![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/257917_Google_Pixel_10_review_AJohnson_0007.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1756322892_627_257917_Google_Pixel_10_review_AJohnson_0007.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n$999<\/p>\n
The Good<\/p>\n
- \n
- Qi2 with magnets!<\/li>\n
- Some legitimately handy AI features<\/li>\n
- Great camera with upgraded portrait mode<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The Bad<\/p>\n
- \n
- Battery life is just okay<\/li>\n
- Some AI features still feel like gimmicks<\/li>\n
- For real, what is a photo?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The 10 Pro also represents a baby step from AI\u2019s party trick era to becoming genuinely useful on a mobile device. Magic Cue, which aims to surface information from your email and calendar contextually, lives up to its name for the most part \u2014 like the time it offered to put a coffee meetup with a friend on my calendar as we were hashing out the details over text. But alongside great features like Magic Cue, you\u2019ll still find some that feel more like they\u2019re there to satisfy an internal mandate to put AI into every available nook and cranny.<\/p>\n
Between the hardware upgrades and a slightly more cohesive software experience, there\u2019s something pretty special here. The Pixel 10 Pro is a phone with solid upgrades, though it doesn\u2019t quite feel like a must-upgrade as long as your current device is working fine. It\u2019s a glimpse of the future, with all the messiness of now mixed in there, too.<\/p>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/257917_Google_Pixel_10_review_AJohnson_0008.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\nAI gets more useful on the Pixel 10.<\/p>\n
From the outside, the Pixel 10 Pro is very hard to tell apart from its predecessor<\/a>. That\u2019s just fine; this is a good template to keep working from. Inside is another story, and that story begins with Tensor G5.<\/p>\n
I get the sense that Google\u2019s fifth custom chipset is the one that the company has been waiting on. Tensor G5 is the first made by TSMC<\/a>, and it seems to be the key to unlocking a lot of on-device AI. Magic Cue, for example, runs in the background on device. A camera feature we\u2019ll get to later runs a diffusion model on device. Same with the phone call translator that mimics the sound of your voice. It\u2019s more than just an impressive list; running these entirely on the phone means your data is much more private than if it had taken a trip to the cloud.<\/p>\n
Running these features entirely on the phone means your data is much more private than if it had taken a trip to the cloud<\/p>\n
Just like last year, the Pro variant of the Pixel 10 comes in two sizes. Both the Pro and Pro XL come with 16GB of RAM, and variants with 256GB or more storage use faster UFS 4.0 memory<\/a>. They all have the new chip, and while I can\u2019t say I found previous Pixels to be laggy, this one seems snappy. It stutters a bit with dense, media-heavy web pages like character builds on Icy Veins. Android Authority has a good rundown on the nuts and bolts of Tensor G5<\/a>, and confirms that there\u2019s no ray tracing support. For what it\u2019s worth, Diablo Immortal runs just fine on the 10 Pro. The phone also doesn\u2019t seem to heat up quite as much or as quickly as previous Tensor-powered Pixels either, which have a reputation for running hot. I used the 10 Pro as a hotspot outside on a warm morning without a problem \u2014 something I\u2019ve had less success with on previous Pixel phones.<\/p>\n
The 10 Pro\u2019s battery capacity is a little bigger this time around: 4870mAh versus 4700mAh, likewise 5200mAh compared to 5060mAh on the XL. Maybe it\u2019s all that on-device AI, but battery life seemed a little worse than usual despite the slightly upgraded capacity. I tested it with the always-on display enabled and the highest screen resolution available. On a lighter day with the 10 Pro, I found the battery running down to around 50 percent by bedtime; a heavier day with a decent chunk of hotspot use brought it down into the 30s by night. That\u2019s fine, and within the realm of a modern flagship phone, but not exactly stellar.<\/p>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/257917_Google_Pixel_10_review_AJohnson_0011.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Pixel 10 Pro doubles as a clock on Google\u2019s Qi2 charging stand with this screen saver enabled.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m still testing the 10 Pro XL\u2019s battery stamina. Given all of the resource-intensive, personalized AI features on board, a week just wasn\u2019t enough to draw solid conclusions about battery life on two different phones. I\u2019ll be updating this review soon (with the help of my colleague Dominic Preston who\u2019s also testing the XL model).<\/p>\n
