Is The Google Pixel 8 Pro Worth The Price Hike? A Deep Dive Into Google’s Latest Flagship
The Google Pixel 8 Pro, with its sleek new design and powerful AI features, promises a significant upgrade over its predecessor. But does it justify the hefty price tag and deliver on Google’s claims? We take a deep dive into the Pixel 8 Pro’s design, performance, cameras, and more to find out:
Google Pixel 8 Pro Price In India
Unlike its predecessor, the Pixel 8 Pro finally offers a higher storage option in India. Google has finally listened to user feedback and introduced a 256GB variant in addition to the base 128GB model. The 128GB model is priced at Rs. 1,06,999, while the 256GB variant comes in at Rs. 1,13,999. This makes the Pixel 8 Pro the most expensive Pixel smartphone ever launched in India, with a whopping Rs. 22,000 price hike compared to the Pixel 7 Pro. Considering you still get just 128GB storage on the base model and no free cloud storage access, the price tag might put it out of reach for many potential buyers. This price hike is undoubtedly a major hurdle for Google in convincing existing Pixel users to upgrade.
Google Pixel 8 Pro Review: Design
The Pixel 8 Pro boasts a refreshed design compared to the Pixel 7 Pro. While the overall silhouette remains distinctly "Pixel," the device has evolved with a flatter profile, a flat display, and a sharper, visor-like camera module that’s as chunky as last year’s model. The sharp edges of the camera module are an interesting design choice, but thankfully, its protruding appearance makes it easier to grip the slippery, matte-finished body.
The matte-finished rear glass panel is a welcome addition to the Pixel range, resembling the original Pixel and Pixel XL with its rounded edges and curves. While the rear panel retains its slippery nature, it excels at resisting fingerprints. Weighing in at 213g, the Pixel 8 Pro feels neither too heavy nor too light, contributing to its premium feel.
The Pixel 8 Pro carries over an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, while the build quality remains robust. Google’s decision to ditch the curved edge display is also appreciated, as it negates the need for unnecessary software features that were never truly functional on the Pixel platform.
Google Pixel 8 Pro Review: Specifications and Software
Under the hood, the Pixel 8 Pro boasts a brand-new Tensor G3 chipset. Built using the 4nm manufacturing process and featuring a nona-core architecture, the Tensor G3 promises improved performance and efficiency. However, Google’s focus on AI capabilities is where the true power lies. The device comes standard with 12GB RAM and offers up to 256GB of storage, unfortunately, without expandable storage or a dedicated SIM card slot. However, eSIM functionality allows for the use of two numbers on the device.
Connectivity options include upgraded WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, a USB-C port, ultra-wideband (UWB) support, and support for several global positioning systems.
Beyond the usual camera array, the Pixel 8 Pro introduces a thermometer, allowing users to check the surface temperature of various materials. Google plans to add support for body temperature measurement, making it a potential health tool if accuracy proves reliable.
The Pixel 8 Pro packs a 5,050mAh battery and supports 30W wired charging and 23W wireless charging. However, the box does not include a supported charger.
Google has incorporated its AI wallpaper feature, exclusively available on the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. While it requires an internet connection, it leverages AI to generate unique, visually appealing wallpapers, showcasing the potential of AI in personalized customization. The rest of Android 14 feels familiar, resembling the experience on the Pixel 7 Pro.
Further enhancing the AI integration, the Pixel 8 Pro introduces the ability to read aloud web pages or articles from a web browser. Google Assistant can even translate a web page before reading it aloud, significantly aiding accessibility. This hands-free functionality is a notable improvement over the Pixel 7 Pro.
Google Pixel 8 Pro Review: Performance
The Pixel 8 Pro’s 6.7-inch QHD+ OLED display shines under bright sunlight and delivers accurate colors when set to Natural color mode. Its 120Hz dynamic refresh rate, capable of dropping to 1Hz when not in use, functions flawlessly.
Despite the powerful Tensor G3 chip, battery life remains a concern. Daily use often leads to reaching for the charger by the end of a workday with roughly 20 percent remaining. Heavier usage, especially involving camera features, exacerbates battery drain. Our video loop battery test yielded a score of 14 hours and 15 minutes, slightly better than the Pixel 7 Pro but significantly less impressive compared to other premium smartphones in this segment. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, priced at Rs. 20,000 higher, managed an astounding 21 hours and 7 minutes in the same test.
While casual and high-end games run smoothly at default settings, the Pixel 8 Pro falls short when compared to peers equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. Graphics-intensive games like Genshin Impact or Call of Duty: Mobile might experience frame rate drops, especially at higher settings. While the phone doesn’t heat up excessively due to CPU throttling, gameplay can be compromised by stuttering. Ray tracing, a relatively new technology, is also unsupported. Touch sampling also feels sluggish during fast-paced FPS game sessions.
Benchmark scores further illustrate the Pixel 8 Pro’s limitations in sheer processing power. The Tensor G3 managed scores of 10,38,343 in AnTuTu and 1,629 and 3,274 in Geekbench’s single and multi-core tests, respectively. Compare these scores to the lower-priced OnePlus 11 5G (11,89,556 AnTuTu score), the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 (12,87,359 AnTuTu score), and the superior performance of Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max (16,61,205 AnTuTu score).
