Google Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel Watch 2 (2023): Features, Specs, Release Date

(*2*)You’ll be hard-pressed to seek out this subsequent new characteristic on one other smartphone: a temperature sensor. This is unique to the Pixel 8 Pro. Google says you are in a position to measure the temperature of virtually something by pointing the sensor on the again of the Pixel to an object. I measured cups of scorching and iced water, and it delivered outcomes fairly shortly, although you must get very near the factor you need to measure, and you will get extra correct outcomes if you happen to select one of many preset choices on the fabric you are attempting to learn, like glass or ceramic. (Google says these presets assist calibrate the sensor.) Theoretically, you may even measure somebody’s physique temperature. Google has submitted the app to the FDA for this objective, but it surely hasn’t been cleared for such use.

(*2*)These new telephones are powered by Tensor G3, Google’s third technology of its customized silicon processor, and the corporate says “every subsystem has been upgraded,” together with the picture sign processor to enhance the Pixel’s picture-taking capabilities. Speaking of, the Pixel 8 has an upgraded 50-megapixel main digicam with what Google claims is a 20 p.c enchancment in gentle sensitivity. (More gentle sensitivity means brighter and sharper images, particularly in low gentle.) It’s joined by a 12-megapixel ultrawide digicam that helps macro mode from the Pixel 7 Pro, so you may seize close-ups. 

(*2*)The Pixel 8 Pro has upgraded light-gathering capabilities in all three of its cameras: a 50-megapixel essential digicam, a 48-megapixel ultrawide, and a 48-megapixel telephoto digicam with 5X optical zoom. Its macro mode can now get even nearer to a topic, and the Pro’s autofocus system is now “multi-zone,” permitting for a wider cone of focus in images. This Pixel additionally will get an unique Pro digicam mode that enables shutterbugs to tweak issues like ISO and shutter pace whereas nonetheless benefiting from the Pixel’s computational pictures.

(*2*)Both telephones have a ten.5-megapixel selfie digicam, however I’ve excellent news and dangerous information. There’s lastly autofocus on the front-facing digicam, permitting you to see all of your pores in sharp element. Unfortunately, that is accessible solely on the Pixel 8 Pro. The Pixel 8’s entrance digicam has a set focus.

(*2*)There are some new digicam software program tips this 12 months. The coolest is Video Boost mode, one more unique for the Pixel 8 Pro. Here, once you take a video in low-light circumstances (as much as 4K, 30 frames per second), the clip is shipped to Google’s cloud servers for processing and is then despatched again to you—relying on the size of the video, it will possibly take a number of hours. However, the enhancements are startling. Google confirmed me clips utilizing this mode versus these from the iPhone 14 Pro, and the Pixel’s video was a lot brighter and sharper, with higher stabilization.  

(*2*)Magic Editor is a brand new software in Google Photos that lets you edit a photograph in quite a lot of methods. You can change the place of a topic—in a demo, a Google spokesperson moved a child throwing a basketball from the bottom to the ring, making it appear like he was dunking; you may even transfer shadows, and the software program is aware of to fill within the background with comparable textures. Google additionally showcased altering the lighting of the scene to golden hour, to simulate heat sundown tones. Another functionality is Audio Magic Eraser, which can be utilized to take away undesirable sounds in your movies, resembling an ambulance siren going off whilst you’re attempting to report a tune in your violin. Google’s additionally bringing Real Tone, which permits extra correct pores and skin tones for folks of coloration, to movies. And there is a new software to alter the face of somebody in a gaggle picture—possibly they blinked or seemed away from the digicam—with one other one. These options blew me away a lot after I was sitting by means of the demo that I’ve written about them in higher element in a separate story.