Google Pixel 7 Professional

Verdict

The Google Pixel 7 Professional is a powerful worth proposition in comparison with different large smartphones out there in 2023. It has an incredible digital camera, a clean display and a collection of software program options that’ll make switching exhausting.

Introduction

They won’t promote as many models because the competitors from Apple and Samsung, however Google’s line of Pixel telephones has all the time been a wonderful alternative for individuals who worth digital camera prowess and software program expertise over pure efficiency. The Pixel 7 Professional continues that theme.

2022 wasn’t a classic yr for revolutionary telephone updates, with the iPhone 14 sequence solely receiving minor updates from their earlier variations. 2023 has began off in the same method, with the Galaxy S23 persevering with to supply minimal upgrades.

Whereas it’s the same story with the Pixel 7 Professional and its cheaper, smaller Pixel 7 sibling, the worth on provide right here – particularly with the pretty frequent financial savings rounded up in our Pixel offers web page – means this stands as among the finest Android telephones available on the market, much more so months after launch.

Nevertheless, in the event you’re in search of a less expensive Pixel-branded various, the brand new Pixel 7a is less expensive and presents many comparable specs together with that 90Hz show and a flagship-level Tensor G2 chipset.

Display screen and Design

• Three color choices
• Shiny, crisp 6.7-inch barely curved show
• Ergonomic construct, even at this dimension

Google made a daring change with its Pixel 6 sequence, ditching the pretty non-descript designs of the sequence previous and changing them with one thing a complete lot extra enjoyable and attention-grabbing. The swap melded properly with the Materials You modifications inside Android 12, because the {hardware} now matched the fluid really feel of the software program.

After such an enormous change final yr, the Pixel 7 Professional is extra of a revision of that system somewhat than a drastic step ahead. It’s a really curvy telephone, and one which feels very good and comfy to carry though it’s taller than an iPhone 14 Professional Max.

The standout design trait is the digital camera visor, or Digicam Bar as Google calls it, which runs side-to-side and covers the three digital camera sensors on the again. This now contrasts with the color of the telephone’s very shiny again, with my Obsidian evaluate unit having an general black color scheme and a shiny silver visor. It seems good, and this darker black color is much nicer than the choice supplied with the Pixel 6 sequence, which felt extra gray.

As my colleague Peter Phelps famous in his Pixel 7 evaluate, the Digicam Bar is a shelf for mud and particles. Stuff simply will get caught in there all through the day and it may be a ache to constantly wipe it clear. I believe most individuals will simply slip on a case and neglect about it, although.

Alongside Obsidian there’s a silver possibility and one other referred to as Hazel, that is the standout of the bunch for me with gold accents and a grey-tinged again. Google additionally mentioned the 7 Professional is made out of round 19% recycled supplies.

The Pixel 7 Professional has an IP68 ranking for defense from water and mud, a USB-C port on the underside for charging and an in-display fingerprint sensor that, in contrast to the model used on the Pixel 6 Professional, truly works properly. Google has additionally added face unlock – this stays software-based, with none of the talents of the iPhone’s Face ID – which is a welcome addition for even faster unlocks.

The massive improve for the show is the upper peak brightness. The 6.7-inch panel is brighter each for taking part in again HDR footage and whenever you’re in direct daylight. I performed again some HDR footage via Netflix and the image is nice, although not on par, at the very least to my eyes, with the iPhone 14 Professional. Apple’s flagship telephone nonetheless manages to get that little bit additional brightness in sure scenes and depicts a extra immersive picture. In fact, nobody buys a telephone purely for its HDR copy and the Pixel 7 Professional nonetheless does an admirable job.

The remainder of the display stays very a lot the identical because the Pixel 6 Professional – which isn’t any unhealthy factor. Google’s Easy Show is much like Apple’s ProMotion, permitting the display to adaptively alter its refresh price relying on what you’re doing. 

For intensive gaming or clean scrolling, it may ramp as much as 120Hz, dropping to 10Hz for easier duties. It may possibly’t drop all the way in which to 1Hz for its always-on show, a function you’ll discover on the iPhone.

The 1440p 6.7-inch OLED panel may be very barely curved on the perimeters, although to not an annoying quantity. Really, the slight curves make the telephone simpler to carry than the sharp iPhone 14, particularly in these larger sizes. For the smaller Pixel 7, I’m glad Google went with the flatter panel.

