Here’s i thought the Pixel 11 Pro was perfect. I was wrong

In the run-up to Google’s Pixel 11 Pro launch last month, I was excited.

After a series of disappointing phones in 2026, here was a compact phone that could seemingly do it all: cameras, performance, software, you name it!

Concerns began to arise when the device actually launched, complete with a hefty price rise and gimmicky ‘HiLight’ feature. But I was still confident that it’d be the phone for me, and the benchmark against which all compact flagships should be judged.

Two weeks later, that illusion has been shattered. In its current form, the Pixel 11 Pro has been a major let-down. Instead of being the phone I could rely on every day, it’s become a liability.

Standby me

Weren’t flagship phones meant to have battery life sorted by now? Even without moving to silicon-carbon (Si-C), a comfortable full day from the Pixel 11 Pro’s 4850mAh cell should be the absolute bare minimum.

I wish that were true. While I do usually make it to bedtime, it’s not without some serious battery anxiety. And if I ever forget to charge it in the morning (as has happened a few times), I’m left scrambling around for a charger before the evening arrives. It’s simply not good enough.

The perverse thing is that the worst issues happen when the screen isn’t even on. The Pixel 11 Pro’s standby battery drain is truly horrendous, leaking between 10-15% every single night. Every time I come to it after a few hours, I can pretty much guarantee that a few per cent has been shaved off.

Of course, I could turn off mobile data and location services and turn down the brightness, but the phone should be able to handle them just fine. If other phones can do it, why not the Pixel 11 Pro?

A bug’s life

Android 17 has been available on Pixel phones since June, so I naively assumed that any significant bugs would’ve been ironed out by now. Not so.

The Pixel 11 Pro is one of the buggiest phones I’ve reviewed in years. I’ve been testing it for over two weeks, and every single day, something has gone wrong.

Undoubtedly the most common error occurs when opening the recent apps window, where the app I was just using ghosts over the entire screen. Then there are the times where the app straight-up freezes, refusing to respond until I lock the screen, then start again fresh.

And that’s just the issues that have affected me. There have been widespread reports of a problem while using the Video Boost feature, with periods of static audio alongside the moving pictures. Crackling noises in 4K video, scroll stuttering and even NFC payment problems have all been described.

In the case of the Video Boost issue, Google has confirmed that it’s working on a fix, and I’d expect all the issues to be patched before too long. But that’s not the point: there shouldn’t be so many software bugs on a new flagship phone in the first place. This is the sort of experience I’d expect in a beta!

Painful pricing

Of course, this all comes against the backdrop of significant price rises.

With a starting price of £1,079/$1,099, the Pixel 11 Pro is priced like an all-out flagship. Top-tier specs, intelligent AI and superb cameras suggest it justifies the price, too.

But real-world use is always the litmus test, and the phone dramatically underperforms at the moment. If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, I’d urge you to hold off.

In theory, all these issues can be solved with a simple software update or two. And if everything is addressed, the Pixel 11 Pro would undoubtedly be the leading compact phone on the market.

However, until that happens, it’s too risky to recommend.