There\u2019s not a lot to say about the Pixel 10\u2019s other marquee addition, Qi2 support with built-in magnets, other than it\u2019s great and I\u2019m glad it\u2019s here. On the 10, 10 Pro, and 10 Pro Fold, you get 15W wireless charging, and on the Pro XL up to 25W with the Qi2.2 standard. I throw my phone on a wireless charger at the end of the day so slower charging never bothers me, but the magnets sure are nice to have. I never put a case on my phone either, for better and worse (mostly worse), so I\u2019m thrilled I can reap the benefits of what is essentially MagSafe on an Android phone without having to use a case like you do with Samsung\u2019s latest flagships. Hardware is hard, and it took Google a minute to get here, but this year\u2019s Pixel phones stand out in a way that has eluded their predecessors.<\/p>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/257917_Google_Pixel_10_review_AJohnson_0002.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\nThat\u2019s just a good-looking phone.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s not get too carried away; Google isn\u2019t exactly reinventing the wheel by adding magnets and an updated processor. Some of the AI features on board the 10 Pro are new and actually useful, though \u2014 starting with Magic Cue. This is the context-aware AI that\u2019s designed to deliver helpful information when you need it, without you having to go look for it. That might sound vague and unserious, but it\u2019s the kind of thing we\u2019ve been promised ever since companies started talking about AI on our phones. And it actually does work. Was it magic? Hardly, but what I\u2019ve seen so far makes me more optimistic about AI than anything else I\u2019ve seen it do on phones.<\/p>\n
Magic Cue is, by its nature, just kind of floating around in the background while you do stuff on your phone. It runs completely on device \u2014 it\u2019s not offloading anything to the cloud \u2014 and only works in a handful of Google apps. But they\u2019re important ones, including Gmail, Messages, Calendar, and the phone app as well as last year\u2019s addition: Screenshots. If someone messages you and asks for information about a date or reservation, Magic Cue will check your calendar or your inbox and you\u2019ll see the details pop up above the keyboard as a suggestion. You can long press to check where Magic Cue got the information or just tap to drop it into the conversation. I tried it out in a quick staged-but-plausible test with my colleague Vee Song by having her ask about a concert I\u2019d already put on my calendar and it was honestly cool as heck.<\/p>\n
![\"<em>The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/magiccue_1.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>![\"<em>You](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/magiccue_2.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>PreviousNext<\/p>\n1\/2<\/strong>The Magic Cue suggestion pops up at the bottom of our conversation.<\/p>\n
Magic Cue is also supposed to help you search for stuff. It does this by paying attention to what\u2019s on your screen, detecting the kind of app you\u2019re opening up \u2014 it knows Amazon is a shopping app, for example \u2014 and suggesting text might want to paste into the search bar, like the name of a product you were just looking at in Chrome. Not quite as exciting as saving me a trip to my calendar, but I can see it being something I\u2019d get used to using. Is the idea that my phone is monitoring what\u2019s on my screen a little weird? For sure. But the fact that this information doesn\u2019t leave the device makes me feel better, or at least as good as I can feel, knowing that Google knows everything about me anyway.<\/p>\n
I saw Magic Cue most often offer to save calendar events based on my conversations. As I was figuring out a time to meet for coffee, Magic Cue offered a link to check the appropriate day on my calendar. When we landed on a time, it let me add the event with a tap. None of this is life-changing, and \u201cmagic\u201d seems like a strong descriptor, though I\u2019ll allow it. Mostly, this seems like a really handy feature that will take just a little bit of the friction out of using your phone. Remember the first time you saw your phone autofill a one-time 2FA code from a text? It\u2019s like that. Ultimately, I think that\u2019s what AI on our phones will become. Something that just happens, saving us a little time here and there, that fades into the background once you get used to it. I guess there is a little magic to that.<\/p>\n
I heard the translations in English \u2014 and in a voice that kind of sounded like Vee<\/p>\n
