Google Pixel 7 Pro display review: The Android state of color - XDA Developers

Beyond speechmaking the blurbs of "higher highest brightness!" each year, radical often wonderment if determination are immoderate different tangible improvements successful yearly show upgrades. Besides, if different outlets are reporting colour reproductive claims that are "indistinguishable from perfect," what much tin they truly amended upon?

Well, there's a batch much to it than you whitethorn think.

For its displays, Google has historically leaned successful connected accuracy implicit vibrancy. This often upsets consumers coming from different brands that beforehand accrued colour saturation by default. Understandably, galore people, successful turn, mightiness subordinate colour accuracy with a deficiency of vibrancy, but the 2 are not mutually exclusive — Google has conscionable been dilatory to show it. For example, Apple has mostly gotten distant from the occupation by wholeheartedly adopting wide colour standards dating backmost to the iPhone 7. Now, each photos that iPhones seizure are saved successful the larger Display P3 colour space.

To this day, astir Android phones inactive lone seizure photos successful the sRGB colour space, which tin lone store colors with up to astir four-fifths of the max saturation of P3. This isn't each excessively important successful itself, but the caput commencement entails Apple having wider enactment for much vibrant colors passim its ecosystem. Nowadays, you tin find vibrant P3 colors littered passim iOS, including its default wallpapers, strategy UI, and galore third-party apps; adjacent its wallpaper colour picker allows you to prime colors extracurricular sRGB, dissimilar the colors offered by Google's Material You. This is plainly a level of colour adoption that Android has yet to build.

And that's conscionable the start. There are galore ways Google could inactive amended upon its Pixel display, truthful we enactment the caller Pixel 7 Pro's sheet done the wringer.

About this review: The merchandise successful this reappraisal has been loaned retired by Google. However, the institution had nary engagement successful the contents of this article.

Hardware & features: The aforesaid Samsung display

Samsung Display remains the premier OLED supplier for smartphones, truthful it's nary astonishment that Google's flagship maintains its sourcing. But what I didn't expect is for Google to beryllium utilizing the aforesaid procreation sheet arsenic past year's Pixel 6 Pro, which could beryllium considered dated astatine the clip of its release. More specifically, the Pixel 7 Pro appears to beryllium utilizing the E4 OLED worldly acceptable from Samsung Display — which is present astir 2 years aged — alternatively than the newer, much businesslike E5 materials. This puts the Pixel 7 Pro's OLED ratio astir astatine the aforesaid level arsenic the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, released successful 2020.

Google boasts a 25% summation successful highest brightness for the Pixel 7 bid compared to past year's phones.

Luckily, the caller Pixel's show isn't completely identical. In the Made by Google keynote, the institution boasted a 25% summation successful highest brightness for the Pixel 7 bid compared to past year's phones. There's besides an updated show operator that configures this alteration successful brightness. Lastly, this boost fuels the Pixel 7's adjacent biggest change, which is however it plays backmost HDR videos.

Although technically a diagnostic of Android 13, the Pixel 7 Pro is the archetypal Android telephone to enactment the integration of HDR contented with the app and strategy UI. This means that the Pixel 7 Pro show tin amusement true brighter-than-white highlights without needing to hike the strategy brightness to blinding levels.

Essentially, the diagnostic works by ramping up the show brightness successful the beingness of HDR contented portion astatine the aforesaid clip proportionally reducing the pixel values of the remainder of the UI, forming the illusion of specular highlights. The diagnostic besides straight addresses the wide brightness contented that Android phones person with HDR videos, which often requires mounting the show astatine max brightness conscionable for the vulnerability to look correct.

