Customer Ratings & Reviews
- Model:
- GA04803-US
- |
- SKU:
- 6559236
User rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars with 1019 reviews.
4.6(1,019 Reviews)- 20 Expert Reviews
Customer reviews
Rating 4.6 out of 5 stars with 1019 reviews
(1,019 customer reviews)Rating by feature
- Display Quality4.8
Rating 4.8 out of 5 stars
- Camera4.7
Rating 4.7 out of 5 stars
- Battery Life4.4
Rating 4.4 out of 5 stars
Expert reviews
See all expert reviews(20)Rating 4.3 out of 5 stars with 20 reviews
Customers are saying
Customers love the Pixel 8's camera, praising its excellent quality and features. They also appreciate the phone's long battery life, which lasts a full day even with heavy use. The phone's compact size and sleek design are also popular, with many customers finding it comfortable to hold and visually appealing. However, some customers have reported issues with the phone overheating and software instability.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great phone
||Posted . Owned for 6 months when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.It is a really good phone and it was so nice buy it they help me picking between the colors.
I would recommend this to a friendRated 5 out of 5 stars
Great
||Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Great phone I've had almost every model of the pixel and this is the best one yet
I would recommend this to a friendRated 5 out of 5 stars
Pixel 8 rocks
||Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.5 stars great fast and reliable. Google produces the best phones in my opinion and my pixel 8 is no exception.
I would recommend this to a friendRated 5 out of 5 stars
Perfect Android phone
||Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.A very handy phone. Very smooth. Pixel never disappoints.
I would recommend this to a friendRated 5 out of 5 stars
Excellent phone in android phones
||Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.I purchased this phone for my dad really excellent phone case
I would recommend this to a friendRated 5 out of 5 stars
Good product
||Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Good device and good product. I liked it thanks alot
This review is from Google - Pixel 8 128GB (Unlocked) - Hazel
I would recommend this to a friendRated 5 out of 5 stars
Pixel 8 hazel
||Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Great phone, love the color, and the new call screening feature
This review is from Google - Pixel 8 128GB (Unlocked) - Hazel
I would recommend this to a friendRated 1 out of 5 stars
Great until the issues started after 6 months
||Posted . Owned for 8 months when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.I really liked this phone but I've only had it for 7 months and it's started to break. The screen periodically turns green and pixelated making it impossible to use. To turn it off our restart it I cannot just press a button but have to navigate through a settings menu which makes trying to fix it even more difficult. I followed the repair instructions provided by Google and the issue persists. I have always kept it in a protective case and it has sustained no damaged. It was a great phone, but I'm extremely disappointed that something so expensive is designed to break so quickly.
This review is from Google - Pixel 8 128GB (Unlocked) - Hazel
No, I would not recommend this to a friendBrand response from Google Team
Posted .Hi there,
We appreciate your feedback and are sorry to hear that you are having an issue with your Pixel 8.
For help with a Pixel screen that is having issues, please visit: https://goo.gle/screenissues
If you are still experiencing this issue, we recommend contacting our customer support team for assistance. (From your phone click on Settings > Tips & support > Contact us).
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Phone hasn't worked right since day one
||Posted . Owned for 2 months when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Will never buy a Google phone or a cell phone from Best Buy again!!! Bought as a Christmas present for my wife during black friday sales. Web site advertises extended return policy during holiday. Phone screen did not work correctly when we activated it after Christmas. Tried to get refund from Best Buy but they refuse to take it back. Have sent in to Google to get repaired but came back in same condition. Google refused to refund purchase price says I have to go back to Best Buy. Been over a month phone still not fixed. I strongly recommend avoiding both companies.
No, I would not recommend this to a friendBrand response from Google Team
Posted .Hi there,
We appreciate your feedback and are sorry to hear that you are having an issue with your Pixel 8.
For help with a Pixel screen that is having issues, please visit: https://goo.gle/screenissues
If you are still experiencing this issue, we recommend contacting our customer support team for assistance. (From your phone click on Settings > Tips & support > Contact us).
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
This phone is great but it is kinda hard to use. M
||Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.This phone is great but it is kinda hard to use. Maybe I will get used to it.
