Google Pixel 10 Pro overview: one of many perfect smaller telephones | Pixel

The Pixel 10 Pro is Google’s greatest telephone that’s nonetheless a pocketable, easy-to-handle measurement, taking the superb Pixel 10 and beefing it up within the digital camera division.

That makes it a contender for the highest smaller telephone with Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro, providing the perfect of Google’s {hardware} with out an infinite display screen. It can also be the most affordable of three Pixel 10 Pro telephones beginning at £999 (€1,099/$999/A$1,699) sitting beneath the larger 10 Pro XL and the tablet-phone hybrid the ten Pro Fold.

The 10 Pro seems virtually equivalent to final 12 months’s model and has the identical measurement 6.3in OLED display screen because the Pixel 10 however barely brighter, slicker and crisper. It is without doubt one of the greatest shows on a telephone, whereas the polished aluminium sides and mat glass again look costly even when the color selection is quite staid in contrast with its cheaper sibling.

The 10 Pro is without doubt one of the first telephones to return with Qi2 wi-fi charging constructed into the again, which provides compatibility with a variety of magnetic equipment, together with these made for Apple’s MagSafe.

Inside is Google’s newest Tensor G5 chip, which is about 35% sooner than final 12 months’s mannequin however falls in need of the best-in-class efficiency of Qualcomm’s high Android chip utilized in rivals. Day to day the ten Pro feels fast, and it dealt with video games simply advantageous, although there are higher choices for many who need the best possible graphics and body charges.

The Pixel has stable battery life, managing as much as about two days between fees with about seven hours of lively display screen use on a mixture of 5G and wifi. Most folks might want to cost it each different day, however on heavy use days out and about in London on 5G it nonetheless managed to achieve midnight with a minimum of 25% left.

Specifications

• Screen: 6.3in 120Hz QHD+ OLED (495ppi)

• Processor: Google Tensor G5

• RAM: 16GB

• Storage: 128, 256, 512GB or 1TB

• Operating system: Android 16

• Camera: 50MP + 48MP UW + 48MP 5x tele; 42MP selfie

• Connectivity: 5G, nano + e-sim (US: e-sim-only), wifi 7, UWB, NFC, Bluetooth 6 and GNSS

• Water resistance: IP68 (1.5m for half-hour)

• Dimensions: 152.8 x 72.0 x 8.6mm

• Weight: 207g

Android 16 with AI all over the place

The telephone ships with Android 16 put in, with safety and software program updates until August 2032, guaranteeing it stays updated for the lifetime of the telephone. It is similar software program because the common Pixel 10 with a daring, vibrant and enjoyable design.

Google has shoved AI in virtually each nook of the telephone, most of it powered by the newest native Gemini Nano fashions, which implies your knowledge doesn’t have to go away your system to be processed, preserving privateness.

The superior Gemini chatbot is able to interacting together with your apps, seeing what’s in your display screen or by means of your digital camera, and having dwell back-and forth-conversations by way of voice.

But the standout new characteristic is Magic Cue, which runs within the background and combines data out of your Google account with knowledge in your telephone to supply assist or fast recommendations in a lot of Google apps. For occasion, whenever you ring a enterprise, Magic Cue pops up a card straight within the telephone app exhibiting your emails together with your order affirmation particulars for one-tap entry whenever you want them.

Magic Cue works regionally with about 10 days’ price of knowledge so it’s not holding a everlasting log of every thing you do, however has been genuinely helpful in testing. It solely works in Google’s and a choose variety of third-party apps, similar to eBay, however not WhatsApp, so its utility is proscribed for those who don’t use the fitting apps.

The 10 Pro additionally comes with a 12 months’s subscription to Google AI Pro, which often prices £19 a month, and supplies entry to the extra highly effective Gemini Pro, picture and video-generating fashions, plus 2TB of cloud storage for Google Drive, Photos and Gmail.

Camera

The 10 Pro has a number of the strongest cameras on a smartphone with a 42-megapixel selfie, 50MP essential, 48MP ultrawide and 48MP 5x telephoto digital camera able to an optical zoom high quality as much as 10x. But it is usually the primary to characteristic generative AI picture processing straight within the digital camera, which is spectacular however calls into query what a photograph actually is.