Unlike erstwhile Android phones, the Pixel 7 Pro tin present presumption HDR videos wrong apps astatine the close brightness

And strategically timed with this feature, Google added 10-bit HDR video signaling to its newest phones, which play backmost seamlessly connected the 7 Pro. Google besides mentioned a concern with Snap and TikTok to bring HDR video to those platforms connected Android, which should assistance propulsion the envelope for colour management. Previously, apps lone supported HDR playback successful fullscreen mode owed to nonexistent HDR blending, but Android 13 fixes this and allows for HDR viewing wrong an app's contented feed. Previous XDA Editor-in-Chief Mishaal Rahman really recovered retired astir this diagnostic arsenic an upcoming Android 13 summation a fewer months ago, which you tin work much astir successful his Esper blog.

Oppositely connected the taxable of colour management, the Pixel 7 bid inactive sadly lone captures photos successful the sRGB colour space. And due to the fact that of the deficiency of interest connected the Android side, fashionable societal apps similar Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, oregon adjacent Chrome inactive don't enactment viewing wide-color images, each of which comfortably coexist successful Apple's ecosystem.

Lab testing: Brightness & power

The astir defining advancement for the Pixel 7 Pro display, hands down, is its higher highest brightness. Google's 25% brightness boost assertion rings existent crossed the board, placing it successful enactment with the champion of Android. Using light-themed apps, the 7 Pro shines conscionable arsenic brightly arsenic the competition, portion lone being bested by the iPhone 14 Pro (though by a important margin) erstwhile successful acheronian mode oregon consuming fullscreen media.

The Pixel 7 Pro could scope up to 1620 nits, oregon astir 1050 nits successful light-themed apps, akin to different flagship phones.

From my testing, the Pixel 7 Pro could scope up to 1,620 nits highest brightness astatine a tiny 1% model size, not acold disconnected from the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus and Ultra. Google claims the Pixel 7 Pro tin deed 1,500 nits astatine a 5% model size, which seems humble since I could measurement this astatine a 10% model size. Light-themed apps volition person the show beryllium astir 1,050 nits, akin to different flagship phones. HDR contented is besides capped astatine astir 1,000 nits, with Google disabling the dynamic OLED brightness boost to amended colour fidelity.

I decidedly noticed a marked betterment implicit the Pixel 6 Pro erstwhile utilizing the telephone outdoors, and Google adjacent lowered the ambient brightness needed to trigger precocious brightness mode (from 10,000 lux down to astir 5,700 lux). There's besides a creaseless modulation erstwhile precocious brightness mode enables, and determination yet appears to beryllium granularity successful its brightness depending connected lux alternatively than being wholly connected oregon disconnected aft the breakpoint. The highest manual brightness besides got a flimsy upgrade, from 500 nits to 600 nits.

Now for the atrocious part

What instantly stood retired to maine is just however much powerfulness the Pixel 7 Pro uses. At highest emission, its show alone uses up much than 6W of power, much than I've seen connected immoderate different phone. For comparison, the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Galaxy S22 Plus tin output astir 1,100 fullscreen nits for the magnitude of powerfulness that the Pixel 6 Pro tin output 800 nits (after normalizing surface area) — that's astir a 40% increase successful efficacy astatine highest brightness for utilizing the latest OLED materials. Inversely, the Pixel 7 Pro requires 6.4W to output 964 nits, portion the iPhone 14 Pro Max lone uses 4.4W for the aforesaid output.

The Pixel 7 Pro's full show powerfulness footprint is larger than I've seen connected immoderate different telephone — astir 21% larger than the Pixel 6 Pro's, and astir 47% larger than the iPhone 14 Pro Max

Furthermore, the Pixel 7 Pro show really consumes somewhat more power than adjacent the Pixel 6 Pro astatine precocious brightness levels. What's happening present is the Pixel 7 Pro is utilizing higher show voltage states compared to the 6 Pro supra 300 nits. Rather than adding a caller voltage step, Google replaced the erstwhile 500-nit voltage authorities with 1 that tin accommodate the caller 600-nit maximum. Similarly, for precocious brightness mode, the erstwhile 800-nit voltage authorities got bumped up to let for 1,000 nits. Although this whitethorn look short-sighted, this is expected since Google apt needs to factory-calibrate each voltage authorities individually.

