Google Pixel 7 up close: The software’s the thing

We will bring more in-depth thoughts with a full review soon. It's a good time to give up some initial thoughts and pictures of the new phones.

The price is the first thing that comes to mind. It is important, but I think it is not the first thing that will be discussed by the company. The 7 and 7 Pro cost more than $1,000. It isn't budget or event mid-tier, but cost is an important differentiating factor from the flagships of the world.

Brian Heater is the image's author.

There are a number of reasons why phone buying has slowed. It is difficult to upgrade flagships with all of the economic uncertainty of the last few years For the record, you can spec the Pro out to $1,099, if you choose to store 512 gigabytes of data. It is important to note that it is still a relative deal compared to other big names.

Thanks to the signature camera bar, the design is still easily recognizable as the same line as it was a year ago. That is a good example of the device itself. We didn't expect the Pixel 7 to be much different than the Pixel 6. It was a big leap for the company. The hardware division was completely overhauled and the result was the Pixel 6. You wouldn't get a breakthrough like that every year.

Brian Heater is the image's author.

The idea of making a premium quality camera through software/computational photography alone was abandoned by the company. Both models have a wide angle main, while the Pro adds a telephoto. Software is still the thing in this case, even though it's in a different place.

Sarah wrote a big piece about all of the software stuff, so I am not going into a lot of detail here. The 7 maintains that being the tip of the spear for updates is a primary driver of the Pixel.

Brian Heater is the image's author.

It serves both functions. First, it gets these updates into people's hands on hardware with specifications built to accommodate them and second, it distinguishes the line from the hundreds of other phones out there.

It looks like it will be a nice update to the line. Preorder the phones today and they will be on sale October 12.