GOOGLE PIXEL 6 PRO ● Best of the rest
Price from £849 / stuff.tv/pixel6pro
The last couple of Pixel phones were so plain it was like the design process was skipped altogether. Call it minimalism if you like, but it didn’t help the Pixel 5 stand out. That changes here.
Google’s Pixel 6 Pro is one of the most striking phones you can get. With that bold camera ‘shelf’ and two-tone colourway nicked straight from an interior design TV show, the arty types in Google’s labs have finally been given a chance to show off. It’s all glass and metal too, and yet deftly undercuts both Samsung and Apple.
It means we can finally say Pixels aren’t just about the cameras and software. That said, you should still pick the Pixel 6 Pro for its cameras and software…
Cameras: zoomy
Here we get the first major resolution bump in the main cam since this series began in 2016, from 12MP to 50. And Google hasn’t traded away its fantastic low-light performance as part of the deal either.
This is also the first Pixel with a true high-power zoom – a 4x periscope number that fully justifies the chunky glass lip in which the cameras live.
Step this way for luscious photographs and greater versatility than ever, then. But it’s not just about the sensors: some of the key camera features are a bit smarter than that.
Software: spooky
The Pixel 6 Pro also debuts Magic Eraser and Motion Mode. The former gets rid of objects you don’t want to see in your photos, filling in the gaps they leave with a little machine-learning creative licence. You can do this in Photoshop, but it’s much easier here, the results are often unnervingly good and you don’t have to pay Adobe a small fortune for the privilege.
Motion Mode emulates the kind of shot you get if you track an F1 car with a DSLR as it zooms past, or do a long exposure of a Ferris wheel with a camera on a tripod: one part of the image is motion-blurred while the rest stays sharp. It’s the neatest use of computational photography since clever low-light modes made decent handheld night photography happen back in 2018.
All this is powered by Google’s Tensor chip, the first all-in-one phone processor Google has ever made. Add all that to a bold 6.71in curved AMOLED screen, great stereo speakers plus decent battery life, and you can only conclude the Pixel 6 Pro is a damned good deal at £849.
TECH SPECS
● 6.71in 3120x1440
120Hz AMOLED ● Google Tensor ● 12GB RAM
● 128/256GB ● Android 12 ● 50+48+12MP rear,
11MP front ● 5003mah
● 164x76x8.9mm, 210g
STUFF SAYS
Finally, a Pixel flagship that both looks and feels the part ★★★★★
APPLE IPHONE 13 PRO MAX from £1049 / stuff.tv/13promax
Android versus iphone – a topic more tedious than the debate over whether Die Hard is a Christmas film. But iphones are just flat-out better at some things, even in 2022.
The 13 Pro Max is the single best phone for video capture. If you want to start a Youtube career and have an aversion to mirrorless cameras, buy this. It’s also the best phone for gaming. The library is superior and its A15 Bionic CPU beats all Android rivals. Yep, even the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
And new for this generation, we get a 3x zoom camera and a fresh ultrawide that takes great macro pics. The iphone 13 Pro Max is pricey, but it’s brilliant.
Key specs
● 6.7in 2778x1284 XDR OLED
● A15 Bionic ● 6GB, 128GB-1TB ● 12+12+12MP ● 4352mah
● 161x78x7.7mm, 238g STUFF SAYS ★★★★★ A true monster of a phone for those who can afford it
ONEPLUS 9 PRO from £829 / stuff.tv/oneplus9pro
Oneplus has spent the last few years gradually shrugging off its ‘king of budget phones’ mantle. The 9 Pro is its vision of a true no-compromise flagship.
It has a high-end Snapdragon 888 CPU, a 3.3x zoom camera, a curved glass front and a sharp 1440p display. Oneplus also teamed up with Hasselblad for the camera’s image processing. You can think of Hasselblad as a sort of photography Gandalf, stepping in with a wand-wave to help out with colour tuning.
This handset’s follow-up, the Oneplus 10 Pro, is already out in China. But that just means there’s a better chance of finding a 9 Pro at a steal of a price online. Deal hunters, take note.
Key specs
● 6.7in 3216x1440 AMOLED
● Snapdragon 888 ● 8/12GB, 128/256GB ● 48+50+8+2MP ● 4500mah ● 163x74x8.7mm, 197g STUFF SAYS ★★★★★ Not a real powerhouse but still one of the great Android buys
XIAOMI MI 11 from £749 / stuff.tv/mi11
Forget the Mi 11 Ultra – the standard Mi 11 represents what Xiaomi does best. This is great hardware at an even better price, landing at up to £300 less than one of the fancy phones you’ll see advertised on the side of a bus.
You get lovely curved glass on front and back, which helps the Mi 11 feel trim despite its massive 6.81in screen. The primary camera is great, while the speakers have that flagship punch.
There’s no telephoto camera, and that’s the main sacrifice here. Zooming adds a lot of photography fun, but even value master Xiaomi couldn’t fit such hardware into the Mi 11’s tight design budget. Still, pick it up during one of Xiaomi’s regular sales and it’s a red-hot deal.
Key specs
● 6.81in 3200x1440 AMOLED
● Snapdragon 888 ● 8GB, 128/256GB ● 108+13+5MP ● 4600mah ● 164x75x8.1mm, 196g STUFF SAYS ★★★★★ A no-compromise design without an eye-watering price