Should I trade in my Pixel 7 for a Pixel 8 Pro?
March 17, 2024 6:04 PM
I just got the pixel 7 a year ago but I'm tempted, largely because I'll be visiting beautiful landscapes this summer and I think the camera on the pixel 8 pro might be a lot better. Is this foolish? Are there other reasons to upgrade after only a year?
I went from a P5 to the P8 Pro. The camera upgrades are...a lot. I am a fairly casual camera user, but I quickly got overwhelmed with how many options the P8P's camera has, so I use automatic mode 99.9999% of the time. The ultrawide camera is nice to have, but I also don't use it that often (but it does take good photos when I do use it!). And the AI editing stuff is...weird to me, but I am an Old, and thus don't really want to engage with AI all that much.
I like pictures to capture what I saw as I remember seeing it, and don't feel the need to edit out things that might "interfere" with what I remember. I don't need to take out people or objects whose presence "ruins" a "perfect" shot or whatever - it's kind of a fun party trick, and I will admit it's computationally impressive, but it's not something I'd do regularly. Your mileage may vary on that, of course, but for me it's unnecessary.
For me, one reason I went to the 8 Pro, as mbrubeck mentioned, is the support (I also wanted a bigger screen). I do not cycle through phones quickly, and I plan on keeping the 8 Pro through 2030 if not longer - assuming that, at some point down the road, I will probably need to replace the battery. I like the peace of mind that comes with not having to worry about whether my phone will be out of date or fall out of security support soon, because it won't.
So I guess my answer depends on how "in the weeds" you get with your tech. If you routinely use a lot of the manual controls on your current camera, or wish you had more manual control, you would probably benefit from and enjoy the P8P's camera control. If you mostly shoot on auto, it may not matter.
posted by pdb at 8:57 PM on March 17
I like pictures to capture what I saw as I remember seeing it, and don't feel the need to edit out things that might "interfere" with what I remember. I don't need to take out people or objects whose presence "ruins" a "perfect" shot or whatever - it's kind of a fun party trick, and I will admit it's computationally impressive, but it's not something I'd do regularly. Your mileage may vary on that, of course, but for me it's unnecessary.
For me, one reason I went to the 8 Pro, as mbrubeck mentioned, is the support (I also wanted a bigger screen). I do not cycle through phones quickly, and I plan on keeping the 8 Pro through 2030 if not longer - assuming that, at some point down the road, I will probably need to replace the battery. I like the peace of mind that comes with not having to worry about whether my phone will be out of date or fall out of security support soon, because it won't.
So I guess my answer depends on how "in the weeds" you get with your tech. If you routinely use a lot of the manual controls on your current camera, or wish you had more manual control, you would probably benefit from and enjoy the P8P's camera control. If you mostly shoot on auto, it may not matter.
posted by pdb at 8:57 PM on March 17
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Other than that, I think it’s a mainly question of how much you expect to use the telephoto camera (not available on the Pixel 7), the ultrawide camera (improved on the 8 Pro), or the new manual controls or AI editing features. If you will mostly be shooting in automatic mode through the regular wide-angle lens (not telephoto or ultrawide), then the camera improvements over the Pixel 7 don’t seem as significant.
posted by mbrubeck at 8:07 PM on March 17