Andrew Lanxon/CNETEditor’s be aware: This is an ongoing evaluation that was initially printed on Oct. 11. The newest replace was printed on Oct. 14.We discovered issues with the Google Pixel 8 Pro in our early testing. The most notable points have been with the digital camera, which exhibited odd artifacts, particularly in high-contrast conditions. We’ve now spent over per week testing a number of fashions of the telephone throughout the globe. We’ve taken tons of of photos and been capable of achieve a deeper understanding of the problems we have seen. CNET reporter Stephen Shankland unpacked most of the Pixel 8 Pro’s points and elaborated on what may be inflicting them. It’s largely a software program drawback, and Google is aware of the place the issue lies and expects a repair “very soon,” the corporate instructed CNET on Thursday.While we’re nonetheless seeing the identical image-processing issues after extra testing, we have additionally amassed quite a few examples the place the Pixel 8 Pro carried out extraordinarily nicely. We examined it in daylight, at evening, and the way it compares to rivals together with the iPhone 15 Pro and the older Pixel 7 Pro. Right now, we’re assured that the digital camera points are comparatively minor and that a lot of you who’ve already purchased the telephone could not even discover. But a $999 (£999, AU$1,699) telephone shouldn’t have issues like these, so we’re suspending our last verdict till we see the distinction the upcoming software program replace makes. Below, you will discover an ongoing evaluation of the telephone with my opinions on the design, show, processor and battery, knowledgeable by a number of editors’ testing. I’ll proceed updating this evaluation over the approaching days as I retest the telephone, particularly the digital camera. We have not discovered any of those points testing the common Pixel 8 and, in reality, actually prefer it.What does this imply for you? If you are seeking to purchase the Pixel 8 Pro, we advise you to attend. Keep your eye on this evaluation because it develops and await our last verdict. Andrew Lanxon/CNETA week-plus with the Pixel 8 ProThe Pixel 8 Pro is Google’s newest flagship telephone, and as such packs a number of refinements over its predecessor, together with a brand new processor, cameras and extra AI expertise. I liked the older Pixel 7 Pro and believed it was the most effective Android telephones cash might purchase. The 8 Pro has quite a bit to stay as much as.Putting apart the digital camera issues I’ve skilled, the Pixel 8 Pro has a lot going for it, from its stable gaming efficiency, its respectable battery life and its slick Android 14 interface. But an important change is that Google is committing to seven years of software program updates for the telephone, an enormous enhance over its earlier providing and rather more than most different Android producers. It means this telephone ought to nonetheless be going sturdy in 2030, if it lives as much as Google’s claims.The triple rear-camera setup obtained some updates, together with wider apertures on each the primary and telephoto lenses and better decision for the ultrawide lens. The Pixel 8 Pro’s digital camera bar. Andrew Lanxon/CNETBut it is the digital camera that is been most problematic for us in our testing up to now and must be resolved earlier than we might suggest it. Several of our take a look at photos with high-contrast scenes present bizarre-looking picture noise and artifacts within the shadowy areas, together with extraordinarily aggressive software program smoothing on areas that ought to preserve element. I discovered related points in evening mode pictures, too.Shankland’s Pixel 8 Pro digital camera evaluation dives extra deeply into the reason for a few of these issues. It primarily boils right down to how the software program tries to mix a number of picture exposures collectively and does not do a very neat job at it. However, software program issues will be remedied and Google has mentioned that an replace is coming quickly that ought to handle the worst of our considerations. In scenes with excessive distinction, the Pixel 8 Pro can obliterate particulars and produce unnatural noise speckles in shadow areas. At left is the unedited JPEG, seen at 100% zoom, and at proper is the uncooked photograph with publicity boosted to point out the issue extra clearly. This is from a bigger photograph with a lot brighter components not seen right here; the issue does not happen with extra even lighting. A repair is within the works. Stephen Shankland/CNETThe telephone’s DNG uncooked recordsdata have a tendency to return out worse, with elevated picture noise and a bizarre muddiness to the scene that wants heavy corrections. It’s seemingly, although, that that is exacerbated by poor compatibility with uncooked modifying apps like Lightroom and could also be rectified as Adobe assist rolls out. Taken with the primary digital camera in a usually well-lit room, this picture suffers from some critically bizarre artifacts. Andrew Lanxon/CNET Zooming in makes it apparent to see the problems, with each overzealous element smoothing and peculiar noise issues turning into obvious. Andrew Lanxon/CNET This high-contrast scene from the primary digital camera does not look too dangerous at first. Stephen Shankland/CNET But no matter’s happening over right here is simply… bizarre. Stephen Shankland/CNETThere’s a 1- to 2- second delay I encountered when taking 50-megapixel uncooked photos, which seemingly will not be going away. Google defined that this delay is just because of the telephone having to take a number of, large recordsdata and piece them collectively. It’s a extremely sophisticated