Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro review: better and better - The Verge

The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro consciousness similar afloat realized, much refined versions of the phones Google launched past year. The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro marked a caller section for Google’s mobile devices, with a bold caller plan and a marque caller processor. They were ambitious, often large devices with a fewer unsmooth edges. Google hasn’t wholly smoothed them implicit successful this iteration, but it has created a brace of phones that consciousness similar worthy competitors to the iPhones and Samsung Galaxies of the world. They’re what the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro should person been: a twelvemonth late, but amended precocious than never.

At the apical of the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro’s spec expanse is Tensor G2, the 2nd mentation of the chipset Google introduced past year, and it powers respective of the devices’ refinements. There are immoderate updated code designation and calling features, but Tensor G2’s astir impactful contributions to the Pixel acquisition are successful the camera app. There are immoderate different hardware-related improvements, too, similar the long-overdue summation of look unlock. It’s thing groundbreaking, but it’s a worthwhile quality-of-life enhancement compared to the sluggish in-screen fingerprint scholar connected the Pixel 6.

In this caller Tensor era, Google has a antithetic thought astir what a smartphone should be: intelligent and helpful, easing the symptom of mundane tasks similar calling lawsuit service. This execution isn’t flawless, but it’s an improvement. At their best, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro are susceptible of genuinely awesome feats. The Recorder app’s unrecorded transcription — a Pixel-exclusive diagnostic made spookily bully by Tensor — is truthful reliable it’s go an indispensable instrumentality for my work. And erstwhile the Pixel camera is good, it’s really good. 

Other times, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro stumble, turning successful results that conscionable don’t lucifer up with Google’s lofty vision. The much-touted Magic Eraser instrumentality to region unwanted elements from the inheritance of an representation has yet to truly impressment me, and this year’s Photo Unblur diagnostic is arsenic underwhelming. There’s country for betterment successful a batch of departments, but the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro are amended than their predecessors successful immoderate tiny yet important ways.

The hardware

Not overmuch has changed astir the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro’s screens. The 6.3-inch OLED connected the Pixel 7 is simply a smidge smaller than the 6.4-inch Pixel 6 (with nary alteration successful resolution), but it’s inactive capped astatine a 90Hz apical refresh rate. The Pro exemplary continues to connection a immense 6.7-inch 120Hz show with somewhat smoother scrolling and animations. Google says they’re some 25 percent brighter successful nonstop sunlight — I person a hard clip seeing the quality betwixt the Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro astatine highest brightness, but successful immoderate case, some the 7 and 7 Pro are comfy to usage outdoors successful agleam conditions.

Big screens marque for large devices, and adjacent with the Pixel 7’s flimsy downsizing, some it and the Pixel 7 Pro look and consciousness similar large phones. They usage the aforesaid plan connection introduced with the Pixel 6 series, including that attention-grabbing horizontal camera bar. I’m inactive not fond of it, but this year’s attraction is simply a spot much refined. The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro went for a much playful look, with bolder colors contrasting heavy against a achromatic camera bar. 

This time, the colors are softer, and the camera barroom is either polished oregon matte aluminum, depending connected whether you prime the 7 Pro oregon the 7. It’s a small much grown-up-looking, similar the Pixel 6 got a owe and a fuel-efficient household car, and I similar it rather a bit. My hazel-colored 7 Pro reappraisal portion looked close astatine location adjacent to the fancy-ish beige-colored clutch I took with maine connected a nighttime out. I can’t accidental the aforesaid astir the Pixel 6 oregon 6 Pro.

The protruding camera barroom does thin to cod lint if you’re the benignant of idiosyncratic who lives throws their caseless telephone successful the bottommost of a dusty bag. Most sensible radical volition enactment a lawsuit on, which is simply a bully beingness prime — the glossy backmost panels and somewhat curved sides marque some phones a small slippery successful the hand. That said, they’re not terribly uncomfortable without one. The bottommost of the camera barroom tin enactment arsenic a small ledge slash Pop Socket truthful it tin remainder connected apical of my scale digit portion I’m utilizing it. It’s a small excessively precocious to bash that for excessively long, but if I’m fiddling with it one-handed, it’s really benignant of helpful.

