I Used the Google Pixel 10 Pro for a Year, and I Still Can’t Figure It Out

After using the Google Pixel 10 Pro for almost a year, I still have a surprisingly complicated relationship with it. It is not the fastest flagship around, the battery life can be frustrating, charging is slow, and the phone still heats up more easily than I would like. But despite all of that, it remains one of the easiest phones I have lived with. The compact form factor makes one-handed use comfortable and carrying it around never feels like a task, while the display is bright, smooth, and excellent for everyday use.

Performance has also been reliable for everything I actually do, even if Tensor G5 falls behind rivals on paper. The cameras are no longer the obvious class leaders, but I still trust the main camera for quick, natural-looking shots. More than anything, Google's clean software and thoughtful features make the Pixel 10 Pro easy to keep using. It has plenty of flaws, but somehow, it is still the phone I keep wanting to go back to.

A big reason is something incredibly simple. The Pixel 10 Pro is a comfortable phone to live with.

The compact form factor deserves far more credit than it usually gets. The screen is still large enough that I never feel cramped watching videos, replying to emails, editing photos, or doing anything else I normally would on a flagship. But unlike the Pixel 10 Pro XL, or some of the massive Ultra phones from Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo, carrying this phone around never feels like a task.

The same goes for something like the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Obviously, I am not comparing these phones feature-for-feature here, but purely in terms of size and everyday comfort, the Pixel 10 Pro gets a lot right.

That becomes even more obvious when you start using it one-handed. I can reply to messages, scroll through social media, quickly look something up, or even take a photo without constantly shuffling the phone around in my palm to reach the other side of the screen.

And the benefit goes beyond one-handed use. The Pixel 10 Pro is simply easier to carry around. It sits comfortably in a jeans pocket, doesn't feel like a brick when I am walking around with it all day, and I don't find myself constantly noticing its weight or size. If I'd been using the Pixel 10 Pro XL instead, I genuinely don't think I would have stuck with it nearly as long.

That comfort carries over to how the phone feels once it is actually in my hand. I was initially skeptical about the glossy frame because I expected it to become annoyingly slippery, but that never really happened. It offers enough grip to use comfortably, and since I spent a good part of the year with a case on anyway, it rarely became something I had to think about.

The Pixel 10 Pro's display might be the least complicated part of this entire review because, for the most part, I have very little to complain about.
It is simply a very good screen. Over the past year, I have watched plenty of YouTube, movies, TV shows, and far too many random videos on it, and the panel has consistently looked excellent. Colours have enough punch without becoming overly saturated, text looks sharp, and the smooth refresh rate makes everything from scrolling through social media to moving around the interface feel polished.

The compact form factor helps here too. Since the display isn't excessively wide or tall, reaching the corners of the screen is much easier than it is on some of the larger flagships I use. Whether I am pulling down the notification shade, reaching for something near the top of an app, or typing one-handed, I rarely find myself having to awkwardly reposition the phone just to get around the screen.

Outdoor visibility has been equally dependable. The display gets bright enough that I can comfortably read messages, check Maps, frame a photo, or browse when I am outside without constantly hunting for shade. It is one of those screens that works well enough in most situations that you eventually stop thinking about it altogether.

There is one thing I would be careful about, though. In my experience, the front glass picks up everyday micro-scratches relatively easily, including the kind you can get simply from carrying the phone around in a jeans pocket. They aren't necessarily obvious when the display is turned on, but once you notice them under the right light, they are difficult to unsee.

I ended up using a Spigen screen protector for most of my time with the phone, and I would recommend doing the same if you plan on buying a Pixel 10 Pro. It is a small investment that saves you from worrying about those annoying little scratches over time.

Beyond that, there really isn't much drama here. The Pixel 10 Pro has a bright, smooth, well-tuned display that has been consistently enjoyable to use, and after a year, that reliability is probably the biggest compliment I can give it.

The Tensor G5 is probably the easiest part of the Pixel 10 Pro to criticise if you only look at benchmark numbers.

Compared to the fastest Snapdragon and MediaTek-powered flagships, it falls behind, and that was something I cared about far more before I actually started using the phone long-term. My thinking was simple: if I am paying flagship money, I want flagship-level performance across the board. After a year, that matters a lot less to me.

For the kind of things I do every day, the Pixel 10 Pro has been consistently smooth. I am constantly jumping between messaging apps, Chrome, social media, emails, the camera, work apps, and random background tasks, and the phone has rarely given me a reason to think about performance at all.

