Both the Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro pack plenty of impressive features. High on that list, however, is Photo Unblur, a new photo editing tool that lets you turn blurry photos into something you’ll love to post and share.
Photo Unblur is powered by the new Tensor G2 chip found in the latest Pixel 7 models. As such, the feature is currently exclusive to the Pixel 7 and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. You won’t find Pixel Unblur among the Pixel 7 features that are currently slated to come to the Pixel 6 via upcoming software updates.
The Pixel 7’s Tensor chip uses machine learning to take blurry photos and clean up the images, much like the Magic Eraser feature introduced last year was able to remove easily distracting people and objects from your photos. Photo Unblur has been added to the Google Photos app on the Pixel 7 as a photo editing tool. Most of the time, when you select a blurry shot in Photos, Photo Unblur comes up as a suggested tool, making it even easier to clean up blurry shots.
Perhaps the best thing about Photo Unblur is that you’re not limited to fixing blurry photos you take with the Pixel 7. Any photo stored in the Photos app is fair game as long as you are accessing this app on one of Google’s latest Pixel. This means that photos taken with completely different phones – even iPhones – can be repaired.
Photo Unblur sounds good on paper, but how does it work in practice? To find out, I took some of my old, blurry photos and used the new feature to clean them up. I also asked my fellow Tom’s Guides to send me their blurriest photos so we can see how well this Pixel 7 feature works.
Here’s what I discovered when I had the chance to test out the Pixel 7’s Photo Unblur feature.
Outdoor shot in the shade (iPhone 5c)
I took this snapshot of my daughter seven years ago – that’s how long ago I was carrying the iPhone 5c around with me. Her face is covered in shadows cast by one of the felled logs in Sequoia National Park, but more importantly, she’s also out of focus, either because she was constantly moving or my hands were shaking, or a combination of both.
Photo Unblur clears her face so her features are now perfectly sharp. The downside is that her facial features have become very smooth, giving her an almost doll-like appearance. The shadow works in my favor here, as it conceals the excesses of the unblur effect while also clearly tidying up the area around her face.
Group shot, indoors (iPhone 3G)
Apparently Photo Unblur can handle photos from even older phones, as this shot of my daughter and two preschool friends was taken from an iPhone 3G, judging by the image’s metadata. All three girls’ faces are blurred to varying degrees – my daughter is the most in focus, while the girl on the far left is quite blurry.
Photo Unblur does a great job here, sharpening the faces of all three young ladies, especially the girl in the middle. You get aggressive face smoothing again, especially on my daughter and her friend on the left, but that’s a decent compromise for such a clear image.
Group Shot, Animals (iPhone 13 Pro Max)
When children don’t stay in one place when taking photos, animals are even less cooperative. And that’s the problem with this photo of some Oxford Sandy and Black pigs, taken by my colleague Richard Priday with his iPhone 13 Pro Max. Let’s see if Photo Unblur can puff and puff some of the blur out of this image of three little pigs.
The answer: somehow it can. The pig in the middle hasn’t changed, but the one on the right is sharpened by the unblur effect, especially around the snout and eyes. Unfortunately, the pig on the left only gets a sharper snout, but not much more. My guess here is that Photo Unblur works best when it can focus on a specific area, rather than spreading multiple subjects across the width of the image.
Animal shot, outdoors (iPhone 11)
The value of applying the unblur effect to a specific area is evident in this photo by fitness editor Jane McGuire. It’s a pretty striking photo showing a dog in a wintry field with soee lovely pink and purple clouds in the sky. Unfortunately, our four-legged friend is very slightly out of focus.
The improvement once we tap Photo Unblur is subtle, but it’s there. Focus around the dog’s nose and you’ll see better focus – not significantly better, but improved enough that the shot looks better than before.
Night shot, outdoors (iPhone SE)
So far, most of our shake-free photos have been taken in good lighting conditions. Not so this photo of my daughter during an oddly lit holiday party. It’s completely blurry as the original iPhone SE’s camera struggled with the dark setting.
This is by far my favorite example of what Photo Unblur can do. My daughter’s face is clearly visible once the blur effect is in place. There’s also none of the over-smoothing we see in some of the other photos, although the right side of her face is a little washed out. However, given the challenging lighting, the way her face is lit doesn’t look totally out of place. This is a greatly enhanced photo thanks to Photo Unblur.
Indoor shot, distance (iPhone 12 Pro Max)
Managing Editor Henry T. Casey provides this photo of wrestler Rey Mysterio taken from a distance indoors. The original photo actually looks pretty decent, although it’s probably not as sharp as it could be. Maybe that’s why Photo Unblur had so little impact on the shot.
Oh, there are some improvements – Myserio’s t-shirt is now easier to read. And to my eyes, his forearms appear a bit sharper in the blurry photo. But for the most part, the Pixel 7’s function has focused on clarifying one area of the photo, and it’s not necessarily the area you’re hoping will come out in focus.
Indoor shot, low light (Galaxy S22 Ultra)
Staff writer Malcolm McMillan’s concert recording was captured under similar conditions as Rey Mysterio’s recording – it was shot indoors and from a distance (although this is rarely a problem with the Galaxy S22 Ultra). However, the Flash is much more unforgiving.
Photo Unblur improves the shot a bit, although you’ll have to zoom in to see the effect. The guitarist’s face becomes much more visible in the low light after we use the Unblur effect; The lead singer on the left is essentially untouched.
Action shot, indoor shot (Pixel 4a)
I don’t think I need to explain what’s wrong with the original photo of Editor-in-Chief Marshall Honoroff demonstrating his Taekwondo technique. Marshall is just a motion blur. Surely the Photo Unblur tool can clear that up a bit, especially considering this photo was taken from one of Google’s own devices, a Pixel 4a.
Unfortunately, it didn’t matter, in one of the real disappointments of our Photo Unblur review. Marshall remains as blurry as before, with his face and arms being particularly out of focus. I was hoping Photo Unblur would at least clear up the area around his face, but the only thing that seems sharper is the logo on his shirt.
Photo Unblur test: Outlook
While testing the Photo Unblur feature on the Pixel 7, I noticed a few things that point to some common themes of this tensor-powered feature. For starters, we seemed to get the best results with photos taken on older phones. That’s probably because mobile cameras have improved so much in recent years, but there’s a lot more to fix on older devices, so you’ll notice the effects of Photo Unblur more.
We also got our best results with people facing the camera – we tested a number of photos, not included in this article, showing side views of faces where there was no discernible effect at all. This is especially true for any photo with animals – if most of an animal’s face is facing the camera, Photo Unblur can clean things up better.
Lighting doesn’t seem to affect the effectiveness of Photo Unblur. In fact, some of the best improvements came when shooting in low light. Lighting can also help mask facial anti-aliasing, which seems to be a side effect of Photo Unblur.
After using Photo Unblur, I’ve realized that it’s not a magic bullet for all those blurry shots. Some photos can no longer be saved. But the feature is effective enough and it’s easy to use Photo Unblur to enhance older shots. Even after this test, Photo Unblur remains my favorite Pixel 7 feature.
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