Digicam

• Three rear cameras, all able to nice photographs
• Wonderful low-light efficiency
• Plenty of intelligent AI modes and settings

The Pixel line has produced a few of my favorite smartphone cameras since its inception. It has not all the time been one of the best general, however there’s one thing in regards to the processing of photographs and Google’s concentrate on punchy, contrast-heavy photographs with great color copy that I get pleasure from lots.

It’s exhausting to decide on between the Pixel 7 Professional, the iPhone 14 and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely relating to figuring out one of the best digital camera telephones as all of them take an distinctive image.

The Pixel 7 Professional retains the same setup to the Pixel 6 Professional, with solely a smattering of {hardware} modifications. There are three cameras on the again: a 50-megapixel large with an f/1.9 lens, 48-megapixel 120mm telephoto (up from 104mm) and a barely wider 120-degree 12MP ultrawide. There’s additionally a 10-megapixel entrance digital camera that captures good selfies.

I’ve been taking pictures with the Pixel 7 Professional for per week, taking a whole bunch of photographs and my love for the fashion of Pixel photographs stays. Pictures are filled with element, dynamic vary and wealthy, contrast-heavy color. Reds and greens in daylight photographs pop each on the telephone’s show and an LCD laptop computer display, whereas the publicity ranges are all the time good.

If you wish to tweak your photographs in Lightroom or VSCO endlessly, you’ll get higher outcomes with the iPhone 14 Professional. Whereas I typically felt the photographs from the Pixel 7 Professional have been adequate simply with Google’s intelligent processing.

An actual power of the Pixel 6 Professional was the copy of pores and skin tones, and once more the Pixel 7 Professional is one of the best telephone available on the market for this. Google’s Actual Tone function helps this little doubt, higher representing a various vary of pores and skin tones and colors.

Google kicked off the latest pattern of evening images with its Night time Sight mode and whereas the Pixel 7 Professional isn’t out in entrance in all cases of low-light efficiency, it’s nonetheless excellent. It’s lots faster at taking pictures good photographs at evening, and whereas I typically most well-liked the iPhone 14 Professional’s outcomes, the Pixel is a bit more dependable in the event you don’t have time to arrange your photographs.

Each the ultrawide and zoom digital camera produce good photographs, too. The ultrawide is a little bit wider than earlier than, cramming extra into photographs and giving a greater, extra distinctive general picture. The telephoto zoom makes use of each an optical zoom and a few AI-infused software program trickery to get you nearer to an object. As much as 5x zoom the images are good, even when there’s a noticeable leap when the software program processing takes over – push it additional and the standard degrades. The outcomes aren’t on a stage with the Galaxy S22 Extremely however they’re lots higher than the iPhone 14 Professional.

It’s not simply the photographs that make the Pixel digital camera nice, however the different tips contained in the digital camera which can be merely simply not out there, to the identical high quality, elsewhere. Considered one of my favorite new additions is an unblur possibility that does precisely what it says on the tin – make blurry photographs usable. This doesn’t simply work with new photographs snapped on the Pixel both, and I used it to enhance quite a few older photographs I’ve beforehand scanned into my Google Pictures library from bodily photographs. 

In fact, it doesn’t work each time – however turning a as soon as ineffective snap of my canine or one among my grandparents right into a sharper one is a trick that can by no means get outdated. I’d solely assume this function will get higher and smarter with updates, too simply as Magic Eraser has accomplished over the previous yr.

Magic Eraser permits you to take away photobombers and misguided objects from photographs and, like Unblur, does an incredible job in lots of cases. If there’s a transparent object, like an individual, within the background then the function is sensible sufficient to seek out it and take away it.

Not every little thing works to the identical diploma. The brand new Macro mode, unique to the Professional mannequin, is, like comparable modes elsewhere, a bit garbage. Sure, you possibly can pull out extra element by leaping into this mode and getting near an object – however the outcomes are sometimes worse than the already fairly horrible outcomes from devoted macro cameras.

Video seize additionally isn’t the strongest talent of the Pixel 7 Professional. The footage I recorded was completely serviceable, with a great vary of stabilisation choices, nevertheless it doesn’t have the identical great colors because the photographs.

Efficiency

• Powered by the Tensor G2 chip
• 12GB RAM, as much as 512GB storage in some areas
• Succesful performer

Not solely did Google make drastic modifications to its Pixel 6 line with its design and digital camera setups, nevertheless it was additionally the primary to make use of a chip designed by Google. Tensor was by no means the quickest silicon round, simply outmuscled in benchmarks by the competitors from Apple and Samsung. But it elevated the prowess of the telephone’s AI expertise, each in on-device studying components and the processing of photographs from the digital camera.