The 7 and 7 Pro person each the different accustomed trimmings of flagship status: they’re IP68-rated for robust h2o and particulate resistance, and they enactment 30W accelerated wired charging. To get the fastest wireless charging speeds, you’ll request Google’s $79 second-gen Pixel Stand charger; with it, the Pixel 7 gets 20W charging, and the 7 Pro supports 23W. Otherwise, they enactment a perfectly serviceable 12W complaint with modular Qi chargers. There’s nary charger successful the container (those days are over), but astatine slightest there’s a carnal SIM tray. There’s besides enactment for 1 eSIM, and it is imaginable to transportation 1 implicit from an iPhone, albeit with astatine slightest 1 telephone to lawsuit support. Ask maine however I know. (Both phones besides enactment dual SIM if you usage the carnal and eSIM astatine the aforesaid time.)

The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro see 2 methods for biometric unlocking: fingerprint and face. Face unlock is simply a caller summation this year, apt to code complaints that the Pixel 6 series’ under-display fingerprint scanner was excessively slow. Google has besides done immoderate enactment connected the fingerprint scanner — institution spokesperson Alex Moriconi tells The Verge that the sensor has a “30% latency improvement” implicit the 1 connected the Pixel 6 series, and it does consciousness a bushed faster to me. 

It’s inactive an optical-type scanner that concisely flashes agleam airy wherever the sensor is located nether the surface to work your fingerprint, which is simply a small jarring successful a acheronian bedroom. In immoderate case, I acceptable up look and fingerprint unlock connected some the 7 and 7 Pro, and betwixt the two, the telephone would unlock rapidly capable that I ne'er felt frustrated — not the lawsuit with the sluggish fingerprint scholar connected the 6 and 6 Pro. Unfortunately, Moriconi tells america that Google has nary plans to bring look unlock to the Pixel 6 series. Bummer.

I’m not rather arsenic convinced by Google’s improvements to telephone calls. Pixel 6 owners complained astir dropped calls and other connectivity problems, and though Google says it’s utilizing a caller modem, I had a mates of issues. On 1 call, the idiosyncratic connected the different extremity said that the telephone was sometimes cutting disconnected the past syllable of my sentences. Another time, the caller said I got chopped disconnected arsenic I was talking. This was an urgent-care caregiver calling to archer maine that my spot connected the waitlist had travel up, truthful it was a peculiarly stressful clip for my telephone to chopped out. Things worked retired fine, and I got to my appointment, but your telephone should enactment arsenic a telephone erstwhile you request it to. 

These 2 calls correspond a precise tiny illustration size, truthful this is thing we’ll beryllium keeping an oculus connected during semipermanent testing. Google has promised a Tensor-powered “clear calling” feature coming to the Pixel 7 phones (as good arsenic Pixel 6) successful the aboriginal that volition marque it easier to perceive calls adjacent successful large environments. In the meantime, I can’t accidental the Pixel 7 Pro has been my favourite telephone to usage arsenic a phone.

Google doesn’t marque immoderate fantastic claims for the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro’s artillery show — conscionable that they “can past implicit 24 hours,” according to the Google Store website. Google claims you tin get up to 3 days of usage with utmost artillery saver enabled, but I can’t unrecorded similar that. Instead, I tin astatine slightest study that Google’s all-day artillery claims are accurate. My archetypal afloat time utilizing the 7 Pro was a agelong question time with plentifulness of clip successful the backmost of an Uber oregon scrolling Twitter portion lasting successful airdrome lines, positive immoderate navigation and video recording. Even so, I lone managed to drain the Pixel 7 Pro down to astir 30 percent by the extremity of the night. On a mates of different days of mean usage with tons of clip disconnected Wi-Fi, utilizing navigation, taking photos, and scrolling Twitter, I was pleasantly amazed to find the artillery lone down astir 50 percent by bedtime.

The aforesaid goes for the Pixel 7. Its artillery is smaller — 4,355mAh compared to the 7 Pro’s 5,000mAh — but the little refresh complaint and solution look to springiness it astir equivalent artillery beingness — a mean time of usage knocks it down astir 50 percent. I wouldn’t consciousness large astir either telephone getting done 2 engaged days connected a azygous charge, but adjacent a dense idiosyncratic tin get done a azygous time without having to recharge.

