Google seems to have triumphed once more. The brand new Pixel 7 presents the identical the top-flight software program, digital camera and good AI techniques which have made its telephones winners, however at a knockdown worth that considerably undercuts rivals.
Costing £599 ($899/A$1,299) it sits in between the highest £849 Pixel 7 Professional and the funds £399 Pixel 6a, competing very favourably on worth and specs with rivals from Samsung, Apple and others which are usually within the £700-800 vary.
The brand new cellphone seems like a smaller, simplified model of the Pixel 7 Professional. It has a flat, 6.3in OLED display screen that’s shiny and good trying. The display screen is fairly good. It has a 90Hz refresh charge to maintain issues flowing easily. But it surely doesn’t attain the heady peak of 120Hz or dynamically regulate to save lots of battery as is widespread on Android rivals.
The Pixel 7 is shorter, narrower and lighter than its bigger sibling and final yr’s Pixel 6, which is an efficient factor. It makes the Pixel 7 steadiness between display screen dimension and system dimension, much like Apple’s iPhone 14.
The again of the cellphone has Google’s digital camera bar design, which blends into the brushed aluminium sides. It seems and feels extra premium than final yr’s mannequin.
Inside, the Pixel 7 has the identical Google Tensor G2 chip as its bigger sibling and performs equally, with notably fast AI techniques reminiscent of textual content to speech.
Battery life is much like Google’s different telephones lasting about 35 hours between expenses with the display screen actively used for 5 hours. That’s adequate for a day of heavy use however behind the competitors, a few of which final nearly two days.
Specs
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Display screen: 6.3in 90Hz FHD+ OLED (416ppi)
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Processor: Google Tensor G2
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RAM: 8GB
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Storage: 128 or 256GB
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Working system: Android 13
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Digital camera: 50MP + 12MP ultrawide, 10.8MP selfie
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Connectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6E, UWB, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and GNSS
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Water resistance: IP68 (1.5m for half-hour)
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Dimensions: 155.6 x 73.2 x 8.7mm
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Weight: 197g
Sustainability
Google doesn’t present an anticipated lifespan for the battery however it ought to final in extra of 500 full cost cycles with at the least 80% of its authentic capability. The cellphone is repairable by Google and third-party outlets with real alternative components out there direct from iFixit. Out-of-warranty display screen repairs by Google will value much like its predecessor at about £140 and battery replacements about £100.
The Pixel 7 is made with 100% recycled aluminium, accounting for about 19% of the cellphone by weight. The corporate publishes environmental affect reviews for a few of its merchandise. Google will recycle outdated units freed from cost.
Android 13
The Pixel 7 runs the identical model of Android 13 because the Pixel 7 Professional and Google’s different smartphones, with just a few unique options together with the power to unblur faces and objects utilizing AI within the Google Photographs app.
Google will present at the least 5 years of software program and safety updates together with at the least three main Android variations. Samsung helps lots of its telephones for 5 years, whereas Fairphone is aiming for six years and Apple helps its iPhone for as much as seven years.
Digital camera
The Pixel 7 has two cameras on the again, together with a 50-megapixel predominant and 12MP ultrawide, missing the 5x telephoto of the Pixel 7 Professional.
The 12MP ultrawide digital camera produces good pictures with little or no distortion, even across the edges. However its 0.7x magnification isn’t fairly as vast because the 0.5x of the 7 Professional or rivals, so that you gained’t be capable of match fairly as a lot in. It additionally lacks the power to work as a macro digital camera as on the 7 Professional, which is not any massive loss.
The primary 50MP digital camera is identical because the 7 Professional and is solely good, capturing an incredible quantity of element throughout a broad vary of lighting circumstances, producing pictures at 12.5MP. It could possibly additionally “zoom” to 2x optical magnification, which works surprisingly properly matching what you’d usually get from a 2x optical zoom on rivals. Digital zoom takes over from there with affordable outcomes at 4x however mushy on element afterwards.
Google’s low-light evening sight mode is quicker and higher than ever, creating great-looking and usually crisp pictures in close to darkness. With the cellphone on a tripod or propped up you possibly can even take beautiful images of the celebs with a particular prolonged shot.
The selfie digital camera shoots glorious 10MP pictures in a wide range of lighting circumstances.Video seize has been improved all spherical at as much as 4K at 60 frames a second in HDR, catching as much as rivals.
Total the Pixel 7 has a very glorious digital camera for the cash, solely actually lacking an prolonged zoom.
Worth
The Google Pixel 7 prices from £599 ($599/A$999) with 128GB of storage.
For comparability, the Pixel 7 Professional prices £849, the Pixel 6a prices £399, the Samsung Galaxy S22 prices £769 and the iPhone 14 prices £849.
Verdict
The Pixel 7 is a cracking top-end Android cellphone at a terrific worth.
It presents most of what makes the Pixel 7 Professional among the finest smartphones of the yr, with just a few corners reduce to be beneath £600 at a time when expertise is getting dearer, not much less.
You get a handsome, well-performing system with loads of good options and good software program with at the least 5 years of assist. You’ll battle to seek out nearly as good a digital camera for the worth. The 6.3in display screen is an efficient dimension, if not essentially the most superior, and the battery life is strong if a bit in need of the perfect.
With rivals costing north of £750, the Pixel 7’s greatest downside is that Google’s different extra reasonably priced cellphone, the Pixel 6a, presents 70% of the efficiency of the brand new cellphone for about £400.
Execs: nice digital camera, good display screen, good efficiency, strong battery, face and fingerprint unlock, Android 13 with 5 years of safety updates, totally undercuts competitors on worth.
Cons: restricted zoom, face unlock choice not as safe as some rivals, battery life in need of best-in-class, pretty sluggish charging, no massive leap in efficiency.
