Wednesday, October 11

Pixel 8 Pro review—The best Android phone

Behold, the glorious, flat display. Normal, common-sense phone design is back, finally!

Enlarge / Behold, the glorious, flat display. Normal, common-sense phone design is back, finally! (credit: Ron Amadeo)

Google is listening. Reviewing phones means that we usually complain—a lot—about phone designs, about things that could be better, and about decisions that don't make a ton of sense. Usually it feels like talking to a wall; manufacturers ignore us and keep doing whatever they want.

The Pixel 8 is different, though. This phone feels like it's taking some of our long-standing pet peeves into account and is finally doing something about them. Tired of pointless curved screens that distort your image? Fixed. Want an update support timeline that finally rivals iOS? Check. Fixing flaws with the previous model, like face unlock? Double check. Compared to where the Pixel line was just a few years ago, Google Hardware is turning in phones that are polished, practiced, and full of great decisions.

The Pixel design just keeps improving

SPECS AT A GLANCE
Pixel 8 Pixel 8 Pro
SCREEN 6.2-inch, 120 Hz, 2400×1080 OLED 6.7-inch, 120 Hz, 2992×1344 OLED
OS Android 14
CPU Google Tensor G3

One 3.0 GHz Cortex-X3 core
Four 2.45 GHz Cortex-A715 cores
Four 2.15 GHz Cortex-A510 Cores

GPU ARM Immortalis-G715s MC10
RAM 8GB 12GB
STORAGE 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB
UFS 3.1
BATTERY 4575 mAh 5050 mAh
NETWORKING Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, NFC, 5G mmWave & Sub-6 GHz Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, NFC, 5G mmWave & Sub-6 GHz, UWB
PORTS USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1 with 30 W USB-PD 3.0 charging
REAR CAMERA 50 MP Main
12 MP Wide Angle
50 MP Main
48 MP Wide Angle
48 MP 4x Telephoto
FRONT CAMERA 10.8 MP 10.8 MP
SIZE 150.5 x 70.8 x 8.9 mm 162.6 x 76.5 x 8.8 mm
WEIGHT 187 g 213 g
STARTING PRICE $699 $999
OTHER PERKS IP68 dust and water resistance, eSIM, wireless charging, in-screen fingerprint reader

Google is still making steady improvements to the design that started with the Pixel 6, and the Pixel 8 Pro feels like one of the best hardware designs out there. First up, Google is finally dumping the years-long failed experiment of curved displays. Samsung started the curved display trend back in 2014 when it figured out how to bend OLED displays. Thanks to the huge influence of Samsung's display division, from then on most flagship Android phones had the long edges of their displays curve into the bodies.

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