery pack in the Go Color 7 and, in my tests, that gave me about 5 weeks of use before the level dropped to 19%, and included approximately two hours of reading each day, about 80 minutes of browsing or mobile games and about 3 hours of audio listening. This was also with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched on at all times, the frontlight set at a little over 50% brightness and the system refresh rate set to 5 taps. That’s not too bad considering I also saw about a 12% battery drain while the device was sleeping across the same time period of 5 weeks.

Topping up the battery takes approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes – that’s with the device plugged into a 65W wall charger and using a USB-A to C cable. If you use a PC dock to plug in the Go Color 7 for a charge, note that this will take a very long time as a dock may not offer the 5W of power needed for normal charging speeds. For example, during my testing, the Go Color 7 took about 9 hours to go from 0% to 100% when plugged into an Anker PC dock.

• Performance score: 4 / 5

Fingerprint smudges on the broader bezel of the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 — Smudges and fingerprints are visible on the smooth broad bezel near the page-turn buttons (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Should I buy the Onyx Boox Go Color 7?

Buy it if...

You want a slim, lightweight ereader

The Go Color 7 is one of the slimmest 7-inch ereaders I’ve tested. It’s also compact and quite light, making it ideal for carrying around.

You like the option of having physical page-turn buttons

The advantage of having physical page-turn buttons on an ereader is that it makes it easy to use single-handed. The Go Color 7 takes it a step further by giving you the option to customize the buttons for other functions, and on a per-app basis too. That’s a lot of versatility.

Don't buy it if...

You care about user experience

As nice as it is physically, the Go Color 7 has too many software flaws that make the user experience far from enjoyable.

Value for money is important

It’s not too expensive for a color ereader, but it doesn’t offer as much as some of its competition. For example, you can get writing features, better sharpness and more saturation from the Kobo Libra Colour at a slightly lower price.

Also consider

If this review has you wondering if there are other options you can check out instead of the Go Color 7, take a look at the three alternatives below. They're great alternatives at approximately the same price point, although note that the Kindle option listed here is from 2019 and Amazon has slowly been removing it from some markets.

Kobo Libra Colour

Arguably the best color ereader on the market, with a streamlined, easy-to-use interface and the note-taking features, the Kobo Libra Colour is also slightly cheaper than the Go Color 7.

Onyx Boox Page

It may not have a color display, but if that’s not an issue, the Boox Page is a better Onyx choice than the Go Color 7. It doesn’t suffer from all the same issues as its Go-series cousin, and has sharper text and a brighter light for better readability.

Amazon Kindle Oasis

It’s a little long in the tooth now, but if the page-turn buttons are important to you, then the Oasis is one gorgeous ereader with a metal chassis. In terms of overall performance, it will be a little slower than newer models, but it’s the ereader that pioneered the asymmetric design that’s perfect for single-hand use.

How I tested the Onyx Boox Go Color 7

A book cover displayed on the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 while lying on a pile of physical books — (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Used as daily ereader for approximately 7 weeks
Sideloaded books, music files and fonts via cloud transfer
Use the AI Assistant to write short stories

As soon as I received the Go Color 7 for this review, I signed into my existing Onyx account to sync files and documents I had on my previous device, then logged into the Google Play Store. I downloaded the Kobo app to access my purchases so I could read and listen to them on the Go Color 7, then downloaded a couple of benchmarking applications – CPU X and Geekbench 6.

I ‘bound’ my Google Drive account to the device to access ebooks I have saved on the cloud, but also used the desktop version of Onyx’s BooxDrop to sideload more content for reading. I had a mix of ebooks and comics, plus a few audiobooks and music files on the device.

I used the Go Color 7 for approximately 7 weeks as my regular ereader, during which time I charged it twice. I also compared it directly with the Onyx Boox Page and the Kobo Libra Colour, both of which I’ve previously tested for TechRadar.

I didn’t find a lot of use for the AI Assistant application but used it a couple of times by asking it to write me short stories based on a premise I provided.

Google Pixel 9 Pro: One-minute review

Pixel 9 Pro, clockwise arrangement showing back of Porcelain; Hazel; Obsidian; Rose Quartz — Pixel 9 Pro, clockwise from top-left: Porcelain; Hazel; Obsidian; Rose Quartz (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Google Pixel 9 Pro is the phone I’ve been asking for… I just forgot to ask Google. With the new Pixel 9 Pro, Google is the only company offering all of its best features on a smaller phone. You can buy an iPhone 15 Pro or Galaxy S24, but if you want the best you need to pay more and accept the biggest phones Apple and Samsung make. Not so with Google’s latest Pro Pixel.

I’m a big fan of great camera phones, but all the great camera phones are really big. If you want the best iPhone or Galaxy camera, you have to buy an iPhone 15 Pro Max or a Galaxy S24 Ultra. Anything less would be a compromise. You get a less powerful zoom lens if you choose the iPhone 15 Pro. You get less powerful everything if you choose a cheaper Galaxy.

The Pixel 9 Pro has the exact same camera specs as the Pixel 9 Pro XL. There are no changes and no compromises. It’s silly that this is a big deal, but as phones grew larger over the years, phone makers gave up on making the smaller phones just as capable as the larger phones. With the Pixel 9 Pro you get the exact same sensors with the same megapixels, and the same lenses with the same aperture, including the 5x telephoto camera.

What do you forego if you pick the smaller Pixel 9 Pro over the larger Pixel 9 Pro XL? There’s the screen size, obviously. The Pixel 9 Pro has a 6.3-inch display, versus the 6.8-inch display on the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Google didn’t just expand the same resolution on the larger phone, either – the Pro XL phone has a higher resolution, although it’s a tiny bit less sharp in terms of pixel density. Like the Pro XL, the Pixel 9 Pro is incredibly bright, with average brightness around 2,000 nits and peak possibility of up to 3,000 nits. That’s enough to take photos in bright sunlight, and maybe even hurt your eyes if you stare closely for too long.

I’ll need to spend time with the cameras to see if they truly offer an improvement over last year's Pro, but the Pixel 9 Pro will likely attract attention more for its AI capabilities than for its photo prowess. Even the cameras and photo-editing tools have been boosted by the latest Google Gemini AI, and the most exciting new Gemini AI feature is a Pixel 9 Pro exclusive – it won’t be available on the Pixel 9.

That feature is Gemini Live, the new conversational tool that Google is offering with Google Gemini. You’ll be able to talk to Google Gemini in a more natural way, and Google is staring down ChatGPT by making a chat-friendly AI tool that runs natively on a mobile phone.

Google Gemini is going to understand and interact with us in many new ways once the Pixel 9 Pro arrives. It will be a multimodal AI, which means it'll be able to look at photos or listen to audio and answer questions about what it sees and hears. Google says you’ll be able to take a photo of the plant that’s dying on your window sill and ask for advice on how to save it.