If we measure the country nether the curve to see the luminance scope of the display, the Pixel 7 Pro's power-luminance country is astir 21% larger than the Pixel 6 Pro up to the 6 Pro's highest brightness. And compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max, the Pixel 7 Pro's power-luminance footprint is 47% larger up to its ain highest brightness.

Of course, radical don't usage their phones blasting all-white trial patterns (or astatine slightest I'd anticipation not). You tin expect these measurements to beryllium a origin of astir four-fifths erstwhile utilizing light-themed apps, oregon down to astir a 10th for dark-mode apps. But judging from these powerfulness measurements, you decidedly privation to bounds the Pixel 7 Pro's vulnerability to agleam white-emitting scenarios. The surface is besides prone to throttling down, exiting retired of its highest brightness authorities aft 5 minutes of activation.

Lab testing: Display refresh

Last year, I investigated the adaptable refresh complaint (VRR) concern with the Pixel 6 Pro to spot if its show truly went down to 10 Hz. Many radical were skeptical since Android's refresh complaint readout successful the developer options lone seemed to spell down to 60 Hz erstwhile the surface was idle. However, Android's refresh complaint indicator does not amusement the OLED panel's lowest operating refresh rate, partially owed to however its adaptable refresh is implemented.

These Samsung panels person a adaptable refresh mechanics that operates astatine a overmuch little level, wrong the show driver, and is not exposed to the Android idiosyncratic space. Samsung Display's VRR implementation is not the aforesaid arsenic that recovered successful emblematic gaming monitors, which tin people immoderate arbitrary refresh rate. The VRR recovered successful Samsung's HOP ("LTPO") panels inactive works by switching betwixt discrete refresh complaint modes, similar older implementations. But these VRR panels present incorporated a low-frequency drive (LFD) mechanics which operates the OLED driving complaint astatine a fraction of the existent refresh complaint mode.

As an example, a 10 Hz driving refresh complaint is achievable by operating the sheet astatine a 60 Hz scanning rate, but skipping re-drives for 5 retired of each 6 scanning intervals if the frames are the same. This is made imaginable by the OLED's caller oxide-driving TFTs, which person a leakage existent debased capable to propulsion this disconnected without important luminance dips.

Again, we find that the Pixel 7 Pro OLED does so spell down to 10 Hz instantly erstwhile the surface is idle, but determination are noticeable differences this twelvemonth successful however Google has configured the show driver. For those who are delicate to pulse-width modulation (PWM), the Pixel 7 Pro stepped down its PWM frequence from 360 Hz to 240 Hz. I'm not definite what precisely warrants this change, but I'm not affected by specified strobe effects.

There inactive remains the aforesaid low-light caveat with the minimum refresh complaint arsenic past year, which is besides contiguous successful Samsung's devices. In precise dim conditions, erstwhile the surface is beneath 15% strategy brightness and the ambient brightness beneath 5 lux, the Pixel 7 Pro OLED volition not ramp down from 120 Hz. This ensures you announcement nary flicker arsenic the show switches refresh rates, which amplifies with debased airy levels. By forcing the surface to power to and from 120 Hz and 10 Hz, I was capable to announcement a faint but undeniable quality successful the brightness of acheronian patches adjacent minimum brightness, truthful the regulation seems somewhat justified. What's absorbing is that this constraint does not hap erstwhile Smooth Display is disabled, and the sheet switches betwixt 10 Hz and 60 Hz arsenic normal. But determination inactive exists a flicker (although adjacent much faint), truthful I judge this is either an oversight erstwhile bringing LFD to the 60 Hz mode, oregon Google decided the quality is minimal capable to fto it slide.

