What’s new in the Pixel 8 Pro: AI, camera, screen, and more

Google

The Pixel 8 Pro is Google’s latest flagship phone. It follows last year’s design, but with a sleeker camera bar, smoother corners, and a familiar look that works. It’s AI-powered on the inside and out. The Pixel 8 Pro runs on Google’s third-generation custom chipset, Tensor G3. It enables many of the new AI features onboard, but Google doesn’t claim any improvement in battery life or heat management. It has a 5,050mAh battery and supports 30W wired and 23W wireless with the Pixel Stand).

The Google Pixel 8 Pro differs from the standard Pixel 8 by having a matte finish on the back glass panel. It comes in obsidian black, porcelain, and a light blue “bay.” This Pro phone is the one has an LTPO display (Google calls it “Super Actua”) with variable refresh rates from 1Hz to 120Hz. It’s still 6.7 inches across, but it finally has a flat screen instead of curved edges. It also boasts a higher peak brightness of 2,400 nits, which is very bright in technical terms. If the Pixel 8 Pro can maintain that brightness level without overheating and dimming, that’s impressive.

Google also introduced an unusual feature on the Pixel 8 Pro: a temperature sensor. The company says you can scan objects like drinks and surfaces to measure their temperature, and it is seeking FDA approval to use it for body temperature sensing. It might not be the most useful feature, but it's there anyway. On a more practical note, Google improved the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro’s face unlock technology so that it can now be used for payments. 

This Pixel 8 Pro gets a 50-megapixel main camera sensor with a slightly brighter f/1.7 lens. The Pro’s 5x telephoto camera also gets an upgraded 48-megapixel sensor with faster autofocus, and there’s a higher-resolution 48-megapixel sensor in the ultrawide camera, which can focus as close as 2cm in macro mode. The 10.5-megapixel selfie camera now has autofocus, too. And the Pro phone gets some pro camera controls: focus control, shutter speed, lens choice, and access 50-megapixel JPEG or RAW shooting from the native camera app.

Aside from lengthening support for the phone, Google has many new software features for the Pixel 8 Pro. Those tied in with Google Photos introduce features like letting you choose the best face for each person in a group photo and save it as one final image. You can also use Audio Magic Eraser to reduce or remove unwanted sounds in videos. There's also the Magic Editor introduced at I/O, and Video Boost, which uses the cloud to process videos and enable Night Sight Video. The Pixel 8 Pro gets Zoom Enhance, which can help you zoom in on images and restore fine details after capture.

Google’s Assistant also gets some AI updates. The company says it will understand speech better and recognize pauses and fillers like “um” more accurately. It’ll also be able to translate webpages and read them aloud to you. Even the keyboard gets some AI help with a one-touch option to fix typos and grammar errors. 

You can get the Pixel 8 Pro at a starting price of CA$1,349.

Source