Google Pixel 7 Pro review

Worth When Reviewed

899

Google Pixel telephones have been launched yearly since 2016 and have normally had one close-to-dealbreaking situation.

For the Pixel 2 XL it was a nasty show, for the three and three XL it was iffy reminiscence administration, for the Pixel 4 it was dismal battery life.

2021’s Pixel 6 and 6 Professional had been a lot better totally shaped merchandise and ushered in a brand new period, which might be why their successors the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Professional – the latter reviewed right here – are iterative updates.

The Pixel 7 Professional is the most effective Pixel but and the one to purchase if you would like probably the greatest digital camera methods on a telephone together with a prime show and probably the most considerate interpretation of Android.

Although costly at $899/£849/€899 for the most affordable mannequin, it’s well-priced in comparison with the remainder of the market and is each bit as premium and well-built as telephones from rival producers.

It’s simply too massive and heavy – and that would be the dealbreaker this time round if it bothers you.

Design & Construct

• Very massive
• Effectively-built
• Ugly digital camera bar

The Pixel 7 Professional has had a slight redesign however seems rather a lot just like the 6 Professional. It has a particular ‘digital camera bar’, a strip throughout the highest half of the telephone the place the triple rear digital camera sit, besides this yr it’s coated in polished metallic relatively than a plain piece of darkish glass.

It offers the telephone a robotic look, with a capsule form for 2 of the lenses and a round one for the third. I choose the look of the 6 Professional, and this new design makes it look a bit cheesy – I additionally choose the matt metallic end of the brand new design on the common Pixel 7.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

No telephone’s design has ever put me off utilizing it although, even whether it is ugly right here. The problem is its measurement – this telephone is gigantic and heavy as well at 212g.

At 162.9 x 76.6 x 8.9mm it is a thick and weighty telephone in hand, pocket, and bag alike. It’s taller and thicker than the iPhone 14 Professional Max, and has virtually the identical dimensions because the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely.

The very best telephones are massive now, and all of us need to cope with it.

My evaluate unit was the white color, which Google calls Snow. It seems nice, extra telephones ought to be white (there’s additionally Obsidian and Hazel, black and gray/inexperienced respectively).

Except for the Star Trek-esque digital camera bar the look is crisp and clear with silver polished aluminium chassis that Google says is 100% recycled. The rails are damaged solely by a USB-C port, mic, and speaker on the underside, a quantity rocker and energy button on the fitting edge, and a small mic on the highest. The left edge has a single SIM slot, and there’s no expandable storage.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

The back and front glass is produced from robust Gorilla Glass Victus, although my colleague Chris Martin discovered his common Pixel 7 cracked after hitting the tarmac from a brief top. If free from cracks, the telephone is IP68 rated for mud and water resistance.

It’s undoubtedly a well-made telephone that feels extra stable in construct than the Pixel 6 Professional, however I nonetheless choose a smaller machine than this absolute behemoth.

Display screen & Audio system

• Excellent 6.7in display
• Variable 120Hz panel
• Stereo audio system

Google has hit a six with the Pixel 7 Professional’s display, probably the greatest I’ve used on a telephone. Shows appear to get crisper and brighter yearly one way or the other, and aspect by aspect with the Pixel 6 Professional, the 7 Professional improves in each areas.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

It’s a 6.7in Quad HD+ panel with a decision of 3120 x 1440. It is usually able to 120Hz refresh price, and look beautifully clean – higher to my eyes than Apple’s iPhone 13 Professional or 14 Professional. Like these telephones, the 7 Professional makes use of LTPO tech to scale the speed down when not wanted to preserve battery life.

One other battery saving possibility helps you to run the show at 1080p, however all the pieces seems greatest when at 1440p and 120Hz. Together with the digital camera, it’s the most effective purpose to get the 7 Professional as an alternative of the common 7.

Apparently Google units the telephone to darkish mode out of the field. I choose operating telephones in darkish mode because the blue gentle on my eyes is much less intense, and with OLED shows comparable to this, darker colors use much less battery.

