Google Pixel 8 Pro assessment: Pure Android bliss

Contrary to in style perception, there’s extra to Android than Samsung telephones. Google is at pains to indicate this with its glorious Pixel smartphones, notably as it’s the firm that really owns and builds the Android working system that’s the solely various to the iOS on iPhone.

The Pixel 8 Pro is the most important and finest Google Pixel telephone up to now, but additionally the most costly ever at £999. If you dig the daring design and don’t thoughts a big telephone, the display screen, efficiency, and cameras are ok to advocate it alongside the most recent iPhone 15 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

• Very massive
• Matt glass stops fingerprints
• Three color choices

The Pixel 8 Pro has a particular metallic ‘camera bar’ that homes the triple lenses alongside a flash and newly-added temperature sensor. On our black assessment telephone it appears fairly slick, and all fingerprints are hidden due to a silky matt end of the rear glass.

We’re keen on the design – it’s distinctive and distinctive though we do discover the telephone troublesome to make use of with one hand given it’s so huge, however the identical applies to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Plus, or some other big-screen machine. You also can get the telephone in a beige ‘porcelain’ color or a sky blue referred to as ‘bay’ that’s surprisingly vivid – we’d test it out within the flesh earlier than going for blue because it’s not everybody.

We like that Google doesn’t muck about with superfluous buttons – there’s simply the amount controls and an influence button on the correct edge, with a USB-C port on the underside, although for charging there’s solely a cable within the field and never a charging brick. You’ll have to purchase one individually.

• 6.7-inch OLED
• 120Hz refresh charge
• Flat and vivid

Unlike the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 6 Pro, the Pixel 8 Pro has a flat display screen moderately than being curved on the left and proper edge. It makes for fewer reflections however we really feel the curve added a little bit of design aptitude whereas making the older telephones really feel slimmer and look extra enticing. Thankfully the flat show on the 8 Pro is excellent certainly, and the brightest we’ve ever used on a smartphone.

It can robotically scale as much as its brightest setting when in direct daylight, making the whole lot on the display screen completely legible. Everything appears nice too due to vibrant colors and a 120Hz refresh charge protecting apps and textual content scrolling easily. The tech can get the speed proper all the way down to 1Hz whenever you’re not utilizing it too, resembling when the telephone is locked however you’re utilizing the helpful always-on show to indicate key info like time, climate, and notifications. This additionally helps lengthen battery life.

• Incredible major 50Mp digicam
• 5x telephoto lens is flexible
• Tons of photograph software program to play with

The Pixel telephones are identified for his or her glorious cameras, and the Pixel 8 Pro is not any totally different. The major 50Mp digicam sensor simply goes toe to toe with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It’s a matter of style however we favor Google’s photograph processing in comparison with Apple, with the Pixel choosing a extra contrasty look.

Compared to our current use of a number of telephones together with the iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra, and the OnePlus 11, the Pixel 8 Pro beats all of them for sharpness of picture, and having the least blur when taking pictures transferring topics (although the brand new iPhones have caught up significantly). If you’ve got stressed youngsters or pets that you just wish to {photograph}, going Pixel this 12 months will assure you get photographs you’ll hold without end.

Here are some photographs from the Pixel 8 Pro’s major digicam, together with a portrait shot and spectacular night time time efficiency:

The Pro additionally has a 48Mp ultra-wide digicam, an improve on the common Pixel 8’s 12Mp model. It does a great job of minimising distortion on the fringe of the body and we discovered ourselves utilizing it extra usually than we do on different telephones:

Going Pro with the Pixel will get you a devoted 48Mp 5x telephoto lens which is extra enjoyable and helpful to shoot with than any ultra-wide. Being capable of zoom in and – importantly! – nonetheless have an excellently detailed and sharp picture at 5x is a sport changer for telephone photographers. You can punch in at a gig and nonetheless be capable of publish it to Instagram, nevertheless it additionally modifications how one can body images and helped me get a bit arty and experimental.

Thanks to Google’s intelligent Super Res Zoom, you can even zoom to 30x digitally, although outcomes are much less spectacular. The highest praise we are able to pay the Pixel 8 Pro is that it made us need to exit and take extra images, and we actually haven’t had that to the identical extent with some other current telephone.

Around the entrance is a ten.5Mp selfie digicam with autofocus – photographs look good, and you’ll shoot at a wider angle or zoom in, too.

