Google has some new phones coming out, and we’ve been busy testing them all. Let’s talk about them.
As part of its annual Made by Google event earlier this month, Google lifted the veil off the entire Pixel 11 series. While we don’t quite have full reviews ready for each phone just yet, we wanted to share our first impressions of the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, and Pixel 11 Pro XL. (You can read our full review of the Pixel 11 Pro Fold.)
In general, this is another year of incremental improvements for the Pixel family, but there are some noteworthy changes to talk about. Let’s dig in.
The base Pixel 11 camera bar is much thinner
Credit: Rene Ramos / Mashable
One thing that becomes very apparent right away when putting your hands on the base model Pixel 11 is that its physical profile has been trimmed down to an extent. However, Google didn’t do that by changing the phone’s dimensions; those are exactly the same as last year.
So, what did Google do to achieve a thinner silhouette (while shaving 0.3 oz off the weight) for its cheapest Pixel 11? It noticeably reduced the size of the camera bar this time around. It’s not quite the same as what Google did to the Pixel 10a, which basically doesn’t have a camera bar at all, allowing the phone to lie completely flat on a table. But the end result is close enough, as this is, as far as I can tell, the thinnest camera bar Google has put on a Pixel in a long, long time.
It’s barely noticeable when viewed from the side, and the phone is close enough to being flat on any given surface that it’s functionally pretty similar to the Pixel 10a in design. You can also basically make the phone completely flat on its backside by putting a case on the Pixel 11.
This isn’t a monumental change or anything, and it only applies to the base model, but still, it’s pretty nice.
HiLight is a swing and a miss so far
Credit: Rene Ramos / Mashable
With the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Samsung introduced a major hardware upgrade: Privacy Display. Unfortunately, Google’s big hardware innovation is pretty underwhelming.
We’re talking about HiLight, a small, multi-colored light module that lives in the camera bar of the Pro models. Yes, you read that right: Base Pixel 11 phones can’t use HiLight.
You might think, based on that fact, that HiLight is some highly advanced technological feat. Based on early impressions, that’s not really the case. HiLight can pretty much do two things at the moment: light up when Gemini is active, or light up when someone calls you on the phone. The idea is to notify you that things are happening when you have the phone flipped face down, but I feel pretty strongly that Google should have prioritized text messages instead of phone calls for the initial HiLight rollout.
If HiLight worked with texts (and I expect that it will eventually), it would at least be pretty neat that you can set custom colors for different contacts. But as it is, in a world where I pretty much only get phone calls from people who are trying to drain my bank account, it’s not particularly useful.
And again, it really should be available on all four Pixel 11 phones.
Magic Capture is a pleasant surprise
Credit: René Ramos / Mashable
In terms of software additions, the most impressive one I’ve seen in my time with the Pixel 11 series has been Magic Capture. This, fortunately, is available on all four Pixel 11 devices, and it’s worth trying once you have your new phone all set up and ready to go.
Magic Capture is available as a new mode in the Camera app; just choose it from the same little section where you’d choose either photo or video mode and you’re good to go. The way it works is that you film anything you want, ideally an object or living thing in motion, and Magic Capture will automatically process the video and choose several still frames from it that would work as standalone photos.
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
This processing happens on-device and works without a cellular or internet connection, which is great. There’s also an option to let Magic Capture automatically crop and unblur these images. In practice, I found Magic Capture surprisingly capable of picking out neat still frames from videos. I filmed a train speeding by me and it found a frame where I’m clearly visible as a reflection in the train’s window, which I thought was pretty cool. I was also able to catch a pigeon mid-take-off.
Magic Capture seems eminently useful for things like filming sports or other dynamic events full of moving subjects. Even as an AI skeptic (to put it mildly), this is one AI feature I actually sort of dig.
