Pixel 8 / Pixel 8 Pro / Pixel 8a

So the wood case I ordered from Amazon came in.

Wow. This feels so good in the hand, it's actually much thinner than I expected, in a good way.

The sides have little rubbery bumps for better grip, and the smooth wood back feels nice. But overall this case is very comfortable to hold, while also looking super cool. Highly recommend
 
Zorachus said:
So the wood case I ordered from Amazon came in.

Wow. This feels so good in the hand, it's actually much thinner than I expected, in a good way.

The sides have little rubbery bumps for better grip, and the smooth wood back feels nice. But overall this case is very comfortable to hold, while also looking super cool. Highly recommend
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Is it from the German company (I know, still made in China) that was listed a page or two ago?
 
Anyone seen any BF deals for the base P8? No carrier/finance deals though.

My daughter just killed her 3aXL, so guess I'll finally replace my P5 with the 8 since it's about the same size after comparing in store, and hand down my P5 to her.
 
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Unfortunately, the Ghost Case doesn't properly work with the Pixel Stand which is very disappointing..
 
Well, after months of pushing the dbrand Grip as THE best case for any phone, I learned the hard way that it ain't exactly true anymore. I've used a $10 Caseology Athlex Grip for about a month as I waited for my $55 dbrand Grip to be delivered. It arrived Saturday and I gotta admit the cheap Athlex case feels better and grippier than the dbrand. I made the mistake of trashing the dbrand box so it's not returnable. Expensive lesson, but learned well. :banghead:

PXL_20231204_220640312.jpgPXL_20231204_220704560.jpg
 
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Mad Maxx said:
Well, after months of pushing the dbrand Grip as THE best case for any phone, I learned the hard way that it ain't exactly true anymore. I've used a $10 Caseology Athlex Grip for about a month as I waited for my $55 dbrand Grip to be delivered. It arrived Saturday and I gotta admit the cheap Athlex case feels better and grippier than the dbrand. I made the mistake of trashing the dbrand box so it's not returnable. Expensive lesson, but learned well. :banghead:

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That tracks.. IMO any case over $20 is just grossly overpriced if protection is your main concern. Any TPU case with a few millimeters of material on the corners and a raised lip over the display is more than sufficient to protect from falls from several feet. I've had phones survive drops from roller coasters and carnival rides with cheap TPU cases at least, so the Otterboxes and similar brands are just oversized/overpriced bricks. But I get spending more for aesthetics if that's all you want and don't care so much for adequate protection. But to me phones are just tools and I'm not looking to make a fashion statement with it.

I ordered my tried and true Spigen Rugged Armor that I've had for my past 2 phones and saved them from countless falls on almost a daily basis. The buttons are still tactile and easy to feel for in the pocket or arm band when I'm running, which are the next concern for me after protection and grip. I saw that Caseology while shopping for it too though and was tempted by it as well. It will def be next in line if the Spigen doesn't fit as well or meet expectations somehow this time around.
 
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T4rd said:
That tracks.. IMO any case over $20 is just grossly overpriced if protection is your main concern. Any TPU case with a few millimeters of material on the corners and a raised lip over the display is more than sufficient to protect from falls from several feet. I've had phones survive drops from roller coasters and carnival rides with cheap TPU cases at least, so the Otterboxes and similar brands are just oversized/overpriced bricks. But I get spending more for aesthetics if that's all you want and don't care so much for adequate protection. But to me phones are just tools and I'm not looking to make a fashion statement with it.

I ordered my tried and true Spigen Rugged Armor that I've had for my past 2 phones and saved them from countless falls on almost a daily basis. The buttons are still tactile and easy to feel for in the pocket or arm band when I'm running, which are the next concern for me after protection and grip. I saw that Caseology while shopping for it too though and was tempted by it as well. It will def be next in line if the Spigen doesn't fit as well or meet expectations somehow this time around.
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I really like the quality of the Offical Google Pixel 8 case. It's got a great feel in the hand and does seem to protect the phone as I have droped it once without scratching or breaking it.
 
