Google Pixel 8 Review: Watch Before You Buy! 

UPDATED MARCH 2024: The Pixel 8 is currently (at the time of writing this) down to £550 in the UK and $500 in the US - that's a CRAZY price for this phone... 🤯If you want to pick it up and support the channel, you can buy it here (affiliate link): geni.us/PwSxtjJ What are your thoughts on the Pixel 8?! Let me know down below! 👇

Great review Arran. I love the Recorder app and the call screening feature too. It's overall very easy to use and probably the android phone for iOS users looking to switch. Really nice pace and style of video. Thank you.

Great review! I appreciate the fact that you explained well how you tested for the battery life and pointed out the SOT is not the be all end all for how long the battery lasts. Just earned you a sub. 🙂

Outstanding review Aaron. You definitely are capable of getting 10s of 1000s of more new subscribers. You are so much of a better reviewer than 100s of other you-tube reviewers out there. You just need to pump out more videos to get you-tube algorithms to work in your favour. I stumbled across your channel and was very impressed with your style and anyone who wears track pants on their channel gets my vote for authenticity. All the best with the channel. You just earned another sub. Thank you.

I watched a lot of Pixel 8 videos and I strongly prefer your take on it. I also liked that you took the time to explain some Pixel only features since I never owned one and they are not always advertised since they are supposed to be "known". Great video! Subed!

It’s incredible aside from this great review the fact you have seemingly replied to most if not all comments. You deserve a hell of a lot more subs bro keep it up

Authentic video - thanks man!

Damn im glad i found this review! I got a Pixel 8 about a week ago and it has the same weird white screen swipe bug in the camera app. I couldn't find anything about it online so thankfully its not an isolated issue and it can be fixed soon.

Absolutely adore my 8pro up to now, coming from my now 6 year old XZ PREMIUM the difference is incredible

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. So many bad things has been said about the non-Pro version by reviewers that usually stay for a couple of days with the phone and don't care to have the proper time to feel the whole experience. I've been a Samsung user for the last 7 years and I'm really surprised with my Pixel 8 after the first 45 days.

Great review as always. Can you test a pixel buds pro now in comparison with those released in 2022. the new ones sound inferior

Can you suggest the right time to buy the Google Pixel 8 in the US this year? Will the prices drop during the July 4th sales?

Great review! My pixel 4 bricked itself overnight and I was tempted to buy the 8 but the 7 was on sale for £300 so I bought that instead.

I am facing the same restaring issue you mentioned at 3:17, it usually happens when I've not used the phone for a while. I hope it can solved by a software update by google!

What a great review, came across you by chance, but now going to subscribe, thinking of swapping from the Samsung s23 to the pixel 8, absolutely nothing wrong with the s23, but love Google's s software.

Is the Obsidian color bad in terms of making the back of the phone tidy? I was thinking of getting the Hazel but my previous phone was a green Pixel 7 so I wanted to try a neutral color this time

About the speaker issues and it's loudness compared to s22 have you used s22 with Dolby Atmos on? Because it bumps up the loudness

I've only had my p8p for about 3 days so there is still time for it to learn. I try not to look at battery life because my ocd starts kicking in with the not so good sot lol That being said, firstly i use mostly data, very very little wifi, probably 99.9% data vs wifi. Secondly my s23 ultra in the same data use, I avg about 10-11h sot. On reading multiple forums on battery life, it seems the general consensus is, 10h avg on Wi-Fi, and 6-7h on data. So I'm curious, for those that have owned their p8p for awhile, and use the same data like me, not much wifi at all, what do your battery sot run on avg? I do realize it's going to differ per person as to thier usage and what they do, but I'm trying to get a base to go from. I'll give the phone a good month before I decide if I want to go back to the s23 ultra or stick with the p8p. A month should be plenty of time to give me an idea what battery is going to be like

It seems this is not such as first choice to make a trip off the battery and internet connections are unstable. Knowing the song is playing isn't but a gimmick you already got from Shazan eons ago. Would you choice Sansung 23 instead? iPhone 15? Thanks for your review.

