Google Pixel 8 Pro Review: specs and features, camera quality test, gaming benchmark, user opinions and photos

Google Pixel 8 Pro - a flagship without innovations

Flagship smartphones from Google always find a huge number of buyers. The reasons for this are the popularity of the brand, the software that has been polished to the smallest detail, and, of course, the excellent photographic capabilities of the gadgets. However, the corporation's opponents have made significant progress in the functionality of their products, the beauty of their appearance, as well as other parameters. Unfortunately, based on the hero of today’s review, one gets the feeling that the world-famous company decided to relax and simply re-release a slightly modified last year’s model. But will such a unit be successful?

The appearance of the new product is not bad, but far from ideal. So, noticeable display frames spoil the impression; some will not like the stylish, but too protruding block of three photo modules. The metal and glass of the ergonomically shaped body and the current colors of the monoblocks will be positively assessed. The 6.7-inch AMOLED display has essentially the only drawback - the PWM effect is quite pronounced. Other indicators are excellent. The maximum brightness reaches 2400 nits, the resolution is an impressive 3120x1440 pixels, and the image refresh rate is 120 hertz. The color rendition, oleophobic coating, and built-in fingerprint sensor do not fail.

Specifications have been updated. Now the latest Tensor G3, working in tandem with 12GB of RAM and the Mali Immortalis-G715s MC10 video adapter, is responsible for performance. The combination is inferior to top solutions from Qualcomm and MediaTek, but still produces good results in benchmarks and copes not only with the Android 13 interface, but also with all existing games. Throttling is present, but it is less than that of the chipset's predecessors. However, in resource-intensive game projects like Genshin Impact, it is still recommended to set medium-high graphics presets. The size of the permanent memory can be 128, 256 or 512GB; it cannot be expanded with MicroSD cards.

The main advantage of the device is the main 50-megapixel (sensor with hybrid stabilization) and 48-megapixel (telephoto lens with 5x zoom, wide-angle lens), which still provides the best quality of daytime and evening photos and videos today. Stunning detail is combined with an almost complete absence of noise. Stereo sound was loud, rich and balanced. Of course, the representative of the highest price category has not lost protection from dust and moisture according to IP68 standards, support for 5G and NFC contactless payments, and wireless charging (23W). A 4950 mAh battery provides about one and a half days of operation of the mobile assistant. The only pity is that the wired charging method received a modest power of 30W. Thus, the device deserves attention, but it has many, sometimes more interesting alternatives.