Pixel 8 / Pixel 8 Pro / Pixel 8a

Got the Case Mate clear case through Google, holy cow that thing popped in super tight.

Tried to take it off to try another case, Jesus Christmas it's on so tight, my fingers got purple and blue pinching the side to remove the phone. Ugh. How do I take the phone out of the case without breaking my brand new phone? LOL
 
Got my 8 today, still setting it up. So far the phone seems like a decent upgrade from a 4. I will miss the side squeeze though since I used it a lot.
 
So, my better half decided to go ahead and get the 8 pro.

She got some 2 year promotion through Fi that made it cheaper than the 7a.

I thought there must be something wrong at first, but she was right.

It wasn't that the 8 pro was stupidly cheap, but rather that the new "a" phones cost significantly more than the 5a.

When I got my 5a, It was on a "subscription" plan. The phone was $9 per month for 24 months, for a total of $216. They also strongly recommend you to pay for the device protection plan, of $6 per month, bringing the total to $15 per month, and a grand total of $360 over 24 months.

I thought it was just supposed to carry over to a new phone after 2 years, since it is a "subscription" plan at all, but instead upon the end of the plan they said the phone was mine, and I could upgrade if I wanted to, so it was really more like a payment plan.

If I were to pick up a 7a today using the same phone subscription plan it would be $25.80 per month ($20.80 for the phone, $5 for the protection)

A Pixel 8 Pre-Order would cost me $16.62 per month, and a Pixel 8 pro would be $24.96 per month. Neither of these include the protection plan though, so while she was right about the monthly charge being lower, she is missing the cost of the protection plan in there..

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I'm normally a proponent of just buying my phones outright, but whenever you get an offer that includes zero interest, I recommend you take it :p It's free money!

Me? I might be tempted to get something new, but I am still going to hold on until the support for the 5a dries up next summer (or the battery craps out on me, whichever comes first) and then make a decision.
 
xDiVolatilX said:
What makes you want it over the 7pro?
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Mostly the Tensor G3. The G2 is certainly an improvement over the original (I had a 6a before - actually still have it boxed) but I'd love if it were a little quicker and ran a bit cooler. I haven't had any major issues, but I'd rather not have to worry about it.
 
LittleBuddy said:
Got my 8 today, still setting it up. So far the phone seems like a decent upgrade from a 4. I will miss the side squeeze though since I used it a lot.
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I'm pretty sure that the Pixel still has some form of side squeeze functionality. Personally I disable it as soon as I see it in the settings.
I do keep seeing it in the settings.
 
Tactlesss said:
I'm pretty sure that the Pixel still has some form of side squeeze functionality. Personally I disable it as soon as I see it in the settings.
I do keep seeing it in the settings.
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Thanks just figured it out it's the power button.
 
silentcircuit said:
Mostly the Tensor G3. The G2 is certainly an improvement over the original (I had a 6a before - actually still have it boxed) but I'd love if it were a little quicker and ran a bit cooler. I haven't had any major issues, but I'd rather not have to worry about it.
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In terms of thermals and performance, the Pixel 8 Pro has very similar thermals to last years Pixel 7 Pro (@7:10 in this video)

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And it manages to have worse battery life than the previous Pixel 7 Pro and 6 Pro. I would save your money unless you need one of the specific AI features.

edit: Some more info I found on a Telegram channel:

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GooglePixel8Pro Tensor G3 GPU performanc/efficiency test results.Apparently Samsung 4nm LPP node is just not as good as TSMC when it comes to efficiency.We're looking at something that's roughly 1.5-2 gen behind the current flagship SoCs Source : Golden Reviewer
 
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Dopamin3 said:
In terms of thermals and performance, the Pixel 8 Pro has very similar thermals to last years Pixel 7 Pro (@7:10 in this video)

View attachment 605198

And it manages to have worse battery life than the previous Pixel 7 Pro and 6 Pro. I would save your money unless you need one of the specific AI features.

edit: Some more info I found on a Telegram channel:

View attachment 605376
GooglePixel8Pro Tensor G3 GPU performanc/efficiency test results.Apparently Samsung 4nm LPP node is just not as good as TSMC when it comes to efficiency.We're looking at something that's roughly 1.5-2 gen behind the current flagship SoCs Source : Golden Reviewer
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Thanks. Guess I'll sit the 8 out and hope they do better next year.
 
Tactlesss said:
I'm pretty sure that the Pixel still has some form of side squeeze functionality. Personally I disable it as soon as I see it in the settings.
I do keep seeing it in the settings.
Click to expand...


Hehe, I go through a process of "disable everything I can" whenever I get a new phone.

Anything cloud and/or syncing, any weird "convenience" features (like squeeze), anything AI, anything "assistant". Restrict all permissions I can, disable voice commands, etc etc. Essentially I go down every single item in the setting screens and disable everything that looks even remotely related to the above. Then I set things back to the three buttons on the bottom instead of gestures, and replace the pixel launcher with Nova launcher and call it a day.

