Google Pixel 8 & 8 Pro hands-on review

13 October 2023


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JoXim, 15 Oct 2023Sadly, think this is the end of the road for Pixel phones..... moreWhich part of the hardware is terrible? What aspect of the phone is insufficient for your mobile computing needs? What aspect of the phone is insufficient for the average person's mobile computing needs? I think chasing specs has become too ubiquitous. You could argue maybe performance-wise it's a worse value, but this would be true for almost any phone when compared to something like the A17 Pro. Yet, iOS is incredibly limited so it makes something like the A17 Pro less relevant in real life. The use case of the average person doesn't warrant placing much importance on synthetic benchmarks.

    justasmile, 14 Oct 20237 years of updates are just pointless. The Tensor G3 can... moreSource?

      Bodygard, 14 Oct 2023"if you don't mind the jittery scrolling" &... moreSomebody lying! XD My primary phone has been a Pixel since 2020 and I have never noticed anything of the sort. Unless they are saying it is isolated to Pixel 8 / 8 Pro. But no one else mentioned this.

        YUKI93, 14 Oct 2023Judging by the benchmark scores as of this writing, while t... moreI understand the need to crown winners in reviews, but... The reality is that if you take any flagship phone from the past 4 years and most of the mid range phones from the past 2-3 years they're all extremely smooth and fluid in day to day use and can easily run most games at 60fps on max graphics with the exception of a few edge cases like Genshin Impact. Basically, benchmarks don't reflect real world experience and gaming is already a bit of a niche since most people are not mobile gamers. That's before we even get into people who have a requirement to run Genshin Impact at 58fps for 3 hours. Honestly, I haven't made a single phone purchase with performance as a key aspect in about 8 years. I have a performance baseline that almost any phone over $300 easily meets. Software experience and camera performance are my #1 / #2 priorities and this is where most phones don't even come close to Pixels.

          Viv, 14 Oct 2023I really can't take this sites reviews seriously. I ha... moreThey have really really gone down hill. Plus the comments lately are filled with Samsung astroturfers. Which is saying something that this can actually increase from historical levels. I have multiple Tensor Pixels and have owned more than 35 mobile devices since 2010. The Pixels have been by far the best mobile experience I have had. That's not to say that there is nothing good about other phones, but IMO Pixel is hands down the easiest recommendation for Android. Obviously, iOS users only buy iPhones.

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            • Fliplife
            • PSL
            • 15 Oct 2023

            Premium prices belong to Apple and Samsung.

            If I want budget specs with AI I'll just buy a midrange with Bing and ChatGPT.

            What a joke.

              Anonymous, 14 Oct 2023🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 Golden Reviewer Genshi Test (max settings) ... moreThis is relevant to practically no one.

                TC, 15 Oct 2023I look forward to your full review. I have the Pixel 7 Pro ... moreI musta got lucky or not all pixels are created equal.

                  GrahamD, 15 Oct 2023This Pixel phone is so ugly. It looks like an oversized per... moreReally? Personally think they're the nicest looking phones on the market but that's purely subjective, at least they're nor another iPhone look alike wanna be

                    • T
                    • TC
                    • LiY
                    • 15 Oct 2023

                    I look forward to your full review. I have the Pixel 7 Pro and regret buying the phone, it is a medium range phone at a premium price. Full of bugs, I make sure I update the phone with the latest software updates and still, the finger print sensor might work may not work, sometimes when I pick up the phone my wallet opens, it heats up for no apparent reason, volume control fails when I use some apps! I could go on and on with the list of bugs with the Pixel 7 Pro. It will be good to read your test results to see if Google have managed to fix the never ending list of bugs.

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                      • GrahamD
                      • nIY
                      • 15 Oct 2023

                      thedeepdivesnap, 15 Oct 2023"It's not exactly pretty and lacks the novelty of... moreThis Pixel phone is so ugly. It looks like an oversized periscope. It's one I'd never buy, I prefer a phone that looks good.