That carried over to gaming too. I spent long sessions playing BGMI and Pokémon Go, and the phone handled both well enough. What still bothers me is the lack of proper 90fps or 120fps support in BGMI, which feels disappointing on a flagship in this price bracket.

The bigger issue, though, is heat. A demanding game can warm up the back panel within 15 to 20 minutes, and if you keep going, that heat gradually spreads towards the frame. It can get uncomfortable enough that you start noticing it constantly while playing.

And gaming is not the only trigger. Extended camera use can make the phone warm, and I have noticed the same thing while charging. It is not a case of the Pixel constantly overheating or becoming unusable, but after a year, thermals remain one of the clearest areas where Google still needs to improve. And, sadly, this is not an isolated problem with the Pixel 10 Pro.

Thankfully, the software experience makes up for quite a lot of that.

Google's version of Android is still one of my favourites because it feels clean and uncomplicated. And, it can be used by anyone, even my parents. The animations are excellent and smooth. The interface is easy to navigate, and there are enough customisation options without making the whole experience feel cluttered.

Some of the smaller Pixel-exclusive features have also become genuinely useful over time. I like At a Glance for surfacing upcoming meetings and useful information, while Now Playing remains one of those features I miss immediately whenever I switch to another phone.

The AI features, though, have been much more hit-or-miss. Pixel Screenshots can be useful when I need to find something buried in an old screenshot, but Magic Cue has not really become part of my daily routine. It is supposed to understand context and surface useful information when you need it, but in my experience, it has barely made a difference.

So, despite Google pushing AI heavily with the Pixel, the software features I value most are still the simpler ones. The Pixel 10 Pro works because the interface feels polished, familiar, and easy to live with, even if the hardware underneath is not the fastest in the room.

The cameras are another area where my opinion of the Pixel 10 Pro has changed quite a bit over the past year.

There was a time when buying a Pixel almost automatically meant getting one of the best smartphone cameras around. I don't think that is quite true anymore. Phones from OPPO and Vivo, in particular, have become much more aggressive with camera hardware, and after using the Find X9 Pro, the Pixel 10 Pro definitely feels more conservative by comparison.

That said, I still trust the Pixel. The main camera has been the one I use most, and for everyday photography, it rarely lets me down. Daylight shots generally look natural, dynamic range is handled well, and Google's processing does a good job of keeping colours under control. Reds, yellows, and greens still have enough punch without looking like someone pushed the saturation slider too far.

That consistency matters more to me than having the most impressive camera hardware on paper. I can pull the phone out, take a photo, and usually know I will get something sharp, balanced, and perfectly usable for social media or everyday memories.

The telephoto camera is useful too, especially when I need to get closer without physically moving. My bigger issue is with portrait mode. The Pixel 10 Pro gives you 2x portraits, but doesn't properly let you take advantage of the 5x telephoto camera for the same purpose. That always felt like an odd restriction to me. Thankfully, they fixed that with the Pixel 11 series.

I have also shot plenty of 4K 60fps footage on the Pixel 10 Pro, and the results have been dependable. What I still miss is a proper Pro video mode with deeper manual controls, especially when I want more control over how a shot looks rather than letting the phone decide everything for me.

Battery life is easily the part of the Pixel 10 Pro I have struggled with the most over the past year. On a good day, with most of my usage happening over Wi-Fi, I can get around six hours of screen-on time depending on what I am doing. That is not terrible on its own, but the problem is how quickly my confidence drops once I know I am going to be away from a charger for a long time.

There have been days when I have turned Battery Saver on at around 60% simply because I knew I would be travelling for several more hours. And once you start thinking like that, the battery becomes something you are constantly managing rather than something you can just forget about.
The Pixel 10 Pro charges at 30W, and after using phones from OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, and other brands that can recover a huge amount of battery from a short top-up, Google's charging speeds feel painfully slow. If I realise I am low on battery before heading out, I cannot just plug the Pixel in for a few minutes and forget about it.

Qi2 support is at least a nice addition. I like being able to snap the Pixel 10 Pro onto a compatible charger or Pixelsnap accessory without carefully lining everything up, and the magnetic connection itself works well. But that convenience does not really solve the bigger problem for me.

After more than a year, my relationship with the Pixel 10 Pro is still complicated.

It has clear flaws. The battery life is frustrating, charging is slow, and the phone heats up more than I would like. The cameras are no longer the obvious class leaders either.
But none of that stopped me from using it for almost an entire year.

The compact size, excellent display, clean software, and dependable everyday performance make it incredibly easy to live with. And that, more than anything else, is why I keep coming back to it.I probably shouldn't, but I probably will.