Google Pixel 8 Pro: The camera’s still the thing

techcrunch.com:

This is a camera upgrade. Full stop. If photos and video aren’t your primary concerns when it comes to buying a new smartphone, there’s virtually no reason to upgrade from the Pixel 7 Pro to the Pixel 8 Pro (check Darrell’s review to see if the same is true for the Pixel 8). The Pixel 8 Pro isn’t a bad phone; it’s more that Google has found itself in the same spot as the rest of the industry.

There’s a very real sense in which the smartphone industry has been a victim of its own success. Much of the past half decade has been spent trying to figure out what’s next for the category. Foldables have offered a little hope (albeit a prohibitively expense one), but on the whole, it’s transformed into a war of inches.

That was once the domain of display resolution, but that battle has increasingly become one of diminishing returns. One thing that has remained top of mind, however, is imaging. Whatever manufacturers may tell you, it’s still very possible to take a bad image with a smartphone. Until that is no longer (or at the very least, seldom) the case, there’s plenty of room to improve on that side.

Image Credits: Darrell Etherington

Uneven lighting conditions, low light, zooming and just plain old bad luck often stand between you and a perfect shot. Don’t get me wrong, things have come a long way in a few short years. The barrier of entry has lowered considerably. You no longer need to be a trained photographer to take a great shot.

Computational photography has been a big piece of that in recent generations. It’s something Google has been a huge proponent of since Pixel, day one. The motivator is clear. Google is a software company first and foremost. It’s an AI company now as well. It believed from the outset that all photo and