The Pixel 10 Pro is far from perfect. Here’s why I’m still using it one year later

I discover it laborious to imagine that it’s been virtually a 12 months since I acquired my Pixel 10 Pro. Since August twenty eighth, it has been my major cellphone (virtually) daily, and I like this cellphone when it’s working because it ought to.

The issue, as is usually the case with Pixels, is that it doesn’t all the time work as Google meant. Trying again, it’s been a 12 months of ups and downs with the Pixel 10 Professional, however it’s nonetheless the one cellphone I wish to name my very own.

After 5 years of utilizing Samsung’s big Extremely telephones, I used to be prepared to make use of one thing smaller. Towards the tip of 2024, I performed with an iPhone 16 Professional for just a few weeks and liked having a cellphone I may comfortably use with one hand with out sacrificing digital camera {hardware}.

That’s the primary motive I pre-ordered my Pixel 10 Professional. It has virtually similar {hardware} to the bigger XL mannequin, except for the display and battery measurement, and it gives considerably higher cameras than my Galaxy S24 Extremely. I nonetheless desire these cameras to my spouse’s Galaxy S26 Ultra.

I’m not going to name the Pixel 10 Professional a small cellphone. It’s nonetheless larger than a base Galaxy S26, and it’s heavier than you’d think about. Even so, it’s a cushty cellphone in all conditions, and never as soon as have I ever discovered myself wishing it had been larger. It sits in that candy spot of being large enough to simply get pleasure from photographs, watching movies, and utilizing any apps you’d like with out giving me hand cramps.

The opposite factor that’s saved me coming again to my Pixel 10 Professional all 12 months is the software program options you’ll be able to’t discover wherever else. Now Enjoying is a main instance of that. With the ability to discover out which tune is enjoying in a store or cafe with out having to do something greater than look at my lock display is one thing I miss at any time when I take advantage of one other cellphone. My spouse had a Pixel 4 a number of years in the past and has used Samsung telephones ever since. Even now, she nonetheless misses Now Enjoying.

Name screening is one other a type of options. Different firms, together with Samsung, have created their very own variations of name screening, however none are nearly as good as Google’s. The Pixel has all the time performed a greater job of robotically detecting spam calls and dealing with them for me, as a substitute of leaving me to decide on whether or not to display or settle for a name.

In the identical vein, Maintain for Me and Direct My Name are two different options I can’t dwell with out. I modified my web service supplier final month, and the Pixel made the method a lot simpler than it might have been on one other cellphone by labeling all of the choices and dealing with all of the holds for me. I do know it’s a cliche to say this a couple of Pixel, however it has good options different smartphones don’t. It’s a better smartphone.

The Pixel 10 Professional doesn’t have probably the most thrilling cameras. Telephones just like the Motorola Razr Fold have a stronger, extra distinctive model, which may depart the Pixel feeling a little bland at times. The Pixel makes up for that with consistency. A Pixel’s photographs are all the time pure, and within the 12 months I’ve owned this cellphone, I can’t recall lacking a shot. Enhancing photographs could be tedious, however I’d reasonably need to edit some drama right into a well-captured picture than salvage one thing that’s over-processed.

Once I went to Cornwall for my vacation this 12 months, the Pixel did a stellar job of capturing the locations I wish to keep in mind. The 2 seaside photographs, particularly, have a heat to them that I’m glad the Pixel was capable of protect. One of many causes it managed to take action was the easy-to-access white steadiness slider within the Pixel’s digital camera app. You solely have to faucet the viewfinder as soon as to summon the slider, not like Samsung’s digital camera app, which buries such settings behind a number of sub-menus. I do know you’ll be able to regulate this stuff within the editor after taking a photograph, however doing it earlier than you even take the image saves time.

I additionally just like the completely different modes Google has added to its digital camera app through the years. I performed round with the lengthy publicity mode fairly a bit throughout my journey, and I like how pictures of shifting water prove, particularly within the third picture within the gallery above.

