Pixel 8 and 8 pro users - How has the experience been so far?

I upgraded from a 6 Pro because I shattered my 6 Pro's screen a couple of months ago.

Overall I like the upgrade. A lot of it is very similar - but the most noticeable improvement to me is the flat screen vs. the curved screen from the 6 Pro. I also appreciate the 5x optical zoom over the 6's 4x. It's also noticeably better at macro shots - did the 6 pro even have a macro lens?

I don't know if the 6 Pro had an OLED screen or if the 8 Pro just does a better job showing it off, but it does a little lighting effect with my photos that make the per-pixel lighting noticeable in a way I never noticed on the 6 Pro.

The one major downgrade I've noticed, which I think also affects the 6 Pro since it's software, is that they removed the ability to take a photosphere from the camera app. That's a major disappointment since I was a big fan of that feature, and I'm on the lookout for a competent replacement app for that functionality.

Also a very minor annoying change that I know affects the 6 Pro too: The Calendar widget can no longer be shrunken to be only 3 tall. This is particularly annoying because I had it that size on my 6 Pro, and noticed I couldn't on my 8 Pro (before trading it in) - so I made it 4 tall on my 6 Pro to test out, and it never let me put it back to 3 tall again. Seems like a pointless change that gives me less space.

Pro tip: If your trade-in phone has a cracked screen, just lie about it. They were offering $200 for a working 6 Pro with cracked screen or $400 for one without a cracked screen. My crack was pretty noticeable but it passed inspection anyways and I got the $400. If they do notice it you'll just get bumped down to the $200 you'd have gotten with honesty anyways. Also sign up for the $2.50 trial of Google One, which gets you 10% back in store credit for Google Store purchases - that $2.50 one month trial got me my phone case, screen protector, and camera protector for free after the credit from the actual phone purchase.

I feel like I was pretty rambling here. You can ask about specifics if you have any.

You can have a look to AGC 9.1. It has photosphere and is a Gcam mod.
The one major downgrade I've noticed, which I think also affects the 6 Pro since it's software, is that they removed the ability to take a photosphere from the camera app.

P6P here and I still have that function. App is up to date as far as I can tell. I really hope they're not taking that away, I love Photosphere.
The P6P doesn't have a macro lens I believe, so that will definitely be a nice quality of life improvement. Also the flat display is going to be something I can't wait for!

I did hear about the photosphere. I thought that may have been a bug and it was accidentally removed - I suppose not. I love the feature too, especially when travelling.

Good to know about the screen condition and trade in value. My screen has a very small crack near the top and I'm hoping it's not too much of an inconvenience when it comes time to trade in the phone haha. I'll have to test my luck using your method I reckon.
- I really hope it comes back at some point. At least I can still properly view photospheres so if I find another app that can make them (haven't really looked yet), it should be okay.
Also, how is the soft touch back? Much less slippery than the old glossy back?
- I use a case, so I don't get much contact with the back - either now or back on the P6P - but it does feel pleasant and satisfying to glide my fingers over. I wouldn't trust it to not be slippery on an uneven surface, but it's quite soft. The G logo in the middle of the back is a different smoother finish, though, and it feels kind of bad to glide my finger over it - It effectively feels like a sticky spot.
  
  Honestly can't say I remember what the back of the 6P felt like.

I have a Pixel 8 with GrapheneOS. No complains from me, battery lasts a couple of days. Phone does what it needs. Camera is amazing for a point and shoot.

Would recommend.

I'm thinking of switching to graphene OS on my 6 Pro, did you lose any functionality you regret? Losing NFC is the biggest downside I see, but I'll survive that. Anything else?
- Nope, I never use contactless payments, or even google wallet so I don't even notice its gone.
  
  I lost a couple of AI features, but I'm not that bothered about AI wallpaper generation, it was a bit of a gimmic anyway.
  
  I had GrapheneOS on my Pixel 5 too and that saw a good battery life improvement once I finally installed GOS.
- hey thats the first time I hear about loss of nfc, can you tell/link me the reason?
Kinda a noob question, but does your phone show a "this phone is running untrusted firmware, don't put sensitive data on it" screen every boot due to bootloader unlocking? If yes, how annoying is it? I always thought of getting a custom ROM but the idea of that kinda keeps me away from them.
- Permanently Deleted
- Yes it does. It appears for like 2 seconds when you boot. It's completely a non issue. It's just telling you you're not running stock.
Anyone know if work profile through company portal works on graphene OS? I know I can't install non trusted apks so thinking their may be a policy to stop this

Pixel 8 Pro 265Gb here. My first Pixel, my last Google device was a Nexus.

Right now, it's a love/hate relationship:

I love the camera, display, software, haptic feedback, build, design, sound, call quality (seriously, I can use speakerphone without the other side even noticing that I'm doing so, wow!) and the face unlock during the day - when it's bright enough, it's almost magical. All really, really great things.

I'm fine with the performance (coming from an older Snapdragon 865 it surprisingly doesn't feel like a notable uplift, but it's good enough, and the most demanding game I play mobile is the NYT crossword), the fingerprint scanner is a little worse than on my old Xiaomi/Poco midranger and, I believe/hope, currently hampered by a bug where it doesn't reliably trigger from AOD, which probably is the reason why it's only just "ok" for me overall. Battery life on wifi is fine, albeit surprisingly a bit worse than on my three-year-old phone with its 4700mAh and identically sized display. Reception is fine, no complaints there.

