Google, Apple, and the Markovian: The Three Years of Google OS Updates and 5 Years of Security Support for Android Devices during the First Year
The Pixel 8 updates are modest, but if you have a previous iteration of the device, you will enjoy the upgrade. We’ll have to see if the Pixel 8’s smarts are enough to compel anyone to switch from an iPhone or Samsung device once we’ve spent some more time with it.
But as Google officially announces the phone this morning, there is one major new feature that still rings as a surprise: it’s getting seven years of OS upgrades. It is an improvement over the three years of OS upgrades and 5 years of security support that was promised for previous flagships. If there’s one thing that makes a higher price a little easier to swallow, it’s the promise that you’ll be able to get many more years of use out of your device. It’s possible that it actually makes good on it.
In the case of 2029, it is expected that the Pixel 8 and thePixel 8 Pro will get updated to at leastANDROID 20 and maybe evenANDROID 21 in the year 2030. But that assumes Google is still using the same annual release cadence for Android seven years from now, even before we get into its somewhat flaky history of ongoing support for other services and initiatives.
Google has the freedom to offer this longer support period thanks to using its own Tensor processor in the Pixel 8 series, which gives it more control over the hardware that’s gone into the phone compared to most of its Android competitors. Fairphone, a competing Android manufacturer that prioritizes lengthy support periods for its devices, has publicly spoken about how difficult it is to continue to support a phone after a chipset manufacturer like Qualcomm ends support for the processor used. In Google’s case with Tensor, the power is in its own hands.
Apple also offers lengthy support periods for its phones, just as it does for its processors. The company doesn’t promise that it supports its devices for a certain amount of years, but it released five major versions of the software for the last two years of the iPhone X. Even then, however, Apple will occasionally release security patches for older devices.
The Pixel 8 is the same size as the last year’s Pixel 7, with a 6.2-inch screen, and the Pro retains the 6.7-inch screen size. Both phones have more-rounded edges than before—they mold to my hands quite nicely!—and the Pixel 8 has a matte camera bar with a glossy glass back, whereas the Pro model has a soft-touch matte back glass with a glossy camera bar. The new models have frames made from 100 percent recycled aluminum.
A display upgrade this year, but only the 8 Pro can have a variable refresh rate on the display, which is also known as the Super Actua. It’s still 6.7 inches on the diagonal, but it finally ditches the curved edges for a fully flat screen. It also comes with a higher claimed peak brightness of 2,400 nits, which is — to use the technical term — hella bright. It will only kick in when the sun is very bright, but the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max only go to 2000 nits in high brightness. Assuming the Pixel 8 Pro can actually keep up that level of brightness without overheating and ramping it back down, that’s impressive.
It’s fairly predictable that these are some fairly predictable year over year changes, but this time around, they added a temperature sensor. You can use it to read the temperature of objects like beverages and surfaces, as well as applying to the FDA to use body temperature sensor, according to the company. That’s not really a feature anyone has been clamoring for on their phone, as far as I can tell, and feels a little like it was added to the product roadmap sometime in mid-2020. In more useful news, Google has upgraded the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro’s face unlock technology so that it can now be used for payments — previously, it could only be used to unlock your phone.
There is a slightly brighter f/ 1.7 lens attached to the 50-metric camera sensor. The Pro has an upgraded camera with a higher-resolution sensor that is now capable of focusing as far away as 2 cm in macro mode. The front-facing camera is getting an upgrade. And the Pro phone gets some pro camera controls: you’ll be able to control focus, shutter speed, which lens is being used, and access 50-megapixel JPEG or RAW shooting right from the native camera app.
Pixel 8 Pro: A Smaller Phone with a Higher Refresh Rate, More Battery-Efficient LCD Screen and More Software Features than the Pixel 7
Naturally, there are lots of new software features — all housed in Google Photos. When you take a series of photos of a group of people, you’ll have the option afterward to choose the best face for your subjects and save it all in one final frame. Audio Magic Eraser is a tool that tries to reduce or remove distracting sounds in videos.
A couple more features aren’t available at launch but will be coming soon, including Magic Editor, the generative AI image editing tool that Google previewed at I Video boost will take some of the processing off-duty and into the cloud to enable night sight video. The only way you can help zoom in on pictures is with the help of the zoom Enhance, available in the Pixel 8 Pro.
Google’s Assistant gets some AI updates, too, though it’s far from going full-on Bard. Google says it will be able to understand speech better and recognize pauses and fillers like “um” more effectively. It will be able to read web pages aloud to you. The keyboard has a one- touch option to clean up the spelling and pronunciation of words.
The corner of the phone is more rounded now, which is a change from the design of the other two phones. The design is still immediately recognizable as a Pixel phone, with a metal frame and camera bar across the back. The phone is even smaller, with a 5.9-inch screen instead of last year’s 6.3-inch screen. Is that difference in use you notice? At least it did not get bigger, that is for sure.
The new display is able to come in at a higher refresh rate of 120Hz and use less battery life, but not as much as the one in thePixel 7. You’ll have to pony up for the Pixel 8 Pro if you want a screen that can go all the way from 1Hz to 120Hz. The phone has the same price but has a 60Hz screen.
There are always-on display features in the Pixel 8 and the screen will go to a peak brightness of 2000 nits. The Pixel 8’s battery is 4,485mAh, up about 5 percent over the Pixel 7. The battery is not a huge one, but also not small, so I would not be surprised if the claim was not true. Google’s 30W wired charger (not included) will bring the Pixel 8 up to 50 percent in 30 minutes, or you can use wireless charging for a slower but more convenient top-up.
One of the more surprising additions to the Pixel 8 series is support for secure face authentication. The only one ever to use facial recognition as a secure, convenient and reliable way for people to verify their identity was the Pixel 4. The new phones have the same functions as the older one, despite the lack of the chip that powered that function in the older one. This means you can password-proof your banking and payment app by using your face. If you don’t like face recognition, both phones still have fingerprint sensors.
The camera app of the Pixel is now separate from the video and shooting modes. It is not possible to have extended manual controls in the new app for the phone.