Google Pixel 7 review | Does it worth it in 2023?

4.7/5

Since a brief Google Pixel 7 review is not enough to know in detail a device that came to change the game, we will thoroughly touch every value point of the device that brought facial unlocking to Google.

In October 2022, Google launched its flagship phones the Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro.

It seems like last year was yesterday when we were discussing the Pixel 6 series, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, and there are slight upgrades from one year to the other, but certainly makes up to desire better then an iPhone 14.

Learn about its design and construction, screen, performance, battery, and more by reading us to the end.

Google Pixel 7
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Table of Contents

Google Pixel 7 Design and Construction

The Google Pixel 7 is a phone that shows premium signs.

Also, it assaults the eye with undeniable appeal. It has very smoothed lines, edges are absent, its pastel colors help highlight the phone’s class, and the rear camera band helps give it the edge it needs from other devices.

The colors available for the Pixel 7 are Obsidian, Snow, and Lemongrass.

The mobile makes good use of its front without detracting from its frames, maintaining a thickness of greater size for the lower “chin”.

Its screen is flat, the glass has slightly curved edges and you can see in the metal body a fine burr where fingers get caught if they slide along the edge of the screen.

In the design and construction of the Google Pixel 7 you can highlight the metal body, which exudes robustness, solids and the aforementioned premium feel.

Thanks to the fact that Google has reduced the dimensions of the phone it becomes much more manageable.

The Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro include face unlock that is supported by machine learning.

On its right side are the volume and power buttons, both at an adequate distance.

Its top edge is clean except for the secondary mic, and on its left edge is the nano SIM tray.

On its lower edge is the output of the second speaker and the USB C connector.

Google Pixel 7 Lemongrass
Google Pixel 7 Obsidiana

Google Pixel 7 Screen Display

The Google Pixel 7 screen has undergone reductions, going from the 6.4 inches of its predecessor to 6.3.

However, this reduction in surface area seems a wise move, as the size is compressed without losing any multimedia capability features along the way.

Those 0.1 inches less are not a setback, Google decides to repeat with an OLED screen of excellent quality that you can see perfectly from any angle. Refresh at 90 Hz, which is more than enough when it comes to boosting the fluidity of the device.

The color representation on the Google Pixel 7 looks very good, it has natural shades and can’t be accused of saturation (the display options will give you the possibility to thoroughly customize that aspect). Its maximum brightness is more than enough to see clearly in the sun, and its minimum brightness is annoying in complete darkness.

It has large frames, almost two millimeters except in its lower area where it almost reaches 4. The front camera hole is four millimeters in diameter, reaching 84.9% of its front according to GSMArena.

The response of the Google Pixel 7 screen offers us a very high contrast with a tactile response that is at the highest level, being protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus glass. An important point is that Google has finally introduced facial unlocking, as well as its usual fingerprint scanner under the panel.

Google Pixel 7 Performance Tensor G2

With its predecessor Google surprised us by presenting its own chip, an SoC developed in collaboration with Samsung that remained a bit far from what Qualcomm and its Gen 1 achieved.

After the logical renewal of the brain, the main concern was whether Google had squeezed the design to achieve peak performance in line with the most premium range of smartphones. The answer we get from the performance of the Google Pixel 7 is “no”, but given that it is its standard version it is not such a negative thing.

The Google new Tensor G2 chipset is an excellent processor for all tasks, incapable of falling short at some point. The device is capable of running graphically demanding games at the highest quality, its system is delightfully smooth and background tasks don’t slow the phone down, let alone heat it up.

That reminds us that benchmark figures should always be taken as a guideline, and not as a true sample of the performance that can have a mobile. Either way, it can be noted that the Google Pixel 7 is far from Qualcomm or Apple.

However, it is not necessarily a device that has something to envy to other high-end devices. Its RAM and storage are fast, it offers dual SIM (nano SIM and eSIM) with support for dual 5G (Sub6).

Other factors to highlight are that it includes Wifi 6E connectivity (it has been left without UWB, as it is only available on the Pro), and its security is reinforced with the Titan M2 coprocessor and the Trusty isolated execution environment. The conjunction between hardware and software become a constant in the Google Pixel 7.

Google Pixel 7 Battery Life

The demands between generations are not an exaggeration, and when it comes to the battery of the Google Pixel 7 the company has decided to cut the so vital component to leave it thus in the 4,355 mAh (its predecessor possessed 4,614 mAh).

We are not talking about an abysmal difference from what we thought at least it would have, but it is something that in use ends up being noticed. However, it is not necessarily a reduced autonomy.

When it comes to a daily day of use, the Google Pixel 7 can hold up without difficulty. Battery management is something that improves with use until it is well optimized, even if you have noticed a slight extra consumption on the screen (a fact that may change as Google updates the device).

If the battery’s capabilities are squeezed, it suffers: with only one hour running a demanding game it can go between 15 and 20% of the capacity. If you do not demand so much is the possibility of passing the barrier of two days, with moderate use and connected to Wifi.

As for the screen hours of the Google Pixel 7, it averages 5 to 6 hours under regular mobile networks. With the help of Wifi you can have about seven hours on average, so consider staying connected.

Charging the Google Pixel 7

You can not avoid highlighting the charging system of the Google Pixel 7, and the fact that it does not contain a charger in its box, or is optional at purchase, is not only a lack of respect for the buyer, it also prevents us from taking advantage of the possibilities that fast charging gives us as soon as it comes out of the box.

Google assures us that its model supports fast charging at 21 W with the 20 W charger sold in its store. And apart from fast charging with USB C cable, the Google Pixel also includes wireless charging at a maximum of 10 W.

