When choosing a new phone charger today, there is a giddying amount to choose from, and deciding which one is right for you isn’t always straightforward.
Anker is a popular and affordable brand that many opt for, well-regarded for its USB cables and chargers. But there is still an overwhelming number of options even within this one company’s line-up.
Don’t worry, I’ve done the hard work – I tested a load of USB-C chargers, including Anker’s, to see which offer the best value, and I’ve picked out three from Anker I think are great buys, covering different prices and needs. So if you’re after one of the best iPhone chargers or best Android chargers, you’ll be happy with these. They’re all available in both the US and the UK – my pictures are from the UK version, and the designs may be slightly different in the US. Some models are available in Australia, where the design is closer to the US models.
Anker Prime 67W GaN 3-Port Charger
(Image credit: Future)
The Anker Prime 67W is at the premium end of the brand’s wall chargers. It features three ports (two USB-C and one USB-A), which can be used simultaneously to charge devices ranging from phones to laptops, thanks to its maximum of 67W output.
Anker’s PrimeGaN technology claims to offer ultra-fast charging while being more efficient and running at lower temperatures than previous tech. Based on my tests, that seems to be the case. The charging times I experienced via all ports were fast, and while the unit became warm to the touch, it certainly didn’t feel worrying or like a danger.
The build quality is high here, with a durable construction, which is something I found to be common among Anker’s products (I compared them to competitors, too, and Anker’s usually felt better). The pins also fold flat, making it more convenient to travel with, and the hinge mechanism feels tight and precise too.
Anker 323 33W 2-Port USB C Charger
(Image credit: Future)
The Anker 323 is a step down from the Prime in terms of spec, coming with two ports (USB-C and USB-A) instead of three. It also only offers 33W of single-port charging (32W max when using both simultaneously), making it ideal for phones and tablets, as well as low-power laptops, such as the MacBook Air M3.
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Another difference is that the 323 uses Anker’s PowerIQ 3.0 technology, whereas the Prime uses 4.0. Although both standards offer the same maximum output capacity, IQ4 also features dynamic power distribution, which detects the voltage output of connected devices and makes adjustments accordingly, in order to further optimize charging speeds.
However, during my tests, charging speeds were still fast with the 323, so the difference in real-world terms seems to be negligible in most cases.
As with the Prime, the 323 has a sturdy build and the mechanism of the folding pins feels like it will stand the test of time. The profile is also very small, adding to its pedigree as a travel accessory.
Anker Nano USB-C Charger 30W
(Image credit: Future)
The Anker Nano is one of the most basic chargers the company offers. It has a single USB-C port capable of 30W, so it’s sufficient for smaller devices or a single lightweight laptop.
Like the 323, the Nano utilizes Anker’s PowerIQ 3.0 technology. As with my tests of other products, though, the difference between the 3rd and 4th generation seems marginal in actual applications.
Despite having fewer ports and less power than the 323, the form factor is slightly larger (at least in the UK version that I tested – the US versions have slightly different designs). The color is also slightly off-white – and the faceplate is almost cream or gold in certain lights – so if you’re looking for a charger to match the pristine appeal of Apple’s devices, then you may want to stick with Apple’s own, very similar equivalent to this (though that’s only 20W).
Conclusion
The Anker Prime is the best premium wall charger of the pack, but it may be overkill for some and its relatively high price might put others off as well.
The Nano is at the other end of the spectrum: it offers single-port USB-C charging for your smartphones and tablets, and some laptops. The only luxury is the travel-friendly folding pins. But despite being so spartan, it’s still the same size, if not larger, than wall chargers with more ports.
That’s why I’d choose the Anker 323 instead, which is a great mid-point between the aforementioned Prime and the more basic, single-port competitors in this field.
Whichever one you opt for, though, Anker has a great reputation for making robust, safe and reliable chargers for all kinds of devices and requirements, and that seems to be well deserved from the testing I’ve done.
We all have days when we use our phones right before going to bed, even though we know we shouldn’t. Admit it. We know our phones keep us awake. Some people try to mitigate the negative effects on sleep with blue-light glasses, which claim to block out rhythm-affecting blue tones in screen light, but if you’re using a fitness tracker (and if you are, it’s probably one of the best sleep trackers or best fitness trackers from our lists) you’ve likely had at least one morning when you’ve woken up, checked your stats and seen exactly how little sleep you had the night before.
It turns out, it’s not the blue-light effect from your phone that’s keeping you awake at night, according to sleep scientist Dr Sophie Bostock. I met Dr Bostock at an event to celebrate the launch of the OnePlus Watch 2 Nordic Blue in Helsinki, and she was able to answer a few burning questions about late-night phone use.
“There are several aspects of light which affect your circadium rhythm. Brightness of light is really important. If you get very bright light it’s going to activate the receptors, which contain a pigment called melanopsin, in the back of your retina. This sends a message to the clock in your brain which tells you to be alert.
“This pigment is more sensitive to light in the blue visible end of the spectrum, true, and when you look at a phone, it tends to be rich in blue wavelength light. But that is completely irrelevant if the light from your phone is very dim.
“The light you typically get from your phone is about 80 lux. Usually, in the studies used to look at impact on your circadian rhythm, you expose someone to at least 2000 lux, perhaps 5,000 lux. A SAD lamp is usually 10,000 lux. The light from your phone’s impact on circadian rhythm is negligible.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
So if it’s not the blue light beaming from your phone, what’s actually keeping you awake? Dr Bostock had the answer.
“Research has found using the bright light element of your phone only delays sleep for around 10 minutes. People getting locked into losing track of time, delaying sleep because of what they’re doing on their phone, probably delays sleep by closer to an hour. Relative to that sleep displacement, the blue light exposure is negligible.”