I'm a bit miffed that some of the more interesting AI features are US-only, but what is there in the EU is still mostly nice and useful. Bluetooth is a bit weak, I had some connection issues with my Sony in-ears that I never had before.

I hate, hate, hate the battery life on mobile, especially on 5g. It's utterly, embarrassingly, awful. How the fuck is it so much worse than on my three-year-old cheap-o phone with its far smaller and slowly dying battery - on the same carrier/5g? Why does it constantly feel warm when on 5g? There's no way I can use this phone away from charger and wifi for a whole day.

So, yeah, best phone I ever had on wifi. A pretty, but useless, paperweight after a slightly longer day out on mobile. And it's hard to comprehend why it's so awful for me, I feel like there must be some kind of explanation or bug.

Literally the only issue I'm having with the phone, but if there's no solution to this, it may turn out to be a dealbreaker.

The good things you mentioned are great to hear! For some reason, the call quality somewhat lacked on my Pixel 5 and is just alright on my P6P.

Yeah being from AUS, I'm actually not too sure if I am missing some AI features. Which ones are you missing? Nonetheless, fingers crossed they reach all users sooner rather than later!

I am also the same with my phone's battery struggling when it is using mobile data compared to wifi. I'm hoping for your sake that it is just an optimisation issue and that it gets fixed over time. Especially as Google had mentioned the P8 was meant to be a more efficient product.
- I just came back from a children's birthday party. Naturally, I made sure to charge the phone as much as possible on the drive to the indoor playground. I took and sent a sizable number of pictures and videos, and played some Spotify over the car system on the way home. Nothing else, not even navigation.
  
  5.5h on mobile, 1.5h total SoT - the battery went from 92% to 29% during that time. This is a great "half-a-day" phone, but, sadly, useless for any significantly longer outings.
- Yeah being from AUS, I’m actually not too sure if I am missing some AI features. Which ones are you missing?
  
  Most of the call-related AI features:
  "Hold for Me" being the most painfully absent.
  That call center menu navigation AI thing is missing (but that's rarely supported even in the US).
  No Google Duplex at all.
  No improved Call Screen Assistant at all, it's still that extremely robotic sounding, first generation one.
  
  No "summarize this" feature for websites, either. That was one of the big, new, introductions.
  
  Honestly, that's pretty much half of the on-device AI features. The rest is the cloud-based photo magic stuff that isn't run on the phone's chip at all, that works and can be really cool (but is painfully slow and often quite buggy).
  
  I don't expect most of these to make it out of the US / to the EU anytime soon, and I'm willing to bet that I won't see "Assistant with Bard" for a very, very long time.
I've heard you can get better battery life by turning off 5G, but I haven't tried it myself.
- Paying over $1000 for a 4G phone... gotta think about that one

Is the fingerprint sensor any better? I find the fingerprint sensor on my Pixel 6 leaves much to be desired.

Had Oneplus 7T Pro for 4 years and did a Pixel 8 Pro upgrade, the fingerprint sensor is really bad for a phone that cost this much.
Definitely not any better in my experience, although I do think there is some luck involved in how well it captures your fingerprint when you're setting it up.
I had a P6P and now have the P8P - I assume what you're complaining about is the delay it takes for the P6P to recognize your fingerprint compared to some other phones?

If so: I did notice the 8P recognized faster than the P6P did - though still nowhere near as fast as I've seen the Samsung Galaxy S21's sensor work for someone else I know.

The speed benefit of the P8P went away after I added a screen protector though - the ZAGG one from the Google Store. Now it's just as slow as I remember it being on the P6P, with a bit more unreliability to boot - sometimes I have to reposition or rescan my finger. (I did remember to re-enroll my fingers after applying the protector) (There was no unreliability before the protector or on the P6P)
I've got a Pixel 6 Pro and I hate the fingerprint sensor. Most of the time it just straight-up doesn't work. My last phone (a Xiaomi) had it on the side and an old Moto (I think) had it on the back and both were far superior, not just technology-wise but also comfort.
It's not miles better than the P6, but it does feel more consistent. Also face unlock makes it a mute point most of the time anyway.
- Face unlock is finicky though. You have to be pretty close and it doesn't work in dim lighting. It also is slower sometimes than just using the FP scanner.
  
  IDK, it's nice to have, but it's not great.
- *moot point, just fyi

I was considering upgrading from my 6a but the specs don't seem that much faster to justify the upgrade.

Pixel 8 Pro 265Gb on gOS here. My first Pixel, my last device was an iPhone 8 Plus.

Massive upgrade. Everything is good. Massive battery, no overheating, amazing cameras, beautiful screen and plenty of power for my use case. No issiues with gOS too, pretty much everything works besides the thermometer (planned).

Pixel User since the first. Best phone and pixel I ever had.

It's ok, build quality, camera, display and loudspeaker are top notch, but the price is too and SoC is only fine.

It's my first Pixel, coming from Pocophones with LineageOS, with the last one Poco F3, i gotta say i've expected more performance, especially scrolling is not on par with the rest of the experience, we'll see if they can fix it in post though.

Pixel 8 pro here from a pixel 6 pro. Better battery life, haptics, front camera, display. Feels better in the hand.

Pinned for more attention since I was thinking of making such a thread anyway 😁

For those with a Pixel 8 or 8 Pro, how are the photos in particular? (there's also a Pixel photos megathread if you feel like sharing some shots!)