The display curves on the edges very barely which is frequent on giant telephones, however the common Pixel 7 has a flat display for those who choose.

Whereas I don’t condone blasting music out of telephone audio system on any event, the Pixel 7 Professional sounds fairly good for those who do. On the highest volumes, it’s not as properly rounded because the iPhone 14 but it surely’s high quality for podcasts or watching YouTube.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Specs & Efficiency

• Google Tensor G2 chipset
• 12GB RAM
• 128/256/512GB storage

That is the second yr Google has used its in-house Tensor chipset it’s made with Samsung. The G2 within the 7 Professional is stable however is much less highly effective than the A16 discovered within the iPhone 14 Professional for uncooked compute energy. The beneath graphs present it in comparison with that telephone and different costly Android telephones.

It’s greater than sufficient oomph for me and possibly you although, dealing with a number of apps with ease and chewing by means of high-end video games with out a lot as a stutter.

As a substitute, the marginal enhancements from final yr’s Tensor are on necessary issues like battery life, safety, photograph processing, and sensible software program options. It succeeds on all these fronts and is a really secure telephone day-to-day with no efficiency points.

All fashions of the Professional include 12GB RAM and both 128- or 256GB storage (there’s additionally a 512GB possibility within the US). This isn’t expandable so that you would possibly need to pay additional for the bigger capability. You should utilize two telephone numbers with the one SIM slot paired with an eSIM.

Software program & Options

• Android 13
• Pixel unique options
• Three Android updates
• 5 years of safety updates

Tensor is at its greatest paired with Google’s flavour of Android, which is one in all my favourites – vanilla. Android 13 on the 7 Professional runs easily and with the character and playfulness missing in most telephone working methods, that are normally austere and critical.

It has pretty wallpaper choices with color palette choosing to high quality tune and personalise your telephone because of Materials You, whereas the always-on show stays easy and doesn’t drain the battery.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

The on-device processing is a large benefit of the Pixel. This implies it does cool issues like transcription and dictation with out the necessity to hook up with the web. This enables the telephone to be helpful when out of sign and in airplane mode whereas holding a few of these processes off Google’s servers.

As an example, you should utilize Stay Transcribe to transcribe somebody’s speech in actual time in case you are onerous of listening to to maintain up with a dialog. The Google Recorder app can transcribe offline too and create a transcript that you may select to maintain offline or backup to your Google account.

You can too view transcripts of audio messages despatched through Google’s Messages app, or use the Assistant Voice Typing to dictate messages into any messaging app. Google says the extra you employ the options, the extra clever they get. I discover the dictation about on par with the model on Apple’s iOS.

Google’s software program is great at stopping spam calls from ever getting by means of, although I did get some spam textual content messages when texting the telephone having acquired none when reviewing an iPhone within the weeks beforehand. I additionally admire that Google is utilizing AI to enhance the audio of voice calls when numerous producers ignore the precise telephone a part of a smartphone.

You additionally get new options like nighttime cough and snore detection and – lastly – an possibility for face unlock in addition to the in-screen fingerprint reader. The previous works solely to unlock the telephone, but when you choose solely present notification content material when unlocked, the Pixel acts like an iPhone the place it solely exhibits your notifications when it has recognised your face.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

For all the pieces else like banking biometrics, the fingerprint sensor is dependable and improved over the dodgy one on the 6 Professional.

Google guarantees 5 years of safety updates for the Pixel 7 Professional, which implies it’s coated till late 2027. That’s not unhealthy going. It’s a disgrace there’s solely three years of platform updates although, so the telephone will get Android 16 in 2025, however no extra.

Samsung and Apple provide longer OS replace assist on most of their telephones, so it’s value taking into account if you would like the very newest software program options over time.

Cameras & Video

• Superlative most important 50Mp sensor
• Unbelievable dynamic vary
• Wonderful processing
• RAW format possibility

The Pixel 7 Professional is an absolute pleasure to take images with. In my time with it I’ve taken photographs I confidently wouldn’t have gotten from an iPhone, significantly in cases of fast-moving topics.

