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The Google Pixel 8 just got its first update. Here’s what’s new

By Nadeem Sarwar Published November 6, 2023

Holding the Google Pixel 8 Pro in front of a bush. — Joe Maring / Digital Trends

Google has started seeding a new software update for its Pixel phones, which also happens to be the first one for its latest Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro models The update notes don’t mention the arrival of any new features, but the update does fix crucial problems that users have been complaining about in online forums for months and apply to the Pixel 8 series as well as its predecessors.

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At the top of the list is a solution for display- and graphics-related woes, including the problem of “a green flash when the display is turning off in certain conditions.” Google’s post mentions a specific scenario where the green screen issue appears, but users have been reporting it for a while.

Moreover, the “green goblin for Pixels” manifests itself in various ways. One user shared an image of the Pixel 8 Pro on Reddit with a vertical green line running across the screen. Others mention random screen flashing or a permanent tint on the panels, both partial and full-screen. The reports date back at least a couple of years and seem to affect phones as old as the Pixel 6 series.

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Google Pixel Green screen issue. — Nadeem Sarwar / Reddit

Google Pixel screen issue report. — Nadeem Sarwar / Reddit

Google Pixel wallpaper alignment report. — Nadeem Sarwar / Reddit

Google Pixel Screen flickering complaint. — Nadeem Sarwar / Reddit

Green screen report on Google Pixel 6 Pro. — Nadeem Sarwar / Reddit

Green screen complaint for Google Pixel phone. — Nadeem Sarwar / Reddit

Green tint complaint for Google Pixel phone. — Nadeem Sarwar / Reddit

Google says it has also fixed NFC-related issues. Once again, Reddit shows a healthy bunch of complaints documenting random NFC failure related to contactless payment. The Pixel 7 series appears to be the hotbed of the NFC problems here, but the complaints extend back a few models and cover oldies like the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4 generation as well. The latest complaint mentions that the Pixel 7 Pro’s NFC system failed after updating to Android 14.

Google says it has also fixed a problem that occasionally caused wallpaper misalignment. It appears that this problem was first spotted during the beta-testing phase of Android and was addressed, but seemingly persisted on the stable software builds.

Interestingly, the release notes don’t mention anything about fixing the recent storage access problem affecting Pixel 8 owners after installing the recent Android 14 update. Google said it was looking into the issue and also released a precautionary fix via the Google Play channel, but for users that had their devices stuck in a boot loop cycle or factory reset, there doesn’t appear to be any recourse available at the moment.

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Nadeem is a tech and science journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started…

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