Google Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL Review: Smart Software, Small Upgrade | WIRED

Overview

There is one new feature on Google's Pixel 11 series that, I kid you not, caused my jaw to drop. It's an upgrade over one of my most-used Pixel features: voice-to-text.

I am a swipe typer, whizzing my finger across letters to form words instead of tapping each key individually. But I'm also heavily reliant on voice typing. Google's Pixel phones are far and away the best at it; more accurate at understanding my words than i Phones and Samsungs, not to mention sprinkling in punctuation at the right moments.

Details

With the Pixel 11 devices, there's a new feature called Rambler—an upgraded, AI-powered voice-to-text feature—that is smarter than anything you've probably used before. Tap the microphone button on Gboard, and start talking. The Pixel will strip away the “ums” and “uhs,” and if you make a mistake and restate something, it won't bother to include that bit in your message, only keeping the parts it believes you want to convey. You can even ask it to add bullet points or an emoji to format your message, all in the same breath.

Rambler lives in Gboard, Google's keyboard app, on the Pixel 11 series. To access it, tap the microphone.

The accuracy of the voice-to-text is incredible, especially as you see it understand the mistakes, pauses, or vocal fillers. But what really made my eyes widen was speaking in my mother tongue, Malayalam. Rambler did a surprisingly great job at romanizing my words into English—a way I sometimes type to my family because I can't read or write the language. It's something I've never been able to do with a smartphone's voice-to-text function. To top it off, I asked it to translate the transcribed sentence into Malayalam, and it did the job. I fired off the messages to my Mom, and she said, “Very good.” High praise indeed.

These are the kinds of features that make a Pixel phone feel joyous to use. Smart, helpful everyday capabilities that can make a genuine impact on your day. Call Screen is another one of them, a feature Google pioneered that filters spam and robocalls and is now a staple in competing devices. Google Recorder is another I use every day, turning what was once a basic recording app into a powerful on-device transcription service.

Rambler, exclusive to the entire Pixel 11 range, may end up coming to older Pixel devices—Google hasn't shared details yet. It's not even restricted to the Pro devices, which is what I've been testing the past week.

The Pixel 11 Pro XL (left) in Canyon, and the Pixel 11 Pro (right) in Olive.

The Pro Pixels this year are not a major leap over their predecessors. Many of the improvements are with the cameras—still a big reason to buy a Pixel—but there are some minor, welcome upgrades, like a scratch-resistant display coating, a brighter screen, more base storage, and faster charging. I quite like the all-glass camera bar, which looks especially elegant in the new colors (and most importantly, doesn't rock on a table).

Hi Light is one of the big new exclusive features—unavailable on the base Pixel 11—and I'm disappointed to say that you're not missing much. This LED glows when your phone is face down and when you activate Gemini, so you know the assistant is listening, much like Google's new smart speaker; it can light up a specific color when someone calls you, allowing you to stay somewhat connected. Except there are only five colors to choose from.

If I want to set a Hi Light color for more than five people in my Contacts app, I'll have to reuse colors, rendering the feature useless—it's baffling that there's no color wheel. While Google says Hi Light will support text message notifications in the future, it's bizarre that this simple capability isn't available at launch. I'm all for weird, quirky features on smartphones, but Hi Light is too limited to be useful. Maybe, in a few Pixel generations, it will disappear, much like the temperature sensor from three Pixels ago.

For the vast majority of Pixel owners, you won't run into any performance issues with Google's new Tensor G6 chip. But for the sliver of folks who want to dip into high-end gaming—and why shouldn't they? These are flagship phones that cost

Google has made some small tweaks to the design of the Pixel interface.

A Google spokesperson tells WIRED: “We are currently working with our partner Ho Yoverse to address this optimization issue on the Pixel 11. A fix is expected to be implemented in Genshin Impact's upcoming update.” In fairness, this graphical issue didn't happen in any other games I tried, even Zenless Zone Zero, another Ho Yoverse game.

Pixels have had this kind of suboptimal graphical performance for a long time, and it's becoming increasingly harder to ignore at these ever-increasing smartphone prices, especially when these issues aren't present on its peers. Will there ever be a Pixel with flagship-grade gaming performance?

Rambler is the breakout software feature for me this year, but Google is also highlighting Gemini Intelligence and “Proactive Assistance,” where Gemini will surface helpful actions. For example, my friend suggested getting dim sum this weekend, and when asked when to meet, a bubble popped up in the Messages app letting me quickly view my calendar without leaving the app. Then, when we settled on a time, another bubble popped up asking if I wanted to create the calendar event.

Gemini Intelligence's Proactive Assistance will surface these kinds of bubbles in select apps to complete actions on your behalf.

It all worked very smoothly, though Gemini struggled to understand that the restaurant's name was “Din Soup,” not Dim Sum. The bigger problem is that this kind of proactive assistance is largely available in the Messages app, which, unfortunately, is not my default messaging mode. When this becomes a system-wide capability that works in every app, I can see its utility.

Google has made some overall tweaks throughout the Pixel's interface that I think give it a stronger, more unique design language. I also do want to call out that these are still the only major Android phones with built-in Qi 2 magnets—aka the magnetic back like Mag Safe on the i Phone. I am all in on Mag Safe accessories, whether that's my car dock or my mobile tripod, so it's indispensable to me.

