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Google Pixel 9 Pro pre-orders are live: Where to get the best deals on the just-announced Android smartphone
Just announced today, the new Google Pixel 9 smartphones are the most advanced Android devices yet. They rely on a powerful new processor, a beautiful touchscreen display, an advanced camera system and all of Google’s latest AI tools and features.
There are now three versions of the standard Google Pixel 9 series phone available — the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and the Pixel 9 Pro XL. A folding version of the phone, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, was also announced.
Starting today, you can preorder any of the new Google Pixel 9 smartphones. They begin shipping on August 22 and September 4, depending on the model and configuration you choose. Each model comes in a variety of colors and configurations.
If you’ve been thinking about switching from iPhone to Android or want a smartphone with the latest AI functions, now is the time to get your hands on one of the new Google Pixel 9 phones. Here’s what you need to know about the new Google Pixel 9 smartphones, including how to take advantage of the enticing pre-order deals that are available right now.
The new Google Pixel 9 series smartphones
The new Google Pixel 9 series phones represent on large step forward in smartphone technology and a giant lap for mobile artificial intelligence. Here’s an overview of the latest Pixel 9 smartphones you can pre-order right now.
Google Pixel 9 Pro: Advanced functionality with integrated AI and better cameras
Display size: 6.3 inches | Display type: Super Actua OLED touchscreen | Display resolution: 1,280 x 2,856 pixels | Display brightness: Up to 3,000 nits | Processor: Google Tensor G4, Titan M2 security coprocessor | Available colors: Porcelain, rose quartz, hazel obsidian | Dimensions: 6 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches | Weight: 7 ounces | Battery life: Up to 24 hours | Storage options: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Rear cameras: 50MP (wide), 48MP (ultra-wide), 48MP (telephoto) | Front camera: 42MP | Operating system: Android 14 | Port: USB Type-C 3.2 | Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3
The Google Pixel 9 Pro model offers a beautiful 6.3-inch Super Actua OLED touchscreen display with a 120Hz refresh rate and an improved camera system. It’s waterproof and more durable than previous Pixel smartphones. And it comes in several new colors.
The camera system offers three rear-facing cameras, with the main, wide camera offering 50MP resolution. But it’s the AI-driven photo enhancement and editing tools that set the Pixel 9 far ahead of most Android smartphones and all Apple iPhones. These include the new “Add Me” feature, a tool that lets the picture taker add themselves to the group photograph they’re taking.
The Pixel 9 Pro does everything last year’s Pixel 8 Pro can do, but it now runs using the Tensor G4 processor, has a longer battery life and more powerful AI tools, including the Gemini Assistant feature. Another of the many new features added to this phone is the Thermometer app that allows you to take someone’s body temperature using a quick forehead swipe. And if there’s an emergency and you’re caught in the middle of nowhere with no cellular signal, the Satellite SOS feature allows you to send a text message via a satellite system.
Google has pledged seven years’ worth of OS and security updates for the phone.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro comes in four colors. At the time of purchase, you can choose between 128GB ($999), 256GB ($1,099), 512GB ($1,219) or 1TB ($1,449) of internal storage.
Between now and August 21, if you pre-order the Google Pixel 9 Pro from Best Buy, you’ll get a $200 Best Buy gift card as a bonus, along with a three month Google One subscription. Trade-in deals are also available.
Amazon has the Google Pixel 9 Pro available as well, with a $200 Amazon gift card bonus offer when you pre-order by Aug. 28, 2024.
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Same Pixel 9 Pro, but with a larger display
Display size: 6.8 inches | Display type: Super Actua touchscreen | Display resolution: 1,344 x 2,992 pixels | Display brightness: Up to 3,000 nits | Processor: Google Tensor G4, Titan M2 security co-processor | Available colors: Porcelain, rose quartz, hazel, obsidian | Dimensions: 6.4 x 3 x 0.3 inches | Weight: 7.8 ounces | Battery life: Up to 24 hours | Storage options: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Rear cameras: 50MP (wide), 48MP (ultra-wide), 48MP (telephoto) | Front camera: 42MP | Operating system: Android 14 | Port: USB Type-C 3.2 | Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3
The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL offers everything built into the new 6.8-inch Google Pixel 9 Pro, but also offers a larger, 6.8-inch display with 1,344 x 2,992-pixel resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The display’s maximum brightness is 3,000 nits, which makes this the brightest Pixel phone yet.
Choose between four colors — porcelain, rose quartz, hazel or obsidian. You also get four internal storage options including 128GB ($1,099), 256GB ($1,199), 512GB ($1,319) or 1TB ($1,549). The phone measures 6.4 x 3 x 0.3 inches and weighs 7.8 ounces.
When you pre-order the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL from Best Buy, you’ll get a $200 Best Buy gift card as a bonus, along with a three-month subscription to Google One. You can finance the phone starting at $45.80 per month for 24 months.
Pre-order the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL from Amazon, starting at $1,099, and get a $200 Amazon gift card as a bonus.
Google Pixel 9: The perfect Android phone for average users
Display size: 6.3 inches | Display type: Actua (OLED) | Display resolution: 1,080 x 2,424 | Display brightness: Up to 2,700 nits | Processor: Google Tensor G4, Titan M2 security co-processor | Available colors: Peony, wintergreen, porcelain, obsidian | Dimensions: 6 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches | Weight: 7 ounces | Battery life: Up to 24 hours | Storage options: 128GB, 256GB | Rear cameras: 50MP (wide), 48MP (ultra-wide) | Front camera: 10.5MP | Operating system: Android 14 | Port: USB Type-C 3.2 | Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3
Enjoy an enhanced camera system with AI photo editing, access to Gemini Assistant, integrated Google AI features, and a slew of upgraded hardware features including a brighter display, faster processor, and longer battery life.