Gemini will also be able to listen to your phone calls. It won’t just listen, it will take notes and send you a summary of the call after you hang up. Google says this feature will alert both parties that the call is being summarized by AI. I’ve seen that similar features are coming soon from Apple and Motorola, so it seems that an AI will soon be monitoring phone calls no matter what phone brand you choose. That’s kind of alarming.

Google Pixel 9 Pro — (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Pixel 9 Pro will get seven years of Android OS updates, including Pixel feature drops and security patches. If you plan on holding onto your phone for that long, I’d suggest looking at the Pixel 9 Pro over the Pixel 9, which gets the same seven-year promise – the slight hardware upgrade may be important over the long term.

The Pixel 9 Pro comes with 16GB of RAM inside, compared to 12GB in the Pixel 9. Those are massive amounts of memory for a mobile device, no matter which Pixel you choose. Samsung’s most powerful phone, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, only has 12GB of RAM, and you’d need to buy a gaming phone like an Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro to get 16GB or more (up to 24GB in the Asus phone) before the Pixel 9 Pro comes along.

My guess is that all that RAM isn’t for today – it’s for what’s to come. I’ve been very skeptical that today’s Pixel phones, like the Pixel 8, will really last through the seven years of updates that Google is promising. Google can’t make a processor that is future-proof, but adding more RAM that is needed at launch is a way to make sure that the phone will have spare headroom for whatever AI vehicles get parked in the Pixel garage.

With all that in mind, the Pixel 9 Pro is the most exciting Pixel phone I’ve seen in years, and I haven’t even mentioned the new design (and check out my Pixel 9 Pro XL hands-on for more on the new look). It’s a pleasantly smaller phone that doesn’t skimp on features like every other smaller phone. It’s got exciting camera features and AI tools today, with more on the way, and the right hardware to stay up to date when the future arrives.

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Price and availability

The Pixel 9 Pro XL in Rose Quartz and Pixel 9 in Peony — The Pixel 9 Pro XL (left) and Pixel 9 (right) will launch a couple weeks earlier (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Costs $999 / £999 with 128GB of storage
Preorders are open now
Available on September 4, after the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL

You can pre-order the Pixel 9 Pro today, but the phone won’t be available until after the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL have hit store shelves. The latter two phones will be available on August 22, but the Pixel 9 Pro and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold can’t be yours until September 4.

The Pixel 9 Pro costs $999 / £999, and comes with only 128GB of storage for that price, which is shameful. You can upgrade the storage up to 1TB, and surely Google and others will have periodic deals that give you more storage for the same price. Every model comes with 16GB of RAM.

You can buy the Pixel 9 Pro in black Obsidian, off-white Porcelain, gray Hazel and pink Rose Quartz. The Pixel 9 Pro XL comes in the exact same color options.

If you’re considering a pre-order, you should know that Google Pixel phones tend to go on sale early and often. For instance, the Pixel 8 Pro was launched in mid-October, 2024, for $999 and by the middle of November it was already on sale with a $200 discount on Amazon in the US. It’s probably been discounted more than half of the year it has been on sale, and the lowest price has been almost 30% off the launch price.

@techradar
♬ original sound - TechRadar

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Specs

Google Pixel 9 Pro in Hazel, the best color — (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

How does the Pixel 9 stack up against competitors? The best comparison is the Samsung Galaxy S24, launched at the beginning of this year. Samsung is using the fastest processor on any Android phone, so there’s no contest with raw processing power. On other specs, however, the Pixel 9 is very impressive.

The Pixel 9 has a better display than Samsung’s Galaxy S24, according to DXO Labs and Google. It’s brighter, with a higher resolution. The Pixel 9 may also have better cameras. The Ultrawide camera specs are the same on both phones, but the Pixel 9 has a larger sensor for its main camera, with a wider aperture lens that should bring more light to the sensor. We’ll have to test the phone thoroughly to be sure.

The Pixel 9 has faster charging than the Galaxy S24, according to Google, but we’ll have to test those claims in Future Labs. The battery size is the same, but the Pixel 9 charges at 45W, while the Galaxy S24 charges at 25W. To Samsung’s credit, the Galaxy S24 is a thinner and lighter phone than the Pixel 9. Both phones use Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for the front glass, and both phones are rated to IP68 water and dust resistance.

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Design and display

Google Pixel 9 Pro showing home screen elements — (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Super-bright display is also razor sharp
Cool new design evolves the camera bar

Google is not messing around when it comes to the Pixel 9 Pro display. If you’re wondering how the Pixel is better than other Pro phones from Apple and Samsung, this is it. Google is winning on smartphone screens. The so-called Super Actua display on the Pixel 9 Pro is brighter than competing phones from Apple and Samsung, and it has a higher resolution as well. It looks fantastic, and it’s easy to read under any lighting conditions.

If you’re deciding between the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, the 9 Pro doesn’t have as many pixels overall, but it packs those pixels tighter for a higher pixel density, making it slightly more sharp. Both Pro Pixel models have a display that's more pixel dense than any iPhone available now.

I wasn’t sure about the Pixel 9 Pro design after seeing the leaks, then the early preview images from Google. I’ve been a fan of the Pixel camera bar since the Pixel 6 launched. I especially liked the multicolor design of the Pixel 6a, but Google has been mostly monochromatic recently. That’s fine, because the Pixel 9 Pro looks fantastic, and it comes in some very snazzy colors that are unique but not too loud.

The Hazel grey has been growing on me ever since I laid eyes on it. It’s a very pleasant shade, more like wet granite than dark clouds. The porcelain is a nice alternative to a stark white model, and the Rose Quartz is a pleasant shade of blossom pink, more mature than the Peony pink available on the Pixel 9. If you’re boring you can also get the Pixel 9 Pro in black Obsidian.

Google chooses excellent materials and finish options to complement the colors. The matte glass back has depth to it, especially on the porcelain and hazel devices. The polished metal frame is more refined than the satin finish on the Pixel 9; it catches the light and sparkles.

I even like the camera bar, possibly because of how dated it’s going to look in a few years. It’s unique and very à la mode, with bold, almost cartoonish lines and curves. I like the look, and I’m curious to see how it evolves over the next few generations.

I hope it doesn’t become a boring old bump like every other phone. Like the camera bar of old, the new camera pill shape remains symmetrical and clean, and the phone didn’t rock when I placed it face up, like some Samsung phones do with their corner-situated camera bumps.

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Software

Google Pixel 9 Pro showing emoji wallpaper creation tool — (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Lot of AI features will get to know you
Screenshots sounds useful, but will take some adjustment

Do you like AI? I hope you do, because the Pixel 9 Pro is going to push AI to a level we haven’t seen before in a smartphone. You’re going to talk to the Gemini AI on the Pixel 9 Pro like it’s a person. You’ll be able to show it things with the camera and ask questions about what you see. It’s going to organize and keep track of the things on your phone, and it will be able to answer questions in a normal, conversational style.