Speaking of, battery life is rather unimpressive on both Pixel 11 Pro models. (The only difference between the pair is battery life and screen size.) I averaged four hours of screen-on time before the Pixel 11 Pro XL hit 20 percent, and roughly the same on the Pixel 11 Pro. Granted, I was downloading data over cellular, using Google Maps, and taking a lot of photos. I think average users will find it sufficient for a full day, but power users will undoubtedly need a top-up. Perhaps it's time for Google to consider denser batteries with silicon-carbon battery technology?

This is where I stood, in Brooklyn, at 1X camera zoom with the Pixel 11 Pro XL.

This is the photo I captured with 120X Pro Res Zoom. It's the top of the World Trade Center.

Do you really need 120X digital zoom? When you say it out loud, it sounds ridiculous, but then you look at the results, and it's hard not to be impressed. Yes, there are AI-generated pixels (anything past 30X zoom) filling in the gaps, which will be a nonstarter for many, but look how far away I am! It's actually quite a struggle to capture photos at that high level of zoom because the camera gets very shaky. Still, having access to this level of zoom means I am more comfortable zooming in to 30 or 50X, where the results are even better.

The two big hardware changes to the camera system are the new 50-megapixel main sensor and a new 48-MP telephoto zoom with 30 percent better light sensitivity. But the Tensor G6 chip is also powering many imaging improvements that should result in stronger photos overall.

First of all, I am happy to report that Google seems to have finally fixed Portrait mode. For too long, the Pixel's Portrait mode has struggled with hair, causing weird glitches or artifacts with rogue strands of hair at the edges of a person's head. It's not perfect now, but it's significantly better at detecting individual strands of hair and figuring out the best way to blur everything behind them.

The Pixel 11 Pro XL's Portrait mode does a better job with hair than ever before.

The i Phone 17 Pro Max has a nice fall-off for the blur, but the scene is warmer than it was IRL.

Night Sight on these Pro devices is now Instant Night Sight, and is supposedly up to 4.5 times faster. I think Google may have jumped the gun on Instant because there's still a small pause when you hit the shutter button, and if you or your subject are moving slightly, it will still probably come out a little blurry. But it's certainly not as long of a pause as before, which makes low-light photography a smidge more forgiving to those kinds of smaller movements.

As someone who loves using the telephoto zoom on smartphone cameras, the 5X camera is excellent, delivering sharp, detailed images even at night. I took a handful of shots comparing these cameras with the i Phone 17 Pro, and I found Google did a better job replicating colors, though still slightly preferring cooler tones. The i Phone tended to make everything way warmer than it was in real life.

The nice thing is that Google finally gives you a little more control over how your photos look. Camera Looks, tucked away in the camera settings, lets you choose a different visual style. That might mean purposefully taking a worse photo, maybe with crushed highlights or lifted shadows, so your photos aren't this perfect slice of life, but imperfect and you. I seem to be gravitating to the Vanilla and Velvet looks the most.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu Google Pixel 11 Pro XL, Portrait Mode

Another one of those features that makes everyday life a little easier—if you tend to shoot videos for a living like me—is Creator Suite. This mode in the Video tab of the camera app enables handy tools, like an audio visualizer, so you know your wireless mic is picking up your voice. But what I love most is the built-in teleprompter. It understands the cadence of your voice and will progress to the next line as you speak. It worked perfectly in my test run, and I'm excited to use it at the next big event I cover soon.

Finally, there's Magic Capture. It's a dedicated mode next to Photo and Video that is designed to make it so that you can just hold the phone up and it'll capture several photos on your behalf. You'll even get a 1080p video clip (though you can boost it to 4K using Google's Video Boost technology). The idea is that if you're singing happy birthday to your kid, your face isn't buried behind a phone, instead looking at the scene in real life while you have the phone held next to you capturing the moment.

I didn't have a special occasion to use it for this past week, but I did hold up the phone while my dog was playing with other pooches at the dog park and also to shoot scenes of volleyball at the park, and it did a pretty good job capturing photos that would otherwise have required more focus on my part. I just wish Magic Capture could change the lenses itself because right now that's something you have to pick manually. This feature seems ripe for Google's upcoming pair of smart glasses, considering you won't have to hold anything up at all.

All in all, the Pixel 11 Pro models are yet another strong entry that deliver the camera prowess expected of a Pixel and the software smarts. There are still some areas where Google needs to catch up with its competitors, namely graphical performance and battery life, especially if it's going to charge this much.

But it's also worth noting that you do not need to spend this much if you want a good phone. Google brings many of these smart capabilities down to its cheaper A-series phone, which also still has a class-leading camera and performance for the money, or you can get a very similar experience with the slightly cheaper Pixel 11.

(And by the way, I've completely written these last few paragraphs using Rambler.)

Key Takeaways

• There is one new feature on Google's Pixel 11 series that, I kid you not, caused my jaw to drop
• I am a swipe typer, whizzing my finger across letters to form words instead of tapping each key individually
• With the Pixel 11 devices, there's a new feature called Rambler—an upgraded, AI-powered voice-to-text feature—that is smarter than anything you've probably used before
• Rambler lives in Gboard, Google's keyboard app, on the Pixel 11 series
• The accuracy of the voice-to-text is incredible, especially as you see it understand the mistakes, pauses, or vocal fillers