Turns out that Google actually watches my videos,
or at least I'd like to think that they do.
If you remember back when we were taking apart the Google Pixel 7 Pro,
I said this about the charging port, with its vibrant blue rubber ring around the opening.
I think the whole phone should be that color next time.
And here we are with the whole phone being made the exact same color.
Coincidence? I think not.
So thank you Google for watching my videos and I think you made a fantastic choice with the color.
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Now it's time to take apart the Google Pixel 8 Pro to see
if there's any other Easter eggs inside,
see if we get a preview of the next color of the
Google Pixel 9 Pro with the rubber around the charging port.
You never know.
Let's get started.
Google is quite a bit different than the other Android manufacturers these days.
Instead of opening up their phone from the back, this Pixel
8 Pro gets opened up from the front screen side.
Normally this spells disaster for the screen since it's
near impossible to remove without damaging.
But broken screens are also the most common smartphone repairs. So I'm fine with it .
Google has committed to selling replacement parts through i Fix it for the next 7 years.
So not only are we getting software security updates, but also consistent hardware support.
That's a massive pledge, and I applaud Google for actually
taking their longevity promises seriously.
Looks like my screen has indeed been successfully separated from the body,
and I can flip it around to function from the back of the phone.
Kind of like how the old Windows phones used to operate.
May they rest in peace.
The screen has no screws holding it in place,
just a whole lot of watertight adhesive and a little
latch holding down the Lego style ribbon connector.
There is another long ribbon cable running down the length of the phone.
This heads up to the 5G antenna in the upper corner.
We also have a rather large and thick graphite sticker over the top of the battery.
Apparently this is to help move Heat away from the circuit boards and radiate it up and out through the
center of the super thin Actua display.
There are 10 T4 screws holding down a thick metal mid-plate,
two of which are hidden down near the port under a thin clear piece of plastic.
This metal mid-plate is here for a few reasons.
One, it adds a whole lot of strength to the phone.
And two, it's holding the haptic vibrator motor.
And since they are adhered together, it spreads the
vibrations out through the whole phone.
And three, it acts as a thermal heat sink for the processor.
It's at this point in the teardown where we can remove the
battery, or attempt to at least.
With the battery unplugged there is a nice little notice that says to read the manual and follow instructions.
I don't know where this supposed manual might be, but there
are numbers, one, two, and three, that
as I open the flap.
I assume this diagram near the number three is either a USBC Port that's happy to see me or
I'm supposed to slice through the adhesive under the battery like an 18th century Lumberjack.
The person who designed this system has obviously never removed a battery in their entire life and is probably
entirely separate from the person who sources the ultra strong adhesive.
Using this method would take nearly the entire 7 year
lifespan of the phone to get that battery.
I feel like the guy on TikTok who cut through that log with a plastic knife.
Personally, I don't have 7 years to waste on this fool's
errand, so we're using alcohol, which
the adhesive and makes a mess.
Not ideal, but it works.
I still prefer the magic pull tabs that both Apple and
Samsung are now using to secure their batteries.
Google is just behind the times.
Anyway, the battery is 5050 milliamp hours.
The lower loudspeaker can come out at this point.
This has a translucent blue sticker over the phone balls
inside, as well as an orange rubber ring
the speaker opening, which when combined with the
waterproofing mesh over the speaker hole,
we get IP68 water resistance rating.
The front facing camera has a rather long Lego style ribbon
connector and is a 10.5 megapixel with
optical image stabilization.
In the far left corner there is a small metal bar holding
our 5g millimeter wave antenna.
And normally these are just like a rectangle, but it looks
like Google has made this one
with antennas pointing up through the aluminum frame and
out the back panel at the same time.
Kind of cool.
The long singular camera block is held in with two screws
and spans the entire width of the phone.
We have our 50 megapixel main camera on the left, which does have OIS.
The 48 megapixel wide angle camera in the center does not have OIS.
And the 48 megapixel 5x telephoto camera on the right does
have optical image stabilization just on inside.
With the SIM card tray removed we can take another gander
at where the thermal foam rests up
the processor on the motherboard to transfer heat up and out through the screen.
After removing one more screw from the side of the frame,
the motherboard itself can come up and from the phone.
And there you have it.
The rubber on this 30 watt USB-C charging port is the same
brilliant bay blue as the back of the phone,
And the same bay blue color that we saw on the charging port last year.
It is soldered in place though and not easily repairable.
The upper loudspeaker has the same translucent blue balls
that the lower speaker had.
The last I want to get a good look at, which is unique to this
Pixel 8 Pro, is the rear facing thermometer.
Google says this guy should be able to read the temperature
of humans at some point, but they do yet have FDA clearance.
Personally, I don't think that the clearance has as much to
do with the hardware capabilities of
thermometer, but more about how Google is going to keep
that medical data HIPAA compliant.
It is pretty cool looking though.
Sitting below the dual LED flash, the four little dots are
able to check the temperature of objects
are within two inches of the phone...about a thumbs distance away.
Thumbs up for that.
If I had to pick the most aesthetically pleasing internal aspect of
this phone though it would be the 23 watt wireless charger.
There's just something magical about the way the copper
coils can transport energy through thin air.
If you enjoy seeing this internal magic like I do,
And wish the insides of your phone were on the outside like I do,
there's always my teardown skin.
I'll leave a link down in the description.
We cover pretty much every single popular smartphone.
I'm going to leave the top skin off of this device though
since Google's blue is pretty fire.
Besides the Fairphone 5, there is no perfectly repairable smartphone out there.
But it does seem to me that every major smartphone
manufacturer is making incremental improvements each year.
To get us to a more repairable and sustainable place.
Apple with their repairable back glass,
Samsung with their battery pull tabs, and Google now with
their 7 years worth of hardware support.
Out of the three main players though, I do think that
Google with this Pixel 8 Pro and their
parts available through iFixit, is taking repairability the most serious.
At least from a consumer standpoint, even if their battery process is primitive.
With the screen back on, everything appears to be working great.
Love to see it.
Nice work, Google.
What color do you think we should tell Google to make their phone next year?
I think transparent would be a winner. Let them know down in the comments.
And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.