Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Review in Progress: So Close to Being the Foldable I Want

I’ve said it respective times before. I similar large phones, and I tin not lie. I’ve been connected the large telephone bandwagon since the archetypal Samsung Galaxy Note launched mode backmost successful 2011. Hell, I was adjacent connected committee with Lenovo and Google’s AR monstrosity, the Phab2 Pro. So you’d deliberation I would person embraced foldables with unfastened arms. But thing is holding maine back, a fewer somethings actually.

There’s the exorbitant $1,800 (to start) terms tag. That’s a batch of wealth to inquire for immoderate phone. For that benignant of money, it needs to beryllium the astir almighty smartphone, foldable oregon otherwise, and with its Tensor G4 processor, it’s simply not. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold tin clasp its own, but man, Apple, and Qualcomm proceed to nutrient stronger chipsets.

Performance aside, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold has truthful overmuch going for its gorgeous displays, immoderate of the champion AI features presently available, and immoderate large cameras. I’m conscionable annoyed Google didn’t spell arsenic acold with the camera upgrades arsenic it did with different Pixels successful the line. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold isn’t the foldable for me, but there’s a bully accidental it’s the 1 for you.

Editor’s Note: Stay tuned to this review. We’re presently moving the artillery trial and a fewer much show tests. Once we person the results, we’ll update this reappraisal with a afloat score.

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Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Review: Design

Still the thinnest and heaviest foldable

I emotion ostentatious tech. And erstwhile it comes to smartphones close now, there’s astir thing much ostentatious than unfurling your device. Because you don’t unfastened the Pro Fold, you don’t unfold it; you unfurl it. And erstwhile you do, you’re met by a flexible, ultra-thin glossy portion of solid for the display. Like its predecessor, there’s a flimsy crease successful the mediate of the panel, demarcating wherever the hinge meets. It’s a small jarring astatine first, but crease-blindness rapidly sets in.

The phone’s framework is made of aluminum, portion the hinge is of “multi-alloy alloy with an Aerospace-grade, high-strength aluminum alloy” cover. The exterior show has a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 cover. The rear sheet is besides Gorilla Glass; however, it’s matte alternatively of glossy. The rear-mounted camera sensors jut retired successful a rectangular module with rounded corners. The lone different happening connected the backmost is the shiny G, designating this arsenic a Google device.

Regarding buttons and ports, you person the powerfulness and measurement buttons connected the close and the USB-C larboard and nano SIM slot astatine the bottom. Unlike the different phones successful this lineup, the Pro Fold is devoid of amusive colors arsenic it’s lone disposable successful Obsidian and Porcelain. This is simply a large occupation I person with a batch of OEMs. Does the information that I’m paying damn adjacent $2,000 for a smartphone mean that I abruptly don’t similar color? Does premium automatically mean that the colour indispensable beryllium concern casual? Yes, it’s a stately and elegant device, but I request a Rose Quartz foldable!

Moving on, the Pro Fold has a durability standing of IP8 for h2o resistance. As with astir foldables, the Pro Fold lacks a particulate ingress standing owed to the hinge. Speaking of the hinge, it runs the magnitude of the phone’s seam and protrudes ever truthful slightly. Due to its glossy finish, it’s an implicit fingerprint magnet.

While I admit the hinge’s sturdiness, letting the instrumentality unfastened and adjacent with a brushed snap, I privation determination was a divot determination on the sides to marque the instrumentality easier to open. As it stands, I astir request 2 hands—one to clasp it successful spot and the different to unfastened it. Sure, I tin jam my thumb successful betwixt and unit it unfastened one-handed, but by the clip I’m finished, the surface volition person unsightly smudges.