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Fear around phones comes from massive large-scale studies that state people who use phones before bed sleep really poorly, so the conclusion was always ‘phones must be causing poor sleep’.
“There are two more aspects to consider. One is that people leave their phone by their bed, while it pings and alerts during the night… but phones can be helpful, some people use it as a distraction. Audiobooks are phenomenally popular.”
While Dr Bostock’s main advice is to keep your phone out of the bedroom to avoid the temptation to doomscroll, if you use it to play sleep-aid content, it’s perhaps worth keeping it across the room on another surface, out of arm’s reach.
Given everyone’s sustained interest in playing games on their phones, companies are eager to offer an experience that works better than just jabbing your fingers on a touchscreen. Razer, the maker of unapologetically robust and garish gaming devices, has a new offering that does just that.
The new Razer Kishi Ultra is a souped up controller that adds pro-level thumbsticks, buttons, and triggers to just about any mobile device. It’s the latest in Razer’s Kishi lineup of portable gaming devices, which launched in 2020. The two handles pull apart, allowing you to slide your phone in between them. Let the spring-loaded clamp grip your phone, and you’ve got something like a DIY Nintendo Switch. It uses a USB-C port to connect to the phone. In addition, it can handle an iPad Mini and any Android tablet measuring up to 8 diagonal inches as long as it has a USB-C port. The Kishi Ultra only works with USB-C iPhones, so it’s limited to iPhone 15 and beyond. (It can even handle some folding phones.) The Kishi Ultra can also connect to your PC via USB-C cable. Like nearly everything Razer makes, the Kishi Ultra is loaded up with RGB lighting options which you can change via the associated app, so you can have your fill of customizable flashiness.
The Kishi is unlike the Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck, which are fully fledged portable gaming machines on their own. But gaming devices with more specific use cases are gaining popularity, like Playstation’s Portal device, which only lets you stream games from your existing PS5. Razer has been making gaming handheld devices since 2013, and has its own Steam Deck-style Razer Edge handheld. But more and more companies are eager to make devices that work with the screen you already have in your pocket. Devices like Razer’s latest and those from the gaming company Backbone are meant to strap controllers to the side of your device and enhance your mobile play time.
Here’s some other consumer tech news from this week.
Meta Adds an AI Images to WhatsApp
Meta has added AI Image generation capabilities to its WhatsApp messaging platform. As part of its rollout for its Llama 3 large language model that came this week, the company has juiced up its Meta AI in-app offerings.
The AI image generation option in WhatsApp works like sending a text message. You can go into a private chat with Meta AI and type out a prompt. The keyword in the input field is “imagine,” so if you type that and a description of the image you want to create, the AI assistant will generate a visual representation of your prompt. And it happens nearly instantly. The image pops up on screen as you’re typing, and you can see the image change and generate in real time as you add more words to your prompt. This can get … quite weird as you add more parameters to your request, but the more descriptive you are, the more detail the generator can work into a picture. The resulting images are about what you would expect from any AI art source these days—weird proportions, humans with too many fingers, misplaced eyeballs. Still, it’s both neat and very strange to watch an AI generate your description of something as you’re writing it.
Meet GMC’s Hulking New Denali EV Pickup
Photograph: GMC
There is a deluge of new EVs coming out this year, ranging from tiny three-wheeled smart cars like the Nimbus One to revved-up supercars like the upcoming electric Dodge Charger. Pickup trucks are a slightly more niche space in the EV market, aside from popular models like the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian’s offerings, and Tesla’s floundering Cybertruck (every one of which was just recalled.)
Since Google and Samsung merged Wear OS and Tizen, Google has been rapidly improving Wear OS by adding new and useful features to it, such as introducing new applications for the platform, including Google Calendar and Gmail, improving existing apps, including Google Home and Google Maps, introducing new Tiles, and offering new watch face and health data systems to offer a better user experience. Well, the company is now working on offering another improvement to Wear OS that could come to Galaxy Watches.
According to the Google News channel on Telegram, version 2.3.0 on the Google Pixel Watch app for Android contains an option called ‘Sync permission from phone’ which will “Give your watch the same app permissions that you’ve allowed” on your smartphone. In other words, once you enable the option, the app will sync permissions between your Android smartphone and the Pixel Watch for the common apps on the two devices.
For example, if you give Google Maps on your Android smartphone permission to access your location, with the new option enabled, the Google Pixel Watch app will extend the same permission to Google Maps on your Pixel Watch, saving you from the hassle of giving permissions to the app on your smartphone as well as the smartwatch. The option is located inside the ‘Device details’ menu which is currently hidden behind a flag.
At the moment, there’s no information about when Google will make the new option available to the public or if it will offer this feature to other Wear OS smartwatches, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Watch lineup. We hope that the company extends the new feature to other Wear OS smartwatches as it would offer people more convenience and a better user experience. In the meantime, you can check out the all-new Shazam app for Wear OS.
Human Mobile Devices (HMD) ripped up the rulebook at MWC 2024 by announcing the Barbie Flip Phone, a stripped-back (and suitably pink) device that aims to “flip the script on smartphone culture” when it launches later this year.
Now, the Nokia phone manufacturer is doubling down on its minimalist vision with the Boring Phone, an even more simplistic take on mental wellbeing tech – developed in collaboration with beer brand Heineken – whose primary function is to send and receive calls and text messages (it does have a camera, but wait until you hear the megapixel count…).
