The measure of a good camera was almost universally agreed on by how accurately it captured the scene it was pointed at. The Google Pixel 8 and its Magic Editor change that camera evaluation to something more akin to only measuring how good its pictures make you feel.

The Pixel 8 has plenty of interesting features, but really, the reason to buy it is the camera and how its invasive generative AI can let you choose your own adventure, rather than experience whatever scene was actually in front of the camera.

Google Pixel 8

8 / 10

Built with Pixel’s most advanced chip and Google AI to help you do more, effortlessly.

SoC

Google Tensor G3

Display

6.2-inch (1080 x 2400 resolution)

RAM

8GB

Storage

128GB or 256GB

Battery

4575mAh

Ports

USB-C

Operating System

Android 14

Front camera

10.5MP Dual PD selfie camera

Weight

6.6oz (187g)

IP Rating

IP68

Micro SD card support

No

Stylus

No

Material

Glass and metal

Release date

October 13, 2023

Main Camera

50MP Octa PD wide camera

Wide-Angle Camera

12MP with autofocus

Authentication

Fingerprint sensor and face detection

Pros

• Refined design tweaks make it nice to hold
• Pictures looked great
• Audio Eraser could be genuinely helpful

Cons

• Magic Editor results left a lot to be desired
• Where's the blue color option?

$699 at Google Store $699.99 at Best Buy See at T-Mobile See at AT&T See at Verizon $685 at Amazon

The Design and Specs of Pixel 8

Much like the latest iPhone continues to hug its family tree closely, the exterior of the Pixel 8 only minorly diverges from the last few years of Pixel designs. That’s fine. It’s a good look. More importantly, its nips and tucks make it shorter than the Pixel 7 with slightly rounder corners.

Holding both of those devices in my hand, the Pixel 7 felt a lot bulkier and burly, despite the physical differences being less noticeable when viewed separately.

It’s hard to tell why, but the Pixel 8 seemed to have sharper transitions from the screen to the metal sides and then to the glass back than the Pixel 7. I didn’t care for that.

On the inside, companies are really into touting their custom processing chips right now. Google’s latest silicone powering its phones is the Google Tensor G3. Other specs for the 8 include a 6.2-inch display with a variable refresh rate between 60 and 120Hz. If you want a refresh rate that dips to 1Hz, you’ll need to look at the Pixel 8 Pro. The screen can also hit a peak brightness of 2,000 nits or 1,400 nits for HDR—compared to Pixel 7’s 1,400 peak and 1,000 HDR.

Those are something, but overall there’s just not much technically different from last year’s Pixel 7. It still has 8GB of RAM and two storage tiers of 128GB or 256GB. Other minute differences in the cameras like the ultra-wide have a larger field of view, but generally, the differences radiate out from the G3 processor, including a more secure Face Unlock, and camera abilities like Best Take, Magic Editor, Audio Eraser, Astrophotography, and Ultra HDR.

Pixel 8 Camera: Reality Optional

The camera system is the only feature that matters on the Pixel 8, frankly. If you’re more concerned with the more general “pixel-only” features like Call Screen to preview calls, then save yourself some money and get a Pixel 7 or 7a.

After all, the camera on the Pixel 7 still performs impossible tasks because of Google’s computational photography work. Night Shot photos having a three-second handheld exposure should not look as good as they do on any of Google’s phones—but they always look amazing.

Back to the Pixel 8, which is all about the camera system and related features. Those highlights this year are AI-assisted Best Take, Magic Editor, and Audio Eraser. They’re camera-adjacent add-ons, present in Google Photos. But they’re just a few taps away and probably become a shutter setting in a year or two.

Magic Editor lets you tap on areas of a photo to erase it and replace it with AI-generated content. You can tap on a subject to move them around or resize them. The Editor can also suggest things like “golden hour” when pictures of the sky are presented.

The feature looks neat flashing by in a 30-second commercial but has been underwhelming in my use of it. With a complex background, not all parts were often detected or fully swapped out. Even when it did replace the part I wanted, the results were goofy and mostly unappealing.

I tried to replicate the ad where the person jumps and then resizes themself. My pose wasn’t as good, but I also couldn’t bring myself to get excited by the final result. It's silly in a "so what" kind of way.

In other editing sessions, backgrounds were warped. Or they were overly generic brick walls or smeared resemblances of some other vague material. Most of the time I didn’t like results and wouldn’t use them. The conditions had to be just right to get something fun or cool. So far, I haven’t stumbled onto many, if any of those.