At 9.1 ounces, the 6.1 x 5.9 x 0.2 inches unfolded, the Pro Fold maintains Google’s assertion to beryllium the thinnest foldable successful the land. It’s lighter and slimmer than past year’s exemplary (9.9 ounces, 5.5 x 6.25 x 0.23 inches). When compared to its contemporaries, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (8.4 ounces, 6 x 5.2 x 0.22 inches unfolded) and the OnePlus Open (8.4 ounces, 6.04 x 5.63 x 0.23 inches unfolded), the Pro Fold inactive has a chonk factor.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Review: Display

Three times the fun

What’s amended than 1 screen? Three. I’m ne'er going to crook down a bigger screen; that’s portion of the crushed I fell successful emotion with phablets successful the archetypal place. The 8-inch, 2076 x 2152 OLED Super Actua show has a batch to like. It’s somewhat bigger than past year’s exemplary (7.8 inches) and has an adaptive refresh rate, oregon arsenic Google calls it, Smooth Display. Depending connected the activity, the telephone volition set the refresh complaint to betwixt 1-120Hz due to the fact that you don’t request 120Hz erstwhile you’re conscionable speechmaking an nonfiction oregon comic.

To the bare eye, the sheet is an detonation of color. I watched a 4K Dolby Demo video, and it was stunning. From iridescent bluish peacock feathers to crisp wintertime whites and heavy emerald greens, the surface was a joyousness to look at. My lone gripes are the bezels, which are a spot excessively heavy for my tastes, and the letterboxing erstwhile watching a video oregon looking astatine pictures. Of course, you tin grow immoderate you’re looking at, but you’d often suffer large parts of the picture.

Gaming, however, is different story. No substance what I played, whether it was Honkai: Star Rail oregon Diablo Immortal, the crippled took up the entirety of the screen. While I expected Star Rail to beryllium agleam and beauteous with plentifulness of neon-hued effects, I was truly impressed with however good the telephone dealt with Diablo Immortal’s acheronian atmosphere. Although the ambiance was gloomy, I could spot each disgusting crevice of a monster arsenic it unhinged its bloody maw to spew brackish worldly my way. It was a grisly, beauteous sight.

I utilized the telephone to work a fewer comics and the aboriginal a fewer chapters of “Children of Virtue and Vengeance.” I besides work done immoderate of my favourite quality sites and watched much than a fewer crippled mentation videos. Multitasking was a blast with 2 large screens to enactment connected alternatively of the fractional surface I’m relegated to with my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Photo: Charles Anthony Davis/DreamSmith LLC

Speaking of which, arsenic bully arsenic the Pro Fold’s monolithic screen, it’s missing thing – a pen. As a immense S-Pen user, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is begging for a stylus. All I wanted to bash was to motorboat 1 of my coloring publication apps and fto loose. And portion I could usage my finger, this benignant of enactment would beryllium amended served with a stylus with 4,092 levels of unit sensitivity. It seems lone earthy arsenic foldables thin to people dense productivity uses.

But capable astir the monolithic interior screen. There’s a gorgeous surface connected the beforehand of the Pro Fold that’s begging for immoderate attention. At 6.3 inches, the beforehand Actua show is lone somewhat little monolithic than its interior counterpart. But that doesn’t mean it’s little beauteous with its 1080 x 2424 OLED sheet and 20:9 facet ratio. And conscionable similar the larger interior screen, the beforehand surface is plentifulness bright. Google claims each 3 displays enactment up to a maximum of 1,800 nits for HDR contented with a highest brightness of 2,700 nits for everything else.

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Walking astir the neighborhood, the beforehand show was my main driver. And what I tin accidental is that it worked conscionable similar a regular telephone touchscreen because, well, it is simply a regular screen. Sure, it has immoderate fancy features it tin employ, including Made You Look, a camera diagnostic that summons an interactive representation designed to marque a grumpy kid oregon big interruption retired into a grin for that cleanable shot.

Next up you person Dual Screen Preview and Rear Cam Selfie. The erstwhile allows the subjects of your adjacent changeable to spot however they look earlier you drawback the shot, portion the second volition alteration you to usage the rear-facing camera for a higher-res selfie. It tin besides beryllium utilized during Google Meet Calls. And finally, there’s a dual surface Live Translation mode truthful some parties tin person an unstilted conversation.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Review: UI and AI

Kind of similar the iPhone

I’ve ever been a faithful Android owner; earlier that, I was each astir Palm. Needless to say, I’m beauteous good versed successful Android and each its ins and outs. And past came the Pro Fold with its iPhone-esque motion controls alternatively of my beloved home, recent, and backmost buttons. For a fewer minutes, up was down, near was right, and I was straight-up discombobulated. But adjacent this aged canine tin larn immoderate caller tricks.

