Google takes the iPhone 14 Pro Max to task with features and specs made to rule the Android market, and the rest of the smartphone market, too.
There’s a sense of familiarity about the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. Google’s latest Android smartphones may only have made their official debut today, but the search giant’s decision to effectively spoil the surprise — rather than leave that entirely to the leak merchants — months in advance means the two new handsets feel much more like known quantities than rival announcements manage to land as. Factor in the subtle evolution of Google’s Pixel design language, and you can’t be blamed for wondering exactly what you should be excited about, here.
Evolution, though, is a good thing. Just ask any fish that grew legs and managed to come on shore and find a tasty apple. Just as Apple’s big iPhone 14 launch a month ago was a case of refinement and steady improvement rather than reinvention, so the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro haven’t felt obliged to throw out what works simply for the sake of looking new.
The result is smoother, sleeker, and generally more polished than earlier Pixel phones, though without losing the element of underlying Googleyness we’ve come to expect. As always, the company’s biggest challenge will be standing out in a crowd of Samsung and Apple options, beyond appealing to the loyal cadre of Pixel fans (and Nexus fans before that) out there.
Last year’s Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro made bold use of Google’s glass and metal construction, putting an intentional focus on the rear cameras. With their body-spanning camera bar protruding significantly, it was an unmistakable focus on the photography tech that Pixel has long been associated with. Throw in some tasteful glass panels and you had a striking, if moderately divisive, pair of handsets.
For 2022, Google has refined that. The camera bar remains, but it’s more fared-in and less in-your-face. It also trims back on the black glass, replacing most of that with metal and leaving a much smaller panel for the sensors to look through. The result feels more premium and definitely less chunky.
I’m a fan of Google’s matte-finish metal on the Pixel 7, too, which is a nice counterpoint to what are (as always) a tasteful set of color options: Obsidian and Snow on both, then Lemongrass on the Pixel 7 and Hazel on the Pixel 7 Pro. The softer edges should also be a little easier on your fingers than the crisp sides of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, which can demand you suffer for their style if you tend to balance the bottom of the phone on your little finger when you hold it.
