Verdict: Smart Group Photos That Don’t Feel Smart Enough
The Pixel Best Take feature is an automatic photo selection tool for group shots that tries to merge people’s best facial expressions from similar images into a single, improved picture where everyone looks good at the same time. After months of using the Pixel 10 Pro XL as a main group photo camera, the verdict is mixed: Best Take itself is clever, but Auto Best Take is unreliable. When it works, it saves time and fixes classic problems like one friend blinking or another looking away. But after nearly ten months of daily use, including holidays and events, it still fails to trigger often enough to feel like the headline feature Google promised. At this price, the phone is worth buying for its camera overall—especially its low‑light skills—but not for Auto Best Take alone.
| Spec | Pixel 10 Pro XL | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | USD 950–1200 (approx. RM4,370–RM5,520) | Range based on listed offer and regular pricing |
| SoC | Google Tensor G5 | Custom Google chip for imaging and AI |
| RAM | 16GB | Plenty for heavy camera and editing use |
| Storage options | 256GB / 512GB / 1TB with Zoned UFS | Fast storage, suitable for thousands of photos and videos |
| Display | 6.8-inch | Larger screen, exclusive to this model |
How Pixel Best Take and Auto Best Take Are Supposed to Work
On recent Pixels, Best Take lives inside the Photos app: you shoot a series of group photos, then head into Edit > Actions > Best Take, where the app scans similar frames and suggests alternate faces so it can build a mosaic where everyone is smiling and looking their best. The Pixel 10 Pro XL adds Auto Best Take, which is meant to handle that process automatically; you take a small burst of group shots and the phone should offer a merged result with everyone’s best faces without manual tweaking. In theory, this turns the Pixel into a smarter group photo camera that quietly fixes human chaos in the background. In practice, the feature depends on settings like Top Shot being on, and even after Google added a dedicated Auto Best Take toggle, it remains hard to predict when it will trigger or what conditions it prefers.
10 Months In: Confusing, Inconsistent, and Hard to Trust
A long‑term user who has taken over 4,000 photos and videos on the Pixel 10 Pro XL still cannot get Auto Best Take to behave consistently, even after almost ten months of daily use. That experience matches what many owners report: some rarely see it, some have never noticed it, and a chunk of users admit they have no idea what it is. Early on, Google offered no clear explanation of how Auto Best Take should work beyond requiring Top Shot on Auto. Later, a camera app update added a specific Auto Best Take toggle, but even with that enabled, plus Top Shot on, repeated test shots of two people changing their poses between frames mostly produced only the original pictures, not an automatic composite. All of this leaves Auto Best Take feeling like a hidden experiment rather than a dependable feature you can count on for fast, stress‑free group photography.
Pros
- When Best Take works, it fixes classic group shot problems by swapping in better faces automatically.
- The Pixel camera remains excellent overall, especially thanks to Night Sight and other low‑light tools that significantly improve everyday night photography.
Cons
- Auto Best Take is hard to trigger, with many users unable to get it to work properly even after months of trying.
- Google’s explanations and controls around Auto Best Take have been sparse, leaving many owners confused about when and how it functions.
Context: Night Sight, Astrophotography, and Long Exposure Make a Stronger Case
To judge Auto Best Take fairly, it helps to compare it with the rest of the Pixel camera guide. Night Sight still deserves much of the credit for making Pixel phones excellent in low light, and it tends to work transparently without extra effort. Beyond that, there are quieter features that have a bigger impact for many users after dark: Astrophotography mode, for example, activates when the phone is stable and the scene is dark, capturing multiple long exposures and combining them into one detailed image that can reveal textures and architectural details you would not see in a regular handheld shot. Long Exposure mode turns motion—like traffic or water—into light trails and smooth, ethereal surfaces instead of unwanted blur. These tools are easy to understand and predict, and they feel more valuable in everyday use than Auto Best Take, which promises more automation than it reliably delivers.
Buy if / Skip if
- Buy the Pixel 10 Pro XL if you care more about its overall camera strengths—especially Night Sight, Astrophotography mode, and Long Exposure—than about Auto Best Take.
- Skip the Pixel 10 Pro XL if your main reason for upgrading is a dependable automatic photo selection tool for group shots, because Auto Best Take still behaves inconsistently.
- Buy the Pixel 10 Pro XL if you want a powerful group photo camera and don’t mind manually using Best Take in the Photos app to refine faces when Auto Best Take fails.
- Skip the Pixel 10 Pro XL if you expect fully transparent, predictable smart features and get frustrated by options that lack clear instructions or reliable triggers, as Auto Best Take currently does.
- Buy the Pixel 10 Pro XL if you value a large 6.8‑inch display, Tensor G5 performance, and up to 1TB of fast Zoned UFS storage for heavy photo and video shooting.
