At a look
Professional’s Score
Execs
- Excellent show
- Unimaginable, versatile cameras
- Robust battery life
- Unique software program options
Cons
- Large and heavy
- Ugly design
- Gradual charging
Our Verdict
The Pixel 7 Professional is the most effective Pixel but with a tremendous, constant digicam system, wonderful battery life, and nice unique software program options – it’s simply actually massive.
Value When Reviewed
From $899
Greatest Costs At present: Google Pixel 7 Professional
Google Pixel telephones have been launched yearly since 2016 and have normally had one close-to-dealbreaking challenge.
For the Pixel 2 XL it was a foul show, for the three and three XL it was iffy reminiscence administration, for the Pixel 4 it was dismal battery life.
2021’s Pixel 6 and 6 Professional have been a lot better absolutely fashioned merchandise and ushered in a brand new period, which might be why their successors the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Professional – the latter reviewed right here – are iterative updates.
The Pixel 7 Professional is the most effective Pixel but and the one to purchase if you’d like probably the greatest digicam methods on a telephone together with a high show and probably the most considerate interpretation of Android.
Although costly at $899/£849/€899 for the most affordable mannequin, it’s well-priced in comparison with the remainder of the market and is each bit as premium and well-built as telephones from rival producers.
It’s simply too massive and heavy – and that would be the dealbreaker this time round if it bothers you.
Design & Construct
- Very massive
- Properly-built
- Ugly digicam bar
The Pixel 7 Professional has had a slight redesign however seems to be quite a bit just like the 6 Professional. It has a particular ‘digicam bar’, a strip throughout the highest half of the telephone the place the triple rear digicam sit, besides this 12 months it’s coated in polished metallic relatively than a plain piece of darkish glass.
It provides the telephone a robotic look, with a capsule form for 2 of the lenses and a round one for the third. I want the look of the 6 Professional, and this new design makes it look a little bit cheesy – I additionally want the matt metallic end of the brand new design on the common Pixel 7.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
No telephone’s design has ever put me off utilizing it although, even whether it is ugly right here. The difficulty is its dimension – this telephone is big and heavy as well at 212g.
At 162.9 x 76.6 x 8.9mm this can be a thick and weighty telephone in hand, pocket, and bag alike. It’s taller and thicker than the iPhone 14 Professional Max, and has virtually the identical dimensions because the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely.
The most effective telephones are massive now, and all of us should take care of it.
My overview unit was the white color, which Google calls Snow. It seems to be nice, extra telephones must be white (there’s additionally Obsidian and Hazel, black and gray/inexperienced respectively).
Apart from the Star Trek-esque digicam bar the look is crisp and clear with silver polished aluminium chassis that Google says is 100% recycled. The rails are damaged solely by a USB-C port, mic, and speaker on the underside, a quantity rocker and energy button on the proper edge, and a small mic on the highest. The left edge has a single SIM slot, and there’s no expandable storage.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
The back and front glass is comprised of robust Gorilla Glass Victus, although my colleague Chris Martin discovered his common Pixel 7 cracked after hitting the tarmac from a brief peak. If free from cracks, the telephone is IP68 rated for mud and water resistance.
It’s undoubtedly a well-made telephone that feels extra stable in construct than the Pixel 6 Professional, however I nonetheless want a smaller system than this absolute behemoth.
Display & Audio system
- Excellent 6.7in display screen
- Variable 120Hz panel
- Stereo audio system
Google has hit a six with the Pixel 7 Professional’s display screen, probably the greatest I’ve used on a telephone. Shows appear to get crisper and brighter yearly someway, and facet by facet with the Pixel 6 Professional, the 7 Professional improves in each areas.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
It’s a 6.7in Quad HD+ panel with a decision of 3120 x 1440. It’s also able to 120Hz refresh charge, and look fantastically clean – higher to my eyes than Apple’s iPhone 13 Professional or 14 Professional. Like these telephones, the 7 Professional makes use of LTPO tech to scale the speed down when not wanted to preserve battery life.