At least, that’s what Google promises. Some of it is very cool and immediately useful, like the Add Me feature in the camera. I’ll get to that next, but it works well and I can imagine using it; I just wish it had been around 10 years ago when I was chasing my toddler with a camera.

Some of the new AI features are a bit worrisome, though. You can ask the AI to listen to your phone calls and take notes. It will summarize calls and answer questions about what was said. Google says that your callers will get a warning when you use this feature, but it still feels strange to have the phone listening to calls and keeping track. I’ll need to test this feature thoroughly.

There's also a new Screenshots app that's exclusive to the Pixel 9 range, at least for now. If you take a lot of screenshots to help you remember, well, everything, the Pixel 9 Pro will be able to use its AI powers to read and understand your screenshots. It will be able to answer questions about the things you've saved, in a natural, conversational way, according to Google.

It’s hard for me to imagine how useful this might be, but I have to admit that after I spent time with the Pixel 9 Pro, I took a look at my other phones and realized I have far more screenshots than I ever imagined – and not all of them were taken just because I accidentally pressed the power and volume buttons at the same time.

If you buy the Pixel 9 Pro, Google will give you a year of its Google One AI Premium plan, which comes with 2TB of cloud storage. With the Premium plan, you can use Google Gemini Advanced, which is the, um, advanced model of Gemini. I’ve been a subscriber since it launched, so I can’t compare Gemini Advanced to the regular old Gemini, but I’m happy with the results I’ve been getting so far.

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Cameras

The older Pixel 8 Pro next to the Pixel 9 Pro (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Same 5x zoom lens as the Pixel 9 Pro XL
AI offers Improvements to video zoom and night video

Apple take note: you don’t need to make the 5x zoom lens exclusive to the big phone. Some people want a smaller phone, and those people shouldn’t have to sacrifice camera quality or capabilities. It’s strange that both Samsung and Apple, to varying degrees, make you settle for second-best cameras if you want their smaller phone, but the Pixel 9 Pro does not have the same constraint. Whether you buy the Pro of the Pixel 9 Pro XL, you get the exact same cameras, including the 5x zoom lens.

When I say the exact same cameras, I mean it. The sensors and lenses are the same. There isn’t some special image stabilization that you only get on the Pixel 9 Pro XL, as there is with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It’s all the same. In fact, the main camera and ultra-wide cameras are the same kit found on the Pixel 9, but that cheaper phone doesn’t have a zoom lens. If you’re serious about taking photos, you need the zoom.

The new Add Me feature on the camera seems genuinely useful, though I am a bit hesitant. The TechRadar team gave it a try in our hands-on time with the Pixel phones, and it did a great job adding our Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff to a photo after I’d left him out. It was easy to line up the shot and tell Lance where to stand, and the end results were flawless.

Is that a good thing, that the Pixel 9 Pro can create a flawless image of a group photo that never happened? I haven’t decided, but I can easily imagine this feature catching on, especially with new parents.

The Pixel 9 Pro also gets new video capabilities, thanks to Google’s AI enhancements. The camera can already use AI for what Google calls a 'Super Res Zoom' photo that can zoom in up to 30x. Now the video camera can also use 'Super Res Zoom' for up to 20x zoom on video recordings.

If you’re recording at night, Google’s Video Boost feature has been improved to process dark videos twice as fast, once the video has been uploaded. Also, Google has improved low-light handling for panorama shots, and it says the Pixel 9 Pro can create the best panoramas in low light of any camera.

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Performance and battery

Tons of RAM should help with AI features today and to come
Fastest battery charging on a Pixel, but no charger in the box

Pixel fans don’t fret about performance and benchmarks, because Pixel phones aren’t built for power, they're built for Google. You won’t win benchmark weightlifting competitions with the Pixel 9 Pro, but Google has given the phone some interesting hardware to keep it current with the latest Android software and Pixel feature drops for the next seven years.

The Pixel 9 Pro has 16GB of RAM, which is truly mind-blowing in a mobile device. My first laptop had only… never mind, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just say that 16GB is more than any other phone most people have heard of. You’d need to buy an Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro gaming phone and spend extra on RAM to top the Pixel 9 Pro.

Why so much RAM? Probably AI. Across the board, on laptops and mobile phones, our testing has shown that RAM makes a big difference with AI features. Is it more important than having the fastest Snapdragon processor? Time will tell, but if I buy a Pixel hoping to make it to the end of the seven-year promise, I want that Pixel to be stuffed with RAM.

The Pixel 9 Pro should charge faster than any previous Pixel, according to Google, but that claim isn’t very impressive. You’ll need to buy a 45W charger to get the full charging speed, and it’s worth the investment. Google should have included one with this Pro phone, since presumably most buyers won’t already have a charger this fast.

Oddly, the Pixel 9 Pro XL has a larger battery, but it also charges faster, according to Google’s charging-time estimates. It has the same 45W charging capability, but Google says it charges faster. When you ask Google about the spec differences between the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, it tells you the only differences are the screen and the ‘power,’ which seems to mean more than just battery size. We’ll have to test these claims to see what’s really happening.

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: The bottom line

The Pixel 9 Pro is an exciting phone, and I hope Apple and Samsung pay attention. It’s a smaller phone that doesn’t skimp on performance or memory, and especially not on cameras. If you’ve been pining for a smaller phone that doesn’t make you feel left out, the Pixel 9 Pro is worth a look.

Is it better than other phones at this price? I’ll need to test the phone thoroughly, but it seems promising. The display alone is a winning feature, and it’s a wonder that Google hasn’t earned a stronger reputation for its spectacular Super Actua screens.

With cameras, however, everybody knows Google Pixel phones are among the best, and the Pixel 9 Pro is the most promising camera system yet on a Pixel phone. I like the new AI features, even if I’m nervous about relying on AI to change images. I’m very interested to see how the AI improves photography as I’m shooting, especially the low-light improvements to video shooting and panoramas.

The Pixel 9 Pro is going to require a lot of trust. I’m going to turn over my screenshots, all of those dozens of random, unsorted images, and let the AI read everything. I’m going to let it listen to my phone calls, and I’m going to rely on its interpretation of what was said. I’m going to have conversations with this phone like a normal person. I just hope it acts normal. I’m not sure I’m ready for my phone to be this much of a person.

Why you can trust TechRadar

☑️ 100s of smartphones reviewed
☑️ 15 years of product testing
☑️ Over 16,000 products reviewed in total
☑️ Nearly 200,000 hours testing tech

First hands-on August 2024

Google Pixel 9 review – the dawn of a new Pixel era

8:00 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Google Pixel Phones Phones | Tags: AI, Google Pixel, RAM | Comments: Off

Google Pixel 9: One-minute review

Google Pixel 9 from the back in every color — (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Google Pixel 9 makes sense – it’s a very easy phone to explain. When you buy the Pixel 9, you get the best of the Pixel 9 Pro, for less money. You get the exact same processors, two of the exact same cameras (the Pro gets an extra one), and the same new AI features, with none of the good stuff left out just because you didn’t go Pro. No other phone company draws such a straight line from the bottom to the top of its range.