course of, and it is clearly a burden for the Tensor G3 processor. Indeed, capturing uncooked at 12 megapixels has no such delay. As a end result, the high-res mode is greatest used for static landscapes, not fast-paced pictures of your youngsters enjoying on the seaside. I hope that subsequent yr’s Pixel 9 Pro has a extra highly effective chip that may pace up this course of. It’s not all dangerous, although. Many photos taken with the huge, ultrawide and 5x zoom lenses have come out extraordinarily nicely in good lighting, lower-light indoor pictures are vibrant and sharp, and I’ve had good success with night-time road photos too. I additionally loved utilizing the lengthy publicity mode so as to add some ethereal blurred motion results to some pictures. The Pixel 7 Pro had an excellent digital camera that was able to taking superb photos with any of its lenses. While the Pixel 8 Pro clearly has some teething troubles, each Shankland and I are assured that fixes will come that may assist make this a way more well-rounded digital camera for each amateurs and lovers alike. This outside scene seems to be good. Andrew Lanxon/CNET While this lengthy publicity impact has added a enjoyable dreaminess to this prepare station scene. Andrew Lanxon/CNET Watch this: Pixel 8 Pro Problems
00:59 Design and displayPhysically, it is clear to see the Pixel 8 Pro’s household resemblance to its predecessors, with the large digital camera bar throughout the again. It’s not a giant design departure from final yr’s mannequin, however that rear glass panel is now frosted quite than shiny, which provides it a softer really feel to carry whereas making it rather less vulnerable to fingerprints. I do not assume it seems to be fairly as premium or elegant because the Pixel 7 Pro’s sage and gold design, no less than not within the plain black variant I’ve been given to check.The digital camera bar stands proud a good distance — round 4 millimeters in reality, which is much more than on the 7 Pro. The 8 Pro is snug to carry, however I do typically discover it catches when I’m attempting to slip it into my denims pocket. I’m nitpicking right here, however it’s a kind of issues that would change into extra annoying over time. With a case connected that reduces the peak distinction between the physique and the bar, the issue goes away. The body is made partly from recycled aluminum (identical to in older Pixel telephones) and the telephone is IP68 rated for water-resistance, which can hold it protected from spilled drinks or when taking calls within the rain. The 6.7-inch show is similar measurement as on the Pixel 7 Pro. It’s vibrant and vibrant and simply does justice to no matter colourful YouTube or Netflix video you wish to watch on the bus. The blue mannequin seems to be much more vibrant than the black mannequin. Andrew Lanxon/CNETTemperature sensorOne little tweak on the again is a small circle subsequent to the digital camera flash that homes a model new characteristic: a temperature sensor. It permits the telephone to offer temperature readings from objects or surfaces. It’s straightforward sufficient to do, simply fireplace up the temperature app and maintain the telephone about 5 centimeters out of your object, as if you are taking a close-up photograph. Tap the display screen and it will offer you a readout on how sizzling that object is.The thought is that you should utilize it to check the temperature of drinks earlier than you are taking a giant gulp, or to be sure that piece of peach pie is not hotter than the solar earlier than you shovel it into your face and burn your mouth to cinders. It works nicely in my testing up to now, with it pretty precisely displaying the rise in temperature on my kettle as I boiled water for a cup of tea. The temperature sensor works nicely, however is it genuinely helpful? Time will inform. Andrew Lanxon/CNETAnd whereas I can think about it typically being useful — mother and father might use it to examine the temperature of a child’s bottle, for instance — I believe its real-world utility is proscribed. It appears like a characteristic that is been shoehorned in to behave as a differentiator from the competitors. Heck, it will probably’t even take your physique temperature, although Google is searching for clearance from the US FDA to make use of it for that goal. And positive, the Pixel 8 Pro now has a characteristic that the iPhone 15 does not, however is it actually a characteristic you care about? I’m unsure that I do. Android 14 is the newest model of Google’s software program. Andrew Lanxon/CNETProcessor and Android 14The Pixel 8 Pro comes with Google’s newest selfmade processor, the Tensor G3, however we will not but inform you the way it performs. At the time of writing I’m unable to put in any form of benchmarking apps to straight evaluate it to its rivals, however anecdotally it looks as if a succesful chip. Navigation across the Android 14 interface is swift: Apps open with none delays and multitasking between open apps is a breeze. Graphically demanding video games like Genshin Impact, PUBG and Real Racing 3 all play with buttery-smooth body charges at most graphics settings. I’ve but to search out something that actually slows the telephone down. The Tensor G3 chipset additionally permits AI options, however their high quality is uneven, with some taking so lengthy to course of that I merely did not hassle (extra on these beneath).The huge development we will affirm is longevity. Google dedicated to offering seven years of software program and safety updates to the Pixel 8 sequence, which is a giant enchancment over the 4 years it beforehand supplied. By comparability, Samsung affords 4 years of software program and 