The primary sensor is without doubt one of the greatest on a telephone, with beautiful element captured and amazingly competent dynamic vary. At a marriage, the Pixel froze confetti throwing in time, every petal completely crisp.

I choose the distinction Google places within the processing of its photos to different producers. It’s a moodier, stylistic alternative however one which evokes movie pictures in a approach Apple’s processing doesn’t. The iPhone 14 takes nice footage however over-sharpens them. Samsung over-saturates colors. I used to be happier with the Pixel’s photographs and loved optionally capturing in RAW and modifying them afterwards on my desktop.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

That stated, I discovered the Vivo X80 Professional outperformed the Pixel in some cases. The X80 constantly manages to select particulars the human eye can see however telephones battle with, comparable to capturing blue sky by means of a window in a darker room. The Pixel (and iPhone) typically can’t pick blue sky, however the Vivo does each time because of its bigger most important sensor. Facet by aspect, the Pixel manages higher particulars on topics general.

The Pixel 7 Professional’s cameras are similar to these on the Pixel 6 Professional, with a 50Mp most important lens with f/1.85, a 12Mp ultrawide with f/2.2 and autofocus, and a 48Mp telephoto lens with f/3.5. The latter will get a small improve and may now zoom to 5x optical, or as much as 30x digital with Google’s Tremendous Res Zoom software program that adjusts for hand shake.

In the event you zoom to between 2.5x and 5x, the telephone takes a photograph with each the principle and telephoto lenses and combines them to supply one picture. Quite a lot of what Google does with the cameras on the Pixel isn’t merely taking a shot with one lens – it’s utilizing all of the lenses and many compute energy from the Tensor G2 to sew them collectively and render a scene nearer to what a DSLR would possibly do with out the software program trickery.

5x photos in good lighting are glorious, however in decrease gentle it struggles for element and there’s grain. Zoom additional and outcomes are additionally fairly good. I took a 30x shot of St Pancras Lodge’s clock tower and it was much better than I believed it could be (see in beneath slideshow). The 10x shot is best, very crisp and clear. It is a high quality digital zoom although optical is preferable, such because the 10x optical on the Galaxy S22 Extremely.

The ultrawide’s new trick is taking macro photographs that may keep in focus from as much as three centimetres away. The mode kicks in routinely if you maintain the digital camera near a topic. It’s a neat trick, however the iPhone 13 Professional and 14 Professional’s outcomes can get nearer and are extra impressively sharp.

The entrance dealing with digital camera is a ten.8Mp f/2.2 lens sat within the centre on the prime of the display. It’s completely serviceable for selfies and video calls, and I like its 92.8 diploma vast area of view.

Pixel favourites like Night time Sight and Astrophotography additionally nonetheless impress, the previous doing a greater job of unblurring. That is an all-round digital camera system that may serve you extremely properly, up there with the S22 Extremely and X80 Professional for sheer versatility. However of all these telephones, the Pixel is probably the most dependable, which counts for a complete lot. I at all times trusted it to get an excellent picture.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Google instantly copied Apple’s Cinematic Mode by introducing the Cinematic Blur’s video mode on the 7 Professional. It blurs the background behind your topic when recording video and, like Apple’s, can give attention to both airplane and swap between the 2. It really works, as nonetheless does the intelligent Magic Eraser characteristic that you simply an use to erase individuals or issues from images for those who really feel they’re spoiling the shot.

Video seize normally is stable, and you’ll report in 10-bit HDR in 4K as much as 30fps, or 60fps with HDR turned off.