The Pixel 9 even looks more like its Pro brethren than previous 'standard' models. The Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro are nearly identical in shape, size and weight. Both have a 6.3-inch display that is searingly bright. The batteries are the same size. Both the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro use Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for improved durability up front, and Google says the Pixel 9 is twice as durable as last year’s Pixel 8.

Along with that improved durability comes an entirely new look for the Pixel family. The old camera bar is gone, replaced with a ‘camera pill’ (my term, not Google’s) that doesn’t quite extend across the full width of the rear of the phones. It looks much better in person than it did in early leaked photos. The Pixel 9 still looks unique compared to the asymmetrical corner-placed cameras on your typical iPhone or Galaxy phone, but this is the biggest style departure in years, since the Pixel 6 ushered in today’s Pixel design language.

Google Pixel 9 front and back — (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Pixel 9 looks remarkably like the Pixel 9 Pro. One phone has a polished glass back with a satin finish to the metal frame and camera bump. The other has a matte glass back with a polished finish to the frame. If I didn’t tell you which was which, you probably couldn’t guess, though the Pixel 9 Pro gives itself away with the extra camera lens.

What are you sacrificing if you choose the Pixel 9 instead of the Pixel 9 Pro? The Pixel 9 comes with ‘only’ 12GB of RAM, which is the same as a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, but the Pixel 9 Pro offers 16GB. I think more RAM will be important with new AI features becoming the headline features for new phones. Those AI tricks need a lot of RAM, probably more than they need a super-powerful processor.

The Pixel 9 doesn’t offer a zoom lens in its camera setup, but it does give you the same 50MP wide camera and 48MP ultra-wide found on the Pixel 9 Pro. And you don't just get the same number of pixels, you get the exact same sensors. Neither Apple nor Samsung give you the same cameras on the base model and the most expensive version.

Of course, the Pixel 9 isn’t just about cameras, even though the cameras look like a big improvement over the Pixel 8. It’s also a showcase for Google’s latest AI ambitions, and Google Gemini is looking very ambitious. Is it time to worry about AI on your phone? Not yet, but we’re getting closer.

Google Gemini on the Pixel 9 will be Google’s first multimodal AI attempt. That means it won’t just listen to your voice or read what you type; it will also be able to look at an image or listen to audio and answer questions based on what it sees and hears. Google says you can take a photo of the contents of your fridge, and Gemini will suggest recipes based on the ingredients you have.

Like previous Pixel phones, the Pixel 9 will be able to change your photos. Some new photo features seem invaluable, like the Add Me feature built into the Pixel camera. As a parent, I was often left out of photos because, well, I was holding the camera. With Add Me, the photographer can take a photo, then pass the camera to someone else and step into the shot; that person takes another shot, and then the Pixel adds you seamlessly to the first image, like you were all together.

Other features border on questionable AI. There's a new ‘reimagine’ tool in the Magic Editor, as well as a Pixel Studio image generator. It’s easy to change your images or create new, fake photos, but at best the usefulness of these tools seems questionable, and at worst they have the potential to be used in nefarious ways.

The Pixel 9 can also listen to your phone calls and take notes using Gemini AI. Google says this AI feature will announce itself to you and your caller when you activate it, but I’m not yet comfortable with everyday, normal phone calls being recorded for no reason. I’m worried that this will soon become the norm with mobile AI, and I haven’t seen proof that our privacy is being properly safeguarded.

Is the Pixel 9 going to be worth buying? A lot depends on the camera image quality, and also on how much you care about new AI features; because AI is already a big part of this phone and it’s only going to get bigger. The new Pixel-exclusive Screenshots app doesn’t appeal to me at the start, but if it proves useful then I might start taking a lot more screenshots, and relying more on the AI for answers.

But why stop at screenshots? Why stop at phone calls? Eventually, the Gemini AI could expand to understand a lot more of the world around you, especially now that it has become a multimodal tool. Over the next seven years, Google says the Pixel 9 will get major Android OS updates, Pixel feature drops, and security patches. I expect the stickiest and most useful AI tools today will become a much more important part of the entire Android system tomorrow.

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Price and availability

Available August 22 starting at $799 / £799
Maybe wait for a price drop closer to the year’s end

The Pixel 9 is available for pre-order now, and you'll be able to find it in stores from August 22. The phone comes in two storage options – 128GB or 256GB – and you may want to opt for the larger capacity if you plan on keeping your phone for longer. Who knows how much storage future large language models (LLM) will take up.

The colors this year are inspired by nature, and they look great in the myriad materials and finishes Google uses for the frame, the glass, and the camera hump. The new Peony pink is bright and saturated, and it stands out more than the pink Rose Quartz color on the Pixel 9 Pro.

The Wintergreen is my favorite, but I’ve been carrying a porcelain Pixel 8 Pro for a while and I’m happy to see that off-white make a comeback this year on the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro. If you’re boring you can always get the black Obsidian color.

I must warn you that Pixel phones go on sale frequently, and pricing can be erratic throughout the year. While the Pixel 9 starts at $799 / £799, I would expect that price to drop, though not as quickly as before. The Pixel 8 went on sale in mid-October last year, and by mid-November you could buy one on Amazon for $150 off the launch price in the US.

@techradar
♬ original sound - TechRadar

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Specs

The Pixel 9 has a better display than the Galaxy S24, according to DXO Labs and Google. It’s brighter, with a higher resolution. The Pixel 9 may also have better cameras. The ultra-wide camera specs are the same on both phones, but the Pixel 9 has a larger sensor for its main camera, with a wider-aperture lens that should allow more light to hit the sensor. We’ll have to test the phone thoroughly to be sure.

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Design and display

Best display in its price range, according to DXO Labs
New design is a departure, but very modern

Google made the Pixel display a priority with the Pixel 8, and the Pixel 9 doesn’t just continue its quiet dominance, it comes with bona fides of its own. Google says DXO Labs will call the Pixel 9's display the best phone display in its price range, which includes premium phones under US $1,000.

In my hands-on time, it was a very bright and impressive display to behold. Google has done a nice job matching the wallpapers to the various Pixel 9 color options with striking results. It was a sunny day when I got to play with the phones, and I had no trouble seeing the display while taking selfies.

The phone’s design is different this year, and it’s a radical evolution, though you can see the Pixel lineage in the huge camera bar and overall finish. Google’s Pixel phones try to buck Android’s reputation for cheap devices, and the materials look and feel premium. The bright color options work with the Pixel 9’s glossy finish, while the muted Pixel 9 Pro colors look better with its matte shell.

