So, is the Pixel 9 just a small step up from the Pixel 8, or maybe it’s a massive leap forward? Well, I’ve uncovered some surprising twists and jaw-dropping discoveries—from the gaming performance to the cameras and more—that I did not see coming, and I bet you wouldn’t even imagine!

 

 

Design

As for the design, the Pixel 8 and the Pixel 9 have a matte finish on the sides, but because the camera bump area extends toward the sides of the Pixel 9, I prefer how this looks and how the sides feel because of its flatter sides. 

The sides blend over to the top and all around the phone, which makes it nicer to feel in the hands. Not that the Pixel 8 sucked, but since this is a comparison video, if I had to choose between both, the Pixel 9 is definitely better when using it daily.

Speaking of the camera bump, the Pixel 9 has an island-style camera design where the camera bump is right in the middle toward the top of the phone. The Pixel 8, however, has a bar that wraps around the sides, as mentioned earlier. So, this does come down to personal preference. Everyone from the Adam Lobo TV team prefers the Pixel 8, but for me, I honestly prefer the Pixel 9’s new look because it seems a bit more futuristic in my point of view.

The good news is that both phones do not wobble at all, no matter where you press the screen on a table or flat surface. I believe that Pixel phones are the only smartphones right now that don’t wobble at all, which is extremely underrated. I wish other smartphones would consider this when designing their camera bumps, so it doesn’t seem like the phone is trying to do a breakdancing competition.

Speaking of other smartphone companies, while the overall design change is quite minimal, it is indeed nice that Google has made some effort to change the look of the Pixel 9 compared to the Pixel 8. This really differentiates their different generation phones compared to other smartphone companies, so a huge credit goes to Google for making the design just a little different. Again, this comes down to personal preference, but I would give the Pixel 9 a point for its overall design due to my personal taste.

 

Display

As for the screen comparison, the Pixel 8 was great, but when viewed side by side, the new LTPO OLED display on the Pixel 9 was surely superior. The Pixel 8 looked a little outdated. The bezels are now more uniform too—while not the thinnest compared to other flagship smartphones, it’s still a big improvement. 

The peak brightness has also improved significantly, up to 2,700 nits compared to only 2,000 nits on the Pixel 8. The HBM brightness, or high brightness mode, is also better at 1,800 nits compared to just 1,400 nits. I noticed a huge difference when taking videos during the day in bright daylight.

Speaking of taking videos, don’t go anywhere, because I’ll be doing a camera comparison between these two phones soon. 

The Pixel 9 also has a bigger screen at 6.3 inches compared to 6.2 inches, which is a sweet upgrade. It’s not exactly a “go big or go home” situation, but you know what they say: size does matter… just a little.

There’s also an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on the Pixel 9 compared to the optical one on the Pixel 8, so it’s a bit faster. Additionally, there’s more durable Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the Pixel 9. So yeah, here’s another point for the Pixel 9 for its overall better screen.

Because it’s an LTPO panel, the battery life was also an interesting aspect, which I’ll dive into later. 

 

Cameras

The main cameras are the same, both at 50MP, but there’s a huge upgrade on the Pixel 9’s ultra-wide camera, going all the way up to 48MP compared to just 12MP on the Pixel 8. Does this mean the ultra-wide lens is much better on the Pixel 9? Well, the answer is no.

 

Ultrawide 

When viewed side by side, there was no difference in quality, even when zooming up to 4x. The dynamic range was equally good in this shot.

 

Main & Zoom 

The main lens quality was similar too. If you’re wondering whether there are significant differences between the two cameras, the answer is no, even when zooming digitally. 

 

Portrait 

Portrait mode for objects was also the same, with great subject-to-background blur. 

However, for human subjects, the skin tones on the Pixel 8 looked a bit more pale and lacked detail.

 

Selfie

Switching over to the front cameras, while both phones have the same lenses, the image quality on the Pixel 9 was better on regular selfies.

There’s also a wide selfie option, but the Pixel 9 produced nicer skin tones and better texture. 

As for selfie portrait mode, both phones did well with background blur, but again, the Pixel 9 produced better skin tones and sharper textures, especially in my beard area. It didn’t appear overly sharpened, just natural.

 

Night

Nighttime photos were the same for the ultrawide lens, even under low-light conditions, which was surprising. 

How does a 48MP count on the Pixel 9 perform the same as the previous 12MP on the Pixel 8? This is where software optimization plays a huge role, as the highlights and shadows are equal. 

The main lenses at night were also the same, even when zoomed in digitally.