5 of safety updates. Longer safety assist occasions are an enormous manner of decreasing the environmental affect of telephones, because the {hardware} on older fashions is commonly nonetheless working positive, however it’s merely not protected to maintain utilizing units with outdated software program. Google’s software program dedication means the Pixel 8 Pro ought to nonetheless be going sturdy in 2030, which is the longest of any main Android producer and solely actually rivaled by Fairphone, which affords eight years of safety updates on its newest Fairphone 5. It’s good to see Google extending its assist interval and I hope it encourages extra producers to do the identical.The Pixel 8 Pro launches with Android 14 which itself is not that completely different from Android 13, with a near-identical visible look that features varied methods to customise components of the interface. Google has sprinkled in some extra AI options all through although, together with a brand new generative AI wallpaper creator. The AI wallpaper creator is enjoyable to play with. Andrew Lanxon/CNETThe device lets you choose from a wide range of prompts, together with object phrases comparable to “bicycle” or “lighthouse,” texture phrases like “wood” or “bamboo” and varied colour and artwork fashion phrases to create a novel backdrop. It’s enjoyable to play with and I’ve loved experimenting with completely different immediate mixtures to search out photos I like. I do not at all times love the outcomes — typically the AI hasn’t executed a fantastic job — and solely with the ability to select from a set of predefined prompts means it is not open to the type of wild infinite customization you would possibly anticipate from generative AI. Google has woven in AI options elsewhere into the telephone, together with name screening, the power to summarize articles in internet pages (each of that are unique to the US at launch) and higher speech-to-text and translation instruments. But it is also used for picture modifying, with AI instruments letting you selectively edit the sky in a panorama photograph, make objects or individuals greater or smaller within the body or take away them utterly. The outcomes do not at all times look nice — no less than to not my eye as an expert photographer — however they are often enjoyable methods of tweaking extra informal snaps. We’re going to want a much bigger boat. Andrew Lanxon/CNET And with the magic of AI, right here we’re. Andrew Lanxon/CNETI discovered that it took between 13 and 18 seconds for the AI to make every edit, which felt like a frustratingly very long time to attend. It stays to be seen whether or not that is right down to the processor efficiency or if it is a software program situation that could possibly be remedied. In my time with the telephone, I discovered these delays lengthy sufficient to place me off eager to mess around additional. On the Pixel 8, nevertheless, these edits usually took round 5 seconds.There’s additionally a brand new device referred to as Best Take, which takes a burst of photos and blends them into one shot the place everybody ought to look their greatest by robotically choosing the very best faces of a gaggle of topics. I’ve not discovered this handy in my time with the telephone. It requires no less than six completely different photos of a gaggle of individuals for the AI to select from and I usually simply take one or two of my pals, which is not sufficient. To make use of it, I’d should study to start out utilizing burst mode extra usually when taking group pictures, which appears like I’m having to create an issue for this characteristic to resolve. Then once more, my colleague Patrick Holland loved placing the characteristic to make use of in his evaluation of the smaller Pixel 8. Patrick discovered it labored nicely in his pictures, with a largely seamless substitute of individuals’s faces within the last picture. Your expertise with it might differ relying on how you employ your telephone’s digital camera, so take my opinion right here with a grain of salt. We’ll be doing much more testing with the Pixel 8 Pro over the approaching days. Andrew Lanxon/CNETBattery Stuffed contained in the Pixel 8 Pro is a 5,050-mAh battery, which put in an honest efficiency on our varied battery drain assessments. After 1 hour of streaming a YouTube video at max brightness the telephone had dropped from full to 97% remaining, which is sweet. After the third hour it had dropped to 84% which is beneath what we have seen from the iPhone 15 sequence, however according to the Galaxy S23. It’s a demanding take a look at and in on a regular basis use you should not wrestle to get by means of an entire day of blended use. Just keep away from spending hours streaming video or enjoying demanding video games if you wish to have juice left to name a cab residence after your evening in town. As with most telephones, although, you will nearly definitely wish to give it a full cost if you go to mattress every evening. The Pixel 8 Pro’s digital camera bar and again. James Martin/CNETShould you purchase the Pixel 8 Pro?After deeper testing and conversations with Google’s Pixel crew, we’re more and more assured that the early digital camera points we skilled are largely software-based. Imminent updates ought to resolve a lot of what we have seen. Even although pictures look good in most conditions, these points are problematic for the viewers that Google is pitching the Pixel 8 Pro in direction of, which is professional photographers. Still, we’ll proceed to check this telephone and reserve judgment till we have used the digital camera with its new software program.
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