Google Pixel 6 Pro review: yes, Google has finally made a Pixel to challenge the Apple iPhone

Google’s new phone is cheaper than its rivals and is also snappy, smart, powerful and offers huge cameras. Can it really challenge the iPhone?

In some ways, Google is the popular high-school kid who can’t translate that success into the real world.

The tech giant dominates global web searches but can’t seem to crack the smartphone market.

This year’s Pixel could be its turning point.

After eight years making phones, Google has finally created a gadget attracting serious buzz.

The Pixel 6 Pro even prompted one prominent influencer to ask whether he could sever ties with his Apple gear — and its blue iMessages — to make the switch to Google.

So why are Google’s latest Pixels different? And should you really switch to them from Samsung and Apple? We tested the company’s top model before it hits stores on Thursday to find out.

WHAT’S NEW?

Google seems to be taking an entirely new approach with the Pixel 6 Pro.

While other Pixels relied heavily on software, this one arrives with cutting-edge hardware too.

For example, this is the first smartphone in Australia capable of using next-generation 5G signals, known as mmWave.

Google’s Pixel 6 Pro smartphone will be the first in Australia to use mmWave 5G. Picture: Supplied

This technology can deliver up to 20 times the download speed of regular 5G and, using Telstra’s mmWave, this phone has been clocked downloading files at 3.6 gigabits per second.

This alone is quite a coup and it comes just as Telstra and Optus add mmWave towers to Australian capital cities.

Another new addition is the chip powering this phone. Like it peeked at Apple’s homework, Google is making its own processor this year.

The Google Tensor is an eight-core system-on-a-chip designed specifically to work with the company’s software.

It means the new Pixel can offer real-time foreign language translations, for example, secure sensitive information with its Titan M2 secure enclave, and ensure the phone‘s screen uses its highest refresh rate when scrolling through social media.

The Pixel 6 Pro, like its rivals, adds a 120Hz 6.7-inch screen this year and, in our tests, never appeared jarring.

There's also a 5000mAh battery in this phone and, of course, new software features packed up inside Android 12.

Google will use its own Tensor chip inside its two Pixel 6 smartphones.

They include the sometimes-disturbing Privacy Dashboard where you can see what apps are reading your data, and a Personal Safety section that will provide shortcuts to alerting health services, friends and family in an emergency.

It will also let you save important medical details on your phone that can be accessed by paramedics (the iPhone does the same).

In what will be a big change for old Android users, the company has also replaced the typical home, back and multi-tasking icons with simple swiping gestures, iPhone X-style.

And Google promises three years of software updates for this phone, and five years of security updates.

WHAT ABOUT THE CAMERA HUMP?

The hunchback on this smartphone is hard to miss.

A large, raised, black bar crosses from one side to the other, meaning this phone cannot lie flat.

But are very good reasons why that is the case: namely, three cameras, a laser, and a light.

Google has thrown some of the most powerful photographic tools into its Pro Pixel, including a 50-megapixel main camera, a 48-megapixel camera with 4x optical zoom, and a 12-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera.

The Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro smartphones features larger camera kits on their rear panels.

It’s hard to imagine that this comprehensive kit is from a company that once publicly debated whether it was more important to offer a telephoto or a wide lens. It now offers both.

Google will also let users capture photos in RAW to give them more to edit later, display a virtual spirit level to ensure level images, and offer white balance and exposure controls on the capture screen.

In our tests, this trio of lenses reliably delivered bright, crisp and surprisingly detailed images, and the telephoto lens was particularly useful for portrait and macro shots.

As Pixel buyers might expect, there are also plenty of artificially intelligent photo additions packaged with these cameras.

People sitting under these Jacaranda trees have been removed from the image using Google's Magic Eraser feature on the Pixel 6 Pro, leaving only their shoes behind.

This year’s haul includes the so-good-it’s-creepy Magic Eraser that can automatically detect extra subjects in your photos (an unwanted bystander, a photo-bomber, a stray ball) and let you tap it to delete it from the image.

The results aren’t always perfect — just like Adobe Photoshop — but it really can make people disappear.

Another two photographic extras involve motion: Long Exposure will give waterfalls a silky finish, while Action Pan mode can identify your subject and keep them in focus while the world appears to move around them (think cyclists and fast cars).

An unedited photo of Dexter, the Siamese cat, taken with the Google Pixel 6 Pro smartphone in challenging lighting conditions.

Other new software features include Face Unblur, which can be used to correct tricky moving shots, and Real Tone for keeping the right white balance when photographing different skin tones.

WHAT’S MISSING?

As with all phones, there are some omissions and challenges with the Pixel 6 Pro.

This handset won’t let you add a memory card, like other Androids, and models larger than 128GB are only available in “stormy black”.

There’s also no standard headphone jack on this phone, it arrives without a power plug, there are only large models available this year and, according to Geekbench tests, its new chip is less powerful than the iPhone 13 model.

Its large camera hump is also the first thing to touch any surface where you lay it down so — combined with a very slippery rear panel — buyers are strongly advised to buy a case for this phone and use it carefully until they do.

GOOGLE PIXEL 6 PRO VERDICT

This phone is Google’s best chance of winning over iPhone fans.

Three powerful cameras, uncommonly smart editing software, and a next-level 5G connection make a compelling case to switch.

The Google Pixel 6 Pro smartphone is the company’s best iPhone competitor to date.

On top of that trio, its battery life is superb, its in-screen fingerprint scanner is handy whether you’re wearing a face mask or not, and there are hidden gems to find in its Android 12 menus.

Plus, its $1299 starting price is $550 less than the equivalent iPhone 13, and $250 less than the discounted price of the Samsung S21 Ultra.

Those who want a folding smartphone, a choice of smaller screens, or space for a memory card will be left wanting, but this Pixel could make Google one of the cool phone kids at last.

Originally published as Google Pixel 6 Pro review: yes, Google has finally made a Pixel to challenge the Apple iPhone