I just want the 2010-2012 phone experience (but with faster CPU's, more RAM and better screens). If it wasn't a feature in 2012, I don't want it as a feature today. I can't think of any feature that has been added since that time that I find to actually be useful.
 
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Delivered and setting up now. :)(y)

Seems quicker/snappier than my 7 Pro, but I'm a bit concerned about battery life. I hoped for some better results over my 7 Pro. We'll see after a few days.
 
silentcircuit said:
Thanks. Guess I'll sit the 8 out and hope they do better next year.
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Every Tensor so far has been a slightly modified Samsung Exynos processor fabbed by Samsung. Tensor G1 = Exynos 2100, Tensor G2 = Exynos 2200, Tensor G3 = Exynos 2300. Presumably the Tensor G4 found in the Pixel 9 will be a modified Exynos 2400 (and speculation points to this.) Benchmarks have already leaked for the Exynos 2400, here you can compare it against the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 found in the S23 Ultra.

It looks to be a good step forward and faster than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but by the time we see the Pixel 9 come out there will be plenty of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones on the market. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is is 4nm TSMC (their first process, not sure the name), Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is on TSMC's newer N4P process on 4nm. Tensor G3 / Exynos 2300 are 4nm LPP Samsung, and Tensor G4 / Exynos 2400 will be 4nm LPP+ Samsung. It will be more efficient, but will it be able to hold up against other phones on the market that use Qualcomm? Or even MediaTek? The Dimensity 9200+ is pretty solid and I look forward to what they bring to the table in future years.

Finally in 2025 with the Pixel 10, with the Tensor G5 Google will shift to an in-house design fabbed by TSMC. I am personally looking forward to this.

Zarathustra[H] said:
Does anyone really need those? I consider them an overall negative.
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Without the AI/ML exclusive stuff (call screening, hold for me, best take, photo unblur, photo magic eraser, audio magic eraser, etc...) you're left with a phone that runs hotter and performs worse than any other flagship that uses Qualcomm. I think they help sell the Pixel, and Google must think so too. As evidenced at the #MadeByGoogle keynote they extensively talked about all the AI capabilities of Tensor G3 and how it can run 2x more ML models on device vs Tensor G1 but neglected to show any actual performance of it on normal workloads.
 
Dopamin3 said:
Without the AI/ML exclusive stuff (call screening, hold for me, best take, photo unblur, photo magic eraser, audio magic eraser, etc...) you're left with a phone that runs hotter and performs worse than any other flagship that uses Qualcomm. I think they help sell the Pixel, and Google must think so too. As evidenced at the #MadeByGoogle keynote they extensively talked about all the AI capabilities of Tensor G3 and how it can run 2x more ML models on device vs Tensor G1 but neglected to show any actual performance of it on normal workloads.
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That is a shame.

The main reason I started buying Google devices was because Nexus phones were nice and streamlined. I didn't want to deal with all of the Samsung bloat.

The Pixel started out reasonably bloat free too, but with every release they have added more and more useless features and AI to it, which I don't under any circumstances want.

I feel like these are "features" that impress people who don't know shit about tech, and are made to "wow" people who think Apple is the greatest thing ever. It's real sad that they have stopped making real phones for real technically oriented people who want to know the details, not just the shiny UI and automation.

When I can't see what's behind the curtains, I assume fuckery is afoot. That's the way I view all tech, and I hate anything that automates things that I cant directly and completely control.
 
The flat screen on the 8 Pro is soooooo nice. And I love the more rounded corners, looks more like a Nexus / Pixel this way. I thought the Pixel 7 Pro had too way too much of a Samsung design, which is not what a Google Pixel should be mimicking.

Plus the display is so bright and punch with deep colors, and super smooth.

Right now using it very carefully with no case, and it looks beautiful, but I need a thin minimal case.
 
Zorachus said:
The flat screen on the 8 Pro is soooooo nice. And I love the more rounded corners, looks more like a Nexus / Pixel this way. I thought the Pixel 7 Pro had too way too much of a Samsung design, which is not what a Google Pixel should be mimicking.

Plus the display is so bright and punch with deep colors, and super smooth.

Right now using it very carefully with no case, and it looks beautiful, but I need a thin minimal case.
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Agreed! The 8 Pro is a true flagship phone. I'm especially impressed with its improved Face Unlock feature. The matte finish on the back looks good, but I'm still gonna case this phone. I bought a cheap TPU case for it until dbrand releases their 8/8 Pro Grip cases, next month.

I'm having an annoying little problem with the Wallpaper feature, though. The only pics that work are those already included with Android. Not a single one of my pics work. Each time I set one of mine as Home or Lock screen, it just displays all black. The icons and widgets are there, but no background pic. I'm fairly certain I'm overlooking something simple. My pics always worked on previous Pixels along with other Androids and iPhones.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
When I can't see what's behind the curtains, I assume fuckery is afoot. That's the way I view all tech, and I hate anything that automates things that I cant directly and completely control.
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Luckily the Pixels (sold directly by Google, carriers sometimes don't allow this) have unlockable bootloaders and a somewhat? large community of developers. Google's Android on Pixels is nothing close to AOSP, same story with every other device manufacturer.