I would recommend this to a friend- Pros mentioned:Camera, Display
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
The best sub-flagship phone, bar none
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.The Google Pixel 8 is the latest sub-flagship smartphone from Google, and the third iteration in the modern series of Pixel phones that use the Google-designed Tensor processor. The combination of those processor smarts and software finesse has never been better, and Google has really dialed in the fit and finish of its phones this year. The big headline for me with the Pixel 8 is the new 50-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization. In my testing, Pixel 8 photos look far superior to those I can take with my Pixel 7 Pro from last year. Simply put, I have never seen smartphone photos that look this good. They are sharper, brighter, with more dynamic range and detail than any other smartphone camera I've used. See my attached pictures for examples. And the photography fun doesn't stop when you click the shutter button. New for the Pixel 8 series is Google's Best Take feature, which uses the camera to take a burst of photos and allows you to choose the best facial expressions from all the different shots, composing group photos that look great, every time. Another new feature is Magic Editor, which uses cloud-based AI to help you do amazing things with Pixel photos. You can remove people and objects, rearrange things, increase the size of certain components in the shot, and Google AI intelligently fills in the background. The things you can do with Pixel 8's camera are astounding, and Pixel 8 Pro can do even more (more on that later). There are many other top reasons to choose Pixel 8, including: • Google's version of Android, which is clean and perfectly integrated with other Google services. • AI features, like call screening, live translate, and new AI wallpapers that put you in (some) control over what gets displayed behind your icons. • The new version of Face Unlock, which uses just the front-facing camera to do a very secure scan of your facial features and can be set to skip the lock screen and get you right to work after you glance at the phone. • Pixel 8 is an excellent small phone for people who love small phones. It's light and easy to use with one hand. • The matte aluminum metal frame is really nice, and the power and volume buttons are perfectly clicky. • The Pixel's rear camera bar keeps the phone from wobbling when lying on a table and provides a perfect place to rest your finger. • The new 120Hz 1080p "Actua" display is super color accurate gets very bright. • The Pixel 8 series comes with 7 years of operating system and security updates. One very important thing to point out is that Pixel phones in general may be the best phones for kids. Google's Family Link app is incredibly useful and usable piece of software, and lets you set app and web permissions with an amazing level of granularity. Furthermore, with Pixel, you know you're getting the latest security updates to keep the phone up to date and less susceptible to hacking. You can get a Pixel 8 for yourself now and know that it will be ready for your kid to use in a year or two, and they can keep using for years after with security and O/S updates. Things to know if you already have an older Pixel phone: • Pixel 8 is an iterative upgrade. The main camera lens is way better, the Tensor 3 is a bit faster and more capable, and the 8-series exclusive features are really neat. Other than that, older Pixels are fine, and still get many of the great features of Android 14. • Trade-in values for older Pixel phones were decent at launch, but quickly fell to pretty low, so consider your options when it comes to dealing with your old phone. • The new setup process is a breeze, and as long as you have a recent backup, you can restore all your apps, SMS, MMS, and even your Authenticator account, all without your old phone nearby. If you don't yet have a Pixel phone, get ready for the best version of Android, with lots and lots of Google's best ideas and AI expertise baked in. Also get ready for the best smartphone camera and editing tools. Finally, get ready to fall in love with Pixel. There are also some drawbacks here: • The Pixel 8 has the same processor as the Pixel 8 Pro, but gets fewer software features because Google wants to differentiate its top flagship product. I hope Google will amend this in a software update in the next 6 months or so (around when the Pixel 8a launches would be nice). • The Pixel 8 doesn't do an amazing job with memory management, and despite its 8 GB of RAM, it aggressively closes background apps. In my experience, this happened to Pokemon Go when I tried to take a few photos. Google needs to improve this in a future update • When used all day, battery life is just average. However, Google's Battery Saver and Extreme Battery Saver features work well if you need to keep your phone going with a depleted battery. • The fingerprint reader is under the screen, and uses a bright light to visually match your fingerprint. I love it and have never had a problem using it, but some people report that it doesn't work very well for them. I have heard that people with drier skin can sometimes have problems.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Camera, DisplayCons mentioned:Software
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Should Be Called the Pixel AI
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.PROS + AI features everywhere, from wallpapers, to photo editing, to audio editing, to call screening, to page summarization, and much more + Google is really going for it with tons of software features across the board, including several accessibility features + The camera in particular receives a lot of software enhancements to expand on the hardware capabilities + Speaking of which, the camera is as fantastic as you would expect coming from a pixel phone + Video quality is also pretty good overall, with high resolution and good motion handling, a noticeable step-up from past Pixel phones + Screen gets plenty bright at its brightest and has a fairly effective auto brightness feature + Nice high refresh rate screen + Tensor G3 feels pretty snappy overall + All around great sounding call quality CONS - Several AI features feel more like gimmicks, and can be hit or miss on quality of output - Camera app by default goes a bit too heavy with the post-processing and HDR, some might prefer this - External hardware doesn’t feel as premium as the software features, with a lightweight but somewhat cheaper feeling build that definitely feels more fragile - Fingerprint sensor works pretty well, but feels just a tad slow for my liking and is quite bright when used in the dark - Software can slow things down at times SO-SO * Phone feels pretty small despite the 6.2” screen size, which may be a pro or con depending on what you are looking for. I personally found it a bit too small feeling for my liking * Battery life feels fine, but nothing spectacular, it gets through the day without issue but maybe not much more than that THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT The Google Pixel 8 is definitely an extension of previous Pixel phones rather than a revolution of the philosophy Google has been taking with their phones. Depending on what you prioritize, this may be a great thing or not. I have always been a fan of