One other battery saving choice enables you to run the show at 1080p, however every little thing seems to be greatest when at 1440p and 120Hz. Together with the digicam, it’s the most effective purpose to get the 7 Professional as a substitute of the common 7.
Curiously Google units the telephone to darkish mode out of the field. I want operating telephones in darkish mode because the blue mild on my eyes is much less intense, and with OLED shows reminiscent of this, darker colors use much less battery.
The display screen curves on the edges very barely which is frequent on giant telephones, however the common Pixel 7 has a flat display screen in the event you want.
Whereas I don’t condone blasting music out of telephone audio system on any event, the Pixel 7 Professional sounds fairly good in the event you do. On the highest volumes, it’s not as properly rounded because the iPhone 14 nevertheless it’s positive for podcasts or watching YouTube.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
Specs & Efficiency
- Google Tensor G2 chipset
- 12GB RAM
- 128/256/512GB storage
That is the second 12 months Google has used its in-house Tensor chipset it’s made with Samsung. The G2 within the 7 Professional is stable however is much less highly effective than the A16 discovered within the iPhone 14 Professional for uncooked compute energy. The beneath graphs present it in comparison with that telephone and different costly Android telephones.
It’s greater than sufficient oomph for me and doubtless you although, dealing with a number of apps with ease and chewing by means of high-end video games with out a lot as a stutter.
As an alternative, the marginal enhancements from final 12 months’s Tensor are on necessary issues like battery life, safety, photograph processing, and good software program options. It succeeds on all these fronts and is a really steady telephone day-to-day with no efficiency points.
All fashions of the Professional include 12GB RAM and both 128- or 256GB storage (there’s additionally a 512GB choice within the US). This isn’t expandable so that you would possibly need to pay additional for the bigger capability. You need to use two telephone numbers with the one SIM slot paired with an eSIM.
Software program & Options
- Android 13
- Pixel unique options
- Three Android updates
- 5 years of safety updates
Tensor is at its greatest paired with Google’s flavour of Android, which is considered one of my favourites – vanilla. Android 13 on the 7 Professional runs easily and with the character and playfulness missing in most telephone working methods, that are normally austere and severe.
It has beautiful wallpaper choices with color palette choosing to positive tune and personalise your telephone due to Materials You, whereas the always-on show stays easy and doesn’t drain the battery.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
The on-device processing is a large benefit of the Pixel. This implies it does cool issues like transcription and dictation with out the necessity to connect with the web. This permits the telephone to be helpful when out of sign and in airplane mode whereas preserving a few of these processes off Google’s servers.
As an example, you need to use Stay Transcribe to transcribe somebody’s speech in actual time if you’re arduous of listening to to maintain up with a dialog. The Google Recorder app can transcribe offline too and create a transcript that you may select to maintain offline or backup to your Google account.
You may as well view transcripts of audio messages despatched through Google’s Messages app, or use the Assistant Voice Typing to dictate messages into any messaging app. Google says the extra you utilize the options, the extra clever they get. I discover the dictation about on par with the model on Apple’s iOS.
Google’s software program is great at stopping spam calls from ever getting by means of, although I did get some spam textual content messages when texting the telephone having obtained none when reviewing an iPhone within the weeks beforehand. I additionally admire that Google is utilizing AI to enhance the audio of voice calls when a number of producers ignore the precise telephone a part of a smartphone.
You additionally get new options like nighttime cough and snore detection and – lastly – an choice for face unlock in addition to the in-screen fingerprint reader. The previous works solely to unlock the telephone, but when you choose solely present notification content material when unlocked, the Pixel acts like an iPhone the place it solely reveals your notifications when it has recognised your face.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
For every little thing else like banking biometrics, the fingerprint sensor is dependable and improved over the dodgy one on the 6 Professional.
Google guarantees 5 years of safety updates for the Pixel 7 Professional, which implies it’s coated till late 2027. That’s not unhealthy going. It’s a disgrace there’s solely three years of platform updates although, so the telephone will get Android 16 in 2025, however no extra.
Samsung and Apple provide longer OS replace help on most of their telephones, so it’s price making an allowance for if you’d like the very newest software program options over time.