HMD says the limited-edition device is “designed to deliver the basics needed for a great night out” and “is unable to download social media or other apps,” but the phone’s voguish transparent casing and holographic stickers suggests the company still had Gen Z in mind when designing it.
You’ll get a week of standby time and up to 20 hours of talk time with the Boring Phone, and the likes of Samsung and Apple will be quaking in their boots when they learn that this device comes packing an almighty 0.3MP rear camera. We say ‘rear’ camera, but there’s only one. You do get Snake, though.
Just how boring is the Boring Phone? Check out the full specs table below:
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Boring Phone specs
Dimensions
108 x 55 x 18.9mm
Weight
123g
Displays
Internal: 2.8” QVGA | External: 1.77″ QQVGA
Camera
0.3MP + LED flash
Design
Ergonomic flip phone with DualSIM
Audio
FM radio (wired/wireless)
Connectivity
2G, 3G, 4G | Bluetooth 4.2 | 3.5mm AV jack | Micro USB
Battery
1,450mAh (removable)
Storage
Internal: 128MB | MicroSD slot up to 32GB
Charging
Micro USB
If you’re wondering what all this has to do with Heineken, the company’s head honcho, Nabil Nasser, has said the following: “At Heineken, we want to foster moments of genuine connection and help people experience the joy of true togetherness. In creating The Boring Phone we have gone back to basics, we have dialed down the tech to help people truly connect over a beer, without any distraction from the constant buzzing and dings.”
Here’s how the Boring Phone looks up close:
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Image 1 of 2
Promotional poster for the Boring Phone(Image credit: HMD)
Promotional poster for the Boring Phone(Image credit: HMD)
HMD has confirmed that the Boring Phone will debut at Milan Design Week on April 18, though we don’t yet know if (or when) the device will become available for purchase. We do know that HMD is planning to launch “an app that will turn smartphones boring” in June this year, so those who don’t manage to get their hands on the physical Boring Phone will presumably still be able enjoy/tolerate the suitably boring Boring Phone experience.
We’re only spending more and more time staring at our smartphones, and over the past few years, tech companies have tried to offer salves to this very problem they created. Apple and Google launched tools within their respective mobile operating systems to curb screen time. Devices like the Light Phone, designed to act as a secondary phone with limited features so you’re not staring at Instagram when you’re at a social gathering, are enjoying some popularity. This kind of digital-detox mentality is also behind a wave of AI-powered gadgets like the Humane Ai Pin, which promises to offload some smartphone-native tasks to voice controls on a screenless interface.
The latest to hop on the trend is The Boring Phone, announced today ahead of Milan Design Week. The company manufacturing it is Human Mobile Devices (HMD), better known as the company making Nokia-branded phones since 2017 thanks to a licensing partnership. The Boring Phone is cute, transparent, and retrolicious. But it is not a phone you can buy.
The Boring Phone is all retro vibes. Even the Heineken ad is lo-fi.
Courtesy of HMD
At Mobile World Congress in February 2024, the Finnish company announced it was leaning in on the Human Mobile Devices branding versus the acronym HMD and that it would broaden its scope by collaborating with other brands outside of Nokia as a white-label phone manufacturer. The big announcement at the time was the Barbie flip phone—stemming from a partnership with Mattel—coming this summer. We don’t have any new details about that device, but The Boring Phone hails from a collaboration with Heineken (yes, the beer brand) and fashion brand Bodega.
This feature phone (colloquially referred to as “dumb” phones) can only text and make phone calls. There’s a camera, Dual SIM support, 4G connectivity, a headphone jack, and a Micro USB port for charging. The battery can last a week in standby time, but there are no apps. Except Snake. Yes, you can play Snake on this gadget.
Bodega is behind the design, citing the rise of “Newtro” (new and retro) as inspiration with Gen Z—the modernization of popular gadgets from the 1980s and ’90s. That has resulted in a transparent flip phone with holographic stickers and green accents in a nod to the Heineken partnership. Honestly, the look of this handset is half the reason I’m writing this piece. It’s gorgeous.
Visible Wireless Plus plan was already one of the best cheap cell phone plans money could buy, but it’s even better value now thanks to a host of excellent new features.
The Visible Plus plan still costs $45/mo, but it now includes more generous mobile hotspot speeds, a free additional line for a smartwatch, and one free global pass per month. All the main selling points from before are still here, too – namely, the 50GB of premium data allowance on parent company Verizon’s 5G Ultraband network.
Combined, you’re getting post-paid perks for a prepaid price with the Visible Plus plan right now. Even though it’s not the cheapest unlimited data plan on the market right now, it’s certainly one of the most feature-laden for the price and a good choice for a heavy user who wants to save a bit of cash. By comparison, the Verizon Welcome Unlimited plan offers similar perks right now but clocks in at a hefty $65 per month for a single line – and you’ll also need to sign up for a contract, unlike at Visible.
Visible Plus new features
How does Visible shape up against the competition?
Pretty well right now – mostly because the Visible offers two very strong unlimited data plans for an excellent price. For example, if the Visible Plus plan is out of your price range, you can go for the standard Visible plan at $25 per month. The standard plan still includes completely unlimited data and free mobile hot-spotting, although you’ll get slower speeds in general.
There are other options right now, however. Mint Mobile is currently one of the most popular prepaid plans on the market and features a great unlimited data plan on the wider T-Mobile network for $30 per month. You have to pay for a whole year of service upfront to get the cheapest rates at Mint, but it’s a fantastic choice if you get the best local coverage at T-Mobile (Visible uses the Verizon network).