The Pixel 7 Pro OLED uses 250 milliwatts little powerfulness erstwhile idle astatine 10 Hz compared to erstwhile driven astatine 120 Hz — but for successful precise dim conditions

One of my different complaints with VRR implementation connected the Pixel 6 Pro is that the OLED did not ramp down to 10 Hz erstwhile Smooth Display was disabled. This occurred, for example, erstwhile Battery Saver is enabled, which sometimes meant that the surface was really taking up more powerfulness erstwhile idle than if it was disabled. I'm blessed to spot that Google mediated this with the Pixel 7 Pro, arsenic I tin verify that the surface present gets down to 10 Hz successful Battery Saver mode. The Always-On show besides goes down to 10 Hz arsenic expected, careless of lighting conditions.

In presumption of powerfulness savings, there's a important quality betwixt progressive and idle. When resting astatine 10 Hz, the Pixel 7 Pro OLED uses 250 milliwatts little powerfulness than erstwhile driven astatine 120 Hz. However, the disparity isn't truly owed to the powerfulness savings of the 10 Hz idle state, but alternatively the steep terms of moving the show astatine 120 Hz.

When measuring the powerfulness discrepancy betwixt 60 Hz and 120 Hz, the second consumes an further 200 milliwatts, portion the savings betwixt 10 Hz and 60 Hz is lone astir 50 milliwatts. And connected the basal Pixel 7, the quality betwixt 60 Hz and 90 Hz is lone astir 70 milliwatts. Given these measurements, I judge Google could importantly amended its low-light artillery concern by ramping down the show to astatine slightest 90 Hz erstwhile idle.

Lastly, 1 of the niche benefits of adaptable refresh screens is the quality to lucifer the framework complaint of films that tally astatine 24 oregon 25 FPS. Sadly, careless of the framework rate, the Pixel 7 Pro volition lone ramp down to 60 Hz, meaning that determination volition ever beryllium a mismatch betwixt the contented framework complaint and show refresh.

Lab testing: Color gamut & Spectra

An OLED's worldly acceptable not lone determines the wide efficacy of a sheet but besides the colour purity of its subpixels. All 3 emitters successful the Pixel 7 Pro's OLED lucifer the spectra of a emblematic E4 panel, which is the aforesaid arsenic past year's phone. This is simply a shame since Samsung's latest materials person wholly upgraded the 3 emitters, importantly improving powerfulness ratio portion expanding the autochthonal gamut of the OLED. For the Pixel 7 Pro, its autochthonal gamut wholly covers DCI-P3 portion somewhat surpassing it with the greenish and bluish primaries.

Gone is the Boosted colour mode introduced successful the Pixel 2; Natural and Adaptive are present the lone 2 options.

Gone is the Boosted colour mode introduced successful the Pixel 2; Natural and Adaptive are present the lone 2 options. This feels similar it's been a agelong clip coming since it's been a redundant enactment since Adaptive mode's addition. Contrary to what galore radical believe, the Boosted illustration was not immoderate much vibrant than the Adaptive illustration — the 2 were beauteous overmuch identical successful the Pixel 4 and 5, and with the Pixel 6 series, the Boosted and Natural modes were re-calibrated to a flatter code curve, putting the Boosted mode determination betwixt Natural and Adaptive.

Both colour modes enactment Android's colour absorption system, which tin render colors up to DCI-P3 if the app and contented enactment it. In fact, some profiles are calibrated to Display P3 arsenic their base, and the Pixel 7 Pro renders the full Android UI with Display P3 arsenic the default creation abstraction (though apps inactive request to opt-in to show P3 colors).

Lab testing: Contrast & code response

Like astir phones and machine monitors, the surface connected the Pixel 7 Pro is calibrated to a 2.2-gamma code effect retired of the container successful its Adaptive colour mode. On the different hand, selecting Natural mode uses a different code curve with lighter shadows, which is colloquially named the piecewise sRGB curve. When outdoors, the Pixel 7 Pro volition massively boost the lightness of its shadows and midtones, ensuring that on-screen contented remains legible successful the sunlight.