Cameras & Video
- Superlative primary 50Mp sensor
- Unimaginable dynamic vary
- Wonderful processing
- RAW format choice
The Pixel 7 Professional is an absolute pleasure to take photographs with. In my time with it I’ve taken pictures I confidently wouldn’t have gotten from an iPhone, significantly in situations of fast-moving topics.
The primary sensor is among the greatest on a telephone, with beautiful element captured and amazingly competent dynamic vary. At a marriage, the Pixel froze confetti throwing in time, every petal completely crisp.
I want the distinction Google places within the processing of its photographs to different producers. It’s a moodier, stylistic selection however one which evokes movie pictures in a means Apple’s processing doesn’t. The iPhone 14 takes nice photos however over-sharpens them. Samsung over-saturates colors. I used to be happier with the Pixel’s pictures and loved optionally capturing in RAW and enhancing them afterwards on my desktop.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
That mentioned, I discovered the Vivo X80 Professional outperformed the Pixel in some situations. The X80 persistently manages to pick particulars the human eye can see however telephones battle with, reminiscent of capturing blue sky by means of a window in a darker room. The Pixel (and iPhone) typically can’t select blue sky, however the Vivo does each time due to its bigger primary sensor. Facet by facet, the Pixel manages higher particulars on topics general.
The Pixel 7 Professional’s cameras are similar to these on the Pixel 6 Professional, with a 50Mp primary lens with f/1.85, a 12Mp ultrawide with f/2.2 and autofocus, and a 48Mp telephoto lens with f/3.5. The latter will get a small improve and might now zoom to 5x optical, or as much as 30x digital with Google’s Tremendous Res Zoom software program that adjusts for hand shake.
In the event you zoom to between 2.5x and 5x, the telephone takes a photograph with each the principle and telephoto lenses and combines them to provide one picture. A number of what Google does with the cameras on the Pixel isn’t merely taking a shot with one lens – it’s utilizing all of the lenses and plenty of compute energy from the Tensor G2 to sew them collectively and render a scene nearer to what a DSLR would possibly do with out the software program trickery.
5x photographs in good lighting are wonderful, however in decrease mild it struggles for element and there’s grain. Zoom additional and outcomes are additionally fairly good. I took a 30x shot of St Pancras Resort’s clock tower and it was much better than I believed it will be (see in beneath slideshow). The 10x shot is healthier, very crisp and clear. It is a positive digital zoom despite the fact that optical is preferable, such because the 10x optical on the Galaxy S22 Extremely.
The ultrawide’s new trick is taking macro pictures that may keep in focus from as much as three centimetres away. The mode kicks in routinely while you maintain the digicam near a topic. It’s a neat trick, however the iPhone 13 Professional and 14 Professional’s outcomes can get nearer and are extra impressively sharp.
The entrance dealing with digicam is a ten.8Mp f/2.2 lens sat within the centre on the high of the display screen. It’s completely serviceable for selfies and video calls, and I like its 92.8 diploma extensive discipline of view.
Pixel favourites like Evening Sight and Astrophotography additionally nonetheless impress, the previous doing a greater job of unblurring. That is an all-round digicam system that can serve you extremely properly, up there with the S22 Extremely and X80 Professional for sheer versatility. However of all these telephones, the Pixel is probably the most dependable, which counts for an entire lot. I all the time trusted it to get an excellent picture.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
Google immediately copied Apple’s Cinematic Mode by introducing the Cinematic Blur’s video mode on the 7 Professional. It blurs the background behind your topic when recording video and, like Apple’s, can give attention to both aircraft and change between the 2. It really works, as nonetheless does the intelligent Magic Eraser function that you just an use to erase folks or issues from photographs in the event you really feel they’re spoiling the shot.
Video seize basically is stable, and you’ll report in 10-bit HDR in 4K as much as 30fps, or 60fps with HDR turned off.
Handier is the automated Face Unblur function that’s tagged on a photograph if it steps in, however does precisely what it says to raised your pictures. New and previous photographs can be manually unblurred with Picture Unblur – having the ability to unblur any older photograph is an unique function to the Pixel 7 telephones.
