Pixel 7 Pro hands-on: Google’s larger phone bets heavily on its third camera

Google’s $899 (£849, AU$1,299) Pixel 7 Pro takes the priciest spot in the company’s phone lineup and, like last year’s Pixel 6 Pro, uses its larger size and third camera to set itself apart. Also like last year, the phone costs $300 more than the standard $599 (£599, AU$999). Pixel7. The phone goes on sale October 13, with pre-orders for the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro starting immediately.

The announcement came during Google’s fall product launch event on Thursday, where the company also announced that pixel clock. Google a preview of all three products in May, but didn’t reveal more details on pricing, availability, and features until this week’s event. Both phones run on Google’s new Tensor G2 chip and have a slightly updated design with a more prominent metal camera bar on the back. Google has also improved the zoom on both phones’ cameras, but only the Pixel 7 Pro has a dedicated 48MP telephoto lens and supports macro photography.

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Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro: First look

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The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro are part of Google’s ongoing effort to assert itself Samsung and Applewho dominate the global smartphone market. The new phones also signal Google’s approach, which boils down to undercutting its competitors’ prices, focusing on camera quality and developing exclusive software features for its phones.

Pre-order Google’s top-of-the-line Pixel 7 Pro, starting at $899. The device will be released on October 13th. Get up to $750 trade-in discount and $200 Google Store credit.

Read our first take of the Pixel 7 Pro.

Google 7 Pro gets better camera zoom and macro mode

Zoom quality is one of the biggest areas Google has improved on the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro’s camera. The Pixel 7 Pro has 5x optical zoom compared to last year’s 4x, along with other zoom tricks.

Both the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro’s 50-megapixel main cameras can crop for a 2x zoom view and a 12.5-megapixel photo, Google claims. That’s exactly what Apple did with its iPhone 14 Pro.

Google uses the same idea with the Pixel 7 Pro’s dedicated 48-megapixel telephoto camera. It’s typically shot at 5x zoom, but cropping the center pixels out of the frame creates a 10x view and 12-megapixel photo.

When zooming between 2.5x and 5x, the Pixel 7 Pro merges data from the main and telephoto cameras. That allows it to blend details from telephoto and main cameras for better image quality than digital zoom alone would provide, Google said.

The Pixel 7 Pro can also digitally zoom up to 30x compared to that Pixel 6 Pro20x digital zoom. That’s a longer range than the iPhone 14 Pro’s maximum of 15x, but doesn’t magnify distant subjects as much as that The Galaxy S22 Ultra 100x digital zoom.

During my brief time with the Pixel 7 Pro, I zoomed in 5x into Google’s demo room and snapped a photo of the detailed architecture on the ceiling. It looked sharp and detailed at the moment, but it’s hard to tell without looking at it on a larger screen.

The Pixel 7 Pro gets another additional camera feature that the Pixel 7 lacks: macro photography mode, thanks to the ultrawide camera’s autofocus. The camera automatically switches to this mode when you take a macro shot, but you can turn it off by tapping an icon on the screen inside the camera.

The company says both phones will be able to take photos faster, even in darker nighttime settings (dubbed “Night Sight”) thanks to Google’s new Tensor G2 chip. In a demo, Google showed how the Pixel 7 Pro was able to capture a night vision image in 1.25 seconds, while the Pixel 6 Pro took 5.25 seconds to capture the same shot. That’s a big deal, as night mode photos – on all phones, not just Google’s – generally take longer to process during capture. This can make it difficult to keep the camera steady, sometimes resulting in blurry or fuzzy images.

Google is new pixel phones will also have a new feature that will make your old photos look better too. Photo Unblur uses the Tensor G2 processor to sharpen blurry photos that may have been taken with an older camera. You can access this feature on both phones in the Edit menu in the Photos app.

With the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, Google also wants to make it easier for visually impaired or visually impaired people to take selfies. With Guided Frame, the Pixel 7 or 7 Pro can verbally instruct you on how to position your phone to take a good selfie. The feature comes as Apple has also developed new ways to use the sensors in iPhone to help the visually impaired. Apple’s Pro iPhones, for example, can help the visually impaired recognize and identify people Locate nearby doors by using their lidar sensors.

As for video, both the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro get a new Cinematic Blur mode, which is essentially the portrait mode for video. This may sound familiar to iPhone users, as Apple added a very similar feature last year, starting with the iPhone 13. Like other high-end phones, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro get improved video stabilization.

Google Pixel 7 Pro theme and other details

The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro each have a slightly updated version of the design that Google introduced with the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. Both phones have a new metal camera bar, giving it a more distinctive look than before. The Pixel 7 Pro’s color options include obsidian (black), snow (white) and hazel (a grey-green).

The new camera bar gives the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro a more distinctive design compared to last year’s phones. That’s especially true of the hazel color that contrasts nicely with the camera bar.

Again, screen size is one of the biggest differentiating factors between the two devices. The Pixel 7 Pro has a 6.7-inch screen – that’s about as big as that iPhone 14 pro max and only slightly smaller than the 6.8-inch Galaxy S22 Ultra. Like the Pixel 6 Pro, the Pixel 7 Pro’s display can boost its refresh rate up to 120Hz. The Pixel 7, on the other hand, has a 6.3-inch display and can only boost its refresh rate to 90Hz.

Google is also adding Face Unlock to the two new Pixel phones, a feature that was noticeably absent from the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. However, Google recommends using the under-display fingerprint scanner on both phones, or a PIN for matters that require extra security, such as password protection. B. the authentication of payments. According to Google, the Face Unlock function is primarily for convenience.

The Pixel 7 Pro has 12GB of RAM compared to the Pixel 7’s 8GB, which should help boost multitasking performance and overall performance. It will be available in 128GB, 256GB or 512GB storage options.

Both phones support 5G via AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and unlocked models. But for T-Mobile, only the Pixel 7 Pro is supported super-fast millimeter wave 5G. Google claims both Pixel phones should last more than 24 hours on a single charge, and up to 72 hours with Extreme Battery Saver mode enabled. Just like last year Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, both phones support wireless charging and can charge their batteries up to 50% in 30 minutes with wired charging. However, to achieve those speeds, you’ll need to use Google’s 30-watt adapter, which is sold separately.

The phones will get five years of security support and three years of Android OS upgrades, which is a year ahead of Samsung’s promise to support four years of Android version updates on its latest phones. As you might expect, the phones will ship with Android 13, the latest version of Google’s software.

First thoughts on Google Pixel 7 Pro

The Pixel 7 Pro looks like a small upgrade over last year’s Pixel 6 Pro, but it will likely feel like a notable upgrade for those coming from a Pixel phone that’s at least two years old. It also shows that Google is still focusing on the camera as the primary differentiator between its premium and regular flagship smartphones. Apple and Samsung, meanwhile, have found other ways to differentiate their “Pro” phones from their more affordable models, through the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island and the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s S Pen. Overall, it’s not a huge upgrade, but it doesn’t need to be, given that Google only revamped its Pixel phones last year.

We’ll have to wait until we review the Pixel 7 Pro to know if it’s worth upgrading from a previous model.