The Google Pixel 8: A Worthy Upgrade, But at a Price
The Google Pixel series has always been known for its incredible cameras and clean, bloat-free software experience. This year, Google continues that tradition with the Pixel 8, offering a slew of exciting upgrades, including a brighter display, improved cameras, and new AI features. But with these enhancements comes a notable price increase, raising the question: is the Pixel 8 truly worth the extra cost? Let’s delve into the details and find out.
Pixel 8: Design & Display
While the Pixel 8 maintains a similar silhouette to its predecessor, the design has received subtle yet impactful refinements. The new phone is noticeably smaller and more comfortable to hold, thanks to a reduction in dimensions. The glass back and matte aluminium frame remain, but the edges and corners of the rear glass panel now boast a deeper curve. This subtle change contributes to a more refined and premium feel.
The camera bar at the back is thicker than the Pixel 7’s, housing larger camera cutouts. The LED flash and rear microphone occupy their familiar positions. At the front, the Pixel 8 achieves more uniform side bezels, with a slimmer bottom chin compared to the Pixel 7, hinting at a continued commitment to a sleek, minimal design.
A major upgrade arrives in the form of a 6.2-inch Actua AMOLED display, protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus. The panel offers a 120Hz refresh rate, providing a significantly smoother and more responsive user experience. This refresh rate dynamically adjusts between 60Hz and 120Hz, optimizing for battery life while delivering a fluid experience for demanding tasks. The display also boasts higher brightness, peaking at 2000 nits and 1,400 nits in HDR mode, making the Pixel 8 a pleasure to use in even the brightest of environments.
Google has once again bestowed the Pixel 8 with an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, allowing you to use the phone in the rain with confidence. However, while a quick dip in the pool is fine, resist immersing the Pixel 8 underwater for extended durations.
Overall, the Pixel 8’s design feels refined and luxurious. The improved display and smaller size contribute to a more comfortable and immersive experience.
Pixel 8: Performance & Software
The Pixel series has never been particularly renowned for raw performance, but they haven’t been slouches either. Google has prioritized AI and software optimization over sheer brute force, and this philosophy remains evident in the Pixel 8.
The Pixel 8 packs the Tensor G3 SoC, an improvement over the Pixel 7’s Tensor G2, although you might not notice a significant difference in everyday use. This 4nm chip utilizes a nona-core architecture (9 cores), working in conjunction with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and an Immortalis-G715 MP10 GPU. Storage options include 128GB and 256GB.
As expected from a Google phone, the Pixel 8 comes with stock Android, offering a clean and streamlined user interface. This is a hallmark of the Pixel experience, and many Android users favor the simplicity and speed it provides. Beyond the pure Android experience, the Pixel 8 adds exclusive features like Now Playing, which automatically detects songs playing around you.
Android 14 introduces several new features, including Lock Screen customization, revamped Clocks, monochrome themes, and more. Google has also enhanced Face Unlock with added security, enabling it to function for payments, sign-ins, and even banking apps.
The Pixel 8 incorporates a wealth of new AI features, including:
- Audio Eraser: This handy feature allows you to erase distracting sounds from your audio recordings, like removing the background noise of traffic from a windy chime recording.
- Best Take: In group photos or selfies, Best Take intelligently selects the best captures of individual faces, ensuring everyone looks their best.
- Magic Editor: This advanced version of the Magic Eraser feature lets you manipulate photos in a multitude of ways. You can crop and move subjects, change backgrounds, and even alter the sky – all within the Photos app. This feature requires an internet connection to upload the image to Google Cloud, so it can’t be used offline.
- Real Tone: Google’s technology for accurately detecting skin tones, previously available only for photos, now extends to video recording.
- AI Wallpaper: This feature allows you to create custom wallpapers based on preset inputs, offering a vast range of creative possibilities.
Google has also delivered the exceptional promise of 7 years of OS updates for the Pixel 8 series. This is an unparalleled level of support in the Android world, surpassing even Apple’s 5-year software support for the iPhone.
While the Pixel series has sometimes been associated with software bugs, during the time spent using the Pixel 8, no significant issues were encountered. Gaming, watching videos, and using a variety of apps all felt smooth and fast. However, some minor heating was observed when using the camera for extended periods or playing games for more than 25 minutes.