I have always bought the Pro models. I absolutely love the smaller form factor of the 8. I really hope google makes the smaller model exactly the same as the Pro but make the screen size the only difference..that would be awesome

Great review Arran! I'm currently using an S22 (Exynos). You mentioned you were using the S22 before. I'm wondering if it's worth upgrading to the Pixel 8. My S22 is getting quite laggy now but the battery isn't too bad. The speakers are sublime though. Did you notice an improvement in performance or battery life since the upgrading? Do you you think it was worth it just for the clean android experience?

Only issue with my Pixel 8 is the screen share limitation. I'm looking for a Miracast app right now because I like to put my workout timer app on the TV, and all I have are Roku / Non-ChromeCast devices around the house.

Yesterday I got my Pixel 8 and I love it so far. The only thing I miss from my Oneplus 9 is the charging speed

Good review, is the battery better with the last recent update?

Can you set one alarm for a specific date and time in the future? Then, once you dismiss it, it will delete that one time alarm. I have an iphone and not having this feature drives me insane. I don't want a calendar notification or a reminder because when I have my phone on silent (which I do most of the time) the alarm will not ring loudly, defeating the purpose. I know other android phones have this feature and I just want to double check that pixel 8 does as well before I purchase it! Thanks!

Hi, just got the Pixel 8 a week ago and I had the same random restarts as you. I even had 5 restarts in the span of 30 minutes which wasn't normal. On other days it would go without any problem. Browsing reddit I saw that apparently a lot of people seem to have this issue. No one seems to know exactly why. Somz people say it's a memory leak from third party apps, some thinks it's hardware related. Anyway it is a big issue for a 800€ phone which is a shame because it's pretty good in all other areas

If you go out of your way to try and really maximize for battery, like using 60hz, switching to 4g(not having it on all the time), turning off wifi scanning, keeping the brightness at reasonable levels, I can usually get 10-11 hours of sot, im typing this now sitting at 37%, the last time I charged was 2 days ago, and I have 7 hours of sot with 45 minutes of Spotify in the background. Also, I'm pretty sure that my battery was not properly calibrated out of the factory, the first time I tried to kill it, it was stuck on 1% for 2 1/2 hours worth of sot. Once I figured that out, the battery improved drastically. As the phone actually knew what zero was.

Would you say $450 USD after tax be a good deal for the basic model. I got it through the google play app. Still have to the 31 of December to decide.

Can i ask what dash phone holder you are using in your car

The reading of the web page function is easily downloadable as a Google reader for every Android phone and it works

The lack of manual mode on the camera is a deal breaker for me. I'm reading about getting a different apk for it but even at the £550 it's on offer now, I can't limit my camera brain to the auto modes

Please do the video about which function is and isn’t available outside the US

I still am using my pixel 3 that I bought new. Five years later I'm starting to have an issue. Thanks for the review I'll be getting one this weekend.

I don't know what to make of this phone. At 800€ for the 256GB version it is already competing with the Galaxy S23, which in my opinion is simply the more capable phone due to the Snapdragon Chip. Especially if you consider how close you come to Googles Camera prowess by installing the GCam Mod for Galaxy Phones. Plus, the fingerprint reader is supposedly way better on Samsung devices. Google says they upgraded the hardware of the pixels, but in the wrong places I guess.

I have used Pixel 3a, 6a and iPhone 13 Pro. So here's my feedback for someone who is confused between Pixels and iPhones. Pixel 3a was a gold rated phone except for the Performance. After moving to 6a i found the phone to be considerably fast, but not as much as any of the iPhones. However this was my first impression. After using it for a few weeks, i noticed more issues. 6a gets warmer(not hot) every time i use it, video cannot be recorded for more than 5 mins at 30 degree celsius weather. On summer days, after clicking some photos itself phone starts to show over heated warning. Portrait mode is not as good as how it was in my 3a. Edge detection fails most time and its not as good as iPhone now. Again, it doesnt blur the image properly, sometimes half of my image is blurred not the subject itself. Astro mode in Camera never turns on. Shutter speed is quite fast that image quality is compromised compared to my 3a. Overall i would say, 3a had a far better camera than 6a. Apart from this, Then finger print doesn't work most of the time on Pixel 6a. In display finger print on the Pixel 8 is also not ultrasonic and hence not as fast as flagships. Overall i would say, quality of Pixels has degraded much after switching to Tensor. I wouldn't recommend it any more. Now coming to iPhone, when compared to Pixel, you get better video quality, a good camera system overall, better micro phone and speakers, better UI/UX, better ecosystem, Offline AI and Albums,Face ID that works in night too, better resale value. Overall iPhone is a better value for money compared to Pixel 8 i can say. You may still go for Pixel if you are getting it at a much cheaper Price compared to iPhone 15.