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CyberJunk said:
I really like the quality of the Offical Google Pixel 8 case. It's got a great feel in the hand and does seem to protect the phone as I have droped it once without scratching or breaking it.
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It looked a bit too thin/cheap to me (esp. for $35) and exposes the camera lens too much for my liking. I'm sure it's fine though for most people, just a bad value (as are most of their products and accessories) IMO.
 
we use the made by google cases here too. I do not like the exposed camera glass on the google case. My wife has cracked the glass protector i got for it already by just setting it down.
So I too ordered a Rugged armor case but to protect glass back i lined it with velvet patch
product
I hope that will protect the back glass better than the tpu build.
 
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My wife's 7a is plagued by the reboot issues you read about online. I was going to get her an 8, but I'm reading folks are having similar issues with the 8. On this thread alone I've read people having apps crash, etc. I don't understand how a company with Google's resources can't nail the basic phone experience.
 
OFaceSIG said:
My wife's 7a is plagued by the reboot issues you read about online. I was going to get her an 8, but I'm reading folks are having similar issues with the 8. On this thread alone I've read people having apps crash, etc. I don't understand how a company with Google's resources can't nail the basic phone experience.
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I almost jumped to the iPhone this year after disappointing experiences with the 6 Pro and 7 Pro, especially the poor battery life. Took one more chance with the 8 Pro mostly because of its big beautiful flat screen. However, 3 of my favorite apps constantly crash and the battery still sux. iPhone 16 Pro Max is gonna be mine in 2024.
 
my sister's brand new 7a was crashing constantly on all kinds of apps... factory reset did not help. I am hoping her replacement which is a refurbished unit(bs) will be better. Only bank of America app crashes constantly on me with the standard 6
 
My seven hated Pandora for a while, but seems to have patched the problem away. My wife's 7 has been trouble free.
 
Spoiler: Marques Brownlee calls the regular Pixel 8 (not the Pro) the best phone of the year.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkRXhe3KaPE

I can't say I object, and I'm a huge iPhone fan. The P8 delivers a lot of phone for the money, even if it's considerably more expensive than its predecessor. You don't really need more unless you either insist on a telephoto lens or want more than 256GB of storage. I'd still give the nod to the iPhone 15 family for raw speed, video recording and a few other traits, but not everyone will notice the differences.
 
I watched last night and almost fell over when i saw the Pixel 8 was MVP. My wife was what was that he just said and i added i bet do to 7 years of updates just as he said the same!
we are happy with our Pixel 8 so far nice bump from the 4a5g.
Good to see 7A was mentioned too.
 
Honestly he is not wrong. The old High end is now becoming the new mid range and its the new sweet spot. I am just sad google will probably be getting rid of the A line as they upscale while reducing costs
 
Finally got my Pixel 8 delivered and set up. I thought it would be negligibly larger since it's only larger in height compared to my Pixel 5, but it's definitely noticable still, and noticeably heavier as well. The fingerprint scanner has already failed more times in the first day than the P5 in the 3+ years of using that too, and I'm definitely missing pulling down the notification shade with the rear scanner too. Which the tap gesture on the back definitely doesn't replace since it doesn't pull all the way down and isn't as consistent either.

Otherwise it's fine so far in the first day. Speakers are a decent upgrade. Battery life so far seems about the same as the P5 when it was new before all the battery wear. Display doesn't seem much smoother over the 90hz on the P5, so kinda wish I could set that as a balance between battery and smoothness. It's overcast today, so can't really tell it's better outside yet, though I'm sure it's much better in direct sunlight given the brightness specs difference. Overall performance is noticeably better on loading a few apps that were somewhat slow on the P5 like my password manager (Msecure) that was a tad slow to initially load before, and much faster camera processing after snapping pics as well.