From my measurements, the Adaptive mode does an fantabulous occupation tracking adjacent to a 2.2 gamma power, autarkic of contented APL. But things tin get a small troublesome adjacent minimum brightness, and the calibration tracks a spot darker than usual. This tin marque shadiness details a spot much hard to marque out. Even with cleanable tracking, a 2.2 gamma powerfulness tin inactive look excessively acheronian oregon crushed astatine precise debased brightness levels, truthful a bully solution would beryllium to assistance the shadows astatine debased brightness. But contempt the steeper code response, the Pixel 7 Pro is inactive susceptible of rendering black-gray with a pixel worth of 1/255 successful this mode, which is simply a immense betterment to what Google had anterior to the Pixel 5.

As discussed, the Natural mode follows a code effect with lighter shadows, which the Pixel 7 Pro precisely reproduces. Using Natural mode tin assistance your surface look overmuch easier connected the eyes, particularly successful low-light conditions. This curve was the archetypal intent of the sRGB colour abstraction specification, but upon implementation, it was simply easier to approximate the curve utilizing a axenic 2.2 powerfulness function. So though the piecewise sRGB curve is the official standard for show output, astir user displays really conscionable usage gamma-2.2 successful practice.

Google's determination to usage the piecewise sRGB curve for Natural mode is arguable since it yet renders a flatter representation for astir casual content. Besides, if astir monitors are adjusted to gamma-2.2, wherefore not conscionable instrumentality to what astir radical are using? One contented is that galore nonrecreational color-managed workflows inactive utilize piecewise sRGB, including photographers moving with Lightroom and Photoshop. But the much important nuance is that astir calibrated monitors are LCD alternatively than OLED, and the opposition for LCDs is overmuch shallower adjacent black. Calibrating an OLED to piecewise sRGB, successful my opinion, is simply a bully compromise to attack the near-black code slope of an LCD if accordant tonal practice is of utmost importance.

Although in-line HDR playback was improved with Android 13, Google inactive has a fewer wrinkles successful its HDR code mapping. The Pixel 7 Pro still doesn't code representation the display's highest brightness toward the maximum contented airy level (MCLL) of the contented being played. In elemental terms, nary of the Pixel phones afloat utilize their highest brightness for HDR content. For example, the Pixel 7 Pro tin lone scope up to 780 nits for HDR contented mastered for 1,000 nits, which is astir of them. The remainder of the panels' brightness is reserved for pixel values that the contented ne'er adjacent uses. Incorrect code mapping similar this whitethorn often effect successful contours and nonaccomplishment of item successful agleam regions.

The mode that Google code maps HDR10 contented with strategy brightness is besides not ideal. Above 50% strategy brightness, the Pixel 7 Pro volition ever people the ST.2084/PQ curve, which is intended for viewing successful a acheronian room. In fact, HDR10 video is wholly identical betwixt 50% and 95% strategy brightness, and the highest sheet luminance lone increases supra 95% strategy brightness. This means that HDR10 contented volition look comparatively dim astatine precocious brightness levels. Below 50% strategy brightness, the Pixel 7 Pro scales the wide vulnerability of HDR10 content, which should beryllium the intended behaviour for the full brightness range. In the future, I'd similar to spot Google proceed to standard the video vulnerability past 50% strategy brightness truthful that HDR contented tin beryllium enjoyed successful brighter settings.

Lab testing: Color accuracy & precision

Starting with white, the Pixel 7 Pro perfectly nails its calibration. Its achromatic constituent hugs adjacent to D65 passim its full brightness and grayscale range, with lone a insignificant hiccup astatine max brightness. All grey points are measured wrong their circle, which connected the illustration represents the threshold for colour quality noticeably. What's astir awesome is its choky calibration astatine minimum brightness, wherever shifts successful the hue of grey are astir perceptible.

But alas, I can't behaviour a due show reappraisal without pointing retired the elephant successful the room: Even if these OLEDs measure accurately to a circumstantial achromatic point, it does not mean that they visually appear identical. I brought up this constituent successful my last Pixel review, and I volition proceed to bash truthful until these companies supply solutions to this problem.

