Pixel 6 Pro Review
With the Pixel 6 phones, Google is making a strong push back into the flagship phone territory, highlighted by the unique design that I’ve not seen anywhere else, with the camera “bar” on the back of the phone – it’s definitely compelling to me – and it reminds folks that Google is known for its camera systems. And the camera system in the Pixel 6 phones are a jump ahead from the Pixel 5 family, letting in 150% more light into their lenses, which I’ll go into detail about a bit later.
The Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 6 were released for sale in Australia on 28 October, 2021.
So aside from the design (which with the Pro also means a glass back) there are a few interesting feature changes with the Google Pixel 6 phones, most notably around Tensor (Google’s own chip system) and the way it’s built to help enhance Google’s AI camera systems – sometimes called computational photography - as well as bring to life new camera features, with the Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 6 release in 2021.
| Key Info | |
| Operating System Name and Version | Android 12 |
| Display Size (in inches) + Type + (Pixel Density) | 1440 x 3120 QHD+ 19.5:9 10-120HZ |
| Processor Speed (in MHz/GHz) and Core Count | Snapdragon 888, Octa core (2.84GHz,2.4GHz,1.8GHz) |
| GPU | Google Tensor |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Internal Memory + Accessible Space | 128GB |
| Expandable Memory (including max capacity) | N/A |
| Main Camera Resolution (in MP) | 50MP Dual-Pixel Wide 12MP Ultrawide: 4K @ 110 deg 4X Tele 48MP Fixed Folded |
| Front-Facing Camera Resolution (in MP) | 11MP 97deg FOV |
| Video Capture (Resolution @ Frame Rate) | Up to 4k @ 60fps |
| 2G Network Bands (in MHz) | 850/900/1800/1900 MHz |
| 3G Network Bands (in MHz) | B1/2/4/5/6/8/19 |
| 4G Network Bands (Band & MHz) | 2x2: B5/8/12/13/14/17/18/19/20/26/28/29/32/46(LAA)/71 4x4: B1/2/3/4/7/25/30/38/39/40/41(HPUE)/42/48/66 up to 12 Layers (DL 1.2Gbps) |
| 5G Network Bands (Band & MHz) | FR1(sub6):n1/n2/n3/n5/n7/n8/n12/n14/n20/n25/n28/n30/ n38/n40/n41/n48/n66/n71/n77/n78 FR2(mmwave): n257/n258/n260/n261 (2x2) |
| Physical Profile | |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 163.9mm(L) x 75.9mm (W) x 8.9mm (H) |
| Weight | 210g |
| SIM Type | eSim and pSim |
| Power and Battery | |
| Capacity (in mAh) | Li-ion 5000mAh |
| Removable (Yes/No) | No |
| Fingerprint Sensor | Yes |
| Connectivity | |
| WiFi Hotspot (Yes/No) | Yes |
| Bluetooth Version | 5.2 |
| NFC (Yes/No) | Yes |
| GPS (Yes/No) | Yes |
| Infrared port | No |
| Multimedia | |
| 3.5mm audio jack (Yes/No) | No |
| HDMI out (Yes/No) | No |
| FM Radio (Yes/No) | No |
| DLNA (Yes/No) | No |
| Supported Audio Formats | MP3 |
| Supported Video Formats | MP4 |
Optus is relying on product information supplied by Google in making the representations above.
Is the Pixel 6 Pro waterproof?
The Pixel 6 Pro isn’t waterproof – few phones truly are. It is IP68 rated for water and dust resistance, which is one of the most common ratings. This means that if your phone is immersed in water for (generally) less than 30 minutes, it should be okay – though obviously you want to get it out and dry as soon as possible, particularly given that water damage often voids warranty or other coverage.
Is there a headphone jack?
No. The Pixel 6 Pro has a USB-C port for wired headphones, available separately for purchase. Alternatively, you can use wireless headphones like the Pixel Buds A-series.
Is there dual SIM?
Yes, the Google Pixel 6 Pro supports eSIM and physical SIM.
Is there an SD card?
No, there isn’t external memory on the Pixel 6 Pro, though the internal memory on Pixel 6 Pro’s available up to a generous 256GB.Is there a headphone jack?
The Pixel 6 Pro design is unique, as I mentioned earlier – the camera bar stands the phones out from the usual camera bumps we’ve become used to on flagship phones, Android or otherwise. It’s a big phone as well – coming in at 7.6 cm wide with a 170mm screen, so is great for all the different apps and videos and photos we use, watch and take.
That being said, I actually found it a bit difficult to use one-handed, even as I got used to it, so if you’re someone who prefers a screen that allows you to work seamlessly one handed, there may be some different options out there more suited for you.
