Google Pixel 7 & 7 Pro review: Peak Android but only one storage variant

This has been a big year for Google smartphone fans in India — the tech giant first released the very capable Pixel 6a (review) in July and, barely three months later, released its next-generation flagship phones — the Pixel 7 and the 7 Pro — powered by Google’s in-house second-generation G2 Tensor chips.

The phones were launched on October 6 in India — the Pixel 7 starts at Rs 59,999 and the Pixel 7 Pro goes for Rs 84,999.

The specificationsGoogle Pixel 7

Display: 6.3-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 90 Hz
Camera setup: 50 MP wide-angle lens, 12 MP ultrawide lens
Battery: 4335 mAh with 20W fast charging, 20W wireless fast charging and reverse wireless charging
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 128GB
Rated IP68 for water and dust resistance

Google Pixel 7 Pro

Display: 6.7-inches LTPO Quad HD+ AMOLED display with a variable refresh rate of up to 120 Hz
Camera setup: 50 MP wide-angle lens, 12 MP ultrawide lens, 48MP telephoto lens
Battery: 5000 mAh with 23W fast charging, 23W wireless fast charging and reverse wireless charging
RAM: 12GB
Storage: 128GB
Rated IP68 for water and dust resistance

We had both smartphones for just under two weeks, and here are our thoughts.

It is very clear right from the outset just how similar the 7 and 7 Pro are to their predecessors — barring a few physical changes, such as the camera housing which is made of metal this time instead of glass. The Pixel 7 is slightly smaller than the 6, and sports a 6.3-inch screen, while the Pixel 7 Pro has similar dimensions to the Pixel 6 Pro, but instead of the sharply-curved screen of last year’s flagship, the curve is less pronounced this time.

We can’t help but feel that this is what Google intended for the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro to be — the new smartphones are more a refinement of last year’s lineup than a radical new upgrade. That said, it is odd that Google offers both phones in just one storage variant — 128GB — leaving potential buyers who need more storage with no choice but to look at other brands.

We received the Obsidian variant of the 7, which is essentially black, and the Hazel variant of the 7 Pro, which is olive green with gold accents. Despite it being a fingerprint magnet, we absolutely loved the stealth black of the 7, which sports a matte black unibody aluminium sides and camera housing, and a glass back. 

But even prettier is the Hazel 7 Pro — the olive green of the back is brilliantly complemented by the polished gold aluminium frame and looks every inch a flagship.

Now that the looks are out of the way, how do the phones perform? 

As with every smartphone, we tested five aspects — screen, camera, battery life, user experience and software, the last two of which have significant overlap.

ScreenThe Pixel 7 has a 6.3-inch full HD flat display that’s absolutely gorgeous to look at, though one could argue that a sharper resolution could not have hurt. The colours are accurately reproduced on the screen, videos are rendered well, and we were able to view the screen’s contents in bright daylight without too much trouble.

The Pixel 7 Pro predictably kicks things up a notch. The 6.7-inch display is a stunner, and at peak brightness, absolutely sails through any lighting condition. Overall, it is a superior display to its smaller sibling.

Battery life This was the most impressive part about both these phones. Both handsets easily lasted me a day of moderate-to-heavy use, with the 7 Pro crossing the 40-hour mark before it died on me. The Pixel 7 just made it to 27 hours before it needed charging— colour me impressed.

Your mileage obviously will vary but not by too much. Google has been knocking it out of the park with the battery life on its phones this year — the Pixel 6a too held up quite well during testing.

Both phones support wireless charging and reverse charging, so imagine the kick we got out of wirelessly charging the Pixel 7 using the battery share feature on the 7 Pro, which effectively turned the Rs 85,000 flagship phone into a wireless charger.

CameraNow we come to the meat of this review. The cameras have always been the standout feature of Pixel devices, and the 7 and 7 Pro do not disappoint. Though we spent most of our time testing the beefier camera setup on the 7 Pro, we can attest that the 7 is no slouch. In fact, for reasons we will list out later in the review, the 7 is a better package overall.

So, how did the 7 Pro do? The phone comes with a triple-lens camera array. Of course, we played with the setup quite a bit. More than the physical specifications, it’s always Google’s computational prowess that stood out. And, even on a cloudy morning, the camera took some impressive photographs. The colours are saturated just right, with all three lenses — primary, ultrawide and telephoto — maintaining colour consistency while capturing the same subject.