My Pixel 10 Professional has changed my Sony A6300 in lots of conditions. I like my digital camera, however taking it, its lenses, and substitute batteries to a automotive present is a chore, not a pleasure, and the Pixel all the time delivers glorious photographs and movies and is way simpler to hold. However what the Pixel has performed greatest, above all else, is assist me save as many recollections as I can with the little man who got here into my life towards the tip of final 12 months.

I received’t go into the entire particulars, however after some tragic occasions inside my shut good friend group, we took Bandit in final October. He’s the primary pet I’ve had since I used to be a toddler, and one in every of my greatest regrets is how few photographs I’ve of my childhood pets. Smartphones weren’t one thing a 10-year-old had again then. The Pixel is pulling additional time to ensure I by no means have that remorse together with his Royal Roundness. Since we’ve had him, my spouse and I’ve taken practically 3,000 photographs, and the Pixel 10 Professional has captured the overwhelming majority.

Whereas Samsung telephones consistently battle to focus or expose accurately for his black fur or lose the second to shutter lag, the Pixel has nailed each shot. Regardless of the lighting or whether or not he’s shifting, the ten Professional has made positive I’ll have as many recollections of this little man as doable, one thing you must by no means take as a right with a 14-year-old cat. It doesn’t matter what complaints I am going over within the subsequent part — this cellphone has justified its worth primarily based on sentimentality alone.

When my Pixel 10 Professional works as meant, I’ve gotten some stellar longevity from it, typically ending the day with 25% left after 16 hours off cost with over 9 hours of display time. The difficulty with the Pixel 10 Professional, and plenty of Pixels earlier than it, is that they typically don’t work as meant. There was a shockingly widespread battery-drain issue on a number of Pixel fashions this 12 months, leaving my cellphone barely capable of final 5 – 6 hours between fees. I didn’t thoughts the sluggish charging speeds Google insists on sticking with once I solely needed to cost the cellphone in a single day, however the torpid charging was insufferable once I was topping up two and even thrice a day.

Google says the battery drain has been fixed, however many individuals are nonetheless experiencing points. In my case, issues have improved sufficient that I’ve my SIM again within the 10 Professional, however it isn’t fairly nearly as good because it was once I acquired it. Due to this job, I had no scarcity of telephones to make use of whereas I used to be ready for the Pixel’s points to get mounted, however most individuals don’t, and the frequency with which points like this plague Google’s telephones is unforgivable.

I do know that complaining a couple of Tensor chip operating sizzling isn’t precisely unique, however it’s baffling how sizzling this cellphone will get typically. Older Tensor-powered Pixels would, in my expertise, get sizzling when the cellphone was doing particular issues, resembling utilizing the cameras for prolonged durations, gaming, or heavy 5G use. The warmth build-up was one thing you possibly can predict.

My Pixel 10 Professional, however, will get sizzling on the most random of instances. Once I’m spamming the digital camera shutter button or streaming YouTube at max brightness over 5G in direct daylight, the cellphone says cool regardless that I’d count on some warmth. Scrolling by Threads in my bed room at evening over Wi-Fi or going by my Gmail inbox shouldn’t heat the cellphone up, and but these duties typically make it as sizzling as a Galaxy Notice 7 within the seconds earlier than its demise.

Actually, all of my complaints concerning the Pixel 10 Professional could possibly be summed up with one phrase: inconsistency. The cellphone has the potential to be nice, and it fairly often is. However these moments of greatness are interspersed with durations of time when the cellphone is nearly unusable, and that’s not adequate.

I’ve been lucky sufficient to make use of numerous telephones this 12 months, lots of which have been unbelievable. Regardless of that, and with the problems I’ve had in thoughts, the Pixel 10 Professional continues to be the cellphone I get pleasure from utilizing probably the most.

It seems like my cellphone in a approach few gadgets ever have, which implies I don’t plan to switch it anytime quickly. The Pixel 11 collection will almost certainly enhance on the ten collection, however year-over-year upgrades are so small as of late that I doubt I’ll really feel any inclination to improve. I’m not ready to throw more cash at Pixels till I see proof that reliability and consistency have improved.

I’m hoping the Pixel 11 collection addresses all my complaints so I can really feel assured sufficient to purchase a Pixel 12 Professional subsequent 12 months.