I replaced a very old mobile phone with a relatively new model. The seller is Kirin Mobile.
Anyway, the performance is better than the previous model and I am fairly satisfied with it, but I cannot rate it highly. The reasons are explained below.
I don't feel comfortable going back to my previous model, and because I use it for work (security authentication, two-step verification), I can't return it to see if there is really a problem.
Arrival:
- It arrived without any noticeable damage. There are a few scratches on the back, but you have to look closely to see them. The battery was empty and needed to be charged.
As it is a B grade, I plan to use the phone case at some point, so there are no problems.
- The phone came in a paper sleeve, with cables included, in a cardboard box. I am not too worried about it as it was hand-delivered, but I am a little concerned that such a fragile package would be shock-absorbed by the cardboard box alone.
Japanese service:
- My number card could be loaded. I have not tried the Suica application yet.
We found a few issues, but according to online reviews, they seem to be common to the Pixel 8 Pro in general.
- Overheating issues.
- Low battery capacity (compared to competitors at the time)
The following issues occurred on my device.
- Overheating mainly occurs when using apps while charging. It also occurred during updates shortly after purchase. Battery saver mode seems to work fine if screen and background usage is kept to a minimum (but this would be normal for any smartphone).
- When checking the battery status in the Android battery settings, it indicated that the battery cycle count had exceeded the limit and replacement was recommended. However, as the battery level is not displayed, it is possible that the battery level is below 80%, which is indicated by Back Market, but there is no proof.Some apps, such as Rakuten Mobile, LINE and even some gym apps, seem to have very high battery consumption according to the battery settings. battery consumption according to the battery settings. We recommend limiting the background activity of these apps. It is not clear whether the battery itself was faulty or the apps consumed excessive battery power. At least in battery saver mode, the battery did not need to be recharged at night and in the morning there was still battery power left (night time battery consumption was around 10-20%). The screen brightness was also set to maximum. This means that even after 2-3 hours of use per day (light use, not e.g. gaming), the user does not have to worry about charging until the evening.
There are also a few software bugs that are not necessarily hardware glitches.
- When trying to switch between apps in the background, it sometimes moves fast to the left, making it difficult to select background apps. Cancelling the selection and selecting it again seems to temporarily fix the bug.
- The battery widget app sometimes disappears. Restarting the device resolves the issue.
Special note:
- Because the Pixel 8 Pro has a dedicated encryption chip, secure messaging apps such as Signal (and possibly banking apps) consume significantly less battery power than the latest high-end smartphones, even in 2026. While some smartphones consume a lot of battery for secure communications, this is not the case with the Pixel 8 Pro.
As far as the battery is concerned, three stars is a 'fair' rating. The problem is that we don't have a 'new' Pixel 8 Pro on hand to compare it with, so we can't judge whether the price was reasonable. Thanks to the coupon, it cost less than 70,000 yen.