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Story
At Made by Google ‘22, alongside the Google Pixel Watch the Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro were released. These phones are new iterations of the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro released last year. They came with quite a number of improvements and some changes.
The Pixel smartphones received a standard refresh this year with a 6.3-inch display on the Pixel 7 and a 6.7-inch display on the Pixel 7 Pro. The displays have smaller bezels, higher peak brightness, and variable refresh was introduced for better battery conservation. Microphones, speakers, and overall audio software on the Pixel were improved, as audio messages can be transcribed, and there’s a revamped recorder app and clearer calling to make others more audible.
The internals of the Pixel were made more secure due to the new Titan M2 security chip providing protected computing, and enhanced privacy enabled by Android 13. The new Tensor G2 processor also allowed for faster speeds, more efficient machine learning and better AI intelligence which is in line with Google’s reputation for producing intelligent smartphones.
The cameras, now housed in an aluminium bar, were packed with many new features like guided frame to assist the blind when taking photos, and photo unblur which removes blur and noise from images. Along with advances made in real tone tech, Google Pixel seems to be maintaining the same standard of a first-class camera software experience. Pixel video was made significantly better this year as 4K video is now supported on the Pixel 7, and a new feature called stabilisation processes turbulent video and makes it smoother. The telephoto cameras on the Pixel were boosted as all the telephoto options now output better-looking, sharper photos. The front-facing camera has a larger sensor in the ultrawide allowing for better lowlight selfies and video.
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My Take
The Google Pixel 7 is a very capable phone for its price range and would pull a lot of buyers looking for a high-end device but not willing to pay massive sums of money for it. However, I think Google may have difficulties convincing regular buyers to opt for the $899 Pixel 7 Pro rather than the $599 Pixel 7. This is because there is a reasonably large $300 price gap between the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, and in my opinion, the Pixel 7 Pro is better than the regular Pixel 7, but I don’t think there’s a $300 difference between the two smartphones.
Overall though, I think these are two competent devices which would hold their own against some of the best smartphones available.