Google Pixel 8 Pro Preview

As promised, I preordered a Google Pixel 8 Pro, though the timing will be tight with our coming trip to Mexico City.

Today’s Made by Pixel event once again offered a sharp contrast between Google and the Hollywood production values that Apple uses with its own press events, most recently the September announcement of the iPhone 15 series and Apple Watch Series 9. So too did its preorder incentives: Where Apple knows that people will line up (virtually, these days) to buy its new iPhones, Google is offering the Pixel-curious a free Pixel Watch 2 or Pixel Buds Pro with any Pixel 8 Pro. Those devices are worth $350 and $200, respectively.

Granted, these apparently magnanimous offers obscure a harsh reality: While the Pixel 8 series still undercuts their rivals, prices have gone up too, by $100 each. The Pixel 8 starts at $699, while the Pixel 8 Pro starts at $999, whereas the Pixel 7 was $599 and the Pixel 7 Pro was $899. And I’d honestly rather save $100 than get a free gift: I don’t need the Pixel Watch 2 or the Pixel Buds Pro. But I could always use the extra $100.

Well, that wasn’t a choice. And so I preordered an unlocked Pixel 8 Pro in Obsidian (black) with 128 GB of storage for a total of $1,058.94 after taxes and shipping. But I am also trading in my Pixel 7 Pro for $420, for a final price of about $639. And I chose the Pixel Watch 2 for the freebie in part because it’s worth more but also because I will, of course, use it and review it and see what happens there.

Like my recent iPhone 15 Pro Max purchase, which is going swimmingly for the most part after a week of frustration, I’ve been thinking about and planning to buy the Pixel 8 Pro for a long time. Despite the problems I’ve had over the years, I am a long-time Pixel fan, and I’ve owned every model that Google has released aside from the Pixel 5, which was a regrettable combination of problems and a high price tag. And I have been particularly inspired by the changes Google has made to the lineup starting with the Pixel 6 series, with its unique, modern, and useful design language, continued focus on photography, and ever-escalating emphasis on AI capabilities.

Which, of course, has led to some issues. The Tensor processor SoCs that have powered the recent generation Pixels were designed specifically to address the AI world in which we now live, and by all accounts, Google has done a good job there. But these chipsets also lack the performance punch of the Apple, Qualcomm, and Samsung SoCS for flagship competing smartphones and, more problematically, have had heat issues. And those heat issues have resulted in poor battery life and slow charging speeds, as any recent Pixel user can tell you.

I knew that the Pixel 8 series, and the Pixel 8 Pro in particular, would come with various external advances over their predecessors, and we’ll get to those in a moment. But if I would have Google fix just one thing in the new phones, it would be the heat, battery life, and charging issues. And here, I have to say, I expected disappointment. Google discussed what looked like a major performance boost over the Tensor G1 and G2 that powered the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series, respectively. But that bar is low, and it’s unlikely that the G3 will rival other flagship smartphone SoCs. And so I had to dive into the specs for some hint about it solving the issues cited above. And it doesn’t look good.

The specs for the Pixel 8 Pro note that it supports “fast charging,” and can charge to 50 percent in 30 minutes when using a 30-watt USB-C charger, which is not included. If that all sounds familiar, it’s because Google made identical claims for the Pixel 7 Pro. And so I headed into the footnotes to find the truth. And … hm. The Pixel 8 Pro actually can charge at up to 30 watts, a big improvement over the Pixel 7 Pro, which was limited to 23-watt wired charging. Maximum wireless charging is still 23 watts, but that doesn’t bother me as I don’t use that.

OK, that’s promising. But I will need to see what the heat/battery life picture is in real life, of course.

Beyond the Tensor G3, the internal specs haven’t changed much year-over-year. The Pixel 8 Pro still offers 12 GB of RAM, which is plenty, and the storage is still UFS 3.1, which is reasonably fast. It still uses USB-C 3.2, still supports both eSIM and nano SIM (thankfully), and still has the same basic range of sensors. But the Pixel 8 Pro supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 with dual antennas, both of which will help with connectivity speeds and reliability.

And so the biggest changes from a real-world, day-to-day perspective will likely be the screen and the camera system. And in both cases, I see good news.

Like the Pixel 7 Pro (and iPhone 15 Pro Max), the Pixel 8 Pro sports a large 6.7-inch display panel. But the Pixel 8 Pro display, while a negligibly lower resolution (1344 x 2992) than that of its predecessor (1440 x 3120), offers important improvements. Not the least of which is the fact that it’s flat, which should eliminate the dust-collecting and errant mis-tap issues of the Pixel 7 Pro and 6 Pro displays. It also offers superior Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection and is brighter (1600/2400 nits vs.1000/1500 nits).

And then there’s the camera system. Here, Google has done something I’ve been waiting for, something that Apple will likely take two more years (or more) to achieve: For the first time, all three lenses in the Pixel flagship’s camera system are high-resolution, instead of utilizing lower-resolution 12 MP lenses for the secondary lenses (as Apple still does). More specifically, the Pixel 8 Pro carries forward with 50 MP main and 48 MP telephoto lenses, but it also offers a 48 MP ultra-wide lens to complete the trifecta.

As always, the proof will come in using this smartphone. But with these three lenses and Google’s incredible computational photography capabilities, there is a chance—a real chance—that it could retake the lead in this crucial market category. That said, moving past 5x optical zoom on the telephoto lens would have been a nice step forward, too. Especially given that Apple has caught up (on paper) in this area.

Google has also made an incredible leap forward this year when it comes to support. First with Chromebooks, which will now be supported for 10 years, and now with its smartphones, which will be supported for 7 years, and that’s for both OS and security updates. Both of these figures are best in their respective industries, which is incredible when you consider that they were both previously lackluster at best and perhaps even the worst in class. This won’t impact me personally as I upgrade Pixels every year. But still.

More soon.