The camera bump admittedly sticks out much more than it did before, but it still looks symmetrical, and it won’t make the phone rock or tip to one side if you lay the device on its back. I like the sharp edge on the new pill-shaped protrusion. It looks laser-cut with precision.

Google says the Pixel 9 is twice as durable as the Pixel 8, without citing any one improvement. It uses 100% recycled aluminum in the frame, as well as the aforementioned Victus 2 glass, but Google seems extra confident this year. Maybe I’ll have to drop my review unit accidentally… out of a window.

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Software

AI software leads the way, of course
Screenshots app reads screenshots, could portend the future

I wish there was more to say about the Android software, but all of the software features I tried in my hands-on time were related to Google’s AI, not the basic interface design elements. Some of Google’s new AI features were clever and useful, like the Add Me feature in the Camera app. Some seemed questionable, like the calling features that will listen to your conversation and take notes.

The new Gemini Live conversation feature isn’t coming to the Pixel 9, sadly. It will only be available on the Pixel 9 Pro or higher. All of the other Gemini AI features should be available on every Pixel 9 phone.

Google is making an interesting improvement to Circle to Search that I’m curious to try. If you circle an image, Google will tell you where that image came from. If the image was altered by AI, Google says its new search will know. Frankly, if this works as advertised, it could be invaluable for the upcoming US election season.

It will take some time before we know whether some of Google’s most interesting AI features are invaluable or not. Google’s new Pixel Screenshots app looks very interesting, and could have a grand future ahead.

I take a lot of screenshots, but I never thought much about them. If I need to remember a specific detail, I might take a screenshot and refer to it soon after, but screenshots don’t seem like a good long-term storage solution for information.

Somebody at Google, however, has been thinking about screenshots a lot. The Screenshots app, which is exclusive to the Pixel 9 family (for now, at least), will apply its AI understandings to your vast collection of screenshots. If you don’t have a screenshot gallery, maybe this app will inspire you to take more.

Google says you’ll be able to ask questions in Screenshots in a natural, conversational way, using its Gemini AI. You can ask Screenshots to pluck details from your various, er, screenshots and it will be able to use its new multimodal talents to interpret the image and answer your questions.

The thing is, I don’t think this feature will end with screenshots. I can easily imagine a future where Google’s AI treats every moment on your phone the way its new Screenshots app treats screenshots. Using the same tools, your phone could constantly monitor what it sees on your screen and organize this data to answer questions later. I think Screenshots is a preview of the deeper understanding that AI will have of your phone, and of your digital life.

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Cameras

Exact same main camera and ultra-wide as Pixel 9 Pro
New Add Me camera feature is useful, but is it real?

Every year Google says the Pixel has the best cameras ever, but this year I am especially enthusiastic about the choices Google has made. The Pixel 9 has the same main camera and ultra-wide camera as the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL. The only difference is the additional 5x zoom camera on the Pro models.

That’s unheard of in the smartphone world. Other phone makers use camera specs to sell the bigger phone. The cameras on Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro are better than those on the iPhone 15, and the cameras on the iPhone 15 Pro Max are better again. Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra is so different from the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus, cameras-wise, that it might as well have a different name.

Of course, great specs still need to be tested in the real world, so I’ll have to put these cameras to use, but I’m optimistic.

Google has applied its AI features heavily to the camera and Photos app. There’s a new Add Me feature in the camera that seems very useful. Basically, it lets you shoot a group photo, then have somebody else hold the camera while Google’s AI helps add you to the image. It gives the second cameraperson guides to follow to line up the shot, then it blends you into the group.

In practice, I can imagine using this all the time. I have very few photos of myself with my son when he was a toddler because I was always holding my big, fancy camera. I love the idea that parents can be together in family shots.

There's also a new ‘reimagine’ tool in the Magic Editor, part of Google’s AI image editing in Google Photos on the Pixel phone. Reimagine lets you select a large portion of your photo and replace it with an AI generated image, and it seemed to be quite effective in my brief tests.

Image 1 of 3

Image 2 of 3

Image 3 of 3

I took a photo of some folks sitting high up on the edge of a wall, and added a waterfall underneath their legs. It looked perfect. Then I asked the AI to replace the wall with a “Basquiat mural” and the Pixel offered me a few options, presumably in its interpretation of the late artist’s style. The murals looked photorealistic when the ‘reimagine’ tool inserted them.

Here’s my big problem, though. None of that is real. I wish I were in those photos with my kiddo back in the day, but I wasn’t. If I add myself later, I still wasn’t in the photos. It’s no more real than if I’d just asked my child to draw me a picture of the family.

I wonder even more about when I’d want to lie about sitting on a wall. If I take a photo of friends sitting side-by-side at the top of a wall, is the photo better because I can make the wall more interesting? Maybe, but then it’s fake. There was no waterfall on that wall. Basquiat never painted there.

In other words, Google’s new photo-editing tools looked cool and effective in my brief hands-on time with them, but they already feel like they lack authenticity, and that’s what gives a photo value as a memory. I’m not sure these tools will be valuable to me.

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Performance and battery

Tensor G4 may not win benchmarks, but it’s got a lot of RAM
Fastest charging on a Pixel phone, if you buy a fast charger

It was hard to get a feel for the performance of the Pixel 9 in my brief hands-on time, mostly because I was testing AI features, and every AI feature is a little bit slower than other features. Many AI features call upon Google’s cloud for help, though Google says the Gemini multimodal AI does run locally on the Pixel 9’s Tensor G4 chipset.

Performance isn’t the real point of the Google Pixel 9, though. I have no hope that this phone will top the Galaxy S24 or iPhone 15 in benchmark tests. Google doesn’t aim for the fastest processor. It aims for synergy between the chipset and the Pixel’s features.

When I test the Pixel 9’s performance, I’ll be looking to see if the delay for AI results is getting shorter or longer, compared to the Pixel 8 and other AI phones. I’ll be judging whether the delay is worth the features offered. If I have to wait a long time for the Magic Editor to reimagine bits of every photo, I won’t bother using AI in Google Photos.

Google says its battery charges faster than ever before, and the Pixel 9 uses 45W charging, but there's no charger in the box. It’s worth splurging on a nice charger, as the faster charging speed makes a difference when you’re in a rush and need a few more hours of screen or camera time.

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: The bottom line

My final verdict on the Google Pixel 9 will depend on the cameras and the new AI features. I’m hoping the cameras will deliver, especially because the Pixel 9 Pro will take the same photos, since it has mostly identical specs. On the AI features, I’m skeptical but willing to put in the work.

I’m willing to let Gemini listen to some of my phone calls. I’m willing to take a bunch of screenshots for the Screenshots app to feed upon. I’m willing to try some creative reimagining of my boring photos. From what I’ve seen in my hands-on time, I expect the results will be pretty good.