However, it’s worth noting that no issues have been reported using either of the above two charging methods, so it’s arguably safe to choose between one or the other.

 

Google Pixel 7 Interface and Functionalities

The Google Pixel range is used to attracting attention to its software, as it is the ultimate approach to Google’s image of Android.

Out of the box it will be Android 13, with 3 software updates assured.

Another point in its favor is that the Google Pixel 7 starts with the most recent security patch and with the promise of receiving a minimum of 5 years of security updates. All with the guarantee that you will have the new features just the day they are released, in addition to being able to enjoy trial versions of the next operating systems.

It could be said that, in use, you may encounter some display errors. Or of those very punctual “crashes”, but they are inconveniences that are due to the fact that the software is not yet final. However, the interface of the Google Pixel 7 moves beautifully.

We’re talking about very smooth animations (the 90 Hz helps with that), and its Android 13 is very polished on an aesthetic level. Besides, Google’s additions are perfectly suited to the experience, which is poorly called “pure”. It may be the best phone for an Android enthusiast.

So, its own interface, at-a-glance widget that displays information as needed (options increase), thanks to Android 13 its color customization is much more extensive, Google’s AI goes up a notch, digital wellness can register snoring with sleep mode enabled, its music recognition has improved, and the sound on its speakers has been boosted.

Most of the Google Pixel 7’s software innovations are centered around the camera and editing the images it takes.

Google Android

Google Pixel 7 Multimedia

Listening to music with the Google Pixel 7 is a delight, as is playing movies, games and any other multimedia content. Its audio quality is HD, offering dual stereo speakers of great power and fidelity, including adaptive sound and having great compatibility with Bluetooth codecs.

The stereo speakers are located on the lower edge of the mobile, next to the USB C, and in the call headset, in the upper area of the screen. Their conjunction gives us a consistent audio reproduction, full of nuances and that does not distort excessively at high volume.

Another highlight of the multimedia of the Google Pixel 7 is that it maintains bass reinforcement and is able to reach peaks of 100 dB of sound pressure. All of the above without ever spoiling the sound, as these are speakers of the highest quality.

When it comes to headphones, there is the option of using wired or wireless headphones.

The device does not have a 3.5 mm jack, so it is essential to have a USB c audio adapter.

With DAC Google still does not enable analog audio through the port.

Google Pixel 7 Camera Bar and Video

If Google is looking for something nowadays with its devices is to excel in photography, with each new Pixel experiences a leap in the photographic segment that usually focuses on software.

In the case of the Google Pixel 7, the telephoto camera bar hardware is similar to that already offered by its Pixel 6’s predecessor.

It has spec similarities in sensors, optics and stabilization, the three cameras have the following features:

Main rear camera. Its sensor is 50 megapixels, with a size of 1/1.31 inches. The main camera shows size of each pixel 12 um, f/1.9 aperture, stabilization (OIS and EIS), multi-directional PDAF focus, laser focus, and super res zoom with 2x optical zoom.

Wide-angle rear camera. Its sensor is 12 megapixels with a size of 1/2.9 inches. The size of each pixel is 1.25 um, f/2.2 aperture and viewing angles of 114º.

Wide-angle front-facing camera. The selfie camera sensor is 10.8 megapixels with a sensor size of 1/3.1 inch. The size of each pixel is 1.22 um, f/2.2 aperture and viewing angles of 92.8º.

Thanks to the photographic camera experience set by Google, which is consistent and of high quality, a noticeable performance in any scene is made possible. And what is not within the reach of the camera hardware is complemented by a system of computational tools that act as a powerful complement to facilitate automatic shots with the camera app.

In keeping with the house brand, all of Google’s ingenuity happens in the shadows.

As much as the processing work is appreciated once the image is taken (it usually takes more than a second to generate the final image).

In short, with the Google Pixel 7 we get very good shots and cameras that behave perfectly when it comes to autofocus, are fast in manual focus, follow moving objects beautifully, and more.

There are not plenty of new software tricks for the camera but the ones that are still showing up from last year’s features are the magic erasers, motion mode, photo unblur, face unblur, panorama, night sight, super res zoom and more.

Surely, your Google photos library will create automated photo retouch, collages and more image suggestion, being an extremely useful app.

Is the Google Pixel 7 worth it in 2023?

At the end of 2022, and for 2023, the Pixel 7 series, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, these phones will have some months and they will be valuable phones for Google throught the year.

If you are a type of user that wants the newest phone available and you can’t wait to buy a Pixel phone, then going for the new Pixel 7 series might be a better option now than buying a Google Pixel 6a.

We might be seeing the Pixel 7a until summer 2023, so it is still plenty of time.

As any new flagship phone launched, the Pixel 7 Series are presenting issues like calls being dropped, text messages not arriving, lags, and fingerprint scan issues that are being resolved with the new software features updates.

The Pixel 7 series are now in the market, and the considered expensive Pixel 6 series, will of course receive a price cut, so it will be a matter of time to see if we can find more good deals online to say that it really worth to choose one of the Pixel 7’s series.

At the Google store the 7 is at $599, where as the Google Pixel 7 Pro starts at $899.

At Ebay you can find the phone Pixel 7 pro at $754 which has been the best price point deal so far we have seen.

Price per Value

Google Pixel 7 can be found in ebay for $525 new. Even though, acquiring this Google phone for under $500 will be the best deal if found.

95%
Ease of Use

Google Pixel 7 updated is running in Android 13. For all Android users, this operative system is a friendly user one.

90%
Google Pixel 3a Camera

DXOMark has ranked Google's cameras on top performers.

95%
Battery

Google Pixel 7 Battery has 4,355 mAh and in comparison to its predecessors, it last better in the run.

90%
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