It lone took a infinitesimal to acclimate myself to the caller satellite order. Soon, I was swiping up to disregard apps to the champion of my abilities. And arsenic seamless arsenic the motion controls are, I was relieved to spot my bully aged buttons hiding retired successful the Display settings menu. What I didn’t see, and won’t until October, is Android 15. Although this is simply a caller Pixel phone, I tin entree the beta mentation of the operating system. For this review, I americium stuck with Android 14.

Since it’s a Google Phone, the institution has promised 7 years of OS and information updates. That’s overmuch longer than OnePlus, which lone gives the Open, the company’s foldable, which lone gets 4 years of Android updates and 5 years of information updates.

AI this, AI that. Google has 1 of the much robust offerings retired of each the existent phones pushing AI. Yes, determination are photo-editing apps aplenty, but what Google’s doing with Magic Editor is wild. We’ll commencement tame with Auto Frame which uses generative AI to reframe your shot. Have you ever thought you took the cleanable shot, lone to observe you were zoomed excessively far? If you person immoderate caller Pixels, you tin usage Zoom Enhance to bring those far-away details with up to 15x zoom.

But the prima of the amusement has to beryllium Reimagine. Using 1 of your photos, Generative AI, and a mates of well-thought-out words, Reimagine tin swap retired the inheritance to conscionable astir immoderate you want. And for the folks that are ever taking the representation but ne'er successful it, effort the Add Me feature, which lets you instrumentality the picture, power places with idiosyncratic successful the archetypal pic, and person them drawback different pic with you successful it. From there, Add Me stitches the 2 images into 1 radical shot.

Photo: Charles Anthony Davis/DreamSmith LLC

I utilized Pixel Studio to make immoderate prospective logos for an upcoming task and was impressed by the results. They’ll beryllium a bully notation constituent for a graphic designer.

Google is besides utilizing Pixels to proceed making the lawsuit for Gemini Advanced. Although free, Google plans to complaint $20/month to entree its AI. So, what volition $240/year get you? A chattier integer assistant. After you prime your preferred voice, you tin gab it up with Gemini successful existent time.

Gemini tin assistance you signifier screenshots and calls by signaling and summarizing them via the Pixel Screenshots and Call Notes features. And portion that’s each good and good, there’s the contented of privacy. For Gemini to enactment its magic. You person to consent to Google keeping a grounds of your calls, screenshots, and different user-generated content. It’s going to beryllium thing to see successful the coming months.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Review: Performance

I expect much from specified a premium product

Another of my ongoing issues with foldable phones is that OEMs aren’t differentiating america from their higher-tier devices. It’s adjacent worse with Google, arsenic adjacent the entry-level Pixel 9 has the aforesaid processor arsenic the Pro XL and the Pro Fold. I mean, travel on, guys, enactment with maine here. For a $1,800 phone, springiness maine the astir almighty chipset you tin and astatine slightest set the timepiece speed, particularly since the processor has to enactment 3 screens—Le sigh.

Still, the foldable endured my maltreatment and emerged comparatively unscathed. I launched astir each app connected the telephone and opened 30 tabs connected Google Chrome, and I didn’t announcement immoderate existent slowdown. I played astir an hr of Honkai: Star Rail, and portion I didn’t get immoderate stutter, the phone’s rear sheet lone took 10 minutes to vigor up.

Cameras

An incremental bump

The Pixel enactment has made a sanction for itself successful the smartphone camera arena. So overmuch truthful the institution felt comfy keeping the 48-megapixel main camera (ƒ/1.7 aperture) and 10.8MP 5x telephoto (ƒ/3.1 aperture) rear cameras. However, the ultrawide camera got a bump to 10.5MP (ƒ/2.2 aperture) from past year’s 10.8MP sensor. It’s nice, but it’s benignant of a letdown seeing that Google outfitted the different Pixel 9s with 48MP ultrawide cameras. On different note, the beforehand and interior cameras were upgraded from 8MP to 10MP.

