Google Pixel 10 review

New triple-camera setup with a dedicated telephoto

The new Pixel 10 has a completely revamped camera system on the back, but retains last year's 10.5MP selfie shooter. The most notable change is the addition of a 5x telephoto camera that uses a fairly small 10.8MP sensor. This is a much-appreciated upgrade over last year's model as it's now a full-fledged mini flagship with more versatile camera hardware.

However, maybe due to cost-cutting, the Pixel 10's main and ultrawide cameras have taken a hit. Last year's 50MP main camera with a large sensor has been swapped out for a 48MP unit with a smaller sensor. The ultrawide shooter is also downgraded with a smaller sensor, narrower aperture, and field of view. This camera is also unable to focus from close distances, a feature that was previously available on the Pixel 9. At least the main camera can sort of fill in for these cases, as it's able to focus from really close up.

• Wide (main): 48 MP, f/1.7, 25mm (wide), 1/2.0", 0.8µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; 2160p@60fps.
• Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, f/2.2, 120˚ (ultrawide), 1/3.1"; 2160p@60fps.
• Telephoto: 10.8 MP, f/3.1, 112mm (telephoto), 1/3.2", dual pixel PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom; 2160p@60fps.
• Front cameras: 10.5 MP, f/2.2, 95˚, 20mm (ultrawide), 1/3.1", 1.22µm, PDAF; 2160p@30fps

Unfortunately, we weren't able to retrieve detailed camera sensor info, so we are left only with the official specs, which you see summarized above.

Daylight photos

Main camera

The primary camera's performance during the day is quite decent. Color reproduction, contrast and dynamic range are excellent, but we expected better detail and sharpness.

Objects like foliage and buildings are not rendered very naturally, and there is noticeable softness in the shadows - probably due to the smaller sensor this year.

We also notice some softness in indoor scenes, where the lighting isn’t perfect.

Main camera daylight photos

The main camera's close-focusing ability was a nice surprise, as it's not widely advertised. There's no indication in the camera app either. You can get really close to an object and the camera will handle it very well even in more challenging lighting conditions. We took a couple of macro-like photos in 1x and 2x modes to really zoom in on the detail.

Macro photos: 1x • 2x

We also took some photos of people in the default Photo mode and the dedicated Portrait mode.

People shots: Photo mode • Portrait mode

2x crop zoom

Turns out, cropping from a smaller sensor doesn't always bear the best results. The 2x crop zoom photos below are far from what we can call flagship-level. The stills are very soft when you zoom in. You can even spot some noise on some of the scenes, especially the indoor ones.

2x crop zoom daylight photos

Here are some people shots in the default Photo mode compared to the dedicated Portrait mode.

2x people shots: Photo mode • Portrait mode

5x telephoto camera

The 5x telephoto camera is a nice addition to the vanilla Pixel's camera system, but the trade-off for the downgraded main and ultrawide cameras isn't worth it in our opinion. The 5x zoom quality left us wanting.

The dynamic range was okay, and the contrast and color reproduction almost perfectly match the main camera's processing.

The level of resolved detail and the artificial rendition of the foliage, however, were not our favorites. Even in good light, the photos are okay, but not very sharp. It's especially obvious in dark areas of the scene or indoors. The photos are also not particularly free of digital noise.

5x telephoto camera daylight photos

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera also could have had better sharpness. This camera is also not able to focus from up close, unlike the Pixel 9's.

Still, color reproduction and contrast are solid and appear to be aligned with the main camera's processing.

Ultrawide camera daylight photos

Selfies

Since the selfie hardware remains unchanged this year, the quality remains the same, which was good on last year's Pixel to begin with.

The camera captures fine detail excellently, produces natural, but not dull colors, the skin tone is accurate, and the camera maintains good performance in varying lighting conditions. The selfies always turn out sharp, and the subject is well exposed.

Selfies: 0.6x • 1x

Low-light photos

Main camera

The low-light photos from the main camera are decent, but not flagship-level for sure. Sharpness is once again an issue, even though there's plenty of detail in the shadows and across the frame.

Color reproduction is accurate, and the dynamic range is more than adequate. The Auto Night Sight mode isn't too aggressive and retains the natural darkness in the shadows.

Speaking of the Night Sight, it seems to be active most times when shooting low-light scenes, but it's extremely slow when introduced to darker scenes like the first one.

Main camera low-light photos

We are not fans of how the post-processing algorithm renders light sources. They appear weird and sometimes have color fringing.

2x crop zoom

All the issues we outlined with the main camera stills at night are amplified in 2x zoom mode, plus some noise this time around. Although we spotted a couple of soft patches where the noise-suppression algorithm seems to be working overtime, smearing fine detail to hide the noise.

2x crop zoom low-light photos

5x telephoto camera

Since the telephoto camera only has a small sensor, we rightfully weren't expecting great performance at night. The stills are soft, lack fine detail, and light sources are once again clipped. At least there's not much noise.

5x telephoto camera low-light photos

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera is struggling at night. The photos look good on the phone's screen because the camera's dynamic range is quite good for this type of device. However, when you zoom in, it becomes apparent that they are extremely soft, lack detail, and have clipped highlights due to the limited dynamic range.

Ultrawide camera low-light photos

Video recording

The Pixel 10 supports 4K video recording at 60fps with all of its cameras, including the selfie cam. EIS is present in all modes, too. Thanks to the new ISP inside the Tensor G5, the cameras capture 10-bit color by default in both 1080p and 4K.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

The main camera records decent videos, but it's still not on par with the competition. Further subjects are very soft, and the device struggles to resolve fine detail. There's also some noise in some areas of the scene. Dynamic range and color reproduction are spot on, though.

As for the low-light footage from the primary camera, it comes out quite good with some balanced rendition of shadows and highlights.

The 2x crop zoom is expectedly much worse with more visible noise and even softer rendition. The 2x low-light video suffers from plenty of noise, and it's very soft as well.

The 5x zoomed footage looks good, but you can spot some noise here and there even in good light, and the footage appears wobbly in a never-ending jiggle, even though the stabilization appears to be doing its job well. Using the telephoto camera at night, quite expectedly, does not produce great results.

The ultrawide footage, however, surprised us positively after the lackluster photo quality. The camera resolves fine detail very well, while colors and contrast are good. The low-light footage from this camera also has a really nice dynamic range for the available camera hardware.

The EIS video stabilization does an excellent job in the 1x and 0.6x clips. It's extremely smooth and handles small hand movements with ease. When you start zooming in, some camera shaking is visible even if you are standing still. The 5x footage appears wobbly in a never-ending jiggle, despite the stabilization appearing to be doing its job well.