The phone is wrapped in two different types of Gorilla Glass – Victus on the cover and Gorilla Glass 6 on the back. Because of this, I found it quite slippy when using it…to the point where it slipped around on some (flat) surfaces as well. The sample I used didn’t come with a case, which, let’s be honest, we all use with our phones anyway - so I’d definitely recommend getting one with this phone.
This phone definitely ticks all the boxes in terms of looks – new, relatively unique design with a clear and colourful display and new, smooth Android 12 and Material You experience that makes using it easy and personalising it fun.
For me, the battery on this phone – as a light user (texts, calls, some battery heavy apps, but no gaming or extensive video watching) with battery saver (though not Extreme Battery Saver) turned on, the Pixel 6 Pro lasted anywhere between a day and a day and half before I got battery anxiety and charged it. For me, battery anxiety usually hits around 15-20%.
I’m not entirely sure why this is, honestly – with the 5,000mAh battery I would’ve expected a bit longer. My working theory is that with the first-generation Tensor chip there are likely still some efficiencies Google could work out in further generations, or the AI computational photography engines take up a bit more processing time in the background than the average user might realise or expect.
That being said, having a battery that lasts through the day and then charging at night is what I’m used to. It’s my default setting – so having a phone that meets that expectation is more than good. And while I did use the phone for a solid two weeks, the battery was still learning my usage patterns – I’d imagine as you use it more frequently you’d see an improved battery life as the system understands and adapts to your preferences.
I tried using gestures for the first few days with the Pixel 6 Pro and for whatever reason, I just couldn’t get the hang of the “back” gesture; I kept looking for the back arrow instead of just swiping as the gesture allows. So I went back to what I knew and disabled the gestures. I would imagine it would be particularly nice for some, though.
The sound performance was rather impressive – though if you inadvertently covered the speaker at the bottom of the phone, say, with your finger while you were talking, it does noticeably dampen the sound.
There were no major issues with any app stutters or incompatibilities that I had while using the phone. Oddly enough, occasionally the messages app would randomly drop on me while I was in the middle of writing a text, though I feel like that’s more on me and getting used to a pure Android 12 environment and the controls of the Pixel 6 phones than the system, chip or phone itself.
Overall, the battery and performance of this phone lines up with what I would expect from a flagship phone in 2021.
| Main Camera Resolution (in MP) | wide: 50MP f/1.85, telephoto: 48MP f/3.5 ultrawide: 12MP f/2.2 |
| Front-Facing Camera Resolution (in MP) | 11.1MP f/2.2 |
For Google, the camera is what they’re known for – and making the most out of what they’ve got with features and processing that work in the background to really upgrade your photos. With the Pixel 6 Pro in combination with Tensor, they’ve delivered.
The advanced camera captures up to 150% more light than Pixel 5, for rich, vivid colours and even more detail in everything that you shoot, supported by some exciting camera modes that, for me, brought an element of playfulness back into my photography.
One of the elements I had the most fun with were the camera modes– Motion Mode in particular. If you’re a fan of action shots, whether it’s urban traffic or sport, have a go with Motion Mode. And for the creators out there, options like Face Unblur and Magic Eraser will probably make your lives quite a bit easier by automagically focusing faces in shots where they may otherwise be blurry, or removing distracting objects (or people) in photos – all up to a certain point, of course. No algorithm could completely create from scratch a landscape in the background of your photo that’s covered up by all the tourists there, but a few random objects or people in the shot you’d rather not be there, absolutely possible.
And then there’s Night Sight, which has been a hallmark of Google’s phone photography - and it’s been carried over into the Pixel 6 Pro. So the stars are calling – go take some interesting sky photos with your Pixel 6 Pro. (Unfortunately when I had the review device it was overcast…thanks La Niña – a quick search will find a number of other publications that have their own Night Sight samples on the Pixel 6 Pro).
Motion mode on
Motion mode off
Motion mode at night
Motion mode at daytime
When it comes down to it though – were the photos good? Yes. I felt sometimes outdoors portrait mode added a bit more yellow to the tone than I saw with my own eye or expected to see in the photo. Otherwise, the photos all came out pretty well, though you could see a cooler tone when using the wide angle lens, the quality was just as sharp.
In the above photos you can see a colouration difference between the wide lens and the standard lenses on the phone – the wide lens is definitely cooler in tone.
With an adaptive screen and battery at a max of 120Hz, plus an OLED display, the colour is rich and the brightness levels worked for me in pretty much every situation. The screen was responsive to speedy scrolling and selections as well.
If you’re in the market for a new phone, definitely consider the Pixel 6 Pro. The phone has pretty much all the features you could want in a phone in 2021 and beyond.