Review: We Tested the Google Pixel 8 and Its AI Features
Phones
Speaker 1: This is the Google Pixelate and I'm not even going to bother with a proper intro because I want to show you something. Okay? Bring up the title graphic and let's get into my review. So on the Pixel eight there's a feature called Best Take, which I keep referring to as Face Swap. Essentially I take a few photos in a row of a person, a couple or a group, and I could pull up a face and head editor again, that's my term, not Google's, and swap [00:00:30] a person's head with their head from another image that's in the same series to get their best head for a given photo. The result is I have a photo where everyone's eyes are open and everyone's smiling. Now philosophically, this photo doesn't actually exist because it never happened and yet here it is. At first I was creeped out by Best take, but it's absolutely incredible. I mean, it works remarkably well. I can't see [00:01:00] the lines where people's heads were swapped and it only works on people, but I can almost hear Rick Oslow say at the Pixel nine or Pixel 10 launch, we heard you and we're going to offer Best take for pets. Applause and huge.
Speaker 1: After four days spent testing the pixelate on loan from Google, I still can't get my head around the possibilities that Best take opens up. Our photography can be even more curated and seemingly ideal [00:01:30] before we even share a photo with friends or on social media. Thanks to ai, which yay. And there are more of these AI features for the camera, which I'm definitely going to get into. But let's step away from the possible personality altering ramifications of Best Take and knock out some actual tangible Pixel eight upgrades. In terms of the hardware, the Pixel eight is a spelt version of the Pixel seven. It's shorter, less wide, but actually a scot thicker. [00:02:00] The Pixel eight weighs 10 grams less than the seven, and when you combine all of that along with the fact that nearly every edge on the phone is rounded over the Pixel eight is incredibly comfortable to hold with or without a case.
Speaker 1: The review unit I've been testing is rose color, which in most lighting looks nearly peach. The screen is smaller, but so are the bezels around it. The Pixel eight 6.2 inch display now has a 60 to 120 hertz variable refresh rate and [00:02:30] it looks so good, especially watching films, playing games, or even just looking at mundane Android 14 animations. The screen has a higher max brightness and is easy to see under bright sunlight, especially compared to the Pixel seven and seven A where that really wasn't the case. Overall, the pixelate looks dapper and well almost chic. It's still defined by that body with camera bar on the back, which I really like. That camera houses the same [00:03:00] 12 megapixel ultra wide camera as previous pixel models, but it's also home to a 50 megapixel main camera with a new sensor that Google touts as being able to collect 21% more light. The front facing camera is also new, but on the eight still has a fixed focus.
Speaker 1: The camera app has a bit of a redesign. In fact, on the bottom is a toggle for two categories, [00:03:30] one for stills photos, and one for video. If I tap the camera icon, I get all my regular camera modes like portrait mode, long exposure. If I tap the video camera icon, I get all my modes for videos. I really like this. It did take about a day to get used to the new system, but I think it's a clever way of housing a bunch of different camera features and still what is considerably a very simple camera app. Also, the Pixel eight has a new macro [00:04:00] focus mode that kicks in when you're close to the subject onscreen and icon pops up letting you know what's up. I really like this edition and it's great for food and coffee snaps where I want to get close enough to the cup to fill the frame, but I also still want it in focus. Now let's take a look at some of my favorite photos and videos I took with the Pixel eight.
Speaker 1: [00:04:30] So does the Pixel eight take better photos than the Pixel seven? Yes, but not dramatically different. Now check out these photos of the Manhattan Bridge that I took. Both look great, but if we punch in on where the main upright intersects the deck of the bridge, you can see that the Pixel eight image has more detail and is sharper. Notice the individual rivets on the metal uprights compared to the Pixel sevens photo where most of them are gone. [00:05:00] Again, this isn't dramatically different, but it's better nonetheless. And here's another example. This time it's two photos taken in low light of a New York cat sleeping in the window. It was dark but there was enough light that I didn't need to use Night sight on either phone. Again, both photos look similar at first glance, but if we zoom in on the cat, notice the detail and text here in the cat's fur and the Pixel eight image and how defined and crisp the hair is compared to the Pixel seven [00:05:30] photo where the cat fur looks muddy.