You also get a handful of safety and security features, including the ability to send crisis alerts, crash detection, enhanced call screening and tools that’ll automatically help keep you and your data safe when surfing the internet. Under normal use, the phone’s battery now lasts up to 24 hours, but in extreme battery saver mode, this can be boosted up to 100 hours.
Pricing for the Google Pixel 9 is $799 for the 128GB version or $899 for the 256GB version. If you pre-order the phone at Best Buy, you’ll receive a $100 Best Buy gift card and a three-month subscription to Google One. Generous trade-in credit is also being offered for eligible devices. Head over to Amazon and purchase the Google Pixel 9 starting at $799 and get a $100 Amazon gift card as a bonus.
New features all Google Pixel 9 phones have in common
According to Google, Android smartphones have entered “the Gemini AI era.” This means that moving forward, all new Android phones will integrate the latest Google Gemini AI tools and features, including the Gemini Assistant (which has replaced Google Assistant). While older Android phones will gain some AI capabilities with an Android OS update, only the newer phones will offer all of the latest AI functionality.
All of the Google Pixel 9 smartphones have Gemini Assistant built-in. Using advanced AI, it understands not just the words you say or type, but the user’s intent. It’s also able to access, work with and share information between your Gmail inbox, files and data stored on your smartphone, files and data stored within your Google Drive account, as well as the Calendar, Google Photos, Google Keep, Google Tasks and Google Maps apps. And if you subscribe to Gemini Advanced, you’ll gain access to a new feature called Gemini Live. It allows you to converse with Gemini Assistant through normal conversation. And Gemini Assistant can be assigned your favorite of 10 voice options.
In addition, all of the Google Pixel 9 smartphones have these 12 (and many other) new features in common:
- Up to 20% longer battery life compared to previous Pixel phones.
- Most Pixel 9 phone configurations come with one year of Gemini Advanced service.
- Access to the new Satellite SOS feature that allows text messages to be sent via satellite in an emergency when the phone does not have cellular access.
- The redesigned Pixel Weather app is customizable and more accurate.
- Pixel Call Assist offers a wide range of enhanced and new calling features, including Call Notes. This feature allows you to record phone calls and receive both a full, text-based transcript and a call summary almost immediately after a call ends.
- Pixel Screenshots allows you to capture a screenshot of anything displayed on the phone’s screen, store it for future reference and have the content within the screenshot be searchable and made interactive using Gemini Assistant. It’s designed to help users remember things visually.
- Pixel Studio provides a more powerful text-to-image generator that includes a handful of style options. After creating an image, in can be further customized by applying a specialized style.
- The redesigned Panoramic photo mode now supports night sight and the ability to capture up to 50MP images.
- Group Photos makes capturing group images faster and easier. There’s also the new Add Me feature for incorporating yourself into a group photo if you’re the one taking the picture.
- Guided Frame uses advanced AI to help you frame the best possible shots when taking pictures or shooting video.
- There are enhanced Magic Editor photo editing features, including a new Auto Frame tool.
- Video Boost enhances 4K resolution video up to near 8K resolution.
This is all in addition to the AI-driven features already available in the Google Pixel 8 series phones and some other Android smartphones.
For more help choosing a new smartphone, we’ve got you covered with our comprehensive coverage of the best cell phones of 2024, the best smartphones with AI, the best folding smartphones in 2024, and the best smartphones under $500. In fact, all of our smartphone coverage is continuously being updated as new models and operating system updates are released.
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Workers removing tree branches near a historic cathedral in Chelm, Poland, unearthed something unexpected when they came upon two children’s skeletons in a shallow burial pit where no gravesites are marked, the government’s Culture Ministry said.
Neither skeleton was buried in a coffin and one of the children was buried with the characteristics of an anti-vampire burial, Dr. Stanisława Gołuba, the archaeologist leading the research, said in a Facebook post. The child’s head was separated from its body, the post said, and the skull was facing down into the ground arranged on a stone. This, plus the way the skeletons were oriented, appears to be consistent with ancient burial methods used to prevent a person thought to be a demonic entity from exiting the grave, Gołuba said.
The skeletons appeared to be from the Early Middle Ages.
The children’s skeletons were removed from their graves, documented and waiting for further analysis, the statement said.
It’s the most recent in a series of findings in Poland of remains buried in ways that suggest people at the time believed they were dealing with vampires or other supernatural entities.
In 2022, Polish researchers found the remains of a woman at a gravesite in the village of Pień with a sickle around her neck and a triangular padlock on her foot. According to ancient beliefs, the padlock was supposed to prevent a deceased person thought to be a vampire from returning from the dead. The sickle was thought to cut the neck if the corpse tried to rise from the grave.
Professor Dariusz Polinski of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun said this type of practice became common throughout Poland in the 17th century in response to a reported vampire epidemic. In addition to practices with a sickle, sometimes corpses were burned, smashed with stones or had their heads and legs cut off.
Six so-called “vampire skeletons” were also found at a cemetery in northwest Poland in 2013. Each was buried with either a sickle laid across their necks or stones placed beneath their jaws said Lesley Gregoricka of the University of South Alabama who led the research team.
contributed to this report.
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