Pixel 11 XL Pro: Google's big flagship is more Pro than ever, but the camera is no big thing

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.If the Google Pixel is a showcase of the best Android software, the Pixel Pro models represent the best of the best in hardware, headlined by the and the . I've spent a good amount of time testing both Pro devices -- they're basically the same device, differentiated by screen size, battery size, and a few minor tweaks here and there.Also: I compared Google's pricier Pixel 11 series to Samsung's Galaxy lineup - here's the better value nowSo far, the Pixel 11 Pro XL has been a lovely device to work with, though some of the features Google is particularly proud of haven't quite come to fruition. Google (like everyone) is hardcore into AI these days, so it's not surprising to see them largely based on Gemini, nor is it surprising to see mixed results from them. But the phone itself is still a major player in the mobile space. HiLighting the hardwareThe Pixel has been an attractive phone for many years, and Google has continued to iterate on the design, particularly with the camera bar on the back. It's a full 4mm thick, which doesn't sound like a lot until you realize that the body of the phone itself is only 8.6mm thick. This year, the same silver rails that run the periphery of the phone also encircle the camera visor for a sleek look. Glass covers the entire visor edge to edge with a minimal bezel. In the Olive colorway in particular, it looks superb. Also: Google Pixel 11 vs. Pixel 9: Why I'm considering the upgrade this yearThe camera visor is accented by an LED light Google calls the HiLight. Overall, it's a nerfed notification light. You can assign a color to a favorite contact and when one of those contacts voice calls you, the HiLight lights up. It will also light up if your phone is face down on a table and you ask Gemini a question. That's it. There was a lot of potential here -- I don't need to list every possibility -- but it's not a new technology, just look at any other phone in the last 20 years with a notification light. Personally, I never really used the feature, but even I'm disappointed at the limitations here. I guess the good news is that the HiLight is not available on the base Pixel 11, so only those who spend more money will be disappointed. Also, Google says the HiLight will come to more features like text messaging in the future. The rest of the specsThe Pixel 11 Pro XL has a 6.8-inch Super Actua LTPO OLED screen that goes up to 3,600 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. It has a 5,115 mAh battery which got a little on the low side for me on the second day of use, and charges at 45W and 25W wired and wireless respectively. In fact, the 45W charging is exclusive to the XL; the Pixel Pro 11 charges at 30W. Overall, you can expect a solid one and a half to two days on a charge.Also: I found an Android magnifier app for my aging eyes that beats camera zoom - and it's freeThe Google Tensor 6 processor, like in past years, has been built to manage thermals, not to be a screamer. That's perfectly fine; phones have been overpowered for the vast majority of use cases for years now. The phone comes with at least 12GB/256GB of RAM/storage going all the way up to 16GB/1TB when maxed out. The Gemini machineGoogle is really pushing Gemini and AI services on its phones this year. Two of the more notable features are the Live Translate for Media, and Rambler. The former is an interesting idea that worked about half the time, but when it worked, it worked pretty well. Live Translate for Media takes video recorded in a foreign language and dubs over the audio in English with an AI-generated voice that matches the original speaker. I tested this with three different videos: the first was a Bad Bunny video, which did not work at all. Ok, maybe it can't do music. So I tried the second video, an hour-long video in Spanish of two people having a conversation. In this case, the feature also did not work at all. The final video I tested was a BBC video about the origins of coffee. In this video it worked pretty well (but still wasn't perfect). Also: I've tested dozens of tablets - this $300 TCL is a back-to-school powerhouseThe biggest issue with the feature is the delay between the video and the spoken language. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's noticeable. It also didn't recover very well when I scrubbed forward and back in the video, which is also understandable, but not ideal. There's also no way to turn it off once it's on, which is rather odd. The other standout feature is called Rambler, which is Google's AI-powered voice typing. Put simply, it lets you ramble out a message you want to send, and the AI will clean it up and make it presentable. For example, you can interrupt your dialogue to make corrections or changes, and it will correct that in the text. It'll also remove extraneous "uhs" and "ums". The cameras are hit or missAs for the cameras, the island houses a 50-megapixel main sensor and 48-megapixel telephoto and ultrawide sensors. Google has long been known for its camera chops, but recently, it feels like the camera science is leaning too much on software processing and AI. Put simply, the cameras seem to have stagnated, and I found overall quality in low light to be lacking.Also: Pixel 11 Pro Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: I'm a fan of both foldables, but this one winsOf course, when the lighting is great, so are the cameras. Colors don't change from one lens to the next, and detail is sharp when you zoom in up to 10x. During the day, camera quality is solid, though not as stabilized as I'd normally like to see. But colors are good, there aren't any blown out highlights when the sky peeks through the trees, and the transition from a dark environment into a bright one is smooth. But in less than ideal lighting, things can get a bit dicey. If you're not doing anything more than posting photos on social media, they'll do, but I found artifacts and light streaks in my photos. Video performance in low light is equally disappointing. It's juddery and has trouble blending the darkness -- there's a lot of banding around light sources and it makes me worried about the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, whose footage I have not analyzed yet. One cool feature I hope to use is called Magic Capture, which pulls out still frames from videos the AI thinks are relevant or exciting. I tried it with my teenage daughter, but not at an activity that anyone would normally video -- just strolling down a path in the woods, early in the morning (while grumpy). Sure, Magic Capture pulled out frames that looked pretty good, but not having control over which ones means you'll get photos you may not want. It'll require experimentation, but I'm going to call the results cautiously optimistic for now. ZDNET's buying advice Overall, Google made the into a Gemini machine, but it's leaning too heavily on the AI in my opinion, and not enough on the machine. We've seen this first with Motorola, then Samsung, and now Google all leaning heavily into software improvements over genuine hardware upgrades in their 2026 phone models, and it's illustrating a disturbing trend. It's easy to dismiss all that as consequences of the ongoing RAM shortage that's driving up costs for everyone. It's also easy to point out that these phones have all matured to the point where the only improvements will be software driven since the hardware is already so good.Also: Google Pixel 11 Pro XL vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: I compared both - this one pulls aheadThose are both solid arguments. The hardware of this phone is gorgeous, and it keeps up with modern trends: new processor, more storage etc. The cameras though, are disappointing, which makes the prices hard to swallow. It's especially true since this is a Pixel which used to be the darling of the camera photography industry. AI is fine, and some of the tricks Google can do are cool as well, but I'd really like to see Google get back into the camera game in a serious way -- using physics, not AI.