Speaker 1: And then there are all of the AI features like Best Take, which I mentioned at the beginning. By the way, best Take not only works on photos taken with the Pixel eight, but on any photos in your Google Photos library. So last month I reviewed the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max and I'm able to take photos that I shot with those phones like this one of C Net's, a bra, Aldi, and swap out her face with [00:06:00] ones from other images in that same series. Also remember Magic Eraser that lets you remove a distraction in your photo, like maybe someone in the background that you didn't want. Well now there's a Magic editor that lets you do even more. For example, here's a photo I took of seen as Tara Brown and Theo Liggons jumping off a Rock. I used Magic Eraser, which debuted on the Pixel six to remove the rock and it did okay, but here's the same photo using the new Magic Editor and it's [00:06:30] not absolutely perfect, but there's definitely improvement over just the Magic Eraser version.
Speaker 1: Magic Editor can do a lot. You can move your subject, you can remove someone from the background. Basically, if you see a photo of someone jumping that was taken on a Pixel phone beware, magic editor may have been used to exaggerate things. The tool is a lot of fun, but does bring up a number of ethical questions when it comes to what is real and what is manipulated in photos, especially [00:07:00] if these photos are going to go online. Fortunately, magic Editor isn't perfect and I can usually tell a photo that I used it on versus one that I didn't. Since the way the AI creates, the fill on the background is still just okay and sometimes it does take a few seconds for this effect or this tool to kick in. Maybe that will improve. And there's one more magical tool I want to talk about. What is this? An Apple Review. I kid, I kid, it's called Audio Magic [00:07:30] Eraser, which I can use to clean up audio in videos. I record for better clarity.
Speaker 2: Alright, I'm shooting this selfie video in the hotel lobby here at the Clancy Hotel and I thought this would be a great way to test out the new Audio Magic Eraser. So here it is without the Magic Eraser applied and here it is with the Magic Pod. Do I sound better? Can you hear me? Hear all the Click Clinks and other things going on in the background
Speaker 1: [00:08:00] Taken in total, the Pixel eight has an outstanding camera system with a lot of features, all of which are powered by Google's new tensor G three chip. Google's tensor chip has never been about pure performance horsepower. Instead, it targets optimizing specific task, empowering all those AI goodies. Now I've been using the Pixel eight for four days and I never ran into any performance issues. Now when I was downloading games and setting those up, the phone did get warm, but that [00:08:30] was the only time the G three chip along with Android 14 makes the Pixel eight a delight to use. There's face unlock, which is once again secure enough to actually use for contactless payments. Yay. There are strange on-camera AI features like AI wallpaper that lets you create an original wallpaper for your home screen based on a mad lib style prompt. The pixelate also has a slightly bigger battery than last year's Pixel seven.
Speaker 1: In the four days I've had it, the Pixelate had [00:09:00] no problem lasting on a single charge over the course of a day. Now I'm still working on running C Net's arsenal of battery tests and performance benchmark tests. So make sure to check out my full written review with all my results. Perhaps the two biggest changes to the Pixel eight have nothing to do with the actual phone. The first is the price. The Pixel eight costs $699 and that's a hundred dollars more than the Pixel six and pixel seven. I actually think the updates you get like the refined body [00:09:30] design, the new display, the main camera improvements are worth the price and that the increased price on this Pixel eight is more reflective of just how ridiculously affordable Google price. The Pixel six and seven. The other big feature is that the Pixel eight will receive seven years of OSS support, which is longer than most Android phones, but not the longest.
Speaker 1: That would be the Fairphone five, which offers eight years of support. Now, will the Pixel eight survive until 2030 maybe? [00:10:00] I don't know. And with all that I recommend the Pixel eight for anyone coming from a Pixel six A or older or well any phone Android or iOS that's three years old or more. If you're trying to pick between the Pixel seven A and eight, just know that the Pixel eight is better in nearly every way, but it does cost $200 more. And in terms of the Pixel eight and eight pro, you get like a solid 85% of the Pixel eight Pro experience on the regular eight. At the end of the day, the Google Pixel eight [00:10:30] is an ideal phone for most people. And now I want to hear from you what Pixel eight feature stands out most to you. Throw your thoughts in the comments and if you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and make sure to check out my full in-depth written review on cnet. Thank you for watching. I.