For my photograph investigating with the Pro Fold, I walked astir my neighborhood, catching immoderate of the artwork. The Pro Fold takes large pics without utilizing Google’s prodigious editing tools. The Pro Fold’s images looked much earthy than those of different cameras, specified arsenic the iPhone 15 Pro Max. They didn’t person that lurid glow from an oversaturated HDR shot.

Photo: Sherri L. Smith/DreamSmith LLC

I took a fewer close-up shots of my puppies napping connected a lazy Sunday afternoon. Once you get implicit their sheer cuteness, you’ll announcement the finer details, specified arsenic their whiskers and idiosyncratic brindle patterns. In an awake changeable of Natasha, you tin spot her airy grey eyes.

I utilized the wide and ultrawide cameras to seizure immoderate thoroughfare creation astir the neighborhood; arsenic expected, the ultrawide captured much scenery than a regular wide shot. However, nary substance the lens, I got affluent colour and crisp details. In 1 of my favourite shots, you tin spot the jagged edges of the peeling paint. In a changeable of a doorway with designs sculpted astir the arch, you tin spot pockmarks and tiny fissures passim the structure. You tin spot plentifulness of item successful astir of my works beingness shots, specified arsenic leafage veins and spines.

Photo: Sherri L. Smith/DreamSmith LLC

Although I would person loved a much almighty telephoto sensor, the Pro Fold tin drawback beauteous bully shots successful the close condition. The changeable of the bid passing by was taken 2 metropolis blocks away. Once the bid passed, I took different fewer shots of the artwork connected the broadside of the gathering and was impressed with the level of item the camera captured. The camera didn’t bash arsenic good from farther distances oregon astatine night, arsenic my changeable of the Manhattan skyline was blurry successful places. The idiosyncratic gathering lights looked similar shiny blobs.

I captured 3 selfies: 1 with the rear camera, 1 with the outer beforehand shooter, and 1 with the interior camera. The rear selfie changeable was the best, arsenic my tegument and hoodie looked the best. You tin adjacent spot 1 of the rubber bands holding 1 of my locs successful a twist sticking out.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Review: Battery

Will it fold connected artillery life?

Google’s promising all-day artillery beingness from the Pro Fold and its 4,650mAh artillery (we’ll spot astir that). It’s worthy noting that the different Pixels successful this procreation person larger batteries. The Pro XL has a 5,060mAh battery, portion the Pro and Pixel 9 person 4,700mAh. While I’m presently moving the artillery test, what I tin archer you is that I got astir 10 hours retired of the telephone earlier I had to enactment it connected the charger. However, support successful caput that I was pushing the telephone connected immoderate heavy-duty tasks, including taking a batch of photos and videos and gaming for implicit an hour.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Review: Verdict

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is simply a large foldable that improves and builds connected the instauration acceptable by its predecessor. It’s thinner and lighter, but it’s inactive 1 of the heaviest foldables connected the market. The AI features for photograph and video editing are impressive, arsenic are the ones designed for productivity and organization. I’m unsure if radical volition wage $20/month for the pleasure.

Each of the displays is vibrant and dazzlingly bright. And though the Tensor G4 processor can’t bent with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, it tin inactive grip your enactment and play load. Just beryllium mindful of that rear panel’s imaginable to get noticeably warm. As usual, the cameras are 1 of the champion things astir the Pixel device. I privation we could person gotten a much important upgrade connected the telephoto camera. And arsenic a selfish want, foldable makers request to commencement earnestly reasoning astir adding pens to the mix.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is simply a large prime for anyone looking for a large camera, compelling AI, and aggregate beauteous screens susceptible of truthful overmuch multitasking. But I’m not acceptable to marque the $1,800 investment. Maybe adjacent year.

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