Google’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro offer a lot more than just normal specs upgrade. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are the latest smartphones from Google. Here are the top new features of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.
New Design and Colors
The first thing you’ll notice about the Pixel 8 series is its new design with more rounded curvy corners, slightly different camera bar and new colorways. Google offers the $699 Pixel 8 in Hazel, Rose, and Obsidian, whereas the $999 Pixel 8 Pro comes in Bay, Porcelain, and Obsidian. But the Pixel 8 has a glossy back with Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and back, and the Pixel 8 Pro has a matte back with stronger Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection. If you are wondering, the victus 2 is the best of all the gorilla glass generations.
Software Support
Can I just say that this is surprising? Well we know Pixels are fast to provide updates but now starting with the Pixel 8 series, google will offer a whopping seven years of software support in the form of major OS updates, security patches, and feature drops. that’s way more than what any other major Android phone brand as well as apple. Great ya, Google!
Tensor G3 and Titan M2 Security Chip
All these updates are thanks to the Tensor G3. The Pixel 8 series comes with a new and improved 4nm Google Tensor G3 chip, so you can expect it to be more powerful, efficient, and intelligent than its predecessor but that’s on paper. With the Tensor G3, Google also promises more cutting-edge photo and video features, improved Clear Calling for high-definition phone calls and other software improvements.
However, from the event its very clear that Google isn’t focused on the RAW performance or benchmark breaking numbers. Far from that. They are focusing on the betterment of the TPU, every single year aside from a typical CPU and GPU upgrade, I mean they are flexing bettering AI and machine learning capabilities such as image algorithms, natural language processing, live translation and stuffs like that than the power graphs. So don’t expect Tensor G3 to compete with the likes of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 or Apple’s A17 Pro chip.
Thanks to tensor G3 and BARD, Google Assistant can summarize pages in Chrome and read them aloud even in any language. Gboard can now suggest grammatical corrections instead of just autocorrect. Call Screen now lets you respond to people without having to say anything, and it can detect if its important or a typical scam callers and answer them using a very real human voice. Insane. It also gives you option to respond to the other party just by a click, you have to say nothing. Nada.. Really cool for appointment confirmation call and all.
New Camera Hardware and Software Features
Pixels are known for their camera features. This year they announced a game changing feature too. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro get new camera hardware too. Both share a 50MP f/1.68 1/1.31″ main sensor, but the Pixel 8 has a 12MP f/2.2 125.5° field of view, whereas the Pixel 8 Pro has a 48MP f/1.95 125.5° field of view ultrawide lens and a 48MP f/2.8 telephoto lens with 5x optical and 30x hybrid zoom. Both phones have a 10.5-megapixel selfie camera, but with few weird difference.
There’s finally autofocus on the front-facing camera, but unfortunately, this is available only on the Pixel 8 Pro. The Pixel 8’s front camera has a fixed focus. All the cameras can shoot upto 4k 60FPS videos. Pixel 8 Pro offers multi-zone LDAF (laser detection auto focus), while Pixel 8 only has single zone LDAF. On top of that, Google specifically mentions that the Pixel 8 Pro features “Pro controls,” while the Pixel 8 does not which is something that allows you to control ISO shutter-speed Focus and all. Another one is that only the Pixel 8 pro has “high resolution images,” features even though both phones feature the same main 50MP shooter.
Camera specs.
Pixel 8 pro 50 MP Octa PD wide camera, 1.2 μm pixel width, ƒ/1.68 aperture, 82° field of view, 1/1.31″ image sensor size, Super Res Zoom up to 8x, 2x Optical Quality 48 MP Quad PD ultrawide camera with autofocus, 0.8 μm pixel width, ƒ/1.95 aperture, 125.5° field of view, Lens correction 48 MP Quad PD telephoto camera, 0.7 μm pixel width, ƒ/2.8 aperture, 21.8° field of view, 5x optical zoom, Super Res Zoom up to 30x .