So it's kinda a meh upgrade for me so far from the P5. Which kinda highlights how hardware in general has plateaued and upgrades aren't nearly as generational or exciting as they used to be. Tensor trailing the pack of all other SoCs doesn't help much either.

Edit: Does anyone use the Google Voice app on their Pixel 8? I have an issue now that it loses microphone permission if the app isn't open/active in the foreground. It has permission "while using the app", which is the same as on my Pixel 5 that works fine when I switch apps away from Voice still. So not sure if this is an issue on the December update or what. If anyone can test I'd appreciate it. Pretty annoying, as I use Google Voice for all of my calls to the states while I'm overseas. Fortunately the Phone app and Meet work fine in the background.
 
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Mad Maxx said:
I almost jumped to the iPhone this year after disappointing experiences with the 6 Pro and 7 Pro, especially the poor battery life. Took one more chance with the 8 Pro mostly because of its big beautiful flat screen. However, 3 of my favorite apps constantly crash and the battery still sux. iPhone 16 Pro Max is gonna be mine in 2024.
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I had so many problems with my 6 that I will never buy another google branded phone ever. Wireless charging problems as well as general charging problems, android auto problems, performance problems. It was so bad that the carrier essentially wrote off what I owed on the phone and gave me every discount possible to get into something else.

Moved to samsung s23+ and I have had zero problems since then.
 
harbingerofdoom said:
I had so many problems with my 6 that I will never buy another google branded phone ever. Wireless charging problems as well as general charging problems, android auto problems, performance problems. It was so bad that the carrier essentially wrote off what I owed on the phone and gave me every discount possible to get into something else.

Moved to samsung s23+ and I have had zero problems since then.
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I'm going to try the S24 Ultra when it's released in January. If it doesn't work for me it'll be back to the iPhone.
 
I still have 1 year with my regular pixel 6. trying to get 3-4 years out of my phones. mostly no complaints but honestly there really is only 2 choices now in the android market. Samsung and Google. everything else is niche. whatever the best bang for my buck will get my $$$. not paying high prices and to be honest the 6 feels plenty fast for everything I do on my phone so speed is not a priority. constiant performance and useful features is what I care about.
 
Vengance_01 said:
I still have 1 year with my regular pixel 6. trying to get 3-4 years out of my phones. mostly no complaints but honestly there really is only 2 choices now in the android market. Samsung and Google. everything else is niche. whatever the best bang for my buck will get my $$$. not paying high prices and to be honest the 6 feels plenty fast for everything I do on my phone so speed is not a priority. constiant performance and useful features is what I care about.
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Yeah it's very annoying there's only like 2 Android OEMs that take software support seriously after this long. We need another circa-2013 Motorola or Essential phone on the market, because there's plenty to capitalize and improve on the offerings from those other big 2 OEMs right now. I really wanted to get the Zenfone 10 over the Pixel 8 for its considerable better hardware and smaller size, but alas Asus will only support that phone for 2 years with 2 major OS upgrades and it started on 13 when 14 dropped on Pixels, which is a deal breaker for me.

My Pixel 5 still preformed fine for me as well and I would have liked to keep it another year because I've heard Tensor is not going to be based on the Exynos SoC next year, so presumably should be much better and at least competitive with Qualcomm. Ideally they offer an even smaller phone next year too. I just went running for the first time with my P8 and the added weight makes it bounce around a lot on my arm holster, whereas my P5 didn't budge at all since it is considerably lighter.
 
I've had my 8 pro for a week and haven't had any screen bumps or problems with google voice etc yet. That said I don't often call with voice and only use it for things that require a phone number and to text people I don't want knowing my work or personal numbers.
 
Wade88 said:
I've had my 8 pro for a week and haven't had any screen bumps or problems with google voice etc yet. That said I don't often call with voice and only use it for things that require a phone number and to text people I don't want knowing my work or personal numbers.
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Try to make a WiFi/voip call in Voice and then switch away from the app or turn your screen off. Likely it will mute/disable your mic, as it seems to be a known bug with Voice on the Pixel 8. It is on mine at least and made for a very annoying phone call on Voice until I figured out the green mic indicator was disappearing every time I switched apps or minimized Voice.

