Pixel 11 Pro XL Falls Short with Disappointing Camera Performance
The Google Pixel 11 Pro XL is a flagship device that boasts impressive hardware features, but its performance falls short in certain areas. The phone's design has been improved with a sleek camera visor and LED light called the HiLight, which can be assigned to favorite contacts or used to answer Gemini questions when the phone is face down.
The Pixel 11 Pro XL has a large 6.8-inch Super Actua LTPO OLED screen that reaches up to 3,600 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. The battery size is 5,115 mAh, which provides around one and a half to two days on a charge. The phone also supports 45W wired charging, but only the XL model has this feature.
Google is pushing its Gemini AI-powered features hard in the Pixel 11 Pro series. Two notable examples are Live Translate for Media, which dubs over video audio in English with an AI-generated voice, and Rambler, a voice typing tool that cleans up user input. However, these features have mixed results, Live Translate worked well in one test but not others.
The camera performance is disappointing, especially in low-light conditions. The cameras seem to rely too much on software processing and AI, resulting in artifacts and light streaks in photos. Video quality in low light is also juddery and struggles with blending darkness. Magic Capture, which pulls out still frames from videos, has limited control over the output.