My new Pixel 9 Pro XL (P9XL) arrived today, replacing my Pixel8 Pro. With a trade-in and the Google Store credits, it cost me about $700 for the 1 GB storage model. NOTE: If you order this, you only see the 1 GB storage option if you select black. I regretted this when I ordered my Pixel8 Pro in pearl and thus only saw 512 MB available.

The setup is quite automatic, but transfer of my e-SIM failed, and I had to call T-Mobile to activate the P9XL. The reason the transfer failed was that my SIM transfer was protected for security reasons. You do not want anyone stealing your SIM and thus bank account security notifications. An unscrupulous Verizon dealer facilitated this and a customer's bank account was cleaned out. 

When the install process got to transferring data to my new phone, part way through the process, the phone suggested connecting both phones via a USB-C cable. This sped up the process from 4 hours to 30 minutes. And both WiFi and the cable were used—I did not know this was possible. Be sure that you use a data USB-C cable, and not a charging-only cable. Hopefully, your data cables are labeled. However, the transfer process does not transfer apps; instead they are downloaded from the Google Play Store to make sure that they are the latest available. this can take a VERY long time—about 2 hours with a gigabit download speed.

Also, the operating system has updated itself and is awaiting a restart.

The modem in the phone seems to really suck. With 5 bars on T-Mobile 5G UC, I get 12 Mbps down and 1.71 up. Yikes. Well, it turns out that T-Mobile's 5G is swamped by people doing home internet. If I set the phone to 4G LTE, it is twice as fast. They have had a trouble ticket since the beginning of August, but it is not fixed yet. Grrrr. Only a bit better.

I love the cameras. All are 48 or 50 megapixels, twice what my micro 4/3s cameras can do. The jpeg version of images is noticeably different  from the raw version. Jpeg slightly reduces the image size, removes color fringing, and also coloring at object edges, and dramatically sharpens the image overall.

	jpeg
	raw

Notice the color fringing on the two white watch chargers on the bottom (raw) photo, and the greatly improved sharpness (too much?) on the top jpeg photo. The charger lettering is clear too in the top image. After this comparison, I may stop taking raw versions and just stick to jpeg. I am a great fan of panoramas, and the new Pixel 9 panorama mode works beautifully. The following is not a great subject, but shows what the mode can do: