Pixel 7 Pro: Google’s flagship gets better

Google released its latest flagship for 2022, the Pixel 7 Pro in the middle of October. Keeping the same design language of last year, Google just fine-tuned their flagship further and made it even better.

While it is Samsung that mostly dominates the flagship Android market in our country, Pixel also has a lot to offer. The unofficial 12GB RAM and 128GB storage version of Pixel 7 Pro is priced at around Tk100,000 in Bangladesh.

Aesthetic
Just like iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, Google's Pixel 7 Pro also has its own design that allows it to stand out from its competitors. The design is so similar to last year's Pixel 6 that you might mistake the Pixel 7 or 7 Pro for either size Pixel 6.

However, this year around, Google has ditched the uncovered glass in the camera bar on the back of the phone for an aluminium shell that extends off the frame.

The 8.9 mm thin Pixel 7 Pro weighs around 212 grams, which is still a lot lighter than the latest iPhone and Samsung flagship. While the regular Pixel 7 has a matte finish on the back, the 7 Pro comes with a polished aluminium finish.

Google did try their best to make the Pixel 7 Pro look as premium as possible. But I would still prefer the design of the regular Pixel 7, which has a matte finish on the back. It definitely gives a more unique and premium feeling. Pixel 7 Pro is available in three colours: Obsidian (black), Snow (white) and Hazel (mint green).

Display
On the front, Pixel 7 Pro rocks a 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED panel with QHD+ (1440x3120 pixels) resolution. It has a peak brightness of 1500 nits, a little lower than the Samsung S22 Ultra's 1750 nits peak brightness.

While it is a whole 250 nits of brightness difference, I don't think that it will make much of a difference during the day-to-day usage scenario.

Just like other flagship phones, the Pixel 7 Pro's display also comes with a 120 Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support.

Pixel 7 Pro's display is definitely a step up over last year's display. The colours pop with sharp contrast and deep blacks. It is not bad in any way. However, it still lags behind the display of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro.

Then again, it is already very much established that Samsung and Apple have the best display tech in the market right now. Apple sources so many display panels from Samsung that the company even offered the higher brightness display to Apple for this year's iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.

Performance
Google kept developing its Tensor chipset with Samsung and introduced Tensor G2 with Pixel 7 Pro.

Snapdragon definitely leads the way when it comes to the chipset in Android smartphones. However, Google's Tensor is closing the gaps with every release.

Just last year, the first version named just Google Tensor scored 30% less than that year's Snapdragon 888 in Geekbench multi-core test. However, this year, Tensor G2 scored 19% lesser than the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

Now, Tensor still has a long way to go before it can consider touching Apple's Bionic chipset. But what it offers is still more than what you need in your smartphone.

While not performing the same as other flagship chipsets, Tensor G2 saves up on battery usage compared to its Snapdragon counterpart.

When it comes to day-to-day performance, you can do everything without lag in the UI. Some users reported a scrolling issue when the phone first launched. But that was more of a software issue. Google already fixed it. Pixel 7 Pro is also a decent gaming device. It can run almost all the games with ease in max graphics settings.

However, when it comes to Genshin Impact, one of the most graphics-intensive games, you would need to readjust the graphics settings a little in order to get smooth gameplay.

Camera
Camera performance was always one of the key selling points of Pixel phones and the latest Pixel 7 Pro is no different.

On the rear, the phone has a 50 MP wide primary camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) support, accompanied by a 48 MP telephoto with OIS and a 12 MP ultrawide camera.

The phone captures amazing, close-to-real shots. However, you will like only this camera until or unless you are a fan of warmer images.

While Pixel attempts to keep the shots looking real with some occasional hiccups, it sometimes sacrifices when it comes to making the images look vibrant. Yes, these shots do have a different fanbase all around the world, but they just do not look as appealing as something you would capture using an iPhone.

However, all these happen when you use the phone in a well-lit scenario. Whenever things go south, and by south I mean dark, the Pixel 7 Pro will show its magic.

The nighttime images captured using Pixel 7 Pro are just the best in the market.

On the front, the phone has a 10.8 MP selfie camera which is also capable of capturing really good selfies.

Now, in the video department, Apple has been dominating for a long time now. But Google is not far behind.

For example, they have introduced two features of the iPhone 13 Pro and 14 Pro in the latest Pixel 7 Pro.

The Google version of the iPhone 13's Cinematic mode is called Cinematic Blur. This gives your videos a bokeh effect similar to a portrait photo. When you pan the camera or when the subject moves, it follows the subject.

The background is blurred while the subject is kept in focus by the Pixel 7 Pro. Similar to how it does with photographs, it gives the final product a creative touch that draws attention to what you are recording. This is all done in 24 frames per second, further maintaining the cinematic vibe.

The new Active Stabilization, which functions similarly to Apple's Action mode on the iPhone 14, is another. It offers incredibly effective stabilization for your shaky videos, like those taken while you're running.

Battery
The 5,000 mAh battery in the Pixel 7 Pro should enable it to operate for a long time in theory. Google says the Pixel 7 Pro can last beyond 24 hours on a single charge and up to 72 hours on the extreme battery saver mode.

When it comes to charging, the Pixel 7 Pro supports both wired and wireless charging at up to 23 Watts. This is kind of depressing considering even Samsung beat them when it comes to charging speed.

Verdict
There is a lot to like in Google Pixel 7 Pro. It offers a very decent performance, a nice camera setup and a clean Android experience.

This can also be considered a budget flagship if you look at it from a price-to-performance perspective. While most other flagships cost more than Tk1.5 lakh, it will only cost 1 lakh while offering you all of the flagship features.

The main perk of using a Pixel device is being able to get the latest Android version as soon as it releases. And trust me, the clean, bloatware-free software experience makes a lot of difference.

But since it's Google, we always tend to have more expectations. For example, we expect Pixel phones to have at least five years of regular software updates. But Google only offers three. This is something Google should work on.

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