I have mixed feelings about Google’s Pixel phones, and the new Pixel 11 series makes things even more complicated. The hardware still isn’t the fastest, but the overall experience might be the smartest you can get on a smartphone right now.
I’ve been using the Pixel 11 Pro, and what keeps pulling me back is how effortless it feels. Google has gotten very good at using AI for things that are actually useful, instead of just giving you another chatbot.
My favorite example is Rambler, Google’s new AI-powered voice typing. I can just talk naturally, with all my pauses and corrections, and it turns my rambling into surprisingly polished text. I’ve been using it to reply to emails much faster, and it’s one of those features I miss almost immediately when I switch back to another phone.
Magic Capture is another standout. You essentially record a moment and the phone automatically pulls out the best photos and video clips. I tried it while my kid was doing karate, and it captured shots I probably would have missed trying to hit the shutter button at exactly the right moment. Birthday candles, sports, pets and kids are perfect use cases.
The camera in general remains one of my favorite things about Pixel. It’s fast, consistent and effortless. Video has improved, too, and creators get some super useful additions including an on-screen teleprompter and audio level monitoring.
There are plenty of smaller touches. Live Translate can dub videos and podcasts into another language in real time. You can circle something right inside the camera viewfinder to search for it. Sharing now works with Apple’s AirDrop. The Pro models even have a new glowing HiLight indicator that can signal when Gemini is working or a favorite contact is calling.
But there’s still one frustrating weakness: performance.
The Pixel 11 simply doesn’t have the raw horsepower of the latest iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones. For email, photos, social media and everyday apps, I don’t think most people will notice. Serious mobile gamers or anyone regularly editing large video files probably will.
If you already have a Pixel 10, this probably isn’t the year to upgrade. Many of the best improvements are software features that will make their way to existing Pixels. Coming from an older Pixel 8 or 9, the upgrade makes more sense.
Pixel 11 prices start at $899, which is $100 more than last year, although Google has doubled the starting storage.
If you’re buying the Pixel 11 Pro, I’d spend a little extra for the 512GB version. That’s the better-loaded configuration this year - you get 16 gigs of RAM instead of a downgrade to 12 vs last year’s model.
The Pixel 11 isn’t the fastest smartphone you can buy. It might not even have the most impressive spec sheet. But after actually using it, I keep coming back to the same conclusion: it’s one of the smartest and easiest phones to live with every day.
One more thing: I just love using the Pixel 11 Pro as a camera. It’s fast, effortless and consistent. Most of the time I can pull it out, take one picture and move on without thinking much about it. That might be my favorite thing about the Pixel camera. It just gets the shot.
Here are some photos I took with it.
