Pixel 8 Pro

[kimbernator]

It's starting to feel silly, having a yearly release cycle for smartphones. So much of this product page is focused on new software functions that may have some vague relationship with the slightly upgraded hardware, but that could mostly be released to existing phones. Every new iPhone, Pixel, or Samsung phone basically claims the camera is marginally better and hey, look at these software features that have very little to do with the hardware and should not fundamentally be a reason to upgrade to this phone.

There is so much time, effort, and physical waste that is generated by slightly redesigning phones every year purely for the sake of making sales (as opposed to meaningful improvement upon the existing design or introduction of a new hardware feature). Think not only of people upgrading for the sake of it, but all of the cases, screen protectors, and other assorted accessories cast in plastic for previous models that are garbage now.

It would be nice if we could just space these things out to 5 years or so now, because that's probably how long it takes for anything to change enough to justify a new model.

[grepLeigh]

This is a meta comment, but I think it's extraordinary that we're only 15ish years from the first smartphone release and we've already reached the "boring" incremental improvement phase for these tiny pocket supercomputers.

Consider how long it took PCs to reach the same stage (with a fraction of the adoption). It was like 20 years from Kenbak-1 to the 90s PC era.

[andrewstuart2]

I'm really glad to see both the partnership with iFixit and the 7 years of support. Because everything else seems mostly meh to me, and while I'm upgrading this year from a Pixel 6 Pro, the continued diminished returns make it seem likely that 2-3 years from now I won't have as much reason to.

[Lutzb]

The depreciation between Pixels and iPhones is staggering.

Trade-in in Germany on Google Store page:

- Pixel 6 Pro 256gb ($999 on release) - 235€

- iPhone 13 Pro 256gb ($1099 on release) - 730€

While I am partial to Googles line of phones (had pretty much every Google phone since the nexus one), the loss of value is something I cannot really ignore any more when deciding to buy a phone.

[initplus]

Same region locking nonsense there is every launch on the Google store.

I understand you aren't selling this in my region, but not even letting me look at the product is super frustrating.

[deanc]

Yeah. They're absolutely shooting themselves in the foot. Makes no sense to me at all as it's good advertising for their brand and people all around the world are going to be interested.

Here's an archive.is link which has most of the info [1]

[1] https://archive.ph/RuBSk

[trog]

What is the point of being one of the largest technology companies in the world if you can't even provide basic global coverage to your websites and products?!

[nicbou]

6.7 inch screen. My Pixel 5 is already big. This one is an inch bigger in my hand and in my pockets.

Price increase. 875€ in Europe. The Pixel 5 was 630€. Do you really get 40% more phone?

[ForkMeOnTinder]

Interestingly the non-Pro pixels have been trending in the right direction for size.

The Pixel 6 is 6.4"

The Pixel 7 is 6.3"

The Pixel 8 is 6.2"

If the trend continues we only have to wait 3 more years for a < 6" phone

[mcsniff]

Been holding on to my Pixel 5 with GrapheneOS for a while hoping a smaller Pixel is available.

I might consider the non-Pro since it now has a 120Hz screen and is smaller.

[j10u]

Agreed, I moved away from Pixels because of size... I'm hoping for a Pixel Mini someday

[nisegami]

For context:

Pixel 5 has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 85.9% screen-to-body ratio Pixel 8 Pro has a 20:9 ratio and 87.4% screen-to-body ratio

So the difference is ever so slightly less impactful than it sounds, but it's still a much bigger phone.

[xtirpation]

Are those numbers normalized against inflation?

[hiatus]

I am also in the Pixel 5 group and have been struggling to find a replacement as our phone nears its end of security updates. Does anyone have any suggestions for a potential replacement? There seem to be few phones in this size and weight class.

[ranting-moth]

Fun fact: Google did a Nexus 7 tablet with a 7" display.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_7_(2012)

[bitshiftfaced]

Pixel 5 was 782€, euro-adjusted inflation, so it's a question of whether it's 12% more phone.

Edit: is that price for pixel 8 pro? A Google search is saying regular pixel 8 is 799€, so basically the same price for the base model.

[wnevets]

Maybe I have abnormally large hands & pockets but the Pixel 6 Pro w/case size is really good. I am always annoyed when I have to use someone's phone and their tiny screen.

[onlyrealcuzzo]

> Do you really get 40% more phone?

No, but euros are worth ~30% less.

[KeplerBoy]

It's 1100€ in the Austrian Google Store.

[ireallywantthat]

Too expensive for my tastes.

Give me 380USD phone which lasts for next 5-8 years, feels premium, is repairable, camera is decent, replaceable battery, OS is just Vanilla Android with atleast 5 years(more years of Software updates would be welcome) of Software Updates and when you can't provide it, make it hackable enough to install Custom ROMs.

[12907835202]

No company will ever make a 5-8 year phone at that price. That's $47-76 a year.

People pay that amount or more for apps that help manage their fantasy football team...

Comparitively that would be an insane bargain for a phone and it's absurd for that to be your requirement.

I do wonder what the right price point would be for a subscription model. At the moment the average replacement time is every 2 years which would be the equivalent of $30 a month basic and $40 for pro.

Could they afford $30 a month sub but you got the yearly upgrades rather than every 2 years?

If the price of the parts is quite low compared to the R&D that could be feasible.

But I actually have no idea.

[soperj]

I still don't get the "premium feel" line when everyone covers their phone in a case anyway. I don't care if my phone is made of plastic when it actually makes it less prone to breaking when dropped.

[jassyr]

The pixel "a" series match your requirements for the most part. An inexperience phone stripped of unnecessary features. Unfortunately I don't know any phones that are also repairable, replaceable, and hackable.

