It began within the final week of December; I took my Pixel 8 Professional off the charger one morning solely to see that the battery was nonetheless at 18%. I figured it would simply be a case of not plugging within the cable accurately, however at the same time as I did so, I spotted the cellphone wasn’t charging. I attempted with a distinct USB-C cable — the one which got here within the field — however nonetheless nothing. I assumed it was the charger at fault, so I went into the house workplace and plugged the Pixel 8 Professional into the Nexode 200W, which is what I take advantage of to cost most of my units — once more, it did not make a distinction.
Hardwired
In Hardwired, AC Senior Editor Harish Jonnalagadda delves into all issues {hardware}, together with telephones, storage servers, and routers.
At this level, I figured the USB-C port was busted, and as there was a whole lot of information on the machine that wasn’t backed up, I took out the Pixel Stand to at the very least cost the cellphone whereas I transferred over to a different machine. I meant to return to the OnePlus Open, so I began organising the foldable, and out of behavior, related the cable between the 2 units to transfer information over. In some way, that did the trick, and the Pixel 8 Professional began charging once more. Once I plugged the machine again into the Nexode 200W, the battery began charging up.Â
Ever since that day, charging the Pixel has been a daily supply of tension and frustration. Whereas the USB-C port remains to be working, it has clearly gotten free (there’s a whole lot of play across the housing), and half the time, any cable I join comes free after quarter-hour or so, and the machine does not cost — notably after I use a cellphone stand.
That is simply after two months of utilizing the Pixel 8 Professional — a tool that is meant to final seven years. In some way, I doubt the USB-C port on this factor goes to final even a 12 months, a lot much less seven. This is not a brand new prevalence on Pixels; I used all of the telephones Google launched up to now, and a relentless chorus is poor high quality management. The oleophobic coating on my Pixel 4 wore off after a month of use, the quantity button on my Pixel 7 Professional indifferent after 4 months, and the Pixel 6 Professional had related points with the USB-C port.
A few of these foibles had been excusable previously as Google was simply getting began, however the model is now a longtime participant within the {hardware} scene, and the truth that its units proceed to have {hardware} points out of the field is infuriating. That is not the solely draw back of the Pixel 8 Professional; the Tensor G3 is not wherever as quick as different flagships, the cellphone is not notably fluid in each day use, and it throttles simply whereas gaming. And after two months of use, I’ve already used up 90% of the out there storage, so I will have to delete some information quickly.Â
However I nonetheless use it in favor of Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Samsung telephones due to the clear software program and the cameras. Whereas Xiaomi has the perfect digital camera bundle of any cellphone within the Xiaomi 13 Extremely, the Pixel 8 Professional is the outright winner at taking photographs and movies in low-light situations, and I worth that greater than the machine’s gaming prowess.Â
What I am unable to abide is {hardware} failures on a $1,000 flagship, and Google wants to handle this difficulty; it can not cost the identical value as different manufacturers whereas persevering with to roll out telephones with little to no high quality management. As for my unit, I will need to ship it to a service heart in some unspecified time in the future, and I am not trying ahead to that in any respect — I’ve had sufficient dealings with Google’s aftersales service to understand how shambolic it’s, and I intend to attend so long as doable earlier than taking that route.
It is nice that Google is rolling out seven platform updates to the Pixel 8 sequence; that is completely the way in which ahead for Android as an entire, and I would like different producers to comply with swimsuit. Nevertheless, Google additionally wants to ensure it’s doing sufficient to make sure that its units can truly final that lengthy with out breaking down, and that is an space the model hasn’t paid a lot consideration to — if in any respect.Â