Pixel software, and with the Pixel 8 they have doubled down on software features, specifically AI features. Honestly, there are software solutions for things you would never have thought of. Want to replace people’s faces in group photos with better versions of them from similar photos? You can. Want to use generative AI to edit your photos in crazy ways? You can. Want to have your own AI call screening bot that can vet suspicious calls for you? You got it. Summarize a webpage with Google Assistant AI? No problem, the Pixel 8 has you covered. I am surprised they didn’t call this the Pixel AI given how many AI features they throw at you right from boot-up! But that being said, not all software features are great, and in many ways, you can feel Google throwing a bit of everything at the wall and seeing how it sticks. Many of these features will likely improve over time as well with more training data, so you can tell there are seeds planted here for more features coming down the road. Things like the AI Magic Editor, which is accessed by clicking a rainbow button in the lower left of the screen when editing a photo, lets you move objects around, stylize photos, remove objects, create portraits, and more, by sending your photos into a generative AI model that creates 4 new photos with the desired edits. I have posted some photos with my review to demonstrate this where I “stylized” different photos using generative AI. It was a fun feature, but felt pretty gimmicky for me. I never felt that the edited or stylized photos looked better necessarily, and if you are familiar with what AI images tend to look like, it is not hard to detect them even when you are trying to make subtle edits. But for every software feature like that, which feels a bit gimmicky and beta like, there is another that feels genius. Personally, I love the unblur feature that can take blurry photos and help restore detail lost to the blur. Or being able to make almost any photo a portrait using post-processing. Likewise, being able to remove people from the background of your photos with the magic eraser is actually surprisingly effective so long as they don’t take up too much of the frame and the background behind them is fairly predictable. I even enjoyed trying to edit video audio to erase background noise like kids playing in the background or a plane overhead, which while not always effective, was super easy to do and still surprisingly effective on several occasions. Where I found things like the ability to create AI Wallpapers a bit niche and less appealing than standard wallpapers, it's still a feature that is there for folks to use if they want! And that I think is the big takeaway when it comes to the Pixel 8 software, it throws it all out there, and lets you pick and choose what you want. It never forces you down any one path, and just when you think there are too many features, you find one that changes for the better how you approach something you have been doing one way for a long time. So, while the software is largely amazing, and provides a laundry list of features for people to take advantage of (including several fantastic accessibility features), I did find that the hardware wasn’t always up to the standard of the software. Honestly, in many ways the hardware and phone itself just feel like a container to hold all of the software, without much about the hardware feeling particularly impressive (with one exception, the camera). The screen gets plenty bright and has a nice refresh rate, with good colors, but the overall build quality feels pretty middle of the road. The phone feels fragile, and more than usual I really felt like I needed to put a case on it as fast as I could. Part of this might be down to the fact that it also feels surprisingly small in my hand for being a 6.2” inch screen. It is fairly tall and skinny, which just feels less secure when in my hand when coupled with the light weight build. It looks exactly like past Pixel phones of recent years, with the visor camera on the back that gives it a distinctive look. I did find that the screen would hitch occasionally, which was noticeable with the normally high refresh rate, and that things like the fingerprint sensor built into the screen was just a tad slow compared to others I have used. When browsing the phone feels super snappy, but at moments it can also feel like it is trying to do too much and slows down for a few moments. Overall, as a smartphone, it is thoroughly fine, but nothing remarkable. When you add in the variety of software, it really helps bring it up a level in my mind. The exception to all of this is the camera, which is almost universally excellent. Even without all of the AI features, the resulting photos are almost always amazing looking and you get a lot of controls to help you edit the photos to your liking. The 50MP camera has a lot of detail, and even using the macro focus works great for those up close and personal shots. The Pixel line of phones built their reputation on their excellent cameras, and the Pixel 8 really carries on this legacy with pride. I did find that by default the camera app did automatically process the photos a bit too much for my liking, applying some sharpening and extra contrast from HDR that “juiced” the photos a bit too much for my liking, as someone who prefers natural looking photos. This being said, some people may really like this, and compared to some other phones I have used from big brands, which take a very heavy-handed approach to post-processing, I did still like the Pixel 8 a lot more. If I had to choose my phone based entirely on the camera, I would without hesitation pick the Pixel 8. It really is the most well rounded picture quality I have seen on a smartphone. Overall, this is a good phone, many times great, and sometimes underwhelming. It doesn’t all hit, but when it does it really hits it out of the park. I would probably give it a 3.5/5 if I could give it half stars, but understanding I am also a bit more picky when it comes to my phones than the average consumer, I have no problem giving this a solid 4 stars. If you like AI though, and playing with quirky software features and showing off what your phone can do to others, you will probably love this.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Battery life, Display
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Easily one of the best phones of 2023