Google’s continued commitment to its own Tensor design presents some drawbacks, particularly in the processing of photo data. Similar to the Pixel 7 Pro, the Pixel 8 Pro struggles with Portrait mode photos, often stopping captures or disabling the shutter button after capturing 7-8 images due to the processor’s limitations in processing photos in the background. This can lead to missed moments while snapping pictures. Processing RAW photos also takes longer than the near-instant processing offered by the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Even with regular usage, activities such as scrolling through web pages and social media apps, including YouTube, can demonstrate jitteriness. This issue, highlighted by users on Reddit, has plagued Pixel 7 Pro owners and appears unresolved on the Pixel 8 Pro.
The Pixel 8 Pro continues to heat up during camera use, particularly with demanding camera modes like Portrait and Night modes. Additionally, the phone can get quite hot outdoors while connected to 5G networks. The absence of any cooling solution (beyond CPU throttling) on Google’s Pixel phones is a noticeable shortcoming, especially when compared to many Chinese smartphone brands that utilize vapour chamber cooling for performance optimization. This is a stark contrast to the Samsung Galaxy S23, which incorporates this cooling technology, resulting in cooler operation compared to its predecessor.
The new Face Unlock feature provides swift authentication, comparable to Apple’s Face ID. However, its effectiveness relies heavily on good lighting. In dimly lit environments, the camera struggles to recognize faces, forcing a switch to the reliably functioning fingerprint scanner.
Google Pixel 8 Pro Review: Cameras
The Pixel 8 Pro brings several camera enhancements, most notably the new 48-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, replacing the 12-megapixel unit on the Pixel 7 Pro. It also features a brighter 50-megapixel primary camera, likely offering minor improvements (if any).
The overall camera experience has been revamped, with the Pixel 8 Pro introducing a unique Pro mode called Pro Controls, offering advanced camera controls for smartphone enthusiasts who appreciate the flexibility of manual settings.
While Pro Controls is not as advanced as the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera app, which offers a wider range of controls for video, it consistently outperforms the iPhone 15 Pro Max in video recording capabilities, thanks to its user-friendly and practical design.
The Pixel 8 Pro’s Pro Controls differ from the Pixel 7 Pro’s interface, moving all settings under a button located at the top right corner. This button grants access to advanced controls like Night Sight duration, brightness, shadow, white balance, focus, shutter speed, and ISO. The focus control, which highlights the focused area in pink, is a particularly welcome addition, resembling a focus peaking feature found on traditional cameras.
The gear icon at the bottom now opens a comprehensive menu, including a "Pro" tab that allows users to select resolution (binned or full frame), output type (RAW/JPEG), and a convenient Lens Selection selector, enabling the choice between Auto and Manual. Selecting Auto gives users access to the entire zoom range, including digital levels between native focal lengths (0.5X, 1X, and 5X). Manual mode restricts lens selection to native focal lengths, eliminating the automatic lens selection, providing more control over the lens used for each shot.
The Pixel 8 Pro also supports RAW shooting for all three cameras, enabling high-resolution (50 or 48-megapixel) RAW images for post-processing.
Image quality from the primary camera is almost identical to the Pixel 7 Pro, with minor tonal differences. The Pixel 8 Pro leans toward cooler tones, while the Pixel 7 Pro favors warmer hues. Detail is exceptional, but color accuracy often feels slightly off, even though the overall picture looks appealing. Low-light performance is excellent, but black crushing might occur in settings with high contrast.
The ultra-wide camera, benefiting from the major upgrade, captures images with enhanced detail and dynamic range in daylight. Color accuracy is commendable. Macro photos also excel, with the new camera offering even closer (up to 2cm) focusing to your subject.
The telephoto camera delivers impressive zoom capabilities, capturing sharp photos with commendable detail. 5X telephoto shots for macro and portraits demonstrate excellent sharpness and a natural bokeh effect. Super Res Zoom, utilizing hybrid zoom technology, produces quality images up to 10X. Quality degrades after this point, however.
While overall image quality is impressive, the Pixel 8 Pro, like its predecessor, struggles with edge detection in Portrait mode.
Video recording marks a significant improvement over the Pixel 7 Pro. 4K 30fps footage captured with the primary camera is sharp, boasts a high bitrate, and delivers a consistent frame rate. Stabilization is notably improved. Low light footage also exhibits good detail with minimal noise. HDR footage at the same resolution exhibits slight saturation but maintains good contrast and detail, even in low light.
Google Pixel 8 Pro Review: Verdict
The Google Pixel 8 Pro stands apart from its predecessors with its impressive AI capabilities. This focus on AI is a deliberate direction for Google’s Pixel line, and the Pixel 8 Pro excels in this area, handling complex requests and utilizing various tools without requiring internet or cloud processing. The well-designed and capable Pro Controls mode is a welcome addition that photography enthusiasts will appreciate.
However, the steep price hike might deter many potential upgraders, as the new features, aside from the extended 7-year software update commitment, might not be considered essential by all users.
Adding to the price concerns, the Pixel 7 Pro currently retails for as low as Rs. 63,999, making it a more affordable option depending on individual needs. While its still camera performance matches the Pixel 8 Pro, video recording falls behind. The Pixel 8 Pro might not heat up as much as the Pixel 7 Pro, but battery life only sees modest improvements.
Considering the price point, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (available at Rs. 1,24,999 for the 256GB variant) offers better value, boasting impressive zoom capabilities, a larger and superior display, exceptional battery life, and the added benefit of Samsung’s integrated ecosystem including smartwatches, audio accessories, tablets, and laptops.
Ultimately, the Pixel 8 Pro represents a solid upgrade with its focus on AI and camera improvements. However, the hefty price tag and lackluster performance in certain areas might discourage potential buyers from taking the plunge.
