4 crucial factors will decide if I switch from the Pixel 7 to Pixel 9

I’ve been an Android user since I bought my first smartphone back in 2013 (miss you, Xperia L). I went around the block since then, using a couple of OnePlus phones, a Realme one, and finally, the Google Pixel 7, my current daily driver. Although there’s a lot to love about this phone, from the cameras and software to the design, I have a lot of regrets as well.

Specifically, I’ve been disappointed with the below-average battery life, poor front camera, and optical fingerprint sensor. To say I was hasty in buying the Pixel 7 would be an understatement, and to right my wrongs, I’ve decided to wait and listen until the latest Pixel 9 has landed in more hands before considering an upgrade.

1 Respectable battery life

Is it too much to ask?

This is perhaps my biggest complaint with the Pixel 7. Despite all tricks, hacks, and behavior changes, I’ve been unable to get a full day’s usage out of it. Sadly, I’m amazed when it lasts me a full work day from 9 am until 6 pm. And what makes it worse is that I’m not even a heavy user — I just use Instagram and WhatsApp. There’s no gaming, navigating, or even calling involved. Plus, I keep it on LTE instead of 5G to “save” battery life.

I never had such a terrible battery life on any of my previous phones, which had more or less the same battery capacity. So, it’s fair to say that I have huge expectations for the Pixel 9’s battery life when more users test it out and share their findings online. My Pixel 7 is coming up for its second anniversary soon, so if all goes well with the Pixel 9 battery results, an upgrade might be in the cards for me this holiday season.

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2 Functioning face unlock

Let there be light! (please)

The Pixel 7 has one of the best rear camera setups I’ve ever used, and I was mostly content with its front camera as well, that is, until I realized how badly it performs in low light. In regular lighting conditions, the face unlock works without issues, but as soon as the sun sets or when I’m using it on my bed before sleep, it starts showing its true colors. The problem becomes worse when I see my partner’s iPhone 13 working flawlessly next to me.

The Pixel 9 doesn’t feature the improved 42MP selfie shooter seen on the Pro phones, so I’m a bit worried, to say the least. Besides the megapixels, the rest of the specs also seem underwhelming, so I’m hoping Google pulls some AI wizardry here and at least improves the performance of the face unlock. I would like to unlock my phone without entering my PIN, or worse, using the fingerprint sensor (more on that below).

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3 Decent fingerprint sensor

Pixel 7’s is horrible, to put it nicely

The fingerprint sensor is one of the things I use the most on my Pixel 7. And I’m sorry to report (or confirm) that it’s in sore need of an upgrade. In less-than-ideal lighting, I’ve given up on using the optical fingerprint sensor Google deemed enough for this phone. However, even in broad daylight in my room, I’ve seen it fail to recognize my fingerprint 7 times out of 10.

Such lackluster performance shouldn’t exist on a phone that’s otherwise great (except, well, for the points above). I was glad to see the Pixel 9 finally switched to an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor — the one seen on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Hopefully, this means that the horrible experience with the optical sensors will be a thing of the past on the Pixel phones.

They’re not always the fastest to adopt the latest and greatest hardware, so this upgrade is indeed a big event by Google’s standards.

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4 Actually useful, or at least faster AI

I’m looking forward to on-device AI

Google can’t seem to stop talking about all the AI features it’s bringing to the entire Pixel 9 series. While the “advanced” Gemini stuff isn’t available on the base Pixel 9, I’m still piqued about finally using on-device AI on a Pixel phone. To be fair, Google brought on-device AI to the Pixel 8 this year, but I wasn’t going to upgrade to it anyway, at least not just for this one feature.

The Pixel 9 features 12GB RAM, a significant upgrade over the 8GB on my Pixel 7. I’m hoping that this upgrade, coupled with the advancements brought about by the Tensor G4 chip, would be enough to overcome the excruciatingly slow speeds when editing images using AI. That’s something I did a lot on my Pixel 7, so I’m especially interested in the new image editing stuff Google is introducing this time.

The rest of the Gemini features like searching screenshots, talking to Gemini, or asking Gemini about what’s on the screen probably aren’t things I would use a lot.

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Should I upgrade my Pixel after 2 years?

If the Pixel 9 improves on battery life, face unlock, and the fingerprint sensor, I’d be more than willing to make the switch from my Pixel 7. However, I’m also mulling whether 2 years is too short a time to switch phones. I had my last phone for over 3 years, and only switched when I dropped it and broke the display.

Smartphones have become good enough that frequent upgrades are less necessary than ever, so a switch after 2 years seems too early sometimes. Who knows, I might just finally switch to one of the iPhone 16 models later this year, if Apple manages to woo me enough.

Google Pixel 9

The Google Pixel 9 brings a revamped design and noteworthy hardware and software upgrades to the base Pixel model, which might prompt users with the Pixel 8 or PIxel 7 to make the switch.