But even if we allow that it’s good, is it useful? I wonder if we’re at the point where AI tools have become powerful and effective, but we just don’t want them. I’m curious to spend time with the Pixel 9 and its new AI features to see if Google is creating our AI future, or if we’re actually just sitting on an AI bubble.

Why you can trust TechRadar

☑️ 100s of smartphones reviewed
☑️ 15 years of product testing
☑️ Over 16,000 products reviewed in total
☑️ Nearly 200,000 hours testing tech

First hands-on August 2024

Opera Browser for iOS gets AI makeover

6:27 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: AI | Comments: Off

Opera announced an update for its Opera Browser on iOS. The new version features an updated design including an all-gesture-based navigation. The search bar is placed at the bottom by default for better one-handed usability. Users can also trigger the search tab via a swipe-down gesture. The start page gets a new Carousel with news, live scores for sporting events and product information. QuickType offers contextual suggestions to your queries as you type them. The new version of the browser also offers a full screen view which hides the bottom and top bars when you start scrolling and...

Opera Browser for iOS gets AI makeover

6:27 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: AI | Comments: Off

Oppo F27 5G to arrive soon, Pro+ is getting AI features next week

4:56 pm | August 12, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: AI | Comments: Off

Oppo released the F27 Pro+ in June without AI features despite the company promising AI for all of its smartphone lines. Today, the company confirmed the Pro+ midranger is getting four Generative AI features on August 22 via a software update. We also learned a vanilla midranger Oppo F27 5G is in the works, and it is "coming soon." According to the announcement, the F27 Pro+ will receive an OTA update with AI Eraser 2.0, which removes background objects; AI Smart Image Matting 2.0, which crops objects as stickers; AI Studio, which generates images out of drawings, and AI LinkBoost...

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL specs leak, AI feature demoed

9:01 pm | August 8, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: AI, Google Pixel | Comments: Off

Pixel 9 phones are everywhere these days except where they are supposed to be: under wraps. We’ve had almost daily leaks and the latest is fairly detailed list of specs for the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. As we’ve heard before, the 9-series will break from tradition and come out with the current Android 14 out of the box instead of introducing the next version. This is likely a side effect of pulling the launch forward (the Pixel 8 phones came out in November). The 9-series phones will receive 7 years of Feature Drops, just like the 8-series. The Pixel 9 Pro XL (as well as the vanilla Pixel...

OnePlus Nord 4 review: an iterative update with welcome additions but a few bugs

6:39 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets OnePlus Phones Phones | Tags: AI, AU, UK, US | Comments: Off

OnePlus Nord 4 two-minute review

There’s a comfort in knowing exactly what you’re getting with a phone before you’ve even picked it up, and that’s certainly the case with the OnePlus Nord 4. Given the brand, you know you're getting an Android phone with a focus on performance; given the sub-brand you know it’ll have some competitive features for its mid-range price; and given the '4' you know that the company has been doing this for long enough now to nail the concept.

Chinese company OnePlus created the Nord line as an affordable counterpart to its feature-packed but pricey main series of phones, the most recent of which is the OnePlus 12, and it’s grown into a bustling family of varyingly-priced mobiles.

A brief glance at the OnePlus Nord 4’s specs sheet shows that this is an iterative upgrade over 2023’s OnePlus Nord 3; it takes the same basic design and feature set, improves some of the aspects a little, and throws in a few extra features for good measure.

So you’re getting many of the OnePlus Nord 3 features we liked, including its big, bold, high-res screen and fine camera array. But then there are a few spec improvements: the battery is slightly bigger, the charging is a bit faster, the chipset is newer and quicker, the software is a more recent Android build, and the screen goes quite a bit brighter.

These all bring welcome, even if not especially needed, improvements, and I particularly appreciated the brighter screen and quicker charging during my testing period.

But my favorite part is the new features. OnePlus has made a song and dance about the AI additions to OxygenOS, which let you read auto-summaries of voice recordings or online articles, but I particularly loved a new screen addition called Aqua Touch, which means you can carry on using the display even if your hands are wet. No more annoying mis-touches here.

It’s also worth bearing in mind two things: the OnePlus Nord 4’s base model costs less than the Nord 3 did. And while that 2023 mobile only saw a limited release due to shipping issues, the Nord 4 is a lot easier to buy in most countries.

These considerations make it easier to look past the unchanged screen and the near-identical camera array, which has gained features but lost a lens.

I found it hard to think of ‘cons’ for this OnePlus Nord 4 review; that’s not to say it’s perfect, just that its flaws can be overlooked when you consider its competitive price. Sure, you can ask for better cameras or a more interesting design or wired charging, but it’s unrealistic to expect too much in a phone like this.

A few software problems did detract from my experience using the phone, as did the fact that the high-storage model is quite a bit pricier than the standard one, and the pre-installed bloatware; however, for the price, it’s easy to overlook these.

So the OnePlus Nord 4 continues the Nord-ic tradition of offering lots of power at a low price, and the discount over last year’s model, plus some tweaks across the board, ensure that the newer model is the preferable one to buy.

OnePlus Nord 4 review: price and availability

The OnePlus Nord 4 before a leafy backdrop. — (Image credit: Future)

Released in UK in July 2024; AU launch possible, US unlikely
£429 (roughly $550, AU$820) gets you 12GB RAM, 256GB storage
£529 (roughly $680, AU$1,000) gets you 16GB RAM, 512GB storage

The OnePlus Nord 4 was announced at a launch event in mid-July 2024 ahead of a release in mid-August, alongside the OnePlus Pad 2, OnePlus Watch 2R, and OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro.

The phone hasn’t been announced for the US, and there’s a chance that it won’t be given that OnePlus markets different Nord models in different areas. The phone is listed on the OnePlus Australia website, so it’ll likely be available there, but there’s no pricing yet.

In the UK, two versions of the phone are on sale. The base model comes with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, and you can pick it up for £429 (roughly $550, AU$820), while if you want more power there’s a 16GB and 512GB alternative for £529 (roughly $680, AU$1,000), which is the model I tested.

Those prices puts this phone in the ‘mid-range’ bracket, where it goes up against rivals including the Google Pixel 8a, Samsung Galaxy A55 and Oppo Reno 12 Pro – particularly the latter, which comes from OnePlus' parent company and has quite a few specs in common with the Nord 4 (more on that at the end of this review).

OnePlus Nord 4 review: specs

The OnePlus Nord 4 is a mid-ranged mobile with specs to match. Here's the spec sheet in full:

OnePlus Nord 4 review: design

Two-tone body
IP65 rating and metal frame for protection
Camera bumps stick out a fair way

The OnePlus Nord 4 offers a small design twist on the generic Android phone.

Its flagship silver edition comes with a two-tone body: the lower three-fifths has a striped ridged-looking pattern (the effect is just optical, as it feels totally flat to touch) while the top two-thirds that surrounds the camera bumps has the flat look of a typical phone. It's a small touch that makes the Nord look distinct.

