I'm excited, and not excited for the Pixel 8 Pro. As you know I'm a diehard stock Android fan, and like the latest Google phones, but I have to say the upgrades between phones seem so minimal nowadays. When I picked up the 7 Pro after having the 6 Pro, it barely felt like an upgrade, like the smallest upgrade ever, it should be called the Pixel 6.25 Pro, it was almost the same exact phone.
I am looking forward to a FLAT screen on the 8 Pro.
I hear the display brightness will be significantly better on the 8 Pro.
But that's about it.
Tensor 3? It seems Tensor 2 was a very minimal upgrade, and T3 looks like another mediocre upgrade. They should just go back to Snapdragon, which is rocking lately with their latest chipset.
Battery life? The 6 Pro and 7 Pro have average at best battery life, in mind they're rather poor for battery. Sticking with 5,000mAh battery size isn't cutting it, they need to swing for the fences, stuff in a 6,000mAh battery, make the phone a little thicker, that's fine.
Storage speed and internals, they need to do what Samsung does with the latest Galaxy Ultra phones, put in the latest and greatest top end hardware, don't gimp on that, it's important.
Charging speeds need to be way faster.
Screen brightness, yes it's supposed to be improved, but will still be 30% to 40% dimmer than a Galaxy or iPhone.
I just feel Google is still half-assing it with the Pixel line, and that's frustrating.
I understand your frustrations. It is rumored that Google will completely make their own chip starting with the Pixel 10 in 2025 using TSMC 3nm. Snapdragon is dead on Pixel. Google will be using their own custom silicon as it offers several advantages and cost savings. In terms of raw performance Google has stated from the onset that they were not going to ever compete in terms of raw performance with the likes of Qualcomm and others.
I actually think this is the best strategy moving forward and you can see how well it has worked for Apple. I think for now we don't really need the fastest chip on a Pixel but we do need better battery life and efficiency. Part of the Problem is the Samsung exynos based design which is not thermally or performance efficient as many users of Samsung Exynos chips can attest to over the years.
That all being said I think the upcoming Exynos derived Tensor 3 will be a significant improvement over Tensor 3 as it will be on an advanced 4nm process vs 5nm, it will have arm v9 cores vs older arm v8 cores, it will have 9 cores and one clocked much higher than current Tensor G3. All of these should boost performance and efficiency by at least 20% or more. Samsung newer design and fab process should help a bit. We will see when the phones come out in real world testing.
I have also seen rumors suggesting that Google will use ufs 4.0 because the new chip is compatible while the Tensor 2 was not so this will also likely boost performance and efficiency.
Screen should be improved and for me the biggest improvement I want to see is both higher brightness and less power draw because the current screen uses a lot of power, specially at higher brightness levels.
I don't care how fast the device charges but I am probably one of the few people who think this way. I would rather the device last longer on a full charge than charge super fast and need to be charged more than once a day. I would like maybe a slight boost to charging speeds but I care more about battery longevity than speed. I don't think a larger battery will be needed but it is rumored there will be very slight increases across the line.
I feel like the Pixel 6 series started Google actually taking their phones seriously as a true flagship. I think they are doing as much as they can to make the device premium while at the same time staying competitively priced. They know if they want higher adaption rates they have to continue to undercut both Apple and Samsung for at least the next couple of generations. I actually feel for the cost the Pixel 7 Pro is very premium. The build quality is excellent as are the materials used. The speakers are very good. The screen while not super bright gets bright enough at higher end and looks amazing despite the curved display. The color temperature is the best on any phone I have seen.
I think you brought up all very valid points but there is a cost associated with more premium and the test is are consumers willing to pay more for a device that still doesn't have reputation as a true flagship? I personally like the tact Google is taking and they are slowly evolving the phones to be better each generation without huge changes.
I am still very excited even though there is a lot of room for improvement. My Pixel 7 Pro as it is now is a pleasure to use and competes nicely with my s23 ultra. The ultra is still the overall better phone and I don't see that changing at least for a few generations but the AI features on the Pixel are still miles ahead of everyone else. As long as they can fix the thermal overheating, improve performance at least in line with SD 8 gen 2 and give a significant improvement in battery life while evolving everything else I will be happy. I think if I am right about the Pixel 8 Pro and it is a big if, then it may be a Pixel I keep for more than a year.
I wanted to get an iPhone and maybe the 15 will really impress me but I don't see myself going away from Pixel or Samsung anytime soon. I was able to sell a PC of mine and get a really good deal on a mid range OLED laptop and so far I am questioning the entire Apple experience. I love my M2 MBA but having a Pantone certified 120hz OLED touchscreen with gorilla glass is a game changer for me. No MacBook out right now can match it except for brightness in HDR content which I don't care about anyway as 500 nits is more than enough for me. While I still prefer MacOS, I have used every version of Microsoft Windows and it has despite several mis-steps vastly improved over the years. It still has a lot of problems but in key areas like stability and security it is much better. I also like having a touch option. I don't use it all the time but when I do it is very convenient. MacOS being limited in certain ways is still kind of a bur in my side. I pay more for less functionality but I gain a more polished system with better communication tools.
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