Google Pixel 8 Pro First Impressions

I wasn't going to upgrade my Pixel 4a this year. Although I've had it for three years, it's served me well and is running without problems, other than a slightly degraded battery. But I found out in September that Google is no longer providing updates for this phone, so continuing to use it without security patches is not something I wanted  to risk.  

Given that I wanted to continue with a Pixel phone, my choices were the Pixel 7a or either the just announced Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro. After some thought and no little trepidation, I ordered a Pixel 8 Pro. It was more than twice what my Pixel 4a cost me, but by pre-ordering I got a Pixel Watch 2 at no extra cost (more on the watch in a post tomorrow). The deciding factors were that the new Pixels come with seven years of updates, and I really wanted a phone with multiple camera lenses. I did spend extra to get the model with 256 GB of storage. 

To my pleasant surprise, the phone arrived last Thursday, well ahead of the original shipping date of October 31. 

It's big, though still a comfortable fit in my hands. I ordered the Bay colour, which is very pretty, but now hidden by a Spigen case. Without a case, it's rather slippery, and I would strongly recommend using it with a case. The camera bar on the back is quite pronounced, which I assume is because of the 5x telephoto lens.

Getting the phone set up was straightforward and took about an hour. Most of my apps and settings came over from the Pixel 4a, although there were a few that I had to find my passwords for. Bluetooth pairings did not come across, so I have a few devices that I have to pair to the new phone.

I am seriously impressed with the camera. Pictures are sharp with accurate colour and good dynamic range. It isn't a sharp as my Fujifilm X-S10, but it is good enough that I don't feel the need to have a walkaround camera. Here's a picture of Frenchman's Bay taken with the ultra-wide lens straight out of the camera. 

Frenchman's Bay with Pixel 8 Pro ultra-wide lens

The Pro mode of the camera is a huge plus and I will be testing it more soon. Here's a quick grab shot taken through our car's window as we were waiting for a stop light. I was able to dial down the exposure to get a nearly perfect match to what I was seeing outside. The Pixel 4a would have drastically overexposed this shot.

Night shot with the camera's Pro mode

The screen is sharper than that on the Pixel 4a and can get quite a bit brighter, even in bright sunlight. By default, it comes with the resolution dialed down and I've left it at that, both because it uses less battery power and with my vision I probably wouldn't notice the difference.

I haven't found the larger size of the phone to be a problem, even with the addition of the Spigen case. It does (just) fit in the belt holster I was using, though it is a tight fit. Like most modern phones, the 3.5 mm. headphone jack is gone, so I've ordered a dongle so I can use wired headphones. (I don't usually use my Beats Studio 3 headphones when I go walking because I like to be able to hear cars coming when I'm walking on a street with no sidewalks). The extra screen real estate does make a difference when reading books or articles on the web. The phone isn't a lot wider than the Pixel 4a, but it is somewhat longer.

The under-screen fingerprint sensor works but I would have preferred having it on the back. I also have face unlock set up. It doesn't work well in dim light although it does work when I'm wearing my sunglass clip-ons.

Battery life is quite good, as I expected. I can get through a day and a half of normal use before getting down to the 25 percent range. I don't play many games or watch many videos on my phone, so your mileage may vary. The sound quality of the speakers is OK and comparable to my wife's Samsung, but don't expect a lot of bass. 

I still have several apps I need to get working (I really need to start using a password manager!) and there are some things I want to tweak, but getting the most frequently used features and apps set up was easier than I expected. This YouTube video has been very helpful and I've found some features I didn't know about. So far, my first impressions are highly positive.