Google’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro: Top smartphones with tons of Google smarts

Google’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are here, promising improvements in everything from their security to their looks.

The Pixel 7, which starts at $599, and the Pixel 7 Pro, which starts at $899, offer many of the features you’d expect from top-of-the-line smartphones with a heavy dose of Google AI smarts.

But it’s the cameras that make these smartphones stand out.

We’re talking about a 5x optical zoom on the Pixel 7 Pro and a crop function that simulates a 2x zoom on the Pixel 7. There are also updates to the phone’s low-light settings and improvements to options like Real Tone, which allows people of color to take photos more accurately, not to mention an option for those with low vision to help them take selfies better .

However, if you’re a current Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro user, you can probably keep your device a little longer. The same applies if you have a Samsung Galaxy S22 or S22 Ultra. But if you need a new Android smartphone, these two are for you.

Similar looks, great on camera

The Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are unmistakably Google phones. Still, there are notable changes to the phones’ design, including new metal frames that cover the camera hump and run all the way around the phones’ edges. The phones also forgo the two-tone look of the previous generation in favor of solid hues like black, white and yellow-green.

The biggest difference, however, is the Pixel 7’s slightly smaller display. Instead of a 6.4-inch panel, Google has opted for a 6.3-inch screen, which is a good thing for users who prefer smaller phones. The Pixel 7 Pro still has the same 6.7 inches as the Pixel 6 Pro.

The real changes to the phones come in the form of their updated camera features. Many of the same features as the Pixel 6 are present on the Pixel 7, including the ability to crop images captured with the main camera to create dual zoomed shots. Of course, there’s also the phone’s wide-angle camera.

The story goes on

On the software side, Google has improved its Real Tone feature, which builds on the phone’s ability to more accurately capture skin tones of people of color by improving its low-light performance.

The Pixel 7 Pro gets all of these updates but adds a 5x optical zoom. That means you can take sharper photos of distant objects without them looking grainy. In fact, I found the 5x zoom to be helpful even in normal photo situations, making it easier to capture the faces of friends and family members.

Google also taps its crop feature to enable a 10x zoom that’s still impressively clear. You can increase that to 30x, although at that point you start to lose finer detail. Still, I could see the small signature of the Department of Transportation under a street sign at 30x zoom from about half a block away.

Aside from zooming, the cameras offer photo performance on par with both Samsung and Apple (AAPL). A macro photo, a deeper than normal close-up I took of a bumblebee on a flower, looked sharp and clear.

A more sophisticated shot of an art installation in a local park also came out beautifully, with nice color saturation and balanced lighting. Low light shots of my cat looked great on the Pixel Pro 7, beating out the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The Pixel was simply able to capture more detail of my cat’s fur, while the fur looked blurrier in photos taken with the Ultra.

However, all three of these phones take great pictures overall. The main difference between them is almost color saturation, with Samsung sticking to an oversaturation, Apple working on a more realistic saturation, and Google sitting right in between.

Google inside

I love Pixel phones because they don’t have third-party bloatware like unwanted games and apps in favor of Google’s own software. It’s a flatter, cleaner experience that focuses on Google’s services first. Both the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro come with Android 13, which offers better customization by allowing you to match app icon colors to your wallpaper, security updates including the ability to restrict apps access to photos and videos, and much more.

As far as services go, there are a handful of upgrades, including the option to use TalkBack, an accessibility feature that announces on-screen prompts and commands for users with vision problems to take selfies.

If you’re multilingual, you can now choose which language you want to use in each app. For example, you can now use Spanish in one app and English in another. There are also improvements to the overall calling experience, including Direct My Call, which transcribes your calls to select 1-800 numbers and creates tappable buttons for automatic call tree options.

Coupled with call wait times, this makes the whole process of calling places like banks or government agencies a lot less terrifying, by helping you figure out when to call to avoid busy times — and keeping you from forgetting about calling options.

In terms of performance, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro offer the kind of top-notch speeds you’d expect from flagship smartphones.

However, I did notice a few hiccups here and there when trying to access the camera app at times, including a slowdown when taking photos for the first time. Battery Life? The 7 Pro gets you through the day with ease, although the 7 may need topping up when heading into town after a long day’s work.

should you get it

Google’s Pixel line is among my favorite Android smartphones, and the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are no different. The Pro’s improved optical zoom and the tweaks and improvements Google has made to Android this time around, including the visible phone tree and accessibility updates, are welcome changes to the smartphone line.

If you have a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro, there’s little reason to upgrade, as many of the software improvements included in Android 13 will end up on those phones. iPhone owners will likely stick with their Apple smartphones. But if you’re traveling with an older device and need something new, the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are excellent options.

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Do you have a tip? Email Daniel Howley at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

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