Google Pixel 10 evaluation: completely effective

Asking the Pixel 10 to be greater than what it’s feels grasping.

Google’s non-Professional Pixel is priced pretty at $799, which is considerably lower than the $999 Pixel 10 Pro. It comes with some helpful upgrades, like Qi2 charging with built-in magnets. Its AI options lastly present promise. It features a devoted telephoto lens for the primary time. It’s a correct flagship and an all-around easygoing Android cellphone. But when I’m being grasping, then I do have one request: higher cameras.

The rear cameras on the Pixel 10 are completely effective. For somebody who’s not choosy about picture high quality, they’d be higher than effective. And possibly I’d assume they have been effective, too, if I wasn’t cursed with the data that the cameras on last year’s model are higher. And that’s as a result of up till this 12 months, the non-Professional Pixel got here with the identical major and ultrawide digicam {hardware} because the Professional. However we will’t have every little thing, and when Google added that telephoto lens this 12 months, it downgraded the opposite two rear cameras to primarily what’s within the midrange Pixel 9A. So the Pixel 10 has a superbly effective digicam system, so long as you’re not too grasping.

Exterior of the digicam state of affairs, the Pixel 10 comes with the identical main upgrades because the Professional telephones this 12 months: a brand new chip and a few magnets. Tensor G5 is the brand new processor on the ten sequence, which I’ve discovered to run a tad cooler than earlier variations. The G5 is Google’s first customized chipset made by TSMC, and it handles heavier workloads properly. The common 10 comes with 12GB of RAM in comparison with 16GB within the 10 Professional, and I did discover a bit of extra stuttering on dense internet pages than on the Professional. However for the non-skilled cellphone person, it handles most duties simply effective.

There’s an entire lot of on-device AI working on the brand new chip — which you’ll be able to learn extra about in my Pixel 10 Pro review — and I think it contributes to the Pixel 10’s just-okay battery life. A full day of average use is not any downside, however in the event you add some intensive actions like an prolonged hotspot or gaming session, then you definitely may begin on the lookout for a charger within the late afternoon. The typical individual in all probability received’t be bothered by it, however energy customers will need a charger or energy financial institution helpful to keep away from battery anxiousness on the finish of the day.

AI remains to be hit-or-miss, however the hits are getting higher. The Pixel 10 doesn’t provide the generative AI-assisted camera zoom feature that the Professional and Professional XL have, however you do get Magic Cue, which fetches useful info primarily based on what you’re doing. And it really does work. It’s solely in a handful of Google apps proper now, however it could possibly assist put one thing in your calendar as you hash out plans in Messages or recommend a vacation spot if you open Google Maps primarily based on one thing you saved in your screenshots. I had just a few extra false positives whereas testing it on the Pixel 10 than I did with the ten Professional; there have been occasions when it recommended info that wasn’t related or it provided to create a calendar occasion once I instructed a buddy I’d “be there in 30.” I nonetheless discovered it extra helpful than not, and it’s straightforward sufficient to disregard when its options are off the mark.

The Pixel 10 has Qi2 with built-in magnets, and it’s a delight. There’s no case required (unlike with the Samsung S25 series phones), and I totally loved thwacking the cellphone onto a bedside PixelSnap charger on the finish of every day. With the addition of what’s essentially MagSafe, the Pixel sequence is wanting like a fairly full various to the iOS ecosystem lately. Every night time once I put my cellphone on the charger, triggering bedtime mode, my Pixel watch adopted swimsuit and altered modes, too. That’s not a brand new function, however little moments like that add up all through the day.

I spent every week with the Pixel 10 Professional earlier than switching to the common 10, and there’s not a lot that feels radically totally different on the cheaper mannequin — besides the show. The usual 10 comes with a 6.3-inch 1080p display with as much as a 120Hz refresh price, in comparison with the 1280p show on the ten Professional. Its peak brightness of three,000 nits is sufficient to maintain the cellphone usable on a sunny day, and 1080p is simply sufficient decision for a display that dimension. The display appears extra liable to dropping from its prime 120Hz refresh price, which is okay however a bit of jarring if you’re scrolling the NYT Video games app and abruptly 60Hz.

I additionally observed some vignetting when utilizing the cellphone in vibrant gentle — darkness across the edges of the display, such as you may see in {a photograph}. This seems to be a known issue, resolved by switching to the “pure” show shade profile. Total, it’s a effective show however you undoubtedly get extra by spending extra on the Professional.

With regards to getting extra for extra with the ten Professional: cameras. The Pixel 10’s 48-megapixel f/1.7 major digicam doesn’t appear all that totally different from the ten Professional’s 50-megapixel f/1.7 digicam — until you get to the sensor size. The common 10 makes use of a 1/2.0-inch kind sensor that’s about half the scale of the 1/1.31-inch kind sensor within the Professional fashions. An even bigger sensor will produce cleaner photos with higher dynamic vary, and it’s a distinction I felt, particularly in portrait mode. Notably if gentle is low, your topic is transferring, and in the event you’re utilizing the 2x zoom possibility, portrait mode on the common 10 isn’t pretty much as good as on the Professionals. Pictures present extra noise, effective element like hair appears crunchy, and topic isolation isn’t as exact.

A portrait-mode photograph with the topic transferring towards the digicam at excessive pace is about as robust a situation as you may throw at a cellphone digicam, so it’s not too shocking that the Pixel 10 can’t deal with it properly. Nevertheless it’s a method that the smaller digicam sensor ends in noticeably worse efficiency. Exterior of portraits, the Pixel 10 takes completely good photographs. The ultrawide — additionally a smaller sensor than on the Professionals — handles dim indoor lighting acceptably. The 5x telephoto lens is helpful and undoubtedly an improve over utilizing 5x digital zoom. Possibly a telephoto lens and a killer major digicam are an excessive amount of to ask for in a $799 cellphone, however I’ll maintain wishing for each anyway.

Final 12 months, the Pixel 9 felt just like the cellphone that Android had wanted for a very long time: one thing elegant, easy, and sturdy. The Pixel 10 takes that very same mannequin and largely improves it, including Qi2 and a telephoto lens. The worth stayed the identical, which is nothing to sneeze at when the costs of every little thing else maintain going up.

Shedding the higher-end digicam won’t be a dealbreaker for most individuals, but it surely’s a bit of robust to swallow if what you’re lacking out on. Most individuals who purchase this cellphone received’t be burdened with that data, and I believe the Pixel 10 will make that group completely glad.

Pictures by Allison Johnson / The Verge