[TheBigSalad]

So you want the same thing but for less than half the price?

[Night_Thastus]

That's why I think I'm going with the Samsung A54. It's around that price (if unlocked), but has decent specs. I eventually want to phase out my 4-year-old A50, mainly for android auto reasons. Need to ask online though, there may be better spec'd phones for the price point.

No replaceable battery, sadly, but those don't really exist at this point.

[manuelabeledo]

Sadly, you are part of a minority that rarely gets any attention from mainstream manufacturers.

[kras143]

Check this out https://murena.com/america/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena...

[rtcoms]

Pixel 7a ?

[xnx]

A Pixel 6 Pro meets all these criteria except for replaceable battery.

[nneonneo]

Cool, maybe they can fix emergency calling sometime in that seven year window? https://www.androidauthority.com/psa-google-pixel-911-emerge...

[Alupis]

FTFA:

> The issue was traced to Microsoft Teams

I want to know how a crappy app from Microsoft can break the dialer on my phone. What the hell?

[awill]

that was incredible embarrassing. I remember it was the end of December, and they said "it won't be in the January update. Just wait until February"

I cannot imagine Apple doing that.

[garba_dlm]

I will never get used to this geo-determined internet (i cannot see the phone's page without a vpn)

is like we developed this new amazing inter-connection network. and then due to politics, decided it was much too good... far too much freedom without national barriers, so we've gone on to reintroduce these barriers.

as if the internet was restricted by the same geographical (physical) realities that we commonly encounter.

but nothing will ever be as dumb as the re-introducing material scarcity (DRM schemes) back into the 'cyberspace' just so a few can keep making money out of what they already did; possibly for several generations of descendants

[syncbehind]

I wonder if the audio magic eraser feature will make it to older pixel phones. That and the best-shot one seemed very interesting.

It also seems very arbitrarily limited to the newer ones, 7/7pro seem like they should be more than capable of driving these features.

Is software limiting going to be the norm going forward for phones?

Because, I don't think this is worth upgrading from last years phones from a hardware basis.

Perhaps, we've reached a point in smartphones where the development cycles will be more iterative, instead of truly groundbreaking.

[redbell]

7 years of support is probably the single, most noticeable improvement in the Android ecosystem in years now.

Also, the temperature sensor in the Pro, if it worked as expected, should be a cool addition.

[Kiuhrly1]

Honestly the most appealing thing for me is the seven years of software support. The Pixel 5 support leaves a lot to be desired, given that I don't even want to upgrade from the hardware.

The demo video of their AI photo editor was kind of mind blowing but ultimately not a feature I would use. I've seen a few complaints about their automatic photo processing as well, which you can't disable in the official camera app.

Overall the majority of their features seem to be software which is tied to Google apps/services, which doesn't sit well with me.

[SketchySeaBeast]

I was interested in this release. But right now it's a $20 difference here in CAD between the Pixel 8 Pro 256 GB and the S23 Ultra 256 GB (there's a sale going on for the S23). With all of the Pixel's heat, battery, and connectivity issues (bad reception I can live with, but not knowing if I can call 911?), I can't justify it at all.

[cobertos]

I'm still on the Pixel 3! I can't get off. I bounced off the Pixel 6. It's too big in my hand. The finger print sensor is in a weird spot. Android 13 is more restrictive. And worst? It's not faster or better. It's legitimately a hard _downgrade_ for me.

I have 2 Pixel 3s now (microphone died and battery swelled) but they run everything snappy! I might just keep buying Pixel 3s off eBay, its so much cheaper. My main worry is lack of security updates, especially with the webp vulnerability.

[cantSpellSober]

> Best Take uses [...] an on-device algorithm creates a blended image from a series of photos to get everyone’s best look

Sounds like Photoshop's image stacks, that "process the multiple images to produce a composite view that eliminates unwanted content"

Cool when applied to make a crowded place look empty. Useful, albeit creepy when you apply it to disembodied heads.

[kylecazar]

It's odd to me that my Pixel 7 Pro is worth less in trade-in value than iPhone 11.

I'm sure there are reasons, but it stings a little.

[kelnos]

I was surprised to see my Pixel 4 is worth $250 for trade-in.

I've never actually traded in any of my old phones, on the fear that the new one might break at some point and I'd need a backup. Granted I've only once had to take advantage of this in the 13 years I've had smartphones.

I didn't click all the way through, but I'm hoping you don't have to turn in the old phone immediately... I'd like to hang onto it for at least a couple weeks just in case I find the backup/restore process hasn't completely done its job.

[makeitdouble]

Getting access to the Apple ecosystem has inherent value that comes on top of the phones themselves.

Green bubbles can be worth a few hundred dollars. Or why some people keep a busted iPhone around just to manage the parental controls. Android doesn't have much of those restrictions or it applies less.

[karencarits]

I hope they will improve the photo post-processing. Currently, I have the pixel 7 pro, and the camera app really alters people more than I like. Fortunately, you can also save RAW files. The rumors on Reddit said that the processing algorithm may have been developed for cameras with lower resolutions - if that's true, the results on pixel 8 will be even worse

[SCdF]

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en&s...

7 years of support! Now we are talking!

[crossroadsguy]

Is there an Apple’s Elop at Google now? I am asking this in all seriousness. How does this cost for this phone make any sense!

Or maybe Google finally learned it from Apple that all you have do is declared a phone flagship and bump its cost dearly - then enjoy sights of people in long queues.

[braydenm]

Is there any word on whether the modem has moved to a different supplier? I previously suffered challenges having to soft-reset Pixel 6/7 to "Fix Connectivity" fairly frequently.