The on-device AI extends all the way to the phone app where it provides real-time voice translations on calls \u2014 a familiar feature, this time with a twist: it mimics the voice of the speaker. I once again called on my colleague Vee Song (literally) who was also using a Pixel 10. She enabled voice translations on her side and spoke in Japanese. I heard the translations in English \u2014 and in a voice that kind of sounded like Vee. According to Vee, the feature\u2019s translation of my English into Japanese was pretty good, though it struggled a bit with what she calls her textbook Japanese. It got the point across, and I guess it was nicer than listening to a neutral-sounding robot.<\/p>\n
But as Vee observed, this feature would likely work best for a tourist in a foreign country trying to make a dinner reservation, not for family members trying to catch up. And if that\u2019s the case, the personalization of the spoken voice feels kind of unnecessary. It makes for a cool party trick, though.<\/p>\n
If voice translation is halfway between a helpful feature and a gimmick, then Daily Hub leans even further into gimmick territory. It\u2019s a lot like the Now Brief Samsung introduced on its S25 phones, and it\u2019s supposed to act as a quick digest for your day as well as a place to find some inspiration based on your recent activity. It does the first part of that job just fine; it\u2019s maybe a more longwinded version of Google\u2019s At a Glance widget, which gives you a heads up on the weather and upcoming calendar events. But it also misconstrued some of my recent Google search history in puzzling and hilarious ways. I looked up the schedule for our recycling service, provided by Waste Management, and it took that to mean that I\u2019m interested in learning more about waste management generally. Uh, not quite.<\/p>\n
![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/257917_Google_Pixel_10_review_AJohnson_0004.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\nThanks Daily Hub, but I\u2019m all good on embracing tech-fueled adventures.<\/p>\n
I had a similar experience with the new Journal app, which uses on-device AI to generate prompts and reflections based on what you write. In one entry I mentioned that my kid was sad because it was his friend\u2019s last day at school. The app reassured me that it was okay to feel sad about her passing. To be clear, she was just moving to another school.<\/p>\n
Maybe knowing that you\u2019re going to get some kind of feedback at the end is motivation for people to journal when they wouldn\u2019t have otherwise? And I guess I did make a point to write an entry every night before bed, which is not a habit I\u2019m in currently. But aside from that, I can\u2019t say I found the prompts or bits of reflection helpful.<\/p>\n
AI shows up in yet another place: the camera app. And not just as a tool for adding wild stuff to your photos \u2014 it\u2019s in the actual camera. On the 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL, there\u2019s a new feature called Pro Res Zoom that aims to make digitally zoomed photos look a little less like garbage. Once you get past 30x zoom and up to the maximum of 100x, Pro Res Zoom will kick in and use a diffusion model to try and clean up your image.<\/p>\n
This happens after the fact; the original image is retained, and it all runs on your device. It also doesn\u2019t attempt to enhance any people it identifies in an image, which is for the better. The results depend a lot on your subject, the conditions, and how far you\u2019re pushing the zoom range. With enough light, a predictable subject, and moderate zoom, the results can be really good.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PXL_20250822_205254883.BURST-02.original.jpg\"\/)
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PXL_20250822_205254883.BURST-01.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nBefore Pro Res Zoom (left) and after (right). You gotta admit that Gen AI does a pretty good job.<\/p>\n
Pro Res Zoom has a harder time with writing. If you take a picture of a sign in the distance<\/a>, you\u2019ll see the telltale signs of generative AI \u2014 something similar to real writing that\u2019s actually an alien language when you look closer. And all the way at 100x zoom there\u2019s only so much even AI can do to give you a usable photo.<\/p>\n
In a shot I took of a crane wading in a pond<\/a>, it didn\u2019t know what to do with the leaves and bits of debris on the surface of the water and turned them into little white points<\/a>, like dozens of tiny sailboats. Kind of poetic but not what I had in mind. And this goes without saying, but Pro Res Zoom isn\u2019t going to give you anything that looks as good as an optical zoom lens. Trust me. I lugged around a Nikon Coolpix P1100 with a 3000mm equivalent lens just to be sure.<\/p>\n