Another good option you could consider is US Mobile. This carrier has recently launched three tiers of unlimited prepaid plans, the cheapest of which starts at an almost unbelievable $15/mo. The cheap ‘Unlimited Flex’ plan is extremely stripped-down for features, but the ‘Unlimited Premium’ plan, which is $37.50/mo, is roughly equivalent to the Visible Plus plan. You do, however, need to pay for a full year of service upfront to get the lowest price – much like at Mint Mobile.
Amazon has the Nothing Phone 2 on sale for the first time since its launch. The offbeat mainstream smartphone alternative is $74 off its usual price. The deal includes the version with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and it’s ready for activation on T-Mobile or AT&T.
Nothing
Get the boldly unconventional Nothing Phone 2 for only $625.
The Nothing Phone 2 has an unusual design, with a transparent back revealing an eye-pleasing arrangement of its internal hardware. The aesthetic is a throwback to tech from the late 1990s and early 2000s, like Apple’s iMac G3 and Nintendo’s Game Boy Color. Meanwhile, the Glyph Interface on the phone’s back uses LED strips to show customizable lights and patterns for your notifications. It’s a charming package that stands out in a sea of smartphone sameness.
Engadget’s Sam Rutherford reviewed the phone in 2023, and he noted its eye-catching hardware design and Monochrome UI in its software. Nothing isn’t marketing its phone based on record-breaking specs, but the startup still made a phone that “never felt slow” while being “well-equipped with handy features like reverse wireless charging.”
The phone runs on Nothing OS 2 (currently, it’s on 2.5.3) on top of Android 14. It has a 6.7-inch OLED display, a 4,700mAh battery and a pair of 50MP rear cameras (main and ultra-wide).
However, note that the phone is only compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks in the US — not Verizon, Sprint, Cricket or other CDMA-based carriers. Nothing only brought its handsets (officially) to America with the current generation of hardware, so perhaps future models will offer broader stateside carrier support.
• Original review date: October, 2023 • Google adds circle to search and Gemini to Pixel 8 Pro • Launch price: $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 • Lowest price on Amazon: $749 / £670 / AU$1,699
Update: April 2024. We’re only in the first of Google’s seven years of promised updates for the Pixel 8 Pro, but the phone has already seen considerable new features. When the Samsung Galaxy S24 was launched in January, 2024, Google added circle to search and other new AI features to the Pixel 8 Pro, and eventually the Pixel 8. Since then, we’ve seen Google’s Gemini LLM with the Gemini Nano model, capable of producing written text using only the phone’s onboard resources. Google has also launched its Find My Mobile network, and the Pixel 8 Pro has the hardware to find Google’s new Nest location tags.
Philip Berne
Google Pixel 8 Pro: Two-minute review
The Pixel 8 Pro is a sleek update to Google’s venerable Pixel lineup, and while I’ll be ready for a new look and feel this year, I’m happy to report that this is Google’s best-looking Pixel yet.
This is also Google’s most ambitious Pixel yet, with some serious camera upgrades that will satisfy even pro photogs, and a Tensor G3 chipset custom built to run Google’s machine learning features. Google is so confident in this phone’s performance that it is promising an unprecedented seven years of major updates, longer than any other phone maker supports its phones, currently.
That said, this is a very, very odd device. If Google had simply released a generic smartphone with the Pixel 8 Pro’s cameras, display and design, it would have had a simple winner, capable of making an argument against not-quite-flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus or the Apple iPhone 15 Pro. Instead, Google is pushing deep into machine learning territory with generative AI features that will offer new experiences on your phone.
Some of these, like the amazing new call-screening assistant, work wonderfully, and are set to become an enduring part of our smartphone experience. Others, like the new photo editing features, border on frightening. Most, like AI wallpaper, seem like simple distractions and additions that could have been an app you download, but instead are now part of the Android-on-Pixel experience.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
This is a decidedly Android phone, for better but mostly, these days, for worse. It’s a confusing mess. You’re faced with setup screens that never seem to end, notifications that never seem to disappear, and Settings menus that are layered deep enough to strike magma.
The good news is that Google has plenty of time to fix Android, and if it does, Pixel 8 Pro owners will benefit from those improvements for seven years, if Google lives up to its promise.
This is very good news indeed. In fact, it’s some of the best news I’ve heard from the Android camp in quite some time. If Google really delivers on seven years of major OS upgrades, Pixel feature drops, and Security updates, the Pixel 8 Pro will be the first Android phone to beat Apple in terms of longevity.
Will the Pixel 8 Pro be worth owning in seven years? Decidedly not, not if you’re buying one today. But, when it comes time to sell your Pixel 8 Pro in a year or two, the person you sell it to will know they aren’t buying an unsupported lemon. They’re buying a phone that could last them, and possibly someone else after them, for years.
If you’re firmly encamped with Google on Android territory, the Pixel 8 Pro is a great choice for your next phone. Software-wise, Google has a lot of catching up to do against iOS 17 before I’d recommend buying it over the iPhone 15 Pro, but Google’s phone is fun and unique enough that I’d consider this phone if you can’t spring for a truly fancy foldable or the mighty Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Of course, the real fun begins when Google starts slashing prices, and it can be liberal with discounts, especially around the sales season. More than with any other brand, I recommend waiting for a deal when you’re considering a Pixel phone, because as good as the phone is now, it feels like an even better buy for a few hundred dollars or pounds less.
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 for 128GB storage
Available with up to 1TB of storage in the US, 512GB globally
Costs $100 / £150 / AU$400 more than the 128GB Pixel 7 Pro
The Pixel 8 Pro costs a bit more than the Pixel 7 Pro, when I was expecting that Google would drop the price. That’s because, frankly, the Pixel 7 Pro didn’t age very well in terms of performance and value, and rumors suggested that the Pixel 8 Pro wouldn’t offer much benefit over its predecessor. However, as it turns out there’s much more value to be found in the Pixel 8 Pro, and it holds up nicely against competitors in its price range.
