Despite the excellent Pixel 8, Google keeps struggling to turn Pixel into the default Android phone. Will this ever happen?
The Pixel 8 can’t fix Google’s big Nexus mistake: The Android inventor had to try as hard as it does now from the very beginning
Well, there are two POVs when it comes to answering the question “where did Google go wrong” — Google’s, and the user’s perspective:
Without getting too philosophical, I’d say Google’s biggest mistake was not trying as hard (as it does now) from the very beginning — from the days of the Nexus phone.
Perhaps instead of relying on different manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG and Huawei to make what always should’ve been “the Google phone”, Google should’ve done exactly what Apple did — be 100% self-sufficient, and take control over both the software and hardware of the Nexus, which had incredible potential. But what’s (not) done is done…
Now, from the user’s perspective, the current state of the Pixel is what really matters, and despite me preferring the Pixel 8 Pro over the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the truth is that there are a few crucial aspects of the Pixel experience that don’t live up to the $1,000 starting price of the Pixel 8 Pro:
Even on the third iteration of the Tensor chip, Google’s in-house SoC (made in partnership with Samsung) is clearly still the biggest weakness of the Pixel; I’m not a gamer, but you don’t need to play games to notice the Pixel takes longer to complete some simple tasks like editing and saving a photo/video compared to the Galaxy S23, and especially the iPhone 15 Pro
But Tensor’s biggest drawback isn’t that it’s only as powerful as a mid-range chip but the efficiency of the Tensor SoC; although the Pixel 8 Pro’s battery should last a day for most people, it’s noticeably less reliable than both the Galaxy S23 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s, which can even push it to two days; the Pixel 8 Pro is also noticeably weaker than the iPhone in stand-by mode (when you’re not using the phone)
Believe it not, the Pixel’s camera isn’t what it was and this isn’t only Google’s fault; sure, the Pixel takes photos with tons of artefacts and noisy videos at night, but also, the competition has caught up to Google big time; if the Pixel 2 and Pixel 3 could easily be qualified as “the best camera phones” of their time, that’s not the case with the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, which might not even be in top five (Chinese flagships included); I’d pick the iPhone 15 Pro Max over the Pixel 8 Pro as my primary camera phone 10/10 times — something I couldn’t say about the iPhone X vs Pixel 2 back in 2017
And last but not least, the Pixel’s history of bugs will give users a bit less reassurance than something like a Galaxy or an iPhone; sure, I haven’t encountered any major bugs with my Pixel 8 Pro (especially compared to my Pixel 6 Pro) but reputation matters in the phone world, and Google’s was a little bit tarnished after the Pixel 6 series bug fiasco
Google is now playing in the “professional league” of flagship phones, but the $1,000 Pixel 8 Pro still runs on a mid-range SoC, which offers OK battery life.
