Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Pixel 8 Pro Review: Google’s Best Phone Needs More”.
Google’S Flagship, pixel 8 Pro is on sale now, but is it worth the money? Let’S take a closer look. I had a rocky start with the pixel 8 Pro with weird camera issues, somewhat denting, my first impressions, but after countless hours testing all parts of the phone, especially the camera. I am finally ready to give my verdict. The pixel 8 Pro is drum roll.
Please basically, fine, if that seems like something of an anticlimax, then that’s quite fitting, because the pixel 8 Pro has been rather an anticlimactic product. For me, the pixel 7 Pro and 6 Pro before it were superb allround phones with amazing camera systems. I gave both those phones, CED CNET, editor, Choice, Awards and, as a result, I had very high hopes for the pixel 8 Pro, but after having spent a long time testing it, I am left feeling somewhat underwhelmed.
It’S not that there’s anything especially wrong with the phone. It’S just that it doesn’t really bring anything major to the table or move the pixel line forwards in any meaningful way. The battery life is averaged, the process of performance really didn’t impress and, to be honest, I prefer the design of the previous model, some of its key new features, including various AI tools and a new temperature scanner on the back of the phone they work well enough, But they don’t really bring enough to the table to stand out as killer new features.
One of the major points it does have in its favor, though, is the S years of software updates that Google has promised to deliver. That is a huge boost over the four years it used to offer and a big boost over most other Android competitors, and that means that this phone should still be going strong in 2030 and a longer lifespan for your phone means fewer phones in landfill. So, let’s dive in and see what the pixel 8 Pro has to offer.
Physically, it’s clear to see the family resemblance with this big camera bar running along the back. I don’t think it looks quite as classy or premium looking as the sage and gold of this pixel 7 Pro, certainly not in the plain black version I initially reviewed. Although this light blue one does have a little bit more personality. The 6.7 in display is the same size as the 7 Pro and it looks. Glorious colors are Punchy and vibrant and easily do justice to whatever vibrant colorful, Netflix or YouTube video you’re watching it supports HDR content. It’S bright enough to actually use outdoors and it has a maximum 120 HZ, refresh rate for smooth scrolling and gaming. This small circle, next to the camera, flash houses, a new feature, a temperature sensor. Now that allows the phone to take temperature readings from objects or surfaces directly in front of it, and it’s easy enough to do you just fire up the temperature app and hold the phone about 5 cm away from whatever it is.
You want to scan sort of like if you were taking a close-up, photo tap. The screen and it’ll give you a temperature reading of that object. The idea is that you can check the temperature of a drink before you take a Big Gulp or check that that piece of pie isn’t hotter than the sun before you shovel it into your face. It worked fairly well in my testing and I can imagine some examples where it might be quite useful, maybe you’re a parent wanting to check the temperature of a baby’s bottle, but over all, I do think its real world use is quite limited.
It kind of feels like a feature: that’s been shoehorned in just to act as a differentiator against the competition and sure the pixel 8 Pro now has a big feature that the iPhone 15 doesn’t, but is it a feature that you really care about? To be honest, I don’t the phone runs. The latest Android 14 software and Google has committed to 7 years of software updates, that’s great because longer software support periods extends the life of a phone. It’S often the case that older Hardware is still going strong, but if the software is running isn’t still getting security updates, it’s simply not safe to use.
Android 14. Isn’T that much different from Android 13. It looks pretty much the same and it’s got various ways to customize the interface.
Google has sprinkled some AI features throughout, however, including a new way to create generative AI wallpapers, the tool. That’S you select from a variety of prompts, including colors textures objects and art styles, and then combine those to create a new backdrop. It’S pretty fun to play with, and I have genuinely enjoyed playing around with the different, prompts to try and create images that I like and Google has woven some AI features elsewhere in the phone, including in the image editor these tools, let you do things like selecting An object to make it larger or smaller within the frame or remove it completely results. Don’T always look amazing, but they can be quite fun when ways of playing around with snaps.
That is, if you can be bothered waiting, the excruciating, 15 or so seconds. It takes to actually render each edit running. The software is Google’s latest homemade processor, the tensor G3, which I generally found to be underwhelming. It didn’t impress at all in Benchmark tools, putting it closer in performance to cheaper mid-range phones rather than today’s flagships, and while Benchmark tools, certainly don’t tell the whole story of a processor. There are areas where I definitely feel it’s lacking in power, especially those long wait times to create AI edits in general, use, though it does feel Swift and responsive and demanding games like genin impact and pubg all played with smooth frame rates, even at high settings. So, let’s talk about those cameras, the cameras were my biggest concern in my initial review.
Due to various image processing problems, I found, under certain conditions several of our initial test images in high contrast, situations showed bizarr looking artifacts in the shadowy areas, along with extremely aggressive software noise reduction that smoothed out areas that should have had detail. Google pushed out an update to help resolve some of these issues and while it has gone a long way to rectifying them, they haven’t gone away completely, but it’s a much more minor issue now showing up very rarely and in very specific circumstances. For the most part, the camera is excellent, taking vibrant, sharp and well exposed images in a variety of conditions in good conditions, the main ultrawide and five times telephoto zoom camera all took beautiful shots that comfortably rivaled the same shots that I’ve seen on the iPhone 15. Pro at night, the iPhone generally performs better, but the pixel 8 Pro is still a huge step up in night skills over the pixel 7 Pro. The phone has other new camera features as well, including manual set settings for adjusting shutter, speed and white balance, as well as a new 50 megapixel mode for taking highres photos. The extra resolution over the Standard 12 megapixels is certainly noticeable when you zoom in on those details, but to be honest, most photographers won’t need to use it, especially as the 1 to 2. Second, delay required to take each photo means it’s only really suitable for static scenes like Landscapes. Overall, the pixel, 8 Pro’s camera is excellent, and I am really glad that I’ve spent all the extra time in testing it.
Following Google’s update, it can take beautiful photos in all conditions, and its night mode is a big step up over the predecessor. That heavy-handed image processing, though, is still visible and dedicated photographers among you are still probably going to be better served with the iPhone 15 Pro. So what do I like about the pixel 8 Pro? Well, I, like its gloriously vibrant display. I like its generally solid cameras, and I love that extended software support period.
What I don’t like is the underwhelming processor performance, the middling battery life, that heavy-handed image processing in some photos and the fact that some of its key new features kind of feel like gimmicks. So is it a phone that you should buy collectively, we’ve spent countless hours testing all the features of the pixel 8 Pro and taking hundreds of test photos with all of its cameras. Despite my earlier concerns, I am confident that the pixel 8 Pro is a solid Android phone to consider, especially if you’re into nighttime photography, but overall it doesn’t feel like a huge step up over the pixel 7 Pro and certainly if you’ve got a 7 Pro. It’S absolutely not worth an upgrade, but those of you on older pixel phones or on other Android phones, more than 2 or 3 years old will absolutely benefit from some of the key upgrades in this phone.
What do you think to the pixel 8 Pro? Is it the phone for you or are your eyes set elsewhere, do make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below and make sure to check out the video description for a lot more information. .