There are a fistful of different adjunct and code designation features caller to the Pixel 7 — some of which Google volition bring to the Pixel 6 series — and I can’t accidental I’m terribly impressed with immoderate of them. When you telephone a concern with an automated telephone tree, Direct My Call present shows the options on-screen adjacent earlier they’re spoken, a measurement beyond the diagnostic connected the Pixel 6, which transcribes them arsenic they’re read. It worked with the numbers Google suggested for testing, similar Home Depot lawsuit service, but didn’t with a mates of nationalist concatenation stores I telephone regularly (shout retired to the Walgreens pharmacy and PetSmart curbside pickup). Google’s Moriconi says the Pixel 6 won’t get this Direct My Call enhancement.

Other improvements enactment fine, but they’re tiny updates and benignant of underwhelming. The telephone volition automatically transcribe audio files sent arsenic messages, which is helpful. But it’s besides the benignant of happening I figured the telephone could already do, and anyway, my friends each nonstop maine old-fashioned substance messages, truthful it’s not thing that makes my beingness easier. Likewise, At a Glance, a useful small Assistant-powered presumption indicator connected the fastener surface and always-on display, present shows much context-based information, similar the upwind forecast successful the greeting — adjuvant but not life-changing.

Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro camera

The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro’s camera upgrades are likewise tiny successful scale, but I deliberation they person a bigger impact. There’s nary alteration to the main camera sensor this year; some the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro usage the aforesaid 50-megapixel f/1.85 camera arsenic past year. They some see a 12-megapixel ultrawide, too, though the 7 Pro’s mentation has autofocus and tin treble arsenic a macro camera. 

The 7 Pro besides has a 48-megapixel telephoto camera with up to 5x optical zoom compared to past year’s 4x. The Pixel 7 inactive doesn’t get the telephoto module, but its selfie cam does get upgraded to the aforesaid 10.8-megapixel sensor that’s successful the 7 Pro and the 6 Pro. 

Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro illustration gallery

As Samsung and Apple released caller flagships this year, I couldn’t assistance wondering if the Pixel 6 Pro was getting near behind. Its representation mode looked crunchy successful examination to the caller competition, with less-precise taxable cutouts. Samsung’s 10x zoom was untouchable compared to thing Google could bash with Super Res zoom, and Apple was mode up with video prime and a decent bokeh video mode. 

Over the past week with the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, I’ve managed to instrumentality immoderate fantastic photos that punctual maine wherefore we erstwhile crowned Google the king of smartphone photography. Portrait mode looks better, and shots of my toddler that I was definite would beryllium blurry came retired sharp. Top Shot captured a ridiculously saccharine infinitesimal betwixt my hubby and kid — it’s a photograph I’m going to look astatine for years and years to come. 

Google has made immoderate absorbing improvements to some cameras’ zoom capabilities. The main camera present offers a sensor harvest mode that uses the 12 megapixels astatine the halfway of its high-res main sensor to supply a afloat resolution, 2x zoom representation without having to trust connected integer zoom up-sampling. It’s precise akin to the 2x harvest mode Apple conscionable included successful the iPhone 14. Previous Pixel cameras person included a 2x zoom shortcut successful the camera app, but Moriconi tells maine that this was integer zoom, not a crop. The results are noticeably better, and I emotion to spot it — I truly similar the 2x focal magnitude for representation mode.

The Pixel 7 Pro does this aforesaid harvest instrumentality with its high-res telephoto camera, fundamentally doubling the 5x zoom to 10x. This works good enough, though the results aren’t arsenic bully arsenic the Samsung S22 Ultra’s dedicated 10x optical zoom. In decent lighting, the Pixel 7 Pro’s 10x images look passable, particularly for sharing astatine societal media sizes, but astatine larger sizes, details are evidently a small fuzzy. At a definite point, cropping successful is conscionable going to magnify the flaws of the tiny lens the sensor is attached to, and it looks similar the 7 Pro has reached that threshold. 