1\/3<\/strong>Taken with Pixel 10 Pro at 100x zoom before Pro Res Zoom processing<\/p>\n
Pro Res Zoom photos are tagged with C2PA metadata that identifies them as captured with a camera and edited using generative AI. In fact, all photos taken with the Pixel 10 are tagged to reflect whether or not AI was involved, which might seem like overkill but feels increasingly necessary in a world with accessible, capable gen AI editing tools.<\/p>\n
Does it still creep me out a little? Yeah. Is a picture I took with Pro Res Zoom still a photo, or is it something else? I\u2019m not so sure. But I don\u2019t think this is the last we\u2019ll hear of diffusion models in phone cameras, so we\u2019re all going to have to find our own levels of comfort with this kind of thing.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the camera there\u2019s some good news: portrait mode is much improved. The Pixel camera had some catching up to do here, and it\u2019s not perfect, but subject isolation is a lot better on the Pixel 10 series than on the 9. Reynolds tells me that this revamped portrait mode pays \u201cparticular attention to hair,\u201d which is great news for me, personally, because my kid\u2019s hair is ungovernable. In photos taken with the 10 Pro, I can see where the camera retained individual strands of hair<\/a> rather than just blurring them into the background<\/a> the way the 9 Pro tends to. It goes a long way to making that photo look more convincing.<\/p>\n
![\"Pixel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/257917_Google_Pixel_10_review_AJohnson_0005.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\nA good tool for the job.<\/p>\n
The Pixel is in kind of a funny spot, especially in the US. Year after year its market share is comparatively small in our iPhone and Galaxy-dominated landscape. In fact, Counterpoint Research counts its percentage of the market in the single digits<\/a> and lumps Google into the \u201cothers\u201d category, far behind Apple, Samsung, and Motorola. But what Google is doing on Pixel phones matters more than its sales figures suggest. The Pixel is a showcase for the Android ecosystem, particularly in the last few years as Google has pushed it into proper flagship territory. The 10 Pro feels like that symbol of what\u2019s possible on Android more than ever.<\/p>\n
The Pixel 10 series represents the first phones from a major OEM to get full Qi2 support. They\u2019re the first phones to put C2PA content credentials<\/a> on photos taken with the camera. They offer a glimpse of what AI can actually do to save us some time and effort tapping around on our phones. It still feels like AI is being shoved into corners of the device where it doesn\u2019t really need to be, but for the first time it feels like there\u2019s a kind of connective tissue between the useful bits.<\/p>\n
There was a time, particularly in the Tensor era, where using a Pixel phone felt a little bit like being an early adopter, and not in a good way. The prices were lower, but the hardware felt cheaper, software bugs persisted, and the chipsets ran hot. But the Pixel series has evolved into something better, something worthy of the title \u201cflagship.\u201d If the 10 Pro represents the best of what Android can do, then there\u2019s a lot for Android fans to look forward to \u2014 whether it\u2019s on a Pixel or not.<\/p>\n
Photography by Allison Johnson \/ The Verge<\/p>\n
Agree to Continue: Google Pixel 10 Pro<\/p>\n
Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it \u2014 contracts that no one actually reads. It\u2019s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit \u201cagree\u201d to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don\u2019t read and definitely can\u2019t negotiate.<\/p>\n
To use a Pixel 10 series phone, you must agree to:<\/p>\n
The following agreements are optional:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Provide anonymous location data for Google\u2019s services<\/li>\n
- \u201cAllow apps and services to scan for Wi-Fi networks and nearby devices at any time, even when Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is off.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Send usage and diagnostic data to Google<\/li>\n
- Talk to Google hands-free: \u201cIf you agree, Google Assistant will wait in standby mode to detect \u2018Hey Google\u2019 and certain quick phrases.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Allow Assistant on lock screen<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Additionally, if you want to use Google Assistant, you must agree to let Google collect app info and contact info from your devices. Other features like Google Wallet may require additional agreements.<\/p>\n
Final tally: five mandatory agreements and at least five optional agreements<\/p>\n
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