Welcome to another Engadget Review Recap (or as I prefer to call it, ERR). This is the second edition of a mainly bi-weekly series rounding up the feedback our team has posted, as well as some thoughts on what’s to come, what we missed, and how we did our testing. Plus, fun team trivia! If you’ve missed it over the past two weeks or just haven’t had time to read everything we’ve posted (how dare you), let this recap be your quick catch-up.
This week we’re taking a look at the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro reviews, as well as the Dell XPS 13 Copilot+ PC, which is as full of a name as I’ve ever seen. Other Pixel devices are being tested as we speak, and the reviews team is pretty busy behind the scenes. On Monday, Apple made an announcement It’s Glowtime event for September 9ththat means we’re also expecting new iPhones and Apple watches soon.
For now, here’s what’s going on in the Engadget reviews group.
Pixel 9 review: A solid, inexpensive Android flagship
By Sam Rutherford
Engadget
While Samsung’s Galaxy S line may be more popular thanks to a sleek new design, improved software, improved cameras and a vibrant display, the Pixel 9 is a true Android phone.
- New ultrasonic fingerprint sensor
- Improved cameras
- Super bright OLED display
- Solid performance
- Neat design
- Excellent software and AI tools
- No Qi2 non-magnetic wireless charging
- Zoom Enhance is only available on the Pixel 9 Pro
- AI can still hallucinate or be manipulated to produce unpleasant results
First of all, huge News from the Engadget team: Our great writer Sam Rutherford just had a baby! Sam will be on parental leave for a while and has managed to keep himself extremely busy, running errands and helping with research until he goes to hospital. We will be lost without Sam, but are extremely happy for him and his family as they welcome a wonderful addition to their lives.
The Pixel 9 review is the last full review you’ll see from Sam for a while, in which he clearly explains how impressed he is with Google’s premium phone. According to him, this is an Android phone that eclipses Samsung’s S24 and any other Android flagship. It has a grown-up vibe like the Pixel 9 Pros and has great camera and battery performance. At $799, it offers a lot for the money.
It’s a bit difficult to review the Pixel 9 in the shadow of its Pro counterparts, as the Pixel 8a or the upcoming Pixel 9a can pinch toes with a great feature set at a lower price. If you have $200 or more to spare, you can consider the Pros we reviewed last week.
Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL review: Holy 94 points for Pixel?
By Matt Smith
With its sleek design, vastly improved telephoto camera and great battery life, the Pixel 9 Pro cements its status as the best camera smartphone.
- Excellent camera features and improved telephoto camera
- A year of Gemini Advanced is free
- Incredible battery life
- A beautiful, bright screen that’s easy to use outdoors
- The Tensor G4 runs cooler than its predecessor
- Slower charging speed than XL
- Not the best phone for gaming
I kid you not: my jaw dropped when I saw the account from UK bureau chief Mat Smith. Offered for Pixel 9 Pro. That’s probably the highest we’ve ever given any phone made by Google, and it’s also the first Pixel to enter iPhone territory. In fact, both Mat and I mistook the Pixel 9 Pro for our own iPhones with the touch and screens facing up. Sam also thought the Pixel 9 looked and felt a lot like Apple’s flagships, which is oddly a compliment to Google.
These phones feel big, sleek and classy. Gone is the glossy finish that came with the Pixel 6 and newer, and with it the tendency for these devices to slide off any unstable surface. The camera bar also looks sleeker, with straight edges giving the Pixel 9 Pro an iPhone vibe that older models lacked.
I love how Google has been able to give their latest flagships the iPhone treatment while maintaining character with the camera panel. I also adore the new colors, especially the pink Pros pair I got.
A big part of why we rate the Pixel 9 Pro as highly as we do is that the new smaller Pro doesn’t compromise too much on its size. The Pixel 9 Pro XL and the smaller version both have the same camera setup and really only differ in screen and battery size. The bigger flagship charges a bit faster, but the baby Pro keeps up. under threat. long. It outperformed almost every new phone in our battery test video.
As usual, Google’s cameras outperform the competition (especially at night), and while we don’t know if we’d pay to use its Gemini AI services ourselves, the fact that they’re free for now means that’s not a downside. . Some of the new software, like the Pixel Screenshots app or the Add Me tool on the camera, is elegant and generally effective. Others like Pixel Studio and Reimagine in photo editing tools are a bit more problematic because Detailed by Allison Johnson The Verge.
If you can avoid using these features, which I think is pretty easy to do, you’ll be happy with the rest of the Pixel 9 Pro. The upgraded display is bright and beautiful, although Mat, who boasted a bit of larger-than-average hands in his review, didn’t like the fact that the Pro XL has a bigger screen than last year’s model. Make no mistake, that thing is hard to maneuver, especially for those of us cursed with small limbs. That’s why we took one point off the Pro XL’s score compared to last year’s Pixel 8 Pro. We also wish Google would keep its flagships competitively priced for one more year, as the Pixel 9 series isn’t a hundred or more dollars cheaper than previous years, but roughly the same as Samsung and Apple’s respective devices.