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Great smaller phone, fixes issues prevalent with Pixel 7. The biggest issue I had with the 7 was the poor battery life. This Pixel 8 seems to have resolved those issues, and also provided better call quality amongst many other improvements. Most of those improvements are not based around hardware, but rather Android 14 OS improvements specific to the Pixel 8. A big issue with my previous Pixel 7 was not just battery life but also how hot the battery got. This seems to also have been fixed here with the Pixel 8. It just runs slightly warm at the highest use scenarios for me right now. Call quality also seems to now be improved for me across T-Mobile from the 7 to this new Pixel 8, and my t-mobile calls seem to have better quality now. There are so many new improvements based around AI that it is hard to know where to start and how I really feel about some of them. "Top Shot" lets you take a series of photos with groups of people. The AI will then let you choose subjects best shot. For example if someone looks good in one of the sequence, you can swap the heads out with their head from one of the other shots. This is pretty cool, and in my testing it does work, and I cannot tell if these photos were manipulated or not. This type of thing would have had to be done in Photoshop in years before. Not only that, but Pixel 8 now has something else called Magic Editor, which acts a evne a whole lot more like photoshop. You can do things like select a person or object in a photo, move them somewhere else in frame, and the AI processing with the new Tensor G3 chip will essentially select what it "thinks" you are trying to move, and select around it, let you move it, and even replace what was previously behind the moved person/selection you moved. This works fairly well, though I have seen it make a few weird things happen to the filled back in backgrounds, with odd shadow shapes on occasion. While all of these generative AI features are fun to use, in the age of deep fakes, it does kind of make me feel weird about if these are "true" moments or time captured in photos, or are they something else. It will be interesting to see how the future sees this turn of events with AI technology. Shooting video on the pixel 8 has other AI tricks up its sleeve too. They have something now called Audio Magic Erase, and it uses its AI to remove things like background noise. This is one of my favorite features, and one I am sure people will love. I was able to remove background noise from a busy street as a subject spoke to the camera. It removed just about all the noise in the background without altering the speaker's voice. Hardware wise, the new screen on this Pixel 8 is fantastic. The biggest plus on this year's pixel is the 120hz refresh rate. This is one of those things that once you experience, it will be hard to go back to a lower refresh rate screen. Pull down a website, it feels smooth as butter! Watch some high resolution video, super smooth, now smearing or screen tearing. The display also gets SUPER BRIGHT now, and makes it so much easier to use in very bright outdoor environments. I really love the way the pixels have physically looked the last few years, since moving to the rear camera "bar", and this year continues that trend. I just love the way the phone looks, especially against the competition. It just looks more of a design evolution to me. It being a bar like that also provides a nice flat bar should you want to type while the phone is resting on a flat area. The cameras on other flagship phones give you a wobbly surface, while that camera bar here on the Pixel 8 is dead flat, and again, just looks nicer to my tastes. While I am very glad to hear that Google is promising 7 years of OS and feature drops to the Pixel 8, this is a fantastic plus for those that care about the environment. I also am weary of Google promising things today, and in the not so distant future pulling the plug on promises. I want to fully believe they will hold true to the 7 year of updates, but recent things they have pull the plug on keep me weary. Only time will tell. This is a great phone for most people, and the best update to the Pixel phone line up since the Pixel 5!! A true great update if you need a great camera, great hardware, really good call quality and a phone that isn't huge in your hands. Easily one of the best phones of 2023, if not THE best overall. There are some quirks for sure, but overall this has been a better experience for me than another family member's flagship phone.
I would recommend this to a friend Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Terrible customer service at the Fordham Rd Store
||Posted . Owned for 9 months when reviewed.This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.I brought a Google Pixel 8 and suddenly a green line appeared on the screen.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend- Pros mentioned:Battery life, Camera
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Best AI phone in the market - plethora of features
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Unboxing - Once you unbox the phone, you will find the Pixel 8 phone, USB C power cord, USB A to C converter, Sim ejection tool and User guide/Pamphlet. Setup - Upon turning on the phone, we will be prompted to transfer the content from other phone by a cable or wifi. It took close to 30 min to transfer all of the content from my old phone to this new phone. Once that was completed, we will be prompted to update the phone to the latest Android version and once the phone reboots we will be able to update all the apps from the play store. The entire process including the setup, installation of new Android (Android 14) and updating to the latest apps took little over an hour which was mainly because of the number of data i had on my phone. Otherwise it would have taken between 45 min to an hour. Pros: 1. Phone and Display - Pixel 8 has a 6.2" screen (little smaller than the Pixel 7 which had a 6.7" screen) with Bezels that are thin across the phone. Google has maintained the same camera bar on the back of the phone which i would say has become the trademark of Google phones. They are simple, unique yet stylish. I like the camera bar on the pixel as i feel it looks more classy and stylish without having multiple lenses on the back of the phone. The raised camera bar no way actually hinders when the phone is placed on the table as one would think. This shows how well the designers have thought about the design of this phone among plethora of features this small phone brings it to the table. Also the glossy exterior of the phone does not have the finger print smudges which is really good. 2. Display - Pixel 8 comes with a 1080 x 2400 OLED display. Unlike the previous versions this phone has a upgraded 120 Hz Actua display that gets up to 2000 nits of brightness which is super bright especially when we are outdoors. There is one thing that we have to keep in mind is that the display is not LTPO and so it is required to turn off the Always on display to save some battery especially when we are traveling. 3. Processor - Both Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro comes with the same Tensor G3 processor which is one of the fastest processor till date. This makes the phone smooth in terms of navigation and also supports lots of the AI features that Pixel supports making the AI processing really smooth and fast. 4. Camera - 50 MP primary sensors makes the images sharp with shallow depth of field. Autofocus is fast. Also the Ultrawide 12 MP camera with Auto focus is really nice and also helps with the Macro shots (as close as 3 cm) 5. RAM - 8 GB of memory makes this phone handle heavy tasks like Gaming or navigating between apps really smooth and navigation really fast without any lag. 6. Battery - 4575 mAh of battery is really great. With mediocre usage, the phone lasts for upto 2 days easily. Also with the faster wired charging the battery gets charged really quick when compared to the previous Pixel models. 7. Wireless charging - Wireless charging on this phone is really helpful either at work or during travel with a wireless charger. 