Handier is the automated Face Unblur characteristic that’s tagged on a photograph if it steps in, however does precisely what it says to higher your photographs. New and outdated images can be manually unblurred with Photograph Unblur – having the ability to unblur any older photograph is an unique characteristic to the Pixel 7 telephones.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh
• 2-day battery life
• Gradual ’30W’ charging
• Wi-fi and reverse charging

Yr over yr one of many clearest enhancements over the Pixel 6 Professional is battery life. Google actually stretches the big 5000mAh battery on the 7 Professional and it by no means died on me. In reality, I typically ended a full day of use with over 40% of energy left and the telephone repeatedly lasted me properly right into a second day.

Although charging is simply 23W when wired even for those who use Google’s personal 30W charger, which is sluggish in comparison with different Android flagships, it may get to 50% cost in half-hour, which may be very helpful and sufficient quick cost smarts for most individuals. There’s additionally wi-fi charging at a comparatively sluggish 23W velocity with the Pixel Stand 2, and reverse wi-fi charging for slowly topping up different telephones or shortly topping up the smaller batteries of wi-fi earbuds or smartwatches, if appropriate.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

You would possibly assume the most costly smartphones ought to have the most effective battery life however the reverse is normally true – the extra highly effective, the shorter the longevity, normally. I’m completely happy the 7 Professional bucks this development, and it nearly makes up for a way monumental the factor is.

Worth & Availability

The Pixel 7 Professional prices $899/£849/€899 for the 128GB mannequin which is dear, however is definitely a really cheap and aggressive worth in comparison with the competitors. It goes as much as $999/£949/€999 for the 256GB, and within the US there’s a 512GB possibility for $1,099. You simply get the telephone and a USB-C cable within the field, together with a USB-A adapter to assist transfer knowledge out of your outdated telephone.

You should purchase it within the US, UK, Canada, and Europe from the Google Store. It’s additionally accessible in a couple of different areas comparable to Eire, Japan, and Australia.

The bottom worth is much like the $799/£849/€1,019 iPhone 14, which solely has a 60Hz display, no telephoto lens, and may’t shoot images in RAW (very similar to the pricier iPhone 14 Plus).

In the event you go for the $999/£1,099/€1,329 iPhone 14 Professional you’re getting the most effective Apple has to supply, however at a premium to what Google is promoting the Pixel for.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely is a mad $1,199/£1,149/€1,279, however it is best to be capable to discover it at a reduction given it’s a couple of months outdated, but it surely exhibits the Pixel 7 Professional is an efficient deal compared to the competitors.

You might additionally go for the common Pixel 7 which at $599/£599/€649 is a phenomenally whole lot.

Take a look at our greatest telephone and greatest mid-range telephone charts for extra prime telephones.

Verdict

The Google Pixel 7 Professional is without doubt one of the greatest telephones of 2022 whose solely draw back is its cumbersome measurement and weight (and barely ugly design except you disagree with me on that).

In the event you can cope with that, you’ll be very pleased with probably the most versatile and constant digital camera setup on a telephone, an exquisite show, and the neatest, most helpful model of Android.

It’s not probably the most highly effective telephone you should buy however the Tensor G2 excels at on-device options that differentiate it from different merchandise, whereas the battery life is genuinely capable of stretch to 2 days. Charging may very well be quicker, although.

With safety updates until 2027 and a worth that firmly undercuts rival manufacturers, the Pixel 7 Professional comes extremely really helpful. If you wish to get lots of the similar options for much less, the common Pixel 7 is cheaper.

Specs

• 6.7in QHD+ 120Hz LTPO OLED
• Google Tensor G2 chipset
• 12GB RAM
• 128/256GB non-expandable UFS 3.1 storage
• 5,000mAh battery
• 30W wired charging
• Wi-fi charging
• 50Mp f/1.85 most important digital camera
• 12Mp f/2.2 ultrawide digital camera.
• 48Mp f/3.5 telephoto digital camera
• 5x optical zoom
• 10x zoom and Tremendous Res Zoom as much as 30x
• 10.8Mp f/2.2 entrance digital camera
• 5G
• Wi-Fi 6E
• Bluetooth 5.2
• IP68
• Gorilla Glass Victus
• 162.9mm x 76.6mm x 8.9mm
• 212g