Portrait mode for objects showed some change in edge detection, where the Pixel 8 was better, but it sacrificed color accuracy. The same was true for human subjects. 

Regular selfie photos at night were better on the Pixel 9 overall.

Video

[Sample video footage, including a vlogging test, is available in my YouTube video]

In terms of video performance, the ultrawide and main lenses performed similarly on both phones, even at 2x and 7x zoom. However, the 7x zoom quality was not great, so avoid using that. 

Stabilization was also similar and performed well across the ultrawide, main, and front cameras. The Pixel 9, however, handled exposure a bit better. 

The ultrawide lens at night had less noise on the darker areas with the Pixel 9, showing some benefit from the higher megapixel count. Otherwise, the main lenses at night and video stabilization were identical on both phones.

 

Software

When it comes to the software, I used to really love the software experience on Pixel devices more than any other Android phones. But as time passes, other brands like Samsung with their latest Android skins, like the One UI, or even Nothing OS, have surpassed the Pixel’s overall usability for day-to-day use. To a certain point, I’m not a huge fan of the Pixel skin on Google Pixel devices. 

Now, not that it totally sucks, but there are certain quirks, like how I cannot remove the Google search bar on the home screen, and I can’t even directly uninstall apps from the app drawer. These things make me question why Google doesn’t allow more flexibility.

However, on the Pixel 9, there’s an app called “Screenshot,” which some reviewers say is useless, but I found it extremely useful since I take a lot of screenshots. It’s nice to have a dedicated app where you can create your own collection. 

And the search function is very handy. For example, if I want to find my screen-on time, I just type “screen,” and it will show me the screenshot. Or if I want to find a screenshot with a keyword inside the photo, it shows that too. So, I really love that app.

There are also other exclusive features and apps not available on the baseline Pixel 8 or any variant of the Pixel 8, like the Pixel Studio app. While I admit it may seem like a novelty feature, it’s nice to have a dedicated app to create images from scratch, compared to using apps like Midjourney. While Pixel Studio isn’t as advanced as Midjourney, it’s still nice to have.

Then, there’s the viral “Add Me” feature, which Marques made extra famous for cloning yourself. The main reason this feature exists is to include the person taking the photo in the picture, which I think is more useful than people might realize. 

There are also improved editing tools, such as “Auto Frame” and “Reimagine,” which are cool but probably not something you’ll use often. Still, they’re nice to have.

The Gemini AI Advancement on the Pixel 9 is also great if you use that a lot. Now, the reason Google made this a Pixel 9-only feature is that they claim the new Tensor G4 chipset powers all of it, which I have to admit I was a little skeptical about. But I guess we’ll have to take Google’s word for it. 

So, in the software category, the clear winner is the Pixel 9.

 

Battery

Even before discussing battery life, I already suspected the Pixel 8 wouldn’t do a great job, as that was my biggest gripe when using the phone daily last year. After a bunch of software updates, how does it perform now? 

As expected, the Pixel 8’s 4575 mAh battery only provided about 3 hours of screen-on time when I was at 10% battery with dark mode turned on. 

The Pixel 9, on the other hand, managed about 4 hours with heavy use at 14% battery. If you’re not using the phone heavily to take photos, play games, or shoot videos, you can get close to 5 hours of screen-on time with its 4700 mAh battery.

The wired charging speeds are the same for both phones, at only 27W, and there’s also wireless charging on both, so no complaints there. Once again, the clear winner in battery life is the Pixel 9.

 

Gaming

So, how was the gaming experience on both? You might be surprised by this one. While the Pixel 9 did very well on Genshin Impact at high settings (60 FPS with motion blur set to low), the biggest problem with the Pixel 9 is that it got really hot after about 12 minutes of gaming.

Also, while the phone is nicer to hold when using it daily, it’s not as comfortable for gaming. Coupled with the “hot to the touch” situation, it made the experience absolutely undelightful.

Surprisingly, the Pixel 8 performed very well on the same settings, and it was much nicer to hold during long gaming sessions because of its slightly curved form factor. Since it didn’t heat up at all, the Pixel 8 was the better choice for gaming. 

So yeah, this was a surprising win for the Pixel 8 in this particular gaming category.

 

Conclusion

There you have it—this review truly shows that both the Pixel 8 and the Pixel 9 bring their own unique strengths to the table. The Pixel 8 shines in areas like gaming comfort and overall stability, while the Pixel 9 steps up with a brighter display and some truly innovative software features.

But if you want to see what I loved and didn’t like about the Google Pixel 8, which MKBHD called last year’s phone of the year, check that video out over here.