How is the battery on mobile network only? Is the modem still crap? Can you do a full day use with mobile internet only?

I've some time on the Pixel 8. I am sorta a phone fanatic. The 8 has been great and checks all the boxes. IMO, for the money, cannot be matched. I would feel confident in recommending the Pixel 8.

I have the pixel 8 pro and it has been a pretty good phone, this generation is finally the generation of pixel phones that I can actually recommend pixel phones to others. However I plan on trading in my pixel 8 pro in toward getting a galaxy s24 ultra.

I had a bad experience with the pixel 8 on cellular data. Phone calls, media and Audio drained the battery fast and gets very warm and lags with light multi taskimg on 5G. I put it down to 4G but made a slight difference. But on WIFI this phone is fine.

I've had mine just over 2 weeks, my previous phone was the Poco F3 and tbh that was a better phone. The p8 battery was awful the first 9 days I have to have all the battery saving functions on and I'm just about getting through the day. I love the size and design but they need to work on battery life

Using my Pixel 8 from Kenya. Downsides I'd say are the battery, which still isn't that great and the network, which I don't see getting fixed anytime soon. Experiencing call drops similar to last year's Pixel 7. If you're in Africa I wouldn't recommend this phone at all, unless as a tech enthusiast.

at 3:29 its prob not ur phone restarting or anything bugged, i have this on multiple phones. if it actually restarts it asks u for the sim-pin & then your system pin. on other phones its more "noticeable" why, in short: "type in your pin every 72 hours so you dont forget your pin." -> thats mostly a thing on my other phones, including my pixel 7 which sits on the table 99% of the time and around 3 days it asks me for only my system pin (if i restart it i have to type in my sim + system pin) if it happens multiple times in 1 day it either triggered smth like too many failed attempts iirc u only have 3-5 attempts then u have to type in your pin so might ur phone was triggered in your pocket? maybe, hard to do but possible if your hands are in your pockets too

Nice haircut. If possible comeback after 1 month or so after you try the December feature drop

Should i buy it. Currently using a s9,my dads old phone. I lost my 14 pro a few days ago and wanted a new phone that wasn't to expensive. The only problem i have with the s9 is battery everything else is ok.

Excellent, balanced, informative account, as always to help you decide if it’s the right phone for your needs.

Still happy with my Pixel 5. Nothing I've seen has persuaded me that an upgrade is worth it. Nice review, though if you really want to widen your appeal to, say, chaps of an older age, you could try being a bit more grumpy 😁

Sometimes fingerprint isn't accepted for safety. Every now and then it wants the PIN. Had that on my S9+ as well. Android thing.

Love my Pixel 8 Pro but I'm having a weird issue. When my phone is in my pocket and I take it out and tap the screen it stays black. I either need to shake the phone or push the power button to make the screen come on. Anyone else experience this?

I do like the phone. But I am disappointed there is no manual controls on the camera. Is there a work around? Possibly a different app?

Is there any heating issue for this model?.Also please make a full battery drain test

Yes I got that restart once also

I want to buy Pixel 8 or iPhone 14 (based, not pro/plus), who can help me to decide? like make some explanation what's really better (7 years android user, huawei)

i am starting to wish i had not got the pixel 8. the battery drains fast even when not in use, the mobile signal seems week compared to what i used to get, the camera seems to take forever to focus when camera is opened and i swear there is only 1 speaker in the base even though reviewers always say speakers plural ! if i cover the bottom right hole the sound deadens but cover any other hole and there is no difference. not had any restarts as far as i know though and no white flash on the camera.

