With tech-tober in full swing, our next set of teardown devices are
brought to us by Google. On our table you’ll see the Pixel 8 Pro
and the Pixel 8 and we’re looking at the Pixel 8 Pro specifically today.
Disclaimer, we have a partnership with Google for spare parts but we bought
these phones ourselves and Google has had no input in how we cover these teardowns.
This camera visor might be an acquired taste,
I personally prefer the tri–camera setup of the iPhones, but you can’t deny it looks sleek.
The pixel 8 pro does have a new feature that’s a first for mainstream smartphones,
a thermometer on the back. Due to FDA regulations, it’s not approved
to measure body temperature, but it’s a pretty nifty little feature nonetheless.
Combine that with a host of integrated AI tools and you’ve got a truly interesting
Android device powered by Google’s own Tensor G3 System on Chip.
But the questions we want to answer today is,
just how easy is it to repair a Pixel 8 Pro, and can you do it yourself?
The front entry design means that the screen needs to come off so on the heating mat it
goes. I’ll use Clampy to lift the screen and expose the adhesive that’s sitting between the
display panel and the frame. Get a pick in and cut the glue all the way around.
I found this easier than going through the adhesive on the 15
Pro Max and the pixel 8 pros glue feels more forgiving.
Lifting the screen up reveals a spring bracket holding the display panels press
connector snuggly in place. Popping that connector allows me to remove the screen.
It’s nice not to have an extra screw to worry about
but both spring and screw brackets work just fine.
I can clearly see a lot of love and care has gone into the construction of the Pixel 8 Pro
but it’s certainly not the compact and efficient design we see on the interior
of the iPhone. But that’s ok, because this phone has a lot of other things going for it.
Here’s one example, the beautiful Super Actua panel made by Samsung can reach
a peak brightness of 2400 nits, just a tad over the 2000 nits output by the iPhone 15’s,
which coincidentally also use Samsung panels.
I need to get the 5G mm wave antenna cable out of the way so let's fold that back. There’s
a good deal of carbon film sitting over the battery and extending to the camera housing.
Fun fact, a common heat management trick in small devices is to use the battery and other
metal components as a heat sinkThat’s exactly what’s happening here and this
carbon film's job is to dissipate that heat through the back glass.
The central frame here is fulfilling a few roles. The most apparent is that it
reinforces the phone and acts as the central structure to which the mainboard is mounted.
A less obvious role is that it transmits vibrations from that
haptic motor at the bottom all the way up through the body of the phone.
Time to remove that battery. It’s worth noting that the power connector should be
one of the first things we disconnect, not at the halfway point in the disassembly.
Using the two tabs provided, I spent a bit of time forcing this plastic strip
through the adhesive, with limited success. I can’t tell if this was
because I couldn’t get a tight grip on the tabs or whether the glue was the problem.
I ended up dousing the problem in alcohol. I’m
not particularly impressed with those plastic tabs but maybe it was just me.
The battery is rated for 19.25Wh which provides plenty of juice for daily use. What’s more,
and as is the case in most modern smartphones,
you can access battery health information in the settings and you can even activate some
clever software features that will help you extend the life of your battery. Pretty neat.
Next out is the rather puny looking 10 megapixel front facing camera. Some press
connectors and screws later and I have the entire main camera assembly out as well.
From left to right, we have the 50 megapixel main camera,
the 48 megapixel ultrawide, and the 48 megapixel 5x optical zoom telescopic camera.
This housing is roughly the same size as the S23 ultras
10 megapixel telescopic camera which provides a 10x optical zoom and it’s
nearly twice as big as the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 12 megapixel 5x periscope camera.
With the lower speaker out, I can now move on to the mainboard. There’s not
much holding it down at this point but there is a coax connector on the reverse
side that needs to be disconnected before the board can be freed.
Top speaker is yeeted out followed by the metal bracket holding the mmWave antenna.
The last item on my list is that novel thermometer. It’s been a while since
we’ve seen a truly unique function in a smartphone and I want to see how they did
it. The hardware is a little anticlimactic. It’s literally this tiny thermal sensor here
but this turned out to be a good excuse to look at some of the other sensors.
This STMicroelectronics ambient light sensor looks particularly interesting. This sensor plays a key
role in colour correction. There are multiple photodiodes in here that generate electricity
depending on the specific wavelengths of light reaching it. The coloured filters that you can
see ensure that each photodiode only captures the wavelengths intended for the underlying circuitry.
For the first time, Google has made a commitment to provide 7 years of
updates for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. That compares to a no-commitment
average of five to six years of support from Apple and only four years from
Samsung. This is a significant leap in the fight to extend the life of our electronics.
The pixel 8 pros hardware could be physically easier to access with a
dual entry design like the iPhone 15 line of devices. The battery was also a pain
to deal with, pull tabs like Apple’s or Samsungs phones would be welcome.
But at least the components themselves are free from software locks, something that plagues an
ever growing number of iPhone components. This means cheaper and easier repairs for the end user.
The biggest win of all in my opinion is the commitment to seven years of security and software
updates. When paired with the availability of OEM parts, manuals, and a non-hostile approach to DIY
repair, this should empower Pixel owners to keep their devices running for longer.