The most promising way Google has added value to the Pixel 8 Pro is with its promise to support the phone for seven years of major software upgrades, security updates, and Pixel feature drops. Android phones have traditionally been lacking in terms of longevity and long-term value, and no Android phone maker has ever offered this level of long-term support. Even Apple stops supporting iPhones with new OS upgrades after about five years.
The Pixel 8 Pro doesn’t have the best performance, so its prospects as a long-term device are questionable, but at least we know Google won’t ignore it and let it rot on the vine.
Of course, you probably won’t keep your phone for seven years, but when it comes time to trade or sell it, it should hold its value better because of Google’s support commitment. Time will tell; and there are other reasons why this phone is worth more than last year’s model.
The Pixel 8 Pro has a fantastic display, brighter and sharper than those on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Galaxy S23 Plus. The phone also has the largest battery of the bunch, and battery life lived up to Google’s promises during my review period.
The cameras are better in many ways, but the specs can get a bit esoteric and hard to explain. Needless to say, they take much better photos than before, and the new AI editing tools are incredibly impressive. Scary, impressive, and I mean that sincerely.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Google Pixel 8 Pro prices
Storage
US price
UK price
AU price
128GB
$999
£999
AU$1,699
256GB
$1,059
£1,059
AU$1,799
512GB
$1,179
£1,179
AU$1,999
1TB
$1,399
N/A
N/A
If you have this much to spend, I’d still recommend the iPhone 15 Pro; not for the cameras or the hardware, but because iOS 17 is leaps and bounds ahead of Android 14. Apple’s software experience isn’t just simplified, it’s elegant and polished. Android has gotten unwieldy again, and it’s hard to recommend even the best Android phone over a comparable iPhone.
That said, the Pixel 8 Pro offers great value against the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, although if you can spend more (or get a great contract deal), both Samsung and Apple have even fancier phones with more cameras to sell you, while Google hits its ceiling with the 8 Pro.
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Specs
Check out the Google Pixel 8 Pro’s full specs below:
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Google Pixel 8 Pro specs
Header Cell – Column 1
Dimensions:
162.6 x 76.5 x 8.8mm
Weight:
213g
OS:
Android 14
Screen size:
6.7 inches
Resolution:
1344 x 2992 pixels
Chipset:
Google Tensor G3
RAM
12GB
Storage:
128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Rear Cameras:
50MP main; 48MP 5x tele; 48MP ultrawide (macro)
Front Camera:
10.5MP
Battery:
5,050 mAh
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Design
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Yup, it still looks like the Pixel 6
Matte finish and nice color choices add some class
Is this how every Pixel is going to look in the future?
What is there to say about a phone design that has barely changed in three years? Like this year’s iPhone 15 series, the Pixel 8 Pro is a bit more curvy than last year, with new colors and a matte finish. It is decidedly nicer than the Pixel 7 Pro if you care about the fine details, which I do.
The Pixel 8 Pro is more rounded on the corners, and more flat on the display. This makes the phone easier to hold, while also giving you a better view of your content. The finish is lovely, and the colors are more classy and inviting than unusual and modern. Most folks love the Bay blue best, but I’m into these cream-colored phones that dominated 2023, so I asked for a Porcelain sample from Google for my review.
This is the nicest Pixel phone Google has made so far, which is good because it has largely made the same phone three times now, with two more A-series models in between. I feel like these refinements could have come last year, and this year we could be looking at something even more evolved.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
I don’t mind the Google Pixel camera bump. It adds a distinct touch of flair, and on my Porcelain model it has the slightest golden hue that gives it a nice glint in the sun. It’s a very pretty phone, especially if you’ve never held a Pixel before.
If you are a Pixel owner, especially if you own an older Pixel, you’re probably eyeing this phone for an upgrade. It’s too bad that Pixel 6 owners, ready to upgrade now, have only this slightly refreshed-looking version of their older phone to buy. I’d like to see something more novel next year, especially if the Pixel remains at this higher price level, on par with the titanium iPhone 15.
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Display
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
The standout feature – it’s brighter and sharper than before
Even brighter and sharper than the iPhone 15 Pro Max
Slightly thicker bezel than the iPhone
The Pixel 8 Pro display is a standout feature this year, and Google has even endowed it with its own branding: Super Actua. The Pixel 8 is plain old Actua, you see. In practical terms, it seems this refers to the display’s brightness, because it is incredibly bright. The Pixel 8 Pro can reach 2,400 nits at peak brightness, and still pumps out 1,600 nits when you aren’t in direct sunlight.
In almost every way, the Pixel 8 Pro display beats that of the iPhone 15 Pro Max. In terms of brightness, total resolution, and sharpness (pixel density), the Pixel has the better screen. Side by side, it was much harder to see a difference, though the Pixel was definitely brighter in some cases, especially when viewing a purely white subject.
That’s when I had the Pixel display set to the more vivid ‘Adaptive’ mode, which the iPhone lacks. When I set the Pixel display settings to the ‘Natural’ screen color mode, I got colors and brightness levels that looked much more like I’m used to seeing on an iPhone.
The bezel on the Pixel 8 Pro is just a hair thicker compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max bezel, but the smaller punch-hole camera is much less intrusive than Apple’s Dynamic Island, no matter how much Apple makes it dance and sing.