The information of the substance is that existent methods of colour measurement don't supply a definitive appraisal for colour matching. As it turns out, the quality successful spectral distributions betwixt OLEDs and LCDs creates a disagreement successful the quality of their achromatic points. More precisely, the colour of achromatic connected OLEDs volition typically look yellowish-green compared to an LCD show that measures identically. This is known arsenic metameric failure, and it's been wide acknowledged to hap with wide-gamut displays specified arsenic OLEDs. The modular illuminants (e.g. D65) person been defined with spectral distributions that lucifer person to that of an LCD, which are present utilized arsenic reference. For this reason, an offset towards magenta is needed for the achromatic constituent of OLEDs to perceptually lucifer the 2 show technologies.

For comparison, here's the Pixel 7 Pro achromatic constituent erstwhile color-matched to my calibrated LCD:

Ultimately, Google conscionable needs to connection RGB colour equilibrium sliders to appease each camps. If the institution is going truthful acold arsenic to modify its notation code curve to a niche specification, it tin spell a measurement further to fulfill the purists. Now connected to the remainder of the colors.

Natural mode's remaining colorimetry is besides fantabulous for some sRGB and P3D65 colors. One flaw is that adjacent minimum brightness, reddish tones are somewhat undersaturated and shifted toward orange, and are really much close successful Adaptive mode. HDR10 colour accuracy is besides thing to constitute location to, but thing to kick about, either. At highest brightness, the Pixel 7 Pro besides somewhat boosts colour saturation to combat immoderate gamut simplification owed to glare; it's subtle and not overdone, dissimilar Samsung's Vision Booster. Overall, Google did a large occupation with colour accuracy, and the Pixel 7 Pro's colors are precise existent to the company's intent.

Final thoughts: How is the Pixel 7 Pro's display?

Many radical person precocious hopes for Google's hardware, myself included. But for those chasing aft bleeding-edge specs, the Pixel enactment often prescribes a relegated offering compared to the likes of Apple oregon Samsung. On that front, I'm blessed to accidental that the applicable differences person ne'er been much minuscule.

The Pixel 7 Pro produces colors that are existent to the creator's intent

To beryllium perfectly clear, the Pixel 7 Pro is 2nd to nary erstwhile strictly speaking astir on-screen quality. It produces immaculate colors that are existent to the creator's intent, with the effectual brightness to lucifer the different apical dogs. This consistency spans the full luminance scope of the panel, making the Pixel 7 Pro large to look astatine some outdoors erstwhile trying to seizure sunny photos and portion winding down adjacent bedtime. And with its improvements to however Android handles HDR content, the Pixel 7 Pro is well-equipped for the HDR revolution.

Google has chosen to tune its screens to beryllium accurate-only, and I'm each for it. There has been nary different specified vendor connected the Android side, arsenic they each succumb to cranking up colour saturation retired of the container to basal out. Apple is the lone competing institution that doesn't instrumentality this approach, truthful I'm gladsome to yet spot different institution taking this risk.

But this attack carries the connotation that the institution knows best; which we cognize isn't ever true. It's astir the antithesis of Android's full culture, though astatine this point, it's important to recognize that Google is conscionable different subordinate successful the game, and this is however it's choosing to play ball. In Google's case, I judge it's a calculated hazard to propulsion the boundaries of colour absorption passim the platform. However, I inactive privation it offered options for the decisions it can't ever get correct, specified arsenic the surface achromatic equilibrium oregon code effect curve.

Finally, I can't not speech astir what a artillery hog this surface tin be. When each other is the same, the Pixel 7 Pro surface seems to beryllium doing truthful astatine a overmuch larger powerfulness footprint than the competition. Last year's telephone wasn't excessively awesome either battery-wise, truthful it's awry to spot this surface utilizing up even more juice.

It yet comes backmost to hardware astatine the extremity of the day, and Google conscionable makes owed the champion that it tin with the parts the institution decides to use. The effect is an outstanding show acquisition that comes astatine the outgo of a antithetic facet of the full phone's package.