The Pixel 8 Pro is Google’s latest flagship smartphone, packed with cutting-edge hardware and AI-powered features that aim to redefine the mobile photography and videography experience. As the larger “Pro” model, it takes the Pixel camera prowess to new heights.
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Display and Design
Here are more details on the display and design of the Google Pixel 8 Pro:
Display Technology
The Pixel 8 Pro features a massive 6.7-inch QHD+ (3120 x 1440) LTPO OLED display. It uses advanced low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) backplane technology to enable an adaptive refresh rate from 1Hz all the way up to 120Hz.
The intelligent refresh rate adjustment helps conserve battery by ramping down to lower refresh rates for static content, while ramping up to 120Hz for smooth motion with videos, games, and scrolling.
Brightness and Contrast
With a peak brightness of up to 1,700 nits, the 8 Pro’s display gets incredibly bright for an OLED panel. This incredible brightness, combined with a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, allows for excellent outdoor visibility and vivid HDR performance even in direct sunlight.
An advanced anti-reflective coating helps reduce glare and reflections on the display glass for better viewability.
Display Protection
To protect this brilliant display, Google has used Corning’s latest Gorilla Glass Victus 2 cover glass. Victus 2 provides enhanced scratch resistance and drop protection compared to previous Gorilla Glass versions.
The Victus 2 glass also has an anti-fingerprint coating to reduce smudges and make the display easier to keep clean.
Premium Design
For a premium look and feel, the Pixel 8 Pro features a polished aluminum frame that wraps seamlessly around the sides. The back panel has a matte glass finish that provides a grippy, fingerprint-resistant surface.
This glass back panel allows for wireless charging while still providing a premium hand-feel.
Iconic Camera Bar
The Pixel’s iconic camera bar makes a return, but now blends seamlessly into the aluminum frame for a sleeker, more integrated look compared to previous models.
The lenses are grouped closer together in the camera bar, with the new 3.5x telephoto lens clearly visible.
Under-Display Fingerprint
Instead of a rear-mounted sensor, the Pixel 8 Pro has an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor for quick, secure unlocking while maintaining a clean design.
With its cutting-edge display capabilities, premium aluminum and glass construction, and sleek updated camera bar design, the Pixel 8 Pro aims to deliver a truly flagship experience in terms of visuals and hand-feel. The display in particular is a standout with its incredible brightness, smooth refresh rate and durable Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection.
Tensor G3 Performance
Here are more details on the performance of Google’s Tensor G3 chip in the Pixel 8 Pro:
CPU Performance
The Tensor G3 features an updated CPU configuration compared to its predecessor:
– 1x Cortex-X3 prime core running at up to 2.91GHz
– 4x Cortex-A715 performance cores at 2.37GHz
– 4x Cortex-A510 efficiency cores at 1.7GHz
This new CPU arrangement, combined with architectural improvements, provides around 35% better CPU performance over the Tensor G2 according to Google’s claims.
However, benchmarks show the Tensor G3 still lags behind flagship chips like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Apple A17 Bionic in CPU tests like GeekBench.
GPU Performance
A more significant upgrade is the move to an Arm Mali-G715 GPU with 7 cores, up from the Mali-G710 MP7 in the Tensor G2.
Google claims the new GPU delivers a 60% performance uplift over the previous generation.
In benchmarks like 3DMark Wildlife, the Tensor G3 shows around a 30% improvement in GPU performance compared to Tensor G2. This makes it more capable for gaming.
However, it still falls behind the latest flagship mobile GPUs from Qualcomm and Apple in raw graphics power.
AI/ML Performance
Where the Tensor G3 aims to truly excel is in on-device AI and machine learning acceleration thanks to its dedicated AI engines.
The Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) has been upgraded to Google’s latest generation, allowing more AI models to run locally on the device.
This enables features like Magic Eraser photo editing, Best Take for capturing best facial expressions, and Audio Magic Eraser for reducing background noise in videos.
The Tensor G3 can run AI models that are 150x more complex than what was possible on the Pixel 7 just a year ago.
Efficiency and Thermal Management
While not leading in outright performance, the Tensor G3 aims to strike a balance between power and efficiency.
Being built on Samsung’s 4nm process, it should provide better thermal characteristics and power efficiency compared to the 5nm Tensor G2.
