Today, we got the new Pixel 11 lineup on our doorstep, so it’s time to start unboxing them one by one. The new phones made somewhat of a negative initial impression for keeping things mostly unchanged, but there are some novelties. Let’s dive in!
From left to right – Google Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, and the Pixel 11 Pro XL
The Google Pixel 11 Pro XL is the biggest in the trio, and it feels it. It’s tall and wide, and hefty at 226 grams. It feels nearly identical to its predecessor, and it is, dimension-wise, at least. Its battery is a tad smaller at 5,115mAh (vs 5,200mAh on the 10 Pro XL), and you get seemingly the same charging speeds – 45W wired and 25W wireless.
The biggest change, naturally, is the new Tensor G6 SoC. Its CPU loses a core compared to the G5 and has just 7, but speed and efficiency have improved. The new C1-Ultra fast core beats the old Cortex-X4, and you get higher-clocked new C1-Pro cores instead of the old Cortex-A725 and Cortex-A520 combo.
Google’s numbers say the G6 is 25% faster at web browsing, 15% faster at app launches, and has 50% more TPU compute units. On-device AI can run up to 3.5x faster and consume 3.5x less energy!
The camera hardware hasn’t changed fundamentally. The wide-angle camera has the same lens – 25mm f/1.7 – with the same optical format – 1/1.30-inch. The zoom is an improvement, on paper at least – it’s a 106mm f/2.8 (vs 113mm on the 10 Pro XL), with a bigger 1/1.95-inch sensor (vs 1/2.55-inch on the older phone). The ultrawide and selfie are essentially unchanged.
What is new is Magic Capture – start it and just point your phone towards whatever’s happening, and it will capture both stills and video, choosing the best moments. It’s a way to get you to not stare at your phone during important moments.
There’s also HiLight, which lights up color LEDs around the camera flash when the phone is lying face-down. The LEDs light up when you get a call from a favorite contact or interact with Gemini. The feature has some issues, however, and we couldn’t get it to work. There are multiple reports online citing issues with HiLight, so it’s not just our two Pro models.
The Pixel 11 Pro XL comes in 12/256GB, 16/512GB, 16GB/1TB, and in Canyon, Fog, Olive, or Obsidian. Ours is the Fog model, and it’s a slightly bluish silver. There’s just a USB-C cable in the box.
