I tested Google’s new Pixel 10 Pro XL & was horrified by how good the camera is

GOOGLE has always excelled when it comes to smartphone cameras – but the latest effort might have gone too far.

When I tried out the new Google Pixel 10 Pro XL’s star feature I gasped and said “Good God”.

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I showed friends some of the results and they were stunned – if a little disturbed – by what the device’s mega zoom was capable of.

My colleague Sean Keach has already tried the smaller Pixel 10 Pro and has given his verdict on the identical camera features on there too.

But is it all worth it?

As The Sun’s main Android smartphone reviewer I’ve been putting the Pixel 10 Pro XL through its paces and here’s what I found…

Google Pixel 10 Pro XL: Look and feel

Google has stuck to a pretty consistent, solid look on the Pixel 10 Pro XL.

As ever with annual upgrades, you may even struggle to tell the difference between last year’s Pixel 9 Pro XL which I also reviewed.

I love the mat glass back and the shiny G logo, it just gives off such a confident premium vibe.

The camera bar is pretty much the same as last year too and I’m still undecided about the bulkiness of it, even though it’s quite tidy and neat.

But given the sorts of photos it takes, all that kit has to be packed in somewhere.

The display has had a noticeable upgrade this year, which is brighter and bursting with crisp detail too.

However, the Pixel 10 Pro XL hasn’t been taking a techy dose of Ozempic like Samsung and iPhone this year with thinner models – it weighs 232g, up a bit on last year.

I absolutely adore the new colours this year too, with Moonstone (the one I’m reviewing) Jade, Porcelain and Obsidian.

Google Pixel 10 Pro XL: Performance and features

Google continues to use its own Tensor chip in Pixel smartphones and this year’s Tensor G5 kit is said to be about 35 per cent faster.

It certainly operates smoothly and without any hiccups in my testing – but this chip isn’t as powerful as the Snapdragon chip found in most other top end smartphones around.

The handset runs on Android 16, the latest version of the operating system and it’s my absolute favourite around – which should be a given seeing as Google owns Android.

A lot of the features are centred on AI once again and most are photography based, which I’ll go into later.

But there are some other tools such as Voice Translate, which translates calls in real-time and sounds like each speaker’s own voice.

Having tried it with my partner in French, it was somewhat eerie to hear.

And it’s all done on device, so no sensitive call conversations are sent off to the cloud.

Google is also among the best for offering quick and fast Android upgrades for years to come, with a commitment to seven operating system versions and seven years of security upgrades.

Who offers free updates longest?

The longer you receive updates, the longer you can safely continue using your smartphone – with the latest features thrown in too for free.

Samsung
Samsung offers at least seven generations of OS updates and seven years of security updates on most of its smartphones, even its latest cheaper FE model.

OnePlus
At the launch of the OnePlus 13, OnePlus committed to at least four years of Android updates and five years of security updates.

Xiaomi
Xiaomi offers four years off Android updates and five years security updates.

Google
For the Pixel 10 series, Google said that devices would receive at least seven years of support.

Google Pixel 10 Pro XL: Battery

You can easily get a good day’s worth of use out of the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL with a good mix of browsing, messaging and Netflix as I tend to test it on.

But it’s not the best battery around – I got more out of the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

There is fast charging though, that’ll get you from zero to full in about an hour and a half with a compatible plug charger.

Google Pixel 10 Pro XL: Camera

The camera on the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL is where things get really juicy.

You have a treasure trove of powerful lenses paired up with AI power to enhance everything.

There’s a 50-megapixel main camera, 48-megapixel ultrawide and 48-megapixel 5x telephoto, as well as a 42-megapixel selfie snapper.

The photos I get on a Pixel are always super impressive with incredible detail and popping with vibrant colour.

It exudes beauty inside and out, and makes taking stunning photos effortless

This year’s shocker is the Pro Res Zoom which can get extremely detailed shots from a remarkable distance, seeing things my naked eye cannot.

It can go up to an eye-watering 100x.

Anything above 30x onward uses an AI model on the phone to recreate bits lost from digital zoom, so it does raise questions about how real the results are.

Whatever way you look at it, the images are highly convincing, as you’ll see from the snaps I took from the same position below with no zoom, a 10x zoom, a 50x zoom and a 100x zoom.

One thing to note: when using the zoom faces are automatically blurred.

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Google Pixel 10 Pro XL: Price

One bit of good news about the price is it hasn’t increased from last year’s models.

So the Pixel 10 Pro XL starts at £1,199.

If that’s a bit steep for you, you might want to consider the Pixel 10 Pro instead which has much of the same in a smaller physical form from £999 instead.

There’s also a freebie worth £190 included with all the Pro models.

You get access to Gemini Pro for a whole year, which is Google’s more powerful and fast AI system, capable of extra skills such as Veo 3 Fast for text-to-video generation.

All prices in this article were correct at the time of writing, but may have since changed.

Always do your own research before making any purchase.