After months of rumors,Google finally released the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Prothis week. Reviews are, unsurprisingly, strong across the board — both myself and Google Editor Manuel Vonau gave each device a nine out of ten in our respective reviews — but that hasn’t stopped plenty of controversy from swirling over the last few weeks. The company’s taking abig swing with some of its new camera features, and not everyone seems to be a fan.
As is usual for Google, the biggest changes found in the Pixel 8 series are with its software. And while you’ll find a handful of improvements across At a Glance or Google Assistant — withmore on the way in future updates— most of these new tools are located in the camera app. FromBest Take’s face-swapping featureto Audio Magic Eraser’s ability to swap out wind and background noise for isolated voices, there’s a lot to dig through here.
Personally,as I discussed in my Pixel 8 Pro review, I’ve found some of these tools to be a mixed bag. Best Take left mefeeling unenthusiastic about Google’s visionfor the future of photography — not in a “what is a photo”-style way, but rather when looking at how the company ismarketinga sterile type of “perfect” image.Magic Editor seems promising, but the UI is an absolute mess, and the results aren’t even up to the level of hit-or-miss — they’re usually a miss.
Personally, I think goofy faces and awkward shots are part of life. Maybe it’s okay to have things look a little imperfect. -Will Sattelberg
Audio Magic Eraser, however, does a pretty excellent job in reducing or isolating certain sounds, and upcoming tools like Zoom Enhance should keep the Pixel 8 Pro in my hands for quite some time.
My AP colleague Manuel Vonau was a little more positive inhis Pixel 8 reviewacross the board, coming away impressed with what Magic Editor could do in just a few taps and giving a soft thumbs-up to Best Take. Like myself, Manuel was especially impressed with Audio Magic Eraser — his samples are much better than what’s in my Pro review, so I’d highly recommend checking those out if you haven’t.
I’d argue that Magic Editor’s results look better than what I could do manually in Photoshop in, say, half an hour. -Manuel Vonau
Outside of Android Police, there’s beenplenty of conversationabout whether thesetools enhance photographyorturn it into a fabrication of reality, potentiallyeven breaking photos forever. Personally, I find these tools solid break-in-case-of-emergency options — Best Take and Magic Editor aren’t powerful enough to fool pixel peepers into thinking they’re unedited shots — while still thinking everyday photography is at its best when it’s showing what people were actually doing in a shot. I wouldn’t call myself a skeptic, but I also wouldn’t say I’m sold on Google’s vision here.
Of course, I’m curious what our readers think. I already had a bit of conversation about this in the comments section on my Pixel 8 Pro review, but I think it deserves a space of its own. You’ll notice this week’s usual poll feature is titled as adiscussion, and I think that’s because I expect plenty of opinions in the comments. Remember, keep it civil — no one’s wrong for having a different opinion. That said, I wouldn’t go a week without a poll, so if you just want to vote and move on, here are five different preset options for you to share your thoughts with.
