Reddit Convinced Me to Buy a Pixel 8 Pro. 800 Euro worth of "Big Mistake". (2 years of experience)
I genuinely think the Pixel 8 Pro is the worst tech purchase I've made in years, and I am still annoyed every time I pick it up.
What makes it even worse is all the Reddit users who kept recommending this phone and then spent months glazing over every issue people reported. Every complaint was met with the same scripted responses.
"Give it a week."
"It needs to learn your usage."
"It will settle down."
"The AI optimizes everything."
No. It doesn't.
I paid around €800 for this thing and I can't even use 5G comfortably because the phone turns toasty. Not "a little warm." I mean genuinely uncomfortable to hold during normal use. Instagram scrolling, WhatsApp video calls, basic everyday tasks, and the phone is cooking itself.
Then come the side effects. Audio crackling. Apps slowing down. Performance becoming inconsistent because the device is busy trying not to melt itself.
USB tethering is another joke. Half the time I have to disconnect and reconnect multiple times before my PC recognizes it properly. Meanwhile my old Xiaomi with a broken screen works on the first attempt and somehow delivers a more reliable connection.
And before someone says I'm exaggerating, go watch teardown videos. Google shipped an €800+ flagship without proper cooling hardware that many competitors have been using for years. The thermal design is embarrassing.
The modem is awful too. Connectivity issues, random signal weirdness, inconsistent network performance. I genuinely do not trust this phone for anything important. If I need to upload important files, join a business call, or do something time sensitive, I find myself wondering whether the phone is going to decide today is the day it wants to struggle.
The automatic brightness behavior is another disaster. A few moments in bright conditions and the screen starts dimming itself. What's the point of having all that peak brightness if the phone can't sustain it long enough to actually be useful?
The best part is the advice from Pixel defenders.
"Just use 60Hz."
"Disable 5G."
"Turn on battery saver."
"Lower your brightness."
"Use LTE instead."
Amazing. Truly amazing. An €800 flagship phone where the solution to every problem is disabling the features you paid for.
And please spare me the "but Stock Android" argument. Stock Android is not some magical feature that excuses terrible thermals, mediocre connectivity, unreliable performance, and hardware compromises.
What exactly is supposed to stand out about this phone? The modem? The thermals? The speakers? The reliability? The performance? Because none of them do.
Meanwhile entry-level Snapdragon devices are running cooler, maintaining better connections, and feeling more reliable in day-to-day use.
Never again. I listened to the recommendations. I ignored the warnings. Lesson learned.
Everyone who gave this phone more than 5/10 should be banned from Internet !