Pixel 8 50 MP Octa PD wide camera, 1.2 μm pixel width, ƒ/1.68 aperture, 82° field of view, 1/1.31″ image sensor size, Super Res Zoom up to 8x, 2x Optical Quality 12 MP ultrawide camera with autofocus, 1.25 μm pixel width, ƒ/2.2 aperture, 125.8° field of view, Lens correction Now time for the software magics, Audio Magic Eraser lets you remove distracting background noise from your saved videos so you can focus on what you’re actually trying to listen to, it can be city noise, music playing in the background and can even be a dog barking in the background.
Similar to Photo Unblur, Video Unblur will now let you make your old videos clear and detailed so that you can relive those memories in high definition, very useful. Magic editor will allow you to change the position of the subject in the photo and will auto generate stuffs that weren’t there plus you can now remove even bigger objects from the photos, insanity.. For group shots, you can use Best Take feature to swap everyone’s faces using AI so all the people in your group photo look their best even if they never really had the coordination. There’s also Macro Focus that lets you get closer to objects to up your macrophotography game for both devices.
Night Sight for Videos
Night Sight is a night photography feature Google first introduced with the Pixel 3 and it literally changed the game for the whole industry, tweaking your low-light photos to be brighter, more detailed, less blurry, and color-accurate. With the Pixel 8 series, Google is finally bringing Night Sight to videos. This is something only google can do as of now because the amount of processing is needed. when you take a video in low-light conditions (up to 4K, 30 frames per second), the clip is sent to Google’s cloud servers for processing using their super computers and is then sent back to you—depending on the length of the video, it can take several hours. Simply they are taking each 30 frames in a sec and applying the night sight feature to it and the stitching it back. Just think about in a min that’s 30×60=1,800 frames. The most craziest feature of all to me.
Higher Peak Brightness
The new pixel devices also feature brighter displays than their predecessors; the Pixel 8 goes up to 2,000 nits outdoor while the Pixel 8 Pro goes up to 2,400 nits of peak brightness, the highest in any mainstream brands. For reference, the iPhone 15 Pro Max can reach 2,000 nits of peak brightness, whereas the S23 Ultra can only go up to 1,750 nits. Even though the pixel panels are also made by Samsung display. Even though the 6.2″ pixel 8 and 6.7″ pixel 8 pro has 20:9 high 120Hz refresh rate flat display panels with very thin and symmetrical bezels, the refresh rate can down to only 60Hz on the pixel 8 whereas the pro models display can go down to even 1Hz.
A New Temperature Sensor There’s a new infrared temperature sensor on the the Pixel 8 Pro. Surprised? well You can use it to monitor temperature of almost anything, there’s an app for that but theoretically even though it can take human body temps too but they need FDA approval for this option to get added, maybe soon. Pixel 8 Pro features a new UWB chip, Pixel 8 does not for some reasons.
Pixel 8 pro Others
The Pixel 8 Pro also has a 1TB storage option for power users but for certain markets. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t offer a 1TB storage option for the standard Pixel 8. Both devices also start with 128GB of base storage, unlike the Galaxy S23 Ultra or iPhone 15 Pro Max, which both now start with 256GB as the base storage. The Pixel 8 has a 4,485-mAh battery, and the Pixel 8 Pro has a 5,050-mAh cell. Google claims this gives both “beyond 24-hour battery life,” but that’s marketing. Google says it has upped the fast-charging speed for both phones to 27 and 30 watts, respectively.
Both phones have wireless charging but do not support the Qi-2 protocol. Pixel 8 pro also comes standard with 12GB LPDDR5X RAM while standard model will come in only 8 GB LPDDR5X RAM. Both has IP68 dust and water resistance. One of the more surprising additions to the Pixel 8 series is support for secure face authentication. The Pixel 8 series doesn’t have the Soli chip like the pixel 4XL, but these new phones have the same capabilities. This means you can use your face to securely access banking and payment apps instead of PIN or fingerprint authentication. These new Pixel phones are getting a price hike of $100 over last-year’s models. The Pixel 8 costs $699 comes in rose, obsidian and hazel. The Pixel 8 Pro costs $999 and comes in obsidian, porcelain, and bay blue.
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