Pixel phones may not be a big commercial success, but they have their fans. And the very recent Pixel 8 Pro allows us to better understand their attachment: here is a phone updated before other brands, fast and bright as ever with a few reserved functions. And it can even read the temperature of your herbal tea, but don’t rely on that.
Let’s start with what some have described as a useless gadget, others as a rare innovation in the busy cell phone industry: the built-in thermometer. The Pixel 8 Pro integrates a sensor into the back of its shell that can read the temperature of any object placed within 5 cm. What can this be used for? To the parent who wants to make sure baby’s bottle is at the right temperature, to the enthusiast who wants a drink just hot enough, to the geek who will have fun taking any temperature between -20 and 150 degrees Celsius.
We tested this Pixel thermometer alongside a laser thermometer, and found its reading to be quite accurate, within 1 or 2 degrees, for solid materials like wood or plastic. For liquids, it was a failure: our water straight out of the kettle gave us 54.3 degrees with the Pixel, while the laser thermometer went to 80.3 degrees. Three additional tests, and still the same difference.
Well, let’s get serious.
If the Pixels were considered unremarkable in their early days, the Pixel 8 Pro is now a handsome phone, with a polished aluminum frame and a smooth glass coating on the back. Its 6.7-inch OLED display called “Super Actua” (each manufacturer makes up its own name) reaches a record maximum brightness of 2400 nits with a dynamic refresh rate between 1 and 120 Hz, with a density of 489 ppi. This technological fanfare is evident: the screen is simply beautiful.
The Pixel 8 Pro is equipped with a 5050 mAh battery which gives it around 24 hours of battery life. The intense days of testing we put it through brought that battery life down to 17 hours, which is remarkable. Fast wired charging can go up to 30 watts. For magnetic charging, you can reach 23 watts but only with a Pixel Stand sold by Google. The base Qi charger cannot exceed 12 watts.
Oh yes, the Pixel 8 Pro can charge any device you stick to its back, although iPhones don’t work together and instead display Apple Pay.
We quickly noticed the agility of this new phone, which handles application changes and the opening of new windows without significant delay. The Tensor G3 chip, powered by 12GB of RAM, does its job well.
For photography, we equipped the phone with a telephoto lens that can go up to x5 in optical mode. The main wide-angle reaches 50 MP, we have a 48 MP ultra-wide-angle and, at the front, another 10.5 MP ultra-wide-angle.
The results surprised us. Well, this Pixel 8 Pro is like its predecessors and is not the best at managing contrast. On the other hand, the usually bland colors (some find them more realistic) are very rich here and, above all, the details of the photos are finely crafted. See in the example opposite the detail of the leaves in the foreground.
As usual, our Pixel 8 Pro is unbeatable for low-light photos. However, we have a new weapon: Google has packed its phone with functions using artificial intelligence to improve photos. We already knew the Magic Eraser to remove unwanted elements from a photo (a controversial tool), we now have a set of retouching tools in the Magic Editor to correct lighting weaknesses, improve the background, remove blur from a photo or enhance colors.
Note that more experienced photographers have a range of Pro Controls which offer more advanced settings.
The ultimate argument for Pixel fans is of course back, with a pure Android 14 operating system, no frills, and updates before anyone else. In addition, we guarantee seven years of security updates, unheard of. We still have Pixel specialties, such as identification of songs played in the room and instant transcription, effective even in French.
Unfortunately, we cannot establish its power experimentally, as the Pixel 8 Pro is incompatible with the Geekbench 6 calibration software, which is a first for us.
At $1,349, the Pixel 8 Pro goes up against some big stars, including top devices from Samsung and Apple. It is not clearly downgraded, but it does not have the same prestige. And not the same customer service, unfortunately.
The use of AI for photography, to remove an element, deblur a photo, play with skin tone for a more pleasant result will displease purists.
The Pixel 8 Pro is a very good Android device, the latest addition to a line of phones that we’ve been carefully polishing over the past 10 years. Nothing to disappoint Pixel lovers, a good choice for anyone who wants to go beyond the mid-range phone, especially with its impressive photographic capabilities. Does he have what it takes to compete with the best, as his price suggests? We have a little doubt.