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Software
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Great call screening feature is useful and natural
Many features are missing at launch
Some important features are hard to find
There are a few bright spots in the Pixel 8 Pro’s software improvements, couched in the machine learning and AI direction that Google is taking. The new call screening feature works impeccably well. I tried calling my Pixel 8 Pro from another number and the voice sounded natural, if a bit too casual, but that’s a good problem. Better a casual robot screening my calls than a stilted digital voice.
The new AI wallpaper is surprisingly interesting. It seems limited at first, since it isn’t actually a free-for-all generative AI creating images. Instead, it gives you a MadLibs-like selection of categories and prompts. You might choose an ‘Imaginary’ scene of ‘A surreal bicycle made of flowers in shades of pink and purple.’ The bicycle, flowers, and color options are all part of a multiple choice menu. Instead of a bicycle, I might have chosen a boat, a lamp, a lighthouse, or a UFO.
There are 12 options for objects; 30 different material choices, including flowers, fleece, and rhodochrosite (a crystalline mineral); and seven different color combinations. The AI offered me three different fleece lighthouses in coral and tan. By my math, that means the Imaginary category alone can create around 7,500 wallpapers. There are 12 categories, including Imaginary, X-ray, and Volcanic.
Is it a gimmick? No, but it feels like something a really good third-party app could pull off just as well, maybe with even more options. It is generative AI, after all, so the sky’s the limit, and then whatever the computer decides comes after sky. The bottom line is that the wallpapers were pretty, and cool, and unique, and fun to play with. So that’s a win.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
On the Pixel 8 Pro web page, Google says you can “personalize your experience with AI wallpaper,” and that is the heart of the problem that I have with much of Google’s software on the Pixel 8 Pro. I’ve used AI to create a wallpaper, but is it personalized? I chose some options, and swiped through the results. Who is this person?
Google describes its machine language features as if they are created by a real human being disturbingly often. When the machine does the creation, there is no person involved, and there is no experience for a human. When I use Google’s software to write a whole email, or create a group photo that never existed, am I personalizing that email? Have I personalized that photo?
No, I’m using a machine as a tool to help me create or complete a task. And that’s great! That’s useful! But that is not how Google is positioning the Pixel 8 Pro and all of its new AI features. Google is not saying ‘you can create an image,’; it’s saying you can ‘combine’ photos, or ‘reimagine’ photos. There is something missing in that explanation, and it feels like what’s missing is honesty.
The photo-faking tools aren’t the only AI issues I have. Google is pushing the Pixel 8 Pro’s ability to read and summarize web pages for you. That feature will soon come to its Recorder app, so its AI will summarize your past conversations, or lectures you couldn’t attend, perhaps.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
I tried the summarization feature on a story I wrote about taking a family photo at home. Google’s summary got very basic facts wrong. It said that my family visited a photo studio, even though I never mentioned a photo studio, and in fact I explicitly say that my dad hired a professional photographer to come to our house. If I can’t trust a summarization feature the first time I use it, I will never trust it again.
Many of the other new features are simply hard to find. Google’s new call screening feature is great, but it’s hidden under a submenu that you can only find if you open the Phone app; it’s nowhere to be found under the Settings menu.
Even worse, Google has had a Safety Check In feature on its Pixel phones for years, similar to the new Check In feature that I love on iOS 17. Google’s own site gives instructions for the ‘Personal Safety’ app, but my phone doesn’t have an app called Personal Safety. It’s just called Safety, which sounds like it could be a software security suite, or a health and readiness app. It could be an app for the Boy Scouts, for all it stands out.
I’ll stop complaining, because I’ve run out of features to complain about. See, Google is launching the Pixel 8 Pro without a number of key features ready to go. The camera will get Zoom Enhance, Video Boost, and Night Sight video features, after images have been uploaded to Google’s cloud services for Google to work its magic off-device. Recorder summaries are also coming, as well as the smart reply feature, though I’m skeptical of those AI features, as I’ve made clear.
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Cameras
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Great photos with improved macro quality
Upgrades on every camera, especially telephoto
Not as good at night shots as the iPhone 15 Pro
The main camera on the Pixel 8 Pro is considerably better than the camera on the Pixel 7 Pro, but the improvements can be hard to explain.
The lens on the camera has a f/1.65 aperture, which is wider than the f/1.9 aperture in last year’s lens, and while the number is lower, a wider aperture is better because it lets in more light, and the improvement is exponential and not linear.
The f/1.65 lens on the Pixel 8 Pro is an amazIng feat, while the f/1.9 aperture on last year’s Pixel 7 Pro was a thoroughly unimpressive spec. See, the numbers are confusing, and it’s just not an easy spec to boast about. The iPhone 15 Pro uses an f/1.8 lens on its main camera, which won’t let as much light through, but of course there are plenty of other factors to consider.
Compared to my iPhone 15 Pro Max, some photos looked better when shot with the Pixel 8 Pro, but others, especially night pics and low-light images, looked better taken with the iPhone. That’s surprising, but there are still some reasons for Google to brag.
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(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Macro photography is better on the Pixel 8 Pro than on the iPhone, and even if you aren’t going for a macro look you can still get closer to your subject with the Pixel. The Pixel 8 Pro also handled food photos much better than the iPhone. That natural look the iPhone tends towards can make dishes look unappetizing in bad lighting. It’s better to have a camera that can do some enhancements.
Speaking of enhancements, not all of the enhancements coming to the Pixel 8 Pro are ready yet. The Night Sight video enhancement will eventually upload and improve your night-time videos, but it’s not here yet. Neither is the zoom enhancement for the telephoto and main cameras. Those features will presumably come in a feature drop, hopefully before the end of the year.