Selecting objects and resizing them was faster than when Magic Editor tried to build a new sky or flooring. I experienced anywhere from a 5 to 10-second delay waiting for Magic Editor to conjure up its tricks. After using it constantly and getting uninspired results, I dreaded wasting that time. It felt like pulling a slot machine that I was almost certain wouldn’t come up cherries.

Magic Editor might get dramatically better next year, but I’m not counting on it. It seems like the type of feature that gets a little better each year over the next five years until it’s slowly seeped into more areas of the already wide selection of editing tools.

Best Take, on the other hand, was both impressive and useful. This is the feature that swaps faces to get parents the photo they imagined they would have before they uttered the words, “Okay, everyone, smile.”

Although I hate the idea of crafting the perfect family photo with AI and a few taps, I also hate the process of actually getting a pleasing family photo. You’re free to use this feature how you see fit, but I think I’ll be sticking to only making minor tweaks. For example, trying to stick to the sentiment of the moment, but with the best possible expression, rather than change a mad, crying, or silly face to a smiling one.

Audio Eraser will probably be my least used feature long term, but also potentially the one capable of saving a memory from falling victim to unfortunate timing. All the times I tried it, it worked great. Circumstances could play a huge role in how well it works for everyone though.

Although different from Best Take and Magic Editor, Audio Eraser still plays around with the concept of reality. There’s a scenario where Audio Eraser helps you delete someone coming up from behind you saying, “You can’t film here.” Again, this moral question is for you to gnaw on.

There are three examples of the same video below to get a taste of how Audio Eraser sounds: The first one of me talking with car sounds in the background, the second is where I used Audio Eraser to remove the car sounds, and the final video is where I used Audio Eraser to remove my voice. You can hear how it tries to isolate the different audio.

The first shot in all the gallery examples above are original, unchanged by me, images from the Pixel 8. Below are three of the same view using the .5x camera, 1x camera, and 2x default camera app presets.

Android 14 on Pixel 8

Easily my favorite new Android 14 feature is the lock screen customization. That includes swiping through different clocks, matching colors, and generating AI wallpapers based on limited prompts. It even includes changing the two front shortcut buttons for the camera, flashlight, or a host of other choices. Weirdly, it will let you put two of the same icon if you really want to.

The universal swipe-back gesture throughout the OS took me a few days to fully acclimate to, but it has been good. Although, maybe it’s the reason I have noticed Pixel 8’s sharper edges around the front glass, because I’m constantly rubbing my thumb along its side.

Battery life is supposedly better with Android 14, helping older phones it is installed on. For the Pixel 8, I experienced pretty great battery life even using the camera more than normal and having the screen on longer than I might normally.

I don’t want to comment on battery life specifics at such an early stage, but Google is still advertising that the battery can last beyond 24 hours on the 8, just like on the 7. So far, battery life has met or exceeded my expectations, but again, it's early. Also like the 7, the glossy back of the 8 is slippery enough that I found it hard to use Battery Share to wirelessly charge earbuds—they would slide off.

The only time I experienced sluggishness in the phone's performance was when using Magic Editor in a place with poor cellular service. It took a few more seconds than normal to display the weird results. Overall, Android 14 adds some nice touches as it continues to be a steady evolution visually, and with hardware performance.

Price and Availability

The Google Pixel 8 starts at $699 for 128GB and comes in three color choices: Rose, Obsidian, and Hazel. Delivery starts on October 13th, 2023.

Should You Buy the Google Pixel 8?

The Google Pixel 8 Pro is probably the phone for most enthusiasts to get since it takes all the specs of the Pixel 8 up a notch. But if you can’t stomach the 6.7-inch screen and the half-inch height difference, or you just want to get in the door with Magic Editor, then the Pixel 8 is a very respectable choice.

There are very few faults with this phone. Most of my complaints are over omissions and personal preferences, rather than anything wrong. For example, it would be nice if there were more storage choices—or why isn’t the blue color available for the regular Pixel 8, too? But in the end, this is a great phone, especially for those with a creative outlook on the reality around them.

Google Pixel 8

8 / 10

Built with Pixel’s most advanced chip and Google AI to help you do more, effortlessly.

$699 at Google Store $699.99 at Best Buy See at T-Mobile See at AT&T See at Verizon