aug / 2025
Google’s entry-level flagship Pixel has confirmed to be a succesful smartphone, with simply the best specs and options to please the plenty. So once I converted to the newest mannequin, the Pixel 10, I wasn’t anticipating to be wowed. After every week of use, nonetheless, I stand corrected.
With the Pixel 10, Google saved its smooth design, whereas including {hardware} upgrades that can enhance customers’ on a regular basis experiences in delicate — however significant, Google hopes — methods. These embody an improved battery, a brand new telephoto lens, and Pixelsnap: Android’s model of MagSafe.
But, the Pixel 10’s suite of AI options, powered by the Google Tensor G5 chipset, is the center of what makes the smartphone stand out. Regardless of the upgrades, the Pixel 10 retails for a similar value as its predecessor: $799.
I have been utilizing the Pixel 10 day by day since Jimmy Fallon put it down on the Made by Google stage. Let’s decide if these upgrades are vital sufficient to warrant an improve from the earlier fashions.
Specs that will not depart you wanting extra
I really like a Goldilocks analogy, and it is particularly related right here. When a product is finished properly, it will not depart you eager for extra. Such is the case with the Pixel 10’s efficiency.
The shape issue is sort of similar to its predecessor, with rounded corners, aluminum sides, and a easy Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 again (additionally on the entrance). The digital camera bar, 6.3-inch Actua show, and comparable weight (simply 0.2 ounces heavier than final 12 months) all resemble the Pixel 9, however this is not a criticism. If it ain’t broke, do not repair it.
Regardless of the floor similarities, extra time with the cellphone makes the upgrades extra evident. For instance, the show now helps 3000 nits of peak brightness, up from final 12 months’s 2700 nits. This, mixed with the 120Hz refresh fee, 2424×1080 decision, and OLED panel, makes for a shiny, vivid show in all lighting circumstances.
A better take a look at the digital camera bar additionally reveals a brand new third 5x telephoto lens, which makes it simpler to get crisper pictures of distant objects. Whereas I sometimes wait till a lot later in a assessment to the touch on the digital camera, I’ve to say the Tremendous Res zoom as much as 20x left me impressed. It did not sacrifice particulars when cropping carefully in on a topic, partially as a result of digital camera’s Imaging Sign Processor (ISP) enabled by the brand new Tensor G5 chipset.
The triple digital camera array is comprised of a 48MP foremost digital camera, a 13MP 120-degree ultrawide, and a brand new 10.8MP telephoto lens, with a ten.5MP selfie digital camera on the entrance. According to prior fashions, the digital camera system is able to taking vibrant, detailed pictures with wealthy distinction. The expanded zoom capabilities make it extra on par with the Professional fashions, which have at all times had telephoto cameras.
One other improve, although not instantly seen, is the brand new Pixelsnap magnetic know-how, which works equally to MagSafe on iPhones. With the Pixelsnap, customers can connect magnetic equipment to the again of their telephones (together with MagSafe-compatible ones), reminiscent of chargers, mounts, and docks.
This alone is a handy addition that you just in all probability will not recognize till you discover an adjunct you’re keen on. As an iPhone consumer, I am unable to think about life with out my MagSafe transportable chargers.
Underneath the hood, the cellphone obtained some upgrades, together with a barely greater battery that Google claims lasts as much as 30 hours, up from the 24 hours on the Pixel 9. Throughout my time testing, even after regular work actions, together with taking part in music practically all day as I write, doom scrolling on social media, and texting (solely throughout breaks, after all), I used to be in a position to not solely make it via a complete day, but additionally have some juice leftover the subsequent morning.
Lastly, the cellphone’s most notable improve is the Google Tensor G5 chipset, the corporate’s most superior processor. Not solely does it assist an general higher efficiency out of your cellphone, together with sooner speeds, optimum battery efficiency, and higher images, however it additionally powers all the superior AI options discovered on the Pixel 10.
The Tensor G5 was designed with Google DeepMind and, because of this, optimized for on-device AI workloads. For instance, the Tensor G5 runs Google’s Gemini Nano mannequin solely on-device, giving customers optimum speeds and the peace of thoughts that their knowledge is not leaving the system. This highly effective mannequin helps the intensive suite of AI options, which is what actually units the Pixel 10 aside.
Probably the most baked AI options on a smartphone but
Within the period of AI, practically each cellphone launch additionally features a suite of automated, machine-learning-based options. Nevertheless, in my expertise, many of those options are simple to disregard. With the Pixel 10, Google struck a very good steadiness, baking varied instruments into most of the cellphone’s main features so that they are intuitive to make use of, whereas not being too overbearing.
A first-rate instance is Magic Cue, a brand new predictive function that makes use of the context of what you are doing — mixed together with your exercise throughout Google’s apps — to generate solutions in actual time for actions or info. For instance, if somebody asks me in a textual content what time our reservation is, Magic Cue “reads” it and surfaces the data in order that I simply must faucet on it to answer.
Whereas I can verify the function works, as I examined the Pixel 10 in on a regular basis interactions, Magic Cue wasn’t intrusive, one of many issues I had going into it. I consider it extra as one thing you may faucet into do you have to want it, to cut back the friction of getting to dig to seek out info.
One other AI-powered function I loved is the brand new Day by day Hub function discovered within the Uncover feed. Utilizing context from my Google Calendar and YouTube exercise, it curated a handy abstract of my day that I may very well be briefed on at a look as an alternative of getting to toggle between completely different apps.
The digital camera app obtained the majority of the updates, with options reminiscent of Digital camera Coach, the place the AI instructs you on learn how to enhance your shot, Add Me, which now works with much more individuals, and Auto Greatest Take, which routinely finds the perfect image with all of your topics in what Google considers the perfect state.
There are additionally a plethora of different AI options, together with a real-time Name Translation function, a Take a Message function, which makes use of AI to offer transcripts for missed calls, Pixel Journal immediate solutions, and even a NotebookLM integration in Pixel Screenshots.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
I’ve loved my expertise with the Pixel 10 and would advocate it to most customers searching for a comparatively accessible Android, particularly if the useful AI options resonate with you. In the end, it delivers on efficiency, digital camera, battery life, and AI options, making it a robust competitor towards different flagship smartphones in the identical value vary.
You possibly can preorder yours now for a beginning value of $799, with a number of cellphone carriers providing extra promotions and offers. The colours embody Indigo, Frost, Lemongrass, and Obsidian, and storage sizes vary from 128GB to 256GB.
You possibly can sustain with my newest tales and tech adventures on social media. Comply with me on Twitter/X at @sabrinaa_ortiz and on Instagram at @sabrinaa.ortiz.
