Review: Peak Design’s Google Pixel 8 cases are even better in color

Name: Peak Design Everyday Case for Pixel 8
Item: Peak Design Everyday Case for Pixel 8
Rating: 4.7

Ben Schoon | Nov 3 2023 - 12:05 pm PT

After its debut in the Pixel 6 series, Peak Design’s “Everyday Case” has been one of our favorites for Google’s smartphones, with its stellar quality and mounting options, but there’s always been one complaint – the color. While gray is a good, neutral option, it’s always nice to have a splash of color, and that’s exactly what Peak Design has delivered with its Pixel 8 cases.

Peak Design Everyday Case for Pixel 8

What you should know

The Everyday Case for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro is a fabric-backed case designed with adding functionality in mind rather than solely protection. Using magnets in a similar arrangement to Apple’s MagSafe, Peak’s case allows Pixel 8 owners to mount their phones to magnetic accessories, including wireless chargers and more. And in our experience, Peak’s magnets are some of the strongest you’ll find.

But what makes this case stand out for mounting, especially as more and more MagSafe-compatible cases have hit the market for Pixel phones, is the SlimLink mounting system that’s exclusive to Peak Design.

This system uses a rear mounting notch to connect the case to an accessory in a much more secure way than you’d get with magnets alone. Peak mainly recommends this mounting method with camera gear, such as its tripod mount, but it’s arguably even more useful for high-activity areas, such as the bike mount. (By the way, this mount works on really any pole. It fits well on my disc golf cart, but beware – the screw is easy to strip). This special clip is super easy to mount, but it requires you to press a button on the back to release the device, which makes it much more secure than MagSafe-style magnets.

Peak also offers a handful of magnet-only accessories, such as its wallet, which is by far my favorite magnetic wallet.

But we don’t want to repeat ourselves too much. At its core, Peak Design’s Everyday Case for Pixel 8 is the same case that was available on Pixel 6, Pixel 7, and Pixel 7a, so you can check out those reviews for more information.

Review: Peak Design’s Pixel 6 case nails the MagSafe experience and builds on it

What I’ll add to this year’s model is that, for the Pixel 8 Pro, the issue of wireless charging on the Pixel Stand 2, in particular, seems to be a little worse. While I’ve had a few nights in this case where I’ve had zero issues charging, I’ve also had a couple of nights where the charger refused to properly charge with the case on, leading to my phone being low on battery in the morning. This doesn’t seem to happen with any other wireless chargers I’ve tried (such as Nomad’s Base Station Stand) and also doesn’t seem to be an issue for the smaller Pixel 8 on the Pixel Stand 2 – just something to keep in mind.

Another small point of personal preference is with the raised lip around the sides. It seems just slightly bigger this year (see slideshow above), probably because the Pixel 8 Pro ditched curved sides. I don’t really mind this at all – in fact, it felt quite nice to me – but some folks may feel it’s a little too thick.

Now in color!

What’s new this year is that, finally, Peak Design’s cases for Pixel 8 are in color.

The company offered its iPhone cases in a nice green in past years, but Pixel owners could only get the Charcoal gray. And, to be clear, that color still rocks, but the new lineup of five colors brings some great options.

In addition to the existing Charcoal, the green Sage option comes to Pixel 8 this year, and it’s just as nice as it was on the iPhone in previous years with its darkish hue. There’s also Midnight blue – my personal favorite – which is a dark color but just the right shade to not draw more attention than it needs. While I don’t yet have that color on hand for my Pixel 8 Pro, I think it’ll complement the Bay color quite well.

The red Redwood turned out to be my wife’s favorite, with the burnt color matching the Rose-colored Pixel 8 incredibly well. I think this color will also be one of the best for hiding stains, at least over the green and yellow versions.

Lastly, there’s Sun, a yellow color that, I’ll be honest, I’m just not a fan of. It looks pretty decent online, but in real-life lighting, this hue just doesn’t look as good to me. However, that just comes down to personal preference, though I do think this hue will be particularly prone to stains.

Whether it’s for Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro and regardless of color, Peak Design’s Everyday Case is available now for $49. Stock is, notably, a little limited at launch, so you might want to get your order in sooner rather than later.