Once you’ve taken your photos, it’s off to Google Photos to edit them, and Google Photos on the Pixel 8 family is a special app. It has features you won’t find on other Pixel phones, Android phones, iPhones, or even on the desktop.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
We’ve seen Magic Eraser before, but Google is taking this functionality to a new level with Magic Editor. When you launch Magic Editor by tapping the enticing, colorful button, Google opens a new suite of generative AI tools to help you fake your shots like a pro. You can still erase, and here Google does a much better job of creating a background to replace what’s now missing.
You can also easily manipulate objects in your photo. You can move things around, make things larger or smaller, and generally make the image look completely different. If you stop talking to somebody, you can cut them out of the group photo. If you want to say you caught a bigger fish, you can just grab the fish in the photo and spread your fingers to make it grow. Reality doesn’t matter, as long as you have the right tools.
While the results can be somewhat creepy and uncanny, they aren’t flawless. I erased tourists from a shot of the Statue of Liberty, as an example, and it’s clear where the guardrails were drawn incorrectly to compensate. I erased a shadow from my photo of some ice cream at night and a portion of a sign went missing, replaced with a blank, white wall.
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(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Gee, I wish this guy would move his head
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
With Magic Editor, the problem is solved
There’s reason to be cautious and reason to be disturbed by the ease and capriciousness with which Google launches these powerful machine learning features, but for now the quality doesn’t quite justify the fear. It’s possible that some day my phone will be able to make a believable fake that could stand up to scrutiny. For now, though, I’d say Google is just focused on trying to get its promised features out the door.
Google Pixel 8 Pro camera samples
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(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
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(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Performance
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
No problem running my favorite apps and games
Still lags behind older competitor phones
Machine learning features run slowly with delays
Performance is tough to measure on a Pixel phone. In terms of raw performance, pushing games and graphics to new heights, the Pixel 8 Pro does just fine, but it won’t win any competitions. It handled all of my favorite games and ran high-resolution videos smoothly, but everything looked better on phones like the iPhone 15 Pro or even older Android phones like the Galaxy S23 Ultra (which can be found for around the same price as the Pixel 8 Pro, now that it’s eight months old).
On the other hand, the Pixel 8 Pro is an all-around solid device, especially compared to other phones in this price range. Battery life is excellent, thanks to a larger battery and better power management, courtesy of Google’s Tensor G3 chipset. The display is snappy and smooth, and it makes Google’s interface design pop when you want, or mimic the subdued and natural iPhone tones if you prefer.
There is a temperature sensor on the Pixel 8 Pro, and I cannot figure out why. It is only accurate up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (around 150 Celsius), so it isn’t actually useful for checking the temperature of pans while cooking, as Google suggests. I need my frying oil to be around 350 degrees, and I want to check my oven up to 500 degrees or more. Try again, Google.
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
When the Pixel 8 Pro is running Google’s special machine learning features, it stumbles quite a bit. When you edit photos with the new Magic Editor it takes a while to open the app, then longer to create the edits, and it frequently crashes while saving a copy. The AI wallpaper feature is cool, but it took several seconds to create a single set of wallpapers.
I hope to see these features improve over the next seven years as Google upgrades this phone with software improvements, which begs the question: this phone won’t possibly be capable of handling Android 21. Will this phone really be a viable phone in seven years? Google has promised this will be a seven-year phone, the first ever. How will the Google Tensor G3 stack up in seven years, compared to every phone that comes after it?
It’s far too early to say, but I have serious reservations about Google’s promise. First of all, the Tensor chipset already feels like it’s behind the curve compared to Qualcomm’s best Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chips, and no phone maker using Qualcomm is offering more than five years of major software updates. And the Tensor doesn’t even begin to compare to Apple’s A17 Pro chipset, which actually feels like it could last seven years, though Apple has never made that explicit promise.
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Second, Google has a terrible track record when it comes to supporting its own products and keeping promises. Google offered a Pixel Pass upgrade program with the Pixel 6, promising an upgrade after 24 months if you subscribed to the program. It killed the program within two years, and nobody got an upgrade. The Pixel 8 should have been the phone subscribers received.
Maybe Google will support this phone for seven years, for real, giving it every software upgrade and every new feature that it invents between now and 2030. Or maybe this phone will only get a portion of those upgrades, and new features every now and then. Or maybe Google will invent an entirely new class of Android for old phones like this one; some disappointing, stripped-down version that will work with the oldest devices.
We just don’t know – and Google hasn’t established a record of trust when it comes to longevity and long-term support.
Performance score: 3 / 5
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Battery life
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Improved battery life lasts all day, no sweat
Aggressive power management and adaptive display
Faster charging would have been nice
Battery life on Pixel phones gets better every year (as long as you avoid the A-series), and I’m happy to report that the Pixel 8 Pro had no trouble lasting through a full day of use. That should come as no surprise, since it has a larger battery than either the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus or the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max. Google really packed in the biggest cell it could fit, and you’ll need to buy a gaming phone to find bigger.
The power management can be quite aggressive. That screen is bright, but Google keeps it dialed down to a healthy brightness that won’t strain your eyes or drain the battery too much. There are plenty of baked-in power management features, as well.
You can choose the Standard battery saver or the Extreme battery saver, which limits more apps and background processes. There’s also an enigmatic adaptive battery feature that’s turned on by default. All the better, because that battery really lasts.
The Pixel 8 Pro charges at a respectable 30W, which meant I had a full battery within an hour, and 50% in 30 minutes. Still, there’s some room for improvement, especially if the battery is going to keep getting bigger.
