Google Pixel 10 Review: 10 Years Of Progress, Nearing Perfection | Devices

It’s been 10 years since Google entered the {hardware} warfare with the launch of its first Pixel cellphone. And, truthful to say, it hasn’t tasted the sort of success it will have anticipated. It’s solely lately that Google’s Pixel telephones have craved a distinct segment for them by means of their AI choices. Even then the pricing stays to be a hurdle.

To mark 10 years of Pixel telephones, Google launched the Pixel 10 collection, just a few weeks in the past. The base mannequin which is a direct iPhone 17 rival, packs plenty of upgrades over the Pixel 9, akin to a brand new telephoto digicam, a brand new Tensor G5 chipset, a bigger battery, and Pixelsnap, which is Google’s model of MagSafe from iPhones.

While there are nonetheless a couple of issues Google wants to determine, I believe lastly the Pixel telephones are nearing perfection with a good mix of favor, efficiency and software program expertise.

So, who should purchase the Pixel 10 and who all ought to skip it? Here is me making an attempt to make sense of it.

Pixel 10 Review: Design and Design

The Pixel 10 follows the everyday design language that Google has for Pixels. On the rear, there’s a visor-looking digicam module that protrudes a bit and can also be sufficiently big to not make the gadget wobble when stored on a flat floor. It additionally acts as a pleasant place for fingers to relaxation when holding the gadget.

Similar to the Pixel 9, the body is product of aluminium that finally ends up giving the gadget a little bit of a premium in-hand really feel. It’s slippery too because the rear panel has a glass end. With a 6.3-inch show measurement and 204g in weight, it matches very comfortably in hand and joins the league of gadgets with a small kind issue such because the OnePlus 13s, iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S25, and Vivo X200 FE.

Speaking of show, there’s a 120Hz OLED panel on the entrance that’s protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2. When required, the show can get vibrant sufficient with 3,000 nits of peak brightness and appears nice whereas watching HDR content material. I cherished how attractive the panel on Pixel is. Like I discussed, it’s OLED and affords deep blacks, very vibrant colors and a pointy image.

While watching motion pictures and TV reveals on it, I used to be typically impressed with a couple of nitpicks right here and there in relation to refresh fee. It is a easy panel with 120Hz, however regardless of that I felt there’s a slight distinction within the degree of smoothness once I in contrast it to its older sibling – Pixel 10 Pro XL which additionally has a 120Hz refresh fee. Is it a software program factor that may be mounted through OTA sooner or later, or is it intentional to maintain a slight distinction between the vanilla and professional, I suppose we’re by no means going to search out out.

Pixel 10 Review: Software and AI

The Pixel telephones ship with the purest type of Android. This is a transparent benefit. The different two OEMs which can be supplying you with the closest expertise are Motorola and Nothing. Even they do not preserve issues so simple as Google. So, the Pixel 10 comes with Android 16 out of the field, and has the brand new Material 3 design, which I believe seems simply superb.

When it involves day-to-day utilization, I might say that the Pixel 10 is extraordinarily easy, responsive, and quick. No lags, no jitters, no “App not responding” points I confronted in my utilization. I’m personally not an enormous fan of what Google did with the notification tray this time, particularly the brightness slider – it offers me stable beta software program vibes, nevertheless it seems like this in Android 16, and we now have no different choices aside from adapting to it.

Google Gemini greatness that we noticed within the Samsung Galaxy S25 collection and OnePlus 13, you get all that right here as properly. Magic Cue is a nifty little function that may recommend responses as per the state of affairs and might even information you in the direction of apps, primarily based on no matter you’re doing on the time. However, I believe it’s not absolutely designed/optimised for the Indian area.

Pixel 10 Review: Performance And Battery

The Pixel 10 comes with Google’s personal Tensor G5 and it has a slight story behind it. Up till 4 generations, the Tensor was made in Samsung foundry, however from this time onwards, Google selected TSMC to make the G5. Since TSMC holds a superb popularity usually by making chipsets for Qualcomm, it was anticipated from the G5 to face out from its predecessors and its opponents. But did it? Well, sure and no. Let me clarify why.

If you’re a quantity one who loves taking a deeper dive on the benchmarks, you’re going to be disillusioned as, regardless of being priced at Rs 80,000, this scores nearly the identical as any Rs 30,000 smartphone would.