The 7 Pro’s caller macro mode is neat, too. It uses the ultrawide camera and is triggered automatically from the 1x camera erstwhile you get adjacent up to your subject. A angiosperm macro icon appears connected the screen, and you tin pat it to toggle the mode connected and off. The results are bully erstwhile you get the close taxable successful bully lighting, but I privation determination was immoderate denotation of whether oregon not your taxable is successful focus. There’s nary informing erstwhile you’re excessively adjacent oregon excessively acold from an object, and it’s not ever casual to spot if your taxable is successful crisp absorption — particularly if you’re outside. In immoderate case, this is miles amended than the low-res, fixed-focus macro cameras connected a batch of fund phones, adjacent if it’s thing I wouldn’t extremity up utilizing a full lot.

Night mode is faster this year, and that’s different betterment I’m grateful for. Depending connected the scene, it’s a afloat 2 oregon 3 seconds faster to seizure than connected the Pixel 6 Pro, and you tin present set the magnitude of the vulnerability with a modular and “maximum” mounting — it’s not conscionable connected oregon disconnected now. Google paved the mode with nighttime mode, but it was starting to consciousness beauteous sluggish compared to Apple and Samsung phones, truthful it’s bully that the Pixel feels similar it’s caught up successful that respect.

On the video side, there’s present a mode called Cinematic Blur that — by nary coincidence, I’m definite — does what Apple’s Cinematic mode does connected the iPhone. It uses bundle to use a representation mode shallow depth-of-field effect to support your taxable successful absorption portion blurring the background. It does a bully occupation — tricky backgrounds similar a tennis tribunal nett tin travel it up, and it’s not large successful debased light. But arsenic with the iPhone, it looks amended than I expected it to, and it’s thing I’ll support utilizing erstwhile the juncture calls for it.

Photo Unblur is different caller addition, and it’s 1 that Google is making a Tensor G2 / Pixel 7 exclusive, astatine slightest for now. That’s a small fishy due to the fact that it’s not technically a camera diagnostic — it lives successful the Google Photos app. Photo Unblur identifies images with taxable blur — photos taken by immoderate camera, not conscionable the Pixel 7 — and uses instrumentality learning to connection a sharper mentation of the archetypal image.

Sharpening old, blurry photos is an appealing proposition, and it benignant of works, sometimes. I had the champion results getting a usable representation retired of thing evidently low-res taken with an aged telephone oregon camera, but different results were either excessively subtle to beryllium noticeable oregon excessively processed-looking to beryllium useful. Chalk this 1 up arsenic a mixed container and decidedly not thing to upgrade to a Pixel 7 conscionable to get.

Overall, I deliberation Google’s camera strategy is so keeping up with the precise steep competition. There are immoderate ways successful which I similar the iPhone 14’s photos — I similar its lukewarm colour processing — and I inactive similar Samsung’s representation mode photos implicit the Pixel’s. But arsenic a implicit package, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro person among the champion cameras you tin find connected a smartphone close now.

I person nary occupation recommending the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro to those brave capable to look extracurricular of the Apple / Samsung duopoly. They’re somewhat amended versions of the precise bully phones Google released past year. Their $599 and $899 terms tags are competitory with comparable flagships that thin to commencement astatine $799 and scope good supra $1,000 for the Pro / Ultra, etc. mentation of different devices. The Pixel 7 is simply a heck of a woody for idiosyncratic who wants a flagship Android telephone without paying flagship prices. With its other spot of polish and that telephoto lens, the 7 Pro is simply a bully enactment for idiosyncratic who wants the champion of what Android offers — without each the excess of the Galaxy S22 Ultra.  

The 7 and 7 Pro are good, sometimes large phones, but astatine the aforesaid time, I deliberation they autumn abbreviated of the “simply powerful, ace helpful” device Google is marketing. It hasn’t rather reached this imaginativeness of a instrumentality that effortlessly navigates lawsuit work calls for you, blends dependable adjunct features seamlessly with the remainder of your UI, and takes photograph bombers retired of the inheritance of your shots. These things benignant of enactment sometimes but not good capable to truly wow anyone.

But much importantly, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro bash the essentials amended than the 6 and 6 Pro did. They unlock much quickly, the camera improvements support them connected par with the competition, and they look and consciousness similar the genuine flagship article. The other features that don’t rather onshore are conscionable that — extras. They mightiness 1 time germinate into thing that makes the Pixel a smarter smartphone than the competition, but for now, the 7 and 7 Pro are conscionable plain competitive. For anyone looking for an alternate to the 2 biggest players successful the US, “competitive” is conscionable what we need.

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