I have the s22 and i need to have it on batter saver and i still have to charge it once a throughout the day

Hi great information, would you recommend this phone in 128gb or 256gb i have heard the latter is meant to be faster, i have a chance of getting it for either £450 base model or £500 256gb not sure what to do i don't really store alot of games or photos. thanks in advance. I have just subscribed 👍👌 im coming from a pixel 3 which is brilliant, im just worried about reception, that other people have mentioned thanks in advance 👌👍

Nice video, keep it up.

Hiw have you found the scrolling on it? I returned my one as it was so choppy and stuttered all the time!

Do you think i should get the Pixel 7 pro instead of pixel 8 since they are almost the same price now and it seems Pixel 7 pro has a battery that lasts longer. Btw i use mobile data all the time and never wifi, and i love playing PUBG on my phone. Anyone can advise on this especially those who own pixel 8 and pixel 7 pro

The processor isn't bad. In tests it's the equivalent of a snapdragon 8 gen 1. Most of the issues stated can be fixed through a software update.

I got my pixel 8 a week ago. The battery is not that good.I hardly get a full day battery on this. Heating issue is there but not that it is manageable. Phone drains faster on 5G even when the phone is locked and not in use.

This phone is definitely worth Less than 700usd which i got it for on blk friday sale .. i missed a few features from my one plus nord .

I have pixel 7 pro and find I can now get 2 days battery life by switching off wifi scanning in settings. That said I dont do any gaming and am only a light phone user but for the first 6 months with the phone I was only geting 1 day

No complaints here.

Btw one of the worst things about this phone is that it doesn't have autofocus in the front camera, it's outrageous considering its price

I don't know why people don't review/use Xiaomi 13 Pro. It has a great Camera, great battery, great screen only bum possibly is the UI.

Good review. I have had this phone since the last week in December. I love it. I upgraded from a Pixel 4a. This phone is just a little bit bigger but quite a bit heavier than the 4a. But that's OK. It's not a giant phone by any means. I wasn't sure how I would like the nearly 1/2 inch thick camera visor. Without a case, I don't think I would like it. But with the Google case it really isn't that obvious that there is a visor. Also I don't have the stupid camera wobble caused by the camera bump, like an iPhone would have if placed on a flat surface. I also really like the wireless battery share feature. I have already used it when my wife forgot to bring her iPhone charger on a recent trip. One thing I would disagree with is the conclusion. I am easily getting a full day+ of use from this phone. My 3 year old Pixel 4a would struggle to make it a full day and usually wouldn't unless I was in power save mode. After about a week of use the adaptive battery software is able to get me about a day and a half of use. Admittedly I don't make heavy use of the phone. The most strenuous thing I do is watch a few RU-vid videos before going to sleep. Otherwise, I'm just making calls, using a web browser or doing DuoLingo. My phone is almost always connected to my PC via Bluetooth. I'm sure if one is heavy gaming on the phone, it won't last a day. But I think most phones would have the same problem.

Feeling like spreading a little chaos today, so gonna buy it tomorrow and watch your video after

Should I get pixel 8 or pixel 8pro? I want to find best camera phone! Hopefully with no lagging issue phone!

Has anyone gotten the auto flash to work properly?

idk how small creators became this good at reviewing, i remember them having the worst quality videos ever seen, keep up the hardwork

So far, I am satisfied with my Pixel 8! Is it safe to use without a screen protector?

Spotify is notorious for draining phones despite forcing it to stop manually from running. Deleted from my previous pixel line ups and it was night and day

3:32 in regards to this, my phone (ZenFone 9) gets locked down 1-2 times a day, asking for a password instead of a fingerprint. Makes sure that someone hasn't stolen your phone and your finger😅

What do people expect from a phone for battery life? For me, if it can last a day, then I'm satisfied. But in the end, it depends on each person's lifestyle.

Honestly regardless of what you said about your battery it's still not normal sorry but not sorry I'm just being upfront and honest brother I work probably just as much as the average person I'm off on weekends always getting 6 Plus hours screen on time weekdays and weekends it doesn't matter I know I'm going to get downloaded or hated for this but I'm just being real honest

Screen on time is wildly inaccurate anyway as reported by the phone. I spent the day in the car driving, and my phone is reporting about 6 hours of screen on time - screen was off as I was driving.