Why is that this the case? Maybe as a result of Google depends slightly an excessive amount of on the software program aspect of issues than {hardware}. Hey, don’t get me incorrect, the gadget works simply superb. There’s no lag, no stutters, no noticeable overheating even after gaming for greater than 40 minutes on Smooth Graphics and Ultra Extreme body fee in BGMI. A number of minor body drops right here and there, however nothing that might hinder my gaming hour.

They say you may get the Android on any common cellphone; one should purchase Pixel for expertise, and I believe this cellphone is a testomony to that. Flashy numbers? No. Oh, then perhaps greatest gaming efficiency? Certainly not. But although there’s not a 2 million AnTuTu rating, nothing lags, and there’s no particular recreation/graphic setting that you just miss out on.

Look, I’m not somebody who holds a constructive hope by considering what the gadget can probably turn out to be sooner or later by OTA updates. But with Pixels, I’ve seen they really do get higher with time. From AnTuTu to on a regular basis utilization, OTAs do really patch Pixels in about 2-3 months. This is one thing that makes me need to be barely eager for in relation to having higher efficiency.

The Pixel 10 has the most important ever battery on a vanilla Pixel with a 4970mAh unit, which is a slight improve from the 4700mAh battery on the Pixel 9. In phrases of day-to-day utilization, I cherished the truth that I may simply rock the Pixel 10 for about 2 days on a single cost. Right after organising, with out even giving it a deep thought, I may discover that the battery drain was not regular. But then after a couple of full cost cycles and some inner software program optimisations, I acquired a significantly better battery life. On common, with AOD and 120Hz refresh fee, I used to be getting 9 hours of screen-on time with a mixture of heavy, mid, and straightforward utilization. No complaints right here.

Speaking of wired charging, there’s an improve from 27W to 30W (do you have to even name it an improve, Google?). It takes about half-hour to go from 0 per cent to 50 per cent cost and about 1 hour and 5 minutes to fully cost me. Do I prefer it? No. It’s very gradual, however I believe it goes hand in hand with Google’s dedication to offering seven years of software program updates. What good would a smartphone with Android 20 be if its battery wasn’t useful in any respect? So, for all you smartphone customers who don’t change each different 12 months, you’re going to should handle with the slower charging speeds of 30W.

Pixel 10 additionally comes with Pixelsnap, which is principally Google’s model of MagSafe on iPhones. Qi2 wi-fi charging is supported, however the 15W wi-fi charging velocity is tremendous gradual as per 2025 requirements. Pixelsnap is enjoyable as I’ve one other gadget aside from my iPhone to take pleasure in all of the MagSafe equipment, however that’s about it.

Pixel 10 Review: Camera

Let us speak about specs earlier than we check out the images. The cellphone comes with a 48-megapixel major shooter, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide digicam and a brand new 10.8-megapixel telephoto digicam with 5x optical zoom.

In trickier eventualities, although, akin to dramatic backlighting or fast-moving topics, the digicam tends to push the publicity a bit too far, typically blowing out highlights on the topic’s face.

The ultra-wide continues the story, delivering wealthy colors, vibrant tones, and punchy distinction. Both the first and ultra-wide do a superb job with colors. They look energetic and a contact boosted below vibrant mild, however slide in the direction of a refined gray when the lighting dips.

Camera coach is a cool new AI function and it may be very useful in guiding individuals on methods to take higher photographs. Composition and framing play an important function in images, and instruments akin to Camera coach can play an enormous function in being useful to lots of people who battle to take a superb picture.

Pixel 10 Review: Verdict

Pixel 10 is on the market in solely a single RAM mannequin – 12GB RAM with 256GB storage and it’s priced at Rs 79,999 in India.

Who should purchase the Pixel 10? Any person who’s seeking to purchase a compact smartphone with no-nonsense software program that may take good photographs and final greater than a day on a battery.

Who ought to search for another smartphone? Any person who both needs nearly skilled DSLR-looking photographs, or a performance-focused smartphone person who prefers to have super-fast charging.

Now that you’ve learn the whole factor, let me sum all of it up. The Pixel 10 has a fantastic design however may be slippery generally. Its efficiency may be underwhelming, nevertheless it’s not bad-unhealthy. It would possibly get higher with time, however even when it doesn’t, it’s not going to be a hurdle in your on a regular basis duties.

Battery life has gotten a slight bump when it comes to specs, and might final for a minimum of in the future and a half, if used usually. Cameras are being largely superb and I don’t thoughts taking it with me to an occasion the place I’ll seize a second I do know I’ll cherish, but when I would like the Vivo X200 that prices nearly the identical and affords far more flexibility when it comes to focal vary and to not neglect, silky easy portraits.