Google Pixel 8 Pro review – AI-Powered Phone of the Future

There’s a lot new about Google Pixel 8 Pro. The 6.7″ smartphone sports a new processor as well as Android 14. There’s also a raft of features exclusive to, or coming first to, Pixel 8. The biggest being Google’s growing AI power, which is transformative for certain types of user.

There’s also a few things kept over from the well-received Pixel 7 series. For one, the bold visor design makes a return with Google’s classic minimalist design language visible outside and in.

The series continues to sit well below other premium manufacturers in terms of pricing. In Ireland, the Google Pixel 8 Pro starts at €1,099 SIM-free from Google. This is one of the device’s key features – a fully premium experience with the latest tech for substantially less than other flagship Pro models.

Display Matters

Google Pixel 8 Pro features a glass-to-glass 10-bit image pipeline with 10-bit colour images from its tri-lens setup all the way through the 10-bit display.

The 6.7″ 1,440 x 3,120 screen has over a billion colours on offer and, depending on your display settings, it’s not afraid to use them . A 120Hz refresh rate rounds off a flagship-worthy AMOLED display.

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In keeping with the muted and minimalist aesthetic design of the hardware itself as well as Android 14, the display goes for accurate and natural colour by default. Most manufacturers want to show off vibrant, blistering colour upon startup so Google’s nuanced and deep default palette is refreshing.

Pocket Power

The device is powered by Google’s next-gen Tensor G3 chipset built on a 4-nanometre process. The chipset is capable to keeping Android 14’s subtle transitions and animations flowing smoothly in everyday use.

The Tensor G3 is not the most powerful chip in terms of raw specs in its range but it’s beyond capable for work and play. It’s also at the heart of Pixel 8 Pro’s AI-augmented experience.

Pixel 8 Pro runs Android 14 and it’s a neat aesthetic upgrade along with the productivity and UX stuff. Android 14 on Pixel 8 Pro has a minimal and elegant design. The smooth fonts and rounded edges are pleasant to look at. The selection of default styles is mostly a mix of dusty and muted tones with some contrast lent by using greys and tans against less earthy colours.

If these aren’t to your liking, you can change the line-up of colours. In fact you can change practically every aspect of the home screen and UI with Android 14 on Google Pixel 8 Pro. The deep level of customisation itself is a selling point for those willing to craft their own experience.

For everyone else, the default templates and schemes are mostly gorgeous within the that minimal and muted aesthetic.

Everyday AI

The use of AI in Google Pixel 8 Pro is the most advanced and rounded yet. While AI has been part of the Pixel experience for a few devices already, Pixel 8 Pro sees it creep into more areas and perform better in the areas it had already touched. For one, Google’s AI assistant sounds more human and produces more human-like answers in text.

The Live Caption feature is more reliable than on the Pixel 7 series. AI recognises more events or requests in emails or messages and can more accurately add to your calendar, set a reminder or even arrange travel.

A long-press on various elements will very often come with a request for the AI to do something with it. Be it transcribe or translate audio, pull text from an image or produce an outline. It’s worth noting that AI Assistant feature support is not universal, some apps just don’t work with certain features.

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The ‘At A Glance’ bar learns your habits and adjusts its quick reminders to suit. The weather tomorrow in the place you are booked to travel for, for example.

Pixel Editor

Google Pixel 8 Pro also leverages the power of AI in many of its best photo and video features. The most popular of these would be Best Take. When taking a group photo, Google Pixel 8 Pro takes a quick barrage of snaps and stitches them together so nobody’s eyes are closed or caught mid-smile.

The best part of Best Take is how simple it is. For a populist feature that will see the most use, making it work with as little input as possible is always a plus.

The device can also produce convincing advanced editing effects in the box using Magic Editor. The most useful and most popular types of advanced editing effects – stuff like blurring a background or removing an intruder from your frame – are incredibly easy to achieve. AI just does it and asks for approval.

Phone Photographer

The image quality overall is excellent. AI can and does select the best type of shot. And it gets it right almost all the time. First-time shots are generally excellent with scene selection and other adjustments usually spot on with Pixel 8 Pro.

It’s worth noting that Google Pixel 8 Pro adds some camera features over the 7series and is a little less approachable with the extra dials and options. Once you get over the new buttons, it’s still a fairly streamlined experienced.

It’s also worth noting that, like the display, the camera has a natural and accurate palette by default. The 10-bit images look life-like, especially when showing off to family members on that 10-bit display. And, like the display, this can be rectified to bump the saturation for a more vibrant look.

The three lenses have good constancy in terms of colour, contrast and detail. You won’t experience any jarring changes in the viewfinder as you zoom around or adjust focus. This helps set up a shot to your liking without having to readjust as each lens takes over.

A 5x optical zoom is another feature that will likely see a lot of use. Combining the zoom lens and the digital zoom of a huge 50MP main lens gives a maximum 30x zoom. On a sunny day and with a steady hand, you can wring decent snaps out to an impressive 12x or 15x. Beyond this it gets a bit noisy and won’t be much use.

Pixel 8 Pro Battery and Stamina

One of the boons of Android 14 is an expected increase in efficiency that should, in turn, improve stamina. The device also features a large 5,050mAh battery to help go the distance. However, in practice, the stamina is about average.

I consider myself a moderate user, getting plenty of work done through out the day and little playtime in the evening and the device seemed to need the charger before bedtime on most days.

When I looked checked the battery usage in the setting, 5G networking and the device’s user services seemed to be eating a lot of the power. Hopefully this issue can be ironed out in future updates and I’ll see the stamina I had expected.

Google Pixel 8 Pro sports an emerging standard USB PD-3.0 which allows chargers from all manufacturers to power up quickly. In the next few months, most of your devices will be able to charge at convenient speeds with compatible chargers.

However, this limits the charging speed to 30W and Google Pixel 8 Pro takes well over an hour to charge fully where other flagships have trimmed in to nearer a half-hour. Where the charging arms race has reached 0-50% in 12 minutes, Google Pixel 8 Pro does 0-50% in a still-convenient 33 minutes or so.

Google Pixel 8 Pro Specifications

Google Pixel 8 Pro Pricing and Availability

Pre-orders for Google Pixel 8 Pro are open in Ireland, Google Ireland’s SIM-free MRSP for the device is €1,099.

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