This allows for improved battery life and sustained performance without excessive throttling on the Pixel 8 Pro.
However, some benchmarks show the Tensor G3 still throttles noticeably under sustained heavy workloads like extended gaming sessions.
So in summary, the Tensor G3 provides a decent generational performance uplift, especially for gaming and on-device AI/ML workloads. But it continues to trail the latest flagship chips from Qualcomm and Apple in raw CPU and GPU horsepower. Google has prioritized a balanced approach focusing on AI acceleration, efficiency and thermal management with this generation.
Versatile Camera System
The Pixel 8 Pro’s camera system represents a significant leap forward in smartphone photography, combining cutting-edge hardware with Google’s advanced computational photography algorithms to deliver unparalleled versatility and performance.
Main Camera
At the heart of the Pixel 8 Pro’s camera setup lies the 50MP Samsung GN2 sensor, boasting a wide f/1.85 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS). This powerhouse of a main camera is engineered to capture stunning detail and clarity, even in challenging lighting conditions. Whether you’re shooting vibrant landscapes or intricate close-ups, the GN2 sensor ensures that every shot is bursting with lifelike color and rich dynamic range.
Telephoto Lens
Complementing the main camera is the 48MP Sony IMX789 telephoto lens, offering an impressive 3.5x optical zoom capability along with OIS. This telephoto lens opens up a world of creative possibilities, allowing you to capture breathtaking shots from afar with incredible clarity and detail. Whether you’re photographing distant landscapes or capturing candid moments at a live event, the IMX789 telephoto lens ensures that you never miss a shot.
Ultrawide Lens
For expansive landscapes and immersive wide-angle shots, the Pixel 8 Pro is equipped with a 12MP Sony IMX381 ultrawide lens featuring a 125° field of view and autofocus capability. This ultrawide lens enables you to capture sweeping vistas and dramatic perspectives, infusing your photography with a sense of depth and scale that truly sets it apart. Whether you’re exploring the great outdoors or documenting your urban adventures, the IMX381 ultrawide lens ensures that you can capture every moment in stunning detail.
Front Camera
On the front of the device, the Pixel 8 Pro features a 12MP front-facing camera with autofocus, ensuring that your selfies are always sharp and in focus. Whether you’re snapping a quick self-portrait or engaging in video calls with friends and family, the front camera delivers exceptional image quality and clarity, allowing you to capture yourself in the best possible light.
Computational Photography
The Pixel 8 Pro’s camera prowess extends beyond just hardware. Thanks to Google’s latest computational photography algorithms, the device leverages the power of machine learning and AI to enhance every aspect of your photography experience. From advanced HDR+ processing to real-time image enhancement, Google’s algorithms work tirelessly behind the scenes to optimize every shot, ensuring that you always get the best possible results, regardless of the shooting conditions.
This versatile quad camera system enables impressive 50MP photo capture, up to 10x hybrid zoom, and enhanced low-light performance thanks to Google’s latest computational photography algorithms.
Cutting-Edge Camera Features
In addition to the upgraded hardware, the Pixel 8 Pro debuts several innovative camera features powered by the Tensor G3 chip:
- Magic Editor: Use generative AI to relight, reposition or remove objects in photos with just a few taps.
- Best Take: Automatically blends a series of photos to get everyone’s best look in group shots.
- Audio Magic Eraser: Reduce distracting sounds like wind or crowds in your videos using AI audio processing.
- Video Boost: Leverages Google’s data centers to apply advanced video processing for improved color, lighting, stabilization and noise reduction.
- Night Sight Video: Capture brighter, cleaner videos in low-light conditions.
The camera app also includes Pro Controls for adjusting settings like shutter speed, ISO, and focus on the fly.
Battery Life and Charging
Battery Life
The Pixel 8 Pro is equipped with a large 5,300mAh battery, which is a slight increase from the 5,000mAh battery in the Pixel 7 Pro. This sizeable battery capacity, combined with the power efficiency of the new Tensor G3 chip and software optimizations, allows for impressive battery life:
- Typical Usage: In Google’s testing, the Pixel 8 Pro provided over 24 hours of battery life with typical mixed usage involving tasks like web browsing, video streaming, gaming, and messaging.