8. Google AI Features - There are plethora of features that this phone brings up to the table. Below are some of them to name a few: Photos: 1. Portrait light - Adjust the brightness 2. Portrait blur - To blur the background 3. Unblur - This is again not perfect at all times but some of the shaky pictures even from the past can be unblurred to make the picture look a little better. But not all the pictures that has a blur gets unblurred. Google can probably improvise on this. 4. Magic eraser - Erase the background objects or people. This is not perfect in all occasions but Google AI does a brilliant job in erasing as well as matching with the background. 5. Color focus - To make the background Black and White while maintaining the color of the People in the photo 6. Best shot - This comes in handy and appears automatically if the eyes are closed for one or more people in the group or if they turned the face. Google AI helps in identifying similar shots to improve the photo by giving a list of face expressions to choose from. This is really a nice feature which I really love. 7. Magic editor - The small rainbow icon on the left to suggestion which many may not even notice is the Magic editor button which can be used to do the magic eraser stuff, brightness editor stuff, changing the sky color and much more is fun. A point to note is that this is still experimental version and we can report issues or send feedback to Google to fix it in the future. Video: 1. Real tone processing 2. Audio eraser (for videos between 1 second to 2 min) - This is really a nice feature especially when we are outdoors. Google AI provides the Auto option and decreases any noise in the background like wind or nature or even it allows us to manually adjust/remove the Wind or Nature sounds. I have tried it for some of the videos that I have taken in the past and the output was really amazing. I was able to remove almost 80% of the wind sounds by using this feature. If the video is over 2 min we have the flexibility of choosing the section of the video that we want to edit and then apply the audio eraser. Google Chrome - Summarize page - Looks like this is a feature that is supported only for Google chrome. We can ask the Google assistant for the summary of the page after opening an article in Chrome. Google will then read through the article and will quickly summarize the page in few bullet points. This is really a nice and cool feature on how Google has made use of every bit of AI that they can use to make things look lot easier. This is currently available only in English. Google Chrome - Read this - We can ask the Google assistant to read the page after opening an article in Chrome. Google will then read entire article. I have tried using apps from Play store in the past that are really not helpful. This feature might come in handy when we are busy with something or when driving. Google will read the entire article back to us. This is really a cool feature. Call screening - This is one of the features i love. I used to get lots of spam calls in the past. But after I changed to Pixel, Google AI takes care of it all. Over 90% of the spam calls gets filtered. Call features - When calling a Toll free number we get to see the Wait times and we can even choose Hold for me which enables Google assistant to wait on hold and alerts us with the ring tone when the representative becomes available. I really loved this feature as we can see Google Assistant displaying on screen the text when waiting on hold. Live translate - This feature is pretty cool especially when we are traveling. It makes life so easier. 9. Stereo speakers are loud and clear. This gets the job done even when camping or even noisy places. 10. Support - 7 yrs of software, feature and security updates and also 7 years of spare parts availability makes this feel like a real flagship phone. I feel with all of these support, unless the battery dies or phone slows down, the phone might keep going for the next 7 years. 11. Security - Tensor G3 has the Tensor security core built in and it works with Titan M2 security chip which makes the phone more resilient to attacks and gives us a peace of mind. Cons: 1. Fingerprint reader performance is still the same as previous Pixel phones and it is not super fast or responsive unlike the phones from competitors. But this is not a big deal for me. 2. Pro Controls are available only on Pro models even though both the phones has the same camera on the front and back except for the Telephoto lens. Google could have really enabled this option even for Pixel 8 as the hardware is almost the same. Expecting Google to turn this feature on in the future to support pro options. I would certainly recommend this phone to anyone. I would call this phone as Google AI instead of Google Pixel as AI plays a major part on the success of this phone. Even though some users have complained about the phone restarting continuously after software update, i did not face any major issues. So far the Pixel has been performing great. The call quality has been great. The sounds are crystal clear. With so much of AI features bundled with it, I am pretty confident to say that Pixel phones certainly wins the AI competition when compared to the Apple and Samsung counterpart.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:CameraCons mentioned:Heating issue
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Amazing Photo Editor
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.As a digital creator, having a phone with a high quality camera and good battery life is integral to my workflow. After using the Pixel 7 for a year, I decided I wanted to give the Pixel 8 a try. This is now my third Pixel phone with the new Tensor processor and the Pixel 8 has the smallest build yet, which pairs nicely with my small hands. The transition from the Pixel 7 to the Pixel 8 went smoothly, albeit timely. I appreciate that the layout of all my apps & home page matches my old phone so I could just transfer and continue using a device that I’m already familiar with. I received this phone just in time to take it to Disney World in Florida. I love capturing media at theme parks and events so I was excited to get nice photos of my trip. I’ve never met a Pixel phone camera I didn’t like, given good lighting conditions. Lighting is everything! If the environment is low light, the Pixel 8 has the potential to do well if it’s placed propped up or on a mount. I use the camera app and Google Photos a lot, so the main thing I wanted to see was an improved camera. The phone’s UI is visually very similar to my previous two Pixels, so I want to focus on the camera performance. CAMERA APP The camera app is pretty user friendly. The latest update has its differences, but the UI is not hard to get used to. I LOVE Portrait Mode, especially for photos of my dog. So many modes to choose from, yet the regular Photo mode does a great job of quickly capturing moments. Night Sight really does capture low-light photos with a lot of dimension, but of course, always remain as still as possible as it can take a few seconds. You can even adjust Brightness, Shadows, and White Balance right in camera, instead of changing those settings in post. I’d say the Camera app is in my top 5 apps used on this phone overall. REAR CAMERA The Pixel 8 rear camera features its new .5x 12MP ultrawide camera capabilities. Wider than what its predecessor could achieve, the field of view gets up to 125.8 degrees in comparison to the Pixel 7’s 114 degree field of view (.7x 12MP). Of course, when you’re using the ultrawide camera, you lose the higher quality of the main camera which on the Pixel 8 has a f/1.68 aperture, an