Despite all this pictures prowess, Google is pushing its synthetic intelligence (AI) photograph modifying options laborious with the Pixel 8 Pro. Using the Google Photos app, you may edit images in ways in which left us impressed with the expertise however fearful concerning the precedent for telephone pictures.

You can erase individuals and objects from the background of images or transfer them round within the body, change the color of the sky and picture to seem like a special time of day, or take the faces of individuals from a number of photographs in a row and blend and match their faces to create the ‘perfect’ shot – so you may snap a couple of takes and ensure afterwards that nobody is blinking or pulling a face.

This sounds cool however in observe we discovered it at finest pointless and at worst very creepy. It looks as if a gimmick you can ignore, however Google bases loads of its Pixel advertising and marketing round such options for the Pixel 8 Pro. But given a few of these options are already obtainable to any telephone within the Google Photos app, Pixel consumers may simply be guinea pigs for software program perks Google needs to push to everybody finally.

• Call high quality is great
• Apps all run easily
• Useful AI features offline

Google makes use of its personal Tensor G3 chipset within the Pixel 8 Pro, which it says is tweaked to provide the finest AI energy attainable. We have been a bit sceptical about that, given many different telephones can run Google AI options simply advantageous in Google apps, however the Pixel 8 Pro is a fast, snappy telephone in each day use.

There’s no drawback flicking between favorite apps, taking calls, listening to music, typing up notes, and navigating round London – the telephone didn’t miss a beat. Being capable of confirm funds and log into apps utilizing the Pixel’s Face Unlock is seamless too, and an improve over older fashions.

Toggle on Google’s Pixel-only clear calling, and also you’ll additionally profit from the telephone cleverly lowering background noise so the particular person on the opposite finish of the road can hear you higher. That’s proper – you may nonetheless use your telephone as an precise telephone!

• Android 14
• Clever additions different telephones lack
• Seven years of updates promised

The telephone runs Android 14, a really good wanting and polished model of Google’s cell software program. Pixel telephones have a playful feel and look to the software program as of late and we favor it over Samsung and OnePlus. You can set system huge color themes, dig into settings to tweak privateness and notifications so your telephone is about up simply completely for you, or create an entire work profile to maintain your job’s apps separate out of your private ones.

You even have intelligent issues like Call Screen, the place the Pixel can reply potential spam calls in your behalf and transcribe what’s being mentioned onto the display screen to see if you wish to decide up or not. Annoyingly, many different good software program options are for US prospects solely, resembling Summarize, which might sum up all the knowledge on an open net web page in neat bullet factors utilizing AI.

From an accessibility standpoint, the Pixel has excellent voice transcription that varieties out what you’re saying with unbelievable pace and accuracy. The system-wide TalkBack mode can also be excellent for these with impaired imaginative and prescient because it speaks out loud to inform you the place to faucet and what’s on the display screen, with new Guided Frame mode serving to you are taking images of individuals and ensure topics are in body.

Android stays extra versatile and customisable in comparison with the iPhone’s iOS, and Google has Apple overwhelmed on its software program help promise, saying the Pixel 8 Pro will get seven years of Android updates and safety updates – taking this telephone to 2030. If Google makes good on its promise, that’s industry-best. It stays to be seen if this {hardware} will final that lengthy, although.

The Google Pixel 8 Pro prices £999 for the mannequin with 128GB storage. In the UK you can even spend £1,059 to double storage to 256GB, which we extremely advocate if you wish to hold this telephone for some years to return.

There’s additionally a 512GB mannequin for £1,179, nevertheless it solely is available in black.

The Google Pixel 8 Pro is without doubt one of the finest telephones you should buy, with a daring design, amazingly good display screen, and one of many highest high quality digicam methods on any smartphone. You’ll love the images you tackle this factor, and it’s the primary purpose to contemplate it above rivals just like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max – and regardless of a value rise from Google, the Pixel continues to be cheaper than these two gadgets.

The AI digicam options really feel a bit creepy however you may utterly ignore them, and although battery life isn’t industry-leading this telephone will nonetheless get you thru a full day, every single day – and if Google comes by on its software program promise, the Pixel 8 Pro is supported till 2030. You might need to exchange the battery earlier than then, however that units a brand new customary for smartphone longevity.