Google includes a USB-C cable in the box and, oddly, a USB-A to USB-C adapter, but no wall charger. You need to buy a compatible Power Delivery charger or wireless stand. I used an Anker Nano charger, which can handle the fastest charging the Pixel can accept.
Should you buy the Google Pixel 8 Pro?
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Google Pixel 8 Pro score card
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Value
More expensive than last year, but still competitive compared to other Android phones, especially with longer software support.
4 / 5
Design
The same old look, now refined with a matte finish and nicer colors. It’s the nicest Pixel yet, but the Pixel look is getting stale.
4 / 5
Display
The standout feature on the Pixel 8 Pro, this bright and sharp display is just as good as the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and maybe better.
5 / 5
Software
The good stuff is useful, but some AI features cross the line, when they actually work, and other features are too hard to find.
3 / 5
Camera
Great all-around camera features, with some unique AI editing tools that are more like Photoshop creation than photography. Still, undeniably good pics.
4 / 5
Performance
Good enough performance for now, but it’s unclear if this phone will live up to Google’s seven-year promise, or if Android will cut corners to fit into the Pixel 8 Pro in the future.
3 / 5
Battery
Excellent battery life thanks to a very large cell inside and solid power management keeping that bright display under control.
4 / 5
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Also consider
The Google Pixel 8 Pro is a fun and unique phone offering features only Google can give you, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best phone for everyone. Here are the best alternatives in the same price range.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Google Pixel 8 Pro
Apple iPhone 15 Pro
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
Price:
$999 / £999 / AU $1699 for 128GB
$999 / £999 / AU $1849 for 128GB
$999 / £899 / AU $1399 for 256GB
Display:
6.7-inch, 120Hz, 2,400 nits peak
6.1-inch, 120Hz, 2,000 nits peak
6.6-inch, 120Hz, 1,750 nits peak
Cameras:
50MP main (1.2µm pixels); 48MP tele; 48MP ultrawide/macro
48MP main (1.22µm pixels); 12MP tele; 12MP ultrawide/macro
50MP main (1.0µm pixels); 10MP tele; 12MP ultrawide
Battery:
5,050 mAh
3,274 mAh
4,700 mAh
How I tested the Google Pixel 8 Pro
I took the Pixel 8 Pro to homecoming, but my kid wouldn’t let me use any of the photos I took for my international website. I used the Pixel 8 Pro for a week leading up to this review, using the phone as my only device with an active SIM card during this time. I used it for all of my personal and professional needs.
I used the Pixel 8 Pro to take photos, to navigate with maps, and to play games. I used it for phone calls and messaging of all sorts, including RCS messages and various messaging services, including Slack and WhatsApp. I also used Google Assistant to send messages using voice commands, especially while I was driving and using Android Auto.
I played games extensively with the Pixel 8 Pro, and I tested it with a number of streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, and Max.
Normally, I would benchmark a phone using benchmark apps, but these apps are not whitelisted for download on the Pixel 8 Pro before launch. It should be noted that Google makes the final decision about whitelisting apps on the Play Store, so Google is keeping pre-launch reviewers from benchmarking this phone.
I tested the Pixel 8 Pro with various accessories, including the new Pixel Watch 2 and the Fitbit Charge 6. I also used it with Pixel Buds Pro, my MX Master 2 mouse, and an SD card reader. For battery testing, I recorded my usage during the day and noted the times the phone died. I timed the phone during the charging process to verify charging claims.
Recent Android 14 betas have been a treasure trove of information about possible features coming to Android 15. We learned not too long ago that the operating system may introduce Private Space for securing sensitive information on a smartphone. Now new details are emerging on future changes that could alter how users interact with their mobile devices.
News site Android Authority unearthed these details inside the Android 14 QPR2 patch from early March. Several lines of code reference something called “Bluetooth Auto-On”. According to the publication, it will automatically activate Bluetooth connectivity if it’s turned off. They state that if someone turns it off, a toggle option will appear to give the phone the ability to turn on Bluetooth the following day. Android 15 reportedly will include text reminding users that enabling the connection is important for certain features; namely Quick Share and Find My Device.
Of course, this is all optional. You’ll still be able to deactivate Bluetooth any time you want for as long as you want without having to toggle anything.
Insight into Bluetooth Auto-On doesn’t stop there as more information was dug up from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) by industry insider Mishaal Rahman. Rahman states only system apps work with the tool. It’s not going to be compatible with third-party software. Also, it may not be exclusive to Android 15. There’s a chance the update could come to older OS versions; however, it won’t work on all devices.
Adapative screens
The second feature is “Adaptive Timeout” which was discovered within a developer preview for Android 15. Very little is known as the lines of code don’t reveal much.
But they do say it will automatically turn off your “screen early if you’re not using your device.” On the surface, this may seem like Screen Timeout although Rahman states it’s something totally different. Judging by its description, it operates similarly to Attention Aware on iPhone.
Adaptive Timeout would utilize some sort of metric, either by detecting your face through the camera or taking collecting input through sensors, to know if you’re directly interacting with the smartphone. If you stop using the device, the feature will turn off the display. Screen Timeout, by comparison, is just a timer. The screen will stay on until the timer runs out even if you’re not interacting with the phone. An argument could also be made that, due to its proactive nature, the tool can extend a device’s battery life and protect your data from prying eyes.
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What’s interesting about Adaptive Timeout is it may be an exclusive update for Google Pixel. Rahman says he found evidence of the tool referencing a Google namespace, suggesting it won’t be available on the “open-source version of Android”.
As always, take everything you see here with a grain of salt. Things can always change. And be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best Android phones if you’re looking to upgrade.
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