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Google Pixel 7 Pro Review: Hail the Camera Champ

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Updated on: 27-Oct-2022 05:29 AM
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Google's return to the flagship smartphone space after three years is marked by a phone that makes Samsung and Apple take note. Flagship phones need to feel special, connect to your soul, and make you look at them with love - this combination has been missing from the iPhones and Samsungs of the last few years but this Pixel has it all.

Google pixel 7 Pro.jpg

Google Pixel 7 Pro Price in India Before we dive into the review, the Google Pixel 7 Pro is available in India in a sole configuration with 12 GB RAM and 128 GB storage, the device is available in three colour options: Hazel, Obsidian and Snow.

Design

Pixel 7 Pro vs S22 Ultra vs iPhone 14 Pro.jpg

Where most smartphones look similar with a vertical or triangular camera layout, Google has stuck with the visor design which was introduced with the Google Pixel 6 series. This time the visor is made out of Aluminium instead of Glass and is colour matched with the Aluminium frame of the phone. The new look is quite polarizing and honestly, I am not a huge fan of it. You also need to know that Aluminium is a soft metal and can be easily scratched. I do have to say that the Pixel 7 Pro is easily distinguishable from other smartphones and has a sense of uniqueness that is not seen with the iPhone 14 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Even with a big size, the Pixel 7 Pro is comfortable to hold because of its curved sides. Moreover, the phone is also water and dust-resistant.

Display

Google-Pixel-7 Pro Display.jpg

A 6.7-inch Quad HD+ OLED display with a variable refresh rate of IOHz-120Hz justifies the steep price you pay for such a phone. No surprises here - this is a beautiful display to behold. Google has gone with a more natural and muted colour profile rather than punchy colours. The display is also plenty bright even in the outdoor sun, though the iPhone 14 Pro is still miles ahead with its peak 2000 nits brightness.

The fingerprint sensor was one of the biggest let down for me in the Pixel 6 series and sadly the same is the case here. Though there is an improvement in the speed of authentication it is still far behind the other in-display sensors seen in Galaxy S22 series, OnePlus 10T and other flagships.

Similar to the Samsung’s flagship, Google Pixel 7 Pro uses a curved display. The curve is not as noticeable as the S22 Ultra so there are not as many ghost touches. The curved display also makes the device look slimmer than it usually is.

Google also added face unlock with the Pixel 7 series but it solely depends on the camera and there are no specific sensors like IR or others seen with the Apple iPhones since iPhone X.

Performance

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Pixel phones are more about smart than lightning speed, and the Pixel 7 Pro happily proves it every day. The Google Tensor G2 chip is Google's 2nd generation chipset and improves overall performance. Benchmark results show that raw performance is still lagging the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The focus here is on improving the performance of Al and ML. In fact, I found the Tensor G2 to be as fast as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phone. Powered by the Android 13 operating system, Pixel’s G2 is incredibly optimized. Whether you unlock your phone, open your app drawer, run your social media apps, or try out Call of Duty: Mobile, Pixel 7 Pro does it all smoothly and confidently. Android 13 is at its best here, pulling away with Google's Material You theme and beautifully coordinated animations. The user experience is smooth and everything feels well laid out. I like how Google handles Android customization compared to Samsung's One Ul. You have fine-grained control over the colours of your system theme, and your wallpaper determines the tint. The colour-coordinated icon is the icing on the cake.

But it's these little smart bits that make Pixels amazing. For example, keyboard dictation is a godsend. While the Now Playing option benefits music lovers, the At a Glance widget is a great way to get reminders for meetings, schedules, alerts, and route planning. As for the lifespan, Google promises three Android OS updates and five years of security patches for him. It's not the best in business, but chances are most of the Pixel 7 Pro users. The Tensor G2 supports 5G connectivity, but at the time of writing, Google has yet to roll out a "5G update" for Airtel 5G. Calls and connections were fine on the 4G LTE network. Then there's the audio quality from the stereo speakers. That's excellent. Audio is deep and has good bass performance. The treble is a little on the low side, but the overall volume is quite loud. Though Pixel can still not match the iPhone 14 Pro and the Xiaomi 12 Pro when it comes to the audio performance.

Camera

Pixel 7 Pro Camera.jpg

The Pixel 7 Pro's triple rear camera system, enhanced with new camera hardware, looks good enough on paper. It's all Google software that works like magic and gives the Pixel 7 Pro its own identity. Out of the box, the Pixel 7 relies heavily on post-processing to deliver the final result. During the day, the main and ultra-wide cameras exhibit exemplary dynamic range, but post-processing improves contrast and shadows slightly. The telephoto camera has slightly different colour science, but the image quality at 5x zoom is excellent. Go beyond 5x to 15x - Pixel is great at upscaling and keeping everything sharp. The zoom performance from 1x to 5x is also excellent. Human skin has a warm colour.

The selfie camera works beautifully, preserving skin tones and blending skin textures slightly. I also liked how portrait mode separates the background with an artificial blur. The ultra-wide camera is also useful for taking macro photos, and works as advertised, but not as well as the iPhone 14 Pro's macro camera. It's the nighttime shots where the Pixel 7 Pro shines. It outperforms the Galaxy S22 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro Max with incredible detail, artefact control, true colour tones, and excellent noise reduction. This also helps with indoor shots, where the Pixel 7 Pro consistently delivers beautiful selfies and portraits.

And then there is the Al-based mode. I love using long exposures to capture chic light trails in traffic, and the Action Pan is great for blurring backgrounds but is still behind the Cinematic Mode seen with the latest iPhones. The science of colour changes a bit here, so use it only when necessary. In the Photos app, Magic Eraser is very useful for erasing unwanted objects, while Photo Unblur is good for sharpening portraits of people. All of this combined makes this a great still camera phone to have fun with.

Sadly, the video performance of the Pixel 7 Pro could be much better. For normal use, the Pixel’s videos are great with excellent stabilization. The transition between different lenses, though much improved, is still lagging compared to even the iPhone 12 Pro. Everything said the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the iPhone are still way better when taking videos.

Battery Life

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We expected the 5000mAh battery to last the Pixel 7 Pro for more than a day with moderate use. Unfortunately, the Tensor G2 isn't power efficient, and when paired with the Quad HD+ display, I had to leave the phone overnight to charge. On most days, when I used the phone for 3-4 hours of voice calls, social media browsing, music streaming, and 1 hour of photography, while the Pixel 7 Pro finished the day mostly under 30%. the overnight drains are more concerning for the Pixel 7 Pro and Google should improve it with a software update.

I also wish the charging was faster than what Google chose this year. It didn't come with a charger and was not yet available from Google in India, so I had to use a 30W Apple adapter to charge it, and it took nearly two hours to fully charge. Standard Qi-rated wireless charging is also slow, taking about 3 hours to fill up.

Verdict

The Google Pixel 7 Pro is a unique device to look at compared to other flagship devices. The Aluminium visor will get scratched easily and will show its age fast. The Pixel 7 Pro has the second best camera system according to me after the Apple iPhone 14 Pro. This is partly due to the mediocre video performance.

While not the fastest phone in benchmarks, the Pixel made it up with incredible smart features from its AI and ML cores in the Tensor G2 SoC. My only other issue was with the battery life which can be better.

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