With the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, Google is strengthening its high-end positioning in the smartphone market. At 649 and 899 euros, these two devices have many arguments to make against Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy.
With its Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro last year, Google has finally shown its teeth. After 7 very shy years in the smartphone market (more even, if we go back to the Nexus), the software giant has proven that it can, if it wants, be a serious competitor to Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi or Oppo. Admittedly, its sales are still much lower than those of the two giants in the sector, but Google has at least managed to produce its devices in sufficient quantity to have stock. This is already progress.
“The iPhone running Android”, as the testers call it, attacks the market very differently from its competitors. Rather than betting everything on the technical characteristics, Google is playing the software integration card. Pixel smartphones are capable of things that no other smartphone can do, both because Google reserves functions for them, but also because they perfectly exploit certain hidden talents of their hardware components. On October 6, the brand announced the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, two smartphones that we can’t wait to test on Numerama.
The voice message transcriber, the idea of the century
In this article, we will pass the details about the technical characteristics of Google Pixel 7 and Google Pixel 7 Pro. What you need to know is that, unsurprisingly, both of these smartphones are better than their predecessors. They are both entitled to a second-generation Google Tensor G2 processor (with 5 years of Android updates promised), a 100% recycled aluminum design, 2D facial recognition in addition to a sensor. fingerprints under the screen, a double or triple competition camera module and 5G and Wi-Fi 6E. We will discuss all this in our tests of these devices, which will arrive very quickly.
What we are going to talk about today are the new software features of the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. We start with our favorite: the voicemail transcriber.
Because yes, everyone has in his entourage a relative who is a bit cheesy, let’s face it, who abuses audios. Some do 5 or 6 in a row, others think they are Pierre Bellemare and send 10-minute messages. A hell for their recipient, forced to interrupt everything and concentrate to listen to them. The good news is that Google will fix this problem.
Indeed, the Pixel 7 are the first smartphones with an audio message transcriber. The Tensor chip analyzes them in the background and gives you a written version, so you can read them pretending to have heard them. Someone give a medal to the engineer who came up with this idea!
Only unknown, to which we will have an answer very soon, which applications are compatible with this function? Does Google limit it to Android Messages, which would make it almost useless in France? Or does it implement it on top of other apps, like WhatsApp Where Messenger ? The only certainty is that this function is compatible with the French language.
No revolutionary novelties, but full of improvements
A bit like the iPhone 14, which improves Apple’s range without changing anything, the Pixel 7 are not revolutionary. Accustomed to launching lots of small new features every year (motion mode or the magic eraser with the Pixel 6 for example), Google is mainly content to improve what already exists this year. Does that make it any less exciting? In view of the novelties announced, it is on the contrary rather good news. In terms of photo improvements alone, the assumption that Google would keep at least half of its promises makes us happy. Here is the list of new features announced:
- The “Super Res Zoom”, which uses the 50 Mpix sensor of the Pixel 7 and an ultra-sophisticated image enhancement algorithm, improves drastically this year. Google claims you can zoom up to 30x with very little loss of quality, which we can’t wait to try. In the past, Google’s algorithms have been able to prove their superiority, so we want to believe it.
- The “Photo Unblur” technology, which makes it possible to transform a blurred photo into a clear photo, would be much better on the Pixel 7. Thanks to a pixel compensation technology, Google would be able to guess what is hidden under the blur and to create it artificially. This function also works with old photos, to restore images from several decades if desired. The magic of artificial intelligence.
- The night mode, known as “Night Sight”, would be twice as fast as before for the same quality result.
- Google has made several partnerships, including with Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube to improve the quality of photos and videos, now in 10 bit HDR.
- The colorimetry of the photos is better, particularly in terms of the management of different skin colors.
In a register other than photography, Google will integrate into the Google One subscription, offered for a few months with its Pixels, a subscription to a VPN. A proposal similar to Apple’s iCloud Private Relay, which encrypts everything that goes through your smartphone.
The future kings under Android?
This year, therefore, the Google Pixel 7 and Google Pixel 7 Pro do not come with countless new features to test. On the other hand, by improving points on which it was already the best, the Californian manufacturer wants to try to widen the gap on the competition, at least on the photo. We can’t wait to test it all. Google’s smartphones may not be as complete as the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra or Oppo Find X5 Pro, but they could be the most balanced for most users.
What about price and release date? Google communicates on 649 euros (Pixel 7) and 899 euros (Pixel 7 Pro), but will launch this year, for the first time in France, versions with more storage (finally!). If you don’t want the 128 GB offered by default, you can get 256 GB models for 749 euros (Pixel 7) and 999 euros (Pixel 7 Pro). Several colors are also on the program, which is good news for the French market (Snow, Volcanic Black and Lime Green for the Pixel 7. Snow, Volcanic Black and Sage Green for the Pixel 7 Pro). Everything is in pre-order today, before marketing on October 13.
