This time last week I was a little stuck. I had Google Pixel 8 in my hand and I wanted to take pictures with it. After all, it’s this phone’s big selling point, and it was important to see if it continued the great Pixel tradition of having a great camera. Except I was feeling unmotivated and creatively blocked.
Wondering what to do, I just went out and took pictures, because I wanted to see what the software behind the new camera could do to turn ordinary photos into something special when I got home. I found that it takes normal photos and turns them into incredible ones, in both good and bad ways, and it’s hard to comprehend that all this is possible on a phone.
Why is the Google Pixel 8 camera so special?
The Google Pixel 8’s capabilities don’t just come from its camera hardware, so let’s take a closer look at all the specifications. On the back is a new 50-megapixel main camera with a 1/1.31-inch sensor and f/1.68 aperture, coupled with a 125MP wide-angle camera with autofocus and 125-degree field of view. The camera has both optical and electronic image stabilization (OIS and EIS), a spectral and flicker sensor, and laser autofocus.
But what made it different from the competition, and where my creativity was further fueled after Simply going out and taking pictures is in its software toolkit. In addition to the usual Night Sight lowlight mode, macro mode, portrait mode, and Super Res Zoom (up to 8x digital zoom on the Pixel 8), Google Photos includes the new Magic Editor feature with Magic Eraser, Ultra HDR, and more. A comprehensive suite of editing tools.
Now that I’ve had some time to use the Pixel 8 and see the power of many of these AI-powered features firsthand, I’m concerned that they might lead us to forget some of the things that make a photo can make it special, but I am also Surprised what can they do. Photography on the Pixel 8 is about much more than pointing the camera in the general direction of your subject.
Photography and AI come together
I went out to take some photos, looking for some inspiration in shapes I might have otherwise overlooked. I may not have taken anything special, but I was pleased with the variety. It was only when I sat at home and used the Magic Editor, Magic Eraser, and the powerful editing suite of Google Photos that I could get really creative, and really transform photos using these incredible tools.
The images in the gallery above show the original photos I took and then the photos I created using the Magic Editor. Unlike Magic Eraser, this feature uses generative AI – an action performed in the cloud and requires a backup of the image first to change the overall look of the image. With just one tap it gives you several options to change the image depending on your preference, which can be refreshed almost endlessly if you don’t like the options. Objects can be moved and erased, but unlike the Magic Eraser, the Magic Editor generates the background automatically rather than hiding it with stains.
Transform the sky or water using the Magic Editor and the results are undeniably stunning, and because it’s an AI-powered process, it looks more realistic than other versions of these tools if you use it sparingly. Could. I didn’t go for realism, because I wanted to give the photos a hyper-real style. I didn’t care if it made any sense or not, I wanted impact. This is successful, but you may sometimes notice that it adds a pre-made background (like the “new” sky between the two tree trunks in the photo) to fill in the blank spots, an approach that then Also happens when you move objects.
The Pixel 8 takes good photos even without all this wizardry at work, but I haven’t been able to use it yet to fully assess its potential. However, the power and vast creative potential of the Magic Editor, combined with Google’s existing editing tools, makes the phone a very exciting prospect for those who want to explore how photography and AI can work together. It’s incredible that all of this is possible on a smartphone, and even more so that it’s accessible to everyone, no matter how skilled they are at photo editing. It just takes tapping a few buttons and a few moments of processing time.
The rest of the Pixel 8 experience
Magic Editor changes are made in the cloud, so there is a pause while you wait for the options to be generated, but this is not restrictive. Magic Eraser and other photo editing are done on the device itself, and there’s no waiting around at all. I’ve been using the Pixel 8 as my main phone for five days, and so far I haven’t noticed any speed issues or overheating. Tensor G3 seems to have improved in this area compared to Tensor G2, at least at this early stage.
Battery life has been good, but I haven’t put the phone through its paces yet. With a few hours of screen time per day without gaming, it lasts two full days, but only just. When I start using the phone more, I find that it will have a hard time lasting more than a full day with heavy use, including games. I’m using it connected to a Google Pixel Watch 2, which will put some strain on the battery.
Android 14 doesn’t bring any major new features, so it’s not all that different from Android 13. It has been stable and reliable, and current battery life indicates that the promised efficiency improvements are coming to fruition. I started using the Pixel 8 shortly after using the Google Pixel 7 Pro, and to be completely honest, it’s hard to tell much of a difference between the screens. This isn’t meant to be a negative, as the Pixel 8 looks great, and there’s enough brightness to see it on a sunny day.
Worth the extra money?
The Pixel 8’s modest size and weight make it a very comfortable phone to hold and use every day, the software and performance haven’t disappointed, and as I’ve explained, the camera and its AI toolkit are really impressive. I still like the design, even in the boring black color seen here.
Although I’m feeling very positive about the Pixel 8 at this stage, the issue of the increased price does cause some second thoughts. It ranges from $599 to $699, and although I understand it has some new components and additional software features, the price has come down, even if only a little. The Google Pixel 7’s price makes it an easy recommendation (barring reliability concerns) for many people, even those with relatively modest budgets.
For example, the rise of the Google Pixel 8 puts it out of reach for anyone looking at the Samsung Galaxy A54, and also brings the Galaxy S23 into the conversation, as well as the excellent OnePlus 11. While I think AI photo tools have value, not everyone will feel the same way, and I even question their long-term appeal.
The problem is, remove all the photo editing and AI magic, and the Pixel 8 could end up being a solid, but fairly generic smartphone. I’ll come to a conclusion on whether the Pixel 8 is more valuable than a phone like the Pixel 7a in our full review, which is coming very soon.