00:00The first thing you need to know about Google's new Pixel 9 Pro is that, hey, it looks nice.
00:08And it feels nice too.
00:09I'm going to get into all of the photo features in a moment, but first I just want to talk
00:13about how different the Pixel 9 Pro feels in your hand.
00:16Instead of the more rounded out design of Pixel's past, Google squared off the metal
00:21rails for both the oblong camera bar and the phone's frame, which does make it look more
00:25like an iPhone, but also makes for a device that is slightly easier to hold.
00:29And in the case of my ability to film it, easier to stand up to.
00:32Well, some of the time.
00:34This slight hardware change actually makes for a better camera experience as well.
00:38Put simply, the phone is just easier to hold and therefore easier to take photos and videos
00:43with.
00:45But of course, this is Google, so we know that 90% of what's new in this phone is
00:49going to be software.
00:51So here's what's new on that front.
00:52I only had a few hours to test the Pixel 9 Pro's triple rear camera system that features
00:57a 50 megapixel wide, a 48 megapixel 5x telephoto, and a 48 megapixel ultrawide.
01:03And the very first thing I wanted to test was switching between these lenses while filming
01:07video.
01:08The Pixel 8 Pro was notoriously bad at keeping consistent colors across lenses while filming.
01:13There's of course far more testing I need to do, but in my short time with the Pixel
01:179 Pro, the color shifting issue has been greatly reduced.
01:21And another issue with the Pixel 8 Pro's camera was the visible framing shifts that
01:25happen during these lens changes as well.
01:28Without applying Video Boost, which sends video files to the cloud to be processed,
01:31the shift is still slightly there.
01:33But if you run the clip through Video Boost, those jumps are smoothed right over.
01:37Video Boost also now allows video to be up-res to 8K, and it can pull 30 megapixel stills
01:42from video.
01:43I didn't have time to test this, so you'll have to wait for the full review.
01:47Now to the flashiest feature coming to the Pixel 9 Pro's camera, a feature called Ad
01:51Me.
01:52The idea behind it is that a person taking a group photo doesn't get to be in it.
01:56So Google created software that can combine multiple photos to add them in.
01:59When Person A opens the Ad Me feature on the Pixel 9 Pro, the camera system begins scanning
02:04the scene for people and creates a depth math of where everyone is.
02:09Which is why you are instructed to move camera to scan area.
02:12Then after the first photo is taken, Person A swaps with Person B, who was just in the
02:17group photo.
02:18Person B is then instructed to align the frame with the shot that Person A took, and
02:22take another photo.
02:24The software then saves all of these photos, including the one with Person A stitched into
02:28the photo they took.
02:29Of the several times we tried it, it worked about 50% of the time.
02:33And while I think this is a great idea, especially as someone who is always taking the photos,
02:37it takes time to complete, which makes it feel awful lot like a bar trick.
02:41One that you'll use a few times, and absolutely impress your friends with, then ultimately
02:46just continue to flip the camera around and take a selfie instead.
02:49Especially considering the front-facing camera is now 42 megapixels, up from just 10.5 megapixels
02:54on the Pixel 8 Pro.
02:59The other software tricks coming to the Pixel 9 Pro are text prompting and auto-framing
03:03features in Magic Editor.
03:05Magic Editor is Google's name for its AI photo editing tools, and it previously allowed
03:09you to move subjects, erase objects, change the sky, or select different facial expressions
03:14on people in a photo.
03:15But now Google is adding the ability to prompt change via text.
03:19For example, you can select an area you'd like to change, like the background of a photo,
03:23and then type in the alteration you'd like to see.
03:26There's also a new feature called auto-frame that can reframe a photo in order to make
03:30it more visually appealing based on photography principles, such as the rule of thirds.
03:34Again, I didn't get a ton of time to play with this, but I do love text prompting and
03:38it allows you to have far more control over what sort of AI changes the system is making.
03:44So I'm really stoked to test more of that.
03:46But the biggest change in this camera system is that Google has actually entirely redesigned
03:51the HDR Plus image pipeline.
03:53An image pipeline is responsible for the signature look of a camera.
03:57It does everything from analyze skin tones to adding sharpness to small objects like
04:02tree leaves and deciding how much contrast everything in the scene should have.
04:08So I'm going to be really excited to put the Pixel 9 Pro next to the Pixel 8 Pro to see
04:11if there's a noticeable difference here.
04:17So that's the Pixel 9 Pro's camera, and this year, the Pro system actually comes in two
04:21sizes.
04:22There's a 6.2-inch Pixel 9 Pro that's going to be $1,000, and there's a 6.8-inch Pixel
04:279 Pro XL that's going to be $1,100.
04:31And when I finally get my hands on one, I'm going to be most interested in testing out
04:35the video capabilities.
04:36It's something that Google has always struggled with, but with Video Boost, they've been able
04:41to right a lot of their wrongs, like the jarring lens switches and color changes.
04:46I'm ready to put that to the test.
04:48Let me know what else you want me to be testing out when I dive deeper into this camera system.
04:53I appreciate you so much, bud.
04:55I hope you're well, and I'll see you in the next one.
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