I’ve been using the Google Pixel 6 Pro for around a month alongside the iPhone 13 Pro, and the Pixel has proven to be a software and a camera winner.<\/b>
\nI\u2019ve spent several weeks with the Google Pixel 6 Pro now, and even more time with the Apple iPhone 13 Pro, two of the very best new smartphones you can buy at the moment. The iPhone has always been my default smartphone for photography when I\u2019m not reviewing a new device, but I don\u2019t think the iPhone 13 Pro is Apple\u2019s best, and spending more time with the Pixel 6 Pro has only reinforced that opinion. The iPhone 13 Pro\u2019s camera is very good, but the Pixel 6 Pro\u2019s camera is better, and I do think the iPhone 12 Pro\u2019s camera was better too. It was the iPhone 12 Pro\u2019s camera that made me reach for the iPhone when I wanted a brilliant photo in almost any situation, but now having had the Pixel 6 Pro in my pocket and seeing just what it can do (and what the iPhone 13 Pro can\u2019t) Google\u2019s top smartphone has become my choice. Here\u2019s a wide-angle photo to illustrate my point. The first is shot on the iPhone 13 Pro and it isn\u2019t great. The sky is blown out, the grass is dreary and cold, and the distortion makes the house in the background an homage to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I wouldn\u2019t think about sharing the picture on social media, at least not without trying to improve the way it looks with a filter or editing. The second shot above was taken with the Google Pixel 6 Pro just a few seconds after the iPhone 13 Pro\u2019s photo. The sky has been balanced far more attractively, the grass is green and warm, the house isn\u2019t quite so angled, and the general tone and feeling is of a fall day, while the iPhone 13 Pro\u2019s photo is of a harsh winter\u2019s day. The iPhone 13 Pro\u2019s wider-angle camera is obvious, though. Forced to share one without editing, it would be the Pixel 6 Pro\u2019s photo, and it was more representative of real life too. I don\u2019t want this to turn into a Pixel 6 Pro vs. iPhone 13 Pro camera story, but I will say that the iPhone 13 Pro does beat the Pixel 6 Pro in some areas. In particular, if the subject is up close, the iPhone wipes the floor with the Pixel 6 Pro. The photos of the leaves here really show the iPhone 13 Pro can take stunning, beautiful photos when everything is exactly right. However, the times when the iPhone 13 Pro does beat the Pixel are few and far between, so it hasn\u2019t endeared itself to me. I have found myself longing for the Pixel 6 Pro when I have another Android phone with me alongside the iPhone, and I\u2019ve never had that feeling before, as, despite the prowess of older Pixel phones, the iPhone\u2019s camera has always suited my taste more. Not so this year. I have used and enjoyed the Pixel\u2019s special camera modes more than the iPhone\u2019s Cinematic video mode too. Is my appreciation of the Pixel 6 Pro only based on the camera? No, the Android 12 software has also helped shape my positive opinion of the Google Pixel 6 Pro since it was released. What attracted me most, and continues to make living with the phone so pleasing, is its relative simplicity. Google\u2019s Material You design isn\u2019t intrusive, makes good use of space around fonts and options, and presents everything in a very clear manner. Notifications are a good example of how friendly Android 12 is on the Pixel 6 Pro. The always-on screen shows icons for current notifications, and when you press the power key a pretty fade-in animation shows more detail. If the phone is unlocked you can press the arrow icon to expand notifications, and almost all are ready for some degree of interaction without going into the right app. When you clear your notifications, you can choose a massive clock to show on the sleeping screen, which is then overlaid on your wallpaper when you wake it up. Plus, everything is shown in colors that complement that wallpaper. It\u2019s lovely, but crucially, it\u2019s fast too. Attractive animations and designs aren\u2019t unusual on Android phones, but speed and reliability can be more hit-or-miss. The Pixel 6 Pro has performed without a problem for me, with none of the bugs some others have highlighted showing up at all. Meanwhile, I continue to have an annoying bug on the iPhone 13 Pro, where the Settings menu freezes upon opening, requiring not one but two forced closures before it works again. For me, Android was always functional but never very pretty, and to make it attractive, you had to spend time customizing it. I\u2019m not a designer, so even when doing this, the results were mostly mediocre. Android 12, on the other hand, is pretty right out of the box, and by adding your own wallpaper, the operating system comes alive, all without any messing around. Has life in Pixel-land been all sunshine? No, the fingerprint sensor\u2019s \u201cenhanced security\u201d makes it slow and annoying, and the update which Google had mentioned was incoming to perhaps speed it up has not arrived on my phone yet. I\u2019ve lessened the pain of the sensor\u2019s slowness by relying on Smart Lock unlocking the phone based on location and proximity, but it is far from the perfect solution. I\u2019m still using my PIN to unlock this phone far more than on any other in recent memory. I\u2019m very much looking forward to finding out how Google tweaks the fingerprint sensor when the update arrives, as it\u2019s the worst part of ownership so far. The battery has continued to impress, though, with general use over the past week or so, resulting in two days\u2019 use before I need to recharge the phone. This is a good thing as there\u2019s no fast charging. The way I live my life at the moment means this isn\u2019t a problem for me, personally, but I do miss how transformative I found the OnePlus 9 Pro\u2019s ultra-fast charging. Plug that phone in for 30 minutes, and the battery is full, while I\u2019m back to plugging the Pixel 6 Pro in overnight. It\u2019s wasteful and \u2014 as the OnePlus proved \u2014 unnecessary on a modern smartphone. A month into using the Pixel 6 Pro and the $899 price is looking like even better value than it already did. The camera and the software continue to shine, and the battery isn\u2019t the drawback here as it was on older Pixel phones. If you\u2019re still thinking about getting a Pixel 6 Pro but aren\u2019t quite convinced, I consider the Pixel 6 Pro to be the best phone Google has made, and for the first time, I want to continue using it, and that\u2019s not something I\u2019ve ever felt about a Pixel phone before.<\/p>\n