What do we look for in a flagship phone? A blindingly brilliant display, Duracell-bunny type battery life, photography capabilities that leave you agape, all packed in a body set to dazzle, that silently screams “I’m pricey and I’m worth it!”. Simply put, we want the absolute best of everything when we’re buying a flagship smartphone. And when it comes to one of the top players like Google, the stakes are even higher. So, does the latest Google Pixel 7 Pro really have what it takes to woo us off our feet?

Design Details

Those who enjoy the heft of a big smartphone - reminding them that they spent a whole lotta money on this shiny new thing - will enjoy this massive 6.7-inch device. Delicately curved at the sides, the Pixel 7 Pro has a glass-back design which, I swear to God, sometimes defies gravity and slips down perfectly horizontal surfaces. Fortunately, the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus does its job well in protecting the display. The camera enclosure at the back is made from recycled aluminum and has a glossy finish. The only thing I don’t like about the build is the precarious combination of a 200-odd grams phone with a slippery finish! 

The OLED display - like any other OLED display - is brilliant. With a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, all interaction with the phone and media consumed on it looks smooth as butter. The audio quality on the smartphone is loud and clear, worthy of a flagship. If you’re already a sucker for Netflix, gaming, and Insta reels, this one’s going to seduce you into staying glued to the smartphone for even longer hours. Better start looking at buying a pair of glasses, while at it!

Upgraded camera 

The triple camera system on the Pixel 7 Pro is truly the stunner of the show here! Users get a 50 MP wide camera, which was first introduced in Google Pixel 6. Alongside is the 12 MP ultrawide camera and the brand new 48 MP telephoto camera.

Across all photos I’ve taken on the phone, the colour saturation is life-like, the images sharp and the videos brilliant. Coupled with a great camera setup are software features such as Cinematic Blur - which keeps the subject in the foreground in sharp focus as it blurs the background in a video recording. I find the new and unique Photo Unblur experience not only to be a thoughtful addition, but also one that works impressively well. Capture any photo on the Pixel 7 Pro - even a photo of a photograph, say one of those blurry childhood prints taken 20 years ago - and with the tap of a button, you get to remove any blurs and get a much sharper image. It worked well on any photo I tried it on. Low-light photography is also note-worthy on the smartphone. Check out some images taken on the Google Pixel 7 Pro here.

4K videos taken both on the front and rear camera on the phone were so good, we used it to record a bunch of media for our official YouTube channel. Stabilisation while recording in motion is amazing too! 

Those who have low-vision can make use of the new Guided Frame feature, which helps people capture selfies with a combination of precise audio guidance, high-contrast visual animations, and haptic feedback. I wish this was a one-button access feature instead of needing to have the rather cumbersome TalkBack feature on to access this. 

Processor 

The brand-new in-house Google Tensor G2 is the brawn behind the Pixel 7 Pro’s beauty. Absolutely no lags or slow-downs on this one! On the AnTuTu benchmark test, the smartphone scored about 8,30,000 points, placing itself in the top 5 percentile of powerhouse smartphones. The Pixel 7 Pro comes with a whopping 12 GB RAM, enabling  heavy-duty gaming or editing high-res photos and videos on the phone to work seamlessly. The unit I reviewed had 128 GB storage.

Battery life 

Considering it’s a 5,000 mAh battery under the hood, the Pixel 7 Pro does deliver a little more than a day’s usage. On the days that I used the phone minimally, connected to Wi-Fi, with hotspot on, but no major media consumption on the device, it stayed on for a whole two days. On the days that I played games or watched Netflix I definitely had to plug it in by the end of the day, or latest by the next morning. This was with the Adaptive Battery feature on, which works by learning what my favourite apps are, and doesn’t waste power on ones that I rarely use. 

Verdict

The Google Pixel 7 Pro is a deserving flagship that delivers stunning photography and makes for a great media consumption device. The Pixel 7 Pro is available in three colours - Hazel, Snow and Obsidian - just fancier names for grey, white and black. If you’re investing in this stellar phone,  don’t forget to invest in an anti-slip cover, stat! 

Price - Rs 84,999

Pros - Vivid display, great camera

Cons - Charging time could be shorter

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