Pixel 8: Battery Life
The Pixel 8 features a slightly larger 4,575mAh battery compared to the Pixel 7. However, the improvement in battery life isn’t as substantial as one might hope. In the HD video loop test, the phone lasted approximately 20 hours, similar to its predecessor. With typical usage, the Pixel 8 comfortably powers through a day of use, but this doesn’t include extended gaming sessions.
The Pixel 8 now supports 27W fast charging, promising faster recharging times. Testing with an 18W Google charger yielded a full charge in around 1 hour and 45 minutes. A 30-minute charge resulted in 38 percent battery, while an hour of charging reached 71 percent.
Pixel 8: Cameras
The Pixel series has consistently been lauded for its exceptional cameras, and the Pixel 8 continues this legacy.
The Pixel 8 boasts a 50-megapixel primary rear camera equipped with a new f/1.68 aperture lens that captures 21 percent more light compared to the Pixel 7. It also incorporates Dual Exposure, which merges two images with different exposures to reduce noise and enhance sharpness in both photos and videos. The ultra-wide 12-megapixel sensor receives an update, now featuring autofocus and a 22 percent wider field of view (125.8 degrees) compared to its Pixel 7 counterpart. And for the first time, the Pixel 8 joins its Pro sibling with a dedicated Macro mode.
Despite utilizing the same chipset and primary sensor as the Pixel 8 Pro, the Pixel 8 unfortunately lacks the Manual mode found on its larger counterpart.
A redesigned Camera app is now available on the Pixel 8 and older Pixel phones. The app features separate Video and Photo modes, streamlining access to various shooting options. However, the movement of the Shadow, White Balance, and Brightness sliders from the viewfinder to a toggle below can feel cumbersome.
The Pixel 8 now supports photo capture in Display P3 color space, allowing for a wider range of colors when viewed on compatible displays. This feature is disabled by default, requiring you to manually enable it in the Camera app.
The Pixel 8’s camera captures exceptional photos and videos thanks to excellent HDR performance, sharp details, impressive low-light performance, an improved ultra-wide camera, and the power of Google’s AI enhancements.
The primary 50-megapixel sensor excels in daylight photography. While you won’t see a dramatic improvement over the Pixel 7, photographs are slightly sharper, retaining Google’s signature vivid style with punchy contrast, brighter highlights, cooler color tones, and a natural white balance.
The ultra-wide camera, now boasting a wider field of view and autofocus, takes sharper and more detailed images than its Pixel 7 counterpart. The Macro mode, which automatically activates when approaching a subject closely, performs admirably for close-up photography.
Night Sight and Astrophotography modes continue to deliver exceptional results in low-light and nighttime conditions. While improvements over the Pixel 7 are subtle, the processing times with the Tensor G3 chip are faster.
The Pixel 8 offers several other photo modes, such as Action Pan, Long Exposure, Portrait, and Panorama. These modes perform similarly to the Pixel 7, but processing times have improved, especially in Portrait and Long Exposure modes. Portrait shots are remarkably detailed, with natural skin tones and excellent exposure.
The selfie camera on the Pixel 8 features a 10.5-megapixel sensor with 1x and 0.7x zoom options. The 0.7x mode utilizes the camera’s native ultra-wide field of view, while the 1x mode is cropped in. Selfies are excellent in daylight, and good results can be achieved in low light thanks to the Night Sight feature.
The Pixel 8 can capture 4K video at 60fps on all cameras, with the primary rear camera delivering the best results. 24fps and 30fps video recording options are also available, and all video is stabilized. The primary rear camera produces excellent footage in daylight, especially with 10-bit HDR enabled. This footage is rich in detail, offering sharp stabilization, impressive dynamic range, and well-balanced colors with a touch of saturation. Even in low-light scenarios, the Pixel 8 can capture good quality video with excellent dynamic range and color, although some quality degradation is noticeable. The ultra-wide camera, while offering exceptional stabilization, doesn’t perform as well as the primary camera for video.
Pixel 8: Verdict
The Google Pixel 8 is a significant upgrade over the Pixel 7, with Google addressing many areas for improvement. You get a brighter, top-tier display, a more comfortable and compact design, enhanced cameras, numerous improvements in software and AI features, and a powerful Tensor G3 chipset. However, these upgrades come at a considerable price increase. Is the price hike justified?
For someone looking for an all-around flagship Android phone, the Pixel 8 might not be the best value. But, if you’re a Pixel enthusiast upgrading from an older Pixel phone, the Pixel 8 is a worthwhile upgrade. For Pixel 7 owners, waiting for the next generation Pixel might be a more prudent decision.