- Video Playback: When streaming video continuously, the 8 Pro lasted around 19 hours and 33 minutes in Google’s tests.
- Web Browsing: In a web browsing test over Wi-Fi with the display at 120Hz, the battery lasted around 16 hours and 25 minutes.
While not class-leading, these are solid battery life figures that should get most users through a full day of moderate to heavy usage.
Extreme Battery Saver
For times when you need to extend battery life further, the Pixel 8 Pro has an Extreme Battery Saver mode. When enabled, it can provide up to 72 hours of usage by aggressively limiting background activity and features.
This mode is ideal for situations where you may not have access to a charger for an extended period.
Charging Speeds
The Pixel 8 Pro supports reasonably fast charging speeds, though not quite at the level of some flagship Android rivals:
Wired Charging: It supports up to 30W USB-PD fast charging using the optional 30W Google charger or other certified USB-PD chargers.
In testing, the 8 Pro charged from 0-50% in around 30 minutes and reached 100% in around 1 hour and 23 minutes using a 30W charger.
Wireless Charging: The phone is Qi-certified and can charge wirelessly at up to 23W speeds with the Pixel Stand wireless charger, or 12W on generic Qi chargers.
While not the absolute fastest charging speeds available, the Pixel 8 Pro’s wired and wireless charging support provides reasonably quick top-ups when needed.
Battery Share
Additionally, the Pixel 8 Pro supports Battery Share, which allows you to use the phone’s battery to wirelessly charge other Qi-compatible devices or accessories.
So in summary, with its large 5,300mAh battery capacity, power-efficient Tensor G3 chip, Extreme Battery Saver mode, and decent fast charging capabilities, the Pixel 8 Pro aims to provide all-day battery life with the option to quickly top up the battery when running low. While not class-leading, Google has focused on delivering a balanced battery experience.
Android 14 and AI Features
On the software side, the Pixel 8 Pro runs Android 14 out of the box with Google’s latest AI-powered Pixel UI features:
Webpage Summarization
Android 14 introduces the ability to quickly summarize webpages using on-device AI models. With just a tap, you can generate concise summaries that capture the key points and takeaways from long articles or pages.
This leverages advanced natural language processing models to analyze the content, identify important information, and distill it into a clear, easy-to-digest summary.
Text-to-Speech and Translation
Building on the Pixel’s existing text-to-speech capabilities, Android 14 can now use AI to read entire webpages aloud to you in natural-sounding voices.
It can even translate the page content into one of over 100 supported languages, allowing you to listen to the translated audio read aloud.
This utilizes powerful machine translation models combined with the latest text-to-speech technology for a seamless multilingual experience.
Voice Typing and Editing
Voice input gets a major upgrade with support for speaking messages, emails, documents and more in a natural, conversational way.
You can simply speak to compose content, and the AI will automatically insert punctuation, capitalization and formatting as you go. Editing is also voice-enabled – just say “delete that” or “undo” for hands-free corrections.
The system even understands pauses and filler words like “umm” for a more natural voice experience across over 70 languages.
Improved Call Screening
The Call Screen feature gets smarter in Android 14 thanks to advancements in Google’s AI call screening models.
It can now better detect and block even more types of spam and unwanted calls, including sophisticated spam attempts like spam callers pretending to be businesses or government agencies.
The AI models continue to improve over time to stay ahead of evolving spam tactics.
These are just some of the major AI-driven features, but machine learning enhances many other aspects of the Pixel 8 Pro experience as well:
- On-device live captions and translations in videos and audio messages
- Smart camera features like Magic Eraser, Best Take, Audio Magic Eraser
- Intelligent battery management and performance optimization
- Enhanced security with on-device face unlock and malware detection models
By tightly integrating Google’s latest AI research into the mobile experience, the Pixel 8 Pro aims to provide an intelligent, adaptive and highly capable software experience tailored to each user’s needs and usage patterns.
Final Thoughts
With its stunning display, powerful Tensor G3 chip, versatile AI-enhanced cameras, long battery life, and cutting-edge AI software features, the Google Pixel 8 Pro aims to be the ultimate flagship smartphone for mobile photography, videography and intelligent experiences. Google’s hardware and AI innovations converge to enable new creative possibilities and enhanced productivity right in your pocket.