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Google Pixel 6 Pro Review: Is It Worth the Upgrade?

Welcoming the new era of Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, Google has truly managed to up its game. This is Google’s marked attempt at a real flagship, distinguishing it from their previous devices. The newer versions for these phones have indeed pushed expectations, packing in notable upgrades making them the favorite Pixels yet.

What’s New?

This year, Google has bumped up their camera game, showcasing an impressive camera array with a new design language to boot. Complementing their hardware enhancements, Google has even developed their own chip, a formidable feature that many have been waiting for.

Pricing

The starting prices for Pixel 6 are set at PKR 90,000 and Pixel 6 Pro are set at PKR 124,000 respectively for the base 128GB version. In the highly competitive PKR 90,000 phone market, the Pixel 6 has proved to be a strong contender, showing strong potential to compete head-to-head with the iPhones and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultras of the world. However, the Pixel 6 Pro’s superiority shines through with its myriad of features, making it well worth the higher price tag.

Beauty vs. The Bump: Can the Pixel 6 Pro Achieve Both?

The Pixels have evolved into bar cameras, a unique design decision that has divided a lot of consumers. Since they have a novel "visor" appearance, the Pixel designs are easily distinguished from their competitors. The camera bar covers the rear and is aesthetically pleasing and practical. It provides a more comfortable grip by allowing the index finger to fit comfortably. In addition, Google has ensured that, even with the camera bar, the phone doesn't shake when used on a flat surface. Even if the camera module does not perfectly match the metal sides, it is a minor flaw that is simple to ignore, particularly if you want to wear a phone case.

Pixel 6 Pro Display: A Feast for the Eyes, Except for the Edges?

The Pixel 6 Pro has the biggest screen of any Pixel device to date, at 6.7 inches, and features an HDR-ready OLED panel. It also has LTPO technology, which adjusts the refresh rate to enable smooth viewing and fresh movement for moving material, as well as reduced energy use for reading static text. The phone has the option of using variable refresh or the standard 60Hz refresh rate, which is optimal for Google Chrome but not suitable for other apps.

The display has a QHD+ objective that guarantees sharpness and little color variation, and it gives brilliant colors, deep blacks, and flawless contrast. Although its peak brightness isn't as high as that of the Galaxy S21 Ultra or iPhone 13 Pro, the display is still completely legible in broad daylight and supports HDR video.

The Pixel 6 Pro's glass borders appear to be shadowed, which detracts from the otherwise excellent display when seen against white backdrops. With a 6.4-inch screen, 90Hz refresh rate, and 1080p resolution on the Pixel 6, and a 6.7-inch screen with 1440p resolution and a faster refresh rate up to 120Hz on the Pixel 6 Pro, both devices sport enormous screens.

Pixel 6 Pro: Powerful for What? New Chip Prioritizes Features Over Raw Speed.

As for performance, the Tensor chip might appear slower on paper, but its real-world results have been impressive. In fact, it presents a huge leap over the Snapdragon 765G used in the Pixel 5 released last year. However, speed isn’t its focus; the chip is about facilitating features that make the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro some of the smartest smartphones on the market.

Thanks to Tensor, the phones demonstrate superior voice-to-text capabilities. Regardless of how fast you speak, the phone rarely fails to keep up. Thus, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro continue the tradition of Pixel phones emerging as smartest smartphones each year, with impressive features extended by the powerful new Tensor chip.

The Wonder of Pixel 6 Intelligence

Ever thought about the conveniences of an intelligent transcription on your device? The Pixel 6 offers you the luxury of an automatic, grammatically accurate, and time-saving transcription ability. So it doesn’t just transcribe, but it does this quite accurately. For people in class or lectures, note-taking just got a notch less stressful.

This phone’s intelligence transcends into recognising a name’s corrected spelling just once and it remembers that spelling. Commands such as delete this or send aren’t exactly typed out, rather, they are interpreted and the specific action carried out.

Pixel 6’s Magic Eraser

The Pixel 6 Google Photos feature begs a notable mention. Specifically, the Magic Eraser is a feature that allows you to revisit any photo in your library and remove unwanted content. While this ‘content aware fill’ function might be reminiscent of its Photoshop cousin, the simplicity of use common to Pixel 6 is quite impressive.

Generally, Magic Eraser works best with simple, repeating backgrounds and high-contrast regions. Like any AI, it does struggle with larger objects placed against diverse backgrounds. Photo bombers, however, have a tough time with this functionality!

Android 12 Saves the Day? Pixel 6 Pro Battery Life Struggles

Now, let’s talk about battery life. My hopes were high for a phenomenal battery life with Pixel 6, thanks in no small part to its custom-designed chip. However, the results were far from expectations. With a 4600 milliamp-hour battery in Pixel 6 and a 5000 milliamp battery in the 6 Pro, I might have anticipated the sun and the moon. Instead, I was met with an average of three and a half to four and a half hours screen time on the Pixel 6 Pro, a figure which drops slightly on the Pixel 6. This is just average, at best.

On the bright side, using this phone when it isn’t low on battery is a delight, mainly due to the new Android 12.

Understanding the Android 12 User Interface

Android 12 has a new design that may appear cluttered at first, but it's actually quite attractive with its matching colors and smooth animations. The design even adapts to your wallpaper for a more unified look.

While some features like the brightness slider and internet toggle could be easier to use, overall, Android 12 is a great update.

Can Pixel 6 Pro Capture Enough Light Without Sacrificing Image Quality?

Google's Pixel 6 has an upgraded camera system with a 50-megapixel main sensor, but it is limited to 12.5 megapixels. The Pro phone comes with an extra 4x telephoto camera, which is undeniably superior. The camera's sensor is powerful, capable of capturing an enormous amount of light and information, but it also introduces a challenge of striking the right balance to avoid an exaggerated, over-processed look.

The Pixel 6 handles dynamic range shooting situations impressively, capturing well-detailed images even in darker scenes. However, darker scenes tend to overexpose, but adjusting the viewfinder slider can rectify this. The Pixel 6's video quality is also impressive, with great dynamic range, effective stabilization, and a big sensor consistently providing genuine background blur.

The Pixel 6 tends to crank up the ISO quite high in the viewfinder, which can introduce noise before taking a photo and kickstart the processing. However, once the photo is taken and processed, the end product is significantly better. The ultra wide camera's high shutter speed helps combat motion blur, ensuring that photos will typically evade blurry faces.

The Pixel 6 is a fantastic phone at PKR 90,000, with the Pro version offering upgrades such as a smoother and bigger screen, a glossier design, an advanced selfie camera, and an extra telephoto camera at the back. The Pixel 6 is potentially Google's most crucial phone release to date, signifying a pivot from software-focused features and enthusiast phones toward a perfect blend of smart software and ameliorated hardware.

The Pros and Cons

The ultrawide mode on the Pixel 6 is decent, even if not awe-inspiring. It retains many of the same traits as last year, including the exclusion of macro mode. However, the telephoto on Pro stands out, especially when moving around handheld. It seems the Google Super Res Zoom does a commendable job of sharpening and improving shots that wouldn’t be sharp typically. But, viewed at extremes, they can sometimes appear to resemble watercolor paintings.

For someone who admires the Pixel’s rich contrast look, I’ve found that, with some tweaks, this could be an almost ideal camera capable of some phenomenal sharp photos. However, sometimes, the outcome can be the opposite, with peculiar looking outputs.