Go to Mat’s review for details and camera samples. For now, suffice it to say that the Engadget team is very impressed with the Pixel 9 lineup, and we can’t wait to get our hands on the other products in the family, like the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel Watch 3, and Pixel Buds Pro 2. .
Dell XPS 13 Copilot+ PC: Good, but Intel options could be better
By Devindra Hardawar
Dell
The XPS 13 is a capable and stylish Copilot+ PC, but it’s sometimes slower than the Intel model and won’t run some games and apps. Battery life is also surprisingly average.
- Faster than the Intel XPS 13 in some benchmarks
- 45TOPS NPU is better equipped for future AI features
- Great design
- Excellent display with thin bezels
- Excellent battery life
- Windows on Arm still launches some programs slowly and fails to launch some games
- The current AI features are pretty average
- Controversial trackpad and capacitive function keys
It feels like we could be getting several iterations of the Dell XPS 13 soon. Devindra’s review of the XPS 13 Copilot+ PC this week feels like a variant of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This We reviewed the XPS 13 earlier this year but instead of an Intel Core Ultra processor, it uses an Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite chip. This means that it runs significantly longer than your average PC using an x86 system architecture, but is also more likely to run into potential compatibility issues.
If you don’t plan to play games on your laptop or need it to run non-specific apps, a Snapdragon laptop might work for you, especially if you want long battery life. Players planning to play Fortnite or League of Legends will have to select an x86 system. as the cheat features in these headers will prevent them from running on Arm based machines.
Given that we’ll likely be getting an XPS 13 with Intel’s Lunar Lake CPU later this year, those looking for more software compatibility on Dell’s premium-designed AI PC won’t have long to wait. The Lunar Lake processors also have neural processing units (NPUs) that are faster than the Snapdragon X Elite. If you don’t mind waiting, you’ll likely find an option that fits your needs (or your schedule) soon enough.
Elsewhere on Engadget: Interviews, gaming news and how-tos
Speaking of Intel-powered AI computers, let’s not forget AMD. Devindra talked to AMD’s product managers for Ryzen AI and published an article last week. the company’s AI PC strategy. This type of interview informs our coverage and reviews of devices with these components, and they’re a great opportunity to bring out our inner nerds (insiders? never mind).
We also had a chance to play with ourselves Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman on the Engadget Podcast This week, an inside look at what Apple might show off at its September 9 event.
Gamescom took place last week with the Engadget team covered the event liveWith news around franchise titles like Dune, Indiana Jones, Marvel, Call of Duty and Civilization. Sam published Practical with “King of Meat”.,” which he called “a terrible mix of co-op platforming.
Not enough game coverage? We got you. Published a piece on Mat Clair Obscur: Expedition 33It looks like a nice RPG from the French studio Sandfall Interactive. Our team has also prepared a number of lists and summaries of different types of games the best Apple Arcade options and Netflix games for Titles for specific consoles such as Playdate and puzzle and word games that you can play daily.
Chief Correspondent Jess Conditt Checked out Razer’s new Wolverine V3 Pro controller This week for Xbox and PC, the company’s first fully wireless controller for Xbox consoles and also the first with Hall effect joysticks. Jess spent a few days with the V3 Pro, mostly playing Overwatch 2and he found it “quick and surprisingly compact.” He said, “joysticks are accurate – require a bit more power than wireless Forza Horizon 5 The Xbox controller I usually use, but they’re nice and accurate.”
On the horizon: Future reviews and how we decide what to cover
We’re continuing to test the Pixel devices that will be released to the public at the end of September, while we’re also working on testing more AI computers, the rest of Samsung Galaxy products, and more. I am very excited to check it out in person The new Barbie flip phone from HMDbecause I can type faster on the T9 keyboard than the touch screen. I think I can anyway.
Many products are announced every week, not every year, and just this week we have new gadgets like the Barbie phone as well A new AI wearable called the NotePin. Our consideration of these devices largely depends on how important they are to our audience (usually determined by our understanding of the reader’s interest and the likelihood that they will want to buy something). It’s also important that the product eventually reaches a larger market, so steamrollers or mini-personal projects on Kickstarter aren’t things we typically consider.
Finally, our individual staff members’ workloads and willingness to try them out also helps the decision-making process – if someone on the team likes something so much they bought it with their own money, they can always write about their experience. site as part of our ongoing series around what we buy.
As always, it’s going to be a busy few weeks for our team, so keep sending good thoughts and excitement. Thanks as always for your time and have a great weekend!
