Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones in review

The latest Pixel phones get a new chip, along with camera and video tricks

The Pixel 7 (left) starts at $600, while the Pixel 7 Pro is $900 and up.

By Melanie Pinola

In the sea of ​​smartphones, Google’s Pixel line has long stood out with its stock Android interface, powerful cameras, and competitive prices. This year, as expected, Google added some notable hardware and software improvements to the new Pixel 7 and 7 Pro.

First up is the Tensor G2, the successor to Google’s homegrown chipset that the company introduced with last year’s Pixel 6 phones. According to the company, Tensor enables the phones to perform advanced AI and machine learning tasks, such as B. generating subtitles from calls and videos. The new Tensor version adds even more capabilities, especially for photos and videos.

I asked Google to borrow press samples of the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro to see some of these tricks firsthand while we await the final results of CR’s own lab tests. As always, CR buys the tested phones from a retail store to ensure we get the same devices as you.

Both Pixel phones are available now. The 6.3-inch Pixel 7 starts at $600 and is available in black (“Obsidian”), white (“Snow”), and a bright yellow-green (“Lemongrass”). The 6.7-inch Pixel 7 Pro starts at $900 with the same black and white colors plus a “Hazel” option that looks greenish-gray.

Here are my impressions after using the phones for several days for typical things like browsing the web, watching videos, playing games, and taking photos and videos.

Pixel 7 and 7 Pro theme

The new Pixels retain the prominent horizontal bar from the previous phones, which houses the rear cameras. This year, however, the camera bar wraps completely around the sides of the phone for a more cohesive look. The Pixel 7 has a matte aluminum frame and camera bar, while the Pixel 7 Pro has a polished, shinier frame and bar.

I have to say that the design looks pretty sleek, especially with the muted hazel and contrasting rose gold colors on the Pixel 7 Pro review device I got. While I don’t typically think of phones as fashion accessories, if you ever find yourself at a fancy soiree, this is the kind of phone you’ll want to show off.

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However, you should still put the phone in a sturdy case as the rounded edges and smooth back make the device a bit slippery in your hand.

Both phones have a bright OLED display, which to me looked sharp even in direct sunlight. And both have the basic Android 13 interface, clutter-free with additional apps or UI overlays that other manufacturers like Samsung and OnePlus add.

facility and performance

Both models feature Face Unlock, a first for Pixel phones. (Previously, you had to use a PIN or your fingerprint, a feature that recently caused some disruption). The test devices I tried unlocked flawlessly with Face Unlock every time, and when I turned that off, with Fingerprint Unlock.

During setup, I had an issue with the Pixel 7’s onscreen keyboard: I couldn’t bring it up whether I was trying to set a password or search Google. At first I thought I had a dud phone, but after fiddling with the keyboard settings a few times – eventually disabling “voice input” and adding and removing the US keyboard – it started working. This is just a warning in case you encounter this strange behavior.

As mentioned above, the phones feature bright OLED screens. The Pixel 7 Pro has a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes for smoother scrolling and animations than the 60Hz refresh rate of the older Pixels, especially when playing games. I found the phone pretty nimble for everything from strategy RPGs like Fire Emblem Heroes to games that require a lot of sleight of hand like Fruit Ninja. The Pixel 7, with a 90Hz refresh rate, wasn’t a problem either.

Since Google is touting the Pixel’s AI and machine learning capabilities, powered by its second-gen Tensor G2 chipset, I also tried the Recorder app, unique to Pixel phones, which can now identify different speakers, when she transcribes the audio to text. It’s a reporter’s dream tool.

Unfortunately, depending on the environment, I found it a hit-or-miss. During a long drive with some friends and quiet music playing in the background, the app failed to recognize some of our conversations and made some mistakes in the speech it picked up. In ideal circumstances – a room with minimal background noise and everyone talking loudly – the app performed better, although not with 100 percent accuracy. (Note that it’s not just the Pixel; CR analysis shows speech-to-tech falls short on a number of platforms.)

We’ll know more about how the phones stack up against the competition in terms of performance once we’ve run our series of tests. Our performance ratings take into account processor speed, upload and download speeds, and the amount of available memory versus the advertised memory, which varies quite a bit depending on the size of the operating system and how much other software is preinstalled. The Pixel 7 has 8 gigabytes of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage, while the 7 Pro has 12 gigabytes of RAM and 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB of storage options.

Pixel 7 and 7 Pro cameras

Both phones share the same camera setup as last year’s models. The Pixel 7 has a 50-megapixel wide and 12-megapixel ultrawide lens on the back, while the 7 Pro adds a 48-megapixel zoom camera.

But Google has made a few changes to the camera hardware. The 7 Pro now has 5x optical zoom, up from last year’s 4x zoom. The 7 Pro can also digitally zoom up to 30x compared to 20x on the previous generation. I tested this in a large pumpkin patch in Long Island, NY and zoomed in on pumpkins of various sizes and colors. The photos I took were all sharp, at least to my eyes.

Additionally, both phones now have close-up autofocus. I don’t often feel the need to photograph insects on flower petals, but if macro photography is your thing, this is a welcome new feature.

The best improvements to the cameras come from a mix of software and hardware upgrades. Last year, Google introduced Magic Eraser, a Pixel 6 exclusive feature that removes random objects and people from your photos. With the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, in addition to Magic Eraser, you can now fix blurry photos thanks to Tensor G2 and blur the background when recording videos.

Unblur is my new favorite feature. It works not only on photos taken with a Pixel 7 or 7 Pro, but on any photo taken with any phone at any time. Here’s a photo from 11 years ago of my daughter on Halloween, taken with a Samsung Galaxy S2. Nothing is in focus here, but after using Unblur in the editing tools, my girl’s face and some details of her costume are clearer.

The Pixel 7 series’ new Unblur feature can better focus blurry old photos.

Photo: Melanie Pinola/Consumer Reports

Just to raise expectations, Unblur can’t work wonders and fix dramatically blurry photos. Maybe that’s why Google didn’t name the tool Magic Unblur.

On the video side, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro now have a Cinematic Blur mode that blurs the background behind your subject. It’s pretty cool. When I filmed my dog ​​running around with sticks in his mouth, the camera kept him in focus rather than my messy yard. At times it looked a little unnatural, like in older CGI films where the edges of the computer drawn subjects contrasted too much with the rest of the scene, but in certain situations this might be the look you’d be aiming for.

We’ll report back once our lab techs have run the phones through more thorough camera testing to see how they compare to the best smartphone cameras.

Pixel 7 and 7 Pro battery life

Google says both the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro can last over 24 hours on a single charge, and up to 72 hours in extreme battery saver mode. They also support 30-watt fast charging.

I haven’t had any issues or concerns with battery life during long day trips full of pumpkin and kid photoshoots, but we’ll know more soon once we’ve tested the devices in our labs.

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