Other than that, though, this is barely different to any other phone on the market. It’s pretty big, measuring 162.6 x 75 x 7.9mm, and bang-average in terms of weight, tipping the scales at 199.5g.

Typical for modern-day Androids, it has a USB-C port on the bottom and a power button and volume rocker on the right edge; I’d say the power button is well within reach for hands of varying sizes, although those with smaller mitts might struggle to adjust the volume one-handed. Breaking the norm somewhat, the Nord also has an alert slider (yes, like old OnePlus phones – throwback!) which lets you easily switch between silent, vibrate and full-volume modes. It’s an easy way to ensure that your phone is muted in important meetings or moments, though I found it hard to easily set the slider into the middle position (vibrate), as it tended to jump all the way to the left or right.

The metal frame and rear make the OnePlus Nord 4 feel well-protected from drops and knocks, as does the IP65 rating against dust and beads of water.

With two big camera bumps on the rear for the two lenses, the Nord doesn’t sit flat against a table, but these two protrusions weren’t as distinct as those on many of the phone's rivals; I never caught the camera lenses while sliding the phone into my pocket, for example.

My review unit was the silver model, which seems to be the one shown in promotional materials. There are also black and green options, and these have the same two-tone rear, although the lower part isn’t striped, instead having a matted look.

Design score: 3.5 / 5

OnePlus Nord 4 review: display

6.74-inch, 1240 x 2772 resolution
Bold colors thanks to AMOLED display
Aqua Touch feature lets you use display with wet hands

When you look at the OnePlus Nord 4, you can instantly tell it has a big screen: clocking in at 6.74 inches diagonally, this is certainly a beast. What might surprise you though is the resolution: at 1240 x 2772 (roughly 2.5K) you’re getting more pixels here than on the majority of similarly-priced Android phones.

The display looks good – it's an AMOLED panel with nice vibrant colors that supports HDR10+. The max brightness is apparently 2150 nits, which is very high, although during testing the phone’s display never seemed that bright to me, and I wouldn’t have minded some extra illumination in well-lit conditions.

The refresh rate is 120Hz, which means the screen image updates 120 times per second, which in turn ensures smooth motion when you’re navigating through menus, playing games or watching supported videos.

The display is broken up by a very small punch-hole gap for the front-facing camera; it’s so small that it barely takes any space away from the screen.

A feature OnePlus mentioned in its promotional material for the Nord 4 is Aqua Touch, which means that the display will still pick up your touch well when your hands are wet. I tested this in a few situations that’d normally cause me grief with my normal phone like after a shower, in a mild drizzle of rain and when doing the washing-up, and it always worked perfectly – Aqua Touch is a really impressive addition.

Display score: 4 / 5

OnePlus Nord 4 review: software

Android 14 with OxygenOS 14.1, and four updates
Good-looking UI and some extra features
Some software bloatware and bugs

Like most of its contemporaries, the OnePlus Nord 4 comes with Android 14 pre-installed, and as a OnePlus phone it has the company’s OxygenOS 14.1 user interface layered over the top.

The company has promised that the phone will see “up to” four updates too, bringing you to at most Android 18, which is a decent amount given that not all rivals at this price point guarantee you even one update.

OnePlus fans love OxygenOS, and it’s not hard to see why. The user interface and menus are attractive, with bold colors and punchy icons, but with enough restraint that your eyes aren’t being overwhelmed with colors and shapes. The quick settings menu is a great example with this, as it makes it easy for you to swipe down and toggle a feature, increase the brightness or turn on Bluetooth.

OxygenOS also brings some unique features. One I always use on OnePlus phones is Zen Space, which lets you soft-lock your mobile while you work so you can concentrate. Some relatively newer ones are available on the Nord 4 too, including a tool which summarizes online articles you’re reading, or audio notes into bullet-list agendas.

The Nord does have some bloatware, with pre-installed games, online retailers and social media platforms already present when you boot up the phone. It’s not nearly as bad as on some other phones at this price I’ve tested, but there’s no such thing as ‘good bloatware’, just ‘not-as-bad bloatware’.

During testing, I faced a few issues that affected my experience of using the phone; I don’t know whether these are limited to my review unit, or the current build of OxygenOS or come from another source, but I encountered them often enough that they bear flagging.

Minor issues include that auto-rotate wouldn’t always work properly, infrequently marooning the device in a horizontal orientation, and that sometimes I’d unlock the phone only for it to think I was trying to turn on the lock screen magazine feature.

An extra that I’m adding to this review at the eleventh hour is that the device struggled to connect to either of the PCs I tried to download its photos to using USB: sometimes my PC wouldn’t recognize any of the images, sometimes it would see a few but not let me download them, and sometimes my computer just wouldn’t detect that the phone was connected to it at all. On a few occasions, trying to open the Nord’s storage through my PC caused Windows to freeze for a little bit.

I go through this process of downloading photos from every phone I test, and I’ve never faced such inexplicable connection issues before. The camera samples you see below were therefore transferred via the cloud and have been compressed a little.

One final issue that I faced was that the phone would frequently lock without me pressing the lock button; it happened a lot during gameplay, and I’d need to hurriedly punch in the pass code when mid-way through a game.

Software score: 3 / 5

OnePlus Nord 4 review: cameras

50MP main and 8MP ultra-wide cameras, 16MP for selfies
AI scene optimization saves some shots
Magic eraser AI tool has okay results

You get two rear cameras on the OnePlus Nord 4, and one on the front, and they’re clearly not the important bits of this phone.

In terms of the rear array there’s a 50MP f/1.8 main camera joined by an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide one with a 112-degree field of view. If you’re a big OnePlus fan you might notice that that's one fewer rear camera than on the Nord 3, but the lack of a 2MP auxiliary camera here is no great loss; the other two cameras are the same.

Hardware-wise, these snappers are fine; they do the job but you’re not going to be uttering ‘wow’ too often at any of the results. Pictures are sufficiently bright and detailed, though they don't have a huge amount of dynamic range.

However I occasionally took a picture that looked distinctly better, and it seemed to be when the scene optimization jumped in to make some tweaks. I’ve included two pictures of flowers which show this well: the stark contrasts between the bright flowers and the shadows in the image really pull out the flora’s vibrancy.

On the topic of AI, OnePlus has included the same AI eraser tool that most phone brands have adopted, so you can remove unwanted objects from snaps. The mode was good at removing people from a scene, but not as good at actually identifying people to remove in the first place, and often I’d circle people or objects to be removed only for the phone to think I still wanted to keep their legs or hairstyles, or one part of the furniture they were seated on.

