Google this week unleashed its new Pixel 8 series phone including the high-end Pro model as well as a new smartwatch. It has an updated camera bar that comes with new AI photo features. The 8 Pro comes with a built-in temperature sensor among other features.
ALSO READ: Huawei kicks off 2023-24 ICT Competitions in Uganda
There is one major new feature that was a shocker, with the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. The company announced seven years of OS upgrades. That’s a huge improvement from the three years of OS upgrades and five years of security support Google promised for its previous flagships. Apple only gives 5 years of OS upgrades.
When it comes to the design, the Pixel 8 series sticks to the same design language. The company has a refined version of last year’s design, streamlining the camera cutouts into a single long oval, rounding out the corners, and otherwise sticking with a formula that’s recognizable and works. It’s
The new Pixel 8 Pro and younger sibling will be powered by Google’s third-generation custom chipset, Tensor G3 running on the latest Android 14. The AI-centered chipset is responsible for a lot of the new tricks features on board, but the major concern is the battery life which seems not to be improved according to Google’s numbers still at 31 hours. The Pro will come in obsidian black, porcelain, and light blue “bay” colors.
Display
Both models get a screen upgrade this year, but only the 8 Pro comes with an LTPO display (Google has decided to brand this “Super Actua”) with variable refresh rates from 1Hz to 120Hz. It’s still 6.7 inches on the diagonal, but it finally ditches the curved edges for a fully flat screen.
Rivaring both Apple and Samsung the new phone has a peak brightness of 2,400 nits, which is — to use the technical term — super bright. That will only kick in under very bright conditions in direct sunlight. This will be great especially if the Pixel 8 Pro can actually keep up that level of brightness without overheating.
Thermometer & Secure Face unlock
Circling back to the new temperature sensor, the company says you can use it to scan objects like beverages and surfaces to read their temperature and that it’s applying to the FDA to allow its use for body temperature sensing. Another great feature of the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro is the new face unlock technology that is now more secure and can be used for payments — previously, it could only be used to unlock your phone.
The Camera
The Pixel 8 Pro doesn’t disappoint when it comes to photography, as it comes with a 50-megapixel main camera sensor with a slightly brighter f/1.7 lens. The Pro’s 5x telephoto module was upgraded to a 48-megapixel camera with faster autofocus, and there’s a higher-res 48-megapixel sensor in the ultrawide camera, which is now capable of focusing as close as 2cm in macro mode. At the front there is a 10.5-megapixel camera that gets an upgrade, too, now featuring autofocus. The Pro phone gets some pro camera controls: you’ll be able to control focus, shutter speed, which lens is being used, and access 50-megapixel JPEG or RAW shooting right from the native camera app.
Google Photos will up all the pictures taken by the camera with AI trickery. When you take a series of photos of a group of people, you’ll have the option afterward to choose the best face for your subjects and save it all in one final frame. This used to be a feature on the old Nokia Lumia phones. There’s also Audio Magic Eraser, which aims to isolate distracting sounds in videos so you can minimize or remove them.
There is also a new Magic Editor feature that won’t be available at launch but will be coming soon. There’s also Video Boost, which takes some of the processing off-device and into the cloud and enables Night Sight Video. And Zoom Enhance — only available to the Pixel 8 Pro, interestingly — can help you zoom in on images and recreate fine detail after capture. The Google Pixel 8 Pro is available for preorder today and starts at $999 with 128GB of storage.
