Google just took the wraps off the latest edition of their Pixel smartphone series, the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, at its Made by Google event on October 4, 2023.
The new Pixels come with some upgrades in terms of performance, camera, and features. But the design language remains pretty familiar. Here’s everything you need to know about them.
Design and Display
The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have a similar design language, with a metal frame and a glass back, although the Pixel 8 is protected by “only” Gorilla Glass Victus while the 8 Pro gets the Victus 2 treatment on the front and back.
The Google Pixel 8 is quite compact, coming in at 150.5 x 70.8 x 8.9 mm which is even smaller than the Pixel 7 it’s replacing, while the Pixel 8 Pro is a big boy, measuring 162.6 x 76.5 x 8.8 mm, which is still reasonable for the screen size and almost exactly the same as last year’s 7 Pro.
The Pixel 8 has a 6.17-inch OLED display with a resolution of FHD+ resolution finally updated to 120Hz to match its big brother. The Pixel 8 Pro has a larger 6.7-inch LTPO OLED display with a resolution of 2992 x 1344 which is a bit lower than the 3120 x 1440 resolution of the Pixel 7 Pro, though still very adequate. Both displays support HDR10+ and have an optical in-display fingerprint scanner.
Cameras
The Pixel 8 series also have new camera modules, with the 8 Pro getting the bigger upgrades though. The Pixel 8 has a new 1/1.31” 50MP primary sensor with an f/1.7 aperture, optical image stabilisation (OIS), multi-directional PDAF, and Laser AF.
The secondary camera is a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture and a 126˚ field of view, but no AF, sadly.
The Pixel 8 Pro has the same primary camera as the 8, but further upgrades are found in the telephoto and ultrawide cameras, with the telephoto having a 1/2.55” 48 MP sensor with an f/2.8 aperture, OIS, and up to 5x optical zoom.
The ultrawide camera is also a 48 MP unit sitting behind a 126˚ FoV lens, and having dual pixel PDAF. The Pixel 8 Pro also has a new temperature sensor next to the camera module.
The front-facing camera on both phones is a 1/3.1” 10.5MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture, wide 20mm lens, and PDAF, FINALLY!
Both phones are capable of recording videos in 4K@30/60fps and 1080p@24/30/60/120/240fps with the rear cameras, and 4K@24/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps with the front facing cameras.
Performance and Battery
The Pixel 8 series is powered by the third iteration of Google’s Tensor chipset, the G3, built on a 4nm process.
The new Tensor chipset features an unusual nona-core architecture with 4 ARM Cortex-A510 running at 1.7 GHz, 4 powerful ARM Cortex-A715 cores at 2.37 GHz, and one ARM Cortex-X3 prime core, all arranged in a 4+4+1 layout.
The Pixel 8 has 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of internal storage, while the Pixel 8 Pro has 12GB of RAM and 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of internal storage.
The Pixel 8 has a 4575mAh battery, while the Pixel 8 Pro has a 5050mAh battery. The Pixel 8 supports fast (ish) charging up to 27W, while the 8 Pro supports up to 30W. Both phones support wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.
Other Stuff
The Pixel 8 series come with Android 14 out of the box, IP68 water and dust resistance, stereo speakers, USB C ports that both support the USB 3.2 standard, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 7, NFC, eSIM support, and slightly disappointingly, UWB for only the 8 Pro.
Google have also promised a whopping 7(!) years of OS updates, feature drops and security updates for the new models.
Colours, Pricing, and Availability
The phones come in three colour options each: Obsidian (black), Hazel (grey), and Rose (pink) for the Pixel 8; and Obsidian (black), Bay (blue), and Porcelain (off-white) for the Pixel 8 Pro.
The Pixel 8 series is available for pre-order starting from October 5, 2023, and are expected to start shipping from October 12, 2023.
The Pixel 8 starts at $699/₹75,999/€799/£699 for the base model with 128GB of storage, while the Pixel 8 Pro starts at $999/₹1,06,999/€1099/£759 for the base model with 128GB of storage.
There is a pre-order campaign where buyers of the Google Pixel 8 Pro get the new Google Pixel Watch 2 for free, and the Pixel 8 comes with the Google Pixel Buds Pro.
The Pixel 8 series is expected to compete with other flagship smartphones in the market, such as the iPhone15 series and Samsung Galaxy S23 series, and from what we’ve seen so far, they just might be up to the fight.
So, will you be considering getting one of these, or you’d rather go for something else? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Where can I get these phones in Nigeria?