It's been six months since I purchased a Google Pixel
7. Here's what I liked about the Pixel 7 over the past six months.
First, the face unlock and build quality. Google made some small,
but actually significant refinements to the Pixel 7's design. It looks more elegant,
with its brushed aluminum camera bar, which is now one piece. The
phone is also a really nice size, and I'm able to easily slip it into my pocket.
Face unlock has finally made its way back into the Pixel line, after first debuting on the
Pixel 4 and 4 XL. This is a huge quality of life improvement over previous Pixels, including the
Pixel 6a. It just makes unlocking the phone much more convenient, and it feels faster.
This year, the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro come with Google's latest generation of Tensor
processor, the Tensor 2. Overall, this phone has felt incredibly snappy, less likely to heat
up while gaming, and with a few new photo processing features like Photobooth blur.
Photobooth blur is actually a very useful feature. Like other Pixel camera features
like Time Lapse or Motion Mode, Photobooth blur can be applied to normal photos that
you're trying to take. But you can also use Photobooth blur for any photo taken
from any camera, as long as it's in Google Photos on the Pixel 7.
This feature is especially useful in scenarios where you don't have a ton
of light. When that happens, the shutter speed on the camera will typically slow
down to compensate for that lack of light, but that can then lead to blurry subjects.
I found that I pick up the Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro over my iPhone almost every time I'm
going out to a family event or event where I know I'm going to want to take photos,
because the Pixel camera system this year just produces better photos than the iPhone.
Google continued to improve this generation's camera system. The Pixel 7 now has a 50-megapixel
wide sensor, which gets you significant improvements in certain areas like low light,
for example, especially compared to something like the Pixel 6a.
The only difference between the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro camera systems this
year is the additional 48-megapixel telephoto camera on the Pixel 7 Pro.
Video quality is another thing that Google continues to improve with their Pixel line.
They really closed the gap on the iPhone with the Pixel 7 this year, to the point where pretty much
all the footage I've taken with the Pixel 7 has been usable. The only thing that annoyed
me this year was HDR video. I accidentally turned it on and I forgot I left it on,
so I ended up with a bunch of recordings of HDR videos, and they just don't look great.
Now, while HDR in movies and TV shows, to me at least, typically looks great,
as long as the right equipment was used, exposed correctly,
and then all the post-production stuff was good. I'm looking at you, House of the Dragon on HBO,
that scene was too dark for the Pixel camera system. Though, HDR videos seem
to be overexposed in a lot of situations. Whether or not this is an actual issue with
the file itself or just the playback of that file on either the Pixel 7 or on something like macOS,
I'm not really sure what the issue is here. But regardless, the footage just doesn't look good.
The Pixel 7's camera system also gets you upgraded laser autofocus compared to the 6a
and an upgraded 10.8-megapixel selfie camera compared to the 8-megapixel on
the 6a. The battery life on the phone has also been good over the past six months.
I think it should easily last most people all day. The last thing I really like about
the Pixel 7 that, to me at least, makes a difference in day-to-day use is the
screen refresh rate. Having a faster refresh rate on the 7 compared to the
60Hz screen of the 6a does feel like a nicer quality experience.
So what do I not like about this phone? Well, mainly the screen. It still has those noticeable
purple and green screen refractions that we've seen in other cheaper OLED phone screens. If
you use dark mode, you can lessen that effect. But I'm still kind of bummed
that Google decided not to improve the screen quality on the 7 compared to last year's 6.
Another thing that's slightly annoying with the design of the Pixel 7 is its back glass. Well,
it does support wireless charging and battery share, which is great. It's very slick. So slick,
in fact, that I found it slides off my wireless charger on my desk.
So, do I recommend getting a 7, and when should you just go for the 6a or go up to the 7 Pro?
I do recommend the Pixel 7, but only for certain people. If you're just looking for a phone that
brings a ton of value at a low cost, I'd actually recommend looking at the Pixel 6a. I think if you
just want a phone that covers the basics but you don't need the fancy upgrades, like the
90Hz screen refresh rate, wireless charging, or upgraded camera system, the 6a is a better buy.
But let's say you do want that premium economy phone. Well, the Pixel 7 does get you quite
a few upgrades. You get a thousand nits of brightness with 1400 nits of peak brightness,
wireless charging and battery share, 8GB of RAM, face unlock, Tensor 2, a 50-megapixel
wide camera sensor with better autofocus, a 10.8-megapixel selfie camera, and Photo Unblur.
Now, what about the 7 Pro? That's the phone you'd want to go for if you want
the best screen quality, the best camera system from Google, a larger screen size,
and the most premium build. To see my full thoughts on the 7 Pro, you can click here
to get to that review or click here to see my full thoughts on the brand new Pixel Watch,
which pairs perfectly with any Pixel device, as well as other reviews I've done on other
Pixel products. And consider subscribing to the channel to see future reviews on Pixel products,
as well as giving this video a thumbs up if you liked it and found it helpful.
Six months later, I'm Josh Teder.Thanks for watching.