Battery Life & Charging
- 5000mAh
- 2-day battery life
- Gradual ’30W’ charging
- Wi-fi and reverse charging
Yr over 12 months one of many clearest enhancements over the Pixel 6 Professional is battery life. Google actually stretches the big 5000mAh battery on the 7 Professional and it by no means died on me. The truth is, I typically ended a full day of use with over 40% of energy left and the telephone recurrently lasted me properly right into a second day.
Although charging is simply 23W when wired even in the event you use Google’s personal 30W charger, which is sluggish in comparison with different Android flagships, it might get to 50% cost in half-hour, which could be very useful and sufficient quick cost smarts for most individuals. There’s additionally wi-fi charging at a comparatively sluggish 23W velocity with the Pixel Stand 2, and reverse wi-fi charging for slowly topping up different telephones or rapidly topping up the smaller batteries of wi-fi earbuds or smartwatches, if appropriate.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
You would possibly assume the most costly smartphones ought to have the most effective battery life however the reverse is normally true – the extra highly effective, the shorter the longevity, normally. I’m completely happy the 7 Professional bucks this pattern, and it nearly makes up for the way huge the factor is.
Value & Availability
The Pixel 7 Professional prices $899/£849/€899 for the 128GB mannequin which is dear, however is definitely a really affordable and aggressive value in comparison with the competitors. It goes as much as $999/£949/€999 for the 256GB, and within the US there’s a 512GB choice for $1,099. You simply get the telephone and a USB-C cable within the field, together with a USB-A adapter to assist transfer information out of your previous telephone.
You should buy it within the US, UK, Canada, and Europe from the Google Retailer. It’s additionally out there in a couple of different areas reminiscent of Eire, Japan, and Australia.
The bottom value is much like the $799/£849/€1,019 iPhone 14, which solely has a 60Hz display screen, no telephoto lens, and might’t shoot photographs in RAW (very similar to the pricier iPhone 14 Plus).
In the event you go for the $999/£1,099/€1,329 iPhone 14 Professional you’re getting the most effective Apple has to supply, however at a premium to what Google is promoting the Pixel for.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely is a mad $1,199/£1,149/€1,279, however it’s best to have the ability to discover it at a reduction given it’s a couple of months previous, nevertheless it reveals the Pixel 7 Professional is an efficient deal compared to the competitors.
You can additionally go for the common Pixel 7 which at $599/£599/€649 is a phenomenally whole lot.
Try our greatest telephone and greatest mid-range telephone charts for extra high telephones.
Verdict
The Google Pixel 7 Professional is among the greatest telephones of 2022 whose solely draw back is its cumbersome dimension and weight (and barely ugly design except you disagree with me on that).
In the event you can take care of that, you’ll be very proud of probably the most versatile and constant digicam setup on a telephone, a beautiful show, and the neatest, most helpful model of Android.
It’s not probably the most highly effective telephone you should buy however the Tensor G2 excels at on-device options that differentiate it from different merchandise, whereas the battery life is genuinely capable of stretch to 2 days. Charging may very well be sooner, although.
With safety updates until 2027 and a value that firmly undercuts rival manufacturers, the Pixel 7 Professional comes extremely really useful. If you wish to get lots of the identical options for much less, the common Pixel 7 is cheaper.
Specs
- 6.7in QHD+ 120Hz LTPO OLED
- Google Tensor G2 chipset
- 12GB RAM
- 128/256GB non-expandable UFS 3.1 storage
- 5,000mAh battery
- 30W wired charging
- Wi-fi charging
- 50Mp f/1.85 primary digicam
- 12Mp f/2.2 ultrawide digicam.
- 48Mp f/3.5 telephoto digicam
- 5x optical zoom
- 10x zoom and Tremendous Res Zoom as much as 30x
- 10.8Mp f/2.2 entrance digicam
- 5G
- Wi-Fi 6E
- Bluetooth 5.2
- IP68
- Gorilla Glass Victus
- 162.9mm x 76.6mm x 8.9mm
- 212g