LineageOS and GrapheneOS will surely make builds for the 8 / 8 Pro (historically they both have released builds for every Pixel, except the Pixel 1 on GrapheneOS). You can look at their Github / gerrit and actually see what the code is running on your device. This is probably the route you would want to go, since there is less fuckery going on and these are closer to AOSP builds. GrapheneOS takes it a step further with security/privacy/deGoogling. Then we will likely see a variety of custom ROMs come out that keep most of Google's fuckery (just looking at 7 Pro there are numerous I can rattle off the top of my head: Evolution X, SigmaDroid, crDroid, Derpfest, Rising OS, etc....) but again you can see the source of what you're running on your device. This is the only way to know what's going on behind the curtains. Android device manufacturers are required to release kernel source in compliance with the GPLv2 license of the Linux Kernel, but this by no means shows you how the Android operating system is working or what code it's executing.
 
Since I use Chrome, what's a no bullcrap solid ad blocker?

Back in the day I used to root and install AdAway, but my rooting days are over. Too much of a hassle due to monthly security updates.

So what does everyone recommend?
 
Zorachus said:
Since I use Chrome, what's a no bullcrap solid ad blocker?

Back in the day I used to root and install AdAway, but my rooting days are over. Too much of a hassle due to monthly security updates.

So what does everyone recommend?
Click to expand...
Brave is on all my computers/devices now, but AdGuard was what I used when FireFox was my browser of choice. Never had a problem with it.
 
Zorachus said:
Since I use Chrome, what's a no bullcrap solid ad blocker?

Back in the day I used to root and install AdAway, but my rooting days are over. Too much of a hassle due to monthly security updates.

So what does everyone recommend?
Click to expand...
AdGuard. By default it uses a local VPN, which may drain battery and/or interfere with VPNs. If you live the root it toot it life, with root access it doesn't need to use the local VPN and instead modifies iptables (no battery drain or VPN interference). It will block ads across all apps too, not just your browser. But you can toggle the adblocking on/off depending on the app.
 
I'm seriously digging my 8 Pro. Figured out my Home screen problem. Had to activate a setting in Nova Prime. All good now.

Flat screens FTW!!

Just got an update on my incoming 15 PM. Rescheduled for Friday delivery. (y)
 
When I set up my 8 Pro I do a clean fresh install, no backup.

But I just picked up the smaller Pixel 8 for my Wife, and she wants the phone to have EVERYTHING on it nothing missing just like her current phone the Pixel 5a, she wants all texts, work e-mails, apps, homescreen etc...to be ported over and look have all that 100% on the new phone.

So...how do I goi about dong that? Use that Android One app thing? Or connect both phones together via UCB-C and go through the setup and copy prompts?
 
Mad Maxx said:
USB will let you transfer her music/video/pics, too. That's how I do it.
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Took like 5-7 minutes for me to transfer everything. The only stuff I had to do was sign into my Google account and ensure all of my authenticators were restored. Oh, and re-auth all my work accounts in their containerized Microsoft apps.
 
Funny I bought 3 clear cases;

-Cheap Amazon case for $9 before the phone released.

-Google store bought Case Mate for $40

-Best Buy OtterBox clear case for $40 ( stupid me )

And you know which one I like best? The cheap $9 Amazon case. It's thinnest, and had a tacky almost sticky grip to it. The other two expensive cases were bulky and we're super stiff almost breaking the phone to remove the case, plus both were very slick feeling poor grip.
 
My simple setup;
 

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Any specific settings to change in the Developer options?

I always keep Animations to 1, as I like the smooth fluid look it gives, and going to 0.5 seems too fast or weird.

Anything else to change?
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
That is a shame.

The main reason I started buying Google devices was because Nexus phones were nice and streamlined. I didn't want to deal with all of the Samsung bloat.

The Pixel started out reasonably bloat free too, but with every release they have added more and more useless features and AI to it, which I don't under any circumstances want.

I feel like these are "features" that impress people who don't know shit about tech, and are made to "wow" people who think Apple is the greatest thing ever. It's real sad that they have stopped making real phones for real technically oriented people who want to know the details, not just the shiny UI and automation.

When I can't see what's behind the curtains, I assume fuckery is afoot. That's the way I view all tech, and I hate anything that automates things that I cant directly and completely control.
Click to expand...
I look at it this way: the Pixel series still has a relatively clean OS, and at the end of the day you're getting a great screen, a top-tier camera system and a very good update policy. There's also plenty of tinkering available, and the 8 Pro has manual camera controls you might appreciate.

With that said, Google's AI features are hit or miss. Some are definitely gimmicks (I really don't need to move objects in my photos), but others are handy, like call transcription and noise reduction in videos. You don't have to use them and can turn at least some things off. I don't fault Google for trying to reach everyday users in general; my beef is that it risks eroding trust in the authenticity of photos.
 
If you buy the Pixel 8 Pro with a new Google Fi contract...

1) is it locked to the carrier?

2) do you get a SIM card or is it eSIM?

Thanks.
 
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