I submitted a review on the App store and they quickly replied with the standard "clear app data or reinstall" fix, which didn't work. So I submitted community post since the email listed on the Play Store is inactive, and they finally admitted it's a known issue now and hopefully will be fixed soon.
 
T4rd said:
Try to make a WiFi/voip call in Voice and then switch away from the app or turn your screen off. Likely it will mute/disable your mic, as it seems to be a known bug with Voice on the Pixel 8. It is on mine at least and made for a very annoying phone call on Voice until I figured out the green mic indicator was disappearing every time I switched apps or minimized Voice.

I submitted a review on the App store and they quickly replied with the standard "clear app data or reinstall" fix, which didn't work. So I submitted community post since the email listed on the Play Store is inactive, and they finally admitted it's a known issue now and hopefully will be fixed soon.
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One would think they'd test their own apps before shipping these turds but w/e.
 
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T4rd said:
Yeah it's very annoying there's only like 2 Android OEMs that take software support seriously after this long. We need another circa-2013 Motorola or Essential phone on the market, because there's plenty to capitalize and improve on the offerings from those other big 2 OEMs right now. I really wanted to get the Zenfone 10 over the Pixel 8 for its considerable better hardware and smaller size, but alas Asus will only support that phone for 2 years with 2 major OS upgrades and it started on 13 when 14 dropped on Pixels, which is a deal breaker for me.

My Pixel 5 still preformed fine for me as well and I would have liked to keep it another year because I've heard Tensor is not going to be based on the Exynos SoC next year, so presumably should be much better and at least competitive with Qualcomm. Ideally they offer an even smaller phone next year too. I just went running for the first time with my P8 and the added weight makes it bounce around a lot on my arm holster, whereas my P5 didn't budge at all since it is considerably lighter.
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I have been in your shoes looking at smaller phones. I ended up with the regular S23. It's essentially the same size as the Zenfone because even though the screen is larger, it has smaller bezels. I generally dislike Samsung's take on Android, but I detest Google's poor excuse for a SoC/Modem in the Pixel lineup. I've had every Pixel series (except the 4) since the beginning and even before with various Nexus phones. I just can't make myself buy a Pixel 8 knowing that it's slower and has less battery life than the S23 I've had for 8 months.

Come on Google...make a phone I want to buy again.
 
Just to follow-up on my cell phone journey, I picked up the s24, and it's everything that the Pixel lineup should have been. On my 2nd day and still have 33% battery left.

I wish Google would just make the phone I want to buy.
 
4 months with my Pixel 8 Pro, and I'm just very comfortable and satisfied with this phone. I like the simplicity and buttery smooth UI. No bloatware and everything just works.

I'm still contemplating on picking up a s24 ultra. I haven't been on a Samsung phone since the S8+ but I've had every pixel Pro phone since they came out.
 

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I looked at the 8 and 8 Pro at best buy, and I would have to go from 7 to 8 Pro for the similar size if nothing else. But I'm trying to wait to the 9 series because the 7 still does everything I ask without complaint. I really wish Goggle would put the Pixel pro hardware in a tablet without all the data scraping/automation/expensive stuff.
 
kirbyrj said:
Just to follow-up on my cell phone journey, I picked up the s24, and it's everything that the Pixel lineup should have been. On my 2nd day and still have 33% battery left.

I wish Google would just make the phone I want to buy.
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Very nice, meanwhile my brand new Pixel 8 barely lasts me a day and I'm routinely going to bed with 20% or less battery left, while also taking longer to charge its oversized battery with a standard 15w charger. So this phone will be pretty bad with any amount of battery wear on it. I just took a 50 min trip in my car using wired Android auto and it only charged my phone like 10%. My previous Pixel 5 would have tripled that at least.

It's amazing how bad tensor still is after 3 generations.
 
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