improvement on the f/1.85 aperture on the Pixel 7. Main camera features like the 82 degree field of view, the sensor size, and the Super Res Zoom (8x) are identical to the previous version. Looking into the specs more, I would have liked to try the Pixel 8 Pro, so if you’re wanting more from the rear camera, I’d check out the Pixel 8 Pro for the high quality ultrawide and telephoto lenses. My favorite upgrade to the rear camera is the macro (close-up) capabilities. The Pixel 7 will warn you “back up to improve focus”, but the Pixel 8 invites you in and auto-switches to macro mode when you’re close enough to a subject. I love taking pictures of my food and I’m excited to take closeups with this new setting. FRONT CAMERA The front camera still has .7x wide like its predecessor but the ultrawide field of view of the Pixel 8 is 95 degrees, an improvement on 92.8 degrees. The Pixel 8 has a 10.5 MP Dual PD selfie camera, while the Pixel 7 has 10.8 MP. If I’m being honest, I was really hoping for a bigger improvement on the front camera. It’s just so much more convenient to use. It’s still a decent camera and I’m happy to have it. GOOGLE PHOTOS EDITING The edit function in Google photos offers some great options for those who want a comprehensive edit from the suggestions, which I think are awesome. It also caters to users who like to edit with even more precision like altering brightness, highlight/shadows, contrast, etc. The Magic Eraser is one of my favorite editing tools that makes it easy to remove certain parts of a photo, otherwise I’d have to access the photo on desktop to Photoshop it, and that’s a whole process that I can bypass if the edit is simple enough. The Magic Eraser will automatically make removal suggestions, and I use them about half the time. I’m blown away by the Magic Editor. I am able to select subjects and adjust their size to make them bigger and fit better in a photo. I am so grateful at how simple it is to do this on mobile. The process to do this on a desktop would easily take 10x longer. The Sky tool is pretty neat too. I used the Sky presets for some of my Disney castle pictures and I feel like I got some good options, which I’ll share in the photos attached to this review. I get plenty of use out of a lot of the editing features. Even something as simple as the crop tool is super helpful to get different aspect ratios and leveling adjustments. Although I never really found the unblur tool to be super useful for the photos I tried it with, I get a lot of use out of other editing tools and features. PROS I love the customization on this phone. I am able to have multiple apps running at once and any normal use is met with an acceptable amount of battery loss. The key here is “normal use”. I love that this phone is small, it fits in my pockets and in my bags neatly. I think the camera on this phone is incredible and I’m happy to use it for future events and outings. I like the spam filters for phone calls and messages - it’s so helpful to be able to use Google Assistant to screen calls. I dodge so much spam this way. CONS I find that Pixel phones can get a little hot at times. Granted, I do have to go in and make sure I’ve closed my apps, but sometimes it just gets too hot to the touch. It tends to heat up if it’s on my dashboard as well, so I can’t always use it for maps if the phone gets too hot in the car (despite AC). This might be a weird one but, the fingerprint light is too bright. It was too bright on the last two phones and at this point, I won’t expect this to change moving forward. ALL IN ALL I will likely keep coming back to Pixel phones and would recommend this phone to techies, novices, and everyone in between. Photos Editing is so much more fun when you have tons of settings to adjust and filters to choose from.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Battery life, Camera
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Team Pixel
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.The Pixel 8 is a great evolution from prior year pixel line up, it improves on all the key factors battery life, pictures, video, sound, screen, form factor, AI and update guarantee. Every aspect of this phone has been improved over the prior years and makes you want to go team pixel. Screen: The brightness has been turned up (2000 nits) so you can easily use the phone in direct sunlight, this added with the fact that the screen is 120 Hz makes everything feel buttery smooth when your playing games swiping through apps/pictures Battery life: Battery life was always really good and this year the pixel has left me with about 28% at the end of the day with heavy usage (hotspot/calls/music streaming/video streaming). I was pleasantly surprised by this because I was expecting a small drop off since google has included the new 5G mmwave with the cell phone radios. Speaking of connections the pixel also has wifi 7, while most people don’t have it now, or wont for a little bit its nice to know that the phone is future proof. Pictures/Video: The camera is a decent step up from last year, the close-up picture with macro focus works perfectly. Capturing pictures/processing pictures are about 30-40% faster than last year and the night shot is a bit more forgiving with small movements. Video recordings are much improved along with the stabilization, however when panning from time to time you will get some transition jitter. I did notice that the jitter is there if you look at the video right after you take it, if you wait about 5-10 seconds to review the video there is no jitter and I believe this must be due to post processing of the video which the pixel is doing. Sound: This is by far the best Pixel speakers on any non-pro pixel, I tried comparing the last 3 generations and the pixel 8 sounds much more robust. Form factor: The Pixel 8 is smaller and not as wide which makes it much easier to use and carry around. The rounded edges make it feel great in the hand, it is a bit slippery though so I would infest in a case. AI: This is where the pixel shines above all others, the amount of AI/automation is ridiculous. Picture edits are easy and the processing from the pixel works surprisingly well, now its not perfect but how good it is will blow you away. I do wish all the editing could happen on device but some of it needs to be sent to the cloud. The AI editing for video is also very easy and smooth, just about anyone can do it. I was uber impressed with the sound editing for videos, this is something you have to try you can literally remove all noise that’s not relevant to your video with the click of a button. The pixel 8 also upgraded the screen my call assistant to sound more natural and I have noticed that more people are willing to respond to it over the robotic sounding one from last year. The AI features are over the top and the best in the business. Update guarantee: Google has promised 7 years of software and security updates which is the best in the business from any of the main manufacturers. Google has polished this phone in all aspects with very few shortcomings. My only real complaint is the delay of the video processing other than that this is the best pixel phone and with the 7 years of guarantees this little phone could be something you keep for years.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Battery life, Camera
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Solid phone for everyone!