                        "It's not exactly pretty and lacks the novelty of the original Pixel 6 design, especially since it no longer actually looks like a visor.The new designs are also a bit more generic than before and remind of old Galaxy phones"

                        This looks already more than a visor than 7 Pro with its separated modules. They call the design generic which a matter of opinion, but saying it's reminiscent of old Samsung Galaxy devices without even saying which ones ? Yeah that's definite proof this whole paper is a troll. There's no a single bit of Samsung's work in this design.

                        I also fail to see how this is "more generic", the arguments of GSMA in that regard seems to be even bezels and flat screens, but the community beg for these traits for years. This is high level trolling and even more proof no reviews on this site are to be taken seriously.

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                          • Mik3
                          • Mrn
                          • 15 Oct 2023

                          Pixels and apples phones may be ok but if I were to buy one I would also be buying the company. My experience with Apple is largely negative for I dislike not owning the device after paying good money for it. As for Google I cannot buy their phone ever since they applied their so called community standards on YouTube in a political fashion.

                            Anton., 14 Oct 2023There are already them in other places and some only spend ... moreAfter installing 14 on my p7p seems like thermals are better, also seems to be getting more consistent battery life too. The phones less than a mth old so knock on wood but have very little to complain about it thus far

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                              • Anonymous
                              • gDf
                              • 15 Oct 2023

                              A possible issue of the Pixel 8 Pro:

                              When I took photos of pink flowers with my Pixel 7 Pro, I noticed that the color was often wrong, no matter which white balance. Pink often looked like red/orange/peach. The camera of my Google Nexus 5x doesn't have this issue. The display was set to "natural". But when I looked at the same Pixel 7 Pro photo on the display of my Google Nexus 5x or on the screen of my desktop computer, the pink color was more accurate. I think the pink color also was slightly more accurate when the display of the 7 Pro was set to "adaptive", though then all the other colors were oversaturated.

                              So I wanted to test in a store whether the Pixel 8 Pro's camera/display shows the colors of a pink flower more accurately (display set to natural), but it was even less accurate than on the 7 Pro. Though, I could only look at the preview as the camera app didn't let me save a photo.

                                Went to the store, played with P8 Pro for a good 30min, games, scrolling in sites, photos, several apps open, it was super smooth...
                                I know 30min isn't the same as 1 or 2 days or a full week but it's pretty weird that you guys saw a lot of jitter and hiccups lol
                                Btw the screen is awesome, as good as S23 ultra if not a bit better. The feel in the hand is stupendous, the roundness makes it much more comfortable to hold than S23 ultra or iphone. Speakers are top notch also. The photos were very good but then again, it was all pretty lit up. I think it's a very complete product in every major aspect and if google continues to give good support, it's gonna be one of the best phones of 2023/2024.

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                                  • JoXim
                                  • 0Z%
                                  • 15 Oct 2023

                                  Sadly, think this is the end of the road for Pixel phones...
                                  At least if they continue doing what they are doing right now.
                                  Great software, terrible hardware.
                                  I think that the only option for them is to start from scratch.
                                  This is going nowhere.
                                  Great move for them would be to merge their software division with, let's say, Xiaimi or Samsung
                                  That would be awesome, imagine Mi A5 or S25, not FE but PE(Pixel Edition).

                                    • i
                                    • igguk1
                                    • 64T
                                    • 14 Oct 2023

                                    I for once prefer google to develop its own chip. The same for Samsung's exynos or Mediatek, Qualcomm needs competition otherwise they would stagnate while charging too much for their chipsets.

                                      • V
                                      • Vawildlife
                                      • IJW
                                      • 14 Oct 2023

                                      So far I'm clearly impressed with the 8pro and Android 14. I've found no downside in its everyday use, though it's only been in my hands a day.

                                        Bodygard, 14 Oct 2023"if you don't mind the jittery scrolling" &... moreSeems random. When I tried them in the store, the P8 had some issues with that, the P8P was just smooth. I also didn't notice any color shift at angles in store, but at least one reviewer pointed out that's a thing...starting to wonder if there's some massive differences with some batches. Getting my P8P next week, guess I'll see.

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