The essential digital camera is without doubt one of the greatest within the enterprise, effortlessly capturing nice photographs which might be wealthy intimately throughout a variety of lighting situations. The ultrawide digital camera can also be superb for landscapes and group pictures, and is used for the good macrophotography mode for enjoyable closeups. The 5x telephoto is without doubt one of the perfect on a telephone and might shoot photographs at 10x, which stay good high quality, significantly in shiny situations.

Google excels in troublesome lighting situations similar to very shiny or contrasting scenes, whereas in darkish environments its evening sight produces sharper pictures with extra correct colors than rivals. The Pixel’s portrait mode is significantly improved this 12 months, too.

Zoom past 30x as much as 100x and the telephone makes use of a neighborhood genAI mannequin to place again into the picture the element and sharpness misplaced from digital zoom. Generally it really works nicely however not flawlessly. It can get the attitude fallacious or superimposes the fallacious particulars, creating pictures which might be clearly made by AI. But shoot predictable topics similar to buildings, automobiles or timber, and it corporations up the digitally stretched particulars making the 100x zoom surprisingly usable.

When it detects an individual it doesn’t even try to make use of the genAI mannequin, which might be for the perfect, and like all genAI techniques it may possibly wrestle with phrases, usually producing one thing that appears like an alien script.

The digital camera app provides C2PA content credentials to all photographs that information how the picture was captured and whether or not generative AI was concerned, together with for the brand new zoom and common Add Me characteristic from final 12 months. Best Take has been made computerized, permitting the digital camera to seize a number of pictures whenever you press the shutter button to attempt to get one the place everybody’s trying on the digital camera.

The 10 Pro additionally has the identical new AI Camera Coach characteristic because the common 10, which teaches you find out how to get a greater shot by analysing the scene by means of the digital camera and supplying you with choices for various angles and framing.

The digital camera additionally has loads of enjoyable images and video modes, shoots nice movies in addition to picture, and cements the ten Pro as one of many perfect in the marketplace.

Sustainability

The battery will last in excess of 1,000 full cost cycles with a minimum of 80% of its authentic capability. The telephone is repairable by Google, third-party outlets or self-repair, with manuals and elements accessible.

The Pixel 10 Pro incorporates 30% recycled supplies by weight together with aluminium, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, plastic, rare-earth parts, tungsten and tin. The firm breaks down the phone’s environmental impact in its report and can recycle old devices totally free.

Price

The Google Pixel 10 Pro prices from £999 (€1,099/$999/A$1,699) in a selection of 4 colors.

For comparability, the Pixel 10 begins at £799, the Pixel 10 Pro XL at £1,199, the Pixel 9a prices £399, the Samsung Galaxy S25 prices £799, the Galaxy S25 Ultra prices £1,249 and the iPhone 16 Pro prices £999.

Verdict

The Pixel 10 Pro doesn’t reinvent the wheel or set a brand new bar in fairly the identical approach because the base-model Pixel 10 managed this 12 months. But it nonetheless upgrades its already market-leading digital camera and AI options.

It is snappy in operation, has respectable battery life and nonetheless seems good, although hardcore avid gamers might wish to look elsewhere for extra highly effective graphics. Google’s tackle Android is without doubt one of the greatest and comes with long-term help so you’ll be able to preserve utilizing it for years.

Gemini’s varied new instruments are usually helpful and fewer gimmicky than many. Magic Cue has nice potential to be a time-saver with out getting in the way in which, however must be expanded to extra apps.

Injecting genAI straight into the digital camera app improves its prolonged zoom pictures, however additional blurs the road between what’s and isn’t a photograph – a philosophical debate most will most likely gloss over as a result of the device is helpful and avoids doing something outlandish.

The Pixel 10 Pro is well the most effective smaller telephones accessible and actually hammers dwelling simply how rather more superior Google’s AI instruments are than Apple’s and different rivals.

Pros: seven years of software program updates, nice digital camera with 5x and 10x optical magnification plus AI zoom, Magic Cue and spectacular native AI options, Qi2 wi-fi charging and magnetic accent help, stable battery life, nice display screen and measurement, quick fingerprint and face recognition, 12 months of Google AI Pro included.

Cons: fairly costly, face unlock choice not as safe as Face ID, uncooked efficiency and battery life in need of best-in-class, no bodily sim card slot within the US, not an enormous improve from the usual Pixel 10.