With the Pixel 7 Professional it’s the same story. The Tensor G2 isn’t essentially aiming to rival the efficiency of the A16 Bionic or the 8 Plus Gen 1, as an alternative it’s designed to extend the talents of Google’s suite of AI options. 

There’s lots of this telephone you most likely wouldn’t assume is powered by the Tensor G2 however truly is – from the Actual Tone and Face Unblur digital camera expertise to unmatched translation and voice transcription expertise, I’d truthfully take these advantages over a couple of extra factors scored in an artificial benchmarking app like Geekbench.

The Recording app is one thing I miss each time I’m not utilizing a Pixel telephone. That is probably the most correct transcribing and voice recording software I’ve ever used, seamlessly turning audio conversations into excellent textual content with no need a web based connection. The Pixel’s auto-captioning is nice too, even when it may typically fall a little bit behind faster-moving movies.

There are plentiful different AI options powered by Tensor. The telephone can, in some areas, reply spam calls or flip these annoying automated phone companies into textual content so that you’re not left ready to seek out out whether or not it’s worthwhile to press one, two or three.

Synthetic intelligence apart, the Pixel 7 Professional’s software program stays filled with distinctive touches. For example, the Now Enjoying function quietly reveals you any track taking part in in your neighborhood on the lock display and saves all of them so that you can look again on. That is like Shazam, however you don’t must even take into consideration opening an app.

Widgets have been an enormous focus of Android 12, however they nonetheless stay far beneath what’s out there on iOS. Google-designed ones apart, widgets for the apps I have a tendency to make use of each day felt like they have been constructed 5 years in the past and never touched since.

Although the main target won’t be on velocity, the Pixel 7 Professional is quick and clean in a means I’ve typically felt was lacking from Pixel telephones. Video games play simply as properly, at the very least in my assessments, as they do on Qualcomm-powered telephones and even a demanding title like Genshin Impression ran properly.

Paired with the Tensor G2 chipset is 12GB RAM (that’s up from 8GB on the Pixel 7) and both 128GB or 256GB of storage. As traditional, there’s no expandable storage, so select properly when buying except you’re glad to make use of the cloud.

In contrast to the iPhone 14 sequence, the Pixel 7 Professional helps the sooner Wi-Fi 6E customary, which makes lots of sense as Google has just lately launched a Nest Wifi Professional system with assist for 6E.

A variety of telephones truly neglect in regards to the telephone facet, however the Pixel 7 Professional doesn’t. Together with the automation options I discussed earlier, telephone calls right here sound unbelievable with a great quantity of background noise blocked out. The haptic response is nice too – supplying you with beautiful little pops of suggestions whenever you hit keys or get a notification. It’s the little issues like that simply make Pixel telephones such a pleasure to make use of.

When it comes to software program updates, Google guarantees a minimal of 5 years of safety updates and sure 4 years of correct numbered Android updates. Contemplating Samsung presents comparable, and Google has full management over all components of this telephone, it will have been good to have a couple of years extra.

Battery Life

• Very comparable endurance to the Pixel 6 Professional
• 5000mAh battery
• No charger included

There’s little or no to get enthusiastic about with the battery life and endurance of the Pixel 7 Professional. It’s a telephone that’ll probably require nightly expenses except you’re prepared to severely restrict the talents of the machine with the brand new Excessive Energy Saver.

This mode is perhaps good for a pageant or tenting journey when you actually need that multi-day battery life, however usually the sacrifices aren’t actually price it to me.

All through my week with the Pixel 7 Professional, it’s left me with about 10-15% left on the finish of the day, roughly the identical because the outcomes I received with the iPhone 14 Professional – however properly behind the Professional Max.

That is with the display set to FHD+, the default setting and the Easy Show turned on. If you need a sharper image you possibly can flip it to QHD+ (1440p) and it’ll use about 3-5% extra per day.

Google hasn’t superior a lot with quick charging tech both. There’s assist for chargers as much as 30w, although a full cost took me 80-90 minutes and naturally there’s no charger within the field. It is a lot slower than most of the finest Android telephones for charging, with one thing just like the OnePlus 10T going from 0-100% in lower than 20 minutes.

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