Is the Google Pixel 11 Pro worth the upgrade? Here is our in-depth review

Google recently launched as many as four smartphones along with a new smartwatch and a pair of buds globally, including in India: the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold.

I have been using the Pixel 11 Pro for a while now—priced at ₹1,19,999 for the base model and ₹1,34,999 for the higher variant—and the phone has quite a few things worth noting. The familiar-looking visor at the back is now a little slimmer and also has something called HiLight.

If you remember previous Android phones from yesteryear, there used to be an LED notification. This serves a similar purpose, but it is at the back, not on the front. Whenever you have a call, or you have some processing going on from Google Gemini, the HiLight LED at the back lights up to indicate that. Google says it is going to support more things, such as messages, with some updates.

The 20:9 aspect ratio device has curved corners and flat edges. It is not the slimmest device by any means, but it is still quite comfortable to hold. The visor at the back also sort of works as a platform to rest your index finger while holding the device with one hand. The device comes in four colour options: Canyon, Fog, Olive, and Obsidian, which has a matte finish and is the one I tried.

The 6.3-inch (1280x2856) OLED display with 1 to 120Hz refresh rates is really bright, has good viewing angles, and seems like a solid display for the price tag, including for HDR output. Colours come out vivid and videos look sharp. It is usable under direct sunlight as well, provided the brightness is not under 30 per cent or so.

The cameras have often been among the talking points about a Pixel phone, so this time you get a 50MP (f/1.68) main camera, a 48MP (f/1.7) ultra-wide camera, and a 48MP (f/2.8) telephoto camera. There is upgraded hardware here alongside Google's software additions. Camera Coach is a nice addition where the phone decides which video parts and photos look best while you can focus on the moment and not on what is getting captured by the camera. It is based on Google's generative AI model and can come in handy at times.

Photos in general look very Pixel-like, with its distinct contrast and punchy HDR on some occasions while retaining details. I wouldn't call it the snappiest camera app, since the post-processing can still take a bit of time like before, but in terms of navigating through the app, it is quite straightforward and smooth.

Zoom performance seems to be improved, with details retained until around 10x with very little loss of colours and subject depth. The front-facing 48MP (f/2.2) camera with autofocus takes more detailed and well-stitched shots that don't lose out on exposure—handling better than before, including in low-light conditions.

The phone is running on Google's Tensor G6 chipset (octa-core processor, IMG CXTP 48 1536 GPU) with a Tensor M3 security chip and 12GB or 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, and 256GB or 512GB UFS4.0 internal storage. It is running on Android 17 with the September security patch in place.

Rambler is one of the new features here, which basically allows you to do voice dictation to compose messages, emails, notes, and such, and it is really well done. It auto-recognises filler words such as "umm" or "uhh" and adjusts the sentence accordingly. Also, it handles grammar better than any other voice dictation on a phone's keyboard so far. I got it right around 90–95 per cent of the time and added a couple of paragraphs of this review with it, too.

There is Circle to Search within the camera app now, so you don't have to do a Google Lens search. The performance of the phone feels satisfactory. Apps generally worked reliably, and no stuttering was seen across third-party apps I had installed.

The only app that showed some bugs was Google Maps' picture-in-picture mode, which sometimes froze and stopped responding to touches.

For gaming, you can expect to play something like BGMI at around 90FPS, but it handles something like GTA V at around 30FPS, which is a little disappointing to see. While the software itself is smooth, gaming performance could be further improved.

Under software, I also liked things like the screensaver while the phone is on charge; haptics are also done well here. Google promises seven years of OS upgrades and security patches for the Pixel 11 series.

The call quality on the device is top-notch. I noticed better 5G network reception in crowded areas than before, but speeds can still drop relative to other flagship devices. The loudspeakers on the phone are decently loud, but do miss out on depth for multimedia playback, including reels and such.

The phone has a 4,850mAh battery, and it lasted me about a day with moderate usage, but needed another charge with heavy usage, especially with a Wi-Fi hotspot in use. The phone charges in around 1.5 hours using a 65-watt fast charger (not included in the box).

All in all, the Pixel 11 Pro is quite a refined device from Google. It doesn't quite seem like a "meant for all" smartphone. While its AI chops and camera features excel, and general performance is satisfactory, gaming does come across as a weak point.

If you have a Pixel 10, there is really no need for an upgrade, maybe even with a Pixel 9. But if you have anything before that and you are used to Google's take on things—along with known downsides like slow battery charging speeds and upsides like smooth day-to-day performance and Google Gemini—the Pixel 11 Pro is certainly worth a look.