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Google blocked Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro reviewers from using popular benchmarks to test the Tensor G3 chip, new owners too Google has taken the extraordinary step to block reviewers from being able to download popular chip testing benchmarks directly through its Play Store, surprising reviewers of its latest Pixel 8 series smartphones. Incredibly, the company has extended this block to include all new customers of its Pixel 8 phones following the launch, in attempt to suppress the widespread distribution of results. In a highly unusual move, it has been revealed that Google has blocked reviewers of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro from installing popular benchmarks including Geekbench and 3D Mark. Geekbench is a popular benchmark that assesses CPU performance in smartphone silicon, while 3DMark is a benchmark that assesses the GPU performance of a chip. Running benchmarks like these is a typical part of the review process and the review to help formulate their overall assessment of a device based on both objective data and qualitative analysis based on real world usage. Google's narrative about the Tensor G3 has been to emphasize that it has been designed with efficiency and AI in mind rather than outright performance -- making it clear it is acutely aware of its relative performance shortcomings. While blocking access to the tests via the Google Play Store will have affected the ability for some reviewers to run the benchmarks, others with a little more technical knowledge ha...

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Google blocked Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro reviewers from using popular benchmarks to test the Tensor G3 chip, new owners too Google has taken the extraordinary step to block reviewers from being able to download popular chip testing benchmarks directly through its Play Store, surprising reviewers of its latest Pixel 8 series smartphones. Incredibly, the company has extended this block to include all new customers of its Pixel 8 phones following the launch, in attempt to suppress the widespread distribution of results. In a highly unusual move, it has been revealed that Google has blocked reviewers of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro from installing popular benchmarks including Geekbench and 3D Mark. Geekbench is a popular benchmark that assesses CPU performance in smartphone silicon, while 3DMark is a benchmark that assesses the GPU performance of a chip. Running benchmarks like these is a typical part of the review process and the review to help formulate their overall assessment of a device based on both objective data and qualitative analysis based on real world usage. Google's narrative about the Tensor G3 has been to emphasize that it has been designed with efficiency and AI in mind rather than outright performance -- making it clear it is acutely aware of its relative performance shortcomings. While blocking access to the tests via the Google Play Store will have affected the ability for some reviewers to run the benchmarks, others with a little more technical knowledge ha...
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Dan Luu (danluu@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 22-Oct-2023 08:43:01 JST Dan Luu

Interesting to see Google not allowing people to install benchmarking software on the new Pixel phones.
The comments I've seen mostly focus on how reviewers are blocked from installing benchmarks, but I find blocking normal users from installing benchmarking software to be much stranger than blocking reviewers.
In some ways, this is more extreme than Oracle's stance on benchmarking (https://danluu.com/anon-benchmark/), though it's also less extreme in some ways.

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