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.I have been using the Google Pixel 8 for a few days now and I'm overall very satisfied with this phone. I currently also have a Pixel 7 and an iPhone 14 Pro. The size of the Pixel 8 is a little smaller than the 7 and is about the same size as the iPhone 14pro. I thought the 7 was a touch two big to easily hold in one hand, but the Pixel 8 fixes that problem. This phone is also very slippery and I would strongly recommend using with a case. I had the phone sitting on an end table and some how it slipped off onto the uncarpeted floor. The fall was only four feet, but the phone has no damage which is good. Setup was very easy to do. When setting up the phone it asked if I wanted to port my number from the pixel 7 to an esim on the 8. I did that and the phone was working on my cellular network without any issues. I was able to transfer everything over from the 7 to the 8 without any issues. Going from the 7 to the 8 was seamless and everything is setup exactly the same as my pixel 7. I will say if you already have the Pixel 7, going to the 8 is not a night and day difference. While I do love the upgrade, the differences are very few. I know on the new 8 the screen is 120HZ, while some will notice this upgrade I did not. The changes I noticed are the new AI features and that the phone is smaller, lighter, brighter display, and better camera. The 8 also has a slightly larger battery, but I found the battery in the 7 to last all day as well. I do love the camera with AI features. The camera on the 7 took very good photos and the 8 does as well. We did a test of a night shot of our Halloween decorations. We used the iPhone 14 Pro and the pixel 8. The photos where nearly identical with the iPhone have a slightly better clarity. I'm sure the pixel 8 pro has a better camera, but the pixel non pro is no slouch and takes some great photos. The one feature I have yet to test is the Best Take photo. This is where you can blend similar photos into one. It looks pretty simple to use, but I just didn't have enough photos/people to test it out with. A couple of built in items that are nice is the google assistant for call screening. I get lots of spam calls and this feature helps weed them out. Another was the live translate, it really does work great! We played around with speaking in Spanish and English. The phone was super quick at translating everything in Spanish to English, even if someone is speaking fast. This will be very helpful when traveling if you do not know the language. There are lots of nice built in items that I keep finding while using the phone. One thing I noticed is that Google Pixel phones have the same familiarity as using an iPhone, and I believe this is due to the user interface. I had been using only Samsung phones before and noticed after time they would slow down or the UI would get clunky. Samsung uses their own interface instead of the one included with android. The one that comes built into android just simple works and is clean and easy to use, just like IOS. When using my iPhone pro or this pixel the feel is similar and things just work. If you are thinking of leaving IOS for android do yourself a favor and get a pixel. If I only needed one phone I would choose the Pixel 8 because of its features and price point. I like its simplistic approach, the ease of use, AI, and nice camera. I also like how google integrates the cameras into the phone. Instead of two or three circles on one side, google just created a metal bar all the way across the top. This is superior to other phones because if you set it down flat and try using it as it doesn't wobble back and forth.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Camera
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Pixel keeps getting better
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Having previously owned the Pixel 6 and 7, I can confidently say that Google continues to make meaningful, useful updates with every new generation of the Pixel. I'll cover the main features of the Pixel 8 as well as highlight differences between this new phone and the 7. Many of the physical changes are incremental, but still worth noting: The 8 is ever so slightly smaller at 5.93 x 2.79 inches; vs 6.12 x 2.88 inches for the 7. Not SUPER noticeable side by side, but it does fit in your pocket a little better. The screen is slightly brighter on the 8, with a better refresh rate. The processor is now the Tensor G3 vs. the prior generator G2, and the benchmark tests show better performance, as expected. The battery capacity is now 4,575 mAh vs. 4,355. I am not going to bore you with each and every statistic, suffice to say that yes, the Pixel 8 is better than the 7, as it should be! For me, and I think many people, I use my phone more for photos than I do for calls and texts. I don't have a smartphone with a camera, I have a smart camera with a phone. That is what has drawn me to the Google Pixel for this and prior generations; I find the camera functionality, not just the physical specs but the power of the AI enhanced editing, to be simply amazing. The macro zoom is automatic, get within a couple/few inches of your subject and the detail is unbelievable; see the photo of the antique sterling silver spoon in one of my photos. The Artificial Intelligence capabilities using Google Photos is the real "wow factor" regarding the camera functionality though. I love being able to take selfie pics and photos of myself and good friend and use magic eraser to remove random strangers in the background; or to blur the background while enhance the detail in us. I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of what's possible with the editing features but hope to continually