My pixel 8 pro can’t hit anything higher than 4 hours SOT on 4G LTE light social media + audio streaming. Very bad, Google needs to change their cellular modem to be taken seriously.

8 or 8p?

Regardless of type of use, if battery doesn't last at minimum 7 hours with screen on, it is not a good phone. Literally every new phone on the market lasts that much

there are 2 issues that i've read about, that concern me, from buying it. 1. poor battery life. 2. possibly poor reception, as they went with a lesser 5G. are these real issues this phone has?

$549 usd for 128gb and $609 usd for 256gb. Are those good deals?

My sot time 3-4 hours

Sold my pixel 8 after 4 weeks, i couldnt stand this anymore. Bluetooth disconnections, battery network drain, microlags on animations, most of the features unavailable in my country (brilliant marketing). Bought s23 base and im so happy with it, camera is not that good, but everything else is so great.

Thanks, Mr beast

Pixel 8 or s23???

Everything U said is absolutely true .. My experience is ..the auto flash sucks . The fingerprint reader sucks .but I kinda adapted to that.. they claim it would be slow to charge when adaptive battery is on.. it's a learning curve with the features if U came from another brand of phone or size of phone.. the reason the picture editing software is in the cloud is because that chip can't handle it.. yes I got the restart problem at least once .. the. Battery drain I think it's because certain apps continue to run in the background. To be honest this phone is worth 5-600usd maximum which I got mines for during BLK Friday sale.. they kind of caught us with that 7yr update promise lol ..😂and this is a customer coming from a mid range phone..

`This phone uses 2 much battery on standby and the fact it have 4k+ battery and perform worse than phones with 3.2 is insane..

The 8 Pro is an awesome phone. Game changer. I've had it 2 weeks. I struggle to drain the battery with regular (Non video/Camera) use. In the beginning I was worried but as optimizer does. It gets better. Photos, videos and audio in videos is incredible. I go to a lot of rock concerts. It actually sounds less tinny than the live environment. Kind of a music setting on a soundbar etc. It takes out echo and excessive crowd noise. Audio eraser does not work with concerts.

It’s insane the PR Google Pixel gets for a bang average unreliable product. How can mobile tech reviewers justify such a mess of a brand and smartphone? The rest of the world can’t use this thing and enjoy the so-called smart features because Google can’t find a way to bring a user experience that is no different from an American user. And we say Google has ambitions? Nah all top Chinese smartphones like OnePlus, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Huawei, brands are the ambitious ones though they face challenges with US restrictions on their advancement they’ve shown to be churning out better products than they are given credit for.

Great commute to Timbuktu! Top drive that is.

I can't stand this phone. I've had many Pixels, but this thing sounds terrible and feels terrible. The gestures are odd as well. Great review, subbed.

Just get the Samsung s23 ultra for the same price.

Decent dumbphone, though quite a bit overpriced. This coming from a non-US user. Theres hoping that one day we'll get the features that US folk have and if they add my native language to the supported list id be ecstatic. Right now, would someone offer me a decent (85-90% of the initial price) price for it I'd sell right away.

Got it for 600$

I'm not going to pretend like some of your battery points aren't valid because you're absolutely right about use-case. But, let's be honest, it's pretty trash overall - pixel battery life has been trash since tensor was a thing and it has hardly changed since. My pixel 7 had worse battery life than my 2 year old pixel 5 even after the 2-3 week break in for adaptive battery. Pixel 8 is even worse per GSM arena and many others publications. This shouldn't be excused so much for a company so big. Add in the fact that they didn't fix the fp reader and it just shows that the people who make the phone obviously don't even bother using it themselves. The only pixels that had okay battery life are the 2xl, the 3axl, and the 5. That's a pretty horrific ratio and let's not talk about the pixel 4 lmfao I've had the p1xl/p2xl/p3axl/p4xl/p5/p7 and boy am I glad I only paid about 50% or less for them. There's not a chance anyone in their right mind should be buying these things for full retail with the QC and customer support that google offers. I obviously want them to succeed given I've owned so many, but it's so obvious they don't give a shit.

Pixel 7 is better, it really is.

you might have a problem if you cant brush your teeth or wash dishes without watching youtube

Are you Scottish?