On the front you’re looking at a 16MP f/2.4 main camera – it’s nothing to write home about but it’s fit for purpose, letting you take bold selfies (thanks to some ample post-processing). Portrait mode is pretty light-touch, which I appreciate, giving gentle beauty tweaks and a soft bokeh that looks lovely and natural.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a mid-range phone, you’re not getting any unique camera modes here, but the long list of expected ones show up: portrait, panorama, time-lapse, slow-mo, night, pro, pro video (here called Film) and so on. Video recording goes up to 4K at 60fps and down to 720p at 240fps or 1080p at 120fps.

OnePlus Nord 4 camera samples

Camera score: 3 / 5

Image 1 of 7

OnePlus Nord 4 camera sample — (Image credit: Future)

Image 2 of 7

Image 3 of 7

Image 4 of 7

Image 5 of 7

Image 6 of 7

Image 7 of 7

OnePlus Nord 4: performance and audio

Really powerful thanks to Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 chipset
Two models: 12GB/256GB or 16GB/512GB
Bluetooth 5.4 or USB-C port for audio

Phone fans might see that the OnePlus Nord 4 totes a Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 chipset, and turn their nose up at the ‘7’ part, which denotes that this is a mid-range processor. I would have been the same if I didn’t begin my testing process with a benchmark test.

In the Geekbench 6 benchmark test, the OnePlus Nord 4 returned a surprisingly powerful multi-core score of 3863, which puts it above most of its same-priced contemporaries and comparable to the top-end powerhouse of yesteryear.

That’s a lot of power for a mid-range phone, and my day-to-day testing matches the high hopes that score instilled in me. The Nord is a beast for gaming, smashing through game after game of Call of Duty Mobile with little problem, even with graphics turned all the way up. I got a bit too into the gaming part of testing the phone as a result…

I was using the 16GB RAM model of phone, which comes with an indulgent 512GB memory, and people using the 12GB / 256GB might have a slightly slower experience when gaming. But I don’t imagine that lower-powered model will offer a drastically different experience for most mobile titles.

Moving on to audio, you may have noticed in the ‘design’ section that I didn’t mention a 3.5mm headphone jack, and that’s because OnePlus has ig-Nord this for its latest phone. Instead you can use the USB-C port with an adaptor for wired audio, the mobile’s Bluetooth 5.4 connection for wireless headphones, earbuds or speakers on the built-in stereo speakers to play out loud. I found the latter fine for mobile gaming and video calls but if you want high-quality sound for streaming TV shows or music, it won’t impress you.

Performance score: 4 / 5

OnePlus Nord 4 review: battery life

Phone easily lasts into second day of use
Blistering 100W charging
No wireless powering

OnePlus has outfitted the Nord 4 with a giant 5,500mAh battery, which serves its big screen well. The phone easily smashes through a day of use without breaking a sweat, and it works well into day two before you’ll need to charge it up.

This proved true even in the middle of my ‘games testing’ phase, showing that the mobile is a reliable blower for people who need a long-lasting device.

Charging the phone up is incredibly quick, too, with the mobile boasting 100W wired charging. This gets the device from empty to full in less than half an hour (if you have a compatible charger, of course). Incredibly quick.

Battery score: 4 / 5

OnePlus Nord 4 review: value

If you’re considering the lower-storage version of the OnePlus Nord, I’d say you’re getting great value for money: the processing power, charging speed and good-looking display are all offered for a relatively low cost.

Jump up to 16GB/512GB and there’s quite a price hike, and that muddles the value proposition somewhat; I can see people being skeptical buying the phone for this higher price.

Saying that, if you need lots of storage it’s your only real option (other than cloud storage) so you can justify the price increase that way.

Value score: 4 / 5

Should you buy the OnePlus Nord 4?

Buy it if...

You are a gamer on a budget
The Nord offers a lot of power compared to its same-priced rivals, and its attractive display and fast charging are just extra perks to make it a gaming powerhouse.

You often have wet hands
The Aqua Touch display is a game-changer in loads of different settings, and if you text in the bath, live somewhere rainy or just spill your Pimm's all the time, you'll notice the difference.

You want a big streaming mobile
Not too many cheap phones like this have screens that are both big and attractive, so if you're a Netflix fiend you might find this a great option.

Don't buy it if...

You own the Nord 3
As an iterative update, you really don't need to buy the Nord 4 if you own last year's model, and possibly even the previous Nord flagships unless they're ailing. It's not that huge of an upgrade.

You're a photography fan
If you spend ages trying to find the perfect shot with your phone, I don't think the Nord 4 will impress you. It's fine for QR codes, document scanning and snaps to send via WhatsApp though.

OnePlus Nord 4 review: Also consider

While largely positive, this OnePlus Nord 4 review should make it clear that the phone has issues. So here are some other options you may want to consider:

How I tested the OnePlus Nord 4

Review test period = 2.5 weeks
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
Tools used = Geekbench 6, Geekbench ML, GFXBench, native Android stats

I tested the OnePlus Nord 4 for just shy of three weeks, so I had ample time to put it through its paces.

To test it I used it as though it was my own smartphone: I used it for texting, calling, taking photos, playing games, watching TV shows, checking my hair do and everything else you'd hope your phone would do.

As you can tell by my software gripes, this testing is rigorous, and it also involves some benchmark tests and tools so that we can compare phones against themselves in an objective way.

I've been reviewing smartphones for TechRadar since early 2019, and in that time have used plenty of mobiles from OnePlus, as well as other devices in the price segment. In fact I recently reviewed one of the competitors mentioned above, and moved straight from the Nord 4 onto another OnePlus blower.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Two-minute review

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Price and availability

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Specs

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Design

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Display

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Software

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Cameras

Lemons using main lens

Macro lemon

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Performance and Audio

Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: Battery

Should you buy the Motorola Edge 50 Pro?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider...

How I tested the Motorola Edge 50 Pro

Onyx Boox Go Color 7: Two-minute review

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 review: price and availability

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 review: specs

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 review: design and display

Onyx Boox Go Color 7: Software

Onyx Boox Go Color 7: User experience

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 review: Performance

Should I buy the Onyx Boox Go Color 7?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

How I tested the Onyx Boox Go Color 7

Google Pixel 9 Pro: One-minute review

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Price and availability

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Specs

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Design and display

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Software

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Cameras

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: Performance and battery

Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on: The bottom line

Google Pixel 9: One-minute review

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Price and availability

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Specs

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Design and display

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Software

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Cameras

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: Performance and battery

Google Pixel 9 hands-on review: The bottom line

OnePlus Nord 4 two-minute review

OnePlus Nord 4 review: price and availability

OnePlus Nord 4 review: specs

OnePlus Nord 4 review: design

OnePlus Nord 4 review: display

OnePlus Nord 4 review: software

OnePlus Nord 4 review: cameras

OnePlus Nord 4 camera samples

OnePlus Nord 4: performance and audio

OnePlus Nord 4 review: battery life

OnePlus Nord 4 review: value

Should you buy the OnePlus Nord 4?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

OnePlus Nord 4 review: Also consider

How I tested the OnePlus Nord 4

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

Tags