improve. For those who tend to hold on to their phones as long as possible, there's some really good news on that front: The Pixel 8 will be supported for 7 years through 2030! Meanwhile, support for the Pixel 7 runs out in 2025. This won't be important for folks who upgrade every year or 2, but for those who really need or want to maximize longevity, I don't know that there's another phone with this level of guaranteed support. As far as constructive criticism goes, my main complaint is the same I have for every other cell phone I have ever owned: it's incredibly slippery and easy to drop. Because the form factor is different than the Pixel 7 I used previously, I couldn't use that case. So I was paranoid about dropping it for the 3 days it took for a Pixel 8 specific case to arrive. I don't understand why cell phone manufacturers don't include even a cheapest of the cheap protective case with their phones, but oh well, this one is now fully protected. The other thing on my wish list would be having a microSD slot so I could load up music and not worry about running out of space taking pics and video. So, there you have it; the Google Pixel 8 is a very capable smart phone with top tier photography ability, guaranteed Android compatibility through version 21 in 2030, and an overall great choice for a mid-level smartphone. I recommend this product.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Battery life, Camera
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
High Quality at a Great Price
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.This is not my first Android phone, as I have owned other Pixel releases, so I was looking forward to seeing the improvements they made with this model. The first thing I love about Pixel phones is that the hardware is made by Google. When paired with their Android OS, you can tell that there is an advantage when the same company is providing both the hardware and software. Everything works smoothly and seamlessly. And from my experience, Pixel phones tend to get the latest and greatest OS updates before most other Android phones. The Pixel 8 continues the tradition of having a very good camera. This model comes with a 50 megapixel front-facing camera. I got some great shots at a high school football game the other night and was impressed with the crispness of the colors and the fantastic resolution (see photo). The included photo editing tools are always top-notch if you need to make any tweaks. The battery life has been the most impressive thing about the Pixel 8 so far. I went over 2 days before needing to charge it, even while using it more than I would normally during the first few days of owning it. This model comes with 128GB of storage which is more than enough for pretty much anyone. I also love the display which has a 120Hz refresh rate. The scrolling was incredibly smooth. One last thing that stood out as a cool feature is that when adding contacts, people's addresses would autocomplete after I started to input them. This was really cool and saved me a lot of time. Overall, this is a great phone that not only comes with fantastic features, but is a terrific value even when not on sale. So many of the new phones out there are priced at $1000 or more but you can get great quality at a fraction of the price with the Pixel 8.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rating 4.3 out of 5 stars with 20 reviews
(20 Reviews)- gsmarena.comRating, 4.3 out of 54.3GSMArena Team on October 24, 2023
Google Pixel 8 reviewWhile the jump from the Pixel 6 to the Pixel 7 series was somewhat modest, the 8 series' launch is defined by a slew of new features and upgraded
Full Review - TechRadarRating, 4 out of 54.0Alex Walker-Todd on October 4, 2023
Google Pixel 8 review: full of surprisesNot a small Pixel 8 Pro, but a great phone in its own right
Full Review - The VergeAllison Johnson 8 7 on October 11, 2023
Pixel 8 and 8 Pro review: in Google we trust?The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro come with impressive — and controversial — new photo editing tools, like Best Take and Magic Editor. With significant updates and seven years of software support promised, they might just be the Pixel phones
Full Review - Tom's GuideOctober 4, 2023
Google Pixel 8 review: The best Android phone for most peopleThe Google Pixel 8 wows with its AI-powered camera features and delivers a brighter display in a more compact design. It's $100 more than the Pixel 7 but still cheaper than other flagships.
Full Review - Digital TrendsAndy Boxall on April 6, 2024
Google Pixel 8 review: better than the Pixel 8 Pro?The case for choosing the Google Pixel 8 over the Pixel 8 Pro is stronger than ever, as its camera, battery, and software all impress in our review.
Full Review - Android CentralRating, 4.5 out of 54.5November 8, 2023
Google Pixel 8 review: Primed for successWith the Pixel 8, Google is showing what's possible with on-device machine learning and AI. With a suite of exciting new AI-based features and meaningful upgrades, this may just be the phone you're lo With seven years of upgrades and plenty of
Full Review - ZDNetMax Buondonno on October 10, 2024
The Google Pixel phone I recommend to most people is not a flagship and it's still available for $200 offLast year's Pixel 8 might not get the same attention as the Pixel 9, but it still has some impressive specs. Right now, it is $200 off during Amazon's post-Big Deal Days sales event.
Full Review - Tech AdvisorRating, 4 out of 54.0Anyron Copeman on August 14, 2024
Google Pixel 8 review: A better choice a year onThe regular Pixel 8 is one of the best compact phones you can buy, though a price drop makes it better value in the UK than the US
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